UFC on ESPN: Whittaker Vs. Gastelum

Main Card:

Middleweight: Robert Whittaker Vs. Kelvin Gastelum

Lightweight: Jeremy Stephens Vs. Drakkar Klose

Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski Vs. Chase Sherman

Middleweight: Abdul Razak Alhassan Vs. Jacob Malkoun

Lightweight: Luis Peña Vs. Alexander Munoz

Prelims:

Catchweight (126.5 lb): Tracy Cortez Vs. Justine Kish

Heavyweight: Alexander Romanov Vs. Juan Espino

Women’s Strawweight: Jessica Penne Vs. Lupita Godinez

Middleweight: Gerald Meerschaert Vs. Bartosz Fabiński

Lightweight: Austin Hubbard Vs. Dakota Bush

Bantamweight: Tony Gravely Vs. Anthony Birchak

---

Whittaker is a nonwhite, half-Polynesian, but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders, so I don't much object to him getting the title shot first against Adesanya, although I think he will lose as he seems to struggle with good strikers (Wonderboy, Till, Adesanya). I will be rooting for possibly Marvin to get a title shot as I favor him over the often unreliable Till, but he may be too green/undeveloped.

Defending LHW champ Vadim Nemkov beats Phil Davis on the Bellator card today.

Birchak was TKOd 1st Rd.

Hubbard with a good win over newcomer Dakota Bush, who was able to go 3 rds.

Meerschaert with his 24th submission win of his career! Beautiful guillotine put Bartosz The Butcher to sleep.

Bucky said:

Meerschaert with his 24th submission win of his career! Beautiful guillotine put Bartosz The Butcher to sleep.

Click to expand...

Good to see you posting on MMA threads again, it was a pretty good result for us last week even if no one else posted. Stephens is coming off of a few Losses so it's also his chance for redemption tonight.

Im very high on Romanov, who not only is subject to fighting on the undercard but fights another tough fighter who should also not be on the undercard. Hopefully this doesnt jinx him and he will climb in the rankings. Guy doesnt look like the baddest man on the planet, he most likely trains with vodka and twinkies but he is a very bad man.

Stephens-Klose is cancelled, apparently from an injury Klose sustained from Stephens pushing him, that leaves maybe 2 caste matchups, Pena being adopted.

Whittaker beats Gastelum.

Bummer the Stephens V Klose fight was cancelled. Also a crappy end to the Romanov V Espino fight. Had good action until the nut shot ended the fight!

Whittaker looked sharp again, I think he handles Adesanya second time around.

Also Andrei Arlovski keeps chugging along at age 42! Solid win over Mississippi's Chase Sherman! Sherman, I just found out. Played College Football as an OL at Delta State!

Bucky said:

Also Andrei Arlovski keeps chugging along at age 42! Solid win over Mississippi's Chase Sherman! Sherman, I just found out. Played College Football as an OL at Delta State!

Click to expand...

Arlovski wants a "few more years" too! I think Arlovski has a more patient style now that he has declined, sadly I think even Arlovski's vaunted power has declined. But it's working.

Would prefer him to upset affletes rather than white prospects, but I feel if they can't make it through Arlovski they probably can't become contenders until they improve,
unless Arlovski has really improved that much himself which is possible in this weak division but unlikely.

Speaking of heavyweight Volkov seems to have changed himself in the Overeem fight, he seems bigger IIRC so he could be a real threat.

Agreed on Arlovski becoming a more rounded fighter, even though his signature power has faded some.

Volkov recovered nicely after that last second KO loss to Lewis.