UFC 243 goes down later tonight (Sat. October 5, 2019) from the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. Headlining the card is a massive middleweight unification bout between undisputed champion Robert Whittaker and interim champion Israel Adesanya. The two high-level strikers are expected to put on a massive standup affair inside the Octagon. We here at […]
UFC 243 goes down later tonight (Sat. October 5, 2019) from the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. Headlining the card is a massive middleweight unification bout between undisputed champion Robert Whittaker and interim champion Israel Adesanya. The two high-level strikers are expected to put on a massive standup affair inside the Octagon.
We here at LowKickMMA have compiled our UFC 243 staff predictions for the battle. Check them out below.
UFC 243 Staff Predictions
Jon Fuentes:
This is my favorite fight of the year. Two of the best strikers at middleweight, and the two absolute best in the division going one-on-one. Adesanya is a phenomenal striker, but I think people are overlooking Whittaker’s grappling in this fight, which could be his key to victory. I have Whittaker taking a decision here, using a lot more grappling than we’d expect out of this one. (Prediction: Robert Whittaker)
Brady Briggs:
This is one of the highest level middleweight matchups ever. We have two of the best strikers in the sport, both of which came into the UFC as very skilled talents that have evolved immensely since. I think Whittaker may take it via decision, but wouldn’t be surprised to see it go the other way. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it end in a finish from either guy either. My prediction, Whittaker wins this one via decision, then they end up fighting twice more before it’s all said and done. (Prediction: Robert Whittaker)
Cole Shelton:
Robert Whittaker vs. Israel Adesanya, in my opinion, is the best main event the UFC has put on this year. The two are in the prime of their careers and the best middleweights alive.
It should be a phenomenal fight, but I believe Whittaker will be able to close the distance and get inside of Adesanya, similar to what Gastelum did and frustrate Izzy. People have forgotten just how good Robert Whittaker is and he will show it here as I believe we hear ‘And Still’ at the end of the night. (Prediction: Robert Whittaker)
What do you think about our UFC 243 staff predictions?
UFC 243 is upon us. The event will be held inside Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Austalia tomorrow night (Oct. 5). Headlining the card will be a middleweight title unification bout between champion Robert Whittaker and interim title holder Israel Adesany…
UFC 243 is upon us. The event will be held inside Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Austalia tomorrow night (Oct. 5). Headlining the card will be a middleweight title unification bout between champion Robert Whittaker and interim title holder Israel Adesanya. Taking the co-main event spot will be a 155-pound tilt between Al Iaquinta and Dan […]
We have an incredible main event this weekend at UFC 243, as UFC interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya looks to unify his belt with undisputed UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in Melbourne, Australia. This is one of the highest level middleweight matchups of all time, how does this one go down? Firstly, everyone knows how […]
We have an incredible main event this weekend at UFC 243, as UFC interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya looks to unify his belt with undisputed UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in Melbourne, Australia. This is one of the highest level middleweight matchups of all time, how does this one go down?
Firstly, everyone knows how extensive of a resume “The Last Stylebender” has in kickboxing, and it certainly shows in his fights. He went 32-0 as an amateur, and 75-5-1 as a professional, winning numerous tournaments and championships. He would win his first eleven fights, all via knockout, before joining the UFC. Since coming to the UFC, he’s gone 6-0 inside of just 14 months, which is insane. He’s taken a six-month break since his last fight, which is about the same amount of time that half of those fights happened.
On the other hand, “The Reaper” hasn’t been as active, as he’s fought just once in a little over two years. It’s pretty crazy to think that Whittaker’s only gone 2-0 since July 2017, while Adesanya’s gone 8-0 since the same month of the same year. What does that say about this fight though?
For one, fighters generally are able to add more tools to their skill set when they have periods of time off. However, Adesanya’s last two fights were only two months apart, and he showed a nasty guillotine and triangle choke in the Gastelum fight, both of which were very tight. Adesanya has proven that he can accumulate a more diverse arsenal while in training camp, but can Whittaker do that while rehabbing?
