#blachowicz

Joey

February 18th, 2019

It's about that time of year where we start seeing the UFC go to some obscure ass places! The UFC is heading to Prague which is a pretty interesting stop for the organization that seems obsessed with a show on every city in every country in the world at some point. Prague's getting a very European card; a good main event, some good undercard filler but nothing that feels like it has a definitive place in the universe. A lot of this card will be forgotten, probably even before the end of the day. At the same time, some really good European prospects are on here, the main event is superb and there's some fun filler action fights within the fluff. It isn't the sort of card you'll remember three days from now but hopefully for an early morning Saturday hang out, we'll all do just fine!

Fights: 13

Debuts:  Ismail Naurdiev, Joel Alvarez, Klidson Abreu

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 3 (Sam Alvez vs Gadzhimurad Antigulov/Ramazan Emeev OUT, Ismail Naurdiev vs Michel Prezares/Darko Stosic OUT, Klidson Abreu IN vs Magomed Ankalaev)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 10 (Francis Ngannou, Cain Velasquez, Andre Fili, Jimmie Rivera, Paul Felder, James Vick, Cynthia Calvillo, Alex Caceres, Jessica Penne, Renan Barao)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 2 (Stefan Struve, Daniel Teymur)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 6 (Thiago Santos, Jan Blachowicz, Petr Yan, Michel Prezares, Rustam Khabilov, Carlos Diego Ferreira)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2017 (in the UFC): 24-15

Jan Blachowicz- 4-1 Thiago Santos- 7-1 Marcos Rogerio De Lima- 2-1 Stefan Struve- 0-3 Michal Oleksiejczuk- 0-0 Gian Villante- 2-3 Liz Carmouche- 1-1 Lucie Pudilova- 2-2 Jon Dodson- 2-2 Petr Yan- 3-0 Magomed Ankalaev- 1-1 Klidson Abreu- 0-0

Fights By Weight Class (yearly number here):

Light Heavyweight- 3 (6) Lightweight- 3 (12) Women’s Flyweight- 2 (7) Welterweight- 2 (8) Bantamweight- 1 (8) Heavyweight- 1 (4) Featherweight- 1 (6)

Women’s Strawweight- 3 (4) Middleweight- (4) Flyweight- (4)

2019’s Records We Keepin Track Of:

Debuting Fighters (3-10): Ismail Naurdiev, Joel Alvarez, Klidson Abreu

Short Notice Fighters (2-4): Ismail Naurdiev, Klidson Abreu

Second Fight (11-3):  Chris Fishgold, Damir Ismagulov, Dwight Grant, Michal Oleksiejczuk

Cage Corrosion (Fighters who have not fought within a year of the date of the fight) (3-5): Michal Oleksiejczuk, Polo Reyes

Undefeated Fighters (4-8):

Fighters with at least four fights in the UFC with 0 wins over competition still in the organization (1-2):

Weight Class Jumpers (Fighters competing outside of the weight class of their last fight even if they’re returning BACK to their “normal weight class”) (5-4): Lucie Pudilova

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- Number of fights from 2017 onward for the two dudes in the main event: 13/2 = 6.5 fights per dude

Number of fights from 2017 onward for the rest of the main card: 26/10 = 2.6 fights per person

That's normally not that discrepant.

2- There's something really weirdly cool about this main event. It's the best and worst of 205 lbs all at once and I'm kinda enjoying that madness. Thiago Santos vs Jan Blachowicz pits a dude who started 2018 as a middleweight whooping another middleweight who is now fighting for the LHW title. He fights so often and is so much damn fun that he's like an action version of Michael Bisping; winning is amplified because it seems like he always does it and losses are hard to ever dwell on because he's back in there before people realize. His ascension at 205 lbs seems weird until you realize that he's probably equal to Jan Blachowicz's best win too. SPEAKING of Jan, he debuted and wiped out Ilir Latifi and then the UFC decided the next course of action was to throw him in there with Jimi Manuwa and THEN try Rumble Johnson. Rumble fight fell apart (Thank God) and Jan wound up getting decisioned vs Corey Anderson.  He got a gimmie vs Igor Pokrajac that he ALMOST lost then fought Alexander Gustafsson and Patrick Cummins back to back. Four straight wins including a redemption win in an awesome fight vs Jimi Manuwa has gotten him back here. This is a battle between a guy who was rushed and rebounded vs a guy who was flailing at 185 lbs then realized he could just beat up on a bunch of dudes at 205 lbs if he wanted to. I'm with it.

