#arlovski

[thesportssoundoff]

“Boom or bust potential off the charts” UFC on ESPN 4 Preview

Joey

July 15th, 2019

Another event on ESPN, another makeshift card! These ESPN cards seem to have a bit of a theme or rhythm to them now; give folks a name main event, give them a main card featuring fighters they've had in fights they may/may not care about and then just fill in the rest of the prelim slate. That's no different here with the UFC's return to San Antonio where there's a "name" (sorta) main event, a main card filled with names like Ben Rothwell, Andrei Arlovski, Greg Hardy, James Vick, Daniel Hooker, Alexander Hernandez and Walt Harris and the prelims are just kinda there with intriguing fights featuring people you've probably never heard of. The headliner for this ESPN gimmick is Rafael Dos Anjos vs Leon Edwards; a solid welterweight fight on paper well worthy of the main event spot even if the "winner" is somewhat inconsequential to the title picture. It's as close as we're going to get in theory to an all doughy guy bonanza so settle in, pour yourself a drink and get after it!

Fights: 13

Debuts: Gabriel Silva, Domingo Pilarte

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 1 (Liz Carmouche OUT, Jennifer Maia IN vs Roxanne Modafferi)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 13 (Rafael Dos Anjos, Leon Edwards, Greg Hardy, Aleksei Oleinik, James Vick, Dan Hooker, Andrei Arlovski, Ben Rothwell, Alex Caceres, Raquel Pennington, Sam Alvey, Roxanne Modafferi, Ray Borg)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 6 (Andrei Arlovski, Ben Rothwell, James Vick, Rocky Pennington, Ray Borg, Sam Alvey)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 3 (Leon Edwards, Walt Harris, Irene Aldana)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2017 (in the UFC): 33-20 (2)

Leon Edwards- 5-0 Rafael Dos Anjos- 4-2 Walt Harris- 4-2-1 Aleksei Olenik- 4-2 James Vick- 4-2 Dan Hooker- 4-1 Greg Hardy- 1-1 Juan Adams- 1-1 Alexander Hernandez- 2-1 Francisco Trinaldo- 2-2 Andrei Arlovski- 2-5-1 Ben Rothwell- 0-1

Fights By Weight Class (yearly number here):

Bantamweight- 3 (39) Heavyweight- 3 (21) Lightweight- 2 (44) Welterweight- 1 (39) Light Heavyweight- 1 (29) Featherweight-  1 (34) Women’s Bantamweight- 1 (13) Women’s Flyweight- 1 (19)

Middleweight- (23) Women’s Strawweight- (19) Flyweight- (8) Women’s Featherweight- (6)

2019 Number Tracker

Debuting Fighters (20-41)- Domingo Pilarte, Gabriel Silva

Short Notice Fighters (19-27)- Jennifer Maia

Second Fight (38-16)- Mario Bautista, Jin Soo Son, Klidson Abreu, Felipe Corrales

Cage Corrosion (Fighters who have not fought within a year of the date of the fight) (14-27)-

Undefeated Fighters (25-28)-  Gabriel Silva

Fighters with at least four fights in the UFC with 0 wins over competition still in the organization (9-8)-

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”) (19-17)- Felipe Corrales

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- A lot of folks took offense to Dana White not rushing to grant a #1 contender in the WW division but let's play this out real quick:

Jorge Masvidal has two back to back highlight reel KOs

Tyron Woodley is still around and has a justifiable claim to being the #1 contender

If Colby Covington beats Robbie Lawler, he'll have wins over RDA, Lawler, Bryan Barberena, Demian Maia and Stun Gun Kim in the past three years

If Robbie Lawler beats Colby Covington, he's the super popular former champ who beat Donald Cerrone and then Colby Covington

If Anthony Pettis beats Nate Diaz then he's got wins over two of the more recognizable faces in the UFC on back to back fights

Nate Diaz may have been a simple “Yes” away from a title fight in December of 2017 so let’s see what happens if he beats Pettis

Guys like Elizeu Zaleski, Vicente Luque and Santiago Ponzinibbio are racking up finishes and wins at a crazy rate

Then you throw in these two guys and you can see why a clogged picture with an inactive champion is not ideal at all. Leon Edwards took a big step up from beating the so-so guys on the European scene to racking up wins over the likes of Bryan Barberena, Donald Cerrone and Gunnar Nelson. He's a tremendous welterweight who has a not so thrilling style at a time where the UFC kind of sort of has a very hit or miss level of interest. It would be tough to deny a guy on this kind of winning streak (finishes or otherwise) that he isn't a top contender. With a win by RDA, It's totally fair to point out that RDA will have snapped Leon Edwards' winning streak after stopping Kevin Lee with wins over Robbie Lawler and Neil Magny backing that up. RDA was dominated by Kamaru Usman so he's probably not in the title picture with a win but his value only goes up if he develops into that title shot gatekeeper/contender. The UFC's welterweight division is very cluttered and Usman being out has only made it even more cluttered.

