2:42 Alex “Amazon kickboxing archer” Pereira saves another PPV main event, defeats Czech samurai again . 37:47 Diego “Mexican mohawk-mullet hybrid from Manaus” Lopes wins fun fight against Dan “4 hour notice” Ige. 45:39 Roman “MMA professional goalie” Dolidze returns to LHW, crushes Smith’s future title shot goals. 47:02 Macy “Cajun mohawk” Chaisson gets a two-fight win streak by way of brutal above eyebrow cut on Brazilian Sheetara. 48:28 Ian “keep my wife’s name out your f#*king mouth” Machado Garry celebrates his odd uninteresting win with Guinness Extra Stout beer. 57:00 Luke takes questions from The Donks.
because Alex is a natural heavyweight fighting at 185/205… he gets a lot of finishes because he has a clear power/weight advantage over everyone he fights
@@BrandonBreathes he isnt a hw He is weighing way less than guys like curtis tom or volkov Alex is a true lhw Plenty of fighters cut down 20 pounds Even masvidal cut down 20 pounds for a welterweight fight and people were saying he is a lightweight lmao
Masvidal vs. Cowboy is a good comparison to this main event as far as the whole "getting finished twice in one fight" goes. I remember Masvidal was catching Cowboy's kicks and smashing him when he was off balance. I think another good one is Izzy vs. Whittaker 1. Izzy floored Rob hard at the end of round one before finishing him off in the next round. As far as whether they should stop fights between rounds when a fighter stumbles back to their corner after getting saved by the bell, we also have examples like Dillashaw vs. Garbrandt 1 where TJ was saved by the bell in round one before finishing Cody in round two and winning the belt. So it's tricky to say what call should be made, especially when there is a belt on the line.
I think Herb wanted to stop the fight sooner. Especially right after the head kick but Anik, Joe and other people were saying the last one got stopped too early. I think that played a part. Which was wild to hear them say he should have stopped it sooner. Herb Dean can't win. I didn't have a problem with either
Yeah I'm almost always a fan of the quicker stoppage but I understand the refs giving a bit more leeway especially in title fights where both competitors are the absolute best in the division. Plus making those decisions accurately in real time is extremely difficult to get "right" every time.
The main problem here was position. Refs are supposed to always have a look at both fighters. Herb hesitated after the kick, so Pereira went to work on the ground. Herb was constantly circling the wrong way and couldn't get around Alex's back. Imo it's an age issue. Reffing reqzires fast reflexes and good footwork. Herb just doesn't have those anymore
It's even worse when knowing that he got the skills to become the champion but he keeps on doing stupid stuff during the fights, which is just lame considering his potential.
He seems to have gotten better about checking kicks he checked them in the second fight with walker but that was walker who has no other weapons. But still he didn’t check them in the first fight or the Jan fight so him checking them the second time against walker is a sign of real growth but who knows.
Also Pereira will be constantly working on his wrestling defence. Magomed doesn't have the striking to get close to Alex so he has to wrestle, but if Alex has been smashing the anti wrestling it might be a rough night for Ankalaev
Leg kicks are proving to be the downfall of the dagestanis as the sport evolves that is the weapon that is making them look less and less invincible. That’s why I bet Jan vs Ankalaev, ended up getting kinda lucky with the draw but though jam won the early rounds. I’d pick pereira in that fight 😎
Alex Pereira is a 100 stat custom created fighter that was 3d printed and given consciousness 😂. His left hook is a cheat code. Apparently his left leg is too.
All I can say is thank god I no longer stay up till stupid hours to watch these cards live. Watching the next morning with the fast forward button has been such a blessing.
@@5dollarshake263 I live in the UK where all the UFC cards are included in my standard subscription with TNT/Discovery+. I will usually watch the fightpass early prelims live on fightpass and then go to sleep after that. Then I'll wake up Sunday morning and watch the normal prelims on fightpass, then watch the main card on my Discovery+ account. It is very rare that we have to pay for PPV and they usually try put really big cards behind a ppv pay wall like a big Conor card and rarely a big Jones card. Otherwise all cards are included.
I watched Alex win his title vs Donegi Abena live on stream. The big talk surrounding the fight was "how will Alex's power transfer to LHW?" I watched him absolutely dismantle Donegi and knew that he was one of the best strikers of our generation. The second he announced he was coming to MMA, I knew the shit was about to get fucking real. I am incredibly glad I was right about it.
I always assumed when he met some semi-competent MMA grappling he would lose. The thing I didn't consider was the rarity of a grappling heavy skillset at elite middleweight and up level. I also didn't consider how (physicall & mentally) strong Pereira is and how competent he has become defending when his back is against the cage. Clearly, grappling is the only way to strategise a win because he is the best kickboxer to ever do MMA, but I don't think skillset exists. Prime Cormier would be his kryptonite but prime Cormier is a one off.