3- Imagine not wanting to see Thiago Santos vs Jon Jones. It may last a round but it'd be worth the price of admission.

4- Stefan Struve co-main eventing in 2019 is proof that the co-main event down doesn't matter anymore.

5- The true co-main event is Petr Yan vs John Dodson although I have questions about said fight. In all truthfulness, this fight should be at the top of the helm just under Blachowicz vs Santos. My guess beyond just genuine concern about yet another bantamweight decision in a big fight is that they sort of realized that this fight is inherently risky for Yan and don't want to put him in the co-main spot just to have Dodson 29-28 him. The counter argument would be "Well then why book him with a spoiler?" but I guess they figure they'd get that out of the way first before they move onto bigger and better things? Hopefully?

6- We're about to get our once a year Liz Carmouche fight and it's a pretty damn good one with Lucie Pudilova. Pudilova has become something of a force to be reckoned with as this march forward all hands and feet no defense action style brawler. She and Irene Aldana had one of those awesome fights you might've forgotten about last year and Pudilova's style is something that 125 lbs could really use even if it has a limited shelf life. Liz Carmouche is going to clinch and grapple a lot so here's hoping Pudilova's takedown defense and strength is up to par for it.

7- Michel Prezares is here to fight a bunch of fights at 170 lbs until he loses and then eventually get cut. The Ramazan Emeev fight felt like another attempt at getting him out of here but now he's getting a short notice dude in Ismail Naurdiev. Feel the need to point out Prezares is undefeated in the UFC vs short notice fighters.

8- Chris Fishgold vs David Teymur should be really, really interesting. Chris Fishgold is really good European fighter who had a pretty tough debut vs Calvin Kattar where he DID put on a pretty good performance in a first round defeat. David Teymur has had a rough go of of it but look who he's fighting when it's Danny Henry and Julio Arce. This is a really good regional European MMA style fight.

9- Damir Hadzovic vs Polo Reyes is a damn good fight and I will not have you jokers disparage that.

10- I feel like there's a direct correlation between Gian Villante and genuinely bad MMA cards on paper. He and Sam Alvey are like the common denominators.

11- Carlo Pedersoli vs Dwight Grant is another really good fight that sort of has no meaning or purpose but should be fun for entertainment sake.

Joey

March 11th, 2018

Fights: 12 (11?)

Debuts: 5 (John Phillips, Charles Byrd, Magomed Ankalaev, Hakeem Dawodu, Dimitry Sosnovski)

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 4 (Rustam Khabilov OUT, Stevie Ray IN vs Kajan Johnson/Dmitry Prohebetz OUT, Dmitry Sosnovskiy IN vs Mark Godbeer/Alex Reyes OUT, TBD IN vs Nasrat Haqparast/Elizeu Zaleski OUT, Brad Scott IN vs Jack Marshmann)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 5 (Fabricio Werdum, Alexander Volkov, Jimi Manuwa, Jan Blachowicz, Stevie Ray)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC:  2 (Terrion Ware, Paul Craig)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC:  7 (Fabricio Werdum, Alexander Volkov, Jan Blachowicz, Leon Edwards, Peter Sobotta, Mark Godbeer, Kajan Johnson)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2016 (in the UFC): 18-8

Alexander Volkov- 3-0 Fabricio Werdum- 3-2 Jan Blachowicz- 3-2 Jimi Manuwa- 2-1 Tom Duquesnoy- 1-1 Terrion Ware- 0-2 Leon Edwards- 4-0 Peter Sobotta- 2-0

Too High Up- Terrion Ware vs Tom Duquesnoy

Terrion Ware is the sort of fighter every MMA organization loves to have. He's a guy who can test your prospects, give them a few unique looks and test what guys can and can't do. Thus far, Ware has given some dicey moments to Cody Stamman and Sean O'Malley so you know he can be your prospect tester dijour. The problem is Ware is fighting third up on the card vs Tom Duquesnoy in a fight entirely designed to get Duquesnoy back on the right track. I'm not opposed to young fighters getting opportunities to rebuild their stock because it's just smart business but Duquesnoy-Ware should not be third fight on the card. Thus far Ware's agent has got him on International Fight Week, the co-main event of an FS1 card and now this premier slot on Fight Pass. Dude's out here putting in work.

