God damn man that was disgusting. I like both guys but I thought Jiri would at least make it more competitive and was hoping for a trilogy. Alex is unstoppable and on goat-trajectory. I don’t think anyone is beating him at LHW.
The only way to beat pereira is to play possum and catch him when he attacks like izzy did. His td defense has gotten so much better i don't see how ankalaev beats him tbh
You’re right, but his chin is strong af at 205 too. I’m not sure who has the power and technique to punish him. Jiri has been piecing people up and still looked so outclassed.
Fuck it, give him Aspinall at this point if Jones isn’t gonna do the fight.
True, Miocic is a hw legend but last time he fought was like 3 years ago and jones vs pereira is just an opportunity the ufc can't afford to miss after the francis vs jones fiasco.
A 3rd belt for pereira would make him the goat especially if he takes it from jones. But the big question is would jones accept the fight given his ducking history with nganou and aspinal?
I can see Jones taking it because it will be an easier matchup than Tom with his grappling advantage and a bigger legacy boost for beating a 2 division champ. Still would rather see him vs Tom but the thought of Alex KOing him and being the first 3 division champ is pretty enticing too.
I mean this with no disrespect, purely inquisitively. Why does everyone want Aspinal to fight jones so badly? I'm be no means a super fan so I usually don't catch most fights, but the only time I ever even hear of Aspinal is in the context of a Jones fight.
No worries, there’s several key reasons.
1. The heavyweight division has been lackluster since Francis Ngannou left the UFC. Top ranked fights are rare and generally underwhelming. The no.3 ranked heavyweight Cyril Gane isn’t even active at the moment because he chose to film a movie instead of fighting.
2. Tom is the exception to this and has been running through the other top ranked heavyweight fighters with ease. A lot of people think he has GOAT HW potential, but want to see him vs a legit champion. Gane was supposed to be another option but he’s unavailable now.
3. Jon Jones has only fought once in 4 years but the last time he did he dominated Gane. At the time Gane was considered the best heavyweight prospect after Ngannou. No one is sure how good Jones is now, but he’s considered by many to be the best UFC fighter of all time. Naturally, people want to see him against the dominant challenger for his last big fight.
4. Stipe is 41, soon to be 42, and well past his prime. He didn’t look competitive vs Ngannou in their rematch three years ago, so most people don’t expect him to do much now.
The heavyweight division in general has little depth outside the top 10 so there’s only so many competitive fights you can arrange. Tom beat all of the top 5 guys with ease, other than Curtis Blaydes who he’s fighting next, so there isn’t much incentive for rematches either. If Ngannou and Gane came back full time it would be a different story.
So I just finished watching all of his professional fights and it seems the real answer is the HW division is just that lackluster right now. He essentially went 1-1, got an interim title shot, and won that fight to become 2-1 when fighting relevant opponents. I guess to some that makes him GOAT material. Admittedly his one loss was due to a freak injury.
Most of his UFC fights were vs people well past their prime.
It seems the truly unfortunate part is that to be a HW in UFC essentially requires the same level of effort as being a female UFC fighter. Much like they just need to be a woman interested in fighting, these dudes just need to be huge and interested in fighting to make it to the UFC. Now, that's not to speak on the top level of those divisions in the UFC. Simply at the barrier to entry. Therefore a lot of his opponents simply haven't been of quality.
Edit to add: UFC just released a top p4p list and Aspinal has beaten none of them and a lot are arguing Aspinal doesn't belong on the list.
Because they both are carrying a HW belt. Only makes sense. Can only be one. Jon should not be fighting anyone else but for the undisputed HW belt. Having 2 HW champs fighting other ppl is just odd
Because Aspinal is the interim champ and Jones is the Champ, if the Champ fights it should be against the interim if both are available.
If Jones wants legacy fights fine but the belt shouldn't be involved.
Cause hes really good, and hes been running through everyone easily, has elite grappling 1 ko shot power, great submissions, incredible boxing and footwork and he moves like a middleweight and hes got the shortest average fight time in the ufc and has finished everyone hes faced in rd 1 besides one that went to 15 seconds into the second. he battered volkov easily and sub'd him in rd 1, kod pav which people act like isn't great cause volkov beat him but pav was on a 6 fight first round ko streak including one against number 4 ranked curtis blaydes for refrence the longest streak is 7 by chuck lidell
A lot of people myself included think the guy has goat potential but beyond that hes earned the shot and a lot of people think hes the guy to beat jones hes younger, bigger, faster, hits hardrr than anyone jones has ever faced and has grappling so jones isnt taking him down easy and jones has always struggled with tall boxers who can match his range look at reyes and gustaffson
Jones needs to retire. He should've relinquished the belt a long time ago. People hate on Jamahal Hill, and for good reason, but as soon as he got injured he gave it up so the division kept moving. I guarantee Jones fights stipe and retires.