Luke has got his extreme favorites (both fighters and coaches), and he's incapable of hiding his bias when discussing them (or even when he brings them up unprompted). Meanwhile he also has those he dislikes, and he treats them overly harshly when discussing them
Glover has 2 be a big part of poatons UFC success wat a guy 2 hav in the corner and he must b passing on so much knowledge. poaton is definitely the boogie man in 2 if not 3 divisions!
Garry beats JDM and the fight with Shavkat is closer than Luke and many people seem to think. I know everyone hates the guy and is rooting for his demise, but don't let that cloud your perception of his skills. He might have had a couple of boring wins in a row, but he's still winning, undefeated, and developing an all-round skillset. I mean he's only 26 ffs, people like you seem to be writing him off from ever rising to the top. He has close to a decade left in this division most likely and he'll only improve.
Your “opinions” just blow mind sometimes.. Jon jones is getting “washy washy”? Where tf do u get that from? The three minute domination of Cyril Gane, who u were acting like was gonna give him all these problems. Some of the things u say r just ridiculous
I think the fact that Poatan ever having the physical ability to even sniff 185lb is something that should be studied. He is fucking massive at 205lb. How that man ever got low enough to drop that much weight is stupid.
The situation with Poatan is very similar to Ronda in the early days of women's divisions in the UFC, or similar to Joanna and Valentina, and then potentially Khabib. Some of these fighters, when they come in , they have had such a robust background and skillset built-up pre-UFC that gives them a massive edge over their opponents. At the time Ronda was fighting her competition (granted way less evolved than now), her grappling and Judo was 10x ahead of everyone else. Joanna and Valentina, their muy thai and striking was sooo far ahead of everyone that it looked like mismatch at times. Khabib and his grappling, it seemed as if he was like 3 weight classes above his opponents. Poatan is similar... I am a kickboxing fan so I was following Poatan (alongside Rico V. etc ) in glory before he was even remotely close to switching to MMA... I was just not sure how his defensive grappling goes, otherwise I had no doubt that if Poatan comes in , his striking is like ridiculously sharp, technical and damaging that all these hybrid MMA guys are going to struggle against him. Moving up from 185 takes the risks that come with massive weight cuts away as well, and for his age he is not "old" for 205 or 265. What would stop Poatan is someone who can just stifle him with spamming takedown attempts and make it a close fight and win a decision (e.g. similar to how the Jan Blachowicz fight went) , or if we just wait and let time catch up on him so he becomes slower and just has a natural athletic decline. Otherwise, I dont see him lose a straight up kickboxing match to anyone at 205 anytime soon.
I remember about a year and a half ago, maybe two years. I made a comment about how poor the quality of ufc shows have become. I remember luke soon after making a general comment about tough luck for anyone complaining about the quality of shows because they have no other choice. Well, it's been two years and I haven't watched any of these shows, except maybe 3 in total, which included this one just to check to see if anything has changed. Nothing had changed at all. Still putting on glorified fight night cards. The production is still a sh!t show with multiple cancelations. The fights are still of low quality with the highlights being a rematch where Alex pereira still hasnt fought a true wrestler, and all his fights are still suspiciously short notice. Prochazka's defence is still hot garbage. The best fight of the night was between two women , and the other main attraction was a complete let down because Gary wanted to hug his way to victory, too scared because he was getting lit up on the feet. This card truly was garbage, can't believe Dana white once marketed this as an alternative to corrupt boxing. See you guys in 6 or 7 months, When Jon Jones predictably sits on top of pereira for an easy win. Or maybe pereira will catch him coming in.
Oh and someone please tell prochazcha that it's his sh!tty defense and not magic causing him to lose these fights. Maybe if he had a full camp or wasn't coming off major injury he might be able to figure that out.
I'd definitely rather see fighters stepping in on short notice than fight cards just fall apart. Obviously, I'd prefer to see any of them coming in with a full camp.
Pereira just exposing whats been pretty obvious about mma athletes since, uh, ever? They cant strike. Like, none of them. Nobody above 170lbs is world class. Nobody. Otherwise they'd probably box. Its funny hearing analysts gush over how balanced he stays. Yea. Hes a world class striker. If you cant stay balanced, you cant strike. The fact that Pereira can run through these divisions shows how light the talent still is in this sport above 170.
This is a blanket statement that applies to *most* of the fighters above 70, but there are a bunch of exceptions past and present. 85-silva/adesanya. 205: Jones being a douchebag doesn’t make him not an elite striker, Rountree post-Thailand is scary. 265: Alistair, Jarzinho, Cyril-hard to say those guys cannot strike.
