UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Strickland

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

you can call me affirmative action
or any backwards transaction
time to make some abstractions
i stole Jordan Peele's girlfriend
while this nerd was nuance napping
and people wonder why he's so racist
showed her ten seconds of slapping
splashing jumpers in their faces
Prison Mike is never cappin'
every weekend couch casting
no religion but like Khabib we fasting
illuminati approached me...
so anyway i started blasting

* Edited at 12.17.2022, 11:06 AM ET *

Strickland fight to not go the distance
Albazi 
Brundage fight to not go the distance
Morozov 

That my friends is the lock of the card tail it if you feel like it it’s certi money 
Let’s get this bread

Cannonier vs. Strickland
Jared Cannonier, TKO, R2
Sean is at a disadvantage here. Hell need to land early and push Jared onto the back foot for the fight. Easier said than done with Jared's new style of boxing. check hooks and blitzes will be there all day for Jared I feel.

Tsarukyan vs. Ismagulov
Arman Tsarukyan, DEC
This could go either way. Arman should have the advantage on the feet and the strength advantage.

Albazi vs. Costa
Amir Albazi, TKO, R1
Amir has every advantage here. Costa's best opportunity is on the feet.

Caceres vs. Erosa
Julian Erosa, DEC
Julian should pick up a much easier W with this matchup. Cant let Alex have the first round.

Dober vs. Green
Drew Dober, TKO, R3
I feel bobby is live here if he can keep the range off Drew 1-2 and counter with his own jab and check hooks. Very fun fight. Picking drew because Bobby does tend to fall asleep on the range and drew can forsure set him down with the way he covers distance.

Brundage vs. Oleksiejczuk
Michał Oleksiejczuk, TKO, R2
Honestly I feel this fight is much closer than odds give and how the fight looks on paper. Would not be surprised if Cody found the lay and pray/submission win here.

Vlismas vs. McKenna
Cory McKenna, DEC
I never like picking alpha male fighters because they lack so many different fundamentals, but I've had a lil soft spot for cory. She needs to lay and pray here I feel unless her boxing has improved.

Matthews vs. Semelsberger
Jake Matthews, TKO, R1
I mean.. Jake has just been doing everything right. The first two minutes of this fight should be hectic. I feel Matt knows he cant win this on his skill alone and will need to find the ko. Fireworks in the making.

Nurmagomedov vs. Kakhramonov
Said Nurmagomedov, DEC
Nothing but bangers on this card man. This will be tight both on the feet and ground. Said has more weapons to win with and should be the more polished fighter.

Maheshate vs. García
Maheshate, TKO, R2
Another tough one to call. The check hooks will be there for Maheshate (his favorite shot.) Would not be surpirsed if he KO's garcia in the first. Rafa will need to press, find the takedown, and not push his punches (a bad habit of his.) Im predicting he abandons the wrestling and pays big on a lazy lead straight right hand.

Battle vs. Fakhretdinov
Bryan Battle, DEC
Hard fight to call here. I havent seen Bryan fight backwards before. Im sure hes going to get touched up in this fight, or at least have to deal with the pressure of Rinat. I do like the straight punches and footwork from Bryan. Why im picking him here. Heart and timing is what will win this fight.

Dvořák vs. Kape
Manel Kape, TKO, R1
Ive gone back and forth on this. David has a huge advantage on the ground. Kape has it on the feet. fights start standing so will run it on kape. Kape is also fairly strong and has a very good understanding of his and his opponent's range.

Morozov vs. Newson
Sergey Morozov, TKO, R2
Sergey has the sharper stricking. Journey will have his opportunities at range, but his timing will have had to improve dramatically to catch morozov.

Cannonier vs. Strickland
Jared Cannonier, DEC
think i trust jared's gas tank more and i don't expect him to get caught up in a battle of bravado that strickland likes to create.

Tsarukyan vs. Ismagulov
Damir Ismagulov, DEC
i'm gonna take a flyer here. arman still very much looks like a future contender, but damir has shown that he knows how to pilot a fight better i think.

Albazi vs. Costa
Amir Albazi, SUB, R2
respect to costa for stepping up, but amir is looking like he can compete in the upper end of this division. i'll say he can find his td and dominate from there.

Caceres vs. Erosa
Julian Erosa, DEC
i don't think erosa will be stationary enough to let alex really get his volume going nor will he have the power to make him pay when he plants. ground game could get interesting though.

Dober vs. Green
Drew Dober, DEC
question is will bobby be slick enough to avoid the big shots and will he wrestle? i'll say we get a classic bobby green fight and by that i mean he tries his best to slip and no-sell everything while his opponent keeps pushing forward and scoring.

Brundage vs. Oleksiejczuk
Michał Oleksiejczuk, TKO, R2
i'll say michal outlasts cody and lands something big.

Vlismas vs. McKenna
Cheyanne Vlismas, DEC
i'm 0-3 with mckenna and 3-0 with cheyanne... maybe not a good sign. i'll say cheyanne stays off her back and wins with power shots?

Matthews vs. Semelsberger
Jake Matthews, DEC
semi hasn't really shown the sort of td game and ground control that has gotten to jake in the past, but he is the bigger man and probably has more power. i'll still say matthews works his movement/volume and can level change if need be.

