Topic: The UFC Info and Prediction Thread - page 520. (Read 102507 times)

I listened most of the pre-fight interviews and I agree with you that it seems Max Holloway lacks fire right now and you can see that in his face and body stance, it's almost like he is bored with all the fights business right now, but he is still favorite if we look at the odds and he can win with right attitude, but let's wait and see.

One big news is that UFC will no longer punish fighters if they test positive for marihuana/cannabis as USADA declared!
I just hope we wont see Diaz brothers stoned before a fight  

Here is the latest Conor McGregor interview for TheMacLife, talking about rematch with Dustin Poirier, Khabib Nurmagomedov and other stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnFueYKI8GE

Yeah, Max Holloway is a bit of a problem pick isn't he. I've seen him do extremely well, and I've seen him to the exact same in the opposite direction. I do believe he might be lacking that fire that fighters seem to have, and whether its down to his personal circumstances, I don't know.

I still think I fancy him to edge it on points. As for Hawes, its a difficult one. Seems the odds are favoring a TKO, but I just don't think he'll be able to catch Imaov cleanly enough, but I do think his damage in the first, and second will be enough to get him the win. Not entirely sure though, and I can see why people are going for his opponent.

Hopefully, we don't have any drop outs, because it looks like a fairly action packed day, with some good pacing.

^  Love the picks.  My leans or mostly the same.  But I’m back and forth on Holloway.  He could be more in decline than most think imho.  I blame his hot fiancee.    He’s prolly losing his edge cos he’s in love and happy.  Lol.

Back and forth with Hawes too.  Hawes’ chance to win is via early KO/TKO but dunno...  Imavov has never been KO’d so far.  Once it goes pass the first it could go Imavov’s way.

I am honestly not so sure about Max Holloway win in this fight and Kattar is more than able to beat him.
Many of other fights are very unpredictable, and I would especially avoid touching chick fight Moras vs Melo as anything can happen there.

MMA junkie just released media day interviews for most fighters so I would check that:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MMAjunkieVideo/videos

And listen Dana White If you don't know, now you know:
https://twitter.com/danawhite/status/1349053531525951491

Good weekend of sport with a few football rivalries, and finally some UFC! I got so used to the weekly fights of the UFC, I didn't realize how much I would miss it in the Christmas break. Some good fights this week too, and the most beautiful thing is its at a suitable time instead of having to stay up to like 5am. My predictions are as follows:

Joselyne Edwards (points)
Phil Hawes (Points)
Ramazan Emeev (TKO)
Mike Grundy
Austin Lingo
Sarah Moras (Submission)
Joaquin Buckley (TKO)
Max Holloway (points)

What are your thoughts about these predictions? As for the other fights, (seems a pretty large card) I'm still undecided, and need to rewatch some of their past fights.

Again we have some changes and canceled fights due to covid19 and injuries for upcoming UFC Fight Island events.

- Mike Grundy probably tested positive, and Nik Lentz will fight with Movsar Evloev instead on January 23.
- Tom Breese vs Omari Akhemedov has been moved to January 20.
- Ricky Simon vs Gaetano Pirrello, and Umar Nurmagomedov vs Sergey Morozov has been added to fight night Chiesa vs Magny.
- Shane Burgos vs Hakeem Dawodu has been canceled due to injuries.

More details on UFC website:
https://www.ufc.com/news/updates-ufc-fight-island-events-read

Yup and Kattar is pretty comfortable when fighting from the outside.  He’s not the type of fighter who needs to crash against his opponents to get a couple of punches in.  But still..  Holloway is a former champ who fought the best guys at FW and he is no way on a decline yet.

For what the lines are, I lean Holloway.  But I have a funny feeling in my gut Kattar could win it somehow.  Dunno...

So it will surely become one hell of a fight, and it can be an exchange of their fist, I think that will be one exciting fight to watch, and after that 2 consecutive loss against Volkanovski I think Kattar is a good trial for him in redeeming his losses, but I guess he will have a hard time emotionally in preparing from this fight, It will surely determine all on the performance against Kattar if Holloway can conquer that.

Calvin Kattar is a striker and so does Max Holloway and their game plan is not secret either, the interesting aspect of the fight is that as a fan i would like to see who will impose their will in the fight with their striking and presence of mind. The problem i see with Max Holloway is that he had some really tough fights and lost and he was eating a lot of shots in all of those fights and that could hamper his confidence.

I will be watching this fight as a fan rather than placing a bet in the above card.

Guys we are less than six days until start of next UFC event and we are done waiting

Check out this interesting ESPN interview Brett Okamoto made with Dana White about Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier, Jon Jones, Khabib Nurmagomedov and other UFC things in 2021:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgjDzzMOew8

I have updated my post and on Saturday main event will be Holloway VS Kattar, I think Calvin Kattar needs to rely on his striking but Max Holloway I think he will not struggle against Calvin Kattar, I think that Kattar will not have the same effect on Holloway as Poirier, that is why I think that Max Holloway can have a huge chance in beating Kattar, That is why I am going with Holloway.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is really rich and he earned much money outside the fight, he is close friends with Ramzan Kadyrov who is the head of Chechen Republic and he is having a close relation with all the Middle Eastern leaders and i am sure they will back him up even if he needs any money and he is on a different league than the rest of the fighters and on top of that he will be taking the lead what his father was doing and they had a school in Russia from the documentary i saw. Even if he returns he will be coming back for the competition and not for money.

