Topic: The UFC Info and Prediction Thread - page 362. (Read 97129 times)

Anyone still believes we will see Jon Jones in octagon? Or see him against Ngannou? Jon Jones has been inactive for 2 years. Usually fighters that come from such a pause lose. If Jones returns and losses in his first fight in heavyweight, would people be still interested in him? Specially with his  behavior.

I am more interested in confirmed fight between Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje in May. I think he will win in the same way Khabib won Gaethje - triangle.

Francis has a couple of advantages just of the top of my head. Firstly, he is accustomed to fighting at that weight. Whatever time Jon takes to gradually put up the weight and to accustom himself to it through training camp, it can't compare to actually fighting at that weight, especially in 5 rounders. The second is continuity. Sure, Dom Cruz said ring rust doesn't exist, but still, Francis has had more continuity over the past couple of years than Jon, and that could also play a factor. And thirdly, I just think Francis has a lot more to prove and a bigger chip on his shoulder right now than Jon, and that could drive him forward.

We cannot be quite certain if Jack Hermansson is more powerful or better than Sean Strickland, however, I agree that this might be another storyline in the UFC where someone with more experience is being underestimated again. We have witnessed this in the fights of Ngannou versus Gane, Kattar versus Chikadze and Lewis versus Daukas, Aldo versus Font, Teixeira versus Błachowicz and many others to mention hehehehe. I am for Jack Hermansson with high odds.

It's going to be fun. They are already throwing punches online.  I read an article from ESPN on January 24.
https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/33134305/will-jon-jones-next-challenger-ufc-heavyweight-championship-be-francis-ngannou
Twitter fight is a free campaigning platform to boost the number of bettors and PPV but it should reflect in the Octagon. Ngannou is strong and versatile but so does Jones, I think speed will help a lot to gain superiority. Jones is in good condition as he said and it will just be a matter of time before they face each other.

Jon Jones certainly made a reputation outside of UFC. Well, even inside UFC he has a bad reputation. After all, he is the gram for gram fighter  .

But if I am being serious he is one of the best fighters that has ever fought in the UFC. If he comes back now and fights I don't think that he will be the same as he was before. And we all know that when you come back from a break it hurts a little more. I think Francis would have the advantage in the fight if it happens.

Ngannou did some homework to hype the match already even before the talks. I think the match will likely going to happen, keep provoking Jones and Dana I think they will respond to organize it. Whoever will snatch Ngannou, I think will benefit but paying more is unlikely. No other promotion is actaully better than UFC. It should be boxing for him.


Hermansson is way more powerful than Strickland whichever it may be. From ground to boxing, he'll face it. Remember that its often the underdog that wins. 

Not sure I'm going to be that confident if this fight does end up happening, however you can bet all your money that I'll be cheering on Ngannou to knock out Jones. It isn't a secret that I don't like Jones, I think Jones has created a reputation for himself outside of MMA, and that's taken away from his achievements that hes got in the cage. A shame because he's one of the best MMA fighters to have entered the UFC, dominated for a period, but looked a little shaky towards the end of his career.

I think Ngannou has the weight advantage to wrestle, and the power advantage. Would be a very tricky fight for Jones despite his ability.

There are more talks about return of Jon Jones and if Francis Ngannou will be his next opponent, but Ngannou is not so confident and he said how Jones is much better twitter battle than in octagon
In case this fight turns to be first Jones fight after big break I would bet all money on Ngannou to win.
Extra question mark is bad relation of Ngannou and Dana White, and his future in UFC is uncertain, maybe someone else will snatch him and pay more.

^ Let's just move on about the fighter payments because we can not do something about it Dana White is controlling it and if he wants to just give this small amount to his fighter then that is what is going to do because he owns UFC,

My Early Picks for the UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Strickland, Highlighted in gree are my picks

Jack Hermansson VS Sean Strickland

Sean Strickland has a good record than Hermansson, Strickland only lose to Santiago Ponzinibbio, Kamaru Usman, and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos but even though he lost to Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos he won 5 consecutive wins but for me, Jack Hermansson has a game with his ground submission that may be caught Strickland by surprise but I think that Sean Strickland has a solid game with his striking, and Jack Hermansson is easily get pressured by those striking and he can have a great defensive takedown Stake odds 2.75 for Hermansson and 1.44 for Strickland, I am still not sure if Jack Hermansson can make a takedown because he can easily be pressured by his opponent striking so I think Sean Strickland can win this,

Shavkat Rakhmonov VS Carlston harris

In this fight, I really like how he handles Michel Prazeres, and with his debut fight in the UFC against Alex Oliveira I think the reach advantage with good striking will definitely shock Carlston Harris, and this 26-year-old Rakhmonov really has the future in the UFC, and that style bending performance against Michel Prazeres has blown me away, that is why I really want to see him again do it and winning against Carlston Harris, that is why I will do with Shavkat Rakhmonov, Stake Odds 1.40 for Rakhmonov and 2.90 for Harris.