.....or it shows that Poaton is a generational talent and is an exception Cause there have been plenty of other strikers that have come into MMA after having a successful career in a striking only sport.....except they just weren’t a double world champ like Alex, and they weren’t a once in a generation fighter like Alex. You can’t take what he’s accomplished and then apply that “logic” to the whole of the sport He’s able to do what he does, because he’s who he is. It’s not just that MMA fighters “can’t strike”. There’s so much more to it than that. And realistically, they don’t need to strike at that same level per se, as there is grappling, wrestling, submissions, etc that are part of the game
Sorry for the second comment, but like what do you expect? Of course they’re not “world class” per se; they have multiple other disciplines to train other than just striking. This is MMA. Not kickboxing. Alex is a unique case. Cause if you took all the best “world class strikers” and put them in a cage with a top 10 MMA Fighter, the striker will get demolished most times. The MMA Fighter has more way to win by far. So, being a world class striker only gets you so far in MMA without other assets to your game
The absolute state of MMA, where no top fighter is smart enough not to trade blows with GOAT kickboxer, instead keeping their hand at their waist and running into the left hook. Zero brain, zero talent. Takes nothing from Poatan, he's fantastic and does the most of what he can, but man... The opposition is a total disgrace Alex turning MMA into embarrassment.
And…. That’s why Izzy is #2 Mdlwt All-Tims, period. How impressive is it, he had Alex beat the 1st time, and KO’d him in the 2nd. These two dudes are BEASTS and Alex is super scary!!
Luke, that is such a casual take on Garry. This is the type of fight the younger fighter usually losses. Instead he leverage his skills, got his opponent out of his comfort zone and found a way to win. Acting like this is somehow a negative is deeply unserious analysis.
Yep spot on, Luke has clearly made his mind up that he dislikes Garry and so is viewing him in a wholly negative light. If this was one of the fighters he interviews (or one who fights under one of the coaches he knows, eg Nicksick), I guarantee he would have a completely different take on this. Luke's analysis is increasingly influenced from his personal views nowadays It was a boring fight by Garry but he overcome a tricky challenge presented by MVP (which he isn't going to see again tbh), and he got the fight in a position where he could win. Smart fight tbh but Luke doesn't like him so...
Ole lukey boy saying a birdie tipped him off about ige like we don’t all know that his coach is an avid listener to the show and has massive respect for Luke and bc. Safe to say it was possibly Eric nicksick
Is everyone fighting AP just stupid? I thought MMA was dominated by grappling & wrestlers. Why is everyone standing with this guy? Why not take him down? Path of least resistance.
Although any mention of MacGregor was conspicuously absent from the broadcast, could the way this event played out have made him look any worse? With so many fighters stepping up to compete under less than optimal circumstances, the commentary team and fighters themselves constantly stating "this is what real fighters do", then Alex KOs Jiri with a broken toe/foot, the irony was almost poetic.
Agree with your observation on Ian Garry. Has little to no chance against a Rakmanov-type fighter. I think Burns and Usman would finish Garry as they wouldn't be handicapped by the thought of being taken down.
Good on Luke for praising Pereira, the challenges faced taking this short notice fight and giving him his flowers, unlike these other tards like Cejudo immediately discrediting Alex and just using Ankalaev to assume he’d run over Pereira..
Why are you surprised he's getting better at 36? His mma career is so short, he has all that room to get better in certain areas, that's why his improvements are looking so good, also your ability to think out a good gameplan doesn't diminish at 36 or something. You're being dramatic. (I'm a big poatan fan)
Luke loves justifying Izzy’s title shot on the grounds of “it makes the promotion the mkst money” but hates the idea of Jones vs Stipe or Alex. Sounds like he is ok with Izzy getting preferential treatment for promotional reasons, but not if it comes to something that would benefit Jon.
I dont think people realize what intelligent defense is. Yiri was evading Alex’s strikes. That is intelligent defense because it demonstrates awareness of the oncoming strikes. Intelligent defense does not have to be effective. Its just indication of the hurt fighters mental presence. Per the rules, the ref shouldn’t stop the fight if the hurt fighter is intelligenty defending themselves. (Unless they indicate an unwillingness to engage. Like if they just shell up and cover their heads then it could be stopped on those grounds.) i think refs get a raw deal because folks apply arbitrary and ever-changing criteria for stopping a fight.
First fight Jiri got a single leg then turned it into a take down. This fight he clinched up and then Alex eventually broke it up. No take downs where attempted. I mean its a win for Alex that he didn't even let Jiri get to the position of being able to get a single leg. And i don't doubt that he is much better at grappling now so that has boosted his confidence in his whole game. I don't think these fights were very similar at all. Jiri had a lot of success in the first fight. He pressured the whole time. He had no success at all in this one. He got shut down everywhere and took tons of big shots even though he was being way more restrained about it. Alex was pressuring way more and was walking him down by the end of it.
With all the complaints of early stoppages lately, you have to wonder if Herb was making sure nobody said it after 303. Of course the stoppages seem to always be too early or too late.
Anthony Smith really backed up his claim that nobody wanted to fight him on 2 weeks notice 😂 Company man will come in even overweight getting schooled by a middleweight.
