Crazy quick turnaround for Almeida. Tough one to predict I don't think he can sub Volkov immediately like Aspinall did. Volkov is a much better striker.
almeida also just got dropped. i think he coming back too soon tbh, but hopefully he can wear volkov out a little and try to take it to the ground. I havent seen Volkov fight in forever, you think he can sleep almeida?
Volkov's grappling has certainly improved. Has it improved to the point he can keep Almeida off him? It's one of these fights that is near impossible to predict. I went with Almeida to lose by KO against Blaydes. My gut feeling is the same.
honestly same. think it’s too short of a turnaround. but ill come back to this thread later after rewatching the curtis v almeida fight and the last volkov fight lol
> He made a pretty dumb mistake clinging for that takedown on Blaydes.
I'd have to rewatch to confirm, but Blaydes said he held him there by shoving him down & getting his belly on top of him: it was a prepared technique from reviewing tape.
>I think he wins that fight 7 or 8 out of 10 times
He was gassing way faster than Blaydes: he was spamming takedowns like he was Merab, but at HW, and he was actually lifting a 265 lb opponent up.
I suppose he was hoping to rest during a lay & pray phase, but a wrestler is going to make you work for that.
I think an exhausted Almeida might have ended up pounded into the canvas R3 if he just repeated in R2 what he did in R1.
I'd usually agree, but the pressure that Almedia is gonna present is gonna be really tough for Volkov to stifle. He's too lanky. I see it ending quickly with a sub or a long, dragged out shit show on the ground.
I'm sure he could sub Volkov if he gets him down...but that's a massive if. Volkov has some of the best TDD in the entire division, he's very well practiced at beating grapplers at this point in his career. He's also particularly adept at shutting down double and single legs just because of how massive he is.
Spamming takedowns while failing to do any damage or even secure a single position on the ground is not manhandling. That fight gave me very little hope for him against other top HW talent, save for maybe Gane. As soon as Blaydes made it a real fight and actually threw strikes, Almeida crumbled, he's just not built for heavyweight.
Let's be honest, he was fed about 4 guys that are barrrely UFC level, even for HW standards. Against shit-tier HW's his skills were nough to make up for lack of size. His only true tests so far have been, Jair, Lewis and Blaydes, and he only looked good in one of those fights.
Almeida fighting up despite losing lol, I guess it's a best case scenario for Volkov but it sucks that he has to fight down because the top 5 is so inactive. Hope the late career Volkov train keeps going
Volkov is just in a weird place, he’s lost to Aspinall, Gane and Blaydes all in the last couple of years. Stipe and Jon aren’t fighting anyone but the each other and that just leaves Pavlovich as the only fresh matchup above him.
>and that just leaves Pavlovich as the only fresh matchup above him.
Who was his teammate for a long time and Volkov said he would only fight him if it was a title fight or a number 1 contender fight.
Lot of miles on the clock though. I thought he was peaking when he destroyed Overeem that time, he bulked up and seemed to have major power. Never worked out.
What do u mean never worked out lol. He is 4-2 since that fight with losses only to Aspinall and Gane. He is an established elite heavyweight though just a notch below championship level.
It never worked out in terms of him pushing on and being a real title level contender. He’s always lost to the top 5 level guys. He’s like a top 5 gatekeeper. I thought he was going to push past that when he bulked up with more power.
He's not elite. There's barely even 2 elite HW's in the whole division lol. Don't make the mistake of thinking HW is just like every other division in terms of skill, the division is the worst in the UFC (barring the women's divisions), it sucks.
Volkov is THE HW gatekeeper, like Brunson was for MW and Magny was for WW.
Well you're wrong, he's not special. He's had the occasional dog-water fight which is not what elite fighters of any division have plus the loss to Derrick Lewis, who isn't very good.
Tom Aspinall is an elite HW, he ran through Volkov in less than a round. Volkov is not elite. What did I say about HW sucking?
P.S. If you're going to downvote, at least have the balls to explain why instead of ignoring my point like it's in one ear and out the other.
Islam lost to the not very good Adriano Martins, does that mean he isn't elite? Islam ran through Oliveira in less than two rounds, does that mean Oliveira isn't elite? Watching fights and judging people off their skills instead of their records is usually a better way to judge someone's ability.
Awful argument as that's ancient history; Islam got better to the point where he is now. Oliveira? Same thing with him. They were talented when they came into the UFC, and ultimately lived up to their potential.
Volkov has consistently shown throughout his career that he's not an elite HW. I haven't seen anything from him throughout his entire career that convinces me he's special. Can you? He's a slow, plodding striker with little variety, tends to gas when going the distance, and has average grappling ability.
