- During an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dana White officially stated that the fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov would be for official lightweight championship belt, not the interim title, as long as both fighters remained healthy and made weight.
- Mairbek Taisumov was expected to face Evan Dunham at the event. However, Taisumov was removed from the fight on March 9 for alleged visa issues, restricting his travel. Olivier Aubin-Mercier replaced Taisumov on March 11.
Rekrul is a newb
Last edit: 07/04/2018 23:34
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PuertoRican   United States. Mar 19 2018 00:46. Posts 13030
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First impression of the match-ups:
• Ferguson > Nurmagomedov
• Namajunas > JJ
• Kattar > Moicano
• Chiesa > Pettis
• Felder > Iaquinta
• Herrig > KK
• Borg vs. Moreno (dunno)
• Gruetzamacher > Lauzon
• Mercier > Dunham
• Caceres > Lobov
• Smith > Rawlings
• Clark vs. Rodriguez (dunno)
• Zabit > Bochniak
Rekrul is a newb
Last edit: 19/03/2018 00:47
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Spitfiree   Bulgaria. Mar 19 2018 14:18. Posts 9634
- During an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dana White officially stated that the fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov would be for official lightweight championship belt, not the interim title, as long as both fighters remained healthy and made weight.
Didn't he also say that McGregor isn't losing his title either? :D So the champion is the champion but not really the champion
whammbot   Belarus. Mar 19 2018 17:57. Posts 517
snap city gon take dis
kebabs great but has been beating cans except for pre prime-RDA, who's he beat? barboza and that forgettable striker with zero ground game. trujilo was able to last well but just wasn't skilled enough to pose a threat. El Cucuy only looks vulnerable in ALL his fights, but has an uncanny way of knowing how to win.
As long as Tony don't wave that 10th planet bravo flag and induce a pure ground contest when the bell rings, he's going to take khabib to gas city and beat him in the deep rounds
Last edit: 19/03/2018 18:00
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PuertoRican   United States. Mar 20 2018 02:24. Posts 13030
Rekrul is a newb
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BlackRain79   Thailand. Mar 20 2018 13:43. Posts 51
Cant wait for Khabib vs Ferguson, I am so excited for this fight as I was with the TJ vs Cody fight
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cariadon   Estonia. Mar 23 2018 19:48. Posts 4019
To stop Khabib you need to KO him. Otherwise Nurmageddon will happen.
I like both fighters but i think Khabib will take it to the ground and go to work.
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Baalim   Mexico. Mar 25 2018 09:23. Posts 34246
On March 23 2018 18:48 cariadon wrote:
To stop Khabib you need to KO him. Otherwise Nurmageddon will happen.
I like both fighters but i think Khabib will take it to the ground and go to work.
Hell no, you dont stop wrestling with KOs in fact that is exactly how many strikers have lost to grapplers in the past planting their feet and swinging hard and then get taken down, you defeat a wrestler by staying light on your feet and many other tools like angling out, stiff arming, not overreacting to their shitty punches/feints.
Khabib needs to take him down early and beat him up and break him or a sweaty Tony with his funk rolls escapes, and his resless uncommited pit-pat boxing is going to snowball and Khabib is going to collapse.
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Spitfiree   Bulgaria. Mar 25 2018 11:23. Posts 9634
At this point, I don't really think anyone can keep his distance with Khabib. He'll definitely put you down, it's just a matter of time. Might as well take the riskier approach and try to power load extend some hard shots and try to knock him out.
Either way I hope Khabib wins and McGregor comes back to fight him. It would likely be the most anticipated match-up in the UFC with their current roster and would attract shitload of people thus a major payout - might be worth it for McGregor, if they give him like 5 Milly+
Last edit: 25/03/2018 11:26
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iakim322   United States. Mar 26 2018 02:35. Posts 1335
Khabib's a well deserved favorite. Haven't seen his level of takedowns and top control before. Something about going five with Tony though makes me not want to pick him though. After making Edson look like a child, I thought it was a little telling that Khabib couldn't get a takedown automatically in the third. Yeah Edson has a lot of heart but I think Khabib gassed a bit and not much was made of it because of how dominant he was before and Edson was already done on offense so he couldn't make Khabib pay. Disregarding standup early really because I don't think Tony can really catch Khabib significantly on the way in...I think if Tony can do some damage to Khabib from the bottom and survive the inevitable smothering, there'll be some good chances later on to do some work on a gassed Khabib
No idea what to think off the JJ/Rose rematch
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cariadon   Estonia. Mar 26 2018 16:41. Posts 4019
On March 25 2018 10:23 Spitfiree wrote:
At this point, I don't really think anyone can keep his distance with Khabib. He'll definitely put you down, it's just a matter of time. Might as well take the riskier approach and try to power load extend some hard shots and try to knock him out.
