2024 MMA General Discussion and Fight Announcements

[Bunk Moreland]

 

[m9]

I'd still be surprised if they used Islam for a non-PPV card, but it does make some sense, especially given Islam/Ali's comments.

I heard someone make a good point that now that they are moving the card to June they can just also make it a PPV.

 

[MMC]

 

[pistolpete11]

I heard someone make a good point that now that they are moving the card to June they can just also make it a PPV.

With 301 likely in mid-May and Conor-Chandler booked for June 29, it seems unnecessary to squeeze another PPV in June, though I know they've done it before.

 

[m9]

With 301 likely in mid-May and Conor-Chandler booked for June 29, it seems unnecessary to squeeze another PPV in June, though I know they've done it before.

That's usually the time of year they do try to squeeze another one in unfortunately so it wouldn't surprise me.

And if they're going to squeeze another one, at least that Saudi card will probably be pretty loaded.

 

[m9]

View attachment 804451

Would have been a great free ESPN+ card to have as an introduction to the merger. Key word there is free. Putting this on PPV with absolutely zero name value is incredibly dumb and they will be looking at yet another tiny PPV buy. I don't know how they possibly make more money from tiny PPV sales than having it a a card on TV but it's really too bad for the fans.

It's also the same day as UFC Mexico which is shaping up to be an excellent card. I wonder how the timing will work out for everything.

Of course now the UFC moved their Saudi card to the Apex which means the PFL could have put this one week later and gone up against which will likely be a junk UFC card instead.

I will change my opinion here if we get some more information, but as of now this is an absolute disaster of an announcement given the above reasons.

I really wonder if this was supposed to be Ngannou's debut but his boxing stuff has f***ed them up.

 

[CDJ]

That’s a major step up from the pfl championships, I don’t have a problem with this being a ppv. I’ll absolutely buy

 

[MMC]

 

[CDJ]

Love all of that for us

 

[MMC]

An important note regarding PFL/Bellator card, all fights are 3 rounds

 

[MMC]

Also it’s pretty wild that the UFC managed to fumble two big international events in the span of only a few months with the China and Saudi events falling apart and moving to the APEX

 

[I am not exposed]

Meh to Gaethje vs. Holloway for the BMF belt. Gaethje should be fighting for the title, not this gimmicky WWE belt.

The last time Holloway went up to lightweight and fought Poirier there was a notable power difference. His pitter patter punches are effective at featherweight. But against the top lightweights, they will fall short imo. Gaethje should have too much power for Max.

This fight for a silly belt doesn't do it for me at all. Smells of desperation for UFC300.

Oliveira vs. Tsarukyan is far more intriguing on the same card.

 

[The Devil In I]

Meh to Gaethje vs. Holloway for the BMF belt. Gaethje should be fighting for the title, not this gimmicky WWE belt.

The last time Holloway went up to lightweight and fought Poirier there was a notable power difference. His pitter patter punches are effective at featherweight. But against the top lightweights, they will fall short imo. Gaethje should have too much power for Max.

This fight for a silly belt doesn't do it for me at all. Smells of desperation for UFC300.

Oliveira vs. Tsarukyan is far more intriguing on the same card.

Yea it's just a spectacle of a fight, but not even that good of a choice since it's in all likelihood a mis-match. I don't really want to see Gaethje dish out a Tony-esque beatdown to Max. Hopefully its a quick KO.

 

[m9]

I don't know, I love Gaethje/Max. I agree that it's a bit concerning how Max looked v Poirier but I also think this could be a better style matchup for him.

I really like how 300 is shaping up.

With Gaethje taking this fight, maybe they slide Belal/Edwards into that Saudi slot. I know we discussed that here before.

 

[pistolpete11]

Sorry to all those Gaethje fans that wanted to see him fight for the title next, but....I told you. Well, actually Dana told us all

I think people are kind of misremembering the Poirier-Max fight. The power discrepancy was clear and I think Poirier rightfully won, but it was a competitive fight. Max actually out struck him on the numbers. I think Gaethje will win for the same reason, but I think it will be an action packed, competitive, fun fight.....although Max getting KO'ed is coming sooner or later.