2- Does the makeshift-y nature of this fight allow put RDA in the driver's seat? Rafael Dos Anjos has been frequently tasked to become a short notice main eventer a la Donald Cerrone as evidenced as recently as 2017 where he fought in June, September and then December. Guy keeps himself busy and if you remove the 15 lb weight cut, he's more inclined to take quicker turnaround fights. Leon Edwards tends to be the kind of guy who fights on a bit more of a laid back fighter sched; often popping up whenever the UFC needs a fight in Europe. It's also worth remembering that RDA is pretty much used to these grueling violent in tight fights (which Edwards is going to chase) and seems to always be surprisingly well conditioned despite the pacing. Edwards will probably be the hardest hitting WW that RDA has faced since Robbie Lawler but even Lawler was compromised by a torn ACL but he's also a space and pace guy who either needs to be far away or in REAL tight to operate. This fight is as close as the numbers would suggest it to be.

3- He had zero problems dealing with Donald Cerrone in Singapore so it's probably not a big deal BUT it is worth pointing out just for sniggles that Edwards' two UFC losses have come outside of Europe. Consider this one a Pondering padder if anything.

4- It wasn't his first loss ever BUT Alexander Hernandez is coming off of his first stoppage loss at the hands of Donald Cerrone. The UFC apparently had designs on him coming back sooner but he took a bit more time off. Trinaldo is not much of a one shot finisher but he's really strong, is abnormally good despite his age and if he senses a fighter wilting, he tends to pour on the pressure. Trinaldo's sort of settled into the bottom half of the top 15 in my estimation while Hernandez has top 10 upside on paper but has sort of looked overwhelmed at times vs Donald Cerrone and Olivier Aubin-Mercier. I'm not sure if he'll ever really reach that upside although I'm betting on upside still. Hernandez vs Francisco Trinaldo is an interesting fight between two guys who could really use a high profile win.

5- The UFC signed Walt Harris in 2013. He's officially in a co-main event in 2019. He was cut once, suspended for PEDs once, a no contest, a DQ loss, had two not fights vs Mark Godbeer, fought Werdum at 3 hours notice and now has finally elevated himself up to co-main event status. Hard work (and being around when nobody else is around) has paid off!

6- Seriously though when you consider that Walt Harris and Olenik are in the co-main and Rothwell and Arlovski are still kickin' around at this point, is it any surprise the UFC is TRYING to make a somebody out of the Adams vs Hardy winner?

7- The winner of Aspen Ladd vs Germaine de Randamie was always going to have a slight step up over her but it's fair to point out that Irene Aldana has a relatively clear path to a title shot now.  Aldana is on a three fight winning streak (and I thought she beat Chookagian so it could in theory be four in a row) and Rocky Pennington if she's "right" is probably the best test of whether she's gotten over the stylistic woes that hurt her vs the likes of Evinger and Leslie Smith. Pennington has relatively good striking when she chooses to let it go, works the body well vs fighters who like to move, has a tremendous array of chokes she can go to at any time as evidenced by her subbing Ashlee Evans-Smith, Jessica Andrade and nearly breaking Meisha Tate's neck in the process of one. Aldana has struggled with fighters who can box her straight up and in and when she's needed to hit with some pop, it hasn't always been there in fights. This is really about whether Pennington's first two losses can be attributed to rust (and talent) vs whether Aldana has tightened up the really big holes in her game that prevented her from achieving success early in her UFC run. Pennington when right is a tremendous pressure action brawler while the "perfect" form of Aldana is something like a Max Holloway; an output machine who can rack up points offensively with scrambles and submissions to back up her potent striking game. IF both fighters are right (and Pennington thus far post leg break is a mystery), we could be looking at a fantastic fight.

