Topic: The UFC Info and Prediction Thread - page 24. (Read 93743 times)

Uh, dunno...  I'm thinking about it judging from their record and not from who's mouth is open.  So it's more likely that the Taira could fade at R4 imho.  But I guess we'll never really know. 

Next main event looks like it will be another sketchy one.  If Whittaker loses here then I think he won't be give another crack at the title.

Date:  Saturday, June 22
Main Card (ESPN/ESPN+):  3:00pm EST
Preliminary Card (ESPN/ESPN+):  12:00pm EST
Venue:  Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Live Streams:



Main Card (ESPN/ESPN+)
Middleweight:  Robert Whittaker vs Ikram Aliskerov   
Heavyweight:  Sergei Pavlovich vs Alexander Volkov
Welterweight:  Kelvin Gastelum vs Daniel Rodriguez
Featherweight:  Muhammad Naimov vs Melsik Baghdasaryan
Light Heavyweight:  Johnny Walker vs Volkan Oezdemir

Preliminary Card (ESPN/ESPN+)
Middleweight:  Sharabutdin Magomedov vs Joilton Lutterbach
Lightweight:  Nasrat Haqparast vs Jared Gordon
Welterweight:  Rinat Fakhretdinov vs Nicolas Dalby
Bantamweight:  Kang Kyung-ho vs Muin Gafurov            
Light Heavyweight:  Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs Brendson Ribeiro
Bantamweight:  Xiao Long vs Lee Chang-ho

We can say that Tatsuro Taira is built differently but that eye poke is really consistent I really don't know if it was intentional or if Alex Perez was making the other eye pokes an alibi from that 1st initial eye poke because there is an angle that Taira's finger didn't really touch Perez's eyes, but that body triangle was initially the reason why Perez knee snaps from carrying the weight of Tatsuro Taira and that lean back was the time when his knee was injured and for sure Taira has used the gravity on his side to win this fight, Taira was like Naoya Inoue in the MMA industry.


Yup! That 1st eye poke was a legit eye poke but those other eye pokes I really don't know if that really connects or if Alex Perez making it up because there are angles on the fight that it seems that the fingers were too far from Perez's eyes this is just what I have seen from the footage that I have watched and initially, it seems that Perez is just making excuse for him to take a breather but yeah Tatsuro Taira was really something that body triangle was really something and he is not letting go of Perez at all while Perez is still standing up Taira cling for dear life and that is when the snap was heard by the ref as they are going down the canvas and yes even though Taira was exceptional he isn't ready for a title shot I agree on that,

That UFC Fight Night Saudi Arabia that we are having this week is like a Main Event The fight card was really stock of great fights and if not for Khamzat Chimaev's illness this would have been really an incredible fight but maybe this is what he needed his last fight against Kamaru Usman was not that great and I think that he should have done even better but maybe because of this illness his cardio was really affected by it, Said Nurmagomedov also withdrew from this card, but for me, this is really a stock card.

Dont forget that Taira eye poked several times. It was 2 or 3 of them. Why dont ref gave him a warning? Even if the fight goes full distance, Taira must have got -1 point for that, and it would be 10-8 first round or draw in second. It was going to split win for Perez. It looks like Taira is not #5, hope he wont get a title fight as a next fight, because eyes pokes and a win due to injury - imho that should not give a greed light for a title fight.

So bad that Chimaev is out. Now Aliskerov is facing his first opponent from top15, and suddenly a #3, former champ. Aliskerov must have fought agains Muniz last weekend, instead got Whittaker on short notice. Yes, I call it short notice, because he trained for Muniz who has 15/24 wins are by sub, now his opponent is totally different.

^ 3 Judges gave R1 to Perez. The knee injury just sealed it though. If it didn't happen, I think the fight would go up to 4th round, and eventually, Perez would gas out, he started to open his mouth at R1 already. Body triangle and then bent backward while Taira lifts Perez's leg to take him down, haven't seen that before.


Oh no. It's possible. And Dana couldn't do something about it. He badly needs the marketing now that PFL and OneFC are increasingly grabbing fans. UFC even needs to find someone to replace The Korean Zombie's popularity. We'll see if Trump is on UFC 303, if not then something is going on.

^  It's possible cos why does he even want to come back and fight in the cage again?  He has done everything that needed to be done in the UFC...  Fame, money and winning a couple of belts.  He prolly gets an itch to get back from time to time but when it's time to actually do it, he flaked out...  Just like he did Chandler.

Anyway here are the results...  Perez clearly won R1 and it was unfortunate that he blew his knee in R2.  It would've been 1 - 1 going to R3 imho as Taira was riding Perez's back for most of the minutes in R2. 