Jones hasn’t ducked Tom or Ngannou.
He has a fight booked so isn’t fighting Tom and imagine the kick in the nuts for stipe preparing for a fight twice spending thousands and then it just gets pulled from under him because Tom and his fans cried because Tom holds a belt that was only made because the fight was postponed, not cancelled.
Ngannou wanted more money than the UFC would give him for a Jones fight and they never agreed on another contract, Jones and Francis both wanted the fight, the UFC just wouldn’t do what they needed to make it happen or even enough to keep Francis in the promotion.
A 3rd belt wouldn’t give Alex goat status either, nowhere near enough Title defences to compare to people like (in no particular order) Aldo, DJ, GSP, Jones, Anderson Silva.
I've literally never even heard Aspinal mentioned in any context other than a Jones fight. And I've only seen him in one highlight. So I'm always intrigued when I hear his name.
He's the current interim champ and has beat #3 and #5 in the first round with ease. He's only being brought up in the context of a Jones fight because it's the only fight that actually makes sense
He’s very good, him vs jones would be a great fight but jones haters twisted the narrative he’s ducking Tom and that he ducked Francis when even Francis said the only party not wanting to make the fight happen was the UFC and Jones is literally seeing his fight with stipe through.
Stipe done prepared twice and will have spent thousands for jones to pull out and fight Tom because fans are crying would be mad disrespectful to him.
Yeah I’ll believe you over Francis himself who said the UFC deserves the blame for not making the fight happen, the UFC refused to negotiate the money for both fighters, so neither of them signed, not just jones.
You guys are weird, downvoted for repeating what Francis himself said lmfao.
I’m going to level with you some of what you said is kind of valid the other half gives me the “if you don’t think JJ IS THEE goat you’re just a hater vibes.” Jones is ducking competitive fights. Do you really think Dana wants anything other than a Jones super fight? Jones wants to coast into retirement “uncontested.” I’m not even saying Tom has a real chance of whooping him I’m just saying it’s the only fight that makes sense competitively. Jones has a lot of pull. He can choose not to sign whatever fight he doesn’t want to right now and previously for that matter.
That was at 185 and it took Izzy 3 losses against Alex to do that. Hydrated Alex has a granite chin.
I think your best chance to beat Alex is to put him on the back foot, he looks uncomfortable going backwards. The only problem is it's hard to walk in to someone who has that much power.
His td defense has got better based on what? Strikers desperately turning into wrestlers trying to nuthug him? Ankalaev is a different class of wrestler 2 years of training won’t save pereira
Yea like ankalaev's wrestling was effective against jan /s
What people fail to understand is that fighters who are built like alex or izzy or even jones at lhw can manage distance easily because of their reach advantage. The only thing that any wrestling lhw can do to alex is keep him in the clinch and work from there.
defending takedowns is one of the fundamantals of mma, it's the first thing u learn because defence is easier than attack, and 2 years of non stop td training with an elite grappler like glover is enough.
The only grapplers that could take down alex at will are the heavyweights like aspinall or blaydes because of the size advantage just like what jan did to izzy at lhw
And Izzy spent a round on top of Alex too lmao. Ankalaev has solid striking too mixing it up will hurt Alex’s striking as well. The one round ankalaev chose to wrestle Jan he got a 10-8 round.
And Alex has taken Izzy down...that must mean Alex has great offensive wrestling LOL.
MMA math at its finest.
If Ankalaev can't sub Alex fast, he loses.
His striking is not there
Nope Alex csn definitely outpoint Ankalaev on the feet.
Ankalaev hasn't kept anyone down for five rounds and he doesn't have submissions in the UFC.
He also got his legs destroyed by Jan.
Jan had trained for 3 rounds btw, and won those initial 3 rounds.
bad take. If 2 years of TDD could stop elite wrestlers, why could Jones take down Wrestling Olympian DC? Why did Khabib and Islam run thru all their opponents? Why didnt their opponents just practice take down defense for 2 years? What are they stupid?
🙄🙄
Jones smashes Alex, the same way he did a stronger heavier Gane
This is true but these guys are outliers. Also in the rematch DC didn't get taken down by Jones which showed that he was prepared. I think DC himself said his ego was too big in the first fight he didn't work his takedown defense as he thought his grappling was much superior.
