Look, the injury was definitely real, but Chito basically handed it to him on a silver platter. Back then, Chito wasn't even a top 5 fighter yet; he was just a stepping stone meant to build up Sugar Sean. Once he moved past that, he knocked him out, lost to Aldo, and then proceeded to absolutely dismantle everyone else thrown his way, including guys like Edgar, Font, and Cruz. But seriously, O'Malley is undeniably a high-level talent. On the flip side, Paddy clearly isn't at the UFC level just yet. Maybe he gets there one day, but he needs to actually start making progress first. For now, the UFC really needs to be careful and feed him much easier opponents for the next two or three years.
Mike Heck just laid out a killer argument for why this split decision is actually a massive win for Paddy. Think about it: if he had grabbed the outright win, the UFC would have felt pressured to throw him in against a ranked fighter almost immediately to capitalize on the momentum. And let’s be real, any of those guys would have folded him like a lawn chair. Heck mentioned that maybe Tony is the only one who wouldn't, but there's zero chance the UFC is handing him a fight with Tony anytime soon. Instead, since he looked pretty rough and basically lost in the eyes of the fans, there's no point in pushing him up the ladder right now. This actually buys him some breathing room. Now, Paddy can probably keep grinding out wins against second or third-tier opponents. Honestly, that might be the only way to actually save his UFC career.
That main event was weird, and the decision was even weirder. My first thought was just, "What the hell was that?" Then I sat down to actually count the rounds. In my book, Jan clearly takes rounds 2 and 3, while Ankalaev grabs the 4th and 5th. Honestly, I wouldn't even argue against giving Ankalaev a 10-8 in the fifth. So, if you toss out that first round, it’s a 3-2 split for Ankalaev. Everything hinges on that opening frame because it was such a toss-up. If you give the first round to Jan, it's a draw. If you give it to Ankalaev, he wins. There was no way for Jan to pull this one out.
And then, all three judges hand the first round to Jan. So, technically, it's a draw. But wait—one of those specialists gives the third to Ankalaev, and another scores the fifth as a 10-9. All things considered, the result isn't even that bad; the judging just sucked. 🤣
Taking a break now, I'm listening to Dana talk about Glover vs. Hill in the US for the title. He totally blew off both guys in today's main event.
Looking at the other fights... Rozen was what you'd expect. Paddy had a rough outing; in my opinion, he should've lost, though it wasn't a blatant enough robbery to start screaming about. Either way, I don't see him having a long career if he keeps taking clean shots like that right to the chin. Once that damage accumulates, he's going to start folding the moment someone sneezes on him. I feel bad for Buckley since Action man pulled the win. Action man is annoying. But Topuria? Man, he was incredible. I knew he was good—I've been following him since he showed up—but I didn't think he'd steamroll Mitchell like a freight train. Oh, and Ponzi looked like he was seconds away from a knockout a few times. He was swinging those wild haymakers, and I really thought he was done. Then out of nowhere, he lands a bomb and Morono is on the canvas. Insane.
I need to go rewatch Till. I only caught the last round, and now Dana is calling it the fight of the night.
It’s kind of a bummer that this old grudge between Pimblet and Topuria is taking center stage. Topuria actually has a much better matchup lined up for this weekend, and honestly, fighting Bryce Mitchell is a way more legitimate test than anything involving Pimblet. If you ask me, this is easily the most intriguing fight on the card—and besides the bantamweight title bout, it’s hands down the most important one on the slate (which isn't even a boring lineup, despite all those last-minute cancellations).
Forget the Spokesperson—he’s nothing but trouble. Nica is the one actually putting in the work around here, like a hamster on a wheel. But whatever, if the Spokesperson is out in Qatar, Nica better be around. If not, maybe Anderlon can step up. Someone really needs to get this sorted. 🙂 The forum is totally frozen in time; it's been stuck showing posts from two or three days ago like they just happened. Plus, this thread keeps vanishing and reappearing like some kind of cursed Holandez.