Tatsuro Taira def Alex Perez  Injury R2
Miles Johns def Douglas Silva de Andrade  UD
Lucas Almeida def Timothy Cuamba  UD
Brady Hiestand def Garrett Armfield  SUB R3
Asu Almabayev def Jose Johnson  UD
Adam Fugitt def Josh Quinlan  SD
Nate Maness def Jimmy Flick  UD
Gabriella Fernandes def Carli Judice  SD
Westin Wilson def Jeka Saragih  SUB R1
Melquizael Costa def Shayilan Nuerdanbieke  SUB R3
Josefine Lindgren Knutsson def Julia Polastri  UD

Shame that McGregor will not fight soon, I was looking forward to seeing him in The Octagon are such a long absence.

Part of me is a bit suspicious of his claims of injury, we will never know but his lifestyle outside of The Octagon maybe brings a question about how hungry he is to resume his fighting career. We’ll never know as he won’t admit it.

Have you noticed that Sean Strickland has disappeared from the radars? He used to be all around, specially after beating Izzy. I remember it was 4-1 by rounds against Izzy. Which means it wasnt a lucky win. Then he lost to Dricus, but it was a split win by Dricus. And Dana told it was 3-2 Strickland if he was a judge. (and it would be fair to have a rematch). The Strickland won Costa. Where is Strickland now? Rarely we see him on media today.

Found such conspiracy theory Strickland isnt very smart when he talk. He blame all that LGBTQ stuff for example. Now take a look where UFC fights are often aired. ESPN. ESPN is owned by Disney mostly. Wiki say that The Walt Disney Company has been criticized for making purportedly sexist and racist content in the past, putting LGBT+ elements in their films, and not having enough LGBT+ representation.. So there is a theory, that Disney ordered to shut Stricklands mouth Otherwise UFC might get some troubles.

^  I still don't know how some people rate McGregor higher than Chandler.  But the match was supposed to be in 170, so maybe McGregor has a slight advantage.  But with the three year lay off, dunno...  And he's been partying a lot.  Lol.

But yeah...  Time to move on.


Oof that's nasty bro.

Anyway, here are the weigh in results.  All fighters made weight except one which was cancelled.

Alex Perez (126) vs Tatsuro Taira (126)
Miles Johns (135) vs Douglas Silva de Andrade (136)
Lucas Almeida (146) vs Timmy Cuamba (145)
Garrett Armfield (135.5) vs Brady Hiestand (135)
Asu Almabayev (125.5) vs Jose Johnson (126)
Adam Fugitt (170) vs Josh Quinlan (169.5)
Tagir Ulanbekov (129.5)* vs Joshua Van (125.5)
Jimmy Flick (126) vs Nate Maness (125.5)
Gabriella Fernandes (126) vs Carli Judice (125.5)
Jeka Saragih (145) vs Westin Wilson (146)
Melquizael Costa (145) vs Shayilan Nuerdanbieke (145.5)
Josefine Knutsson (114.5) vs Julia Polastri (116)

*Missed weight

UFC Fight Night:  Perez vs Taira Weigh Ins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3wvZpPyIMU

UFC Fight Night:  Perez vs Taira Face Offs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d603LO7r6b4

Not a pretty place to be for him right now, mentally. After the fight was officially announced he gave some interviews, laughing at all the haters, acting all triumphant etc, and here we are...
I honestly don't know what I would do if I were in his shoes. McGregor is a perfect match for him: a huge payday + Chandler is a favourite to win (some bookies disagree, but we all know the truth), and he's desperate for a win right now, so cutting the losses and accepting another fight does not sound like a good option. In any high-profile lightweight fight, he'll be an underdog, and if he were to lose, the chances of him getting any big-money match would be very slim.

Yes, he is a good fighter and always puts himself as the villain in the fight and that is very interesting, it makes me angry to see him haha.

And about the Poatan fight, it was really brave to put everything on the line again in such a short time even though he was injured.

It was all Jason Herzog's fault but please let's not give him all the hate as he is just doing his job well he misunderstood the situation and Jared Cannonier can still take the beating for sure it was all he could think of there are a lot of referees that made such mistake aswell and not just only he so let's not put all the blame and bash his personality and criticize what he is doing,

Anyway, the damage has been done Jared Cannonier can not do anything at all for having such weird allergies after the fight a lot has happened even both fighters don't really deserve such criticism.


It was all Jason Herzog's fault but please let's not give him all the hate as he is just doing his job well he misunderstood the situation and Jared Cannonier can still take the beating for sure it was all he could think of there are a lot of referees that made such mistake aswell and not just only he so let's not put all the blame and bash his personality and criticize what he is doing,

Anyway, the damage has been done Jared Cannonier can not do anything at all for having such weird allergies after the fight a lot has happened even both fighters don't really deserve such criticism.

