UFC 287 Pereira vs Adesanya 2 April 08

[jipped genes]

Middleweight	Alex Pereira (c)	vs.	Israel Adesanya				[a]
Welterweight	Gilbert Burns	vs.	Jorge Masvidal
Bantamweight	Rob Font	vs.	Adrian Yanez
Welterweight	Kevin Holland	vs.	Santiago Ponzinibbio
Bantamweight	Raul Rosas Jr.	vs.	Christian Rodriguez

Betting odds have Alex slightly ahead of Izzy, Izzy has to hurt Alex but when he comes in he gets cracked. He is the more active fighter although the last fight was no barn burner. Will watch

I think Burns will bulldoze Jorge. Jorge is a such a tactician on the feet but he is not an active fighter. Burns will come in with a haymaker and keep throwing like a wild man while Jorge backs up to the cage. Then he will get cracked by that big power. But Jorge is a sniper so I think it will be a lot of circle and feint with little dispersals of action and fence clenching.

Here is my pick for fight of the night. Font vs Yanez! EWWWWEEEEE! These boys gonna got to war. Neither has ever been stopped by KO/TKO. Both will take a shot to land one. Both guys have a handful of subs but not as many as KO/TKO. Font lost his last 2 vs top guys. Yanez is on a fat ass win streak of 9 wins all but two by KO/TKO. So you see. these guys will bring it.

Holland vs Santiago. I like Holland's personality but he just does not have that killer instinct when he is behind. He is a sniper and a great counter puncher but Ponzinibbo is a tank and remember, Holland went up to 185. He will be the smaller guy. This will be a chess match, matador vs the bull.

Rosas Jr vs C Rod. 1 loss between them by decision on C Rod's record. Jr. is a submission machine. He has finished all but 2 of his wins by sub. He is super creative in his sub attempts, his last win was by face crank whatever that is. C Rod has his wins almost even between KO/TKO and sub. Should be an interesting match between two up and comers. I love these fights with hungry young guys who love fighting and are so motivated to win.

 

[MR. BMJ]

Yea, pretty good card!

I can't really add much more. It will be interesting to see how the Izzy/Pereira fight plays out. Izzy was beating him fairly well in their first fight before he got clipped in that final round. He almost had Pereira out at the end of the 4th. Then, he allowed Alex to get back into it in the 5th....well, then Alex cracked him. I think Alex will come in better this fight, so my questions are all on Izzy. He needs to swing back out when close to the fence, imo. When he stood there toe-2-toe with Pereira he is asking to get clipped. Alex is so much stronger and bigger, it only takes that 1 shot to down his opponent. Alex is horrendous on the ground though, at least compared to others at this level of the UFC. I'm not saying Izzy is much better either, but I guess there is always that option if it opens up.

The other fights should be fun to watch, especially those 2 young kids!

Font is a good fighter, he lost both fights at the final round(s). He let Aldo get in a few furies that last round and allowed Aldo to utilize his kicking game. That's another whole topic i've bitched on with Aldo....he totally left his kick game in his fights, but he finally opened them back up with that fight against Font, and it got him the victory late in the fight. Then....he abandoned them his last fight again. Font's fight with Chito was also really close. If his face wasn't so beat up, he could have possibly won the fight. Everybody was more fixated on the damage he was showing, and I feel it tipped the fight over to Chito who didn't have any marks at all. lol.

I'm routing for Burns at this point, I think he still has the best chance for a title run, as where Jorge doesn't unless he gets the right opponent stylistically. I do like both guys though, Jorge is super fun to watch when he is active and throwing. Burns is a beast despite being a smaller guy in the division.

 

[jipped genes]

Agree BMJ. All of it. Should be a good card.

I think Aldo stopped kicking as much for two reasons. He was enamored with boxing and he was getting taken down and dominated on the ground off his kicks.

 

[Stclineman]

Good card all the down……

on a different note seeing Masvidals name reminded me I saw on social media that Joe Rogan said Masvidal would beat GSP…… please tell me that isn’t true and that Rogan isn’t completely losing his mind, lol…. I like Masvidal and he’s a great fighter but in no way a prime Masvidal beats a prime GSP

 

[schultz1]

Alex, gilbert, Yanez & Ponz are my picks to win. Unsure about the opener. Hope izzy gets slept, guy has bought into his own gimmick.

 

[MR. BMJ]

On tonight! SO just a bump if anybody forgot and treads this

Have my laptop over here at my dad's so I can log on and watch it

 

[DaSarge]

Wow! Some really good fights last night.
Glad I'm not a gambler, because most of my picks were WAY off...