Last time you cried the stoppage was to esrly. Jiri should have been given a little more time. This time you got what you asked for last time and now your crying about that. Its fighting. Get over it
jiri has been taking too much punishment in his last few fights. Love his philosophy of the warrior but the reality staring him in his face is to work out a defence system other than the do or die approach he employs currently
Alex a beast but can we quit with the goat shit the dude has 2 defenses. Jones has 17 title fight wins that’s more than double the fights Alex has in the UFC
Actually thaught the card was good i wouldnt say it wasnt great it was ok nothing special but not a bad card were witnessing history with pereira and he is everything people thaught izzy was gonna be
Be nice see vadim nemkov be able to get into ufc cause it seems like pfl is not giving him fights he only had the 1 man vadim vs alex pereira would be fire and vadim at hw also fire
Herb was useless i mean come on stop the fight then he picks jiri up straight instead of sitting him down etc woeful how he looked after jiri well being tonight
Is there a better finisher in combat sports i mean when they hurt someone its over your not recovering if hes on you maybe anthony joshua also bit pereira man hes building some legacy its insane
I actually hope ian gets another win and then they match him up with shavkat so that we can finally put him back in his place as a top ten gatekeeper. That's all he is
Loooove your post fight talks ❤
2:42 Alex “Amazon kickboxing archer” Pereira saves another PPV main event, defeats Czech samurai again .
37:47 Diego “Mexican mohawk-mullet hybrid from Manaus” Lopes wins fun fight against Dan “4 hour notice” Ige.
45:39 Roman “MMA professional goalie” Dolidze returns to LHW, crushes Smith’s future title shot goals.
47:02 Macy “Cajun mohawk” Chaisson gets a two-fight win streak by way of brutal above eyebrow cut on Brazilian Sheetara.
48:28 Ian “keep my wife’s name out your f#*king mouth” Machado Garry celebrates his odd uninteresting win with Guinness Extra Stout beer.
57:00 Luke takes questions from The Donks.
Gods work, sir
This was amazing lol thank you
"You're our Amazon Jill"
Unless this has been edited your timings are all wrong eg Garry Vs MVP is 48:30
@@bodrulm1 I think you missed the 50 jokes
Izzy had some reeeaaaalllyyy boring fights sometimes. Alex is just really exciting to watch with a lot of action
I give Alex the credit of making his 2nd fight with Izzy exciting with a finish 😂 he got KOd just to make Izzy exciting. What a guy
@@speedzonefilms3-1
because Alex is a natural heavyweight fighting at 185/205… he gets a lot of finishes because he has a clear power/weight advantage over everyone he fights
@@BrandonBreathes he isnt a hw
He is weighing way less than guys like curtis tom or volkov
Alex is a true lhw
Plenty of fighters cut down 20 pounds
Even masvidal cut down 20 pounds for a welterweight fight and people were saying he is a lightweight lmao
Yes izzy is extremely boring to watch and is an annoying person on the mic.
Masvidal vs. Cowboy is a good comparison to this main event as far as the whole "getting finished twice in one fight" goes. I remember Masvidal was catching Cowboy's kicks and smashing him when he was off balance. I think another good one is Izzy vs. Whittaker 1. Izzy floored Rob hard at the end of round one before finishing him off in the next round.
As far as whether they should stop fights between rounds when a fighter stumbles back to their corner after getting saved by the bell, we also have examples like Dillashaw vs. Garbrandt 1 where TJ was saved by the bell in round one before finishing Cody in round two and winning the belt. So it's tricky to say what call should be made, especially when there is a belt on the line.
yeah catching it and hooking with the same hand. sweet memories
I think Herb wanted to stop the fight sooner. Especially right after the head kick but Anik, Joe and other people were saying the last one got stopped too early. I think that played a part. Which was wild to hear them say he should have stopped it sooner. Herb Dean can't win. I didn't have a problem with either
Sooner as in in the previous round. Buzzer ruined it
Its not herbs job to be in position? Oh wait.. I see u support Biden comment history, it's illegal for u to Fair critic monkees
Yeah I'm almost always a fan of the quicker stoppage but I understand the refs giving a bit more leeway especially in title fights where both competitors are the absolute best in the division.
Plus making those decisions accurately in real time is extremely difficult to get "right" every time.
The last fight wasn't early stoppage homie got saved from some very terrible elbows
The main problem here was position. Refs are supposed to always have a look at both fighters. Herb hesitated after the kick, so Pereira went to work on the ground. Herb was constantly circling the wrong way and couldn't get around Alex's back. Imo it's an age issue. Reffing reqzires fast reflexes and good footwork. Herb just doesn't have those anymore
I'm also not convinced Ankalaev is the guy to beat Alex. Dude is horrible at checking leg kicks and his fight IQ is pretty bad
It's even worse when knowing that he got the skills to become the champion but he keeps on doing stupid stuff during the fights, which is just lame considering his potential.
He seems to have gotten better about checking kicks he checked them in the second fight with walker but that was walker who has no other weapons. But still he didn’t check them in the first fight or the Jan fight so him checking them the second time against walker is a sign of real growth but who knows.
