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MMA UFC 249

Liberty City El said:
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We got Tony Ferguson "El Cucuy" vs Justin Gaethje for the interim 155 title belt.

Ferguson after making his long awaited comeback got a stoppage vs Cowboy Cerrone, who oddly enough was also Justin Gaethje's last victory as well. Ferguson was supposed to be fighting Khabib but for the 5th time that fight has eluded him.

El Cucuy is arguably the most dangerous fighter in the 155 division outside of Khabib, with a 12 win fight streak & an 81% finish rate, he's handled every test put in front of him & hasn't lost a fight in 8 years! In the time span he's beaten Pettis, Kevin Lee, Dos Anjos, Edson Barboza, Josh Thomson & Tibau. The 10th planet Black belt is one of Eddie Bravo's best students, he's an excellent BJJ practitioner & has enough power in his stand up game to make him a well respected complete fighter.

Gaethje has been a rising star in the division & is a high volume striker with a 56% striking rate & a 91% finish rate, 18 out of his 21 W's were KO's/TKO's. He comes from a heavy collegiate NCAA wrestling background but his stand up boxing game is what makes him one of the best at 155.

Gaethje's only two losses were to Dustin Poirier & Eddie Alvarez who were both able to beat him with strikes.

El Cucuy is a man on a mission, the winner of this fight gets Khabib & Ferguson is the best matchup to deal with him. I don't see Gaethje being enough to get in his way of getting that match. I think Gaethje is going to come forward & bring heavy pressure with his boxing & attempt to use leg kicks to keep Ferguson from getting close to him. However, El Cucuy has abnormally long arms with a 76inch reach, he'll be able to strike as an entering point to open up Gaethje & get the fight to the ground. Gaethje's best bet is to hope the fight stays upright & he can land power shots to KO Ferguson, but if Ferguson gets him to the ground it's over.
I got El Cucuy winning by stoppage in the 4th, will be a great fight though.


The Gold Medalist Henry Cejudo vs Domonick Cruz

Cejudo is Champ Champ, holding both the Bantam & Flyweight title belts for the UFC.

After being doubted by many Cejudo has leveled himself up to be one of/if not the best in the world in the 125-135 weight classes. With recent W's vs Moraes, Dillashaw,& Might Mouse Demetrius Johnson, he's climbed himself to the top & put two straps on his waist.

Domonick Cruz is one of the best Bantamweights in UFC history, as a former Lloyd Irivin Blue Belt, but has been on a hiatus from competition for 4 years now due to injuries, his last fight was vs Cody Garbrandt back in 2016. His battles with Uriah Faber & Mouse DJ are what made him a household name in the UFC.

However, with him being off for such a long time I don't see how he can comeback after such a long layoff & beat Cejudo. He's bigger than Cejudo & has much better reach than him, but given he hasn't fought in such a long time Octagon rust (ring rust) is a real thing. If I'm Cejudo I'm testing Cruz's lungs & making him beat me, no way should he stand in the middle of the Octagon & brawl with him, get inside work the body & take him down from the start of the fight & force him to out wrestle you. Take the air out of his chest & see if after 4 years away from the sport can he go the distance in a marathon.

I got Cejudo winning, would be shocked if Cruz pulled it off.


The Heavyweight bout between Francis Ngannou vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik will be nothing short of a Gladiator fight.

Ngannou has bounced back from two bad performances vs Derrick Lewis & Stipe with 3 straight stoppages vs Dos Santos, Cain Velasquez & Curtis Blaydes.

Rozenstruik has become an uprising name on the MMA scene with a 10-0 record having all his fights end in KO's. Most people assume he came out of nowhere, but he's actually a well respected battle tested Kickboxer with over 85 fights & 76 wins. He's a Surinamese Kickboxer with explosive power in his fists, he's got a dynamite left hook & utilizes leg kicks in order to open up his opponents. He's got enough quickness as a striker to move around the Octagon & deliver effective strike combos in variety to get to his kill-shot, he's not slow sluggish statue.

Ngannou is a big giant pure power puncher, if you stand in front of him & allow him to throw haymakers he'll KO you, but if you move around & force him to put his stamina to the test he can be vulnerable.

To me this fight will come down to who came up with a better game plan. I would hope that Bigi Boy (Rozenstruik) has enough fight IQ to not stand in the middle of the Octagon & exchange with Ngannou, he has to neutralize his power by tiring him out & the way to do that is make him hit a moving target. Run around the Octagon, strike & evade, leg kick & jab & throw variety sequences at Ngannou. Make him defend everything until you set up the Left hook.