8- Andrei Arlovski is about to embark on yet another career renaissance! Maybe. Or maybe not. Arlovski is 0-3-1 in his last four fights and he's really truly 0-4. He has shown signs of life though! He gave Tai Tuavasa some problems before he just got clinch elbowed mercilessly down the stretch and against Agusto Sakai, I think most people would say he deserved the nod. The "new" Arlovski is not as good as the guy in 2014 and 2015 who reinvented himself as he's slower, doesn't hit as hard, is perhaps way too patient for his own good and spends most rounds teasing his right hand because it's pretty much his key weapon at this point. I'm actually figuring he vs Rothwell will be a ton of fun for a round or so. At the same time, this fight pretty much exemplifies the "You know these guys now watch them fight!" aspect of matchmaking.

9- Totally forgot Rothwell vs Arlovski is a rematch.

10- Really curious to see what remains of Dan Hooker after that brutal as shit fight with Edson Barboza. He's got an opponent who can he style on offensively in James Vick but Vick offensiely provides all sorts of problems for Hooker defensively. I also feel like Hooker vs Vick is going to prove yet another story about intense MMA weight cuts one way or another.

11- Somebody in the UFC office decided to put Roxanne Modaferri and Sam Alvey back to back on a card ON ESPN and I hate them so much on a visceral level.

12- They're buried on the card but the trio of bantamweight fights are all pretty interesting. Domingo Pilarte vs Felipe Corrales is interesting because Pilarte had the best DWCS fight of all time (vs 1-2 UFC vet Vince Morales) and Felipe Corrales is fighting in the dangerous "it's their second UFC Fight so they're good now" weight class. Jin Soo Son had a BRAWL with Petr Yan in his debut and is a massive 135-lber while Mario Bautista showed glimpses of high level athleticism at least while getting ran through vs Cory Sandhagen. Lastly you have debuting undefeated fighter Gabriel Silva vs Ray Borg and man does Ray Borg need a win in the worst way. He also absolutely needs to make weight here too.

[thesportssoundoff]

“Fuck Yeah, This Show Should Be Awesome....I Hope?” UFC 225 Preview

Joey

June 3rd

It's been hard going recently for some of these UFC events. Not since the Fox card headlined by Gaethje vs Poirier have we had an event that seemed to leave everyone feeling equally satisfied with what we got out of the five hour investment. Brazil had some good moments, some cringe and a truly depressing main event. Chile and Liverpool seemed to be going just fine before the main cards began and things got a little strange, both shows ending with main events that seemed destined to test the patience and willpower of their audience. This week from Utica, we were all THRILLED with what seemed like the worst six fight stretch in UFC history before the card eventually righted itself from "Worst show ever" to just being a bad show. All of this is to set the stage for an event that IF it's anything but great, will be a sign from the MMA Gods that this sport is going apocalyptic. This card is fantastic; a PPV event with two damn good title fights, CM Punk defending two titles of his own, two really intriguing HW fights, some damn good stuff in WMMA and good fights at weight classes below 145 lbs. The only bad fight on paper is a really shuntsy HW fight which of course can be forgiven. It's got a great mix of snazzy names, compelling fights, stories and worthy title challengers fighting for belts. You should be all in on this.

Fights: 13

Debuts: 1 (Megan Anderson)

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: (BObby Green OUT, Charles Oliveira IN vs Clay Guida/Allen Crowder OUT, Chris De La Rocha IN vs Rashad Coultier)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 16 (Holly Holm, Andrei Arlovski, Alistair Overeem, Robert Whittaker, Yoel Romero, Colby Covington, Rafael Dos Anjos, Curtis Blaydes, Claudia Gadelha, Carla Esparza, Ricardo Lamas, Gleison Tibau, Sergio Pettis, Joseph Benavidez, Clay Guida, Charles Oliveira)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 2 (Rashad Evans, Chris De La Rocha)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 8  (Robert Whittaker, Tai Tuavasa, RDA, Colby Covington, Andrei Arlovski, Curtis Blaydes, Carla Esparza, Joseph Benavidez)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2016 (in the UFC): 19-13

Robert Whittaker- 4-0 Yoel Romero- 2-1 RDA- 3-2 Colby Covington- 5-0 Tai Tuavasa- 2-0 Andrei Arlovski- 2-5 Megan Anderson- 0-0 Holly Holm- 1-3 CM Punk- 0-1 Mike Jackson- 0-1

