UFC on FOX 18: Rumble vs Bader

Stream for the weigh ins later

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhwDPU_r8XU

anyone watching? main card just started, ellenberger looked better than i thought but still lost fairly convincingly, I'm on all fav's from here on out. looking forward to watching rumble, I think ppl are overestimating bader's wrestling here, AJ has very good grappling, and much improved cardio, I see it playing out like the rumble/phil davis fight at the worst for him. may hedge small on bader decision, just in case. I'm surprised rumble's price has drifted to 1.43 tbh, thought it would stay at 1.3 max

one thing that has worried me a bit is that rumble looks a bit smaller than normal, hopefully it's not the new testing that's responsible...maybe he just trimmed down a bit for improved cardio, He still had trousers on at the weigh in which was surprising, looks to of made the cut easily which has always been a big question-mark for him.  could be bader was just wearing shoes at the weigh in that made him look bigger but he definitely looked bigger. he's so robotic in his movement though i don't think it will matter. seems like an easy target for Anthony to hit on paper

lol sage got embarrassed, terrible bottom game, but he's only 19 so he's still got potential, 155 is much better for him imo, I think he should lose some muscle, he gasses to quick and that's a terrible combination for someone with his ground skills where he struggles to get back to his feet, and get's taken down multiple times.

wow, don't think anyone saw rothwell by sub, he had a big size advantage, think that was the difference, barnett shoulda gone for takedowns earlier when he had more gas.

Damn, rumble ktfo bader soo easy there, that was impressive..

There was a bit of a drift on Sage before the fight, fair play to the other guy though who beat him on such short notice.

Ben Rothwell was buzzing after his win, he could well cause a stir in the title department but I just don't feel he has the ability to conquer the top 3 in this division.

I fancied Rumble but didn't back him as I was a little concerned about the drift and how Bader would play it.  He played it very badly, going for a take down from too far away in my eyes meaning it was too easy for Rumble to sprawl and take control of the fight from there onwards.

On another note, nice to see Paul Daley win again with another decent KO.  The rematch with Koscheck is ever nearer but will the fight pan out any different with Koscheck lay and pray for 15 minutes ?

Barbarena's celebration after he beat sage was hilarious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJP5_y0LA3Y apparently sage had strep throat and was on antibiotics in the week leading up to the fight, might explain the choke a bit. he'll be back anyway, kid's only 19 still.

Rothwell is fighting Junior dos santos next, interesting fight, I like rothwell here tbh. JDS looked terrible vs the reem.

terrible fight IQ by bader, he got a lot of criticism for that performance. I believe he didn't think he could win.

ye that daly KO was nice, shame his opponent wasn't a bit better. I think he'll KO koscheck if they fight again. koscheck is the better fighter but he's old and has a lot of ware on his body. taken some bad KO's too late in his career.

didn't look good how he tapped though, got a serious hole in his game and needs to work at it. Im not really seeing the potential most are with this kid, yea he looks like he's sculpted from stone and got some flashy stuff but nothing stand s out for me, but as you say he's young so we'll see.

Agree reg Rothwell vs JDS. DS looked totally gunshy again overeem, would be all over big ben for this.

Bader let himself down there, i think the way he dived in for the takedown showed how, i dont like to say this and not totally sure its what i mean but scared of rumbles power. He knew if he stood he was going out.

All you have to do with koscheck is jab him in the eye once and he has to wipe it every other second for rest of the fight, id be worried he's going to have serious issues with it later in life.

if im honest i think the 3 fights jds and cain had took the soul out of both of them, they were wars, he just hasnt looked the same fighter since them fights otherwise id be all over jds to beat big ben pretty easily but he has not looked the same guy, looked a shadow of himself against overeem