“The Reaper” has always been an impressive talent, as he went 2-0 on “The Ultimate Fighter: Smashes,” before winning the season. He lost twice at welterweight inside the UFC, going 3-2 at 170 pounds, and has gone 8-0 since moving up to middleweight. Something to look back on, Whittaker’s still only 28-years-old, he certainly should still be in the development stage of his career. Though he’s been around a bit longer than Adesanya in the MMA world, he’s two years younger.
Robert Whittaker (20-4) vs. Israel Adesanya (17-0)
With how good of a fight Adesanya had with Gastelum, will this one be similar? Whittaker’s just as good of a striker as Gastelum, and he’s three inches taller. Remember, Gastelum threw, landed, and hurt Adesanya with a head kick, and he’s seven inches shorter than Adesanya. That’s pretty remarkable, especially for someone with a wrestling background, and Whittaker has amazing head kicks himself, as evident in his fights with Brad Tavares, Jacare Souza, Yoel Romero, etc.
The other main factor that this fight could come down to, aside from their frames, is Whittaker’s wrestling. We don’t see too much of it, but when we do, it usually works out for him. Kind of like Jorge Masvidal, who doesn’t take his opponents down often, but when he does, he mixes it up beautifully.
The champion competed for a chance to compete in the Common Wealth Games, which is a pretty massive deal. He got a gold medal in the Australia National Wrestling Championships and was chosen to represent Australia in the Common Wealth Games in Freestyle Wrestling in 2017, but elected not to considering the UFC gave him the ultimatum that if he did, he’d be stripped of his belt. Will that play a factor?
With as good as both of these two are, this is certainly a pick ’em fight, who knows how this one’s going to go? These are absolutely the top two middleweights in the world, and we get to watch them battle for the undisputed UFC middleweight championship this weekend in a New Zealand versus Australia night of fights.
Who are you taking to walk away from UFC 243 as the undisputed UFC middleweight champion? “The Reaper” or “The Last Stylebender”?
This past weekend (Sat. September 28, 2019) at UFC on ESPN+ 18, we had a great night of fights in Copenhagen, Denmark. The event featured 13 fights, seven of which went the distance, with four knockouts, and two submissions. The event was headlined by top middleweights Jack Hermansson and Jared Cannonier, and it didn’t disappoint. […]
This past weekend (Sat. September 28, 2019) at UFC on ESPN+ 18, we had a great night of fights in Copenhagen, Denmark. The event featured 13 fights, seven of which went the distance, with four knockouts, and two submissions.
The event was headlined by top middleweights Jack Hermansson and Jared Cannonier, and it didn’t disappoint. After a successful round one of stuffing takedowns for Cannonier, he threw and landed a beautifully timed and placed uppercut early in round two and followed up with more strikes on the ground for the TKO finish.
We at LowKickMMA have compiled a list of five fights to make after their showings. Where do the winners go from here? Where do the losers go from here? Continue reading to see our five matchups:
Marc Diakiese (14-3) vs. Damir Ismagulov (19-1)
Marc Diakiese has really come into his own recently. Coming into the UFC with a 9-0 record, as well as being a three-time BAMMA lightweight champion, he was a very promising young prospect at just 23-years-old. Right away we saw how flashy his striking is, and also how effective it is. He’d go on to win his first three fights in the UFC with two knockouts before losing for the first time. Diakiese would then lose three straight, going from 12-0 to 12-3 inside of one year’s time.
Many of us thought he may have just been another hype train derailed. Of course, he still had all the time in the world to get better considering how young he was, but it’s hard to come back after losing three straight fights, especially when you’re undefeated beforehand. Diakiese came back this past March and out-classed Joseph Duffy quite handily, before doing the same to Lando Vannata on Saturday. He won all six rounds of those last two fights, and it’s very obvious he learned from his losses, which is a great sign to see.