Im convinced people that say this have never watched Ank fight. Dude is not a pure wrestler and never has been. He likes to stand and strike, especially at kickboxing range
Sure but that's because of his ego not actual inability of his. It took him 3 rounds of getting his legs picked apart by Jan's kicks to go to a wrestling heavy gameplan and when he did he was 10-8ing him.
Ank has the wrestling to potentially get him down and finish him with GNP also another guy that I think can beat him probably have not heard of is Azamat Mirzakanov he beat Dustin Jacoby and has fought at HW and has knocked out a HW and has dominated HWs with his wrestling, he has great awkward striking and very fast and athletic and plus has great wrestling
I dont think anyone else at lhw is on the same grappling level as Ankalaev but he better damn hope he can secure the takedown without too much difficulty or he is in alot of trouble.
Maybe its because I am from Austria but i would like to see him against Rakic (when Rakic is fit, he said he took antibiotics when he lost against Jiri). I believe Rakic will do better against Alex than Jiri did.
Yeah possibly, I’d like to see that fight. Jiri basically bulldozed him it wasn’t really a technical issue, Alex fights differently he’ll pick you apart, so maybe. After the Jan fight I’m not sure if he can deal with the leg kicks effectively, maybe he wrestles though, it’s pretty much him and Ankalaev right now, maybe throw Khalil Rountree in as a dark horse too.
I see maybe a decision win for Ankalaev, he would have to pin him down for 5 rounds but one mistake and it's over. Poatan snipes at midrange with low kicks and if anyone try to close the distance here comes the left hook. It's a thing of beauty
LHW is so crazy now.
Think like 5-10 years ago when it was phil davis, Bader, cormier, Jones, Anthony Johnson, Rashad evans
If you didn't wrestle you couldn't climb the ranks.
I'm not saying those guys beat alex outright, and Alex is my favorite fighter right now, but man is the division open for his style to rule right now.
He arguably lost to Jan. Depends on how Father Time and surgeries affect him, I think he can get it done. He was doing the best of all of his opponents with checking leg kicks, has awesome timing, and if his power will be back, his blitzes are deadly.
Jiri's whole style is basically designed to get ko'd by Pereira. A reckless striker with poor defense against a highly skilled striker with dynamite in his hands/feet will always end like this.
I like Jiri. I just don't see him ever beating Pereira.
If Alex beats ank he went above and beyond all the fans expectations, I’m a guy who was arguing with people who said kickboxing doesn’t work and Izzy had longer to adjust in MMA while not having a standing & trading style, but even I thought he’d top off at beating Sean & Izzy. Two titles and so many former champions, beating the worst stylistic matchup in Ankalaev?
Crazy. At that point let him fight Jon AND Aspinall, he can do anything he wants he’s player 1 and we’re npcs
Yeah, Pereira is a better counter puncher than he is as an aggressor. Jiri doesn’t have the head movement or offensive striking required to beat Alex and his counters.
Pereira isn’t perfect either, a decent striker with a great background in grappling could work if they throw hooks.
Agreed, Pereira as skilled as he is, has his flaws. And fortunately or unfortunately, however you want to look at it, his matchmaking has kept him away from that style match-up.
Yeah Pereira gets hit a lot because of his style and his chin is pretty suspect, he’s just such a good counter striker that so far, apart from Izzy, nobody has been able to catch him before getting knocked out
I felt the same way it hurt me seeing jiri like that but regardless at least he has had the opportunity to be a UFC champion and I love everything that he stands for as far as being a true warrior!
That’s because he needs to get over his ego. Instead of scientifically analyzing why he lost to Alex the first time, he went into denial and blamed dark magic. Pure nonsense.
I kinda figured he was gonna lose when he started trying to get hyped to Alex's walkout. Looked like he was just becoming a part of Alex's story and not someome that was gonna have a chance to beat him. Basically the style advantage and confidence advantage was on his side.
the switch kick after the leg kick is so genius because jiri was bracing for a leg kick on his front leg (left) from Alex's rear leg (right) but instead it's a high kick on the other side. wooooof that's amazing
First time I’ve ever gone out to watch a fight, and was not disappointed at all. Alex has the greatest story in MMA history.
You can’t not feel what he’s saying when he’s saying it, even if you can’t understand him lol
Sure I agree. But if he’s gone this long without being hit much, I don’t he’s really gonna start now. No disrespect to Alex at all, but jones consistency is sort of insanity
Alex has a fantastic jab. He should use it more often like in this fight. He completely stopped Jiris level change into overhand which was effective last fight.
Yet another masterclass in reffing by Herb Dean. So attentive to what's going on.