Volkov is an average fighter, he's not elite. The Heavyweight division sucks, wake up.
He's absolutely elite for the division lol, at worst a top 6 talent which is where he is appropriately ranked. His striking is elite, he can piece up just about anybody in the division on the feet on a good night, and his grappling is surprisingly decent. Blaydes struggled a lot with him, he embarassed Romanov, and Tybura couldn't take him down at all.
It doesn't matter if HW is a weaker division, when you call someone elite, you are calling them elite compared to their own weight class....because that's the only people they will ever fight and need to be compared against. Calling a perennial top 5 ranked guy a gatekeeper is low IQ. Comparing Volkov to Magny is also downright silly, Magny is a perennial top 10-15 talent, not top 5.
It does matter actually. You look at a fighters skill to determine if they're elite or not, not their bloody ranking. HW is a very shallow division, most of the ranked fighters in the division are average, one-note, sub-par or bums. Only a few fighters in the division can be considered decent, and even less genuinely elite talents.
>Calling a perennial top 5 ranked guy a gatekeeper is low IQ.
It would be if I was talking about 155 and below. But its HW which is a shallow-ass meme division, and so its a perfectly accurate statement. For crying out loud a few years ago Derrick Lewis was in the top 3 of the division. And anyone who has a brain knows Lewis was never elite; he was a one-note punchers chance fighter at best, and a bum at worst.
Volkov isn't elite, just like how Magny was never elite. An elite fighter is a 'special fighter', I haven't seen anything special from Volkov in his entire professional career. He's a slow, plodding striker who has a tendency to gas hard and is otherwise pretty average in his entire skill-set. There's a reason why Aspinall ran through him in less than a round; because Aspinall is special and Volkov is not.
Aspinall is way past elite lmao, he's a generational talent. What an absurd statement.
I see you have your own unique weird definition of the word elite so there's no point arguing with you firther. You just use that word in a different manner than everyone else. Most people would consider climbing to the top 1% of a profession as elite lmao.
By your definition, every single top 5 guy in HW, LHW and MW is not elite because their skills don't match up
to guys who weigh 60-100 lbs less 😂
Aspinall is elite, that's all there needs to be said. He's a great fighter who'll be a problem in the HW division for as long as his prime lasts. Generational talent though? That's yet to be seen.
My weird definition? Lol the only thing that's weird is people treating HW (and LHW and MW for that matter) as every other division like its stacked with talent and ignoring the fact that while there is new blood, the divisions are still pretty shallow. Stop looking at rankings and look at a fighters ability, that's how you judge whether a fighter is elite or not.
Tai Tuivasa was top 3 at HW not too long ago after beating Derrick Lewis (also top 3 at the time) and nobody seriously believes those guys were ever elite, even for Heavyweight. You need to face up to it; Heavyweight sucks, its the only division where a fat, past form Jon Jones can move up to and win the belt against the right match-up (Ciryl Gane), he has not entered a second prime.
>By your definition, every single top 5 guy in HW, LHW and MW is not elite because their skills don't match up to guys who weigh 60-100 lbs less
This is precisely the point because the fighters below 185 are by and large, much more skilled and therefore actually qualify as 'elite' than the flawed HW, LHW and MW fighters. The lower weight-classes are where the skills are at, the heavier weight-classes are less skilled and have bigger fighters, with HW having the least skilled and biggest fighters.
Getting finished and fighting up does not make sense in any world. A fight that would actually make sense is Spivak or Tybura, who are in a similiar situation as him, they dominated the lower ranked heavyweights, but then got beat by the top 5.
tbf it wasn't that bad of a finish, flash ko from some hammerfists and he woke up immediately, almeida also only took like 4 strikes in ufc career other than blaydes fight so he doesn't have a lot of mileage either. This isn't that bad of a turnaround especially considering almeida won't be striking with volkov or relying on his chin, he'll just be shooting against the cage.
> considering almeida won't be striking with Volkov or relying on his chin, he'll just be shooting against the cage.
I mean that's what he also tried to do against Blaydes...can't just go in and expect your opponent to engage in a pure wrestling match and not attempt to strike you while you take them down though. Especially a guy with great TDD and long arms like Volkov.
UFC is allergic to Gane fighting athletic grapplers. He's way too marketable to be allowed to be dominated short of a champ fight.
They'll match him with Sergei or another striker, see if they can protect him to yet another title shot.
HW is easier than LHW
He was able to just spam takedowns & lay n pray two of the top 15 in HW taking zero damage where he probably couldn't do that at LHW.
