#james vick

[theanticool]

Rafael Alves scores crazy jump head kick KO over James Vick - Karate Combat 47

James Vick continues to do what he loves - get knocked out in extremely funny and violent ways.

[beautifulviolence]

Niko Price KO James Vick

[wolf-lundgren]

Beneil Dariush Vs. James Vick

[vawnn]

[mma21plus]

it only took one clean shot from justin gaethje to knock james vick the fuck out at tonight’s ufc lincoln main event.

[cerealsensei]

We're on episode 99 people, episode 99!

On today's episode @theanticool and I give our thoughts on some recent fight announcements, including: Tony Ferguson Vs Anthony Pettis, Kyoji Horiguchi Vs Tenshin Nasukawa, and Cris Cyborg Vs Amanda Nunes.

Of course we break down the crazy amount of violence on the Gaethje Vs Vick card. This card gave us James Vick getting knocked into another planet and Deiveson Figueiredo establishing himself as a force in the flyweight division.

To cap things off we talk about the KSI Vs Logan Paul fight, or more so, the way the event was put together and what MMA promoters could possibly learn from it.

AND WE NEED QUESTIONS FOR EPISODE !00! SEND ALL QUESTIONS TO [email protected], or hit either of us up on social media.

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Sounds Like Fun Podcast www.youtube.com/channel/UC3KxM4PJ…arm-upRMrA/videos

[mmality]

[thesportssoundoff]

“I ain’t sayin’ it’s Gaethje and friends but....” The UFC in Lincoln, Nebraska preview

Joey

August 19th

Enjoy your UFC break? Hope you went out, saw the world, watched some MMA I hope, maybe dabbled in some boxing perhaps? Plenty of football and Big 3 basketball to take in too. Don't forget yourself some EPL action as well!  Whatever you did and whatever you found pleasure in; the UFC is back with a card from Lincoln, Nebraska of all places that's....weird. Ya know how the UFC has those events with damn good undercards and then no main event that'll draw viewers? This is a big like the opposite really. Justin Gaethje vs James Vick is a tremendous lightweight fight; a test to see how far Gaethje has fallen after two concussive damaging losses to Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez while testing if James Vick is finally ready to sit at the big boys table of 155 lbs. The problem is once you skip through that; you have a collection of average to good fights without one true defining co-main event. For the BRIEFEST period of time, we were told that Deiveson Figuerido vs John Moraga would be our co-main event. That changed in late July seemingly as the co-main event was THEN going to be Alexa Grasso vs Angela Hill. THAT then changed to what we have now as it'll be Andre Fili vs Michael Johnson in our co-main event of the evening.  The rest of the card isn't BAD but teeters on four tiers; good but kinda pointless, an prelim level action fight, poor matchmaking/spotlight matchmaking and lastly  and perhaps more interestingly "Who would ever care about this on any level?"  There's some good here but nothing is really going to stand out or be remembered 24 hours from now. NOW that's not to say you can't enjoy it! This is just sort of like a popcorn MMA event; it's a JCVD movie at 5 PM on a Sunday. You're going to watch it----but you're not going to remember it tomorrow. Chances are you might not even remember it six hours from the end of the main event so indulge in it while you can. Think of it as a chance to watch some MMA on a Saturday night after three weekends of nothing.

Fights: 13

Debuts:

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 3 (Al Iaquinta OUT, James Vick IN vs Justin Gaethje/Alexa Grasso OUT, Courtney Casey IN vs Angela Hill/Antonio Braga Neto OUT, Markus Perez IN vs Andrew Sanchez)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 8 (Justin Gaethje, Courtney Casey, John Moraga, Eryk Anders, Michael Johnson, Jake Ellenberger, Mickey Gall, Joanne Calderwood)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 8 (Justin Gaethje, Michael Johnson, Jake Ellenberger, Courtney Casey, Bryan Barberena, Andrew Sanchez, George Sullivan, Kalindra Faria)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 5 (Andre Fili, James Vick, Warlley Alves, Drew Dober, Rani Yahya)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2016 (in the UFC): 28- 22 (Folks better thank James Vick for Anthony Smith-ing this card out of the doldroms. Remove his 5-1 and this show is a 23-21 which is scaaaaaary close to unacceptable)

Justin Gaethje- 1-2 James Vick- 5-1 Michael Johnson- 1-3 Andre Fili- 3-2 Angela Hill- 3-2 Courtney Casey- 3-3 Jake Ellenberger- 1-4 Bryan Barberena- 3-2 Deiveson Figuerido- 3-0 John Moraga- 3-2 Eryk Anders- 2-1 Tim Williams- 0-1

Divisional Breakdown:

Welterweight- 3 Middleweight- 2 Bantamweight-2 Lightweight- 2 Flyweight-1 Women's Flyweight- 1 Women's Strawweight- 1