Dana White will be meeting Khabib this week in fight island and he is trying to pursue him to return for his 30th fight like his father wanted.

Well I tend to agree with you and it's annoying when fighters say they're retiring and then don't like Connor did but he was pretty much just throwing his toys out of the pram most of the time, though maybe he was a bit emotional/under a lot of stress with a lot of the stuff that was going on in his personal life with the last one, but Khabib was also emotional after his last fight with losing his father not very long before it. Khabib does seem more like a man of his word though, but I would like to see him still fight on regardless. He's still at his peak really. He doesn't seem like he's that fussed about money much either which is why most fighters keep on fighting, but I know he's recently opened up his own gym and is even starting his own MMA production so that money can come in handy. Sometimes not taking money when you can do some good with it is hard to turn down even if you don't personally benefit from it. The money he's earned from past fights won't last forever either and that usually why fighters end up returning, but there's also going to be a lot of hands to feed with gyms and production companies etc so we might not have heard the last of Khabib. I think Dana is meeting with him soon for some reason or another isn't it? Or is that going to be at the next UFC fight?

As much as I'd like to see Connor, and Khabib in the octagon again especially considering it would likely be for Khabib's 30-0 bid, I hope it doesn't happen. Its not because I don't want Khabib to lose, but rather like the integrity of Khabib. He said he was retiring, and it annoys me when fighters or any sportsman announce their retirement only to come back for more money a few months later. I see the Mike Tyson fight as a little different as that was many many years after his retirement, but Connor I believe has announced his retirement several times, only to come back for the money. Its almost like its fishing for hype, and money rather than being genuine.

If the fight did happen, I'd probably want Connor to win, because it sets up an interesting turn of events. If Khabib did lose, would be want to reclaim his title meaning he stays out of retirement to regain his belt? The thing is, Connor is the only one that's really got Khabib to act out of anger, and out of character. So, he could be the one to convince him to come out of retirement for a crazy big event.

I agree, every other sport that I watch, I've been missing the atmosphere that the fans bring, except in the UFC. I love the coach call outs, the talks between fighters, and it gives you another element to the event to appreciate, and that is these guys aren't just muscle, but there's a lot of tactics to the fight.

I love watching a fighter pick up their opponent, and instead of just taking them down there they walk them over to their corner so they can get better advise.

Conor McGregor will be finding ways to troll Khabib Nurmagomedov and i am expecting him to start trashing him during the media day and from what i understand Khabib Nurmagomedov is still in the UAE and he might be coming for the fights but i expect Khabib Nurmagomedov might avoid the confrontation and will stay away from the event as he knows the UFC will try anything to put together the rematch.

Fan tickets for Fight Island UFC 257 fight card Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier have all been sold out!
I checked Etihad website and confirmed this information, and tickets was priced from $216 to $1,360 USD but we still don't know exactly how much people will be in arena.

Check out safety measures and ticket information:

Source: https://www.etihadarena.ae/en/event-booking/ufc-24-jan

Yeah it's nice hearing the impact of each solid punches and kicks when there are no noisy crowds.

The VIPs.

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It looks like nobody is interested in the co-Main event Carlos Condit and Matt Brown. Are they both too old to your liking?

I'm surprised to see over/under odds for Holloway vs. Kattar match. The under 4.5 at 2.4+ is really tempting.

If you look at the fight against Alexander Volkanovski even though the second fight was close he was not confident in close range and trade shots while in the past he usually comes inside the pocket and would dare the opponent to trade shots and he usually comes out wearing down the opponent but  Alexander Volkanovski had a game plan to wear down his legs in the first fight and he followed the same game plan in the rematch as well.

UAE and the middle east has some filthy rich fight fans and i bet the ticket charges will be really high for the event.

That's GMT? As In Greenwich Mean Time and not some other US time zone? They normally don't give the GMT times but if so that's at a reasonable time, though I'm guessing 11:30 is when the program starts and not the main card fight. Still will probably finish at 3AM but I'll stay up for it. Most US cards start at that time normally.


That's silly. Why would they advertise that since they're always there. Even venues in the UK were allowing spectators in. I'd prefer them to either be none if it's not going to be full. It's interesting hearing the noise of the fight and the fighters talk along with the coaching staff, but allowing a few fans doesn't really do anything for the atmosphere.

@ notblox1. The limited fans in the arena news might only be for marketing and clickbait. Those fans might only be the fighters’ coaching staff, family and friends who are invited by private plane by Dana.

Khabib might be there to support his cousin hehe. Conor should trash talk if he wins hehehe.