UFC 205

So this massive card is taking shape. What an evening we have in store!

McGregor vs Alvarez for the lightweight title
Thompson vs Woodley for the Welterweight title
Chris Weidman vs Yoel Romero
Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
Tim Kennedy vs Rashad Evans
Cowboy vs Kelvin Gastelum
Tim Boetsch vs Rafael Natal
Jim Miller vs Thiago Alves
Meisha Tate vs Racquel Pennington

Wow, and I'm only an hour's flight from NYC. Might try to get tickets!

Personally, I'm not happy with McGregor vs Alvarez as the main event. Conor hasn't even defended his own title yet and he's being handed top bouts for going 1-1 with Nate Diaz. I think Alvarez will handle him. If he struggled to keep up with Diaz's cardio, Alvarez will run him out of the cage.

So who do you have for these fights?

Cracking card and can't wait for this one; lets hope it stays together and everyone involved keeps injury free.

Whilst many will question whether Conor deserves a lightweight title shot the truth of the matter is money talks. Lest we forget he was lined up for this shot in March but had to put up with yet another opponent pulling out. Given the way he has stayed active (this is a man who fought 3 times in 2015 & will fight 3 times again this year) and has never pulled out of a fight even when others have plus the hundreds of millions he has pulled in for the UFC then he's hardly undeserving.

As for defending his own belt...well its not even been a year since he won and it and given this is a company who has had a man done for DUI, failed drug test etc etc still holding a title...can hardly hold it against Conor for having a title around his waist that he doesn't want to let go of for the sake of letting go of it.

Onto the fight itself....whilst cardio could play a factor in this I would look at it more from the point of does Eddie have the reach and length of Nate to make Conor think twice about coming inside? Nope. He might well carry the power to trouble Conor...but then again given the Mac's chin held up at 170 I think he will be ok. The big big question comes in terms of Conors own power....it didn't carry that well up to 170 (although he did put Diaz down three times and kept him honest) but if it carries better to 155 then we may well just see him put people away much like he did down at Featherweight.

Will be a cracker for what it's worth regardless of who wins and I by no means make McGregor even close to a heavy favourite...but on the spot prediction....Conor wins inside 2 rounds.

Thompson beats Woodley
Romero beats shell of Weidman
Joanna beats Karolina within 1 round
Cowboy bites of more than he can chew with Gastellum
Miller and Alves take 'fight to the death' to new dimensions

I think Alvarez will just wrestle McGregor in a snoozefest, unfortunately.

Wouldn't mind seeing Connor lose this.
Entertaining to watch at times, gets a bit boring other times.

Would love to see Joanna lose. Couldn't stand her on TUF.
A defeat for cowboy and Rashad I hope,  2 guys I'm  not a fan of.

Tate v Pennington will be interesting as Tate was her coach on TUF.
Would like to see Miesha win.
Really hoping she gets another fight with Ronda and gets the win.

Jose Aldo has asked for his released & threatened to retire if that doesn't happen as he's fed up of Dana White lieing to him.

Can't blame the guy. He's waiting for another shot at Conor and he keeps getting sidelined.

This really is a great card and a while since we've had one like it.

CM vs Alvarez
Tbh have only seen Alvarez twice, vs Chandler in Bellator and against RDA, so hard to pick a winner so CM early or Alvarez late
Thompson vs Woodley
Thompson for me, even though I've only him twice, destroyed Hendricks and did what he had to do to frustrate and beat Rory. Don't see him standing in front of Woodley to get taken down or knocked out. Not a big fan of Woodley, power aside he's nothing special especially as the fight goes on.
Weidman vs Romero
Going for Weidman. Looked very beatable when losing to Rockhold but had looked quality up til then and I think he will have learned from that fight.
JJ vs KK
JJ for me. Improving with every fight and I believe is the real deal, will take something special to beat her
[b]Cowboy vs Gastelum
Cowboy is the better more rounded fighter Gastelum the naturally bigger stronger fighter but seems to have let his career slip since his first couple of fights after winning TUF. Cowboy points.
Tate vs Pennington
Tate has fought at a much higher level and is a much better fighter than her defeats suggest. Tate win

The rest of the card I'm not sure about but no doubt will all be decent fights.

I see that Khabib Nurmagomedov is also fighting on the card, much has been spoken about this guy, has anybody seen much of him and how good is he?

Khabib is ridiculous.

Jon Jones banned for a year by USADA eligible to fight July 2017

Not even that fussed about the McGregor Alverezz  outcome.

Just hope that bitch jj, can't be arsed to try to type her full name.

Anyway just hope she gets the sh1t beaten out of her.