As much as I love to continue to chit chat and talk about fighter pay, we have a new event this coming weekend.  Let’s try to  win a little something for ourselves first before worrying about what they’re getting.    But yeah, I do get it.  It’s becoming a serious issue.

Anyway who you guys got?  At first glance of the match ups, it’s very chalky and looks like it will be a parlayable card.  The faves should win.  There could be pie sh*tters tho...  Like Hawes, can’t really trust his chin and gas tank vs Alvey.  And the matches I’m looking most forward to are Shavkat Rakhmanov vs Carlston Harris and Punahele Soriano vs Nick Maximov.  Should be good.  

Date:  Saturday, Feb 5
Main Card (ESPN/ESPN+):  6:00pm EST
Preliminary Card (ESPN/ESPN+):  4:00pm EST
Venue:  UFC Apex, Las Vegas, Nevada
Live Streams:



Main Card (ESPN/ESPN+)
Middleweight:  Jack Hermansson vs Sean Strickland            
Middleweight:  Punahele Soriano vs Nick Maximov            
Welterweight:  Shavkat Rakhmanov vs Carlston Harris            
Middleweight:  Sam Alvey vs Phil Hawes            
Middleweight:  Tresean Gore vs Bryan Battle            
Featherweight:  Julian Erosa vs Steven Peterson

Preliminary Card (ESPN/ESPN+)
Bantamweight:  Miles Johns vs John Castaneda            
Featherweight:  Hakeem Dawodu vs Michael Trizano            
Middleweight:  Chidi Njokuani vs Marc-André Barriault            
Welterweight:  Jason Witt vs Phillip Rowe            
Women's Bantamweight:  Alexis Davis vs Julija Stoliarenko            
Light Heavyweight:  Jailton Almeida vs Danilo Marques            
Flyweight:  Malcolm Gordon vs Denys Bondar   

I absolutely agree that the girls should be paid more, but speaking of Kay Hansen, she hasn't created an account on onlyfans.com to make money with it. As she said it in an interview cited here, "I've had fun on it. For me it was mainly about kind of stepping out of my comfort zone." So, it's more about having fun to her than getting $15-$20 tips for semi-nude photos from the site users.

Jessica Andrade, on the other hand, said "the profits she made from the site had paid off her house and car loans", cited here as well.

I think for the most part people are paying for subscription and tipping not because they can't google and see all those photos for free, but because they just want to support their object of adoration. ... But, yeah, no matter what, the girls should be paid more, that's for sure.

Francis Ngannou will sure continue fighting, and we don't really know if he's still a fighter on UFC when 2022 ends, but the highly unlikely that he is not on good terms with Dana White is really showing off, even though Dana White denies the allegation, but yeah a great exhibition match between the two heavyweights will be a good retirement for them, but they need to plan well their good 3 years as a fighter before retiring,


Yup! I agree Francis Ngannou just wants freedom and that is why he doesn't want to sign his contract because it could be a Shackle for him not to do what he wants, if Dana White can't provide higher pay for his fight then he will do something about it by providing him a cross fight rather than obliging him to just fight in the octagon, there is a huge opportunity outside the octagon and he wants to grab it and if some fighters can do it so why can't he,

Right now I am not excited about the February 6 event but I am more excited about UFC 271 the much-anticipated fight Israel Adesanya VS Robert Whittaker, Derrick Lewis VS Tai Tuivasa, and Jared Cannonier VS Derek Brunson, and the next fight the UFC Fight Night: Dos Anjos VS Fiziev, and the fights that I think worth to watch out are Rafael Dos Anjos VS Rafael Fiziev, Jhonny Walker VS Jamahal Hill,  Jessica Rose Clark VS Stephanie Egger and Chas Skelly VS Mark Striegl,

I know this is too soon to make discussion but I surely can't wait to make predictions, analysis, and to watch their fights so badly.