Too Low- Danny Henry vs Hakeem Dawodu

In his UFC debut, Canada's top prospect gets what is the usual "hyped guy debut" fight---a really fucking tough matchup where nobody respects his opponent. Henry is a former AFC champ who debuted vs Daniel Teymur and had a hellacious war with him in a FOTN bonus earning win. Henry looked huge for 155 lbs so lord knows what he'll look like at 145. Henry is a flawed fighter who Dawodu should be able to style on BUT there are no guarantees under 155 lbs and Henry has a lot of tools (power, size and cardio) which should give Hakeem some issues. This fight should be on the main card.

Stat Monitor for 2018: Debuting Fighters (Current number: 6-9):  John Phillips, Charles Byrd, Magomed Ankalaev, Hakeem Dawodu, Dimitry Sosnovski

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 6-2): Stevie Ray, Dmitry Sosnovski, Brad Scott

Second Fight (Current number: 8-9): Oliver Enkamp, Danny Henry, Nasrat Haqparast

Cage Corrosion (Current number: 5-9):  

Undefeated Fighters (Current number: 11-8): Hakeem Dawodu, Dmitry Sosnovski

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- I'd actually like to begin by doing a bit of an exercise if you'll so indulge me. There are 17 European fighters on this card from top to bottom if you remove the in limbo fight for one Nasrat Haqparast. Removing the debuting fighters, that number drops to 15. Of those fifteen fighters, how many of them are some combination resulting in 2-2 in their last 4 fights?

Jimi Manuwa Jan Blachowicz Danny Roberts Jack Marshmann Brad Scott Paul Craig Stevie Ray

So of the fifteen fighters on this card from Europe who have set foot in the UFC octagon, seven of them are 2-2 in their last 4 fights. That fifteen also includes guys like Tom Duquesnoy, Alexander Volkov and others who don't even have a four fight minimum in the org.

The point was to illustrate the challenges of the European fight scene. MOST of these guys fight in Europe and the UFC goes to Europe, what, six times a year? That leaves these guys taking fights outside of Europe but never in America; like Mexico, Canada or Brazil primarily. That creates a pretty weird dynamic where most of these fights are outside of their comfort zones and on the road in enemy territory where they're really just there to be "an opponent." All of this leads to an erosion of fan support as more and more European fighters get smelted out of their home markets, creating the illusion that they're just not good enough. It all leads to a challenge of balancing the desire to showcase international fighters in front of their fans with the fact that there are X amount of cards to fill up with guys who have to fight X amount of times across X amount of dates. When SO many local fighters are in a state of "win one, lose one, win one, lose one" there's no semblance of momentum.

2- What fighter in Fabricio Werdum's past does Alexander Volkov best represent? I can't think of somebody who he's faced who provides the combination of workrate, size and striking depth that Volkov has. That's not to say Werdum can't win (or won't win) but I'm at a loss for a real good comp for Volkov.

3- It's amazing the level of durability Fabricio Werdum has displayed throughout his career. Not even looking at the level of growth he's displayed as a fighter, we're talking about a guy who has fought at a high level since at least 2007 when I first got reintroduced to MMA. He's fought everybody under the sun and only two guys have managed to put him down and out; Stipe Miocic and JDS. That includes fights with Overeem (three times), Cain Velasquez, Mark Hunt, Fedor, Big Foot, Andrei Arlovski, Big Nog (twice), Travis Browne (twice) and Gabriel Gonzaga. All of that is to lead into the obvious; at SOME point this dude is going to crack. He's over 40, fought three times last year and might fight three more times this year given how often the UFC calls upon him. It's just the nature of the human body to EVENTUALLY erode from prolonged damage. Volkov isn't blessed with the one hitter quitter that can put a dude out on impact but he is very active and aggressive. It probably wouldn't happen early but if this fight drags, accumulation of damage could be a serious problem.