With Gaethje taking this fight, maybe they slide Belal/Edwards into that Saudi slot. I know we discussed that here before.

They didn't say Gaethje-Max is the main event, correct? So they still need a headliner. I think Belal-Edwards still makes sense at UFC 300...even if it's less exciting on paper than most of the rest of the main card

IF they make that Saudi card a PPV, I could see Strickland/DDP-Chimaev as that headliner. Timing should work for the winner of this weekend and Saudi would probably be happy with Chimaev as a headliner. Dana did say the winner of Chimaev-Usman would fight for the belt next, too.

2024 MMA General Discussion and Fight Announcements

“That is an absolute fact,” White said. “The fact that these guys are taking this fight on short notice, (the winner) will get the next shot at the title barring injuries and other things that can possibly happen.”

I think Chimaev had a broken hand after (or maybe before) that fight, so that could explain why DDP is getting the shot. That and DDP is the obvious deserving contender.

 

[m9]

Sorry to all those Gaethje fans that wanted to see him fight for the title next, but....I told you. Well, actually Dana told us all

Yeah, this will be interesting what they do next. I'm not really convinced with any of the options - UFC 300 is so close to the summer so I wouldn't be sure any of the guys on that card would be next up for Islam if they are firm. Maybe even the 299 guys (BSD/Poirier or RDA/Gamrot winner) could fall into a title shot, especially Gamrot.

But more likely is yeah, they just push back Islam to the Abu Dhabi card usually later in the summer. Low-key this has been a terrible championship run for Islam if he wins a vacant belt in October 2022 and then his only two defenses in almost two years are both against the same featherweight. What are we even doing here?

They didn't say Gaethje-Max is the main event, correct? So they still need a headliner. I think Belal-Edwards still makes sense at UFC 300...even if it's less exciting on paper than most of the rest of the main card

IF they make that Saudi card a PPV, I could see Strickland/DDP-Chimaev as that headliner. Timing should work for the winner of this weekend and Saudi would probably be happy with Chimaev as a headliner. Dana did say the winner of Chimaev-Usman would fight for the belt next, too.

2024 MMA General Discussion and Fight Announcements

I think Chimaev had a broken hand after (or maybe before) that fight, so that could explain why DDP is getting the shot. That and DDP is the obvious deserving contender.

Yeah, I think there are a bunch of options and they could go in a few directions. Ankalaev v Pereira could also work for Saudi, though I think they'll do that in Brazil.

I'm not so sure Belal/Edwards lands on UFC 300 now. I think they do 3 title fights and the 3rd will be something with the 185lb belt. I don't think they would have Belal/Edwards headline over Gaethje/Max anyway.

But really we are probably looking at a main card of:

Main event
Max v Gaethje
Weili v Yan
Oliveira v Tsarukyan
Jiri v Rakic

Prelims:
Fig v Garbrandt
Kattar v Aljo
TBD v TBD
Miller v Green


Early Prelims:
TBD v TBD
TBD v TBD
Nickel v Brundage

Maybe they add one more main card fight and push Jiri v Rakic down to the prelims.

Looks pretty great to me. Maybe some people wanted more and there's not a ton to drag in the casuals.. but it's still great. I do think Miocic/Jones or Conor/Nate 3 would have been ideal main events for this card. But, Adesanya v DDP/Strickland is pretty interesting too.

 

[pistolpete11]

Yeah, this will be interesting what they do next. I'm not really convinced with any of the options - UFC 300 is so close to the summer so I wouldn't be sure any of the guys on that card would be next up for Islam if they are firm. Maybe even the 299 guys (BSD/Poirier or RDA/Gamrot winner) could fall into a title shot, especially Gamrot.

But more likely is yeah, they just push back Islam to the Abu Dhabi card usually later in the summer. Low-key this has been a terrible championship run for Islam if he wins a vacant belt in October 2022 and then his only two defenses in almost two years are both against the same featherweight. What are we even doing here?

I think the only way the next title shot is not Islam-Oliveira/Arman is injuries or they end up in a draw or something else whacky like that. And I'd be surprised if it's not in Abu Dhabi, but I'm not 100% on that.

