UFC 276
Israel Adesanya vs Jared Cannonier
Everyone knows Adesanya at this point. He has proven himself as champion at 185. He’s taken all comers and beaten everyone. He’s a long lanky striker. Uber athletic and he is super accurate with his strikes. That’s probably his best attribute. He’s a sharp shooter with his strikes. Not only is he a good striker, but he’s proven his toughness time and time again. For as good as he is offensively he does have some holes in his striking defense. Izzy gets hit, but his chin and toughness can not be questioned. He was literally willing to die in his fight against gastelum. People like to talk about Adesanya like he is an all time great and unstoppable. I haven’t seen that. In my opinion he is one of the most flawed champions that the ufc has. He is hitable on the feet and was really exposed against Jan When he went up to 205. He still lacks strength and he can be controlled by wrestlers. He also isn’t the finisher has has been put out to be. He is a counter striker and has been in some boring fights with neither guy willing to lead the dance. He has been saying that will change in this fight and wants to get back to finishing fights. He said he just wants to kick the shit out of Cannonier
Cannonier is a former heavyweight. He is one of the strongest and hardest hitters that 185 has to offer. He’s won two in a row over Gastelum and Brunson. He lost to Robert Whittaker, but there’s no shame there. Whittaker took it today Izzy in their last fight and arguably won. Cannonier throws nasty leg kicks and throws everything into his strikes. He’s 38 years old, but hasn’t shown his age at all yet. He’s explosive, but he is kind of awkward on the feet. He got knocked down by Brunson, but it’s really hard to use that fight as a gauge for this one. He will not have to worry about Adesanya wrestling him
I have been waiting to fade Adesanya, but this fight isn’t it. Cannonier is not a grappler and if he tries to use that gameplan I think he will gas himself out. His best chance is to catch Izzy with a huge knockout punch on the feet and use those leg kicks. This will be very difficult because not only is Izzy one of the best strikers in the division, but he will have the reach and speed advantage. Izzy’s technical, more accurate strikes will make the awkward bouncing style of Cannonier look silly. I think Adesanya does get the finish and will continue to beat all these strikers at 185 until some of the young bucks with wrestling make their way to the top. Izzy ITD
Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway
What can we say about the trilogy! This is such an amazing fight. Both guys are clearly a step ahead of everyone else on the division right now. Volkanovski continues to show new wrinkles to his game, which already seemed as polished as you can get. While Max continues to force fighters into his game. He constantly comes at you throwing sick combos and is willing to eat one of yours to land 6 of his. Best combinations in the game and it’s not close. They’ve fought twice and you can argue the winner of both of those fights. Absolute wars. They’ve both fought twice since their last meeting and you can argue that Max has fought the stiffer competition. Both guys showing their greatness in both fights.
Max fights a bit of a dangerous game with allowing his opponents to hit him and he ate some very clean punches against Yair. Max states he no longer spars leading up to fights, so that may save his chin a bit, but one day that legendary chin is going to crack. It happens to everyone. Interestingly though I have the same thoughts about Volk. Both guys are as tough as they come and this fight is always going to be close. I lean Volk, because I think he has more avenues. Holloway showed some wrestling shops in his last fight and he really needed it to win that fight. I don’t think he will have any success with that against Volk. Volk finishes this fight and puts a stamp on the trilogy. Fight doesn’t go the distance is my favorite bet for this fight
Sean Strickland vs Alex Pereira
Strickland is a psychopath. Dude talks about some wild shit outside of the cage. He’s an easy guy to dislike. He’s also a very good fighter. He’s a striker that beats you with a clean jab and volume. He is defensively sound and his last fight was pretty boring because of that. The last time he faced a striker with the power and technique (slightly less in the technique department) was Uriah Hall. Strickland destroyed Hall on the feet and then took him down and beat him up. Everyone says, including his training partner Chris Curtis, that he has an underrated ground and submission game. He doesn’t tend to show it in the cage. He may be one of the most competitive people in the UFC. Listen to what his coach said about him sparring Francis “He wants to compete and he wants to compete against the best in the room,” Nicksick said. “If there’s somebody better than him in the room, he’s going to ask for that round. He wants to compete. He wants to see where he needs to get better. You’ve got to give him credit.” Dudes nuts. He can keep an insane pace for 5 rounds and that may play a factor in the 3rd round of this fight.