Can't stand her, what a scant, complete trailer park trash.

Never liked her.

What a card, what a night of fights. Best night of UFC I can remember.

The last 3 fights shocked me. I thought weidman would out cardio, romero, and break him down in the 3rd. I thought wonderboy would dominate woodley, and was thinking alvarez vs mcgregor was 50:50. Wrong on all 3 counts, a great night of fights alright.

Only had time to watch a small bit this morning.

Glad that CM won
Glad that Michael Johnson lost.

Shame that Miesha lost. Thats it for her then.
Shame that JJ won

Love him, or hate him? McGregor is excitement and the biggest star in MMA history.

The sky is the limit.

If I were his team, I would go and try and get the third belt.

If he loses, he can go back down and fight Diaz in a rubber match for the 155 belt. It will smash all current records.

If he doesn't fancy a trip to 170, he has plenty of options at 155.

finishing the year 2-1 instead of 1-2 has made a lot of difference to the McGregor hype machine.

Alveraz might not be the greatest champ ever, but he was a legit 155 tough wrestler and Conor completely schooled him. He was another level.

Aldo in 13 seconds was something else, but that win the other night was his best performance.

He was flawless.

AdamT wrote:Love him, or hate him? McGregor is excitement and the biggest star in MMA history.

The sky is the limit.

If I were his team, I would go and try and get the third belt.

If I were his team I'd avoid Khabib and Woodley and advise him to take time off and come back in a year for big bucks fights with Edgar, Aldo and Diaz, then retire.

Khabib is 50/50.

He's a beast, but McGregor could dent that chin if he finds it.

That would be a great fight but can't see that Khabib wouldn't be a massive favourite against mcgregor.

I might make McGregor favourite.

Khabib is an awesome grappler, but with McGregor's reach and striking ability, he might find it hard to get inside.

It's a clash of styles I would like to see too.

The man of the moment, vs the undefeated Russian machine.

Anyone else think that Romero is going to consume Bisping?

He could smash him.

Bisping has done real good, but he is an accident waiting to happen.

Pr4wn wrote:Anyone else think that Romero is going to consume Bisping?

Yup.

Can't wait to see it. Love watching Romero purely for the fact that he always looks about 50lbs heavier than his opponents.

surely all the fans want khabib next? great fight and interesting clash of styles. cm still annoys me with the amount of hype (seen people calling him goat after Saturday) and all the bs that comes out of the cage but inside hes a great fighter to watch

romero is a bad match up for bisping, who ive always felt as a big weakness against heavy hitters. hendo showed this, he would have to keep it standing and take him on points but you have to feel romero would get to him sooner or later.

Thompson vs Woodley was the fight of the night for me, i personally had it a draw so was happy at the result. thompson winning 3 rounds to woodleys 2 one being a 10-8. would be happy to watch that again

I thought the Pole on Pole women's fight was superb too. Really back and forth. Karolina really showed some heart and mettle. Joanna looks almost untouchable though, her striking is just amazing.

Pr4wn wrote:I thought the Pole on Pole women's fight was superb too. Really back and forth. Karolina really showed some heart and mettle. Joanna looks almost untouchable though, her striking is just amazing.

was away this weekend so only watched the fights today, knew that went to points and couldnt be bothered watching 5 rounds when i knew the result. not a massive fan of womens mma either

Shame to see the end of Miesha.
Has had a good career.

She would have loved the win over Ronda.

Did make me laugh when Khabib called CM Dana's son.

Khabib looks ridiculous though.

Everyone jumping on Khabib's nuts. Yeah he is a beast for sure, but if that left hand lands, he is going down as well.

Sounds like the McGregor camp is pushing for Diaz 3 at LW rather than Khabib.

rodders wrote:Sounds like the McGregor camp is pushing for Diaz 3 at LW rather than Khabib.

Can't blame them. Diaz is a star in his own right. Plus McGregor will want to try and get a clear cut victory over him.

Dangerous fight for Conor. His leg kicks at the start of the first fight made the difference. It gave Nate balance problems, so he was dropped a lot easier. I still think I would pick Diaz to get the job done.

im sorry but the diaz fight is a cop out and a poor defence, average welter/lightweight who's won 3 lost 3 in his last 6 fights (hows that deserving of a shot). connor is now the lightweight champion and therefore should defend against the number 1 contender who is khabib or at least tony ferguson. what his camps wants or not should have f£ck all to do with it, ufc has worked well so far in that they dictate who fights who not the fighters. the last thing we needs is fighters just cherry picking who they want to fight. had enough of that in boxing

I say let the matchmakers do their thing. In my opinion, Conor should defend one of his belts next, be that the FW or the LW.

i presume he'll have to vacate the FW belt, bit if a joke if not as he's wont have fought in the division for over a year. but the ufc will give him more leeway than anybody else due to the attention he brings the ufc.

diaz doesn't deserve a shot, if he's given another shot over khabib it would suggest their worried about their money makers chances. either that or the hard sell to american audiences. (but i thought khabib played public enemy number 1 well the other night)

I certainly can't see him holding down both belts much longer. He won't be able to keep bouncing up and down in weight classes with regularity.

