- A lightweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter winners was scheduled to headline the event, as The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos winner Tony Ferguson was expected to face The Ultimate Fighter: Live winner Michael Chiesa. However, Chiesa pulled out due to a back injury on June 27. On the following day, it was announced that promotional newcomer Landon Vannata would replace him and the bout would be moved to the co-main event, as a bantamweight bout between former interim UFC Bantamweight Championship challenger Michael McDonald and John Lineker was revealed as the new headliner.
- Alex White was expected to face The Ultimate Fighter: Team McGregor vs. Team Faber winner Ryan Hall, but pulled out on June 28 due to an undisclosed injury. Hall elected to fight on a different date rather than have the promotion find him a replacement.
Rekrul is a newb
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PuertoRican United States. Jul 10 2016 21:58. Posts 13048
First impression of the match-ups:
• McDonald > Lineker
• Ferguson > Vannata
• Samman > Boetsch
• Oliynyk > Omielanczuk
• Nakamura > Noke
• Nguyen > Smolka
• Murphy vs. Chookagian (dunno)
• Spicely vs. Alvey (dunno)
• Stanciu > Casey
• Holtzman > Pfister
• Yahya vs. Lopez (dunno)
• Clark vs. Nicholson (dunno)
traxamillion United States. Jul 11 2016 17:34. Posts 10468
Ima take ferguson and lineker probably. I like lineker a lot but don't know much about McDonald. Have to check out a few of his bouts. Lineker looking dangerous at bantam
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PuertoRican United States. Jul 11 2016 18:34. Posts 13048
Yeah, after thinking more about it, I like Lineker over McDonald, too.
I'm gonna start watching tape in a few hours, so I'll let you know if I see any juicy spots for these fights.
MMmm I like Mcdonald, I bet on him against Faber (bad bet obviously) but I think he is underrated and like his odds. But I am going to watch their fights again to make sure.
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PuertoRican United States. Jul 12 2016 04:24. Posts 13048
• Chookagian competed in boxing during high school, and won the golden gloves in Pennsylvania when she was 16, and had a bunch of boxing and kickboxing fights during that time.
• She started training at Renzo Gracie's after college and worked on her BJJ. Other people who train and have been training at Renzo's during the past 4 months or more are: Frankie Edgar, Eddie Alvarez, Marlon Moraes, Edson Barboza, Jim Miller, Jimmie Rivera, and Paul Felder. She also trains with a large group of women at Renzo's.
• She's a Renzo Gracie brown belt.
• After listening to her parents' advice, she went to college and got a degree before she began her pro career.
• She works on the weekends, and trains 5-days during the weekdays. She lives with her brother.
• Against Barbara Bowman, she had to wear shinguards due to a rule in the state she fought in: if you have under 3 amateur fights, you have to wear shinguards.
• She beat Andrea "KGB" Lee during her amateur career.
• She's Armenian-American and fights out of New Jersey, so you know she can take a beating and dish out a lot of damage herself.
• 3 months ago, she trained for a couple weeks or so with the people at Cesar Gracie in California.
• She lists herself as a Karate fighter in her hashtags, and she's on the Keto diet.
• She beat 2 girls in 1 night and won a 1-night tournament. (videos listed above)
• Unlike most girls, she enters the UFC already having fought a 5-round fight with 5-minute rounds. The girl she beat was 7-0.
PuertoRican United States. Jul 12 2016 19:38. Posts 13048
John Lineker (136) vs. Michael McDonald (135)
Tony Ferguson (155) vs. Landon Vannata (155.5)
Tim Boetsch (186) vs. Josh Samman (186)
Aleksei Oleinik (243.5) vs. Daniel Omielanczuk (248)
Keita Nakamura (171) vs. Kyle Noke (170.5)
Ben Nguyen (125) vs. Louis Smolka (125.5)
Katlyn Chookagian (135) vs. Lauren Murphy (135.5)
Sam Alvey (185.5) vs. Eric Spicely (185)
Cortney Casey (116) vs. Cristina Stanciu (114)
Scott Holtzman (155.5) vs. Cody Pfister (155)
Matthew Lopez (136) vs. Rani Yahya (135)
Devin Clark (185) vs. Alex Nicholson (184)
----------
• Lineker looked more filled out for this fight, seems thicker than his last fight.
• Ferguson is taller, longer reach, larger frame, and will look heavier tomorrow night.
• Boetsch looked pretty good when compared to his previous 3+ fights.
• Stanciu can get this meat stick.
• Casey has cardio issues -- even when she has a full camp -- and this fight is on short notice, so I expect her to gas again.
• Pfister actually looks in-shape. Still much thinner and less impressive looking than Holtzman.
• Lopez looked the same as he always does for his fights, which is unimpressive and unassuming. He has a Gilbert Melendez and Cain Velasquez hybrid body.
Rekrul is a newb
Last edit: 12/07/2016 22:39
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PuertoRican United States. Jul 12 2016 22:27. Posts 13048
Keita Nakamura has fought in America 4 times, and the last time was 8.5 years ago.
His last 3 fights in America were on the mainland, and he lost all three of these fights via decision. These 3 fights were all in the UFC, and he got booted from the organization after going 0-3.
His first fight in America was in Hawaii, and he won via submission over some random guy who was on a 4-fight losing streak, and went on to lose 5 more times in a row after losing to Nakamura (10 losses in a row).
I'm not picking Nakamura or Noke just yet, this post is more about Nakamura returning the mainland America, where he hasn't fought for 8.5 years, and has never won a fight here. Noke will have the size and striking advantage, and he has good defensive BJJ. I assume many of us think Nakamura will get Noke down at some point, or maybe even several points, like he did against Breese.
As we already know, Noke trains in New Mexico at altitude, with the Jackson-Wink camp. Nakamura is flying in from Japan, so we need to find out when he arrived in America since some people say you need at least 1 week to acclimate.
I checked Nakamura's twitter, and he hasn't updated it since May, and he doesn't seem to have an Instagram account, so I don't know when he arrived in USA. If you find out, post it here.
Rekrul is a newb
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PuertoRican United States. Jul 13 2016 23:12. Posts 13048
the refing has been pretty bad just in the first 2 fights theres been a bunch of blatant fence grabbing that gave an advantage and back to the head shots by rani with no warning at all
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PuertoRican United States. Jul 14 2016 01:14. Posts 13048
Sam Alvey showing his hidden BJJ skills...
Rekrul is a newb
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PuertoRican United States. Jul 14 2016 02:53. Posts 13048