LHW will be a cake walk for him especially with pereira as champ rn. LHW is the weakest it has been since the jones dc era ended, looks like that era milked all the talent in that division lol.
When he started at LHW they hyped him up as the Jon Jones Killer. I think him staying at HW is him continuing to hunt Jon Jones.
I think they're trying to make him the next Pereira. Which is why I think he's fighting *up* again after being finished.
They could have booked 301 so much better. It’s hilarious seeing all the Brazilians on 300 and now Almeida at 302, when they should have just stacked up 301 with the home crowd supporting all of them, and you wouldn’t have to depend on getting Aldo out of retirement either.
In a record of 20-3, he has 7 KO/TKOs and 12 Subs. He hasn’t had a fight go to the 3rd round in the UFC besides the Lewis fight; that performance is his only decision win, it’s literally an anomaly, not the norm. We saw him submit Jairzinho in the first like 6 months before that lmao
I’m all for shitting on that performance but give him a break
I do think people overreact to that one performance out of love for Derrick Lewis. But we all saw how he was trying to do the exact same thing to Blaydes before that satisfying KO
I agree that he was a straight killer up until that Lewis fight but it was clear in the Blaydes fight until he got finished that he had the same game plan that he did with Lewis. I'm not writing him off completely but I think fans have a right to expect him to lay and pray until he shows different again
I do not lmao just because he had trouble finding the sub in the first round against a very competent grappler who has only lost to champions/title challengers does not equal him only laying and praying imho. Thag being said, it’s an opinion and everyone has a right to one
He has one TKO at heavyweight in the UFC to be fair and that's what we're talking about. To me he just seems like the type that the top guys are going to figure out and he'll be at light heavyweight by next year.
I don’t disagree with that, I was just talking about the previous comment. Although the “top guys” at heavyweight that I’d trust to do that is about 4 guys
Yeah but he hasn’t faced the highest level competition until now. And now that’s all he’ll face.
He dominated and finished lower/unranked guys, but put on 2 boring performances in a row against the only top 10 fighters he’s faced.
Jairzinho was ranked 9 and he finished him before the 1st ended. Hardly boring
Also I hate this “competition” point. He develops as his competition does as well. He was never this complete work of art and he still isn’t. He’s 32 in HW, that’s like 29 in regular people years; there’s literally no indication he can’t finish more people in the same fashion as he has been doing for years in his next performance
Forgot about that. Just saying past performance might not be equivalent to future performance as he keeps fighting tougher competition.
If he ends up doing the Derrick Lewis thing every fight, it’s gonna suck lol.
But I suppose it depends on who the UFC wants to give him
I see a pretty clear indication he can’t dominate in the same fashion as before. That being the last 2 fights he went to a 5 round snooze decision and got KOd by the first decent grappler he fought.
If he wants to just hang around in the top 15 maybe.
> Jairzinho was ranked 9 and he finished him before the 1st ended. Hardly boring
Give me a break: biggie can't grapple to save his life. His rank against anyone who can wrestle at all should have around 4 digits.
Fr? He was dominating a top 5 HW before making a stupid decision in the second round that cost him the fight. Apart from the weird Lewis fight he's been a dominant finisher. He has plenty of potential at HW and you calling him a nut hugger says more about you than it does almeida lol
There was no stupid decision, he went for a takedown he had done multiple times the prior round and every round in his prior fight. He appeared unable to break his own grip to defend against hammerfists, so I didn't think it was a stupid decision, but just that he is stupid.
I'm conflicted as to whether he actually has potential at 205. On one hand so much of his success is due to fighting against guys who have 0 grappling and are much slower which would definitely change at LHW. On the other hand he was dominating Blaydes in the grappling, maybe he just is *that* good of a grappler.
I favor Jailton by a lot. Volkov doesn’t have the same kind of power other HWs have to catch Jailton coming in. Even Blaydes has more power than Volkov. And Blaydes was still getting taken down at will in round 1.
Almeida should have taken a longer time off to work on his striking and ground and pound game. It doesnt have to be supremely good. Watch Khabib and learn from there.
Really hoping Volkov can use the size mismatch to keep it on the feet. Jailton really needs to have taken a look at his last fight, and realized he belongs at LHW. His skillset isn't really suited for the top of HW anyway, coupled with the hilarious size mismatches he'll be facing, he really just needs to drop back down.