Divisional Breakdown: Heavyweight- 3 Welterweight- 2 Featherweight- 2 Lightweight- 1 Flyweight- 1 Light Heayweight- 1 Middleweight- 1 Women's featherweight- 1 Strawweight- 1

Too High Up- Chris De La Rocha vs Rashad Coultier

Don't be a goof and say CM Punk vs Mike Jackson because that's just smart business. As for this, do I have to explain? De La Rocha and Coultier are a combined 0-4 in the UFC. De La Rocha last fought before Conor McGregor was a UFC champion (twice) and Coultier has been KO'd both times. There's just no reason for this to be on FS1 outside of "they're big" which okay and all but they can be big on Fight Pass too, no?

Too Low- Joseph Benavidez vs Sergio Pettis

It's REALLY close between this fight, Oliveira/Guida and Blaydes/Overeem. Either way let's go with this really good fight at 125 lbs between a guy who has yet to fight the champion (Sergio Pettis) and the guy who has twice fought the champ but probably figures to be remain one of the best fighters in the division. Pettis is coming off a loss to Henry Cejduo while Benavidez rides into this fight on a long winning streak and an almost equally long layoff. This fight should be higher but what are ya gonna do?

Stat Monitor for 2018: Debuting Fighters (Current number: 14-17):  Megan Anderson

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 15-7): Charles Oliveira, Chris De La Rocha

Second Fight (Current number: 17-16): Mike Jackson, CM Punk, Dan Ige

Cage Corrosion (Current number: 10-17): CM Punk, Mike Jackson, Joe Benavidez

Undefeated Fighters (Current number: 20-13):

Keeping An Eye On But Not Really:

The UFC Win Check Test The records of fighters who have 4 or more UFC fights (or three full calendar years in the organization) but 0 wins against people still in the UFC: Rashad Evans

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- Does the first fight between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker even matter? Their first fight was a short notice booking (May 27th for July 8th) and so even if you grant that they had a month to prep, it was a short notice booking for two guys in their first ever title fights PLUS both Romero and Whittaker had only had one five round fight prior to this. Then the day of the event, they were randomly bumped up to the main event which is always added pressure. Making matters worse, Whittaker blew out his knee at the beginning of the first round and Romero admittedly said he was waiting for the right moment to kick Whittaker right in his fucked up leg.  There's been so many fluky circumstances that I'm not sure the first fight should hold any weight beyond an acknowledgment that it happened.

2- Given everything that went wrong for Whittaker since the title fight (bad knee injury, flesh eating virus that nearly went after his organs), what condition is he going to be in?

3- A lot has been said about Overeem-Blaydes being on the prelims and Holm-Anderson being on the main card. I don't think it's wrong to suggest Holly Holm is the biggest star on the main card outside of CM Punk nor is that a bad thing. Holm is somebody people want to see fight even if her fights can be really boring with the wrong kind of opponent. Her vs Megan Anderson at the very least is an important fight at 145 lbs which should give it the nod over Blaydes-Overeem since that fight really is JUST another fight at heavyweight. The key is to accept that this division is only going to grow if it's treated like a big deal and putting it on the main card helps it come off as a big deal. I can accept that the main card is weaker now without Overeem vs Blaydes which is the price we pay for trying to make sure the women's featherweight class gets a fighting shot.

4- There are two kinds of MMA fans; the ones who are dreading the idea of Colby Covington as a UFC champ and the ones who are openly anticipating it. I happily fall on the former but if you're on the latter? Well you're absolutely welcome to keep on readin'

5- What makes RDA vs Covington so interesting is that for all the BS about Covington's personality warts; his style has given RDA fits in the past while RDA is the best opponent Covington has faced ever. Guys like Gleison Tibau, Clay Guida, Khabib, Tony Ferguson etc etc have given him problems in the past with their relentless pressure and wrestling chops. If you're versatile (and I bet there's more to Covington's hands than what we've seen so far) with the ability to take RDA down then you'll more often than not have a shot. As for Colby Covington? His best win is an aging Demian Maia in a fight where he ate far too many hooks in the beginning of the fight and looked like a guy who had made a conscious decision to try and prove he could strike. After the first round, he settled down and went back to being a guy who was powerful on top, smothered with pressure and cooked dudes with cardio. There's so many things RDA can do that Maia can't do and at a level by which Covington has never seen from an opponent before. RDA at 170 lbs has been pretty damn perfect thus far and everything that worked at 155 lbs has carried upwards. Don't allow Covington's gimmick to convince you this fight isn't pretty damn great on paper.

