Jakro's MMA Musings

Main event was lackluster, but aside that tonight's fight night card was full of good action and highlight-reel finishes. Main Card The fight between Uriah Hall and Anderson Silva was supposed to be a masterclass of striking... well, it definitely was tactical as both guys hesitated to engage much for the earlier rounds. This allowed the Silva to win the first two rounds, which is quite a feat for a 45-year-old, but sadly it was more about Hall being underwhelming than Silva being great. When Hall started to open up in the 3rd round, he immediately hurt Silva and almost finished him. In fact, I think Herb wouldn't have done badly to stop the fight already then. Bell saving Silva only delayed the inevitable, as Hall caught him on the chin again next round and this time finished the fight with some hard shots on the ground, hard enough to have Silva grappling Herb in confusion. Even after being finished Silva still refused to commit to retirement. Perhaps the early rounds gave hi...

It's been a busy week in terms of fights. There was the Bellator, then the excellent ONE FC card, and now I gotta pull an all-nighter watching tape for the weekend's UFC fight? Well, let's get right into it. Main Event: Uriah Hall vs. Anderson Silva Hopefully this will be a spectacular striking showcase. Anderson is fucking 45 years old... which is a bad sign. Then again he is the kind of finesse striker who might be able to have that kind of fighting lifespan, as he has not been in big wars or relied so much on speed, power and endurance.  Still, he has taken damage, particularly in that last fight against Cannonier. Hall does not hit so hard, but one has to wonder about reflexes of guy of that age, and chin of guy that age. Since 2013, in 8 fights, Silva has only gotten 1 win on his record.  At least before the Cannonier fight, Silva had not been finished in 5 fights. Then again, Izzy probably respected him too much to really go for the KO. Let's be honest though, it...

I finally do well in a big event! What a big event it indeed was. Khabib cements his status as the GOAT and retires at the top. Main Card There was endless speculation that Justin was a whole new kind of challenge for Khabib, someone with power who can also stuff takedowns... Well honestly that sounds like Conor to me, and I still think McGregor was bigger challenge for Khabib than Justin ever was. However my prediction for the fight turned out decidedly wrong, for Justin did not get taken down off of first powershot or legkick that he landed. He made sure not to overcommit, remained fleetfooted and moved backwards so that Khabib could not get close to him. Problem is that it also limited how much damage he was landing on Khabib.  Gaethje did land some powershots on Khabib and rung his bell a couple of times, but overall it never seemed like Khabib was in big danger and there was not a whole combinations landing on Khabib. Also it became evident very soon that Justin had never foug...

Main Event: Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje It's very rare I feel strongly about any MMA fight before it happens. I have been so sure and so wrong so many times, that it has made me learn my lesson and to be cautious about too much certainty. Yet I can't really see what people are talking about when they think Gaethje will be such a tough test to Nurmagomedov. I rewatched that Tony fight and both of them looked very sloppy. Gaethje has improved, and fights very strategically, make no mistake he is a very good fighter, but it is all based off of strong base of toughness and powerful punches, not on some virtuoso skill. He is great fighter, but nothing extraordinary. That's what I feel it would take to beat Khabib. Cause Khabib has ragdolled many great fighters, fighters with solid takedown defences and dangerous striking. He laid a brutal beating on all of them. The key point is that Khabib is a master of closing the distance. And once he is on you, no one has managed...

Middle of the road event for me, decent in terms of entertainment value. Let's go through the fights and talk about the picks as usual. Main Card The main event was a very clean performance from Brian Ortega, who returned to action greatly improved after a long layoff. Korean Zombie hardly got anything going throughout the five rounds and got even hurt couple of times during the fight, including running into another spinning elbow. Still both guys made it to decision with wide scorecards for Ortega, who will surely get a title shot against Volkanovski for this.  In the co-main Andrade showed without a doubt she is one of the most powerful women in any weight division, closing the distance and pretty much ragdolling Chookagian before finishing her with bodyshots. Andrade is probably gonna challenge Valentina next, see her having a tough time in that fight, but who else is there anyway? Modestas Bukauskas faced a big step-up in competition against Jim Crute in his second UFC outing. ...

Main Event: Brian Ortega vs. Chan Sung Jung Since coming back from his military service, Korean Zombie has been on fire, finishing everyone in the 1st round, except for Yair - and even against him Zombie was cruising to a decision before succumbing to the freakiest of freak KOs. Ortega on the other hand was also storming though the division, nothing up 6 finishes in a row to face Max Holloway in one of the title fights of the ages. Max showed that he is the featherweight GOAT in that fight, badly beating up Ortega and we have not seen him since.  It's been nearly 2 years, and for a guy of Ortega's age, still feasibly only approaching his prime, it's a very long time. Probably a good call for his career longevity to have a long break, either way he has kept up his status as one of the top contenders of the division despite the break, but for us it means we don't know if Ortega is gonna show up vastly improved or what. Whoever wins this fight is pretty much guaranteed to ...

Great fight night, perhaps one of the greatest of all-time, very few dull fights, wars and KOs galore. Unfortunately for me my predictions turned out so-so.  Main Card The main event was great for everyone else except Marlon Moraes and his backers, though at least even the latter could enjoy Sandhagen's great performance. This was the event when most of us finally awakened to how good Sandhagen really was. It was also Moraes' worst performance in the octagon so far. He wasn't setting his shots up very well, just swinging hard powershots. Sandhagen got out of the way easily for the most part and hardly got touched up until he found the finishing combination that ended in a knockout with a kick. I thought Sandhagen would win via attrition but truth is he won pretty much every moment of the fight.  Similar was the story for Edson Barboza, whose only adversity against Amirkhani came in the 3rd as he got top controlled for a little, but even then he did not take much damage. Mak...

Main Event: Marlon Moraes vs. Cory Sandhagen I've bet against Sandhagen pretty much every step of the way, but last time around I bet for him, and of course he lost... So I raise up my hands, I can't figure if this guy is gonna win or not. Anyway Moraes has put on a pretty impressive resume in UFC. The guy finished Rivera, Sterling and Assuncao, all top contenders, in a row. Then he of course dominated Henry for the first round before badly fading under pressure in the title fight, and had a very tight fight with Aldo where public things he lost but he got the decision. Either way it was very close fight to call. Both are good strikers in the outside, I think Moraes might be the better grappler, but Sandhagen has the better stamina so if this fight goes deep, he will dominate all aspects of it. Still, it's a 50/50 chance cause Moraes can finish anyone early on.  I mean I understand why people are favoring Sandhagen here, but I just am not so impressed. I'm going with Mo...

 Name value was lacking on the card this time around, and the best fights were early on. It wasn't great in main card aside few good moments, but any event where I don't lose isn't too bad. Let's dissect the fights a bit as usual. Main Card In the main event I nailed the prediction perfectly. Holly showed that she is still a world class kickboxer (as far as females go anyway), comfortably staying on top of Aldana in striking, and also showing she is a complete mixed martial artist my mixing in some clinchwork and grappling where she was dominant.  Aldana was outmatched everywhere and didn't win a single round or a single facet of fighting. There is a big gulf in class between the very top of women's bantamweights and the rest of the pack when even declining Holm can put such dominant performance in. Co-Main wasn't too bad, but there wasn't much expectation in the first place. At least De Castro and Felipe slugged it out pretty hard until they started to ...