Also Pereira will be constantly working on his wrestling defence. Magomed doesn't have the striking to get close to Alex so he has to wrestle, but if Alex has been smashing the anti wrestling it might be a rough night for Ankalaev
Leg kicks are proving to be the downfall of the dagestanis as the sport evolves that is the weapon that is making them look less and less invincible.
That’s why I bet Jan vs Ankalaev, ended up getting kinda lucky with the draw but though jam won the early rounds.
I’d pick pereira in that fight 😎
Jones, Aspinall, and Blaydes would beat him I think. Other than that, he probably ices every other heavyweight.
Poatan is everything that Luke told us Izzy was
You getting blocked 😂
Don't they both have like the same amount of defenses at this point?
@@soanywayistartedblastin8463not at all
@@soanywayistartedblastin8463 Israel still has more wins in title fights than Alex does. Alex has 5, Izzy has 7.
This is both very funny and unfair
This card sucked, let’s be honest.
One of the worst I’ve ever seen
Egiii didnt get koed being much smaller
The prelims were pretty good but yeah the main card blew
Poatan SAVED again!
@@Test7017he cut 0 weight lopes cut to 46
Alex Pereira is a 100 stat custom created fighter that was 3d printed and given consciousness 😂. His left hook is a cheat code. Apparently his left leg is too.
37:00 There is no way in hell Jon takes that fight on short notice, he wouldn't fight Chael on 11 days notice, much less a guy like Poatan.
100%... Though I do think Alex would be food for Jon if they fought.
I love that analogy he is the best Big game Hunter I've seen
I got Poatan vs Aspinal imma be honest. And I understand how good Aspinal is
Talbott, Silva and Pyfer all had big ko's on the prelims. Swanson vs Fili was a solid fight too. Those deserve some recognition, sir.
I thought the card was pretty solid. Great finishes, a couple fun decisions. People hating but I enjoyed from Bell to bell.
Anthony smith with 3 weeks camp has less gas than Dan Ige on 3 hours notice
Luke, your insight and breakdowns are the best in the business 🤘
Imagine if Conor fought Chandler here and we didn’t have the Lopes vs Ige fight, along with no Poatan… the card would’ve been horrible.
This
Alex has the touch of death
I think the toe dislocate happened on the headkick knockdown at the end. But still he popped it back in himself.
All I can say is thank god I no longer stay up till stupid hours to watch these cards live. Watching the next morning with the fast forward button has been such a blessing.
DO you buy the ppv and watch it in the morning or do you know a place to find the video?
@@5dollarshake263 I live in the UK where all the UFC cards are included in my standard subscription with TNT/Discovery+. I will usually watch the fightpass early prelims live on fightpass and then go to sleep after that. Then I'll wake up Sunday morning and watch the normal prelims on fightpass, then watch the main card on my Discovery+ account.
It is very rare that we have to pay for PPV and they usually try put really big cards behind a ppv pay wall like a big Conor card and rarely a big Jones card. Otherwise all cards are included.
@@5dollarshake263 c'mon, man lol
@@5dollarshake263asking the right question here
that is the best way to watch for anyone in EU or asia. skip the bs and boring parts
I watched Alex win his title vs Donegi Abena live on stream. The big talk surrounding the fight was "how will Alex's power transfer to LHW?" I watched him absolutely dismantle Donegi and knew that he was one of the best strikers of our generation. The second he announced he was coming to MMA, I knew the shit was about to get fucking real. I am incredibly glad I was right about it.
I always assumed when he met some semi-competent MMA grappling he would lose. The thing I didn't consider was the rarity of a grappling heavy skillset at elite middleweight and up level. I also didn't consider how (physicall & mentally) strong Pereira is and how competent he has become defending when his back is against the cage. Clearly, grappling is the only way to strategise a win because he is the best kickboxer to ever do MMA, but I don't think skillset exists. Prime Cormier would be his kryptonite but prime Cormier is a one off.
Luke speaks of Izzy like Dana speaks of Jon Jones.
Both are top level fighters
They can't just mention others without for some reason bringing up jon or izzy... is super cringe
@@Rondigity92 lol izzy is the reason we have Alex. its called writing lol
Luke has got his extreme favorites (both fighters and coaches), and he's incapable of hiding his bias when discussing them (or even when he brings them up unprompted).
Meanwhile he also has those he dislikes, and he treats them overly harshly when discussing them
I wonder what its like for him to have to make content for simpletons
Glover has 2 be a big part of poatons UFC success wat a guy 2 hav in the corner and he must b passing on so much knowledge. poaton is definitely the boogie man in 2 if not 3 divisions!
does alex have a dad? because glover seems like he’s that to him i bet they trained together while he was still kickboxing
@@michaelbeard4883glover is definitely mentoring alex as much as he is coaching/training him. Kinda like what Liddell was to glover back in the day.
Toe Rogan
Ian Garry gets mauled by JDM and Shavkat. They are the future of the division
He lost already
Garry beats JDM and the fight with Shavkat is closer than Luke and many people seem to think. I know everyone hates the guy and is rooting for his demise, but don't let that cloud your perception of his skills. He might have had a couple of boring wins in a row, but he's still winning, undefeated, and developing an all-round skillset.