6- Who is taking the bigger step up; Tai Tuavasa or Megan Anderson?

7- Let's focus on Tai Tuivasa currently. He's 2-0 in the UFC and his opponents combined records are 2-5 in the UFC (and Asker has ZERO wins vs people still in the organization). He hasn't been out of the first round, has shown some truly ugly aspects to his game which suggests this bandwagon is going to crash really hard at some point. At the same time, there's something crudely enjoyable about Tai Tuivasa's game. Maybe it's the Hunt-esque attitude he has or the fact he has some truly violent tools against the cage or just the fact that HW is in the midst of a bit of a renaissance (seriously!) and he's a pretty enjoyable part of that. He's getting his Arlovski test really early compared to other HW contemporaries. By the time guys like Ngannou and Tybura were tempted with the Arlovski chin, they had fought good quality HWs like Luiz Henrique (both guys) and Curtis Blaydes (Ngannou). This is a big step up for an entertaining young HW with some upside. PRoceed with caution, amigos.

8- Is Arlovski on his 4th career renaissance?

9- On a card loaded with proven established dudes, let's talk about Mirsad Bektic.  A forgotten face at 145 lbs, Mirsad's biggest weakness has been inactivity. He's suffered multiple knee injuries on his way up the FW rankings and then came back JUST in time to get beat by Darren Elkins in a very Elkins-y performance. In that fight Bektic abandoned any sort of success with his strikes to try and grapple with Elkins, a bad idea that gassed him out and ultimately led to him getting finished. He took another long break (of course) and re-emerged in Jan of this year to ice Godofredo Pepey. 145 lbs is the sort of division where even the bottom of the barrel is really good and where guys like Ortega, Holloway and Edgar are blasting through names one after another after.  Bektic is one of the rare guys who hasn't fought those three and he's really talented. On the other hand, Ricardo Lamas is probably the measuring stick for how good a dude can be at 145 lbs. A loss here doesn't ruin Bektic because Lamas is really good BUT a really impressive performance might start the clock on a Bektic title shot. Assuming he can avoid getting hurt again.

10-  We buying this Clay Guida career renaissance? Two straight wins since going back up to 155 lbs, both in dominant definitive fashion. Charles Oliveira is an interesting sort of test for him especially on short notice.

11- Don't act like CM Punk vs Mike Jackson doesn't have a perverse appeal to you. It's better to be honest about all of this than to try and lie. Nobody likes lying to yaself!

12- It's really weird to think the Gadelha vs Esparza winner could find their way into the title picture with one more win.

Five Can't Miss Fights

1- Robert Whittaker vs Yoel Romero

2- Curtis Blaydes vs Alistair Overeem

3-  Ricardo Lamas vs Mirsad Bektic

4- Tai Tuivasa vs Andrei Arlovski

5- Colby Covington vs Rafael Dos Anjos

[thesportssoundoff]

Junior Albini vs Arlovski in Norfolk

Maaaaaaaaan.....these fights are either really good or really sad in Va. 

[cavenewstimestoday]

LIVE! BKFC 76 Results: Arlovski vs. Copeland

MMA Fighting has BKFC 76 results for the Arlovski vs. Copeland fight card and more from the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday night. UFC veteran Andrei Arlovski makes his highly anticipated BKFC debut in the co-main event when he squares off against Josh Copeland in a heavyweight contest. This is also Copeland’s first BKFC fight of his lengthy combat sports career. Tony Soto and Ben…

LIVE! BKFC 76 Results: Arlovski vs. Copeland

[thesportssoundoff]

Andrei Arlovski decisions Ben Rothwell

The long and short of HW MMA:

Anybody else but Ben Rothwell and Arlovski finishes the guy with half of those shots.

Anybody else but Ben Rothwell and Arlovski is probably out of their halfway through the second round.

[thesportssoundoff]

Imagine not loving HW MMA.

[thesportssoundoff]

My god Arlovski just pasted the fuck out of Rothwell.  Jesus christmas.

[thesportssoundoff]

“He never throws this heavy out the bat!”

No, Dom. Arlovski in the first round is always this squirrelly.