#munhoz

Joey

February 24th, 2019

The first PPV offering was a dud. A weak card on paper made weaker by Robert Whittaker's last minute pull out.  This card is world's better although it doesn't come with some risks. It's got two title fights, a main card loaded with intriguing fights, an ESPN prelim slate filled with fights that wouldn't seem out of place as UFC Fight Night headliners, the WMMA fights are intriguing and relatively well put together as well plus you have some damn good busywork at 205 and 135 lbs. Unfortunately there are some bad vibes to be picked up on given some of the matchmaking. There's a good chance this card turns into a lecture on numbers not equating good fights. Ah well. Has a Jon Jones fight ever let ya down before? Let's do some numbers and the like!

Fights: 13

Debuts: Ben Askren

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 4 (Holly Holm vs Aspen Ladd CANCELLED/Song Yadong OUT, Cody Stamman IN vs Alejandro Perez/Thomas Almeida OUT, Frankie Saenz IN vs Marlon Vera, OSP out, Johnny Walker IN vs Misha Cirkunov)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 12 (Jon Jones, Robbie Lawler, Anthony Smith, Kamaru Usman, Tyron Woodley, Cody Garbrandt, Jeremy Stephens, Misha Cirkunov, Diego Sanchez, Mickey Gall, Tecia Torres, Diego Sanchez)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 1 (Tecia Torres)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 10 (Johnny Walker, Anthony Smith, Kamaru Usman, Tyron Woodley, Pedro Munhoz, Zhabit Magomedsharipov, Marlon Vera, Alejandro Perez, WEili Zhang, Frankie Saenz)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2017 (in the UFC): 21-8-1

Jon Jones- 1-0-1 Anthony Smith- 5-1 Tyron Woodley- 3-0 Kamaru Usman- 5-0 Ben Askren- 0-0 Robbie Lawler- 1-1 Weili Zhang- 2-0 Tecia Torres- 3-2 Cody Garbrandt- 0-2 Pedro Munhoz- 4-1

Fights By Weight Class (yearly number here):

Bantamweight- 3 (11) Welterweight- 3 (11) Light Heavyweight- 2 (8) Women’s Strawweight- 2 (6) Women's Bantamweight- 1 (1) Featherweight- 1 (7) Middleweight- 1 (5)

Lightweight-  (12) Women’s Flyweight- (7) Heavyweight- (4) Flyweight- (4)

2019’s Records We Keepin Track Of:

Debuting Fighters (4-12): Ben Askren

Short Notice Fighters (3-5): Frankie Saenz, Cody Stamman, Johnny Walker

Second Fight (15-3):  Hannah Cifers, Macy Chiasson

Cage Corrosion (Fighters who have not fought within a year of the date of the fight) (4-6): Robbie Lawler

Undefeated Fighters (4-8): Ben Askren, Edmen Shahbazyan, Macy Chiasson

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

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”) (5-5): Macy Chiasson

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- I wonder if this is the best card with the highest propensity of having a bad boring no good very bad main card. Every fight on UFC 235's main card (and half of the prelims really) are compelling as shit clashes with stories to be told. You have the closest thing to a Rocky story in Jon Jones' career; the ultra dominant champion who tends to lose focus at a moments notice vs the hard luck tough guy dragging himself up through the ranks. You have a dominant contender facing a dominant champion where they stylistically could cancel each other out en route to a potentially exciting fight. Ben Askren makes his debut against either a potentially cooked or a renaissance Robbie Lawler. Weili Zhang vs Tecia Torres is a great prospect vs established ace fight. Cody Garbrandt's potential renaissance is as compelling as any fight above it. Now for the cold water; there's a chance Jon Jones carries Anthony Smith out of pity a la Glover Teix or OSP. There's a REALLY good chance Woodley vs Usman is a fight contested entirely in the clinch against the fence as Usman crashes too hard whiffing on takedowns while Woodley is content to throw one punch every 30 seconds  and clinch up. Askren vs Lawler could look a lot like Lawler's Strikeforce fights where the threat of the takedown turned him into a pensive weak pressure fighter. Tecia Torres is very hit or miss in terms of action and when she realizes she's outgunned, she shells up. The only fight I'd feel remotely comfortable in betting on action potential meeting action quality is Munhoz vs Garbrandt. Chances are this card could be QUITE disappointing for some folks.

