UFC Fight Night 83: Bad Beats & Favorites Doing What Favorites Do

The Brazilian Cowboy tapped about as fast as humanly possibly. I've always felt Cerrone's submission game is underrated, but that was the least deep looking triangle I've seen in MMA in quite awhile.
Was the fix on? Both sure did manage to not really punch one another in the face much and get paid (ala another high profile fight this weekend). I wouldn't put it past Ken Shamrock to bet against himself and make some money on the side. Especially since I don't think anyone on heart had Royce winning by strikes/TKO in the first round.



Back to the matter at hand, Oliveira loses a fight no one expected him to win, Cerrone makes money, Oliveira gets to be a main event on his birthday.....I dunno, maybe I'm a conspiracy theorist. Maybe a broken clock is right twice a day.




Riggs looked even worse than even I expected and got finished.
Tanquinho took a fight against a guy he had no business fighting on short notice and perhaps not at all. Tanquinho's stand-up/pulling away and straightening up his posture as he does so is a major/fundamental flaw in his game and will get him KTFO at this level of competition.

Roan Carneiro....looked okay until he swung and missed/fell down against the cage and opted to just cover up.....and cover up....and wait?

I over-estimated Roan's win over the soon-to-be-retired-at-that-time Munoz and underestimate Brunson's strong record which speaks for itself (only guy he's lost to in his last 4 fights is now-steroid-suspended Yoel Romero).
Overall, I went 5-2 with my picks, with Garbrandt and Brunson being my only spoilsports for the night.
I had Cerrone subbing Oliveira, Bermudez decision-ing Kawajiri, Krause taking Campbell to a decision, and Bamgbose stopping Sarafian as well.

Up next on the MMA horizon we have  Bellator card Friday with Galvao rematching Dantas (should be a good fight), Kongo facing someone, the Caveman Rickels fighting, and Kendall Grove back in action.
Should be a solid card all around for a Friday night on cable TV.
Saturday, I'll be competing at an invitational grappling event out of town and will miss the UFC Fight Pass Bisping vs Silva card, but would actually consider signing up for FightPass now as I've made it to the age of 33 and never paid for a monthly streaming service and the FightPass will now be streaming the Eddie Bravo Invitational.

Damn you Dana Whiiiiiiiiite! You finally have what I waaaaaant! If only They had Copa Podio I would already be signed up. 

MMA Weekend Bonanza: Bellator Brings Royce & Ken, UFC Brings Cowboy, Carneiro et al.

Royce faces off in the contemporary MMA version of patriarchs in the Irish traveller Knuckle documentary settling an age old grudgematch from before a lot of modern fans even knew there was a feud. It's an interesting play by Bellator. I'm curious as to what the ratings will be. Tito and Bonnar both had more recent screen time and recognition with fans, and I know this sounds bonkers, but Royce and Ken are actually kind of from before a lot of contemporary fans even followed the sport. I'm doubly curious as to the kind of ratings Bellator has to pull to make this worth their while as I'm sure Royce wasn't cheap but I bet Ken kinda was because based on some of the money schemes I've seen him in, it looks like he needs the cash.

Royce finished Ken the first time around in less than a couple minutes and they fought to a draw the second time around. 

Kimbo faces a guy from his childhood neighborhood who has cleverly segued a documentary entitled "Dawg Fight" into being part of a co-main event alongside two of the most recognizable names in MMA history from back in the human cockfighting days. I could talk a bunch of trash and make fun of it, but honestly it's kind of amazing. He's got better self-promotion than I possess the ability to fathom. 

Emmanuel Netwon faces Linton Vassell and Melvin Guillard faces a guy he'll probably knock out. 

WSOF has some fights on NBCSN at 9pm Saturday night in the event you'd rather watch professional cagefighting than stand around looking at your iPhone while girls are nearby at a bar you go to pretty much every weekend full of people you for the most part don't care to meet anyway.

As for the UFC, Sunday night Cerrone makes a quick turnaround to make some cash and shake off the disappointment of losing in less than a couple minutes after finally fighting his way to a title shot.
The rest of the card is actually pretty badass IMHO. It's certainly got more fights that pique my curiosity than the last PPV that became free Fox TV after losing it's main event.

Derek Brunson faces Roan Carneiro who I'm seeing as a dark horse to make his way to a title shot sooner rather than later. Brunson is hard to bet against as he's only lost to Jacare, Yoel Romero and a split decision back before coming to the UFC.
That being said, I just like how Carneiro has looked as I caught some of his fights before coming back into the UFC, but Munoz wasn't on his A game as he faded out of the UFC so I may be overhyping Carneiro based off of that win. I'm going to go out on a limb and probably bet some cash on Carneiro in the upset for this one but I haven't looked at the betting lines just yet.

Dennis Burmudez faces Kawajiri and both guys plod their way up into title shot contention. If Kawajiri wins it will not be super exciting as his last two fights haven't been anything to write home to Japan about. Bermudez has the pop in his fists to make it a short night but is coming off of two stoppage losses: guillotine and TKO.

Camozzi I haven't seen fight since facing Jacare for a second time and getting tapped out a second time (not that you can fault him for that) and Joe Riggs looks to collect a paycheck the hard way as a prizefighter. I didn't even know Shane Campbell was still fighting or that James Krause was still in the UFC. All in all though, I have no problem spending my Sunday evening watching these fights.