A fight that would be good to see him in next is against Damir Ismagulov, a newer signee that the UFC picked up in December of last year; they’ve been keeping him busy too, as he’s already 3-0 inside the promotion. He’s pretty similar to UFC veteran Rashid Magomedov, but he’s a bit younger. He, like Magomedov, are both Russian strikers, they both primarily win decisions after out-pointing their opponent with crisp kickboxing, they have similar records given their time and experience in the UFC, both have great takedown defense and good ground games, and both are former M-1 Global lightweight champions that vacated their belts to come to the UFC.
This would be a very fun-to-watch striking battle between two incredibly crisp strikers. Diakiese is a little flashier, Ismagulov has the more original fundamentals, and both are accurate and effective with their hands and kicks. How would this great matchup go between these two?
Ovince Saint Preux (24-13) vs. Khalil Rountree Jr (8-4) 1 NC
Both of these two fought on Saturday, with “OSP” winning via submission in round two, and Rountree losing via TKO in round one. One thing that’s pretty insane about Saint Preux’s fight, this was his fourth Von Flue choke victory. There are only six in UFC history, and he has 67% of them. This could be a pretty winnable fight for either guy, it all just depends on which gameplan they’d come in with.
“OSP” came to the UFC from Strikeforce after Strikeforce was purchased by the UFC. He did quite well early on too, going 4-0 in his first four fights, and 6-1 in his first seven. Since then, however, he’s gone 6-7. There are a few fights he probably shouldn’t have won that he did, and there are probably some losses that he should’ve won as well. History has shown that it’s very hard to bet on “OSP” fights because it’s impossible to tell how they’ll go.
Khalil Rountree came to the UFC off the set of The Ultimate Fighter 23, where he was a finalist. He lost his first two fights in the UFC, going from 4-0 to 4-2, and has since gone 4-2 (1 NC). Rountree’s always been promising, but we really got to see what he’s capable of when he fought Eryk Anders in his last fight before last weekend. Going to Thailand to learn Muay Thai really worked out for him, he looked incredible. After losing to Ion Cutelaba, hopefully he still has the confidence to use that, rather than going back to how he fought before.
Gilbert Burns (17-3) vs. Li Jingliang (17-5)
Gilbert Burns has gone 2-0 in a month-and-a-half since moving back up to welterweight, after spending his entire UFC career at lightweight aside from his promotional debut. Not only that, he beat two real studs at 170 pounds. In his return to welterweight in August, he defeated former four-time M-1 Global welterweight champion Alexey Kunchenko, who was also 20-0, before defeating fellow BJJ ace and Goju-Ryu karate black belt Gunnar Nelson over the weekend. Those are two very good fighters. They aren’t the very best of the best, but anyone outside of the top 15-20, they have their way with.
A fight with Michael Chiesa would be tons of fun to watch, but as “The Maverick” has stated numerous times since his win over Diego Sanchez, he will not accept a fight outside of the top 15. Therefore, why not a fight against fellow Fight Night winner Li Jingliang? This would be a perfect striker versus grappler matchup, though Burns’ striking has improved so immensely, and of course, he’s world-class on the ground.
With as hard as Jingliang hits, you can’t count him out of any fight at welterweight, and with as solid of a BJJ game as Burns has, he can submit anyone on any given day. Perhaps the winner of this fight could crack the top 15. Who would you take?
Jack Hermansson (20-5) vs. Omari Akhmedov (19-4-1)
Though Jack Hermansson was ranked at No. 5 before losing to Jared Cannonier and Omari Akhmedov is ranked at No. 15, it’s still a good matchup to make. Akhmedov is 4-0-1 in his last five fights, and Hermansson is 4-1 in his last five. Considering Hermansson will fall down a couple of spots in the rankings, it’d be interesting to see how this fight plays out.
Akhmedov just cracked the top 15 with his most recent win over Zak Cummings, and he’s looking to continue climbing that ladder, just as Hermansson’s going to try and re-climb it. We all know how good Hermansson is at wrestling and how good of a guillotine choke he’s accumulated, and Akhmedov’s got a great ground game too. Though Akhmedov’s been submitted twice, both via guillotine choke, he hasn’t been since his first two losses.
