Jakro's MMA Musings

Alright so I took a loss on last event, here's to not letting it happen again. I actually feel quite confident with a lot of my picks, but that might end up being false confidence. Main Event: Curtis Blaydes vs. Junior Dos Santos Blaydes is probably the best wrestler in HW division right now, with his prolific takedown stat proving that much, of course for us to be completely sure he would have to fight DC/Miocic/Jones but from what he have seen, he has just obliterated everyone except Ngannou with his wrestling. That's how he would win this fight as well, just nonstop takedowns, top control and ground and pound. Junior Dos Santos is not Ngannou level striking threat even in his prime, and you have to admit that by now JDS is bit of a spent force. He is still very good though, still carries a lot of power, and has not completely lost his chin either - it's not like Ngannou put him completely unconscious in their last fight. If he can land the powershot, he can take ...

So my winning streak came to an end in a lackluster event that nonetheless will please the UFC brass immensely. Let's mull over the fights a little bit. Conor is Back? Honestly, the main event was a huge let down for me. It's not that the result displeases me or anything like this, I just hated how uncompetitive it was. It was obvious that if it wasn't the age (Cowboy being couple of months from 37), being tenderized by Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje back to back in last 8 months obviously meant that his already suspect durability was completely gone.  Conor knew this and was ready to just get offense in no matter what. Hence those shoulder strikes which has been sold to ignorant general public as Conor's stroke of genius and something new he invented. Well, perhaps to use them in such explosive capacity was a little variation to it, but it irked me to act like Conor changed the game when in reality Cerrone, having broken his nose against Ferguson, probably wa...

Intro text Main Event: Conor McGregor vs. Cowboy Cerrone There could be lot to analyze about this fight, but it all comes down to one factor - that Conor, washed up or not, is a hard hitting guy in his prime, and Cerrone is a 36-year-old guy whose career has been limited by durability issues to begin with. So yeah, obviously this is set up so that Conor could get another knockout to his resume and supposedly become relevant again.  I am not convinced we will get the best McGregor so at best he is an uncertain pick, but even if he is not the elite fighter he once was, he probably can still hit you hard. Cerrone has an advantage in grappling and endurance, but I don't see him having enough offensive wrestling to really impose that gameplan on Conor nor be enough of a high-pace pressure fighter to really gas Conor out.  I would hope to be wrong, but Gaethje knocked Cerrone out with relative ease which makes me think that Cerrone is starting to lose his chin. Hope I am...