Too High Up- Jake Ellenberger vs Bryan Barberena

I hate to do this to Jake Ellenberger in his hometown. The fact of the matter is I think Ellenberger has only been prelim bait like once in his UFC career since about 2014 or so and that was for a Fox card. He's clearly a valued name by the UFC (and probably by more fans than we'd like to admit). That said he's 1-4 in his last five fights and there's really no point in doing this to the guy on the main card. Barberena is a good style for him (Ellenberger's TDD still seems pretty solid) and I don't think this is the WORST fight for him ever but let's be fair; this is not main card worthy. It's here because Jake's a hometown dude and because the only other alternatives are "the little guys". Could also call out Angela Hill/Courtney Casey or Tim Williams/Eryk Anders but it'd be unfair to move Angela Hill from co-main to prelims due to an opponent change and Eryk Anders is getting a showcase matchup to rebound him from that Machida loss.

Too Low- Iuri Alcantara vs Cory Sandhagen

THIS fight has serious good fight potential in it. You know how we talk about 135 lbs developing into one of MMA's best divisions? Well this is one of those fights that helps build you some depth and test you some prospects. Sandhagen was a short notice signing who beat the shit out of Dana White's Tuesday Night Contenders Series signee (sorta) Austin Arnett who IMO is one of those AAAA fighters who is too good for the regionals but noway near good enough for the UFC. This is a much tougher test for Sandhagen whose losses prior to the UFC was to professional prospect killer Jamall Emmers. Now he faces Iuri Alcantara who is probably not good enough to be anything more than a tremendous prospect tester and veteran smashing machine. If Sandhagen's "got it" then chances are this fight will be a lot of fun because his style meshes up well with the style that brings the best out of Alcantara. We're talking forward pressure, funky movement and some offensive versatility for Alcantara's power counters early.

Stat Monitor for 2018: Debuting Fighters (Current number: 20-26):  

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 21-11): Courtney Casey, Andrew Sanchez and James Vick

Second Fight (Current number: 31-24): Cory Sandhagen and Tim Williams

Cage Corrosion (Current number: 15-26):  Joanna Calderwood and Jon Tuck

Undefeated Fighters (Current number: 22-19):  Deiveson Figuerido

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:  Luke Sanders, Jon Tuck, Joanne Calderwood

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- Gonna get this out of the way first; Jake Ellenberger is on the show because he's from the area and is a big draw there. Ticket sales were poor out the gate so Ellenberger wound up popping on. That's it and that's all there is to it, okay?

2- Who has more to gain here in the main event? I think it's easy as to "Who has more to lose?" because a James Vick win means that Justin Gaethje PROBABLY got flattened in his third straight fight which, in turn, means that we're looking at an obvious tragic combustion of one of the greatest action fighters of all time. Now having said that, what does Gaethje really gain from a win? He beats a top 10 guy (Vick should be ranked in the top 10 by now and if not, I'm gonna be floored) but not one of the elite names. He gets a win but it's not the kind of win that will carry any sort of casual clout because casuals don't even know who James Vick is really. At this point, it's JUST a win on a show. It's a filler W. On the other hand, James Vick beating Justin Gathje will be big in theory but I wonder how many "Alvarez/Poirier did it first!" type comments will accompany it. I wonder if people will take a loss for Gaethje as more about what Justin has lost than what James Vick has gained.

3- People like to act as though Tony Ferguson had a unique road to the top of the 155 lb scene. James Vick had to beat Nick Hein, Polo Reyes, Joe Duffy, FRANCISCO TRINALDO and Jake Matthews-----and then had to wait for an injury to get his first UFC main event. It's a very loaded division that pities nobody.

4- Did Demetrious Johnson losing cement Deiveson Figuerido vs John Moraga getting knocked down a peg to the middle of the main card?

5- Does Lyoto Machida get a big snazzy Bellator contract if Eryk Anders snoozes through the fifth round of a close fight in enemy territory?

6- Speaking of Anders, he and Markus Perez on the same card reminds me of the vibe I had recently; Perez vs Anders is going to be one of those fights five years from now that we'll all agree happened too soon. Both guys were a bit too raw and Anders was just too damn strong for Perez. Expect both guys to show out in Nebraska and expect them to be familiar faces at 185 lbs. The UFC pushed Anders away from a fight with Paulo Costa for a reason.

7- Maybe I'm an idiot (yeah, I know) but I'm not off the Courtney Casey bandwagon just yet. She still shows so many brief tactical snafus that I'm just hoping experience will breed a better more polished version of a fighter who has tremendous offensive potential at range and in the clinch. I'm HOPING for the best while acknowledging the worst. Angela Hill is going to be a fine test for her.