Akhmedov is an International Master of Sport in both Combat Sambo and HTHC, which would make the grappling between these two very fun to watch, and we all know this fight would most likely play out largely on the ground. Both are good at striking, but neither are great at it; they both look a little awkward when striking, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good at it, they’re just both much better on the mat, particularly on top. How does this middleweight matchup play out?
Jared Cannonier (13-4) vs. Derek Brunson (20-7)
Going into his fight last weekend, Jared Cannonier was ranked at No. 9, and he defeated the No. 5 ranked Jack Hermansson. This means he will climb the ranks a little. Brunson is ranked at No. 8 right now, but this is the fight that makes the most sense for “The Killa Gorilla” at the moment. Ranked ahead of Brunson is Chris Weidman and Jacare Souza, both of which are going to light heavyweight. After that, Hermansson still needs to be bumped down the list, Kelvin Gastelum’s fighting Darren Till, then ahead of him is Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa, before our middleweight champions.
Cannonier probably shouldn’t fight someone like Romero just yet. Not that he wouldn’t beat him, he very well may, but let’s not move him too fast. It’d be great to see him have at least one more fight before being thrown literally to the wolves. Middleweight has a lot of incredibly dangerous talents, Cannonier being a new one, having come down from heavyweight and light heavyweight.
After going 7-0 in the Alaskan circuit, Cannonier signed with the UFC. He initially went 3-4 in his first seven, and since dropping to 185 pounds, he’s gone 3-0 with three knockouts. He also has knockout wins in all three of those weight classes, which is incredible. If that doesn’t show you how good of an athlete he is, and/or how well he can adapt, nothing will. Having not started an MMA career until his late twenties, it’s a wonder where he’d be if he started sooner.
What would you like to see be next for Jared “The Killa Gorilla” Cannonier?
Tomorrow morning (Sat. September 28, 2019) UFC on ESPN+ 18 goes down from the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark. In the main event of the night, a middleweight matchup takes place between Jack Hermansson and Jared Cannonier. Both men have been on a roll in the 185-pound division as of late, making for an interesting matchup. We […]
Tomorrow morning (Sat. September 28, 2019) UFC on ESPN+ 18 goes down from the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark.
In the main event of the night, a middleweight matchup takes place between Jack Hermansson and Jared Cannonier. Both men have been on a roll in the 185-pound division as of late, making for an interesting matchup. We here at LowKickMMA have compiled our predictions for tomorrow afternoon’s main event. Check them out below.
UFC Copenhagen Staff Predictions
Jon Fuentes:
Your classic grappler vs. striker matchup here. Hermansson has some of the most dominant grappling in the UFC going at the moment, while Cannonier has looked great with his hands at 185 pounds. On paper, Hermansson should win this fight by taking Cannonier to the ground and controlling him for a decision win. However, I have a funny feeling Cannonier connects with a shot to end the night early. (Prediction: Jared Cannonier)
Abhinav Kini:
This is an intriguing fight involving two guys on winning streaks. However, I feel Jack Hermansson has faced better opposition in the weight class and his superior ground game will ultimately prove decisive. I’m going with “The Joker” to get it done. (Prediction: Jack Hermansson)
Brady Briggs:
This is a very compelling, yet hard to pick main event. Both of these men have flown under the radar for quite some time now, and both got some real exposure in their most recent fights. To me, Hermansson clearly has an edge on the ground, and Cannonier has an edge on the feet. It will be very interesting to see how this one goes, but I think Cannonier might shock everyone and score another knockout. (Prediction: Jared Cannonier)
Cole Shelton:
Hermansson-Cannonier is a really intriguing bout. Cannonier has the striking advantage, while Hermansson has the grappling advantage. If Hermansson can get Cannonier to the ground he could very well submit him, which I think will happen. However, don’t be surprised if Cannonier knocks Hermansson out. (Prediction: Jack Hermansson)
What do you think of our UFC Copenhagen staff predictions?
