#struve

[thesportssoundoff]

If Rothwell wants to be a dick, the FIRST thing to throw is a body shot.

[marcostruve]

Dias melhores, verão! Mas ainda é primavera! #struve (em Indaial) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqcCpOOF1s0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=s7aucjysdbie

[lindahall]

Christian Albrecht Jensen – Scientist of the Day

Christian Albrecht Jensen, a Danish artist, was born June 26, 1792.  

read more...

[thesportssoundoff]

A Return To Normalcy Through Rotterdam; UFC Fight Card Preview

Joey

August 30th

So y'all ready to get back to common sense yet? If so then the MMA world gets back to doing it's usual with a card from Rotterdam, Netherlands by way of the UFC. It's a Fight Pass show which means its quality ranks somewhere between "Oh that looks intriguing" and "Oh my god what is this garbage?!" It's also been damaged by injuries up and down the build but we can get to that. The headliner is a really intriguing HW fight between former Bellator HW Alexander Volkov and UFC long timer Stefan Struve. The co-main was supposed to be a VERY intriguing on paper fight between Germaine De Randamie and Marion Reneau but GDR pulled out and so Brazilian Talita de Oliveira is tasked with taking the fight. The main card undercard stuff is blecch (Barberena vs Edwards should be dull but important and worth watching) BUT there's some very intriguing preliminary stuff worth keeping your eye on.  It's been a while so let's run through our metrics before we delve into this show:

Fights: 12? (Thibault Gouti vs Andrew Holbrook seems to be confirmed except not really except hold on except yeah except no so...)

Debuts:   7 (Mads Burnell, Talita de Oliveira, Rob Wilkinson, Aleksandr Rakic, Zabit Magomedsharipov, Mike Santiago, Abdul-Kerim Edilov)

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: (Abu Azatair out, Rob Wilkinson IN vs Siyar Bahadurzada/ Germaine de Randamie out, Talita de Oliveira IN vs Marion Reneau/ Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs Sairbek Saparov cancelled/ Nick Hein out, Mike Santiago IN vs Zabit Magomedsharipov/Islam Mackachev out, Mads Burnell IN vs Michel Prezares)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 4 (Marion Reneau, Stefan Struve, Andrew Holbrook, Rustam Khabilov)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC:  1 (Thibault Gouti)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 6 (Leon Edwards, Alexander Volkov, Stefan Struve, Mairbek Taisumov, Michel Prezares, Rustam Khabilov)

Stat Monitor for 2017:

Debuting Fighters (Current number: 22-20)- Mads Burnell, Talita de Oliveira, Rob Wilkinson, Aleksandr Rakic, Zabit Magomedsharipov, Mike Santiago, Abdul-Kerim Edilov

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 17-21)- Rob Wilkinson, Talita de Oliveira, Mads Burnell, Mike Santiago

Second Fight (Current number: 22-25)-  Desmond Green, Felipe Silva

Cage Corrosion (8-5)- Siyar Bahadurzada, Mairbek Taisumov, Thibault Gouti

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- Let's start with the main event. Along with, say, Curtis Blaydes, Francis Ngannou, Junior Albini and Justin Ledet, it's reasonable to refer to Volkov as one of the fresher faces in the HW division. He's 2-0  in the division with wins over credible names although to deem them impressive wins would probably be stretching it. On the other hand, Stefan Struve is the second longest tenured current UFC heavyweight behind JDS. He probably is what he is; a well rounded competent big guy who will never dance among the elites of the division no matter how many wins he racks up. There is a ceiling and he's just about hit it, incoming jokes about his height aside. At the same time, the same could be said about Alexander Volkov who has already won gold elsewhere, is probably maxed out in terms of his potential and his place in the MMA universe. It's a good fight but one where the only upside for the winner is getting squashed by one of the top stars in the division.

2- Does Stefan Struve finally showcase some head movement in a fight or has that horse left the barn?

3- Stipe probably fights either Cain or Ngannou, JDS is suspended for PEDs, Overeem has fought Struve before, Werdum is fighting Lewis----so who does the winner of this thing face?

4- Bryan Barberena's run since defeating Sage Northcutt; main card fight vs highly touted Warrely Alves, prelim fight against a better version of himself in Colby Covington, undercard rebound fight vs a good fighter in Joe Proctor and now a Fight Pass card fight vs really great stylistic matchup in Leon Edwards. I'm sure it's nothing personal.

5- So one of the things which has been discussed recently is the development of Leon Edwards' overall MMA game and where he can fit into the welterweight scene. Edwards has always showcased solid defensive wrestling but since his loss to Kamaru Usman, it's like he's discovered the importance of offensive wrestling as well.  We've seen his hands before but the challenge is always going to be whether he can show everything all at once (plus unleashing his usually good kicks more consistently) as he moves up the ranks. Edwards could be a sleeper at 170 lbs.

6- Mairbek Taisumov went from potentially fighting Anthony Pettis in the Spring to fighting Felipe Silva on the prelims of a Fight Pass card for no good reason other than that Pettis didn't want the fight (unless there's some VISA issue with Taisumov). MMA is harsh sometimes.