I mean he's only 26 ffs, people like you seem to be writing him off from ever rising to the top. He has close to a decade left in this division most likely and he'll only improve.
Your “opinions” just blow mind sometimes.. Jon jones is getting “washy washy”? Where tf do u get that from? The three minute domination of Cyril Gane, who u were acting like was gonna give him all these problems. Some of the things u say r just ridiculous
I think the fact that Poatan ever having the physical ability to even sniff 185lb is something that should be studied. He is fucking massive at 205lb. How that man ever got low enough to drop that much weight is stupid.
Alex Pereira really is a unique and special talent!! The man is different in the best way ..
Thank you Luke for all your great content
The situation with Poatan is very similar to Ronda in the early days of women's divisions in the UFC, or similar to Joanna and Valentina, and then potentially Khabib. Some of these fighters, when they come in , they have had such a robust background and skillset built-up pre-UFC that gives them a massive edge over their opponents.
At the time Ronda was fighting her competition (granted way less evolved than now), her grappling and Judo was 10x ahead of everyone else. Joanna and Valentina, their muy thai and striking was sooo far ahead of everyone that it looked like mismatch at times. Khabib and his grappling, it seemed as if he was like 3 weight classes above his opponents.
Poatan is similar... I am a kickboxing fan so I was following Poatan (alongside Rico V. etc ) in glory before he was even remotely close to switching to MMA... I was just not sure how his defensive grappling goes, otherwise I had no doubt that if Poatan comes in , his striking is like ridiculously sharp, technical and damaging that all these hybrid MMA guys are going to struggle against him.
Moving up from 185 takes the risks that come with massive weight cuts away as well, and for his age he is not "old" for 205 or 265. What would stop Poatan is someone who can just stifle him with spamming takedown attempts and make it a close fight and win a decision (e.g. similar to how the Jan Blachowicz fight went) , or if we just wait and let time catch up on him so he becomes slower and just has a natural athletic decline. Otherwise, I dont see him lose a straight up kickboxing match to anyone at 205 anytime soon.
What we are watching with Alex Pereria is kinda what it was like 👀 Bones in his prime...whoever they put in front of him, he just mowed em down!!!
DC's is intolerable as a commentator.
If they don't allow Alex to go HW next fight I can say alot of ufc will be disappointed
The UFC sacrificed the future for that amazing UFC 300 card.
Big Game Hunter is great
Can I come to a live taping of MK? As a soon to be 43 year old stone/brick mason with multiple hernias waiting for surgery. Make my wish come true.
I remember about a year and a half ago, maybe two years. I made a comment about how poor the quality of ufc shows have become. I remember luke soon after making a general comment about tough luck for anyone complaining about the quality of shows because they have no other choice. Well, it's been two years and I haven't watched any of these shows, except maybe 3 in total, which included this one just to check to see if anything has changed. Nothing had changed at all. Still putting on glorified fight night cards. The production is still a sh!t show with multiple cancelations. The fights are still of low quality with the highlights being a rematch where Alex pereira still hasnt fought a true wrestler, and all his fights are still suspiciously short notice. Prochazka's defence is still hot garbage. The best fight of the night was between two women , and the other main attraction was a complete let down because Gary wanted to hug his way to victory, too scared because he was getting lit up on the feet. This card truly was garbage, can't believe Dana white once marketed this as an alternative to corrupt boxing. See you guys in 6 or 7 months, When Jon Jones predictably sits on top of pereira for an easy win. Or maybe pereira will catch him coming in.
Oh and someone please tell prochazcha that it's his sh!tty defense and not magic causing him to lose these fights. Maybe if he had a full camp or wasn't coming off major injury he might be able to figure that out.
I'd definitely rather see fighters stepping in on short notice than fight cards just fall apart.
Obviously, I'd prefer to see any of them coming in with a full camp.
Pereira just exposing whats been pretty obvious about mma athletes since, uh, ever? They cant strike. Like, none of them. Nobody above 170lbs is world class. Nobody. Otherwise they'd probably box. Its funny hearing analysts gush over how balanced he stays. Yea. Hes a world class striker. If you cant stay balanced, you cant strike. The fact that Pereira can run through these divisions shows how light the talent still is in this sport above 170.
This is a blanket statement that applies to *most* of the fighters above 70, but there are a bunch of exceptions past and present. 85-silva/adesanya. 205: Jones being a douchebag doesn’t make him not an elite striker, Rountree post-Thailand is scary. 265: Alistair, Jarzinho, Cyril-hard to say those guys cannot strike.