This past weekend (Sat. September 21, 2019) at UFC on ESPN+ 17, we had a great night of fights and quite the underwhelming main event. The event featured twelve fights, seven of which went the distance, with three knockouts, one submission, and of course the no contest in the main event. The show was headlined […]
This past weekend (Sat. September 21, 2019) at UFC on ESPN+ 17, we had a great night of fights and quite the underwhelming main event. The event featured twelve fights, seven of which went the distance, with three knockouts, one submission, and of course the no contest in the main event.
The show was headlined by top ten featherweights Jeremy ‘Lil Heathen’ Stephens and Yair ‘El Pantera’ Rodriguez, but we didn’t get much of a show like we thought we would. Just 15 seconds into the fight and it was over, Rodriguez had poked Stephens in the eye, so bad in fact that after Herb Dean gave Stephens the allowed five minutes to recover, his eye still wouldn’t even open.
We at LowKickMMA have compiled a list of five fights to make after their showings. Where do the winners go from here? Where do the losers go from here? Continue reading to see our five matchups:
Misha Cirkunov (15-5) vs. Paul Craig (12-4)
The timeline for these two works out quite beautifully, considering Misha Cirkunov just fought the weekend before last, and of course, Paul Craig just had his fight this past Saturday as well. Both had the best performances they’ve had inside the UFC to date. Cirkunov submitted the highly touted, young prodigy in Jimmy Crute with a Peruvian necktie, and Craig got just his second win inside the UFC without having lost the majority of the fight before finishing it.
It was a bit surprising that the UFC didn’t cut Craig after his most recent loss to Alonzo Menifield. He was then 3-4 inside the promotion at that point, he’d gotten finished in all four of his losses, and two of his three wins were in the final moments of fights he was losing. Craig was getting mauled by Magomed Ankalaev the entire fight, and got the tap via triangle choke with literally one second left in the fight. Then against Kennedy Nzechukwu, he was losing that fight as well, and ended up sinking in a triangle choke and got the tap with 40 seconds left.
The only fight Craig had really looked good in was his UFC debut, a back-and-forth fight that saw him win via armbar in round two, until UFC Mexico that is. He looked great this past Saturday, he’s certainly been putting in the work. After hurting Vinicius Moreira badly and almost getting the stoppage via strikes, Craig jumped on his back and sunk in the rear-naked choke for the victory over the BJJ black belt. He shouldn’t have even had to do that to be honest, that fight should’ve been stopped via TKO before Craig even had the chance to take Moreira’s back. Nonetheless, it was an incredible performance from “Bearjew”.
Cirkunov submitted the only fighter to ever submit Craig in his last fight; as mentioned above, Cirkunov defeated Crute via peruvian necktie, while Crute submitted Craig via kimura after dominating him for over 14 minutes. Cirkunov has also been submitted before, but not since his first and second losses in 2010 and 2012. Wouldn’t this be a great grapple-fest to see? Both guys have had somewhat of a rocky road in the UFC, with some success as well, but both are highly skilled and incredibly entertaining. How would this one go?
Irene Aldana (11-5) vs. Julianna Pena (9-3)
Irene Aldana had one of her best performances to date at UFC Mexico as well, as she easily out-struck Vanessa Melo 127-68 in total strikes over the course of three rounds. Aldana’s striking looked great, especially her hands. The combinations she threw, and her shovel hooks, in particular, she’s evolved in the game quite nicely.
Aldana came to the UFC with a 7-2 record, finishing all of her wins. After going 0-2 in her first two UFC outings, she’s since gone 4-1, with that only loss via split decision to Raquel Pennington, a fight that could’ve gone either way. A fight that’d be great to see her in now is one against The Ultimate Fighter 18 winner Julianna Pena, who successfully returned after two-and-a-half years away this past July.
With Aldana at 31-years-old, and Pena at 30-years-old, this is a great time to make this fight while they’re both at, or close to their peak. How does this one go down?