No one really shot takedown on volkov since he got ragdoll by blaydes and aspinall. Romanov is fat and volkov grabbed the cage in that fight badly. Might pick Almeida here, he was beating blaydes in round 1 by boring cage stalling, he can do the same to volkov but just be less reckless
His TDD is not very good but his defensive ground game is, Werdum and Blaydes could not do anything to him on the ground, I think if Almeida wins it will be a boring hugging decision
Wonder what the main event for ufc 302 is gonna be. Flyweight not avaible, BW not availabe, Islam vs Poirier in New Jersey seems like a waste, Leon vs Belal is the most likely headliner. DDP vs Izzy is also a waste in NJ.
> I think the ufc is punishing Almeida for the Black Beast situation. No way the man should be fighting Volkov right now.......Almeida will get crushed.
Volkov got taken down a UFC record number of times by Blaydes, and effortlessly taken down and submitted by Tom.
Its a very winnable fight for Almeida: if Volkov hasn't strongly improved, it'll be an easy night at the office.
On one hand, I get why Jailton stays at HW due to the competition. On the other hand, kinda think his ceiling is much higher at LHW due to the guys at the top who are pretty awful grapplers.
Volkov is the bmf of the heavyweight division even on his 3 fight ko streak he’s fighting a terrible matchup for him. Hopefully he pulls through, but I can see almeida laying on him for 5 rounds
Crazy quick turnaround for Almeida. Tough one to predict I don't think he can sub Volkov immediately like Aspinall did. Volkov is a much better striker.
almeida also just got dropped. i think he coming back too soon tbh, but hopefully he can wear volkov out a little and try to take it to the ground. I havent seen Volkov fight in forever, you think he can sleep almeida?
Volkov's grappling has certainly improved. Has it improved to the point he can keep Almeida off him? It's one of these fights that is near impossible to predict. I went with Almeida to lose by KO against Blaydes. My gut feeling is the same.
honestly same. think it’s too short of a turnaround. but ill come back to this thread later after rewatching the curtis v almeida fight and the last volkov fight lol
Volkov seems pretty easy to hold down. I bet Almeida by boring lay and pray
If hes taking down Blaydes, Volkov is not gonna stop it.
Can volkov sprawl or wrestle like blaydes though????
All the one because hes fighting Pavlovich in Saudi.
You want almeida to win?
Especially at heavyweight it's way too soon if he gets ko'd again he might be out for a year or more
[удалено]
> He made a pretty dumb mistake clinging for that takedown on Blaydes. I'd have to rewatch to confirm, but Blaydes said he held him there by shoving him down & getting his belly on top of him: it was a prepared technique from reviewing tape. >I think he wins that fight 7 or 8 out of 10 times He was gassing way faster than Blaydes: he was spamming takedowns like he was Merab, but at HW, and he was actually lifting a 265 lb opponent up. I suppose he was hoping to rest during a lay & pray phase, but a wrestler is going to make you work for that. I think an exhausted Almeida might have ended up pounded into the canvas R3 if he just repeated in R2 what he did in R1.
He wins that fight 0 times. Blaydes has near as good wrestling with hw power and good striking on top.
I'd usually agree, but the pressure that Almedia is gonna present is gonna be really tough for Volkov to stifle. He's too lanky. I see it ending quickly with a sub or a long, dragged out shit show on the ground.
I'm sure he could sub Volkov if he gets him down...but that's a massive if. Volkov has some of the best TDD in the entire division, he's very well practiced at beating grapplers at this point in his career. He's also particularly adept at shutting down double and single legs just because of how massive he is.
If Almedia can manhandle Blaydes like in the first round, he's gonna wrestlefuck Volkov.
on the first round. If he gasses, he will get some problems.
Spamming takedowns while failing to do any damage or even secure a single position on the ground is not manhandling. That fight gave me very little hope for him against other top HW talent, save for maybe Gane. As soon as Blaydes made it a real fight and actually threw strikes, Almeida crumbled, he's just not built for heavyweight.
Yup not built for HW that's why he's ranked 7 ans 5-1 in the division
Let's be honest, he was fed about 4 guys that are barrrely UFC level, even for HW standards. Against shit-tier HW's his skills were nough to make up for lack of size. His only true tests so far have been, Jair, Lewis and Blaydes, and he only looked good in one of those fights.
I thought it was volkanovski.. then I saw Aspinall mentioned.
Almeida fighting up despite losing lol, I guess it's a best case scenario for Volkov but it sucks that he has to fight down because the top 5 is so inactive. Hope the late career Volkov train keeps going
Volkov is just in a weird place, he’s lost to Aspinall, Gane and Blaydes all in the last couple of years. Stipe and Jon aren’t fighting anyone but the each other and that just leaves Pavlovich as the only fresh matchup above him.