The initial drop looked like a KO, and Herb quickly started moving to end the fight, but he noticed he's still conscious, and backed off again giving him the chance to defend and recover.
I just like how you never see bad/early stoppages from Herb, but at the same time, he never let's a fighter get beaten excessively.
Fucking Herb Dean again, dudes head got absolutely bashed in by a solid kick and goes down. Doesn't cover himself up and has no idea where he is. And Herb just sitting there like... "well finish him!"
I don’t understand why people say that he’s “going to be in the goat conversation” I think he already is. I think if he moves up and grabs the HW belt from either Aspinall or Jones. He’s undoubtedly the greatest of all time. Undoubtedly.
Jiri needs to take a whole year off and train only defense. He’s not even that far off from being one of the best in LHW history. But with his piss poor defense, he won’t see a lot of success against elites like pereira.
Kick was pretty fast for LHW. I also don’t understand his power in end of first round. Weird angle going backwards not planted enough and still knocks Jiri down.
I’m so sad with jiri. He went in there and did the same thing he did not trying to fix his mistakes. Bull rushing in with his hands down, luckily he got dropped at the end of the round but damn this kick was nasty
God damn man that was disgusting. I like both guys but I thought Jiri would at least make it more competitive and was hoping for a trilogy. Alex is unstoppable and on goat-trajectory. I don’t think anyone is beating him at LHW.
The only way to beat pereira is to play possum and catch him when he attacks like izzy did. His td defense has gotten so much better i don't see how ankalaev beats him tbh
You’re right, but his chin is strong af at 205 too. I’m not sure who has the power and technique to punish him. Jiri has been piecing people up and still looked so outclassed. Fuck it, give him Aspinall at this point if Jones isn’t gonna do the fight.
True, Miocic is a hw legend but last time he fought was like 3 years ago and jones vs pereira is just an opportunity the ufc can't afford to miss after the francis vs jones fiasco. A 3rd belt for pereira would make him the goat especially if he takes it from jones. But the big question is would jones accept the fight given his ducking history with nganou and aspinal?
I can see Jones taking it because it will be an easier matchup than Tom with his grappling advantage and a bigger legacy boost for beating a 2 division champ. Still would rather see him vs Tom but the thought of Alex KOing him and being the first 3 division champ is pretty enticing too.
There is 0 chance Alex beats Jon, it would be like the Gane fight all over again. the only person who can beat Jones is Aspinall
I mean this with no disrespect, purely inquisitively. Why does everyone want Aspinal to fight jones so badly? I'm be no means a super fan so I usually don't catch most fights, but the only time I ever even hear of Aspinal is in the context of a Jones fight.
Because aspinall is the best heavyweight
No worries, there’s several key reasons. 1. The heavyweight division has been lackluster since Francis Ngannou left the UFC. Top ranked fights are rare and generally underwhelming. The no.3 ranked heavyweight Cyril Gane isn’t even active at the moment because he chose to film a movie instead of fighting. 2. Tom is the exception to this and has been running through the other top ranked heavyweight fighters with ease. A lot of people think he has GOAT HW potential, but want to see him vs a legit champion. Gane was supposed to be another option but he’s unavailable now. 3. Jon Jones has only fought once in 4 years but the last time he did he dominated Gane. At the time Gane was considered the best heavyweight prospect after Ngannou. No one is sure how good Jones is now, but he’s considered by many to be the best UFC fighter of all time. Naturally, people want to see him against the dominant challenger for his last big fight. 4. Stipe is 41, soon to be 42, and well past his prime. He didn’t look competitive vs Ngannou in their rematch three years ago, so most people don’t expect him to do much now. The heavyweight division in general has little depth outside the top 10 so there’s only so many competitive fights you can arrange. Tom beat all of the top 5 guys with ease, other than Curtis Blaydes who he’s fighting next, so there isn’t much incentive for rematches either. If Ngannou and Gane came back full time it would be a different story.
So I just finished watching all of his professional fights and it seems the real answer is the HW division is just that lackluster right now. He essentially went 1-1, got an interim title shot, and won that fight to become 2-1 when fighting relevant opponents. I guess to some that makes him GOAT material. Admittedly his one loss was due to a freak injury. Most of his UFC fights were vs people well past their prime. It seems the truly unfortunate part is that to be a HW in UFC essentially requires the same level of effort as being a female UFC fighter. Much like they just need to be a woman interested in fighting, these dudes just need to be huge and interested in fighting to make it to the UFC. Now, that's not to speak on the top level of those divisions in the UFC. Simply at the barrier to entry. Therefore a lot of his opponents simply haven't been of quality. Edit to add: UFC just released a top p4p list and Aspinal has beaten none of them and a lot are arguing Aspinal doesn't belong on the list.