Jussier Formiga (23-6) vs. Sergio Pettis (18-5) II
Sergio Pettis just defeated the debuting Tyson Nam by out-striking him 96-43 in total strikes to a unanimous decision victory. Nam was certainly the underdog, but he’s a great fighter, and he belongs in the UFC. Pettis’ first fight with Formiga happened just after Pettis beat Joseph Benavidez, it looked like he was about to be fighting for the title. He came out and did well in round one, but got taken down toward the end of round two, and got his back taken for the entirety of round three.
Pettis recently said that his head wasn’t completely in that fight because he heard the flyweight division was going to be cut, and all of his hard work wasn’t worth anything considering. He then moved back up to 135 pounds to fight Rob Font after losing to Formiga and suffered back-to-back losses for the first time ever in his career. After not having a fight for nine months, he came back and defeated Nam.
Let’s see how much Pettis has improved since then, we all know how good he is. Look at his fight with Benavidez, that’s what he’s capable of. Yes, that was a close fight, but Benavidez is the No. 2 flyweight out there, maybe even No. 1, he does boast a win over Henry Cejudo. Also, “The Phenom” almost knocked Benavidez out in the first round of their fight. A rematch with Formiga makes all the sense in the world at this point.
Brandon Moreno (15-5-1) vs. Askar Askarov (10-0-1) II
A draw was the perfect result for this fight because there was no winner or loser. This fight was so close, yet so competitive and so entertaining, it’d be a shame if we don’t get to see this one get run back. With Moreno being the former MCC flyweight champion with three title defenses before coming to the UFC, then going 3-2 inside the UFC, getting cut, then winning the LFA flyweight championship via TKO in round four, it’s great to see that the UFC picked him back up.
On the other hand, Askarov is the former ACB flyweight champion, and we all see why now. This man can fight, and he’s only 26-years-old, just a year older than Moreno. Rounds one and two showed the two striking each other, primarily Moreno having more success than Askarov, but Askarov had a few nice takedowns and a good amount of back control at one point in each of the first two rounds. Round three was the only clear round to score, which was Moreno’s round considering his beautiful trip and top game kept him on top for the majority of the round.
It’s great that to see that one judge scored this fight 28-28, we don’t see that very often. Unless the referee takes a point, we almost never see an even round, but we should. Even rounds shouldn’t be scored often, perhaps not even at every event, but they’re absolutely necessary when a round is so close.
Most of the time, if a round is close, the judges will just give it to the more popular fighter, or maybe even the hometown fighter, that’s not how it should be. If the round is that close to where they don’t know who to give it to, a 10-10 score is a great idea and should be implemented more often.
These are two of the best flyweights on the entire planet, and it’s great to see both of them inside the UFC. Why not run this one back? It was one of the best fights of the night, and probably should’ve gotten the Fight of the Night award. What do you think, would you like to see it again?
Yair Rodriguez (11-2) 1 NC vs. Jeremy Stephens (28-16) 1 NC II
Again, yet another fight needs to be run back. We only got to see 15 seconds of this contest, and before we knew it, it was over. Rodriguez ended up poking Stephens in the eye, thus resulting in a no contest. Stephens has already made a video post stating “Yair, you think I’m faking bro? You’re the one that poked me in the eye. Let’s run it back… four or five weeks, two weeks, whatever, I’ll be ready.”
This was about to be a great, entertaining contest between two incredibly dangerous featherweights. We have the brutal power of Jeremy Stephens and the stunning footwork and lethal skill set of Yair Rodriguez. Who knows how it would’ve went, it’s impossible to say. Hopefully, we can get Rodriguez to agree to the rematch and sign the contract again.
If this fight was signed again, how do you think it would go? It’s so unfortunate to have an event end like that, especially one that was as exciting as this one was. We really had some great fights, and to have it just end like that, it sucks, but it’s part of the sport.
Do you think Rodriguez will sign another contract to fight Stephens again?
