Wednesday was a dark day in Dublin for MMA fans.
First, you had the whole T-shirt thing. That’s not what anyone wanted.
The second leg of the double whammy hit fans right in the sports when headliner Joe Duffy sustained a concussion and bowed out of his bout with Dustin Poirier. Farewell, main event.
I’ll wait to reschedule. This is the guy I’ve prepared to fight for the last 10 weeks https://t.co/R7l54l6ANG
— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) October 21, 2015
It was a kick upside the head to a card that had already taken a crippling body blow. On October 13, a fun co-main event fell by the wayside when heavyweight Stipe Miocic pulled out of his fight with Ben Rothwell (and, oddly, was handed an even sweeter spot over Rothwell, but that’s another story).
That means we now have Paddy Holohan and Louis Smolka as our main event. The co-main: Norman Parke and Reza Madadi.
Well then. Or, if you prefer, gah!
This card is dunzo, right? Fold up the tent, bon voyage, see you for UFC 195?
Maybe not necessarily.
Far be it from me to tell people they have to watch this card. They don’t. It’s not a good card. Can you forego this event and retain your fan card? You can do that, yes.
But I understand the other side, too. After three whole weeks with no UFC action and the one after this not due until November 7, it’s not hard to see why a few hardcores might be a little antsy. Besides, what else is there to do on a Saturday?
I’ll sum it up like this: If you’re on the fence about subscribing to UFC Fight Pass (the UFC’s pay streaming service on which the entire card will air in the U.S.), this probably won’t or shouldn’t put you over the edge. If you already have the subscription and a clean block of time on the calendar, you could probably proceed as planned.
Why? There are reasons. I have three of them. Here they are.
Nicolas Dalby vs. Darren Till
This was on most Fight of the Night short lists before the cancellations. Now it’s basically a list by itself.
Come for Dalby, the 30-year-old Danish prospect and former Cage Warriors champ with the thinking man’s striking game. Stay for Till, the 22-year-old infant who has already knocked out nine opponents.
Put them together, and there’s almost no way this won’t be exciting. They both have multivariate stand-up attacks and aren’t total noobs on the ground (particularly Dalby). The Dane probably takes this one, but not before both of these guys give the Dublin crowd something to cheer about.
Scotland’s First MMA Star?
Arguably, that’s women’s strawweight Joanne Calderwood. But for all her Muay Thai pedigree, personal charisma and exposure on The Ultimate Fighter, the Glaswegian is still a tepid 2-1 during her year in the UFC.
Enter Stevie “Braveheart” Ray, the 25-year-old Scot with two TKOs in two UFC appearances, the most recent of which earned him Performance of the Night honors. Mickael Lebout is teed up for him like a bowling pin, and Ray will show again that he knows how to knock ’em down.
The Yeomen (and Woman) of SBG Ireland
John Kavanagh’s bunch are an impressive 19-4 combined in the UFC. But without lead dogs Conor McGregor and Gunnar Nelson factored in, that mark drops to 8-3. And when you factor in Cathal Pendred‘s dicey decisions, it could be even worse.
That’s still a fine mark, and I don’t want to pile on Pendred, Holohan and Aisling Daly. Quite the opposite.
Away from the glare of their more famous stablemates and, you know, high-profile fights in general, here’s an opportunity for these three to make their mark in front of what will surely be an enthusiastic crowd of their countrymen and, in so doing, help demonstrate that SBG Ireland has genuine depth of talent.
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