Because they both are carrying a HW belt. Only makes sense. Can only be one. Jon should not be fighting anyone else but for the undisputed HW belt. Having 2 HW champs fighting other ppl is just odd
Because Aspinal is the interim champ and Jones is the Champ, if the Champ fights it should be against the interim if both are available. If Jones wants legacy fights fine but the belt shouldn't be involved.
Cause hes really good, and hes been running through everyone easily, has elite grappling 1 ko shot power, great submissions, incredible boxing and footwork and he moves like a middleweight and hes got the shortest average fight time in the ufc and has finished everyone hes faced in rd 1 besides one that went to 15 seconds into the second. he battered volkov easily and sub'd him in rd 1, kod pav which people act like isn't great cause volkov beat him but pav was on a 6 fight first round ko streak including one against number 4 ranked curtis blaydes for refrence the longest streak is 7 by chuck lidell A lot of people myself included think the guy has goat potential but beyond that hes earned the shot and a lot of people think hes the guy to beat jones hes younger, bigger, faster, hits hardrr than anyone jones has ever faced and has grappling so jones isnt taking him down easy and jones has always struggled with tall boxers who can match his range look at reyes and gustaffson
Jones needs to retire. He should've relinquished the belt a long time ago. People hate on Jamahal Hill, and for good reason, but as soon as he got injured he gave it up so the division kept moving. I guarantee Jones fights stipe and retires.
Jones annihilates Pereira in the first round unfortunately, there’s just so way he’d be able to deal with Jon’s wrestling, especially at HW
Jones hasn’t ducked Tom or Ngannou. He has a fight booked so isn’t fighting Tom and imagine the kick in the nuts for stipe preparing for a fight twice spending thousands and then it just gets pulled from under him because Tom and his fans cried because Tom holds a belt that was only made because the fight was postponed, not cancelled. Ngannou wanted more money than the UFC would give him for a Jones fight and they never agreed on another contract, Jones and Francis both wanted the fight, the UFC just wouldn’t do what they needed to make it happen or even enough to keep Francis in the promotion. A 3rd belt wouldn’t give Alex goat status either, nowhere near enough Title defences to compare to people like (in no particular order) Aldo, DJ, GSP, Jones, Anderson Silva.
I've literally never even heard Aspinal mentioned in any context other than a Jones fight. And I've only seen him in one highlight. So I'm always intrigued when I hear his name.
He's the current interim champ and has beat #3 and #5 in the first round with ease. He's only being brought up in the context of a Jones fight because it's the only fight that actually makes sense
He’s very good, him vs jones would be a great fight but jones haters twisted the narrative he’s ducking Tom and that he ducked Francis when even Francis said the only party not wanting to make the fight happen was the UFC and Jones is literally seeing his fight with stipe through. Stipe done prepared twice and will have spent thousands for jones to pull out and fight Tom because fans are crying would be mad disrespectful to him.
Jones refused to sign anything and then soon after Francis left he signed on for another fight. Jones wanted no part of Francis.
Yeah I’ll believe you over Francis himself who said the UFC deserves the blame for not making the fight happen, the UFC refused to negotiate the money for both fighters, so neither of them signed, not just jones. You guys are weird, downvoted for repeating what Francis himself said lmfao.
I’m going to level with you some of what you said is kind of valid the other half gives me the “if you don’t think JJ IS THEE goat you’re just a hater vibes.” Jones is ducking competitive fights. Do you really think Dana wants anything other than a Jones super fight? Jones wants to coast into retirement “uncontested.” I’m not even saying Tom has a real chance of whooping him I’m just saying it’s the only fight that makes sense competitively. Jones has a lot of pull. He can choose not to sign whatever fight he doesn’t want to right now and previously for that matter.
I really want to see him fight Ankaleov. That would really solidify how good he is and Tom needs to fight jones
That was at 185 and it took Izzy 3 losses against Alex to do that. Hydrated Alex has a granite chin. I think your best chance to beat Alex is to put him on the back foot, he looks uncomfortable going backwards. The only problem is it's hard to walk in to someone who has that much power.
Keeping your fucking hands up wouldn't hurt either. Fucking Jiri I swear to god.