Nurmagomedov vs. Kakhramonov
Said Nurmagomedov, TKO, R2
unsure kakhramonov will come with enough volume, but maybe he can wrestle his way to taking rounds? i'll say he gets forced to trade.

Maheshate vs. García
Maheshate, DEC
who knows here. strategic weight miss to stay extra heavy against a strong grappler? i'll say maheshate can avoid the mat long enough to take rounds on striking.

Battle vs. Fakhretdinov
Bryan Battle, DEC
rinat will probably get battle down a few times, but i'll say he can't do enough with it to steal rounds from an active opponent who seems to know how to use his length decently well for still being so new.

Dvořák vs. Kape
Manel Kape, TKO, R2
i don't think dvorak is gonna try to take manel down and he's likely on the wrong end of power balance. it's possible he avoids the early heat and wins on volume once kape slows down, but i'll say he can't do enough.

Morozov vs. Newson
Sergey Morozov, DEC
favoring morozov's strength of competition, but it's possible he gets stuck trading outside.

Hey Cody Brundage!  If you are reading this my friend... I will be a free coach for you right now.  If you want to win this fight against Michal, this is all you have to do.  





That's it.  It's that simple.  Get the man down, attack with sub attempts until you finally latch onto something.

has cody done this in a ufc fight?

also crute outgrappled paul craig

Crute is way bigger and Brundage is no Crute

Brundage is definitely very live. He trains with Jacoby who's fought Oleksiejczuk. He has a very clear, but not easy path to victory. Hussar is going to put it on him early and knows what Brundage is looking to do. Closer fight than people think. 

Said/Said
Dober/Green
Cacares/Erosa

All coin flips IMO. 

@JReynolds47, I'm not sure if he has been that aggressive with his wrestling in the UFC but he certainly has the tools to do so as he has shown historically in his career.  He has a huge advantage over Michal on the floor if he gets him there. 

Brundage hasn’t translated his college wrestling background into mma very well. Plus michal is a lhw so he’s gonna be much stronger 

I'm probably getting too excited because it's the last card of the year before the one month break so I threw a unit on Brundage by submission at +650.  Odds are too good.  I am probably going to lose money on this card but it is what it is, let's see if lady luck can throw me a bone for this one.  

Albazi vs. Costa
Amir Albazi, SUB, R1
Flyin' Guillotines at yo neck

Cannonier vs. Strickland
Cannonier, KO/TKO
Power.

Tsarukyan vs. Ismagulov
Tsarukyan, KO/TKO
Ismagulov arguably lost his last fight and Tsarukyan is determined to get a finish and not leave this to the judges.

Albazi vs. Costa
Amir Albazi, DEC
Costa is actually pretty good but Albazi's grappling looks like its on another level. This being a short notice fight also makes it all but impossible for Costa but this is a great last minute opponent for someone like Albazi. Costa can crack but the chances he lands a good shot on Albazi and capitalizes is very, very slim.

Caceres vs. Erosa
Cacares, DEC
I don't see Cacares being fazed by Erosa's pressure or volume. I think skill for skill these two are pretty even but they have 3 common opponents since 2019 (Springer, Choi and Peterson) and Cacares had a better result in each instance. Both of these guys have good sub/grappling which should negate each other and Cacares isn't exactly heavy handed, so I see him taking it by decision.

Dober vs. Green
Green, DEC
Kind of already alluded to this in a different post but Bobby Green is very hard to finish. He's also a decent wrestler so while I could see Dober having some success there off strength alone I don't think he can dominate Green for 3 rounds doing that, nor does he want to. These guys are going to stand and bang and Bobby is a phenomenal striker. I could see this being very similar to the Dober/Ridell fight where Dober could lose a close decision.

Brundage vs. Oleksiejczuk
Oleksiejczuk, KO/TKO
Brundage is live and might even have a good first round but I think the striking difference is going to be too great. Brundage has to get Hussar down early, wear him out and cause as much damage as possible. If he can have a really good first round and take some wind of Hussars sails, he could pull this off. Very tempted to switch my pick here but I will refrain.

Vlismas vs. McKenna
Vlismas, DEC
Taking the reach and size here. Pretty low level WMMA here so grasping at straws either way.

Matthews vs. Semelsberger
Matthews, KO/TKO
Semelsberger cannot hang with Matthews skill for skill so he will go out on his sword swinging.

Nurmagomedov vs. Kakhramonov
Nurmagomedov, DEC
Razor close fight. I have to rank Saids last win over DSA as best win by either fighter but both UFC and sportsbooks  giving Kakhramonov lots of deserved love. He's 2-0 so far, the first being a short notice finish of a heavy handed striker followed by a complete ass whooping of one of the better prospects and a great grappler. Both of these guys can do it all. Big FOTN potential here.

Maheshate vs. García
Garcia, SUB
There should be a very clear experience, strength and grappling advantage here.

Battle vs. Fakhretdinov
Battle, DEC
Very close fight but I think Battle will be able to counter grapple well enough to win two rounds.

Dvořák vs. Kape
Kape, KO/TKO
Dvorak has an advantage on the ground but that's it.

Morozov vs. Newson
Morozov, SUB
Newson is a decent striker but this fight is kind of lopsided. 

Dober vs. Green
Drew Dober, DEC
Dober is gonna **** him up

I have Cannonier winning by KO.

last ufc event of the year