The sole reason Jon Jones is not fighting for a long time is because he demanded more money to move to Heavyweight division and Dana White was not budging and he was not willing to give anything further than what is contracted. Even Francis Ngannou in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani said his problem is not with the money the UFC is offering but the freedom he gets with the contract. Francis Ngannou gets a fixed amount of 600k win or loose and he will be getting PPV revenue as well which will be much higher than the fixed pay he gets considering he is a main event fighter.

For example for UFC 229 Khabib Nurmagomedov got a fixed payment of $2 million and Conor McGregor got a fixed pay of $3 million but the total amount Khabib Nurmagomedov got for UFC 229 including PPV in revenue is around $40 million and Conor McGregor made around $50 million.

sure thing. it's just what Ngannou wants, an opportunity like the rest of the fighters who are winning the money they deserve.

hard to say Ngannou will still get it after all the coverage of thier dispute on many interviews. i come across a video in which Dana going to be suing Ngannou, i'm not sure if its true but it's going to give him leverage.  the pride is also going to make it hard for Dana to calm down.

I think Ngannou's best bet is to just wait to fight Tyson rather than having some warm up fights with bums. If he doesn't do great or loses the excitement for the Tyson fight will wane or Tyson just won't take it. Francis is going to have to wait till December to run his contract down and Tyson is fighting Whyte fairly soonish and then I'm guessing he'll fight the winner of AJ/Usyk by the end of the year so if he wants a shot at Tyson he's probably going to have to wait till 2023 anyway so it could work out great for all. Maybe Francis could take on Wilder or something as well since he's not up to much these days. Might be a good fight for them both actually as Wilder also has that one punch knock out power. As for McGregor, he's at serious risk of becoming a bum if he keeps losing because his stock drops with each loss, though I still think he's got a big enough fanbase that will support him no matter what so he'll still be a huge draw but just not to the levels he was at for the Mayweather fight. According to Connor he has two fights left on his contract and has a goal of claiming all the top ten PPV fights which he could easily do: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/16916342/conor-mcgregor-ufc-contract-ppv-sales/

I'm not sure who he should fight first. Maybe the trilogy with Nate or the fourth fight with Poirier. I'm sure Daddy Dana wants to give him a title shot with Charles Oliveira or maybe Justin Gaethje if he wins in May at UFC 274. Connor shouldn't be getting a title shot in his first fight back though. After that or if he choses not to resign with the UFC it ​wouldn't surprise me at all if Connor ends up fighting Jake Paul. Paul needs to be careful and not lose before that though because if he does he'll lose a lot of his allure. Him going into a McGregor match unbeaten will definitely sell the fight. If he has a couple more fights and keeps knocking people out then that will help his cause even more so.


Yeah, he knows he's probably got about three more years in him before he passes his peak. He's either going to re-sign or just run his contract down then do what he wants. There's no guarantee Tyson will fight him though as he's going to be a busy boy this year. After Whyte and then probably AJ or Usyk who is there left for him? Tyson/Ngannou would be a good retirement fight for both of them I think.


I'm not so sure about that. Jones has been out a long time. I'm not sure he deserves a title shot straight away either but I guess Dana can do what he wants, but if he was to fight Francis it should be a 50/50 split at most. I very much doubt Francis would be happy about getting paid less. Jones is probably more stubborn that Francis right now as well so that fight will be a nightmare to get sorted though I would like to see it.  Dana does seem to be actively trying to make that fight happen for this year though: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/17460467/dana-white-francis-ngannou-jon-jones-fight-ufc-news/

Francis re-matching Gane is risky in my opinion. That match was very close so he could easily lose that fight, though then I guess there's big bucks in a trilogy.


I don't think so, but it depends how well they do. I thought Connor did pretty good in that fight, far better than I expected anyway. Heavyweight UFC is pretty much just boxing anyway. It's rare it goes to the ground and everyone was surprised by Francis' takedowns. Even if they lose they've always got the excuse to fall back on that they're not boxers but it's more eyeballs on both sports regardless. Francis against Tyson just needs to go for that killer knock out which he's entirely capable of. Can you image if he lands one of his best on Tyson? If Wilder can floor him then so can Ngannou. I'd love to see this fight.