AdamT wrote:Khabib is 50/50.

He's a beast, but McGregor could dent that chin if he finds it.

I agree

CM can ko him if he can stay on the outside, Johnson came close, but if Khabib takes him down there is only one winner.

compelling and rich wrote:im sorry but the diaz fight is a cop out and a poor defence, average welter/lightweight who's  won 3 lost 3 in his last 6 fights (hows that deserving of a shot). connor is now the lightweight champion and therefore should defend against the number 1 contender who is khabib or at least tony ferguson. what his camps wants or not should have f£ck all to do with it, ufc has worked well so far in that they dictate who fights who not the fighters. the last thing we needs is fighters just cherry picking who they want to fight. had enough of that in boxing

Are they really looking at Diaz at 155? I think you are a bit harsh on Diaz, yes he's got a lot of loses on his record but they are against decent opposition , one of which is CM in what was a very close fight. Definitely should be Khabib or Ferguson, who if I'm not mistaken were due to fight earlier in the year but Ferguson was ill/injured. I think Ferguson makes the more interesting fight, CM wont have the height/reach advantage that he's generally had and Ferguson is pretty unorthodox.

Are they still talking about CM fighting at WW?

Pr4wn wrote:Anyone else think that Romero is going to consume Bisping?

Dunno. Bispings work rate and cardio could be a big factor here, Romero would need to finish inside 3 rounds for me, his cardio is not great and Bisping is smart enough to keep on the outside. On the other hand Romero might just attempt to walk through him looking for the ko or take him down, if he takes him down its game over. I think Weidman would have beaten him as well, was actually hoping Weidman would beat Romero and be next in line.

Could see Bisping looking at the winner of Mousasi vs Hall, he'd could well outwork both as they both have tendencies to switch off in fights especially if things aren't going their way. I like Mousasi but he can be a bit of a plodder. After the Hendo win he was almost writing off fighting the top 4 MW's.

I'd like to see CM v Ferguson.

Not a fan of Ferguson, would like to see CM smash him.

Other than maybe Khabib, I still think diaz is the toughest fight for him.

No doubt Conor is the more skilled Martial Artist, but Nate has the 'attributes' to finish Conor.

I want to see them fight once more. Conor got the decision, but he has never comprehensively beat Diaz. I think he needs another win other him.

Also the two styles clash perfectly. It's the biggest fight in MMA.

Diaz simply doesn't deserve another shot. Conor is now a two-weight champ. If Diaz wants him, he can cut down to 155 and try but there's no way Conor should move up.

How about some people still think he won the last fight? Also he destroyed him first time.

Conor had more knockdowns, but Diaz land more strikes. He definitely deserves a crack.

Not at 170 though. Like it or no, Conor is too big for that.

Diaz is a 155 fighter. conor wanted the fight at 170.

Either way, Diaz has only won three of his last six fights. He doesn't deserve a title shot. Especially when Khabib is waiting.

Khabib has fought a couple times in the last few years.

Anyway after Conor starches him, do you think Diaz would derve another crack??

Nope.

Why?

Do you not think him smashing McGregor and running him very close is worthy of a rematch? Take it you're new to combat sports??

Not at all. Conor is the champ and Diaz has to earn his shot like everyone else.

Well did Conor earn his shot??

What's the difference between him and Diaz? Who did Conor beat to earn the shot? He has held the 145 title for over a year and never defended it.

Also he was stopped by a guy in 10 days notice. Also a fair few think he should of lost his last fight with Diaz (I'm not one).

Khabib is undefeated. How many top guys has he beat? Rda? Johnson?

Diaz beat Johnson over a year ago. He was on a 3 fight winning streak until the McGregor rematch.

Perhaps Ferguson deserves first crack. Certainly more than Khabib.

Imo Khabib will likely do a no show anyway, then Diaz will step up in short notice.

It doesn't matter whether Conor earned his shot. McGregor brings in the money, that's why he got the shot. Diaz only brought in the money because he was fighting Conor. He's not a big pull on his own.