Alex Pereira is the last guy that defeated Adesanya in kick boxing and he kod him. The UFC put them in the same card for a reason. They want to set up that fight. Alex Pereira is a freak. He is super strong and athletic and he’s been putting in work with Glover Teixeira. Glover thinks this kid is going to be champ one day and that’s a huge complement. He will have a 3 inch reach advantage in this fight. He only has 2 wins in the UFC and I wasn’t overly impressed with him in either fight. He hits hard and that striking shows, but he is still green in the UFC and he is hitable.
Sean Strickland should win this fight and ruin the party. He has an easy path with wrestling and submissions, but his own competitiveness will stop him from trying this from the start of the fight. Sean Strickland is going to test his striking against Pereira in this fight and I actually think he will have success. Sean Strickland mixes it up better and gets the dub. I think this fight gets finished inside the distance and I like that bet more than I like Strickland money line
Robbie Lawler vs Bryan Barberena
Robbie Lawler was on a 4 fight losing streak before beating the shell of Nick Diaz. Neil Magny beat the crap out of him and it was looking like the end for Lawler. He fought Diaz and looked okay in that fight. Diaz did not come back fully committed, but was still able to hit Lawler ALOT. The best thing Lawler showed in that fight was that he was still able to scrap and the cardio didn’t look horrible for throwing 131 strikes. At 40 years old you have to wonder if he will retire win or loss here
Bryan Barberena is a scrapper! He got into a war with Matt Brown and came out with a controversial win. The guy has crisp boxing and is willing to go to war with anyone. The narrative that Barberena said he was going to retire after his last fight is WAY over blown and taken out of context. His UFC contract was up and he stated that he only wanted to fight in the UFC. He wasn’t interested in going to another organization, so he said he would hang them up if the ufc didn’t want him. He also said hey Dana White let’s talk because I’d love to keep fighting
This is a close fight, but I think the wrong guy is favored. Lawlers win over Diaz really doesn’t mean much. Barberena is the younger and better fighter at this point. Barberena wins an exciting fight
Pedro Munoz vs Sean O’Malley
Pedro Munoz has been fighting all killers for the past 6 years. He’s 5-5 in his last 10 with his 5 losses coming to Dominick Cruz, Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar, Aljo and John Dodson. He wasn’t finished by any of them and 2 of the losses were by split Dec. He’s a striker and was able to hang on the feet with the top of the division. He dropped Cruz twice in his last fight. He’s thrown the second most leg kicks in the ufc in 2021 and as we all know that can be a weak point for O’Malley. He’s explosive, hits hard and has a right guillotine. Trains out of American top team. He’s got one hell of a chin
Sean O’Malley claims to be the future and has looked like it. His striking is ridiculous. His accuracy reminds me of Conor. He sits heavy on his punches. Throws flashy techniques that land right on their mark. He is a smart fighter. I love listening to him breakdown fights. He hasn’t shown wrestling and hasn’t proven his tdd against anyone of note. He’s fought low level comp and lost his one step up. Granted it was on weird circumstances. I hear he has great bjj and he said he’s willing and ready to use it in this fight if it hits the ground. He will have a huge reach advantage in this fight
O’Malley is a great prospect, but this is a huge step up from the guys he’s been fighting. We know Munoz is durable. The same can not be said for the suga show. Munoz will come out spamming leg kicks and it will force O’Malley to abandon his wide stance. Munoz is being overlooked a bit in this fight and I think he gets the win here.