I am telling everyone that Khabib finished his MMA carrier a long time ago, everything after that was living off his old glory.
Main event for that card now is Pereira vs Prochazka and I really think this is going to be much better to watch.
Dana now has to sell everyone new story that McGregor will fight in winter or in 2025 

Chandler risked everything for this fight, waited for a long time, and then this happened.
The main event now is Jiri vs Alex 2 which we already know what will again be the result. Dana recycled this match. Not what the fans wanted to see, the Irishmen booked to travel to Vegas for Conor. Anyway, it's a shirt notice for both, but Alex is well-rounded and has been moving from different weight classes since his time in kickboxing and in UFC, he knows what he is doing.  

Jiri in his latest activity, was cutting down to be on MW. He was trying to make around 2-3 fights a year so he decided to move down. Dana just granted his wish but fighting Pereira again is a terrible matchup.

A career-threatening injury he had since July 2021, the last time he fought a UFC fight. Quitting to fight a UFC fight will save him a lot and his legacy will be kept as one of the most respected UFC fighters.

The Youtube video here

Bummer...  I think we'll finally see Chim lose.  Lolol.


Yup...  He thought he was finally gonna get paid, but no.  Lol.  It's like when you already have a flush on the flop and the other guy has two pair and the river is a card that gives him a full house.    Tough luck bro.

Anyway back to the event.  Official weigh ins are going to start in three hours.  Let's see how these guys look on the scale.

UFC Fight Night:  Perez vs Taira Official Weigh In
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90LlfJJoRL8

Correct. Recently I saw Dana talking much that he wish Tony would retire. So I guess August 3 on UFC on ABC 7 there is going to be last fight for Tony in UFC. However, Tony is talking all the time that with every fight, he is getting better (despite his record). So we might see his loss series to continue in other promotions.


If it's true what they say, that he had to pull out due to that previously broken leg, then it's probably over for him. I don't expect he'll ever officially announce his retirement, as people speculating on whether or not he'll ever return to the octagon keeps the hype alive.
Sucks to be Michael Chandler right now. Will he wait for another few months to see how things unfold, or will he finally let go and move on?
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Wikipedia has already updated UFC 303 page. No more McGregor vs Chandler in the card and poster. I had inner feeling that their fight is not going to happen. Something inside tells me that Conor is not interesting in fighting, but his narcissism pushes him to train to keep body in shape, to look good in he mirror and on public. Dont know how long Chandler should wait more. Since 2021 he only beat Tony, and lost rest of the fights. I think Chandler would start running out of money soon

Tony Ferguson? His latest win was in 2019 though.


If it's true what they say, that he had to pull out due to that previously broken leg, then it's probably over for him. I don't expect he'll ever officially announce his retirement, as people speculating on whether or not he'll ever return to the octagon keeps the hype alive.
Sucks to be Michael Chandler right now. Will he wait for another few months to see how things unfold, or will he finally let go and move on?

^ I just saw the news. I don’t know if it’s believable or not, but at least we have an official statement about Conor’s participation. As soon as I saw him giving those interviews for Roadhouse I knew his career was over. It seems like some people on his team have finally talked him into saving his legacy by calling it quits. We’ll see though. Maybe it is just an injury.

News update.

Conor McGregor will not fight on June 29. It appears that he cannot stop drinking hehehehe. The sports news media are publishing articles that he has an injury, however, I speculate that he will never fight in the UFC anymore and he might also announce his retirement from MMA. This will be coming soon hehehee. The broken leg might have given him a very big psychological fear that it might be broken again.



Conor McGregor's nearly three-year layoff from the UFC will become even longer, as the Irishman withdrew from his UFC 303 fight against Michael Chandler on Thursday.

UFC president Dana White announced McGregor's exit, only saying that the Irishman had sustained an injury.

The main event, set to take place June 29, will be replaced by a light heavyweight title rematch between champion Alex Pereira and former champion Jiri Procházka. Pereira previously defeated Procházka via second-round TKO to win the chronically vacant belt at UFC 295 last November.

Read in full https://sports.yahoo.com/conor-mcgregor-withdraws-from-ufc-303-main-event-vs-michael-chandler-due-to-injury-024313048.html

As for the fans who are waiting for the McGregor-Chandler fight, it has been cancelled due to McGregor suffering from an injury.
https://www.givemesport.com/conor-mcgregor-vs-michael-chandler-at-ufc-303-cancelled/
Here's also the official announcement coming from Dana White himself on his X account just 30 mins ago. https://twitter.com/danawhite/status/1801444064694571073
Now the main event would be Alex Pereira Vs. Jiri Prochazka. Pereira has now given the opportunity to revenge his friend, his coach Glover Teixeira who lost against Prochazka due to a rear naked choke.