100% disagree. Like Welsh said, one fight with Fury will likely net him more than his entire UFC career. If Connor can get 30-100 million for fighting Mayweather and Dillian Whyte can get 7 mil for fighting Fury I think Francis can easy get 10 million for a Tyson fight.


I don't think Francis is asking for too much. I think he just wants more than 500k and the option to fight in a boxing match. Give him a guaranteed 1 million a fight with a cut of the PPVs and let him box with it being a UFC-cross promo like the Mayweather fight and I'm sure he'll be happy. If Brock Lesner can get $2.5 million for fighting Mark Hunt back in 2016 then Ngannou should be able to get something similar. UFC is far bigger now than it was back then as well. Dana really needs to get it sorted because he's going to lose arguably the best heavyweight on the planet if he doesn't cough up the dough. Surely they'll lose more in the long-run by letting him go.

Hes realistically probably got five years left, but probably not at the top. Though, you could argue that power doesn't really diminish all that much as you age, and speed, and reflexes are usually the first to go, which Ngannou isn't exactly known for. So, he could have another five years on top, but I would probably say three years is a more sensible assumption to make. Judging by that, he's probably got three or four fights left in him. If he defends the belt for those three years, he'll make roughly 600k each time, so 1.8 million. Whereas if he goes into boxing, even someone that isn't Fury's caliber he can probably make that in either one fight or two.

Now, if Ngannou, and Jones was a reality, and it did happen. I expect Jones to command the biggest paycheck, but I would absolutely expect both fighters to be getting more than the average. So, while I want Francis to remain in the UFC, if he only cares about money, then the only logical thing to do would be to go to boxing.

Definitely Dana White would not give Francis Ngannou what he wants, that is why the final option for Francis Ngannou to get a larger pay and as you said while he is in top shape and in his prime is by a boxing match with a well-known boxer or even a personality, that could certainly give him in addition to the sure purse a cut to the Pay per view revenue, I think a Tyson Fury fight would be a great deal for him, then when he got into a match with Tyson Fury I think that is the best way to switch from MMA to a boxing career, if he can not tolerate anymore the bad gesture Dana White is getting at him then I think it is really time to leave the first sports that have made you into a big star, well nothing lasts forever that is why it is good to pursue what you want to do,

And in Ngannou's case, boxing is a very ideal sport for him that he wants to try, but that Knee injury he sustain before the Ciryl Gane fight is a big issue right now that is why he needs to rest for a bit and try to focus on healing, for now, I don't know if he signs another contract with the UFC, but let's just wait if he would truly become a boxer of not.

^  Oh if he gets a boxing deal with Fury?  Def he’ll be paid a lot of money that he’ll start his own whisky company and make even more money then start losing all his next MMA matches and might even break his leg.  Lolol.  

Seriously, yeah...  Ngannou prolly is thinking of getting as much money now while he’s still at the top.  But the problem is I think the UFC can’t give him a better deal than what he wants.  I agree that they should pay him more but what if he’s asking a lot more than what the UFC is willing to give?

I think what Dana should do is pair Ngannou up with Jones and hope for the best.  Maybe give Jones a picogram.  

Let's just say he gets a fight with Fury for argument sake, he would very likely earn the equivalent he's earned through the UFC in one night. If he plays it smartly, and fights someone of lesser ability first, gets a win not only does his stock go up, but he can earn more money for longer. I don't think he's going to have a long term future in boxing, considering his age too. However, he can definitely earn more.

Remember that sponsorship for boxing is generally higher too because of the viewership difference. UFC has come on leaps, and bounds, but it's not quite there yet to compete with boxing.

I really think passion is what drives a fighter in pursuing what he wants and Francis Ngannou is one of that fighters, I really think that he has already done training as a boxer, even though he has shown tremendous strength in wrestling against Ciryl Gane because he is pushing himself to his limits and really wants to win, I think the drive to win really has pushed him the boundary in wrestling, and because of that knee injury that he doesn't want to publicize, this has pushed him to used wrestling, and he said that he wants to keep on winning with a Knockout or submission but that only decision win was because due to his knee injury, I think he pushes himself to the brink in training both in boxing and with his upcoming fight to Ciryl Gane, so many boxers should avoid him because of his power and determination, but I still like Ciryl Gane,

I haven't seen that issue yet, but if I would see it will surely share that here, that is a massive claim that Mayweather promotions haven't given his payment yet, and right now I think they have a personal vendetta going on and because of this issue it will surely rise even more.