Brad Riddell vs Jalin Turner
Riddell is training partners with Adesanya and Volkanovski so you have to love that he’s been in the gym working with two of the best in the game and feeding off that championship energy. He’s coming off a loss to Rafael Fiziev. That fight was super close. Riddell came in in excellent shape and was landing hard strikes against the beast that is Fiziev. In the third round he got caught with a spinning wheel kick that hit him flush, but he didn’t go out cold. Guys got a chin. Ref saved him from any serious damage too. Prior to that fight he was on a 7 fight win streak with some very impressive wins. One of Riddells main training partners is Dan Hooker. Hooker is only 6 ft tall, but he has the same exact reach as Jalin Turner at 75.5”. Riddell will be used to this 4 inch reach disadvantage
Jalin Turner is 6’3 and is one of the biggest light weights out there. He’s only 27 years old and he has shown flashes of brilliance as of late. He’s on a 4 fight winning streak and he’s finished all 4 within 2 rounds. Turner has sick submissions and massive power in his hands. Turner looked excellent against Mullarkey. He was blasting him with elbows, knees, front kicks, high kicks, straight rights, the kitchen sink. At 27 he’s still improving as a fighter. He can be hitable at times and has been KOd in the past
This is a big step up in comp for Jalin Turner. If he can run through Brad Riddell I will be 100 percent sold. I think Riddell makes this fight a little gritty though and I’m not sure how Jalin Turner will like that. Riddell is a strong dude and hits hard himself. Riddell survives a scary round 1 and out strikes Turner for a Dec victory
Jim Miller vs Donald Cerrone
Miller has been a staple of the ufc for a long long time. He is finally healthy and has Lyme under control. He’s dangerous everywhere and has been proving it against young prospects to this day. His chin may not be as granite as it once was, but he still shows his grittiness and ability to battle through adversity. He’s taking this fight on short notice, but He has been training for Bobby Green, which is a tougher matchup than Cerrone. He said he doesn’t care at all about the fight being at 170. I doubt he even needs to cut at all.
Cerrone will be weighing in for the third time in the last month. This time it will be at 170. I like that he doesn’t have to cut to 155, but it’s still a lot to be preparing for a fight for this long. Cerrone looks very stiff in all his fights and I really think his style is one meant for the gym rather than the cage these days. He is a slow starter, but throws great combos once he finds his range. He has great bjj, but almost never goes for take downs. He hasn’t won since 2019 and has looked bad in his losses. His loss to Conor was bad. Like real bad. I know it’s Conor, but come on. He’s lost to top comp, but we are starting to see him get tkod by lesser comp as well. I agree with Dana that Cowboy should walk away from the sport
This is a rematch of a fight that happened 8 years ago. Cerrone won that fight and Miller really struggled with the range of Cerrone. Miller claims that was a bad camp for him. He was dealing with Lyme and feet issues. Miller says he’s ready to make it a dog fight and fight as hard as he can. I don’t think Cowboy has that in him anymore. Miller by tko. Always target fighters on the way out. Miller still wants to fight again this year and wants to make it to UFC 300. What are cowboys plans?