I’m guessing someone else has already noticed this, but just in case: the forum is absolutely trashed tonight. It probably just needs someone to go feed the hamster running our servers, but I’m right in the middle of following a pretty intense situation, so please get on this ASAP. Thanks. 😁
There’s no way he isn't ready. You don't just sit there mid-camp for a title fight with two weeks left on the clock and not be prepared. I'm not buying it. It’s probably more about the matchup. Ankalaev's style likely gives him a massive headache, and he's probably terrified of taking an embarrassing loss this late in his career. Look, I'll be straight with you—we all love Glover, the guy is a legend and has done incredible things, but after this nonsense of dodging a title shot right in the middle of training camp? Honestly, it might be time for him to just call it quits and retire gracefully. I don't see what he gains by picking up wins against easier opponents. He'll be a year older by next year, and even if he cleans those fights up, stepping in against Ankalaev later will look even worse. Maybe he's banking on Jan doing the dirty work for him. It could just be cold, hard math.
Besides, Glover isn't the first one to pull a move like this. Remember when Germaine de Randamie lost her belt because she refused to step into the cage with Cris Cyborg? She could handle Amanda Nunes twice, but against Cyborg? No thanks. When someone genuinely scares you, they scare you. These fighters are human beings too. This kind of thing happens way more often than people realize. Fighters dodge fights constantly. Glover just had the terrible luck of having the whole thing blow up in the public eye (just like it did for Germaine back in the day).
According to this, it’s all because of a shoulder injury. Now we’re looking at Jan and Ankalaev fighting for the belt since White says Glover wasn't even feeling that matchup.
Here’s the full lineup. https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/11/...onship-rematch On paper, the Main card looks pretty solid. You've got three fights that actually matter and two more that should be a blast to watch.
It’s kind of wild that Buckley and Curtis are stuck on the Preliminary card when they honestly look way more exciting than half the fights higher up the list.
Man, this PDF is top-tier! The crew here is constructive, chill, and low-key. Bullshit is so rare that when someone actually pulls something like today's little stunt, both sides jump in to give their two cents. 🙏 🙏
You should definitely check out the Warriors if you haven't seen them in a minute. I just rewatched it and man, even thirty years after my first viewing, the movie still hits hard. It feels totally different now, but it's still awesome. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0080120/
Yeah, I don't recall metalheads ever being anyone's specific target either. They definitely weren't getting picked on the way punks or skinheads were.
Man, Ferrari absolutely blew it today. You lose championships when you make mistakes like this. Look, mechanical failures and crashes happen—you have to factor those in—but a top-tier team shouldn't just be throwing away points like this.
I honestly don't think the UFC is going to pair Justin up with any top-tier grapplers for a while. It just kills his market value, and I don't see why they’d bother risking that. It makes way more sense to send him back against someone like Dustin, or maybe even a matchup with Conor or Diaz. We're talking about high-stakes, entertaining fights that pull huge numbers and actually give him a fighting chance.
Jessica Gonzalez said:We’re talking about kids who are only three or four years old—most of them probably still using pacifiers—yet here we are discussing things like capoeira and water polo. I guess it might be a bit premature.
Look, even in a city like Seattle, there’s at least one Capoeira studio that runs classes specifically for four-year-olds.
At that age, they could totally get into Capoeira. It’s killer for motor skills and honestly just a blast, provided you can sniff out a gym that isn't some weird cult. Down the road, maybe look into wrestling or Judo.
Noah Roberts46 said:This FNa is absolute garbage. 🤣
stormytiger4 said:Total trash, seriously. I've actually thought about skipping this entire fight week just to protest how they keep stacking cards with zero interesting fights, but honestly, I doubt Dan would even notice my little protest, so why bother? 😂
brisktrucker51 said:Yeah, and the next one looks just as bad—Arlovski in the co-main. 😁
How does that even work? ESPN drops a massive bag on them, so now they have to put together an FN every single weekend no matter what? And that APEX setup with maybe 50 people watching is just painful.
Exactly! Jon Nash nailed it in his articles and especially during his guest spot on the Morning Kombat podcast. We all watch UFC through the lens of PPV events, so we get pissed when they build a card with one decent fight and 24 nobodies in the rest. But the UFC's economic logic is different. They get paid by ESPN (and sponsors too) based on a set number of shows and fights per year. So, these dead events are actually huge money makers. They're basically just paying peanuts to fighters who make next to nothing—$12.5k per fight is the new floor, and I bet most guys on these cards are hovering right around there—while the big money comes in as a flat rate regardless of whether they're putting on stars or a bunch of unknowns.
What even defines a woman? I mean, we're talking about some American pop star here, and honestly, those first two photos look pretty solid. But if it’s actually the same person, she looks like a total disaster in that red dress. Latex works, though. 👍