UFC FIGHT NIGHT VEGAS: FULL CARD PICKS!!

We're almost here!! 3 straight nights of unbelievable talent and match ups! The first on the list is Thursday night's Fight Night in Las Vegas Nevada where the lightweight title will be decided in a fight between Rafael Dos Anjos and Eddie Alvarez. This card isn't filled with names or big stars but keep an eye out for the young guys in their first, second or third fight in the UFC who put out outstanding performances because these could be the names of the future. Also do not be surprised if a performance of the night and the fight of the night bonuses go to some of the early fights, a great night of opportunity for these young talents in the UFC Fight week and only 1 fight with huge names and 1 big fight as the co-main then the rest is pretty much a free card.

Caleb's Picks
Preliminaries
Alvaro Herrera     by KO/TKO
Reginaldo Vieira  by Submission
Gilbert Burns       by Decision
Felipe Arantes      by Decision
Russel Doane       by KO/TKO
Anthony Birchak by KO/TKO
Mehdi Baghdad   by Submission
Mike Pyle             by KO/TKO

Main Card
Joe Duffy              by Submission
Alan Jouban          by KO/TKO
Derrick Lewis       by KO/TKO
Rafael Dos Anjos  by Absolute Murder (Decision)

Jordan's Picks
Preliminaries
Alvaro Herrera      by KO/TKO
Reginaldo Vieira   by Decision
Gilbert Burns         by Decision
Felipe Arantes       by KO/TKO
Pedro Munhoz       by Decision
Anthony Birchak   by Decision
Mehdi Baghdad     by KO/TKO
Mike Pyle              by Decision

Main Card
Joe Duffy              by Submission
Alan Jouban          by KO/TKO
Roy Nelson           by KO/TKO
Eddie Alvarez       by Decision

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UFC The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale: Jedrzejczyk vs Gadelha Preview and Breakdown

On Friday night the second of three events in the UFC Fight week which will be capped by UFC 200 on Saturday night, TUF 23 Finale will decide the winner in the strawweight and light heavyweight divisions, it will also decide the UFC strawweight champion in the main event Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs Claudia Gadelha.

The rematch of this fight is highly anticipated and has been hyped up by the recent season of The Ultimate Fighter in which Team Joanna and Team Claudia went head-to-head in competition in the strawweight and light heavyweight divisions. There was a lot of tension on the programme and seemed to be started by Joanna as her team lost a lot of the fights and was looking to gain some sort of mental edge on Claudia heading into their fight on Friday. There were some very intense moments where Joanna confronted Claudia and had her against the wall and Claudia didn't do anything, this can be viewed in two different ways. Claudia could be seen as afraid of Joanna and backing down or alternatively trying not to get in trouble on the show before their fight, unfortunately that view point is thrown out the window when you realise that Joanna and Claudia had a full on fight backstage reportedly in one of the corridors on the set of TUF 23.

These two have fought before and Joanna won by an incredibly close split decision. I am a huge fan of Joanna but I thought that Claudia won that fight along with many others, however having said that in this sport if it's incredibly close and you leave it to the judges anything can happen, both fighters will be looking for the finish on Friday. The first fight was back in December of 2014 and since then both fighters have improved their technique and gained more experience against extremely tough opponents leading them to meet again inside the octagon. Since the defeat Claudia has gone unbeaten and Joanna has continued her undefeated streak including KO's of former champion Carla Esparza, Jessica Penne and a unanimous decision victory over Valerie Letourneau.

In this fight I believe the pivotal factor will be the takedown of Claudia, if Joanna can defend the takedown (which is a big if) then Joanna will easily get the decision and potentially KO/TKO her with her striking being so much more advanced than Claudia and anyone in the division, Joe Rogan has called her potentially the best striker in MMA regardless of weight class and gender. The power she possesses at such a light weight class is astonishing which is created by the stunning speed and accuracy of her striking. Joanna has one of the best takedown defences in her division that we've seen in her recent fights, her record is 84.13% on her takedown defence but in recent fights it has been incredible and played a huge role in her being able to keep the fight standing and able to unleash her striking without fear of being taken down.