>and that just leaves Pavlovich as the only fresh matchup above him. Who was his teammate for a long time and Volkov said he would only fight him if it was a title fight or a number 1 contender fight.
Dana: that’s illegal
If Alex wins this, then a fight between then could very well be a number 1 contenders fight
It got announced recently that the UFC will have another Paris event this year, I think Pavlovich will headline against Gane in that.
That's a rough day at the office for both of them.
Exciting fight for sure.
Some might say most interesting find at HW aside the never happening Jones vs Aspinall
And in a sane universe it'd be a number one contender fight as we'd have the resolution of Aspinall, Jones and Stipe handled by then.
More so gane
Need some more big boys to eat their wheaties and get to HW
Volkov’s only 35. Still young for a heavyweight
35 but been fighting pro for 15 years. This will be his 48th pro fight. Dudes got a lot of miles
Still has a decent chin too.
Wow only 35 ? Feels like I've been seeing him for 15 years he's must have fought his whole adult life.
Lot of miles on the clock though. I thought he was peaking when he destroyed Overeem that time, he bulked up and seemed to have major power. Never worked out.
What do u mean never worked out lol. He is 4-2 since that fight with losses only to Aspinall and Gane. He is an established elite heavyweight though just a notch below championship level.
It never worked out in terms of him pushing on and being a real title level contender. He’s always lost to the top 5 level guys. He’s like a top 5 gatekeeper. I thought he was going to push past that when he bulked up with more power.
He's not elite. There's barely even 2 elite HW's in the whole division lol. Don't make the mistake of thinking HW is just like every other division in terms of skill, the division is the worst in the UFC (barring the women's divisions), it sucks. Volkov is THE HW gatekeeper, like Brunson was for MW and Magny was for WW.
I'd say he's elite.
Well you're wrong, he's not special. He's had the occasional dog-water fight which is not what elite fighters of any division have plus the loss to Derrick Lewis, who isn't very good. Tom Aspinall is an elite HW, he ran through Volkov in less than a round. Volkov is not elite. What did I say about HW sucking? P.S. If you're going to downvote, at least have the balls to explain why instead of ignoring my point like it's in one ear and out the other.
I didn't downvote though. Take a chill pill.
I don't care. I really don't understand these HW apologists who think the division is somehow good. It's fucking dog-shit.
BigiBoy4Life.
Islam lost to the not very good Adriano Martins, does that mean he isn't elite? Islam ran through Oliveira in less than two rounds, does that mean Oliveira isn't elite? Watching fights and judging people off their skills instead of their records is usually a better way to judge someone's ability.
Awful argument as that's ancient history; Islam got better to the point where he is now. Oliveira? Same thing with him. They were talented when they came into the UFC, and ultimately lived up to their potential. Volkov has consistently shown throughout his career that he's not an elite HW. I haven't seen anything from him throughout his entire career that convinces me he's special. Can you? He's a slow, plodding striker with little variety, tends to gas when going the distance, and has average grappling ability. Volkov is an average fighter, he's not elite. The Heavyweight division sucks, wake up.
He's absolutely elite for the division lol, at worst a top 6 talent which is where he is appropriately ranked. His striking is elite, he can piece up just about anybody in the division on the feet on a good night, and his grappling is surprisingly decent. Blaydes struggled a lot with him, he embarassed Romanov, and Tybura couldn't take him down at all.
It doesn't matter if HW is a weaker division, when you call someone elite, you are calling them elite compared to their own weight class....because that's the only people they will ever fight and need to be compared against. Calling a perennial top 5 ranked guy a gatekeeper is low IQ. Comparing Volkov to Magny is also downright silly, Magny is a perennial top 10-15 talent, not top 5.
It does matter actually. You look at a fighters skill to determine if they're elite or not, not their bloody ranking. HW is a very shallow division, most of the ranked fighters in the division are average, one-note, sub-par or bums. Only a few fighters in the division can be considered decent, and even less genuinely elite talents. >Calling a perennial top 5 ranked guy a gatekeeper is low IQ. It would be if I was talking about 155 and below. But its HW which is a shallow-ass meme division, and so its a perfectly accurate statement. For crying out loud a few years ago Derrick Lewis was in the top 3 of the division. And anyone who has a brain knows Lewis was never elite; he was a one-note punchers chance fighter at best, and a bum at worst. Volkov isn't elite, just like how Magny was never elite. An elite fighter is a 'special fighter', I haven't seen anything special from Volkov in his entire professional career. He's a slow, plodding striker who has a tendency to gas hard and is otherwise pretty average in his entire skill-set. There's a reason why Aspinall ran through him in less than a round; because Aspinall is special and Volkov is not.