Yeah, I think there are a bunch of options and they could go in a few directions. Ankalaev v Pereira could also work for Saudi, though I think they'll do that in Brazil.

I'm not so sure Belal/Edwards lands on UFC 300 now. I think they do 3 title fights and the 3rd will be something with the 185lb belt. I don't think they would have Belal/Edwards headline over Gaethje/Max anyway.

But really we are probably looking at a main card of:

Main event
Max v Gaethje
Weili v Yan
Oliveira v Tsarukyan
Jiri v Rakic

Prelims:
Fig v Garbrandt
Kattar v Aljo
TBD v TBD
Miller v Green


Early Prelims:
TBD v TBD
TBD v TBD
Nickel v Brundage

Maybe they add one more main card fight and push Jiri v Rakic down to the prelims.

Looks pretty great to me. Maybe some people wanted more and there's not a ton to drag in the casuals.. but it's still great. I do think Miocic/Jones or Conor/Nate 3 would have been ideal main events for this card. But, Adesanya v DDP/Strickland is pretty interesting too.

I agree Strickland/DDP-Izzy is the best they could realistically do, but I saw on one of MMAJunkie/Mania/Fighting that Izzy is dealing with some type of injury and they doubted that he'd even be able to make UFC 300 if that's what the UFC/he wanted. I'd still leave the door open for it because they might be waiting to see what happens this weekend before they decide, but....

I think Leon-Belal is still the most likely. If Izzy's not involved, I don't think there is a meaningful difference between Leon-Belal and Strickland/DDP-Cannonier or whoever + it's a relatively quick turnaround for Strickland/DDP + Leon-Belal has already been rumored for this card.

It's not the massive headliner people were hoping for, but I think the card overall still clears the bar of what I was expecting out of UFC 300.

 

[MMC]

 

[MMC]

 

[MMC]

 

[MMC]

 

[m9]

Dana with an interview up here, something to do with Sportsnet I think.

-Says there will be a couple more big things with UFC300 but not anything out of left field like Rousey/GSP/Lesnar/etc. Just a really deep card.

-Says Saudi was moved to June but not because the fights were bad - didn't get to that point. Did say it will still be a Fight Night and not have any title fight but will have big names from the "area". Also said they had a few guys in mind for the March date but they weren't ready. I'm just going to assume Chimaev is involved in all of this

-Says they will do less Apex shows and more Fight Nights with fans going forward (we'll see)

-Says Oliveira/Arman is a #1 contender's fight so @pistolpete11 will be happy

-Doesn't care about the lawsuit, does care about the Sphere card

That's about it

 

[pistolpete11]

Dana with an interview up here, something to do with Sportsnet I think.

-Says there will be a couple more big things with UFC300 but not anything out of left field like Rousey/GSP/Lesnar/etc. Just a really deep card.

-Says Saudi was moved to June but not because the fights were bad - didn't get to that point. Did say it will still be a Fight Night and not have any title fight but will have big names from the "area". Also said they had a few guys in mind for the March date but they weren't ready. I'm just going to assume Chimaev is involved in all of this

-Says they will do less Apex shows and more Fight Nights with fans going forward (we'll see)

-Says Oliveira/Arman is a #1 contender's fight so @pistolpete11 will be happy

-Doesn't care about the lawsuit, does care about the Sphere card

That's about it

To be clear, it's not that I want Oliveira-Arman to be a #1 contender's fight. I just think when the president of the company says it is a #1 contender fight like 2 days prior, that's a pretty good sign that it is a #1 contender fight Can't always take Dana's word, but I think some of y'all were ignoring it because you wanted Gaethje to get the next shot.

Looking back on it now, I kind of wonder if the UFC was pushing to get Gaethje on UFC 300 either against Oliveira or Max and he declined because he was waiting for the title fight. You know how Dana hates fighters turning down fights, so it could have been a "Yeah? You don't want to fight? Fine, Oliveira-Arman you guys are up and if you accept, the winner will get the next title shot." Then Gaethje started realizing all the things I was saying about the timing, his lay off, what other contenders are doing, Max being a favorable matchup and big time attraction, etc.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

 

[MMC]

Lol… why Cooper of all fighters and not someone like Sy or Umalatov