UFN 124 - Stephens vs Choi - St. Louis

[Joedaman55]

Shocked so many people like Stephens, I actually feel Choi is on another level and should be around -250 (I thought he won the Cub fight although it was a toss up). His technique and speed is crazy, with him taking a year off at his age he had to improve.

Jeremy looked really good in his last fight but Melendez hasn’t looked good for awhile now.

Choi by decision, 29-26.

 

[Jamah]

Shocked so many people like Stephens, I actually feel Choi is on another level and should be around -250 (I thought he won the Cub fight although it was a toss up). His technique and speed is crazy, with him taking a year off at his age he had to improve.

Jeremy looked really good in his last fight but Melendez hasn’t looked good for awhile now.

Choi by decision, 29-26.

It's a 5 round fight.
But even if it was a 3 round fight, 29-26? That's weird

 

[Wiktoruspro]

Shocked so many people like Stephens, I actually feel Choi is on another level and should be around -250 (I thought he won the Cub fight although it was a toss up). His technique and speed is crazy, with him taking a year off at his age he had to improve.

Jeremy looked really good in his last fight but Melendez hasn’t looked good for awhile now.

Choi by decision, 29-26.

Cub nearly finished Choi at end of r3

 

[Gugabe]

Shocked so many people like Stephens, I actually feel Choi is on another level and should be around -250 (I thought he won the Cub fight although it was a toss up). His technique and speed is crazy, with him taking a year off at his age he had to improve.

Jeremy looked really good in his last fight but Melendez hasn’t looked good for awhile now.

Choi by decision, 29-26.

How did you have Choi winning the Swanson fight? I'd accept a 30-27 Swanson over a 29-28 Choi for that one. Hell, even a 30-26 Swanson considering how dead Choi was at the end.

Cub nearly finished Choi at end of r3

Cub nearly finished Choi at a few spots there. A more trigger-happy referee could have found a few fair stoppages in that fight IMO.

Stephens isn’t very good. I think odds are pretty accurate honestly

Stephens has been in enough wars that this is his element more than it's Choi's, IMO. All due respect to Choi for surviving the Swanson fight, but I think it demonstrated a lack of defensive soundness to his game. IMO we're either getting Choi in the first 2 rounds, or Stephens by just about anything else.

 

[Wiktoruspro]

How did you have Choi winning the Swanson fight? I'd accept a 30-27 Swanson over a 29-28 Choi for that one. Hell, even a 30-26 Swanson considering how dead Choi was at the end.


Cub nearly finished Choi at a few spots there. A more trigger-happy referee could have found a few fair stoppages in that fight IMO.



Stephens has been in enough wars that this is his element more than it's Choi's, IMO. All due respect to Choi for surviving the Swanson fight, but I think it demonstrated a lack of defensive soundness to his game. IMO we're either getting Choi in the first 2 rounds, or Stephens by just about anything else.

I think he meant that this fight will go 29-26 but he forgot that its a 5 round fight lol

 

[DevilsAvocado]

Shocked so many people like Stephens, I actually feel Choi is on another level and should be around -250 (I thought he won the Cub fight although it was a toss up). His technique and speed is crazy, with him taking a year off at his age he had to improve.

Jeremy looked really good in his last fight but Melendez hasn’t looked good for awhile now.

Choi by decision, 29-26.

What a complete brain fart of a post. Please refrain from giving your opinion without doing your homework, thank you.

 

[t6p]

Stephens isn’t very good. I think odds are pretty accurate honestly

Stephens isn't a world beater, but what has Choi shown that would lead you to believe he's any better? Granted, he's had some impressive knockouts but look at who they're against. Puig-non-UFC caliber fighter, Sicilia-losing record in the UFC against mostly lower tier competition, and a well past it, shopworn Tavares who's now been KO'ed 5 times in the UFC.

Meanwhile, Stephens has primarily been losing to the best of the best guys in the division and giving them competitive fights in a lot of cases. I have serious concerns about Choi's defense and cardio. The first time we saw him pushed a little bit, he looked downright bad and took an absurd amount of damage. He's also been away for over a year now and was dealing with the shoulder issue during that time.

Betting on Choi here is pretty much counting on him getting an early knockout IMO and he's fighting a guy who's been stopped by strikes once in 40 fights. I'm not ruling it out, and there might be some value on Choi's round 1/2 props, but I think Stephens should be the small favorite here.

 

[Sham5916910]

Just to add re Stephens KO loss he had some pretty serious criminal charges hanging over him at that point. Pretty sure that was reflected in his performance.

 

[iGnP]

Stephens isn't a world beater, but what has Choi shown that would lead you to believe he's any better? Granted, he's had some impressive knockouts but look at who they're against. Puig-non-UFC caliber fighter, Sicilia-losing record in the UFC against mostly lower tier competition, and a well past it, shopworn Tavares who's now been KO'ed 5 times in the UFC.

Meanwhile, Stephens has primarily been losing to the best of the best guys in the division and giving them competitive fights in a lot of cases. I have serious concerns about Choi's defense and cardio. The first time we saw him pushed a little bit, he looked downright bad and took an absurd amount of damage. He's also been away for over a year now and was dealing with the shoulder issue during that time.