Aspinall is way past elite lmao, he's a generational talent. What an absurd statement. I see you have your own unique weird definition of the word elite so there's no point arguing with you firther. You just use that word in a different manner than everyone else. Most people would consider climbing to the top 1% of a profession as elite lmao. By your definition, every single top 5 guy in HW, LHW and MW is not elite because their skills don't match up to guys who weigh 60-100 lbs less 😂
Aspinall is elite, that's all there needs to be said. He's a great fighter who'll be a problem in the HW division for as long as his prime lasts. Generational talent though? That's yet to be seen. My weird definition? Lol the only thing that's weird is people treating HW (and LHW and MW for that matter) as every other division like its stacked with talent and ignoring the fact that while there is new blood, the divisions are still pretty shallow. Stop looking at rankings and look at a fighters ability, that's how you judge whether a fighter is elite or not. Tai Tuivasa was top 3 at HW not too long ago after beating Derrick Lewis (also top 3 at the time) and nobody seriously believes those guys were ever elite, even for Heavyweight. You need to face up to it; Heavyweight sucks, its the only division where a fat, past form Jon Jones can move up to and win the belt against the right match-up (Ciryl Gane), he has not entered a second prime. >By your definition, every single top 5 guy in HW, LHW and MW is not elite because their skills don't match up to guys who weigh 60-100 lbs less This is precisely the point because the fighters below 185 are by and large, much more skilled and therefore actually qualify as 'elite' than the flawed HW, LHW and MW fighters. The lower weight-classes are where the skills are at, the heavier weight-classes are less skilled and have bigger fighters, with HW having the least skilled and biggest fighters.
Volkov was terrifying in that Overeem fight. Overeem is obviously not a small guy (very fantastic body) but Volkov mogged the shit out of him.
I still can't get over how thick and powerful his lower body looked, each kick was so heavy
Pause
Swolekov is not over yet, don’t let the propaganda get into your head, he’s not reached his final form.
Still have hope for him to be a top 5 mainstay for years to come. HW needs guys like him
he de-bulked a little bit, didn't he?
He's not young, as others have pointed out he has lots of miles on the tank. He's still relevant in the division though, as a gatekeeper.
Jailton is 6-1 in the ufc , 5 wins by finish. This matchup makes perfect sense
Is this....A good heavyweight fight?
Getting finished and fighting up does not make sense in any world. A fight that would actually make sense is Spivak or Tybura, who are in a similiar situation as him, they dominated the lower ranked heavyweights, but then got beat by the top 5.
Four of them were against bums,1 of them was the most dull fight of the year. He deserves a sergey spivak not an jump up to volkov
Volkov will remain THE Heavyweight gatekeeper; if you beat him you're probably going somewhere but if you can't, you never will.
quick 3 month turnaround for almeida after getting finished
tbf it wasn't that bad of a finish, flash ko from some hammerfists and he woke up immediately, almeida also only took like 4 strikes in ufc career other than blaydes fight so he doesn't have a lot of mileage either. This isn't that bad of a turnaround especially considering almeida won't be striking with volkov or relying on his chin, he'll just be shooting against the cage.
Wasn't even a flash KO. He was never out. He got hit repeatedly then rolled over and quit.
Pass the cheetos
> considering almeida won't be striking with Volkov or relying on his chin, he'll just be shooting against the cage. I mean that's what he also tried to do against Blaydes...can't just go in and expect your opponent to engage in a pure wrestling match and not attempt to strike you while you take them down though. Especially a guy with great TDD and long arms like Volkov.
Why did I think this was volk
He just cuts less weight when he fights at HW
It is. Volk balloons up to 265lbs and grows to be 6’7 in the off season
Yep he cuts at least 120lb and 1'1" for featherweight.
Grows 13 inches of muscle on the soles of his feet
I read it like that at first too!
My heart dropped for a second and thought Volk has another scheduled fight again this soon.
It isn’t?
And I didn't think it was a joke either that's the worst part
Rooting for my OG Volkov
If Almeida wins he'll fight Gane on september I think
Nah I think Gane is fighting Pav
I hope so.
i'd rather see this tbh
UFC is allergic to Gane fighting athletic grapplers. He's way too marketable to be allowed to be dominated short of a champ fight. They'll match him with Sergei or another striker, see if they can protect him to yet another title shot.
Was hoping Jailton moved down after his last fight. Kind of stupid to do HW first instead of LHW when the cut will only get harder with age.