4- So this main card is actually not bad considering it's a European Fight Pass card. Werdum/Volkov is a really good HW fight (and the winner probably is facing the winner of Lewis/Ngannou for a #1 contender spot), Blachowicz/Manuwa I was an awful fight but this is a relevant fight between big dudes at 205 lbs including one dude who will always be a "maybe sorta" #1 contender type because he creates highlight reels. Peter Sobotta vs Leon Edwards isn't the world's sexiest fight on paper but Sobotta has really turned his career around since coming back to the UFC and he seems really confident in his hands right now. On the other hand, Leon Edwards has lost his fight finishing spark but still has fights which suggest he's growing somewhat as a fighter. Even Duquesnoy/Ware should be tons of fun. The prelim slate is just so "UFC Fight Pass in Europe" level that it really dampens the excitement. Brett Johns getting on this card wouldve been huge for him.

5- Jan Blachowicz has sort of had a chance to mentally reset his stock on the lower half of the 205 lb division and gets rocketed RIGHT back up the top of the division. Blachowicz has really struggled around this level with losses to Pat Cummins (in a fight he could've won), Jimi Manuwa (fight he should've won), Alexander Gustafsson (in a fight he probably shouldn't of taken) and Corey Anderson. The level of competition there is pretty intense and it's not like Jan has been completely outstyled in those fights. He's just NOT on that level (or wasn't enough to win those fights). He gets a second crack at Manuwa now.

6- I'm really beginning to lose faith in Danny Roberts as a prospect. On the regional circuit, he always seemed to put himself in various states of peril but it seemed to be more out of inexperience. In the UFC, he's continued to put himself in bad spots defensively and his chin has been cracked on a number of opportunities. Dominique Steele had him hurting in a bad way, Mike Perry finished him in a fight where Roberts just couldn't get out of the way for a fifteen minute period, Bobby Nash had Roberts all sorts of thrown off before Danny Roberts finished him off and Nordine Taleb finished Roberts in violent fashion in December. Roberts draws Swedish karate ace Oliver Enkamp in a pivotal fight for both guys.

7- Can Leon Edwards somehow finish Peter Sobotta and keep pace with the other 170 lbers who seem to all be getting their careers on the right track?

8- If Leon Edwards wins, do they try to put him vs Ponz in Chile? I really like Edwards but since nearly finishing Claudio Silva and smelting Seth Baczynski, he's had 6 fights and gone to a decision in all but one of them. There's really no reason somebody with his tools should be so....not fun. His fights are heading in the opposite direction at a time where Kamaru Usman, Darren Till, Ponz, Max Griffin, Elizeu Zaleski, Jake Matthews, Mike Perry and others in that  "fun new WW to care about" are all having damn fun fights.

9- All Magomed Ankalaev has to do is finish his fight and be the savior of 205 lbs. It's not asking too much.

10- Alright Mark Godbeer, what stupid shit you gonna get yourself into this time?

11- So about the Godbeer fight, maybe this exposes my lack of knowledge but I could not tell you the differences between Dmitry Sosnovskiy and Dmitry Poberezhets, the guy who was originally scheduled to fight Godbeer. The UFC seems to have like a bevy of heavyweights who they signed but can't seem to actually get to get into the cage, it's almost infuriating if you're one of those OCD guys who wants to keep up with everything going on.

12- Stevie Ray getting a new contract to try and smelt Kajan Johnson is very UFC of the UFC. It's almost like a Batman TAS plot from the Joker.

UFC 282:BLACHOWICZ VS ANKALAEV

Let’s face it, we love MMA and other combat sports because the likelihood of having a draw result is as slim as England winning a soccer world cup(other than the fact they have more talent lmao). However when they actually do happen, SCRUTINY is(rightly so)on the judges. Jan Blanchowicz of Poland is a former Light Heavyweight champion whilst Mago Ankalaev is ranked 4th in the division looking to…

Jan Blachowicz, Magomed Ankalaev fight to split draw at UFC 282

LAS VEGAS — The UFC lost its light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka to injury in November. UFC 282 was supposed to crown his successor. Unfortunately, it did not. Former champion Jan Blachowicz (29-9-1) and Magomed Ankalaev (18-1-1) fought to a five-round split draw in the main event of UFC on Saturday inside T-Mobile Arena. Judge Mike Bell scored the bout 48-47 for Blachowicz, while judge…