Didn't Dana say that Whittaker didn't want to fight Izzy again after the lad said he would fight him in a car park as an old man but just wanted to finally not miss Christmas with his newborn child, after missing it with the others? Dana is an absolute cnut who routinely talks shit. To this day he won't accept Khabib retiring and I hope that Khabib not only retires but goes to Bellator just to feck him.
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Nah mate Aljo started well, but beyond the first round and a half, it was all Yan.
As usual, I like everything to sink in before I comment. My thoughts below:
Sad to see Benavidez now becoming gatekeeper.
Happy to see Cruz win but that performance shows that he'd get eaten up at the top end of the division. If he didn't have so many injuries, I truly believe he would be in the GOAT conversation. His post fight interview was hilarious. Especially when Rogan says "this is politics" to which Dom responds "no it's not, it's Monster energy drink"
Also glad TJ Dillashaws little inbred brother lost that fight to Dom. fecking weasel.Islam needs to get a proper ranked opponents soon. He will dismantle these unranked guys, it's pointless. Would like to see him fight Ferguson as the next best thing to the fight that never was.
Yan, what a dumb feck
Aljo was clearly fading and I feel Yan would have stopped him in the 5th. Instead, he decided to become Sagat and give Aljo a Tiger Knee. What an absolute brainless moron, especially raising his hand at the end. I don't care what the corner said, he is the champion and has had many fights, he should know the rules. Think he'll easily get that belt back though. Poor Sandhagen 
Megan Anderson had that look I used to have back in the day when I got caught skipping school and I heard my dad just walk into the house, ready to give me a hiding. Let's kill that division now.
Glad Israel felt that LEGENDARY POLISH POWER! Weight classes exist for a reason. But if you were listening to this instead of watching, Rogan would have you believe that Israel was laying down a clinic, fecking biased ape that Rogan is. But this doesn't mean Izzy is some shitty fighter that got exposed. I mean, look what he did to Whittaker and Costa, he's still a good fighter.
Overall, a decent card but it didn't live up to the hype in my opinion.
Amanda Nunes would knock me the feck out and that scares me.
I hear a lot of people wanting Aljo to get nominated for an Oscar... I don't know if he was acting or not but I swear I've seen others recover faster from being knocked out cold.
Didn't Aljo himself recover faster from being KOd by Moraes?
Didn't Aljo himself recover faster from being KOd by Moraes?
It’s a tough one. He got a very precise knee straight to the temple that he wasn’t expecting. It is a fight ender and any of us would have spent the night in the ER. So it’s hard to criticize and the calling it off shouldn’t have even been debated.I hear a lot of people wanting Aljo to get nominated for an Oscar... I don't know if he was acting or not but I swear I've seen others recover faster from being knocked out cold.
Didn't Aljo himself recover faster from being KOd by Moraes?
On the other hand, the throwing himself about and anguish probably went on a bit longer than it needed to on reflection and might have just crept into the territory of suspicious, now I have seen it back a few times.
Regardless of the validity of his reaction or not, it was 100% the best move for Aljo.I hear a lot of people wanting Aljo to get nominated for an Oscar... I don't know if he was acting or not but I swear I've seen others recover faster from being knocked out cold.
Didn't Aljo himself recover faster from being KOd by Moraes?
He gets the PPV percentage of the rematch as champion, even if it’s a completely undeserved title, and there’ll be even more attention on the fight as a result. He also gets another training camp to try and figure out the Yan puzzle because he clearly hadn’t in this fight.
Aljo will get shit from certain sections of the MMA community but you’ve just gotta look at Anthony Smith for the benefits of fighting on in that scenario. He got widely praised for his toughness but Smith didn’t get a rematch, didn’t get the PPV money, lost 2 of his next 3 and isn’t anywhere near that kind of payday again.
DC said it best in commentary - Aljo has himself and his family to think about first and foremost.
Having said that, it definitely did look like some good acting after a while
I agree with all you've said but like you also say at the end, that's some academy awards shit at the end. Reminded me of a young DenzelRegardless of the validity of his reaction or not, it was 100% the best move for Aljo.
He gets the PPV percentage of the rematch as champion, even if it’s a completely undeserved title, and there’ll be even more attention on the fight as a result. He also gets another training camp to try and figure out the Yan puzzle because he clearly hadn’t in this fight.
Aljo will get shit from certain sections of the MMA community but you’ve just gotta look at Anthony Smith for the benefits of fighting on in that scenario. He got widely praised for his toughness but Smith didn’t get a rematch, didn’t get the PPV money, lost 2 of his next 3 and isn’t anywhere near that kind of payday again.