Betting on Choi here is pretty much counting on him getting an early knockout IMO and he's fighting a guy who's been stopped by strikes once in 40 fights. I'm not ruling it out, and there might be some value on Choi's round 1/2 props, but I think Stephens should be the small favorite here.

Don’t let me talk you out of your bet but I’m gonna take the younger, faster, and more technical fighter 9/10 times. I don’t particularly think Stephens is very good. I expect Choi to land pretty often, especially considering a one legged Gilbert was landing good shots on Stephens. Will Stephens land too? Surely. But I don’t see any reason why this should be a pick em fight. Choi, imo, def won round 1 against Cub and that’s a far tougher match up than Stephens is

 

[Oblivian]

I haven't made a play yet, but I'm leaning towards Choi as well. I'd absolutely play him if it was near pick em. I'm hoping he gets down near -125 or so.

 

[iGnP]

I haven't made a play yet, but I'm leaning towards Choi as well. I'd absolutely play him if it was near pick em. I'm hoping he gets down near -125 or so.

I’m in the same boat. No play at the moment and prob won’t bet it if the odds don’t change. But the current odds are justified imo

 

[raketmannen]

Shocked so many people like Stephens, I actually feel Choi is on another level and should be around -250 (I thought he won the Cub fight although it was a toss up). His technique and speed is crazy, with him taking a year off at his age he had to improve.

Jeremy looked really good in his last fight but Melendez hasn’t looked good for awhile now.

Choi by decision, 29-26.

With this post and you saying Ngannou should be -400, I can understand your timeline of not profiting the first 5 years in betting

 

[SBJJ]

Like I said befo The Goatega fight and many other times before. Cub IMO is overrated. I think taking positivity from that fight and placing it on Choi is a mistake. The same way people thought Lobov was better than he really was after he fought Cub

Stephens IMO is actually better than Cub

 

[SBJJ]

With this post and you saying Ngannou should be -400, I can understand your timeline of not profiting the first 5 years in betting

Yea. Kinda crazy. I can see liking Ngannou below -200. But -400. Yikes

 

[Joedaman55]

It's a 5 round fight.
But even if it was a 3 round fight, 29-26? That's weird

Lol, fuck, I tend to make logic mistakes when blogging late at night. 49-46.

 

[Oblivian]

Like I said befo The Goatega fight and many other times before. Cub IMO is overrated. I think taking positivity from that fight and placing it on Choi is a mistake. The same way people thought Lobov was better than he really was after he fought Cub

Stephens IMO is actually better than Cub

You know Stephens and Cub fought, right?

 

[Joedaman55]

What a complete brain fart of a post. Please refrain from giving your opinion without doing your homework, thank you.

I think I’ll state my opinion when I feel like it, didn’t realize I needed your approval to post things. Lol, I don’t need to do homework to make money in markets and sometimes it can actually be worse with market noise.

 

[SBJJ]

You know Stephens and Cub fought, right?

Yes. And at this time I think Stephens is the better fighter. Kinda like how Stipe is now a bit better of a fighter than Struve. Just a hair better, but still

 

[t6p]

Don’t let me talk you out of your bet but I’m gonna take the younger, faster, and more technical fighter 9/10 times. I don’t particularly think Stephens is very good. I expect Choi to land pretty often, especially considering a one legged Gilbert was landing good shots on Stephens. Will Stephens land too? Surely. But I don’t see any reason why this should be a pick em fight. Choi, imo, def won round 1 against Cub and that’s a far tougher match up than Stephens is

I haven't made a play yet, but I'm leaning towards Choi as well. I'd absolutely play him if it was near pick em. I'm hoping he gets down near -125 or so.

I agree that Choi won the first round against Cub, 2 of the 3 judges disagreed though. And outside of the fact that he maybe should have edged a close first round (and the fact that he can take a serious beating), I didn't really see anything in that fight that I would look at as a positive moving forward. I'm also not sure I agree that Cub is a far tougher matchup.

I guess what I'm wondering is, what has Choi shown you guys that make you believe he should be -170 here? All three of his previous UFC fights ended in under three minutes. What happens if he doesn't get the early KO? IMO we have clear evidence that it's unlikely to go well for Choi.

 

[Oblivian]

I agree that Choi won the first round against Cub, 2 of the 3 judges disagreed though. And outside of the fact that he maybe should have edged a close first round (and the fact that he can take a serious beating), I didn't really see anything in that fight that I would look at as a positive moving forward. I'm also not sure I agree that Cub is a far tougher matchup.

I guess what I'm wondering is, what has Choi shown you guys that make you believe he should be -170 here? All three of his previous UFC fights ended in under three minutes. What happens if he doesn't get the early KO? IMO we have clear evidence that it's unlikely to go well for Choi.

I do not think Stephens does well against strikers. Stephens does not do well at finding angles. His power is also extremely overrated. I will say that he's improved his kicking game quite a bit though. I'd be very hesitant to conclude Stephens will give Choi trouble standing because of the Cub fight. Cub and Stephens have a very different striking style.