The key to Claudia's game plan has to be the takedown, Claudia has an excellent takedown a great Jiu Jitsu game with a 46% submission finish rate, If Claudia can take Joanna down repeatedly and tire her out then capitalize on the ground with ground and pound then look to lock in submissions then she is really dangerous and could finish the fight, especially when we're not really sure how good Joanna's Jiu Jitsu game is as we've not really seen anyone been able to take her down consistently and test it apart from Claudia in their last fight. Let's also not forget that Claudia is a very muscular figure and possesses a lot of power and if she manages to catch Joanna she could have a devastating effect (but this is also a big if) Joanna's movement is also at an elite level and is difficult to catch which also plays into the takedown defence.

This could be another very close fight but I'm going with Joanna to take the win and retain the strawweight championship, both fighters have the potential to finish the fight but I believe that Joanna has had the octagon time and has sharpened her skills up just enough where she could squeak out a 48-47 split decision victory.

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UFC 200! THE BIGGEST CARD OF ALL TIME!!

UFC 200 is predicted as being the biggest card in MMA history, the plan is for it to exceed the 1.6 million Pay-Per-View buys of UFC 100 and they've pulled out all the stops! The UFC have a killer line-up for us headlined by the rematch between Jon Jones and the light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier. Let's cut this interim rubbish, all it does is make the poster a little but shinier. However, seriously the statistics for the fighter on this card are RIDICULOUS!

• 3 current champions
• 6 former champions
• 1 former K1 champion
• 1 former pride champion
• 3 ultimate fighter winners
• 93 fight night bonuses

WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?! The hype is real, this is the best ever fight card on paper and if it delivers on the night then along with the 2 other fight cards that weekend sit will without a doubt be the best MMA event of all time in PPV buys, experience and the large quantity of high quality fights. Let's take a look at the main card.

There is also another fight on the main card, Velasquez vs Browne and one of our writers Jordan Williams is working on the write up for that fight. This is ridiculously insane! 1 huge rivalry which will be resolved and the winner will be the light heavyweight champion. The biggest draw in UFC history and former heavyweight champion vs the pioneer of the walk off knockout and an absolute monster. The highly sought-after bantamweight belt will look to settle with the champion Tate or will it be again off to a new home with Nunes making it the third time the title would've changed hands in 3 fights. Also we will find the number one contender in the featherweight division (more interim bullshit) I have much more to say  about this fight but that is for another day.

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WHY EDDIE ALVAREZ DOESN'T DESERVE THE TITLE SHOT!! UFN Vegas Preview!

We are very close to UFC 200 weekend and on July 7th the lightweight belt will be contested in the fight capital of the world Las Vegas. Lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos will try and retain the belt against number 2 ranked Eddie Alvarez.

Alvarez in my opinion is one of the most overrated and over ranked fighters in the UFC. I really can't understand how you've earned a title shot when your last 4 fights ended by decision (3 of them split decision) including a loss and you're (2-1) in the UFC. Giving this guy a title shot is ridiculous, the lightweight division is stacked right now with so many contenders with so many better options than Alvarez for the title shot. Here are some contenders that would've made a better fight or who were more deserving of a shot:

1. Nate Diaz

Diaz had a huge amount of momentum after his submission victory over Conor McGregor on short notice, he also convincingly beat Michael Johnson by unanimous decision back in December of 2015 after losing to the champion RDA by decision. After two big wins in fights he was supposed to lose Diaz is a draw and worthy of the title shot.

2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
This man really is the obvious choice and the only excuse for not making this fight is that he had a fight against Darrell Horcher not too long ago and could be looking to face one more top 5 contender before the title shot after his return from injury. However, having said all that the man is undefeated at 23-0!!! He also has a previous victory over the champion, really what are we waiting for?

3. Tony Ferguson
Tony Ferguson was prevented from having a title shot by Michael Chiesa who called him out and they were scheduled to fight, unfortunately Chiesa got injured so now Ferguson is stuck fighting an opponent not ranked in the top 15 when it was very arguable that he was ready for the title shot and deserving of it.

4. Donald Cerrone
Cowboy has obviously previously lost to RDA twice, once in 2013 and more recently in December of 2015. However, in that period and dating up to right now RDA is the only man he's lost to. He is also one of the most active and exciting fighters in the UFC, he has 17 performance bonuses and is a title contender in 2 divisions. He also a brilliant personality for fighting and will fight anyone anywhere at either weight.

Don't get me wrong, Eddie Alvarez is a good fighter but he is miles from championship standard in my opinion. He'd have to win pretty convincingly on the weekend for my opinion to change.

