The UFC thread

Francis that can stop takedowns is terrifying.

If I'm Jon I'm moving back down to light heavy...

 

JJ starting crash diet back to LHW tonight.

 

One billion plus 75% of PPV revenue and UFC ownership stake or he's dropping back to LHW.

 

Great performances on this card, from sugar's virtuoso performance to luque's exciting brawl with Woodley to Francis amazingly scary performance to become champ.

Stipe's got an unbelievable chin, almost prime Mark hunt great. How he took those shots in the first and the check left hook, then the straight left followed by a huge uppercut in the 2nd and not go to sleep was amazing. That huge right counter he landed was great too. Unfortunately for Stipe, francis has a great chin too...

Francis is one scary mofo. If he doesn't let complacency, ego or hubris overtake him (as Dana/his former coach said he did prior to the fist bout vs Stipe)... I don't expect him to lose again for a LOOONG time.

 

Stipe was too small. Jones probably has a shot but Francis is a problem, he’s going to Amanda Nunes that heavyweight division real quick

And at the same time as that being true, they need to slice up the heavyweight division weights, having people fight 30-40 pounds apart is nuts when you have someone like Ngannu.

 

Man....I thought nothing could put me in a state of total disbelief more than watching the Rockets blow that lead vs the Timberwolves but watching Francis DOMINATE STIPE...is just a whole other level of shock.

 

I think it's going to be the same problem that Izzy had against Blachowicz. Just not big enough, even though Izzy is a skilled fighter the size and power difference was too much.

It's hard to believe that if Stipe could not take Francis down that Jones will be able to. It's also hard to believe that Jones will be able to take punches that Stipe took, most guys are KO'd in the first round but Stipe's chin is something else. Jones is more skilled, dominant in all the areas of the fight but the Mike Tyson rule will apply here. Everyone has a plan until they get hit and if you can't take him down and he's fighting patient like this...forget it.

Bet the fight doesn't happen this year though...I think Jon is going to hold it up as long as possible over money issues. Hence the 'Show me the money' tweet right after and ever since the end of the fight he's been tweeting about the money needs to be right for the fight. Not saying he's scared, just this is the perfect time for him to demand the money he's been wanting.

 

Love to see it

 

Francis has been working with Kamaru Usman on his wrestling so no one is taking him down anymore, especially not Jon Jones. I agree with you on them not fighting until next year, Dana seemed more interested the Derek Lewis rematch for Francis and when asked who he wants next Francis said he's the champ but doesn't make the fights but he'll be ready in September, plus Lewis is the #2 ranked heavyweight I can see them making that fight easier than for whatever Jon Jones is demanding

 

Stipe's chin was also in evidence in the first fight too. He was brilliant in that. He was a phenomenal champ.
The leg kicks were something I noticed later on after the first fight. Stipe could.not.move.him. with those leg kicks in the first fight. He tried again yesterday and basically gave up on that.

I wouldn't listen to much to what Dana and Fernand said about ego or hubris. That wasn't the problem.
Yes there was some complacency in terms of his training camp and Francis felt it was his time to become champ in that fight but he just wasn't ready for the demands on his time going into that fight as well as his preparation.
He took that loss badly from the minute the fight was over to the Derrick Lewis fight.
But he went back to square one after that fight and learned to take his time(amongst other things).

 

No one was taking him down before yesterday either.
I mentioned this on Sherdog previously. If you go back to the first fight in Boston, Stipe had his way with taking down Francis early on. From the first round he saw his openings to shoot in. Francis wasn't as ready as he should've been and with the way he gassed out early on, he couldn't defend it. By the mid rounds Francis got a second wind and began stuffing Stipes takedowns. He ended up stopping 8 of Stipes 14 take down attempts in that fight. As great as Stipe was in that fight, to hear people tell it, Francis was being taken down at will the whole fight. Nah, he showed something towards the end of that but it wasn't enough then.
Then he built on it. And with Kamaru in his corner that was it. It wasn't just take down defense, the wrestling work really began.

As much as I love Francis and I'm thankful this moment is finally here, I think it should've been Stipe vs Bones and Lewis vs Francis, before yesterday.

Now we're hearing Bones-the money fight, and Lewis as well but as bad as Stipe got KO'd, he deserves a third fight just for being champ lol. But it probably won't happen immediately-like they did Stipe after DC got him. (Both held up the division but DC was more eager to fight it seems). Anyway, Francis wants to stay active and is ready to fight before the Summer is over whereas I don't see Stipe getting back in the Octagon until the end of the year. Meh. Francis vs Bones or Francis vs Lewis would be great.

 

Do you think Stipe could ever beat him again? Or is this just another Bones-DC situation where he just has him now?

 

Honestly no. Not sure how anyone could see Stipe getting him again. Especially a much older Stipe. He got Francis at the perfect time. Where championship fight/championship rounds inexperience, lack of patience, proper training, etc all came into play. That's not the case anymore.

 

Usman needs to teach Izzy a little bit of what he taught Francis

 

I think props should go out to North America, Asia, and South America as well.

 

lol

 

Funny thing to me about the Luc and Francis pic.
I was the one who told Luc about Francis several years ago. Luc had never heard of him as I was trying to tell him "yo, there's a Cameroonian doing big things in UFC right now".

Now they're all up in the pics together and I'm posting on my computer