7- I wonder if people realize how good the LW and WW fights on this card are.  Even if I have zeo interest in watching Edwards vs Barberena, it's a worthwhile fight at 170 lbs given that both guys are under 30 at a division that's in need of a few new guys to freshen up the scene a little.  Darren Till vs Bojan Velikovic is a really good fight that figures to be action packed judged by Till's prior performance and Bojan's career resume of crazy action fights. At 155 lbs, Mairbek Taisumov is all action all the time and Felipe Silva had a very impressive UFC debut. Michel Prezares is starting to finish fights now plus you have a debuting fighter in Mads Burnell who will likely be a tough challenge for what Prezares likes to do. Rustam Khaiblov vs Desmond Green is a stylistic nightmare (two cardio heavy wrestlers) but both are deserving of their plaudits plus they have enough other tools to not be completely one dimensional. Ignore the fight between Thibault Gouti and Andrew Holbrook for a second because it's kinda trash.

8- Mike Santiago fought on the Dana White Tuesday Night Contender's Series last Tuesday at 155 lbs. He'll travel to Rotterdam to fight a top level prospect in Zabit Magomedsharipov at 145 lbs. MMA, again, is fucking harsh.

9- Marion Reneau vs Talita de Oliveira is primarily interesting if only to see how long it takes Reneau to get the job done. She is at times a play with her food type fighter.

10- I wonder if the UFC will mention the ties that Abdul-Kerim Edilov's ties to the Chechen dictator? Can't really run from it, ya know?

11- Bojan Mihajlovic and Thibault Gouti on the same card oh lord help us.

12- With Brian Stann likely stepping out and new commentators possibly stepping up, I wonder if Dan Hardy will up his game?

Must Wins

Alexander Volkov

You can say plenty of things about Stefan Struve but one thing you can't say is that he loses to nobodies. His worst loss is probably Jared Rosholt but just about every fighter who has beat him has either been in a #1 contender fight or fought for the title. Struve's fought two former UFC champs (JDS and Miocic) plus guys who fought for the title like Overeem and Hunt. Volkov is 28, he's well rounded, he's got size to him and he fights in a division where your ability is your activity. A win over Struve and the doors are wide open.

Darren Till

We know this shit is said all the time BUT the UK is going to need new faces eventually.  Darren Till, despite training/living out in Brazil, can be one of those guys given his youth, skill set and his size. After gassing out hard vs Nicholas Dalby, Till took some time off, healed up, missed weight (:/) and returned to put on a really impressive display of skills vs Jessin Ayari. Bojan Velickovic is a different animal entirely, simply a much better fighter than Ayari plus a tougher stylistic matchup. This is a good test for Till.

Mairbek Taisumov

If Mairbek Taisumov was Glenn Johnson, he'd be headlining an event at this point. That's not to suggest that the UFC is holding him back because he's Russian but to point out that no big name wants to fight some unknown Russian dude who seemingly only fights, suspiciously, in the UK these days. Taisumov is a fantastic striker with other aspects of his game rounding out but he needs this win vs Felipe Silva because at some point a dude who has finished five fights in a row will be due for a big step up.

Five Fights You Shouldn't Miss

1- Mairbek Taisumov vs Felipe Silva

Mairbek Taisumov has finished four fights in a row, he's gotten two 50K bonuses in a row, and he's fighting an unheralded Brazilian who finished his UFC debut vs a good striker. That's all ya need really.

2- Leon Edwards vs Brian Barberena

This may not be a pretty fight but it's a divisionally relevant fight with implications on the UK fight scene. If Edwards turns out to be what we all figure he CAN be then maybe the UK has a new top 10 WW to get really excited about.

3- Alexander Volkov vs Stefan Struve

Two stand up strikers at a division where one punch can end the night for both guys? I mean it should be fun. Struve is almost always fun.

4- Francimar Barroso vs Aleksandr Rakic

I would never ever ever ever suggest a Framcimar fight BUT Aleksandr Rakic is a really intriguing 205 lb fighter under 30 years old. We know that division needs help so let's see if he's a guy who can do something.

5- Zhabit Magomedsharipov vs Mike Santiago

Mark Henry, Frankie Edgar and Eddie Alvarez have all raved about Zhabit so his UFC debut is of some interest to me. More importantly I wanna see how Mike Santiago looks after fighting a week ago at 155 lbs.

[marcostruve]

Deixe a luz entrar e construa maravilhosa semana! #Struve #indaialnarotadanatureza #indaial (em Indaial) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUUde2mrbwv/?utm_medium=tumblr

[marcostruve]

Faça de hoje o melhor 02 de setembro deste ano! #struve #Struve #indaial (em Indaial) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTUKd_dLv_y/?utm_medium=tumblr

[marcostruve]

Bom dia Indaial! #Struve #struve #indaial (em Indaial) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTO_BMorZkb/?utm_medium=tumblr

[marcostruve]

É primavera! #flores #flowers #rosas #Struve #struve (em Indaial) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFb9rbRsg6H/?igshid=96ng9xsj89zp