DC said it best in commentary - Aljo has himself and his family to think about first and foremost.
Having said that, it definitely did look like some good acting after a while
Sterling clearly milked the situation and won't get much sympathy for doing so. The entire division now has to wait until a rematch takes place because of last night's feckery.
And she'd do it while holding her baby in one arm.
Maybe that's how they make her fights competitive.
The formula for beating Nunes has already been established in both Shevchenko fights, which is why there's a chance Valentina will win the next one.
Forget knocking you out. If she decided she wanted to kill you, she could.
Would you guys get annoyed if anyone said Cyborg is still the GOAT ?
Also, is the Jones-Adesanya fight truly dead ? Still holding out hope it happens... but I feel like Israel blew it. He should have pushed for that after the Whittaker win. He would've been chosen instead of Dom Reyes.
Also, is the Jones-Adesanya fight truly dead ? Still holding out hope it happens... but I feel like Israel blew it. He should have pushed for that after the Whittaker win. He would've been chosen instead of Dom Reyes.
The only one of the rest of the division with any hope is TJ, who may be shite off the drugs. No one else in that division right now has a chance against Yan.
Nunes is by far the GOAT and it isn't debateable. She finished the two others in the conversation in the first round.
Izzy was never going to beat Jon, ever. Jon would take him down and beat him relentlessly. I'm happy it never happened because Jones is so much of a prick that he might have drawn it out and basically ended Izzy's career. If you can't defend against Jan on the ground then you have no hope against Jon. Izzy needs to stop letting Rob clear out the division and fight him again. Its stupid that he got to fight Jan when Rob had cleared out two top 5 fighters. Double champs are stupid as hell unless its Nunes who can actually defend both.
Yeah, it was a pretty even fight in the first two rounds. However, at one point, I think it was in the second round, after Jan hit Israel with a jab, DC (I think it was DC) made some comment, something like "Jan is still in this fight" as if he was being incredibly outclassed leading up to that point. The commentary as a whole was kind of set a weird tone before Jan started to really take over the fight.
I like MMA but I don't have a great grasp on who the "stars" are besides the top 5 big names or so, but is there really a big draw in the light heavyweight division after Jones moved up to heavyweight? Big personalities seem to sell more fights and Jan seems like a relatively quiet guy. Plus, the division as a whole seems a little bit boring without Jones. I don't think the middleweight division is exactly stacked with talent either, but there are a few more names I recognize, coming from something of an outsider, ie, Whittaker, Till, Costa.
Maybe the UFC was hoping Israel could move up and fill the void
in my eyes, Cyborg was roided whilst others weren't so I wouldn't call her GOAT. Put the drugs to one side and she still got sparked by the actual GOAT.
The Jones Izzy fight is dead for now. Most likely for good too. It won't have the buzz that it would have if Izzy best Jan. A lot needs to happen now for that fight to go ahead and the ball is in Bones' court, and I doubt he'll ever give Izzy what he wants
Maybe Sandhagen? I know he lost to Aljo but anyone can lose a fight. He's been a monster outside of that defeat... I pray TJ gets his head kicked in on his return.
LHW has been in a dire state for a long time, even with Jones in it. I think most athletes of that size probably go to American Football or some other sport... I say this because the talent pool there over the last few years has been abysmal. Doesn't help that Jones was so ahead of everyone and never looked like losing (and got the judges on his side when he did look like losing
) and these same guys are now there whilst he has gone to HW. We all know Jones would dismantle Jan if he decided to come back.It's the same thing that happened with FW when McGregor left to LW. We all knew that whoever is the champ at that time, they never beat McGregor so it's hard to get excited for a while. Didn't help that Aldo got the belt. Only after Max went on a big run that people forgot about McGregor.
LHW used to be one of the best divisions but I can't see it every getting back to its glory days.
Agree. A lot of people seem to have picked up on the odd commentary. I wonder what fight Rogan was watching. In my opinion, he was considerably worse than even DC.
"Oooohh"
"Guys....oooooh....look at that pop! Ooooohhh"
This barely constitutes commentary, and I'm not sure why and how the UFC is allowing someone who is comfortably past his best, clearly jaded, and no longer good enough to commentate, to ruin events for the viewing audience.
"Oooooh. Oooohh look at those jabs guys, I like them! Oooh".