Either way I hope Khabib wins and McGregor comes back to fight him. It would likely be the most anticipated match-up in the UFC with their current roster and would attract shitload of people thus a major payout - might be worth it for McGregor, if they give him like 5 Milly+
I don't think Khabib is a big draw for non-ufc fans.
PplusAD   Germany. Mar 28 2018 15:31. Posts 7180
Khabib > Ferguson
I am a big Tony Ferguson Fan since he is incredible well rounded.
He has really good head movement , good footwork , good boxing (very unconventional hitting hard from akward angles) he has decent wrestling and very good Jiu Jitsu.
He is one of the very few fighters left who can still submit top level opponents from his back .
Even before he won TUF i realized that this guy is very hard to beat.
He doesnt have any real weakness
He is just good // pretty good at everything in MMA
Khabib on the other hand is not just good ... he is probably the best MMA-Wrestler there has ever been. (Cormier and Valasquez come close)
In fact id say what Messi is in football Khabib is in Wrestling for MMA.
The way he pressures people from the top is out of this world.
Its just on another level compared to anybody else in this world
U see what i did there with A8 ? He 4 bets and there we go insta jam A8 : ---booooom -- . hahahaha ( Krantz)
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Spitfiree   Bulgaria. Mar 28 2018 22:30. Posts 9634
I went back and rewatched the fight of Ferguson vs Barboza as many people refer to it. Seems that they forget that Barboza took the fight on short notice and got kicked in the head illegally at the beginning of the first round which tbh seems like being close to a knockout. No way he completely shakes it off.
Anyway the fight continued and it ended up being finished by Ferguson on the ground, but there was so much shit that happened prior to that plus people call Ferguson a beast, when Khabib is literally a fucking beast for that division, if he gets on top of him fast enough Ferguson is gonna have a looooot of trouble, he wont be able to do his weird TD attempts against Khabib either.
Then again Ferguson fight just weird enough that he might be able to break Khabib from different angles as long as he manages to keep his distance long enough. This fight is gonna be so interesting, cant wait.
Last edit: 28/03/2018 22:31
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Baalim   Mexico. Mar 30 2018 08:46. Posts 34246
On March 28 2018 14:31 PplusAD wrote:
Khabib on the other hand is not just good ... he is probably the best MMA-Wrestler there has ever been. (Cormier and Valasquez come close)
In fact id say what Messi is in football Khabib is in Wrestling for MMA.
The way he pressures people from the top is out of this world.
Its just on another level compared to anybody else in this world
He has better top control than Cain/Cormier but he doesnt have the transitions or striking they do, Khabib is a new Ronda that just walks down opponents with awkward haymakers with his chin on the air hoping for a clinch.
Khabib will eventually get exposed, I'm not sure if Tony is the man to do it since he relies on funk rolls and offence from his back against wrestlers and that might not be enough against a wrestler of Khabib's level, but I think a range especialist like Conor would easily beat Khabib
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PplusAD   Germany. Mar 30 2018 15:47. Posts 7180
On March 30 2018 07:46 Baalim wrote:
[QUOTE]On March 28 2018 14:31 PplusAD wrote:
.....but I think a range especialist like Conor would easily beat Khabib
No
Conor lost vs Chad Mendes before Mendes gassed...
Ofc Conor has the best shot vs khabib since he hits as precise as Tony but way harder...
still khabib > Conor
U see what i did there with A8 ? He 4 bets and there we go insta jam A8 : ---booooom -- . hahahaha ( Krantz)
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handbanana21   United States. Mar 30 2018 19:33. Posts 3037
def taking tony in this fight. think it will end in 4 or 5 via khabib exhaustion.
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PuertoRican   United States. Mar 31 2018 02:10. Posts 13030
On March 30 2018 18:33 handbanana21 wrote:
def taking tony in this fight. think it will end in 4 or 5 via khabib exhaustion.
I like Tony in this fight as well.
I think that even if Khabib does get Tony down, Tony is able to scramble + defend + attack off his back + able to stand up, which means Khabib will keep wasting energy and get tired at some point, then Tony will turn it up and throw a lot of strikes that will cause Khabib to back up and not be able to handle the pressure.