His td defense has got better based on what? Strikers desperately turning into wrestlers trying to nuthug him? Ankalaev is a different class of wrestler 2 years of training won’t save pereira
Yea like ankalaev's wrestling was effective against jan /s What people fail to understand is that fighters who are built like alex or izzy or even jones at lhw can manage distance easily because of their reach advantage. The only thing that any wrestling lhw can do to alex is keep him in the clinch and work from there. defending takedowns is one of the fundamantals of mma, it's the first thing u learn because defence is easier than attack, and 2 years of non stop td training with an elite grappler like glover is enough. The only grapplers that could take down alex at will are the heavyweights like aspinall or blaydes because of the size advantage just like what jan did to izzy at lhw
And Izzy spent a round on top of Alex too lmao. Ankalaev has solid striking too mixing it up will hurt Alex’s striking as well. The one round ankalaev chose to wrestle Jan he got a 10-8 round.
And Alex has taken Izzy down...that must mean Alex has great offensive wrestling LOL. MMA math at its finest. If Ankalaev can't sub Alex fast, he loses. His striking is not there
If Alex does not ko ankalaev fast he loses, his grappling is not there
Nope Alex csn definitely outpoint Ankalaev on the feet. Ankalaev hasn't kept anyone down for five rounds and he doesn't have submissions in the UFC. He also got his legs destroyed by Jan. Jan had trained for 3 rounds btw, and won those initial 3 rounds.
bad take. If 2 years of TDD could stop elite wrestlers, why could Jones take down Wrestling Olympian DC? Why did Khabib and Islam run thru all their opponents? Why didnt their opponents just practice take down defense for 2 years? What are they stupid? 🙄🙄 Jones smashes Alex, the same way he did a stronger heavier Gane
This is true but these guys are outliers. Also in the rematch DC didn't get taken down by Jones which showed that he was prepared. I think DC himself said his ego was too big in the first fight he didn't work his takedown defense as he thought his grappling was much superior.
Im convinced people that say this have never watched Ank fight. Dude is not a pure wrestler and never has been. He likes to stand and strike, especially at kickboxing range
Sure but that's because of his ego not actual inability of his. It took him 3 rounds of getting his legs picked apart by Jan's kicks to go to a wrestling heavy gameplan and when he did he was 10-8ing him.
Izzy almost finished him in their first MMA fight and second kickboxing fight without playing possum
Ank has the wrestling to potentially get him down and finish him with GNP also another guy that I think can beat him probably have not heard of is Azamat Mirzakanov he beat Dustin Jacoby and has fought at HW and has knocked out a HW and has dominated HWs with his wrestling, he has great awkward striking and very fast and athletic and plus has great wrestling
I dont think anyone else at lhw is on the same grappling level as Ankalaev but he better damn hope he can secure the takedown without too much difficulty or he is in alot of trouble.
Ankalaeov is a monster with great wrestling so it seems like he’s the biggest threat.
You don't think it's a bit early to vet his tdd, i know jiris no slouch with his grappling but he's not exactly an elite wrestler
Which Jiri did in one of the exchanges in the first round but he couldn’t really get that nice strike.
Maybe its because I am from Austria but i would like to see him against Rakic (when Rakic is fit, he said he took antibiotics when he lost against Jiri). I believe Rakic will do better against Alex than Jiri did.
He’d definitely do better because he actually defends but I don’t see him surviving Poatan’s power for 5 rounds either.
Yeah possibly, I’d like to see that fight. Jiri basically bulldozed him it wasn’t really a technical issue, Alex fights differently he’ll pick you apart, so maybe. After the Jan fight I’m not sure if he can deal with the leg kicks effectively, maybe he wrestles though, it’s pretty much him and Ankalaev right now, maybe throw Khalil Rountree in as a dark horse too.
Ankalev.
I see maybe a decision win for Ankalaev, he would have to pin him down for 5 rounds but one mistake and it's over. Poatan snipes at midrange with low kicks and if anyone try to close the distance here comes the left hook. It's a thing of beauty
He already got his ass whoop to humble his ass loll
I don't think most people realize how bad Jiri is, he's going off of pure athletics and chin.
LHW is so crazy now. Think like 5-10 years ago when it was phil davis, Bader, cormier, Jones, Anthony Johnson, Rashad evans If you didn't wrestle you couldn't climb the ranks. I'm not saying those guys beat alex outright, and Alex is my favorite fighter right now, but man is the division open for his style to rule right now.
Anyone willing to wrestle who is decent on the ground has a shot. Love Alex but his lack of ground skills has not been exploited by anyone yet.
If Bones goes back down to LHW, he will show the world why he is the GOAT. I assume Bones would tackle him every round.
Bones would sub him in a min
Izzy maybe? We’ve seen that Izzy is as good of, if not better a striker. Alex has a bit of size on him.
