UFC on ESPN 24: Rodriguez vs. Waterson

Date: Saturday, May 8
Main Card (ESPN/ESPN+): 1:00 LP.net / 5pm PST / 8pm EST
Preliminary Card (ESPN2/ESPN+): 23:00 LP.net / 3pm PST / 6pm EST
Live Streams: http://ripple.stream/mmastreams




Main Card (ESPN/ESPN+)

Michelle Waterson (18-8) vs Marina Rodriguez (13-1-2) (Women's Flyweight)
Donald Cerrone (36-15) vs. Alex Morono (18-7) (Welterweight)
Neil Magny (24-8) vs. Geoff Neal (13-3) (Welterweight)
Maurice Greene (9-5) vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima (17-7-1) (Heavyweight)
Carlos Diego Ferreira (17-3) vs. Gregor Gillespie (13-1) (Lightweight)
Phil Hawes (10-2) vs. Kyle Daukaus (10-1) (Middleweight)

Preliminary Card (ESPN2/ESPN+)

Michael Trizano (8-1) vs. Ludovit Klein (17-2) (Featherweight)
Jun Yong Park (12-4) vs. Tafon Nchukwi (5-0) (Middleweight)
Christian Aguilera (14-7) vs. Carlston Harris (15-4) (Welterweight)

Other

- Diego Sanchez was expected to face Donald Cerrone in a welterweight bout. However, Sanchez was removed from the fight on April 28 after being cut by the UFC. Alex Morono replaced Sanchez on May 3.

My bets thus far:

• Tafon Nchukwi -145 $362.50 for $300
• Angela Hill +145 $30 for $43.50
• Angela Hill +155 $10 for $15.50
• Daukaus/Hawes U2½ -150 $75 for $50

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First impression of the match-ups:

• Rodriguez > Waterson
• Cerrone > Morono
• Magny vs. Neal (dunno)
• Greene vs. Lima (dunno)
• Gillespie > CDF
• Hill > Ribas
• Lins > Rothwell
• Daukaus > Hawes
• Klein > Trizano
• Adashev vs. Benoit (dunno)
• Nchukwi > Park
• Aguilera vs. Harris (dunno)

You think Rordriguez will finish Waterson?

On May 05 2021 16:02 captainhook wrote: You think Rordriguez will finish Waterson?

Yeah. If Rodriguez can keep the fight on the feet, she will punch Waterson so much in the face that her eyes will start to close.

Waterson has a problem where the area around her eyes gets damaged easily, and it turns black/blue/purple, and her eyes start to close. Someone like Rodriguez can get a TKO from causing too much damage to Waterson's face and get a doctor stoppage, the doctor stopping it because her eye or eyes are closed (you only need 1 eye to fully close so the doctor can stop the fight), or Rodriguez can get a legit TKO by dropping Waterson.

It's also women's MMA, which means fights sometimes get stopped faster than in men's MMA. Also, this fight card is at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, which means they're using the small cage -- this can be good for Rodriguez if she can stay on her feet, or it can be good for Waterson if she's able to easily get take downs.

I think this fight ends ITD, which opened at +195 and is currently +165.

I’m taking that and a couple of underdogs, Magny and Hill. Maybe also Hawes.

hodriguez is going to knock waterson's head off

This will be the first fight I've placed bets on (I hate to have missed out on all the free Khabib money). I wrestled back in the day and have been a fan of the UFC since....haven't really been keeping up with a lot of the new fighters, but getting money involved has given me a renewed interest,

in my humble opinion, from limited info:

**Sucks that the Rothwell fight was cancelled bc I think he was a great bet.

***I really like Gillespie and his wrestling style/background (as a fan). However, I think his style has serious problems against CDF. Gillespie isn't balanced enough and is tentative with his ground game (and in general). I think he will not be able to control CDF well bc CDF has more height, reach, is generally big n heavy for the weight class and, more important, he has more ground skills as a 3rd degree blackbelt. He's more comfortable on the ground and he looks to be more versatile on his feet (good kicks, more than just ABC boxing with a shot threat). GG has a lot of energy, conditioning, and grit but I don't think it will be enough. On the ground I think he will be susceptible to submissions. I don't see him controlling CDF.

***I usually don't even watch women fights lol so I have some catching up to do. I am onboard with Rodriguez although Waterson is no slouch. Waterson has gone the distance every fight I've seen of hers (against high caliber opponents) - she has decent standup and is okay attacking on the ground. Rodriguez obviously will have to depend on striking. Her ground game appears to be nonexistent. Seems like a close call. Waterson seems to always fade and doesn't really do much damage on her feet. Pretty sure she kicks air more than anything.

***I think Cerrone is good money. Morono took the fight short notice ofc, his standup game is level 1, haven't really seen him do much with his ground game (which is his only hope). The more I see him fight the more I lose hope in him.
*I put a small bet on Nchukwi bc he is a beast. Ofc that has it's pros and cons. Park has looked pretty dominant in the fights I've watched. The beast factor can mean a lot though, lol.

Most of these fights are a dunno for me and I'm still doing research. I like Ribas over Hill and generally feel like the women's fights will go be more likely to go the distance (5th round and/or the decision)

We'll see how it goes

Amanda Ribas positive for COVID-19, removed from UFC Vegas 26 bout with Angela Hill.

Nice comeback victory for Gregor Gillespie.

That had to be one of the best fights I've seen recently. What a win for Gregor. Cdf looked huge compared to him too

On May 09 2021 01:09 Into Infinity wrote: That had to be one of the best fights I've seen recently. What a win for Gregor. Cdf looked huge compared to him too

Gillespie is small for lightweight, but CDF missed weight by 4 pounds and was fined 30% of his prize purse.

So, Gillespie got his show money, win money, and 30% of CDF's prize purse.

On May 09 2021 01:01 PuertoRican wrote: Nice comeback victory for Gregor Gillespie.

Yeah. Hell of a fight. I was hoping it would make it to the third.

On May 08 2021 19:48 PuertoRican wrote: Amanda Ribas positive for COVID-19, removed from UFC Vegas 26 bout with Angela Hill.

I swear those tests have false positives.

Geoff Neal should switch to straight up boxing

Oh no, Cerrone says he wants to grapple with Morono, lol ????

Magny breaks another fighter and wins a close decision... It's the story of his UFC career.

Did Cowboy even train?

That didnt go well. And to top it off, ESPN+ messed up and wouldn't even let me log in until the fight was over , lol gg Morono

My 4 UFC event streak came to an end on a terrible card with 9 fights. Not a surprise.

Next week's UFC card is good, so I'm excited for that.

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Canelo Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders is about to start. Canelo is walking to the ring right now.