Jakro's MMA Musings

Year ends with an event that was like many others before it, ups and downs within the event itself. I tend to either win big in the beginning only to lose it all in the end, or lose big in the beginning only to barely recover. Main Card Derrick Lewis did what he always does in the main event. Patient approach with not much happening in the fight until he managed to touch Daukaus, and when this guy touches you, you are going unconscious. As for Daukaus, still can't really tell how good he is, but he certainly didn't get much going on before getting dropped. Belal Muhammad did what was always the most likely thing, he was one of the big values on the card and the guy who really saved my night. Nonstop, relentless grappling to not allow Wonderboy and moments to strike on the outside - still some touch and go moments whenever there was a little bit of space.  For Wonderboy, surely the title shot is dead now, all he can beat at this point would be striking specialists who refuse to ...

 Main Event: Chris Daukaus vs. Derrick Lewis To be fair, I have not really made up my mind if I think Daukaus is good or not, but it doesn't really matter, cause Lewis is the type of guy to consistently beat guys leagues above his own skill level. Since I don't feel any strong way either way I'd rather be hoping for the fun Lewis KO than anything else. It might be that for all the experience that Lewis has this could also turn out to be an easy fight, after all Daukaus hasn't really beaten anyone of note yet.  Might be also worth it to bet the ITD, then again Daukaus might just play it safe and try to point fight Lewis. Definitely wouldn't get on it for too chalky odds.  Prediction: Derrick Lewis via KO Confidence in winner: 2 Co-Main Event: Belal Muhammad vs. Stephen Thompson The Karate Hottie is one of the most likable fighters on the roster, but is already 38 and coming off of his most disappointing performance in recent memory against Burns. Belal should be able...

It was another event where I stared into the abyss of going bust still going into the final fight, yet somehow ended up only losing 4 units. I concluded my tweeting after the event with the words "I am not stupid, just lazy and undisciplined", which I guess doesn't sound so good either, but you can fix bad discipline and laziness, whereas stupid cannot be fixed. Let's go through the fights individually and see the error in my ways. Main Card One fight where I get absolutely full marks is the one that saved the night, the main event. My analysis, as succinct and simple as it was, was spot on, and all my picks hit as well. There were some fights on the card where I got the analysis pretty much right but still ended up losing everything, but let's get to that in a bit. So Oliveira and Poirier were very competitive on the feet, it was probably 60-40 for Poirier but very close, both were dealing ton of damage to each other in the early going and were unwilling to conce...

Main Event: Dustin Poirier vs. Charles Oliveira Honestly would expect a good, close fight. Kind of a similar dynamic to Khabib fight for Poirier that it ought to be very competitive on the feet, but Oliveira has big edge in grappling. No, I am not saying he is as good as Khabib, but he has an advantage, just in a different manner than Khabib does.  If it does end up being extended stand-up affair, I do give clear edge to Dustin, but it's not like Chucky Olives will be completely outgunned either. I just do think that he will be at durability disadvantage here. Either way both guys are very hittable and like to throw a lot of volume,  if this somehow goes the distance it will be very violent.  Even in purely stand-up I do think Charles can win at least one round, and who's to say he can't get this fight to ground at least couple of times to edge close rounds? Honestly bit baffled how you  can have Charles as a dog here. Only slightly worse on the feet but with clear g...

Another fight night ends with me breaking even but with poor record of mostly getting picks wrong. Let's go through the fights as usual and let's try to figure out what's going wrong constantly in my analysis. Main Card As far the main event goes, I don't think lot went wrong in my analysis. I did rate Aldo as the better fighter and expected him to be able to compromise Font to some extent early, that being said I did expect the first rounds to be closer... In a way Aldo even kind of underperformed for he did not really get off that much in the early going, losing most of the first two rounds - but he had the big moments nearly finishing Font with big shots and thus entered fifth round having feasibly won all rounds. Font did try to go for the late finish but because Aldo had consistently managed to hurt him, that had made him unable to keep high enough pace to really tire out Aldo - don't get me wrong, Aldo was knackered by the end, but he still had enough to him t...

Main Event: Rob Font vs. Jose Aldo Banger of a fight to finish off a fight night that actually has quite a bit of low-key bangers. Always find Font's fights difficult to predict, and similar thing for Aldo. Perhaps cause Font is definitely high level but not without his flaws. Still he seems to have been really putting it all together last few fights, really gave a bad beatdown to Cody Garbrandt. Aldo is elite though, but elite pretty much for only two rounds, then he will start fading.  So in boxing Font has both the skill advantage and reach advantage, but given legkicking Aldo is back I think I expect the initial striking match to be close. Aldo will need to fight with urgency though given his limited gas tank and really put some early damage on Font. Font needs to either get KOd or seriously compromised early on for this fight to be close.  Thing is, Aldo managed to seriously compromise Yan in their match, so I can't help but to feel odds are selling Aldo short here. It...