My brain tells me Ngannou wins this fight by TKO, but my heart would love to see another fellow Kickboxer become a dominant force in the UFC ala Stylebender. I'm gonna go against my better judgement & pick Rozenstruik for the upset, I won't be shocked one bit if Ngannou KO's & deals with him, but I'm rooting for Rozenstruik to pull it off.

Lots of other good fights on the card, who ya got!
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I don't watch UCF at all.. But Ferguson got that *** whopped!
 
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Liberty City El said:
Poirier had the best standup game of any opponent Khabib has ever faced & he still got RNC'd.

Michael Johnson got Kimura locked after being pinned against the cage while Khabib was literally beating the shìt out of him & talking to him like a mad man lol.

I understand why people will cling to the hope that Gaethje is the guy that beats Khabib, but its just not going to happen, he's going to go down like they all do. They all plan to keep it standing up & box or leg kick with The Eagle, but it just doesn't work, he simply won't allow it.
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Khabb will be the favorite and yes I want to see Khabib get his face smashed in so I am biased. I'm not saying Gaethje beats him but I'm saying I think he presents the best set of skills to be successful against Khabib. A highly skilled striker with both the hands and feet, great chin, self confident, top level wrestling credentials, the mindset that goes with being a high level wrestling which is something normal people don't understand and a gas tank to go for days. None of Khabib's previous opponents had all of these skills, some had certain parts but no one had the whole package and Khabib won't be significantly bigger than Gaethje on fight night like he was Poirier.
 
Empirical Cane said:
LCE

People don't (or can't appreciate) how rough a neighborhood Khabib (I think he is ethnic Avar) grew up in. People cry here about poverty, "pick-an-ism", whatever--it's a fairly uninformed view when taking in the larger picture. Try a day in the Caucuses.

While poverty is relative I suppose--people living under I95 arent really worse off considering the conditions most rural Dagestanians or Chechans (their cousins) face for lifetimes. Its one of the few places on Earth that is somewhat a Salusus Secundus (and there are others for sure).

That region is an interesting borderland paying a heavy price--they aren't Russian, they aren't Turks, and they aren't Iranian--but all those groups have wanted say say in that little slice of heaven by the Caspian.

The Dags-Chechs are TOUGH, TOUGH, TOUGH people. How tough?

Survived routine fuel air explosives (thanks Russia) attacks, village massacres, military age males beaten consistently by Russian army groups, forced fighting for sport, etc...etc...

And its been going on since the 90s. Are they supermen? hardly. Are they a resilient people unafraid of anyone on the planet including the US? 100% absolutely.

When Khabib fights, I believe he does so with two things: confidence he can survive any onslaught and if not, well, life sucks so be it, I'm Avar anyways.

He is a bad, bad man.
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yes but no one is unbeatable.
 
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Any thoughts that if khabib beats justin and conor, uncle dana calls gsp and say "okay you can fight khabib" in an one off fight. GSP and khabib both wants this fight.. and GSP has been slimming down recently. I believe vintage GSP could beat War Eagle. But at 38, I just don't know. He has the skill set though and the wrestling in that fight would be epic.
 
Liberty City El said:
View attachment 116603

We got Tony Ferguson "El Cucuy" vs Justin Gaethje for the interim 155 title belt.

Ferguson after making his long awaited comeback got a stoppage vs Cowboy Cerrone, who oddly enough was also Justin Gaethje's last victory as well. Ferguson was supposed to be fighting Khabib but for the 5th time that fight has eluded him.

El Cucuy is arguably the most dangerous fighter in the 155 division outside of Khabib, with a 12 win fight streak & an 81% finish rate, he's handled every test put in front of him & hasn't lost a fight in 8 years! In the time span he's beaten Pettis, Kevin Lee, Dos Anjos, Edson Barboza, Josh Thomson & Tibau. The 10th planet Black belt is one of Eddie Bravo's best students, he's an excellent BJJ practitioner & has enough power in his stand up game to make him a well respected complete fighter.

Gaethje has been a rising star in the division & is a high volume striker with a 56% striking rate & a 91% finish rate, 18 out of his 21 W's were KO's/TKO's. He comes from a heavy collegiate NCAA wrestling background but his stand up boxing game is what makes him one of the best at 155.

Gaethje's only two losses were to Dustin Poirier & Eddie Alvarez who were both able to beat him with strikes.

