UFC Abu Dhabi - Who do you think will be on the card?

nostradumbass said:
What's the concession and why does Ankalaev barely deserve a title shot? He hasn't lost in 12 fights and would have already been champ a year and a half ago if the judges didn't somehow come up with a draw in a fight that nearly everyone scored for Ankalaev, while Alex is only a 3 fight win streak since a KO loss. More media judges scored the Alex fight for Jan than the Ankalaev fight,
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The concession is flying out to the Middle East to fight on a card where Dagestani fighters are either preferred or at least commonly compete.

Regardless of the 'draw', Ank's fight with Jan was abysmal, and got the guy removed from the title picture per Dana's fury. He then followed that shit show up with an NC due to a foul.

He is, quite literally, on a one-fight win streak and he's got form for dour fights if you think back to the Thiago Santos fight, as well as others.

2 finishes in 6 (excluding the NC) isn't usually what the UFC and Dana look for when it comes to title shots, and I don't believe it necessarily is here, either.
 
Siver! said:
The concession is flying out to the Middle East to fight on a card where Dagestani fighters are either preferred or at least commonly compete.
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Why is that a concession? It's not even their country. Was fighting at 300 a concession to Jamahal Hill?
 
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blaseblase said:
Why is that a concession? It's not even their country. Was fighting at 300 a concession to Jamahal Hill?
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Because Alex has only ever fought in the United States for the UFC.

Why would he possibly consider changing that?

He's not chasing a title. He's not trying to get himself a big fight. He doesn't need to do any work.
 
Siver! said:
Because Alex has only ever fought in the United States for the UFC.

Why would he possibly consider changing that?

He's not chasing a title. He's not trying to get himself a fight. He doesn't need to do any work.
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Alex doesn't live in the U.S. He has never fought in his home country. He's been making concessions this entire time.
 
Siver! said:
Are you making that up for a reason?

He's based in Connecticut.
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I knew he trained there, didn't realize he had officially moved there. Regardless plenty of champions travel to fight. Islam is about to fight in New Jersey. DDP's probably going to fight In Australia. Conor the biggest name in the sport and still comes to Vegas to fight.
 
blaseblase said:
I knew he trained there, didn't realize he had officially moved there. Regardless plenty of champions travel to fight. Islam is about to fight in New Jersey. DDP's probably going to fight In Australia. Conor the biggest name in the sport and still comes to Vegas to fight.
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Dricus is unusual in that he's still based in South Africa, so it probably makes little difference to him where he fights. If he goes to Australia to fight Izzy, fair play. But they aren't running a show in South Africa anytime soon, so I guess, whatever.

Conor doesn't usually train in Ireland, or Iceland for that matter. Kavanagh goes where he's told. Abu Dhabi, California, wherever, so it makes no difference to him where he fights.

Islam will be training at American Kickboxing Academy as normal for his US-based fights.

All I'm saying here is that Alex Pereira isn't based in Abu Dhabi, doesn't have pre-existing ties to Abu Dhabi, and would be making a pretty big concession if he decided to fight in Abu Dhabi.

For what it's worth, Pereira is targeting Madison Square Garden in November. He'll probably fight before that, if the UFC pay him, but most likely in the USA. I can't see any way he fights in Abu Dhabi in 2024. He won't be on a Fight Night, and as the UFC 300 headliner, MSG is very likely.
 
Siver! said:
Dricus is unusual in that he's still based in South Africa, so it probably makes little difference to him where he fights. If he goes to Australia to fight Izzy, fair play. But they aren't running a show in South Africa anytime soon, so I guess, whatever.

Conor doesn't usually train in Ireland, or Iceland for that matter. Kavanagh goes where he's told. Abu Dhabi, California, wherever, so it makes no difference to him where he fights.

Islam will be training at American Kickboxing Academy as normal for his US-based fights.