Ian Garry vs Gabe Green
Garry is an Irish fighter and he’s only 24 years old. He’s 8-0 with 6 finishes. He trains at Sanford mma and is a legit prospect. He won the cage warriors belt and he did it without a corner. His team Abandoned him (kind of sketched me out actually. Like wtf happened with that. Makes me question him mentally a little) and he went in and still fought and won a gritty fight. He is a standup fighter and is now working with henri hooft in that area. That can only make him better. He is also working with the coaches at Sanford and Gilbert burns, chandler and they are helping him in the grappling aspect. He didn’t look good in his ufc debut, but he still got the finish. He followed that up with a win over Darian Weeks. This win was also not the impressive win he was looking for. It was a hard fought Dec win. The kid is still young and always improving
Green had a tough welcome to the ufc. He fought Daniel Rodrigues in his ufc debut on short notice. Green showed he belonged by pushing the pace and throwing bombs against Rodrigues. He ultimately lost a Dec but it was a good showing. He showed he can go a hard 3. He just kept throwing. His next fight was against Phillip Rowe and it was another battle. Both guys got hurt in the fight and again green proved he could go a hard 3. Punching power, leg kicks and takedowns won him that fight. His last fight was against an 8-0 prospect who like Garry hits very hard, is athletic and is def a better wrestler than Garry. Green won that fight the way he wins all his fights, by bringing it to you and throwing non stop. The body shots Green was throwing in that fight were nasty. Green knows that cardio and durability are two of his biggest weapons. That paired with body shots are a problem
This is a great matchup for Green. I feel like Garry isn’t very different than Rowe or Yohan. The power is there to be dangerous, but as long as Green isn’t unconscious than he’s coming. I like Green to win a Dec or a late stoppage
Brad Tavares vs Dricus Du Plessis
Brad Tavares is a guy that I’ve underestimated throughout his career. He’s only ever lost to top competition (excluding Edmen), he’s well rounded. Really technical striker, defensively sound, has good takedown defense. He’s on a 2 fight winning streak over excellent competition. He beat shoe face and Omari Ahkmedov both in 2021. He throws a stiff jab and loves the low leg kick he used both of these to beat Ahkmedov and it turns out he had a fractured elbow going into that fight. He is healthy now and thinks that that paired with the training he’s put in at xtreme couture and his experience will carry him over the awkward Dricus
Dricus is an exciting prospect at 28 years old. He hits extremely hard, has excellent submissions and has a great killer instinct. All his wins are inside the distance with 9 of them being by submission. As good as his submissions are his takedowns are not elite. On the feet he’s awkward and throws hard counter strikes. He lunges in at times and over extends. If he hits you once he can put you to sleep.
This is an interesting fight because Tavares has been chin checked a few times. He got hit hard against Ahkmedov and was able to survive. Ahkmedov hits as hard as anyone. Tavares has the tdd to keep it standing and will be the more technical fighter. Tavares wins this one unless he gets caught early
Uriah Hall vs Andre Muniz
Hall hasn’t fought since getting dominated by Sean Strickland. At his best he is an elite power striker. Dude is a freak athlete and has some of the most devastating power in his punches and kicks that we’ve seen in the ufc. At his worst he’s very hesitant and breakable. He’s not always there mentally. Andre Muniz is a grappling wizard. He is not going to stand with Hall at all. I see Muniz getting this to the ground and breaking Hall there. Muniz by sub
Jessica Eye vs Maycee Barber
Eye has been around forever. She’s extremely well rounded and can hang with anyone. She’s been in there with the toughest girls in the world and has held her own for the most part. She’s on a 3 fight losing streak, but against tough comp. She is doing the onlyfans thing now, but still seems very dedicated to fighting
Barber is still only 24 years old. She came into the UFC and was messing girls up. Not only was she messing people up, but she was messing up legit established fighters. She finished cifers, Aldrich and Robertson. She then lost a weird fight against Roxy where she got injured early on. She then lost a decision to Grasso and was absolutely gifted a win against Maverick. She’s super athletic, has power and her ground and pound will get you out fast. She won her last fight against de la Rosa and she looked excellent in that fight. Her cardio really impressed me. She never slowed down.
This is a good test for barber, but it’s an appropriate step up. Barber is the younger more athletic fighter and I think it shows. Barber beats up Jessica eye
Jessica Rose Clark vs Julija Stoliarenko
Jessica Rose Clark should win this fight. Julija is not good and can be dominated in the wrestling department. Julija has some subs from bottom, but it’s really only the armbar. JRC is well coached and trains with an excellent group of girls. She always comes in in shape. Her one problem is her mental game, which she says she’s been working on with a psychologist. I like Rose here and I really like her on DraftKings