.....or it shows that Poaton is a generational talent and is an exception
Cause there have been plenty of other strikers that have come into MMA after having a successful career in a striking only sport.....except they just weren’t a double world champ like Alex, and they weren’t a once in a generation fighter like Alex. You can’t take what he’s accomplished and then apply that “logic” to the whole of the sport
He’s able to do what he does, because he’s who he is. It’s not just that MMA fighters “can’t strike”. There’s so much more to it than that. And realistically, they don’t need to strike at that same level per se, as there is grappling, wrestling, submissions, etc that are part of the game
You’re not gonna get a lot of upvotes here but you’re absolutely correct.
Sorry for the second comment, but like what do you expect? Of course they’re not “world class” per se; they have multiple other disciplines to train other than just striking. This is MMA. Not kickboxing.
Alex is a unique case. Cause if you took all the best “world class strikers” and put them in a cage with a top 10 MMA Fighter, the striker will get demolished most times. The MMA Fighter has more way to win by far. So, being a world class striker only gets you so far in MMA without other assets to your game
The absolute state of MMA, where no top fighter is smart enough not to trade blows with GOAT kickboxer, instead keeping their hand at their waist and running into the left hook. Zero brain, zero talent. Takes nothing from Poatan, he's fantastic and does the most of what he can, but man... The opposition is a total disgrace Alex turning MMA into embarrassment.
I loved Dana’s nervous breakdown at the press conference
Gary compared his leg/calf kicks to Alex 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
And…. That’s why Izzy is #2 Mdlwt All-Tims, period. How impressive is it, he had Alex beat the 1st time, and KO’d him in the 2nd. These two dudes are BEASTS and Alex is super scary!!
Alex’s revenge tour must end where it all started and that’s Izzy
Luke, that is such a casual take on Garry. This is the type of fight the younger fighter usually losses. Instead he leverage his skills, got his opponent out of his comfort zone and found a way to win. Acting like this is somehow a negative is deeply unserious analysis.
Yep spot on, Luke has clearly made his mind up that he dislikes Garry and so is viewing him in a wholly negative light. If this was one of the fighters he interviews (or one who fights under one of the coaches he knows, eg Nicksick), I guarantee he would have a completely different take on this. Luke's analysis is increasingly influenced from his personal views nowadays
It was a boring fight by Garry but he overcome a tricky challenge presented by MVP (which he isn't going to see again tbh), and he got the fight in a position where he could win. Smart fight tbh but Luke doesn't like him so...
Your defence of him is rudimentary as well. Go back and listen. I like Gary, but slowing the roll on him is a good idea while he develops.
Damn! the Izzy glazers came out of the woodwork to make Pereira's success about him.
Jones Poatan is the biggest fight in the sport right now, Jones aint ever taking it
You want a repeat of Gane?
I guarantee he would and it wouldn’t last long
Alex should fight Gane
RIP Ricky Simon.
After that getting Punk'd Prominence quit job last night Sergei Pavlovich & Jason Jackson last week
Good shit, Luke. Thanks for consistently taking the time to do these post-show. Love the work you’re putting out right now.
Garry is showing Till vibes.
Luke said “mid”….
Eric “Little Birdy” Nicksick
God what a shit show this event was .
Luke - I watched the main event back and Jiri landed 2 strikes
Alex vs Jon at heavyweight is the fight to make. Fook Aspinall
Love watching the fights after the fact and then watching these. Cheers, Luke 🇮🇪 🇺🇸
Ole lukey boy saying a birdie tipped him off about ige like we don’t all know that his coach is an avid listener to the show and has massive respect for Luke and bc. Safe to say it was possibly Eric nicksick
The 1st place I come to after a ufc event… 👏🏻
Is everyone fighting AP just stupid? I thought MMA was dominated by grappling & wrestlers. Why is everyone standing with this guy? Why not take him down? Path of least resistance.
Although any mention of MacGregor was conspicuously absent from the broadcast, could the way this event played out have made him look any worse? With so many fighters stepping up to compete under less than optimal circumstances, the commentary team and fighters themselves constantly stating "this is what real fighters do", then Alex KOs Jiri with a broken toe/foot, the irony was almost poetic.
Izzy mentions Alex everyday, posts his one KO consistently, picks against Alex every fight.
Izzy fan cope from Luke in this video today😂
Agree with your observation on Ian Garry. Has little to no chance against a Rakmanov-type fighter. I think Burns and Usman would finish Garry as they wouldn't be handicapped by the thought of being taken down.
Good on Luke for praising Pereira, the challenges faced taking this short notice fight and giving him his flowers, unlike these other tards like Cejudo immediately discrediting Alex and just using Ankalaev to assume he’d run over Pereira..
Why are you surprised he's getting better at 36?
His mma career is so short, he has all that room to get better in certain areas, that's why his improvements are looking so good, also your ability to think out a good gameplan doesn't diminish at 36 or something.
You're being dramatic. (I'm a big poatan fan)
Luke loves justifying Izzy’s title shot on the grounds of “it makes the promotion the mkst money” but hates the idea of Jones vs Stipe or Alex.
Sounds like he is ok with Izzy getting preferential treatment for promotional reasons, but not if it comes to something that would benefit Jon.