All I'm saying here is that Alex Pereira isn't based in Abu Dhabi, doesn't have pre-existing ties to Abu Dhabi, and would be making a pretty big concession if he decided to fight in Abu Dhabi.

For what it's worth, Pereira is targeting Madison Square Garden in November. He'll probably fight before that, if the UFC pay him, but most likely in the USA. I can't see any way he fights in Abu Dhabi in 2024. He won't be on a Fight Night, and as the UFC 300 headliner, MSG is very likely.
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Conor's in training camp right now in Ireland
 
Siver! said:
If it's the Fight Night in August, it will probably pack a similar punch to the Saudi card in June.

There won't be a title fight, but the main card might feature guys like Umar and Mokaev.

I wouldn't be that surprised if Ankalaev actually main events in a contender eliminator.
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could be Umar vs Sandhagen
 
Siver! said:
The concession is flying out to the Middle East to fight on a card where Dagestani fighters are either preferred or at least commonly compete.

Regardless of the 'draw', Ank's fight with Jan was abysmal, and got the guy removed from the title picture per Dana's fury. He then followed that shit show up with an NC due to a foul.

He is, quite literally, on a one-fight win streak and he's got form for dour fights if you think back to the Thiago Santos fight, as well as others.

2 finishes in 6 (excluding the NC) isn't usually what the UFC and Dana look for when it comes to title shots, and I don't believe it necessarily is here, either.
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Siver! said:
Because Alex has only ever fought in the United States for the UFC.

Why would he possibly consider changing that?

He's not chasing a title. He's not trying to get himself a big fight. He doesn't need to do any work.
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Well for one the taxes there take less out of your purse than almost anywhere else you could fight, so financially it's the best place to fight.

He got removed from the title picture because they couldn't reuse the same guys to fill the vacant title 3 weeks later, and Dana's "fury" was over Ankalaev complaining about the robbery and threatening to leave the UFC.

6 of his 10 wins have been finishes, and he won a 10-8 round against Jan, something Alex couldn't do, and his only loss was a bonehead move from inexperience in his debut over 6 years ago where he wasn't aware of the time to know he could have just let the bell ring and probably won a 30-27. Dude's beaten 4 guys in the top 10 officially, but really 5 because everybody's aware he beat Jan, whereas Alex got his title shot off a single split decision win coming off a KO loss in a lighter division.

Who else is he supposed to fight? Does he need to clear out the entire top 10 so all of his defenses will be rematches, while the current champ only has 3 fights in the division?
 
Leon vs belal main event
Costa vs Chimaev co-main event
Umar vs Cejudo
 
nostradumbass said:
What's the concession and why does Ankalaev barely deserve a title shot? He hasn't lost in 12 fights and would have already been champ a year and a half ago if the judges didn't somehow come up with a draw in a fight that nearly everyone scored for Ankalaev, while Alex is only a 3 fight win streak since a KO loss. More media judges scored the Alex fight for Jan than the Ankalaev fight,
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That NC should have been a DQ Loss to Ankalaev but the fight was in Abu Dhabi...

Ankalaev can fight Pereira in the USA or Brazil.
 
As many muslims as possible, as per usual. Islam. Khamzat. Belal.

Is Shavkat a muslim? Him and Khamzat on the same card would be wild!
 
Hdfi said:
I highly doubt Topuria would agree to fight Evloev in Abu Dhabi. Steve Erceg, if he becomes champion, won't fight Mokaev there either.
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Ah yes, I confused the two, was joking anyway as I imagine Pantoja will be one of the larger favorites in a while.
 
Conan the K-9 said:
I thought Sandhagen was pretty clear in his interview,that he has no intentions to give Umar any advantages regarding time and place.
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Cory is fooling himself if he thinks he has any say in the matter when it comes to a Nurmagomedov, and Ufc knows that too.
 
Cumshot gotta be on there. Because otherwise where the fuck else is he going to fight this year? <lol>
 
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