2- How many MINUTES does Anthony Smith have to get Jon Jones' respect before Jones just decides "Okay there's nothing to be worried about here?"

3- SO I suppose if one is looking for a potential avenue for Anthony Smith, it's that he IS new in a few facets. For one, 30 year old Anthony Smith is Jon Jones' youngest opponent since a 26 year old Alexander Gustafsson back in 2013. Even if Daniel Cormier is an otherworldly athlete (seriously you don't reach the olympics without being a special athlete), you can't replicate youth and speed. Smith will at least bring those in bunches which....I mean I guess gives him something to hang his hat on. One could argue he's the best moving LHW Jones has faced when you consider that Gus looked very very shopworn in their fight. He's also very versatile offensively as every tool in his toolbox gets used and is used with a threat of finishing someone. Elbows, kicks, uppercuts, knees all backed by a decent enough grappling game (for 205 lbs) gives Smith an element of danger even if it's fleeting. He brings some of the tools Gustaffson often uses except whereas Gus is a touch and go type of striker, Smith is a high level fight finisher. It's just hard to believe anybody can really hurt Jon Jones plus we're talking about a guy in Smith who tires pretty easily if the pace isn't to his liking.

4- Maybe it's JUST me but I actually really like Smith getting the title fight, not just because he stalls for guys like Dominick Reyes and Johnny Walker to get some more work in. It's one of those things I always found kind of endearing about flyweight or HW, the path to a title shot is always JUST a run away. Imagine being one of these guys at 155 lbs who can win three fights in a row and BARELY be scratching the top 15. Anthony Smith went from middling 185er to fighting the best fighter of my era and I think that's a cool story. It's always a bit of fun when we know the lamb to the slaughter personally.

5- I was really confident Kamaru Usman would beat Tyron Woodley (basically doing what Colby Covington tends to do but way better) but the closer I get to it, the more I think that's not gonna happen. Beating Woodley requires a commitment to touching him from a safety range or smothering him in close, stifling the power he can generate on the counter right. You also have to have a competent counter wrestling game. What Usman can do well is pressure, clinch when he's concerned or confused about what to do next, chain his wrestling together and if he can get somebody down, he tends to give them plenty of problems with his output. Also we've seen him throw consistent paprika for 25 long minutes so if this turns into one HIS kinda fights then I can see him overwhelming Woodley. The problem is I don't think Usman has the fight IQ to do that intelligently for 25 minutes and I wish I had seen him hit clean enough in the past to judge and gauge his recovery skills when he's in trouble. I'm not about to squish on this though.

6- Okay so what happens if Woodley wins and then Askren wins? Do we just cancel this stupid division once and for all?

7- Two fights against TJ DIllashaw exposed some of the flaws in Cody Garbrandt's game and his break from being TAM's defender against the Dillashaw/Cruz combo is a similar enough fighter to where a coin toss pick em isn't out of the question. At the very least, I think we can bet on Cody Garbrandt having a fun fight against a like minded opponent who will probably give him plenty of avenues to pop off offensively.

8- Could Johnny Walker leapfrog Thiago Santos in the LHW WAR rankings if he finishes Misha Cirkunov?

9- I kinda wonder if Zhabit Magomedsharipov vs Jeremy Stephens could've been better suited for a main event overseas. I mean if it's Volkov vs Overeem or Stephens vs Zhabit in St. Petersburg which makes more sense?

10- Macy Chiasson looked like a redeemable prospect at 145 lbs, built like a big featherweight, showcasing some damn good pressure based striking, heavy on top, big with activity on the ground and blessed with submission chops. With the division seemingly on the rocks she's made the choice to drop DOWN to 135 lbs in what should be a pretty scary looking weigh in. Chiasson gets Gina Mazany who bounces between good enough and god awful depending on what day of the week it is. I'm excited to see Chiasson back in there, assuming of course she makes the weight.

11- MARLON VERA IS BACK! My favorite bantamweight!