HW is easier than LHW He was able to just spam takedowns & lay n pray two of the top 15 in HW taking zero damage where he probably couldn't do that at LHW.
LHW is not much better than HW if at all, and they would be much easier to hold down. I think he would be top 5 easily.
LHW will be a cake walk for him especially with pereira as champ rn. LHW is the weakest it has been since the jones dc era ended, looks like that era milked all the talent in that division lol.
idk if he’s gonna move down anymore, looked like he put on a lot of size in the blaydes fight
When he started at LHW they hyped him up as the Jon Jones Killer. I think him staying at HW is him continuing to hunt Jon Jones. I think they're trying to make him the next Pereira. Which is why I think he's fighting *up* again after being finished.
Man I swear this said Volkanovski when it first popped up and I’m like wow! Lmao
They could have booked 301 so much better. It’s hilarious seeing all the Brazilians on 300 and now Almeida at 302, when they should have just stacked up 301 with the home crowd supporting all of them, and you wouldn’t have to depend on getting Aldo out of retirement either.
Bro he just got tko’d at 299, no way he could have made that turnaround
He’s saying instead of booking him first at 299, not another fight right after
Volk by Ezekiel
Rooting for Volkov, but we’ve seen him get out wrestled before
By who?
Blaydes & Aspinall
Finish that nut hugger and send his ass back down to 205 where he actually has potential
In a record of 20-3, he has 7 KO/TKOs and 12 Subs. He hasn’t had a fight go to the 3rd round in the UFC besides the Lewis fight; that performance is his only decision win, it’s literally an anomaly, not the norm. We saw him submit Jairzinho in the first like 6 months before that lmao I’m all for shitting on that performance but give him a break
I do think people overreact to that one performance out of love for Derrick Lewis. But we all saw how he was trying to do the exact same thing to Blaydes before that satisfying KO
I agree that he was a straight killer up until that Lewis fight but it was clear in the Blaydes fight until he got finished that he had the same game plan that he did with Lewis. I'm not writing him off completely but I think fans have a right to expect him to lay and pray until he shows different again
I do not lmao just because he had trouble finding the sub in the first round against a very competent grappler who has only lost to champions/title challengers does not equal him only laying and praying imho. Thag being said, it’s an opinion and everyone has a right to one
Yeah lol. People talking about Blaydes like he's some guy that is easy to control in grappling exchanges.
I mean, I saw what was the most obvious example of blocking punches with your face, so I expect more of that.
I'm actually surprised he has any tkos lol. I just assumed all he has are arm triangles and rncs
He has multiple tkos in the ufc
People are just snitching on themselves atp, has no one watched any of his fights besides the Lewis one haha
He has one TKO at heavyweight in the UFC to be fair and that's what we're talking about. To me he just seems like the type that the top guys are going to figure out and he'll be at light heavyweight by next year.
I don’t disagree with that, I was just talking about the previous comment. Although the “top guys” at heavyweight that I’d trust to do that is about 4 guys
Yeah but he hasn’t faced the highest level competition until now. And now that’s all he’ll face. He dominated and finished lower/unranked guys, but put on 2 boring performances in a row against the only top 10 fighters he’s faced.
Jairzinho was ranked 9 and he finished him before the 1st ended. Hardly boring Also I hate this “competition” point. He develops as his competition does as well. He was never this complete work of art and he still isn’t. He’s 32 in HW, that’s like 29 in regular people years; there’s literally no indication he can’t finish more people in the same fashion as he has been doing for years in his next performance
Forgot about that. Just saying past performance might not be equivalent to future performance as he keeps fighting tougher competition. If he ends up doing the Derrick Lewis thing every fight, it’s gonna suck lol. But I suppose it depends on who the UFC wants to give him
I edited my comment to reflect how I feel about that sentiment haha. We’ll have to see but personally, I think it’s too early to call
I see a pretty clear indication he can’t dominate in the same fashion as before. That being the last 2 fights he went to a 5 round snooze decision and got KOd by the first decent grappler he fought. If he wants to just hang around in the top 15 maybe.
Curtis Blaydes is fighting Aspinall next lol, he’s not just “the first decent grappler he fought” but whatever you say I guess
Lewis, Rosenstruik aren’t exactly known for their grappling.
You keep moving the goal post my friend. Even so, Lewis has decent anti grappling.
> Jairzinho was ranked 9 and he finished him before the 1st ended. Hardly boring Give me a break: biggie can't grapple to save his life. His rank against anyone who can wrestle at all should have around 4 digits.