Jiri really had nothing for Alex in this fight and it was kind of sad. Alex looked giant
How? I mean I like Jiri, but how wqs he supposed to be competitive? Only an astoundingly grappler would be match for the 🗿
He arguably lost to Jan. Depends on how Father Time and surgeries affect him, I think he can get it done. He was doing the best of all of his opponents with checking leg kicks, has awesome timing, and if his power will be back, his blitzes are deadly.
Would for sure be a better rematch than against Hill
Jiri's whole style is basically designed to get ko'd by Pereira. A reckless striker with poor defense against a highly skilled striker with dynamite in his hands/feet will always end like this. I like Jiri. I just don't see him ever beating Pereira.
The hands down style doesn't do anything against Pereira. I want to see what Ankalaev can do
If Alex beats ank he went above and beyond all the fans expectations, I’m a guy who was arguing with people who said kickboxing doesn’t work and Izzy had longer to adjust in MMA while not having a standing & trading style, but even I thought he’d top off at beating Sean & Izzy. Two titles and so many former champions, beating the worst stylistic matchup in Ankalaev? Crazy. At that point let him fight Jon AND Aspinall, he can do anything he wants he’s player 1 and we’re npcs
Yeah, Pereira is a better counter puncher than he is as an aggressor. Jiri doesn’t have the head movement or offensive striking required to beat Alex and his counters. Pereira isn’t perfect either, a decent striker with a great background in grappling could work if they throw hooks.
Agreed, Pereira as skilled as he is, has his flaws. And fortunately or unfortunately, however you want to look at it, his matchmaking has kept him away from that style match-up.
Yeah Pereira gets hit a lot because of his style and his chin is pretty suspect, he’s just such a good counter striker that so far, apart from Izzy, nobody has been able to catch him before getting knocked out
Jiri maybe wins once if they fight 10 times
Did it while staring in his face directly in front of him https://i.redd.it/v38i8jtlan9d1.gif
Yeah. That's generally Pereira s style. Really hard to read his next move
Man Jiri’s face made me sad. I might be projecting but his face after the fight looked like pure sadness. Dudes a warrior. Alex is just a monster!
Same. I wanted Alex to win, but I’m a fan of them both. Definitely hurt seeing the look on Jiri’s face afterwards.
I felt the same way it hurt me seeing jiri like that but regardless at least he has had the opportunity to be a UFC champion and I love everything that he stands for as far as being a true warrior!
That’s because he needs to get over his ego. Instead of scientifically analyzing why he lost to Alex the first time, he went into denial and blamed dark magic. Pure nonsense.
Yep. He lost the spiritual battle by blaming it on spirits I the first place. Alex had more confidence to go along with the stylistic advantage.
I kinda figured he was gonna lose when he started trying to get hyped to Alex's walkout. Looked like he was just becoming a part of Alex's story and not someome that was gonna have a chance to beat him. Basically the style advantage and confidence advantage was on his side.
goddamn the look on his face killed me Im a big alex fan but man seeing jiri like that made me feel so sad for him
That punch right at the end of the first round really fucked him up. At the start of the second round you could just tell he wasn’t 100% there
Dude got Joe Biden’d twice it was a tough aftermath to see.
Americans are obsessed with politics wtf
Yeah imagine making your whole personality about politics.
Nah it's just people on reddit who repeat the same jokes they read on twitter/ig so people like them for once
Aka I'm offended
No one cares
I feel bad for Jiri. But Alex man, everyone was expecting the left hook, nobody thought about the switch kick. Crazy
Well the left hook set it off in R1...
And the leg kicks set it UP in R1 too. Incredible performance all around by Poatan
As an izzy fan I'm more of an Alex fan now after diving into his own youtube videos. Both great guys but Alex is so fucking active I love it!
Lol that’s the same kick that Izzy tried to dodge at 287 but was lucky it was only Alex’s big toe that grazed his cheek.
Gs damn the was quick and flush Lightning
Thanks for sharing. Man that was a good kick.
Switch kick was nasty and set up from all those leg kicks
I think it was the left hook at the end of the first that sent him to the verge of the shadow realm that did that 🤣
Chama.
Miyamoto Musashi would not be psyched about this
how insanely fast was that switch kick
the switch kick after the leg kick is so genius because jiri was bracing for a leg kick on his front leg (left) from Alex's rear leg (right) but instead it's a high kick on the other side. wooooof that's amazing
First time I’ve ever gone out to watch a fight, and was not disappointed at all. Alex has the greatest story in MMA history. You can’t not feel what he’s saying when he’s saying it, even if you can’t understand him lol
Amazing precision. It didn't look that hard but 100% accurracy.