 

[jipped genes]

Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Middleweight	Israel Adesanya	def.	Alex Pereira (c)	KO (punches)	2	4:21	[a]
Welterweight	Gilbert Burns	def.	Jorge Masvidal	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28)	3	5:00
Bantamweight	Rob Font	def.	Adrian Yanez	TKO (punches)	1	2:57
Welterweight	Kevin Holland	def.	Santiago Ponzinibbio	KO (punch)	3	3:16
Catchweight (137 lb)	Christian Rodriguez	def.	Raul Rosas Jr.	Decision (unanimous) (29–27, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Middleweight	Kelvin Gastelum	def.	Chris Curtis	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27)	3	5:00
Women's Strawweight	Luana Pinheiro	def.	Michelle Waterson	Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00

• Fight of the Night: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Chris Curtis
• Performance of the Night: Israel Adesanya and Rob Font

What a card boys!

Pinheiro vs Waterson was a battle. Both gals were on track for a fight of the night until Kelvin vs Curtis. Those fellas went to absolute war. Wanna talk about biting down on a mouth piece and leaving it all in there...this is the fight. Both guys showed incredible heart, skill and chins.
Rodriguez vs Rojas was an interesting fight. Rojas wanted it on the ground at all costs. On the feet Rodriguez definitely had the advantage. If you like choke defense watch this one,
Holland vs Santiago was interesting. Holland is not an action fighter. But what a counter puncher. He looked good and focused. no jabber jawing.
Font vs Yanez, Yanez was the more polished striker but Font is a tough mofo and a real vet of fighting. Font was a step up for Yanez and he was found wanting. Good stoppage.
Burns vs Masvidal. burns was just better everywhere. Masvidal is still a great fighter but he was never gonna challenge for a belt. Great retirement and great showing for Burns. I will miss Jorge for his post fight interviews when he wins.
Izzy vs Pereira Me and my son went berzerk! "I was playing opossum" Yeah I guess so. Everyone talks about Pereira's power but Izzy got that big stick too. Out like a light.

 

[MR. BMJ]

Burns is a solid fighter. I enjoy watching him fight. He got clipped by Usman when they fought, but he was doing well in that match all the way up until that happened. i hope he gets another shot at the title soon. The division is pretty interesting right now. He also did well in his loss to Khamzat. If he would not have laid back so much in the whole first half of the 3rd round, he could have won that fight. That said, I know he was pretty gassed, but once he got going, he was beating Khamzat in a lot of exchanges in final minute or so of that round. That's all behind now though, I hope he gets another fight soon. Not sure how anybody could dislike Masvidal. His final post-fight speech was well thought out and he had me pumped up when he praised Trump and DeSantis In his last couple of fights, it looks like he was just showing up for a paycheck. His physical stature also got worse from 2019 to now...more loose and fat now. Disclaimer: not saying that is what makes or breaks a fighter, but he went from decent shape to a Fedor body, lol. (Yes, I exaggerated that...lol).

Holland looked pretty good. I hope he stays in this division.

When Font gets in a groove, he is fun to watch. His recent 2 loses to Chito and Aldo were very close, or he was still competitive in those 2 fights.

Do you guys buy Izzy's "I was playing possum" plan? I am not sure that is what happened, but he is slick with his post-fight words to cover it if it wasn't the case, lol. I was getting concerned about the calf kicks he was taking. Both Izzy and Dana White are saying that Pereira will probably fight at 205# now....If I were him, i'd want my rubber match at some point. Also, those guys in 205# hit effin' much harder, and I do not see him as a stand-out there with a size and strength difference, but heck, I have no clue, i'm just speaking from an arm-chair position. Not to mention that a lot of those guys, being that they are bigger and stronger, will have an easier time taking him down and keeping him there. I think once he fights a top ground guy with decent stand-up, it will expose him more. He matches up with Izzy well because they are both stand-up kickboxers. I think Chimaev would be a cool fight to see him against. That all said, this was a great technical fight. Izzy KO'd him the fack out!!!

 

[jipped genes]

Yeah I agree. Whether he was rope a dopeing or not, his timing and accuracy on that punch was great.

Agree that Alex will not do as well in the 205. big guys, he will be average size. he will not have to cut as much and he will feel better I think. Should be good to see.

 

[schultz1]

Very surprised that Izzy won and that Ponzinibio lost.

 

[jipped genes]

Very surprised that Izzy won and that Ponzinibio lost.

Really? Izzy was pretty much winning the whole fight last time until he got stuck on the cage and got put out.

Ponzinibio is a great fighter and tough as nails but Holland is big for 170 with a huge reach advantage. Kept him away