I don't really listen to JRE anymore, but I do subscribe to his YouTube channel and he does seem to still pretty consistently have a number of UFC fighters and trainers on his show. And at least from the thumbnails of the videos, he still seems to be talking about MMA. I have to wager that his podcast is still pretty good free advertising for the UFC - so maybe continuing to keep him employed is beneficial.
I was surprised to see how unpopular he is on r/MMA though. Most people there seem to think he doesn't really study the matchups or the fighters before fight night and has seemed to take less and less interest in actually knowing the fighters. It was also funny how one of his questions post-fight for Jan involved some analysis based on his former career fighting at middleweight, which he never actually did. I understand if you don't know about the undercard, but you should probably know about the main event fighters.
It is a 'dead' division right now without Jon but has the potential to be good. In fairness one of the things that made it dead was having a long haul champion, who is now gone. Its like when people called Flyweight dead because DJ was just so far ahead of anyone else. I think LHW will be better for Jon leaving as it allows more competition. Although Jan is excellent but maybe more beatable than Jon was in his prime.
Middleweight is in a strange position like featherweight where there are two guys who are clearly above the rest. That is especially if Rob beats Costa, which I think he will. You then end up with a number 2 who beat all the best guys in the division but has a bad loss to the champ. I think Rob can do something different in the rematch but I still expect Izzy to win but the rematch should have happened by now. No way should Rob have to beat 3 top 5 guys in order to fight Izzy again. We will likely end up like Max and Volk in their division where Rob and Izzy are both too good but Rob struggles to beat Izzy.
Edit: Glover was by far the most deserving of a LHW title shot over Izzy. Izzy should have fought Rob (who earned another chance) and Jan should have fought Glover. But money talks in the UFC.
That was tough to watch because as you said, Jan is true reigning light heavyweight champion so there isn't really an excuse to be that ignorant when it comes to his background.
Rogan: "You were a middle weight Jan. But then..uh...you gained weight! You moved up!"
Jan: "I never fight middle weight."
Rogan:"Uhhh"
Jan: "I never fight middleweight before. All my life I fight light heavyweight"
Rogan: "Okay but here's the thing. Were you surprised at how..."
You might have a point with regards to his success in the podcasting world. Maybe his popularity is why he's always going to be given a commentary seat. I think I read that it was the most popular podcast on the planet, in some article. So his viewership must be astronomical. At the same time, I wonder whether his focus and attention has been somewhat diverted from MMA as a result. That would explain why he doesn't seem as in tune with the fighters as he used to be.
Joe Rogan is like the old PES commentator, reacting to things that aren't happening.
"OHHH!! HE'S ROCKED. HE'S HURT REAL BAD LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. HE'S IN A HORRIBLE POSITION. IT'LL BE OVER ANY SECOND NOW"
- Says this as the fighters touch gloves.
"OHHH!! HE'S ROCKED. HE'S HURT REAL BAD LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. HE'S IN A HORRIBLE POSITION. IT'LL BE OVER ANY SECOND NOW"
- Says this as the fighters touch gloves.
The main event commentary from all of them was a joke. They clearly wanted Izzy to win and wouldn't give Jan any credit. The first round was close and the way they made out was they'd just witnessed a murder infront of them, was odd.
It's especially annoying knowing they are in an empty gym and the judges can hear everything they are shouting. I normally like DC and my favorite is Bisping.
The UFC hasn't been Rogan's main earner for years so that's probably why he's less informed/interested nowadays. He's just heavily associated with the brand, while his podcasts get millions of eyes and ears every week so he'll be kept around as long as he wants, choosing his gigs.
White said post fight that Jan said to him when he was putting the belt on ‘You don’t believe in me.’ There probably is a bit of that with him in that he doesn't feel he gets the respect he deserves, the fact Joe Rogan thought he'd fought at middleweight probably only emphasises that to him.
The same happened with Stipe. When he was scheduled to fight Ngannou, if you were a casual and watched their promotion leading up to that fight, you would believe that Ngannou was the champ and Stipe won a raffle to fight him.
This can also be said for Ronda v. Nunes, but on that occasion you can kind of see why Ronda was the main story.
I love it when a UFC hype train is derailed
.Rogan with Goldberg actually worked when it was just those two, primarily because Goldberg was a neutral announcer which allowed Rogan (and his hobbyist jiujitsu background) to play the analyst role that helped explain things with a bit more detail to casual viewers. That however stopped working when viewers became more informed and the UFC let Goldberg go and added the likes of DC, Bisping, Cruz, Felder and others into the role Rogan used to play - which makes him look uninformed compared to what DC has to say about something. I'm sure Dana likes to keep his pal around for branding purposes, especially after Rogan has become a celebrity in his own right, but its sort of getting to the stage where he needs to cut him loose - which i suspect will happen soon as more fans get annoyed with his nonsensical commentary.