El Cucuy is a man on a mission, the winner of this fight gets Khabib & Ferguson is the best matchup to deal with him. I don't see Gaethje being enough to get in his way of getting that match. I think Gaethje is going to come forward & bring heavy pressure with his boxing & attempt to use leg kicks to keep Ferguson from getting close to him. However, El Cucuy has abnormally long arms with a 76inch reach, he'll be able to strike as an entering point to open up Gaethje & get the fight to the ground. Gaethje's best bet is to hope the fight stays upright & he can land power shots to KO Ferguson, but if Ferguson gets him to the ground it's over.
I got El Cucuy winning by stoppage in the 4th, will be a great fight though.


The Gold Medalist Henry Cejudo vs Domonick Cruz

Cejudo is Champ Champ, holding both the Bantam & Flyweight title belts for the UFC.

After being doubted by many Cejudo has leveled himself up to be one of/if not the best in the world in the 125-135 weight classes. With recent W's vs Moraes, Dillashaw,& Might Mouse Demetrius Johnson, he's climbed himself to the top & put two straps on his waist.

Domonick Cruz is one of the best Bantamweights in UFC history, as a former Lloyd Irivin Blue Belt, but has been on a hiatus from competition for 4 years now due to injuries, his last fight was vs Cody Garbrandt back in 2016. His battles with Uriah Faber & Mouse DJ are what made him a household name in the UFC.

However, with him being off for such a long time I don't see how he can comeback after such a long layoff & beat Cejudo. He's bigger than Cejudo & has much better reach than him, but given he hasn't fought in such a long time Octagon rust (ring rust) is a real thing. If I'm Cejudo I'm testing Cruz's lungs & making him beat me, no way should he stand in the middle of the Octagon & brawl with him, get inside work the body & take him down from the start of the fight & force him to out wrestle you. Take the air out of his chest & see if after 4 years away from the sport can he go the distance in a marathon.

I got Cejudo winning, would be shocked if Cruz pulled it off.


The Heavyweight bout between Francis Ngannou vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik will be nothing short of a Gladiator fight.

Ngannou has bounced back from two bad performances vs Derrick Lewis & Stipe with 3 straight stoppages vs Dos Santos, Cain Velasquez & Curtis Blaydes.

Rozenstruik has become an uprising name on the MMA scene with a 10-0 record having all his fights end in KO's. Most people assume he came out of nowhere, but he's actually a well respected battle tested Kickboxer with over 85 fights & 76 wins. He's a Surinamese Kickboxer with explosive power in his fists, he's got a dynamite left hook & utilizes leg kicks in order to open up his opponents. He's got enough quickness as a striker to move around the Octagon & deliver effective strike combos in variety to get to his kill-shot, he's not slow sluggish statue.

Ngannou is a big giant pure power puncher, if you stand in front of him & allow him to throw haymakers he'll KO you, but if you move around & force him to put his stamina to the test he can be vulnerable.

To me this fight will come down to who came up with a better game plan. I would hope that Bigi Boy (Rozenstruik) has enough fight IQ to not stand in the middle of the Octagon & exchange with Ngannou, he has to neutralize his power by tiring him out & the way to do that is make him hit a moving target. Run around the Octagon, strike & evade, leg kick & jab & throw variety sequences at Ngannou. Make him defend everything until you set up the Left hook.

My brain tells me Ngannou wins this fight by TKO, but my heart would love to see another fellow Kickboxer become a dominant force in the UFC ala Stylebender. I'm gonna go against my better judgement & pick Rozenstruik for the upset, I won't be shocked one bit if Ngannou KO's & deals with him, but I'm rooting for Rozenstruik to pull it off.

Lots of other good fights on the card, who ya got!
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The good news is you could make the case that you went 1.5 out of the 3. Out of all those fights if I was cowboy I'd be HOT
 
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Khabibs wrestling is just different. He's the perfect mix of sport and combat Sambo. Khabib is a more well rounded Fedor.
 
Liberty City El said:
Poirier had the best standup game of any opponent Khabib has ever faced & he still got RNC'd.

Michael Johnson got Kimura locked after being pinned against the cage while Khabib was literally beating the shìt out of him & talking to him like a mad man lol.

I understand why people will cling to the hope that Gaethje is the guy that beats Khabib, but its just not going to happen, he's going to go down like they all do. They all plan to keep it standing up & box or leg kick with The Eagle, but it just doesn't work, he simply won't allow it.
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@JBCanes-NC & @Ecush Told yall Khabibi The GOAT!!!
 
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