Jakro's MMA Musings

UFC's return to action has been solid with action-packed cards left and right, this one was one in that series. Let's break down the fights as usual. Main Card Tyron Woodley just is not all there any more. It is not just the age catching up with him though, the same seemingly mental issues of not really going for it was there, albeit not as bad as against Usman. Either way, his reflexes seem to be slowing down as Burns clocked him with bunch of hard shots and even had him rocked a few times. Something that you would not have expected to happen to prime Woodley. Of course take nothing away from Burns who seems to be putting it together excellently. That improvement from him combined with Woodley's obvious decline made for a very one-sided fight in the end. In the co-main we did not see much fireworks, but Augusto Sakai at least showed that he is a solid fighter. He did not manage to knock out Ivanov like he did to so many of his recent opponents, but either way the winnin...

Thanks to Covid-19 slowing everything down, my main computer is still not in use, hence the less researched previews have to continue. Results so far have not been too bad, but the longer this goes on, the less reliable my predictions become. Still, I should be able to get half right at least on a night of pretty clear match-ups. Main Event: Tyron Woodley vs. Gilbert Burns This is a tough one to crack. Burns has improved, but he does not seem quite title caliber in my view. Prime Woodley should beat him at least 4 times out of 5. What kind of Woodley are we gonna see though? The guy has fought only 7 times since start of 2015, having perhaps the most lackluster string of title defences in the process. Not really criticism per se, to even have tight and boring fights with likes of Wonderboy and Maia you have to be world class. His performance against Usman was absolutely abysmal though. It is not that he was second best that really surprised anyone, but the fact he lost every secon...

Lets get this post-fight writeup started with the whole debacle I had when placing bets - if you read my preview, you clearly saw I picked Baeza to beat Brown, as he did. But I guess I misclicked when placing bets and ended up betting on Brown. Should not let that get bother me too much though considering it was another great event. Main Card Walt Harris cracked Overeem's chin and some refs would have stepped in faster when he was barraging Overeem. No complaints in that regard though cause Overeem showed that he was still in it, craftily sweeping Harris to get back up and then taking him down as the over-excited Harris went for a sloppy kick. Rest was all Overeem, for Harris never really recovered from the energy he expended in the first. When Overeem got Harris on the mat in the 2nd, it was all over. Harris did not have anything in the tank to even try to explode back up. In the co-main, Gadelha and Hill fought to an extremely close decision. First round was clearly Gadelha, H...

This weekend's previews were a fast write-up. Just like other previews in past 7 days, these have been written based on past notes rather than present research, so they are much more inaccurate than my typical previews. Despite this, I am 14 out of 21 since UFC came back in my picks, so I don't think it is impossible to reach at least half the picks right this time around too. Main Event: Alistair Overeem vs. Walt Harris I don't know man. Is Overeem's chin finally gone for good? Even if it somehow isn't Harris hits hard. But even if it is gone, Overeem is the kind of guy to be able to avoid the opponents big shots. He did so with Rozenstruik... at least for few rounds. I kinda feel like Overeem should be the better fighter, but in 2020, can you really trust on him? As for Harris, his last couple of fights have been so short we cannot really reliably say where he is at terms of progressing his skills. Harris via 1st round KO. Co-Main Event: Claudia Gadelha vs. A...

Another great UFC event in the books, and another one where I got reasonably good results. Break has not left me rusty at all (though I guess it might just be luck). Main Card Both Main Event fighters outperformed at least my expectations and they ended up putting together a memorable war. Glover Texeira turned back the clock by showing sharp boxing, devastating top control and very good durability. It was always gonna take absorbing some hard shots to survive against Anthony Smith, but Smith also looked very sharp early on. Of course the pace his corner hyped him up to keep was non-sustainable for his physiology and when the movement waned, Texeira started landing more and to devastating effect. Sadly we again saw disgusting cornerwork as Smith was sent out for the fifth round despite not being remotely competitive any more. Honestly if they even asked "how you feel bro?" or something like that and got very firm answer from Smith that he wants to go on, I would give them ...

Main Event: Anthony Smith vs. Glover Texeira It realistically could go either way in this main event. Smith has hardly been convincing, he is obviously powerful man, but does not seem like actually contender level fighter even if he did challenge Jon for the title and was a game opponent. Still, he has the physical attributes to put Glover out. Glover's chin is not completely gone, but being up there in age means that his durability will always be an issue, particularly against powerful guys like Smith. Glover obviously has good boxing and power himself as well, and Smith has been KOd many times by even smaller men. So all-in all, I think Glover wins this 3 times out of 5, but gets KOd 2 times out of 5 as well. Glover Texeira via UD. Co-Main Event: Ben Rothwell vs. Ovince St. Preux Well, I wonder what kind of Ovince we will see at heavyweight, but he certainly seemed to be fading towards his late LHW career even if he managed to pick up victories. His expertise in Von Flue c...

Man, UFC 249 was great. It wasn't even about the lack of live sports action, you could have put this event in middle of busy schedule of weekly events and it still would have stood out. There was lot of name value on the card and it duly delivered even in lesser fights. There was a bittersweet tint to the entertainment though. Main Card  So, Tony vs. Khabib will never probably happen then. Justin Gaethje proved he was more than just entertaining brawler by managing to stop Tony's relentless pressure with the incredible amount of damage he gave El Cucuy. Tony's legendary 12-fight win streak is over, but it will be remembered one of the best in the sport and although he never won the real belt, Tony is as legit a champ as anyone. Justin was too much for him. Tony looked like he could still kick up a gear after second round and I still thought he would win the fight, especially having survived Justin's early onslaught. Justin seemed tired, but he was not too tired. He...

So the long break is finally over and UFC 249 is supposed to finally happen this weekend. I only believe it when I see it though, so I do not wanna spend too much time previewing fights that might not happen at all. Futhermore I have some problems with my computers which limits my ability to do research anyway, so the usual attention to detail won't be there this time. That won't be a big problem though since I have watched a bunch of fights during the quarantine and most of the fights on the card feature well-known fighters. Let's get to it. Main Event: Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje Like most people, I have love/hate relationship with this fight. I feel like it will be exciting one, but at the same time I much rather Tony fights Khabib now, Justin next. Now one contender is gonna be knocked off in all likelihood, perhaps forever foiling the Ferguson v Khabib fight we have been hoping for. Both of these guys fight pressuring style of attrition, but Ferguson is more ...