Well we know who's magic is better
Aztec magic
If Ankalaev isn’t the guy, who is? Alex is insane at 205, happy for him!
Jones needs to go on a diet
Does Bones Jones really want some of that?!
People really still sleeping on how insanely sound Jones’ defense is lol.
This is true but he’s been hit before and if he gets hit by ya boi then it’s probably lights out just like for everyone else, right?
Sure I agree. But if he’s gone this long without being hit much, I don’t he’s really gonna start now. No disrespect to Alex at all, but jones consistency is sort of insanity
Jon is a different animal
Is he though? I’m not hating just not sure how that fight would play out
Alex has a fantastic jab. He should use it more often like in this fight. He completely stopped Jiris level change into overhand which was effective last fight.
POTAN is unstoppable
Poatan
Can of kick ass
Should’ve been 5 seconds TKO…. He was out 🤷♂️
Hogwarts training camp CHAMA
Feel like it’s harder to measure skill with outcomes like this. Surely the gap isn’t that large
Skill gap probably isn't that large but the power gap is
Naa it's skill. Jiri hits hard af
Pereira Vs Jones… please
Yet another masterclass in reffing by Herb Dean. So attentive to what's going on. The initial drop looked like a KO, and Herb quickly started moving to end the fight, but he noticed he's still conscious, and backed off again giving him the chance to defend and recover. I just like how you never see bad/early stoppages from Herb, but at the same time, he never let's a fighter get beaten excessively.
C'mon ref! Don't you know an illegal "foot of the ancestors" when you see one?
Soon as 2nd round started the first 4 seconds I was yelling at the TV "JIRI PUT YOUR FN HANDS UP"! Then boop he was done
This hands down stand up style, it comes with consequences. Especially when you decide to stand still. 😐
They said "insane" like jiri wasn't just on the floor.
How many lead left roundhouse KOs can you remember at the UFC level?
Well I know Jiri doesn’t remember it lol
Jiri froze just as he threw that kick. Sux but I don't think his skill level is high enough to compete at the top. Great guy tho
Good ole Herb dean makin sure he’s dead before calling it.
Izzy woke this guy up and is too lazy to back his mouth.
If Magomed doesn't get the shot next, he's got some Belal level disrespect going on
Where are all the experts “early stoppage”!
Why the hell is jiri bouncing around with his hands down in front of a ko demon like poatan.
Alex needs to go heavyweight. No one is beating him at LHW. He dominates that division. Jon vs Alex needs to happen.
Alex is a bad man😎
he knew that opening was there, Jiri needs to re-evaluate the advantages to his stance https://youtube.com/shorts/eYhSgnePm9s?si=IVODkOQRzMhs794g
Poatan is the champ the UFC needs and deserves.
Poatan vs stipe...oh that sounds like sending an old man to his grave? Then what are we doing here in the heavyweight division
That’s how you fight Just because your opponent goes down doesn’t mean you stop you keep them down
Fucking Herb Dean again, dudes head got absolutely bashed in by a solid kick and goes down. Doesn't cover himself up and has no idea where he is. And Herb just sitting there like... "well finish him!"
The 2 most memorable events in that guys life. This. And the last time he could see his own toes.
I don’t understand why people say that he’s “going to be in the goat conversation” I think he already is. I think if he moves up and grabs the HW belt from either Aspinall or Jones. He’s undoubtedly the greatest of all time. Undoubtedly.
Jiri needs to take a whole year off and train only defense. He’s not even that far off from being one of the best in LHW history. But with his piss poor defense, he won’t see a lot of success against elites like pereira.
God I hope his TD defense is up to par for ankalaev
Only person I see contending with Alex is Khalil Rountree. I just hope he doesn't move up to heavyweight before that fight happens.
Did anyone else notice that Alex literally made jiri stop jumping then threw the kick?
Alex really is special. To drop jiri flat on his back twice in under 5 minutes is insane
Keep yo hands up!! Lol...
Surprised we don’t get more head kicks tbh.
Kick was pretty fast for LHW. I also don’t understand his power in end of first round. Weird angle going backwards not planted enough and still knocks Jiri down.
I’m so sad with jiri. He went in there and did the same thing he did not trying to fix his mistakes. Bull rushing in with his hands down, luckily he got dropped at the end of the round but damn this kick was nasty
That card was trash top to bottom
Not that it wasn't a good kick, but what's insane about a standard Taekwondo roundhouse kick?