I dont think people realize what intelligent defense is. Yiri was evading Alex’s strikes. That is intelligent defense because it demonstrates awareness of the oncoming strikes. Intelligent defense does not have to be effective. Its just indication of the hurt fighters mental presence. Per the rules, the ref shouldn’t stop the fight if the hurt fighter is intelligenty defending themselves. (Unless they indicate an unwillingness to engage. Like if they just shell up and cover their heads then it could be stopped on those grounds.) i think refs get a raw deal because folks apply arbitrary and ever-changing criteria for stopping a fight.
I keep thinking, how many opponents can Alex Pereira beat in a day... Amazing performance all things considered.
First fight Jiri got a single leg then turned it into a take down. This fight he clinched up and then Alex eventually broke it up. No take downs where attempted.
I mean its a win for Alex that he didn't even let Jiri get to the position of being able to get a single leg. And i don't doubt that he is much better at grappling now so that has boosted his confidence in his whole game.
I don't think these fights were very similar at all. Jiri had a lot of success in the first fight. He pressured the whole time. He had no success at all in this one. He got shut down everywhere and took tons of big shots even though he was being way more restrained about it. Alex was pressuring way more and was walking him down by the end of it.
@Luke Thomas The full screen 1080P visual quality leaves some to be desired. Can you upload higher res?
With all the complaints of early stoppages lately, you have to wonder if Herb was making sure nobody said it after 303. Of course the stoppages seem to always be too early or too late.
Anthony Smith really backed up his claim that nobody wanted to fight him on 2 weeks notice 😂 Company man will come in even overweight getting schooled by a middleweight.
Last time you cried the stoppage was to esrly. Jiri should have been given a little more time. This time you got what you asked for last time and now your crying about that. Its fighting. Get over it
Jones vs Alex isn’t the biggest fight they could make right now cus Connor vs Islam would be bigger
jiri has been taking too much punishment in his last few fights. Love his philosophy of the warrior but the reality staring him in his face is to work out a defence system other than the do or die approach he employs currently
The Alex Pereira glazing went on a little too long at the beginning. He's awesome. We get it, Luke. Wipe your mouth.
After last night, Alex vs Jon Jones is the biggest most interesting fight the UFC can do right now. Retire Stipe and let's do this!
He’s training with heavyweight boxers before this fight. He isn’t doing that for jiri. He’s planning his next move
Alex a beast but can we quit with the goat shit the dude has 2 defenses. Jones has 17 title fight wins that’s more than double the fights Alex has in the UFC
Actually thaught the card was good i wouldnt say it wasnt great it was ok nothing special but not a bad card were witnessing history with pereira and he is everything people thaught izzy was gonna be
This man and Ariel Hawani live vicariously through men with real talent. They are sad and subhuman.
Be nice see vadim nemkov be able to get into ufc cause it seems like pfl is not giving him fights he only had the 1 man vadim vs alex pereira would be fire and vadim at hw also fire
Alex is literally the face of The UFC
OMALLEY AND JONES WHO?
Potan is beyond exciting to watch, the complete opposite to the paint drying boring Ian Garry.
Herb was useless i mean come on stop the fight then he picks jiri up straight instead of sitting him down etc woeful how he looked after jiri well being tonight
I dont see the problem with slap and people that like it. Im not the biggest fan but theres nothing wrong with enjoying the sport...
Is there a better finisher in combat sports i mean when they hurt someone its over your not recovering if hes on you maybe anthony joshua also bit pereira man hes building some legacy its insane
Best in the Biz 🐐
i want alex to fight izzy again
dude got knocked the f out and needs the win to establish himself as the current top dog in the sport
If Stipe pulled out close to the event there is 0 chance in hell Jones takes him on short notice. That's how you lose your 0.
I actually hope ian gets another win and then they match him up with shavkat so that we can finally put him back in his place as a top ten gatekeeper. That's all he is
That photo you took of Alex? How tall are you 😱😱😱
Luke is legit like 6’4”, he’s a big dude
Shavkat Rakhmonov would murder Gary 😂 I personally would love to that
Also. Jone jones runs from that fighr wjth alex faster then you can blink.
People who say it was a bad stoppage have got to realise that it's there fault cos every poatan win there's always something g wrong with the stoppage
Please MMA God's give us JON JONES VS ALEX P. this year 😢😂
This year so far the U in UFC doesn't mean Ultimate, it's almost like the I stands for Uninteresting.
jiri was hurt end of and 1 but he had a minute to recover and most corners would allow the fight to continue
I’m thankful for Luke. He’s one of the only legitimate combat sports journalists out there. Him and Ariel really are top of the food chain in my eyes
Luke's not a journalist. He's an analyst. Ariel is a journalist though.
Jack Slack is also very sharp
you misplace skill for discipline here often ....just saying
Jiri ain’t the same it’s pretty clear to see. Chin is gone, he gets hit wayyy too easily.
Luke's takes can be decent when he's not being a condescending know-it-all