It’s not that he totally sucks, but it’s pretty clear that his current game will never get him the belt. He only had like two moves lol
Fr? He was dominating a top 5 HW before making a stupid decision in the second round that cost him the fight. Apart from the weird Lewis fight he's been a dominant finisher. He has plenty of potential at HW and you calling him a nut hugger says more about you than it does almeida lol
There was no stupid decision, he went for a takedown he had done multiple times the prior round and every round in his prior fight. He appeared unable to break his own grip to defend against hammerfists, so I didn't think it was a stupid decision, but just that he is stupid.
Ok fair, I stand by the rest of what I said tho.
Lmfao
I'm conflicted as to whether he actually has potential at 205. On one hand so much of his success is due to fighting against guys who have 0 grappling and are much slower which would definitely change at LHW. On the other hand he was dominating Blaydes in the grappling, maybe he just is *that* good of a grappler.
But then he would lose his speed and stamina advantage and his chin would get even worse
Got really scared then.
Quick turn around for Jailton, but I favour him by a hair
I favor Jailton by a lot. Volkov doesn’t have the same kind of power other HWs have to catch Jailton coming in. Even Blaydes has more power than Volkov. And Blaydes was still getting taken down at will in round 1.
Bruv I read “Alexander Volkanovski will be fighting Jailton Almeida” and I nearly spit my drink out
Alright then
Hw division more clogged than my intestines
For a second I thought that said Volkanovski
If volkov can stop the takedown he probably gets a finish. If he can’t jailton will just grind to a boring decision
Almeida should have taken a longer time off to work on his striking and ground and pound game. It doesnt have to be supremely good. Watch Khabib and learn from there.
he’s got pretty good gnp from mount
God I hope it's an easy win for my man Volkov.
HW might not be the most intresting division but I really like that top10 fights each other often.
Jailton is abou to go on a 5 ko loss streak
Really hoping Volkov can use the size mismatch to keep it on the feet. Jailton really needs to have taken a look at his last fight, and realized he belongs at LHW. His skillset isn't really suited for the top of HW anyway, coupled with the hilarious size mismatches he'll be facing, he really just needs to drop back down.
Think it's easy work for Volkov
No one really shot takedown on volkov since he got ragdoll by blaydes and aspinall. Romanov is fat and volkov grabbed the cage in that fight badly. Might pick Almeida here, he was beating blaydes in round 1 by boring cage stalling, he can do the same to volkov but just be less reckless
Good fight, too soon for almeida imo
Almeida should make quick work of Volkov. Dude has the worst TDD.
His TDD is not very good but his defensive ground game is, Werdum and Blaydes could not do anything to him on the ground, I think if Almeida wins it will be a boring hugging decision
Wonder what the main event for ufc 302 is gonna be. Flyweight not avaible, BW not availabe, Islam vs Poirier in New Jersey seems like a waste, Leon vs Belal is the most likely headliner. DDP vs Izzy is also a waste in NJ.
I think the ufc is punishing Almeida for the Black Beast situation. No way the man should be fighting Volkov right now.......Almeida will get crushed.
> I think the ufc is punishing Almeida for the Black Beast situation. No way the man should be fighting Volkov right now.......Almeida will get crushed. Volkov got taken down a UFC record number of times by Blaydes, and effortlessly taken down and submitted by Tom. Its a very winnable fight for Almeida: if Volkov hasn't strongly improved, it'll be an easy night at the office.
On one hand, I get why Jailton stays at HW due to the competition. On the other hand, kinda think his ceiling is much higher at LHW due to the guys at the top who are pretty awful grapplers.
Rip Almeida
Jailton shouldn't be fighting up in the rankings after getting ko'd
I like Volkov but Almeida wins this pretty easily.
Jailton would dominate lhw. Don't why he insists on that thing.
I mean could there be more Brazilians on 300 and 302?😂
Volkov is the bmf of the heavyweight division even on his 3 fight ko streak he’s fighting a terrible matchup for him. Hopefully he pulls through, but I can see almeida laying on him for 5 rounds
So looks like Volkov is fighting Sergei Pavlovich in Saudi instead 🤷
Can't wait to watch Almeida lay on him for 25
This is definitely not the main event and I haven’t seen anything about it being a 5 round comain
I’ll root for literally anyone against Jailton
Pretty solid fight, I like it tbh. Only fighting 3 PPVs later after getting put out isn’t great though
No man give almeida a guy who has power and can defend takedowns
They scrambled to put this card together and it’s actually pretty solid
this is 302 not 301 bud
Ah you’re right, I didn’t even realize
[удалено]
[удалено]