They really need to drop him to bring more legitimacy to the sport. He sounds like an oaf compared to the likes of Felder or especially Cruz, who is not afraid of correcting Rogan.
Rogan: I think Bandhagen needs to explode out of this.
Cruz: No Joe, Sandhagen needs to get the underhooks and control the position.
Rogan: um... OHHH!! HE'S ROCKED, POP POP POP, WOWWWW!!!!
Cruz facepalms.
Whilst Dana obviously should be impartial I can understand why he isn't. Ronda is far more marketable than Nunes, ditto with Ngannou (especially as Stipe has said he doesn't like doing media etc) and Izzy has potential to be a big star in UFC terms and Jan is probably going to retire in the next few years.The same happened with Stipe. When he was scheduled to fight Ngannou, if you were a casual and watched their promotion leading up to that fight, you would believe that Ngannou was the champ and Stipe won a raffle to fight him.
This can also be said for Ronda v. Nunes, but on that occasion you can kind of see why Ronda was the main story.
I love it when a UFC hype train is derailed
I agree with the last bit, I don't even know why! Should want them to do well as they are the future of the sport, just something funny about it. Hope Chimaev is next.
It's weird how he has had the job for so long, he's basically a famous fan that's it. Be like us having Mick Hucknall commentating with Martin Tyler.
Originally I actually had Jan winning 49-46. I don't tend to get swayed by Rogan's obvious Dana White fed bias. I had Israel winning the third.
I just rematch it without commentary. I'd nearly call in a 50-45 to be honest. The 1st 2nd and 3rd rounds were razor tight but I'd probably give all 3 to Jan.
I don't think Izzy throwing feints and Jan reacting deserves points. It looked like Jan out struck him in every round. Izzy might be more accurate, but he doesn't look like he throws with much power at that weight, nor did he throw an awful lot.
Rogan really does influence a lot of people's opinion based on what he says. He has always just picked favourites and run with them no matter what. His favouritism for example towards Rousey was nauseating.
DC, Felder, Bisping and Cruz are all far better commentators as well as being much more likeable.
I just rematch it without commentary. I'd nearly call in a 50-45 to be honest. The 1st 2nd and 3rd rounds were razor tight but I'd probably give all 3 to Jan.
I don't think Izzy throwing feints and Jan reacting deserves points. It looked like Jan out struck him in every round. Izzy might be more accurate, but he doesn't look like he throws with much power at that weight, nor did he throw an awful lot.
Rogan really does influence a lot of people's opinion based on what he says. He has always just picked favourites and run with them no matter what. His favouritism for example towards Rousey was nauseating.
DC, Felder, Bisping and Cruz are all far better commentators as well as being much more likeable.
100% agree. Rogan is getting so much stick for his commentary that he might just walk anyway. His podcast has just gotten bigger. He hardly needs the exposure anymore.
I agree with the first 80% of this but I don’t know that Dana will cut him loose. Rogan still holds a lot of sway with casuals-as someone else said he still influences a lot of people- and those people, I’m guessing mostly white men of a certain age group who are also Rogan’s main audience- are still key to the big big draws.
The one thing that appears to be a more recent trend now (again, I haven't been that avid a watcher over the years) and something that really annoys me is, with guys like Rogan, DC and Cruz, instead of simply explaining what is going on, they constantly try to outdo each other by predicting what will happen next.
I guess I don't mind the ex-fighters explaining, at times, how one action might set up another, but they all seem to be so adamant about predicting what will happen next rather than simply explaining the action or shutting the feck up. How many times has DC incorrectly said "That's it, its over" during a fight after a series of punches or a hold being placed on a fighter just for that fighter to subsequently recover?
Firstly, "Petr ugly potato Yan" made me laugh. Such a pre-school insult but funny.
I don't agree that Izzy won that fight but I agree with that end bit where he was saying about being well-rounded. We saw that with his (Cejudo) fight against Marlon. Izzy isn't as well rounded as Bones and I can't see how he could beat Bones in any way. If he couldn't handle Jan's wrestling, he will get demolished by Bones.
RE: The commentary on the main event, this encapsulates it perfectly
I just realized that Dana White has a Boston accent.RE: The commentary on the main event, this encapsulates it perfectly
Both Rogan and Dana are from Mass (or at least lived there for lengthy stretches growing up).
I don't know how I missed it, it's so obvious and now I can't not hear it.