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How Stephen Thompson Destroyed Rory MacDonald

For all those who watched UFC Fight Night Ottawa it was a great night of exciting fights and the undercard also delivered some good fights. However it seemed to have an anti-climactic ending, for the average casual fans the extreme lack of action meant a disappointing end to the card. Although some media outlets are saying that it was an exciting chess match... when was a chess match ever exciting? It wasn't a tactical battle it was just a lack of action, mostly on Rory MacDonald's part.

A tactical battle would've been Thompson springing in and out landing punches and kicks, Rory pressuring and landing his jab and back leg front kick, but it just wasn't. Thompson was hesitant which he eased up a little on the end but Rory was just bad almost the whole twenty five minutes. He didn't try and establish his jab, or anything really, he only had one serious attempt at a takedown. Rory now is going into free agency not only with a loss but what seemed like a reluctancy to fight, a huge change from the exciting title fight he had with Robbie Lawler.

Some of the difficulty Rory was having in landing hardly any strikes was due to Wonderboy's unorthodox points style movement. Although Wonderboy's style is very difficult to hit, it's not impossible and especially working with points kickboxing's, Glory and Bellator's best fighters Raymond Daniels who also fights in that style Rory has not excuse for not being able to hit him. However, some credit has to go to Thompson for his movement and doing what he was expected to do with his darting movements, lightening quick attacks and solid takedown defence although we didn't see much of it.

Thompson's movement managed to offset MacDonald's game plan and he simply managed to out point MacDonald, the only time that either of them looked to be in trouble was when Thompson caught MacDonald on the nose and broke it which sent Rory's equilibrium off but he recovered and Thompson didn't rush in to try and finish. Basically the reason Thompson won was because we got exactly what we thought we would from Thompson and nothing like we thought we would from MacDonald.

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UFC FIGHT NIGHT OTTAWA: PREDICTIONS!!!!

Caleb's Predictions
Joanne Calderwood        by Decision
Olivier Aubin-Mercier   by Submission
Steve Bosse                    by KO/TKO
Donald Cerrone              by Submission
Stephen Thompson         by KO/TKO

Jordan's Predictions
Valerie Letourneau        by Decision
Thibault Gouti               by Decision
Steve Bosse                   by KO/TKO
Donald Cerrone             by Submission
Stephen Thompson        by KO/TKO

UFC FIGHT NIGHT OTTAWA: Thompson vs MacDonald Extended Preview

On Saturday night (Sunday morning here in the UK) the UFC will descend into the TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Canada with one of their own headlining the card and looking to get the next title shot. The man standing in their way is Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson, Wonderboy has a high pace, electric speed which also gives him a large amount of power. On paper MacDonald has the perfect style to beat Thompson but how will it play out?

Stephen Thompson is a kickboxing wizard and I truly mean that. His amateur kickboxing record was 37-0 and his professional kickboxing record was 20-0 now that is ridiculous. The accuracy of his striking is ridiculously good, combined with his incredible knowledge and application of range he can move in and out of striking range at ease and connect with a large percentage of his shots thrown. Wonderboy is also incredibly fast giving him a lot of power.

The secret to Thompson's winning is his explosive points fighting style, the side on style gives less area for the opponent to hit and also allows Thompson to move in, slip and dodge attacks very easily. Thompson is an expert in that style and can use his side kick to threaten an attack, keep his range and also set up an attack. Thompson almost always throws combinations of 3 shots or more and extremely fast which makes is very difficult to counter because he's back out of striking range again so quickly.

The big question is can he do it against the red king Rory MacDonald. We've never really seen Thompson's takedown defence tested thoroughly and MacDonald could be the fighter to do that. It is generally agreed by a large consensus that to take and hold Wonderboy down is McDonald's key to victory. However, MacDonald is certainly ready for what Thompson has to bring, he has brought in some of the best points fighting style kickboxers we currently have, including Glory and Bellator kickboxing fighter Raymond Daniels, extremely experienced and multiple title winning points fighter Roman Brundl.

Rory MacDonald could be the man to stop Stephen Thompson getting his title and this also would give him a lot of leverage going into his talks on free agency which he seems keen on trying, if he should win then he will get the next title shot and potentially another thrilling rematch with the current welterweight champion Robbie Lawler. We don't know who's going to win tonight but we know it's going to be a superb fight!

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