8- Mickey Gall is officially in the "Okay now what?" stage of his UFC run which is kind of a problem. He's in the embryonic stage of developing his skills but he's at the point where "rush him!" will collide with "He's not ready!" repeatedly. I bet his trainers don't even have a real solid grasp of what he is and what he'll do on a fight to fight basis. To this point Mickey Gall is 3-1 in the organization but his wins are over 1) a  photographer, 2) a pro wrestler and 3) MMA's favorite golden retriever in Sage Northcutt. The last is a credible win but Sage is one of those guys who is also sort of still in a developmental embryonic stage. Against Randy Brown in November, Mickey was pretty much outclassed minus a tremendous sweep in the second round. Brown is a competent average-ish WW who will give most people some trouble so it's not a big surprise. It still showed how far Gall has to go but also how hard it is for a 170 lb prospect to really get major work in. Put it this way, there's basically three levels at 170 lbs:

A: The Top Of The Division- Mostly wrestlers/grapplers backed with power in their hands with big time experience who aren't the most exciting guys but know how to push a pace, know how to pace themselves and despite the increasing age, they're on a different level compared to their contemporaries. Guys like Woodley, Usman, RDA, Covington, Till, Maia, Lawler, Leon Edwards, Wonderboy, DHK and the like.

B: The Action Fighter Center- Everybody here has flaws but they all hit really hard or have tremendous cardio. They're too flawed to take the next step in their respective careers but you can count on them to throw down and will probably beat each other/most prospects up en route to ascending up the rankings. Think of it as a nesting doll situation with spinning kicks. Guys like Alan Jouban, Mike Perry, Donald Cerrone, Ponz, Gunnar Nelson, Ben Saunders, Zaleski, Lyman Good, Frank Camacho, Matt Brown, Cowboy Oliveira and Niko Price. Basically this is where the spirit of 170 lbs lives on.

C: A mess. It's either an aging dumpster fire where you gain nothing if you win and look bad if you lose or some dude nobody has ever heard of who is 2-2 in the UFC living on the prelims. Mostly guys who have had long careers up until this point and are just trying to hold onto something for one last final run. Most of the dudes in this area are journeymen types who have so much experience that they can absolutely upset a dude based just on having seen it all and done it all.

There are no prospects at 170 outside of Gall and Northcutt so Mickey's forced to try and live dangerously in Group C knowing full well he's not ready for Group B. George Sullivan is your Group C guy; he's almost 40, he's had six UFC fights since 2014, he hits really hard and his experience level/vet savvy alone should make him a heavy favorite. It's a risky fight for Gall but this is basically what happens when you're a "prospect" at 170 lbs. No free rides.

9- James Krause vs Warlley Alves is a really interesting fight to me as Alves continues to try and chase himself back into "Hey this guy is really good" category. He blasted out Sultan Aliev in May and Krause is a similar dude to Aliev in that he's another Group C welterweight where the risk kind of outweighs the reward. Alves really needs to find himself a spot somewhere because "Colby Covington will make him a draw out of spite."

10- Drew Dober is fighting at 155 lbs again after California told him not to. They apparently cleared him to try it but....man I wish we could just get out of the "bigger at a lower weight class" issue. It's not conducive to healthy long term MMA.

11- Has any fighter had a more precipitous decline in terms of relevance than Joanne Calderwood?

12- If we're in the ESPN era, this is on ESPN+ right? How many Nebraska type cards a month would you need for it to be worth your $4.99?

Three Under Pressure

1- Justin Gaethje

The weird thing about Justin Gaethje is that his losses are basically just his wins stylistically except he doesn't land the flurry to end it all. He stalks, takes damage, kills your lead leg, eventually finds home for sharp combinations, wears you down and then eventually finishes you when you're hurt, tired and broken. He couldn't break Alvarez (although Eddie was honest that his leg was done) and he couldn't break Dustin Poirier either in time before Poirier shut him off with a fantastic combination. Gaethje hasn't been figured out because the book's been the same the whole time. The difference is instead of wailing away with Luis Palomino or someone of that ilk, he fought two of the top 5 LWs in the universe. The question becomes whether Vick is in that class or whether Gaethje is truly finally broken. A lot will be revealed win or lose here.

2- Deiveson Figuerido

Demetrious Johnson will eventually get a title rematch but until that happens, Figuerido and the rest of the "little guys" at 125 lbs have to view every opportunity on TV to try and make good on what should be a truly legitimate chance to stand out. Moraga is a former title contender with some clout on the best run of his career (since the MM fight) and now Figuerido, arguably Brazil's best young chance for a title contender below 145 lbs, has to try and get the name win on his record. I'm still not sure how good Deiveson is or where his upside truly rests but this fight will tell us everything.

3- Eryk Anders

Anders tried to do JUST enough to beat a dude in his hometown in a main event where he didn't do much to begin with and paid the price. The only way to right that is to come out hot and get a quick W over a dude who is there to get stomped on in theory.

Five Can't Miss Fights

1- James Vick vs Justin Gaethje

2- Michael Johnson vs Andre Fili

3- Iuri Alcantara vs Cory Sandhagen

4- John Moraga vs Deiveson Figuerido

5- Courtney Casey vs Angela Hill