UFC this weekend: My thoughts
I don't think any of you actually care about my thoughts about what is coming up this weekend with UFC 273 but I am going to tell you anyway.
I think the top-billed fight, the headliner, is a sham. While I personally would love to see the Korean Zombie win this belt-fight against Volkanovski the entire sporting world knows this is an extreme long-shot that UFC is only offering in order to lure in the Asian market.
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Chan Sung Jung, who I personally love by the way and am going to bet on for the win in the long-shot, doesn't stand a chance in this fight and really shouldn't be there. He is only in this fight because UFC is struggling to hang on to the Asian market ever since events have been limited to the United States and a couple of stupid events in the middle east.
To me this is a no brainer. The Korean Zombie has to come out early and get VERY lucky with a strike against one of the best defense-oriented fighters the UFC has ever seen in Volkanovski. Volk is boring because of his defense but that is why he wins. He also had fantastic takedown defense and Zombie is not much of a wrestler anyway. Volk is not going to stand up with Zombie for a long period of time because that is where Chan Sung Jung excels, and everyone knows it.
Vegas agrees with me as the current odds are -720 in favor or Volkanovski meaning that you would have to bet $1000 on a "V" win in order to make $280. This is why, just for fun, I am putting $20 on The Korean Zombie who is seriously out of his element in this fight. I reckon it goes to the ground early with a potential KO for Volk.
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The real "main event" isn't actually the main event and I am sure there are a lot of politics behind this. I don't think anyone actually thinks that Aljamain Sterling actually deserves the belt that he currently holds including the guy who wears it, Aljamain Sterling. He has this belt only because Petr Yan made a terrible mistake in their last meeting and put a knee to the face of a downed opponent - which was just a technicality and everyone involved in MMA knows it. This is the first victory of this sort that I have ever witnessed outside of very low-level events and everyone... including Sterling, didn't like the transfer of the belt to him.
He is a paper-champ and even he knows it. Yan is going to destroy him provided he doesn't accidentally cheat again and hey! look at that! Vegas agrees with me as Petr Yan is a nearly -500 favorite to win... He is also still classified as champion on the official UFC website which is something I have never seen before.
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This is a very dangerous time for "champion" Sterling because nobody respected the way that he won the belt including himself. His reaction to the victory probably would have been difficult for anyone to process but the way he handled it with arrogance was probably not the best way to go. I don't think that anyone will actually be hoping for him to win outside of his team. I suppose it could happen but to me, this seems a safer bet than the Zombie fight which I still don't understand why is the official main event.
Go ahead and get angry at me if you want to but the rest of the card is a who's who of who cares aside from maybe this guy who is trying to keep the mustache culture alive
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That, my friends is a seriously sweet mustache that makes me think of photos of my father in the 70's and if someone can keep that alive I am for it. I will be cheering for Vinc for no other reason that that unless he turns up to the ring mustache-less, in which case I will be rooting for him to be the first person to get killed in the octagon.
To be honest I feel like this upcoming PPV is a bit of a sham and the top-billed is done poorly purely for the sake of marketing. It could bite UFC in the ass though because "Zombie" is basically the only non American or Brazilian in the men's division that is worth talking about. UFC is a business, and unless this thing is fixed (which is a possibility) the elimination of the only Asian male contender could be horrible for them from a business perspective.
Yan vs. Sterling is the real main event and everyone knows it. I have no idea why they booked it any other way.
What do you think? I'd be happy to make a friendly wager with anyone out there if they think I am wrong. Nothing too crazy please.... I'm just an MMA enthusiast, not a rich guy.
Interesting fight and definitely going to keep my eyes peeled for this one as like you said it could be fixed. I suppose it depends on how many subscribe for the PPV from Asia will then reflect the result on this.
I agree that Korean Zombie has no alternative against Volkanovski, but he is fighting this fight because Max Holloway was injured, there was no one else to place him and they gave him the opportunity because otherwise he would not have had this fight for the title. I still don't think I can win, I easily give Volkanovski a 75% chance of winning and I would only win the Korean Zombie if something weird happens.
Petr Yan should win too and that is what I want the most as he is my favorite fighter in the UFC. What I can say is that Sterling worked great on his physique, for me he has the best physical shape of his career and if he can take down Petr Yan maybe he can get him in trouble. I'm still going with Yan winning this fight and being the new champion.
On the other hand, I find it surprising that you didn't talk about Chimaev against Burns, for me that is the best fight of the night and the true star that everyone expects to see. The one who is selling this strong card is Chimaev, he is simply the new sensation of the UFC and he sells a lot of PPV. If he manages to win his megastar status tomorrow, it will get much bigger and it is good for the UFC because it will bring a large public. Greetings friend!
wonderful reply and I agree with most of what you said. Chimaev against Burns is going to be exciting for sure. I just didn't talk about it because it isn't a main event.