***The Official MMA Thread***

[KcMizzou]

Excited about an upcoming fight? Want to make predictions, or just give people a heads-up that there are some fights on? We can do it here.

(Also a good place to complain, dicuss, and agrue about the outcomes)

[Mecca]

And I found this...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtOT4hEA..._web_copy_link

Joanna Jedrzejczyk: @rondarousey can I join ya in WWE?

[alnorth]

It wasn't the drug Jones tested positive for, but USADA did study the long term effect of clomiphene (which they could since it was FDA approved), and they did find that it was both detectable for a lot longer than they expected, and it also showed metabolites "pulsing" long after they took it.

They believe Turinabol behaves the same way. They also believe that short and intermediate-term metabolites would have been detectable for "several months" after ingestion, and they only found long-term metabolites. Because of that, the chief science officer of USADA and the director of SMRTL both believe these positive tests were residuals from 2017.

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by alnorth

It wasn't the drug Jones tested positive for, but USADA did study the long term effect of clomiphene (which they could since it was FDA approved), and they did find that it was both detectable for a lot longer than they expected, and it also showed metabolites "pulsing" long after they took it.

They believe Turinabol behaves the same way. They also believe that short and intermediate-term metabolites would have been detectable for "several months" after ingestion, and they only found long-term metabolites. Because of that, the chief science officer of USADA and the director of SMRTL both believe these positive tests were residuals from 2017.

They didn't test him for almost a year. How would they know whether it was pulsing in Jon Jones or not?

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

They didn't test him for almost a year. How would they know whether it was pulsing in Jon Jones or not?

They don't, that part took about an hour to fully flesh out, but what I got from that is short- and intermediate-term metabolites can be detected for about 3-4 months.

So, Jones could have taken Turinabol in the first half of that 10-month gap, but he would have been caught with more than just long-term if he took it in the last half of the testing gap.

One of the commissioners asked USADA how the hell they allowed a 10 month gap to happen for someone like Jon Jones and they essentially said "yeah, we ****ed up, sorry". They pretty much said from now on anyone who is caught with Turinabol is going to be tested more often to try to detect those short and medium-term metabolites which should not be in their system at all.

[alnorth]

The chairman of the Nevada AC has proposed giving Jon Jones a "1 fight license" and he'd have to come back to ask for another license after that if he wanted it.

He is also going to require that Jones be tested twice a month every month for the entire year of 2019 regardless of where he chooses to fight. "You are going to live with someone in a labcoat for a long time"

edit: They are explaining that this isn't some ridiculous punishment, but since they can't have a Turinabol study (it would be unethical), then they want to collect a shitton of data on Jones to help them in future cases with other athletes.

edit2: If Jon Jones starts the twice a month testing, and then stops (say after his next fight) before the end of the year, then he probably will not get another license in Nevada.

edit3: Nevada unanimously approved Jones to fight. Nevada is taking it upon themselves to test Jones 2 or 3 times for the next 40 days (paid for by Jones himself). After that, they will coordinate with USADA and VADA to try to make sure he is tested twice a month for all of 2019.

[Sassy Squatch]

Poor Jon Jones. He's the only one who has performance enhancing drugs from the past "pulsing."

[alnorth]

Khabib Nurmagomedov announced that because of the 1 year suspensions given to the guys in his corner, he will never fight in Nevada again, and he will also not fight at all until their suspensions are over. He's currently asking the UFC to book him for a fight at MSG in November.

[alnorth]

Ready for the UFC? I hope you are, because they are going to have a card every single weekend from now till.... who the hell knows when, their schedule doesn't go out far enough to show an empty weekend, but its at least going to be 9 straight.

This weekend will be their first Brazil card of the year.

Thursday

9pm - (Fightpass) - Roy Jones Jr. Boxing

There is a random boxing card tonight on Fightpass.

Friday

7pm - (Fightpass) Glory 63

Kickboxing

8pm - (Fightpass) XFN 356

Small local card from Tulsa. Based on tapology rankings, it is pretty low quality even for a local card.

9:30pm - (Fightpass) Friday Night Fights

This is a Muay Thai event from New York, probably the best thing on fightpass on Friday night.

Saturday

4pm - (ESPN+) - UFC Fight Night, Assuncao vs. Moraes 2

Historically Brazil cards have been ****ing awful, with maybe 1 good fight at the end, a couple old depressing guys, and thats it. This card though is pretty good as far as Brazil cards go. The prelims still don't have much, but the main card (starts at 7pm) has 4 or 5 decent fights.

midnight - (Fightpass) - Quintet Japan

Quintet is a fun "king of the hill" type of submission grappling event where two teams of 5 battle one on one, winner stays on to fight the next guy on the other team, etc until one team runs out of fighters.

[alnorth]

ESPN has given Dominick Cruz and Gilbert Melendez a half hour show every week to break down fights, their first show will be Sunday before their super bowl pregame coverage starts.

[alnorth]

We have a UFC PPV this week.... though some of you will need to stream it (UFC app on computer, Roku, PS4, ESPN app, etc there are options). The UFC 234 PPV will not be available on DirecTV this weekend. This should not matter for anyone who has even the slightest bit of technical knowledge. Most UFC cards are streaming now anyway.

Thursday

9pm - (Fightpass) - Island Fights 52

Based on tapology rankings, this is actually a decent card by local promotion standards, which is unusual for a Thursday night.

Saturday

2pm - (Internet) - Bellator Newcastle

This is the first of a series of fight cards that Bellator is featuring this year in Europe, trying to grow their fanbase. Its not at a time convenient for the US, but they probably didn't want to compete with a good UFC PPV anyway. This card is actually decent for Bellator, and its reportedly free for US viewers on their online app.

7pm TV - (5:30pm Fightpass/7pm ESPN/9pm PPV) - UFC 234, Whittaker vs. Gastelum

As usual for UFC PPV's, the card is top-heavy. The prelims and early prelims are really kind of bad on paper (so I assume they'll probably be great in reality). Many of the prelim fighters were pretty much signed for just this card from Asia and Australia so they pretty much know they'll need a flashy KO or finish to have any hope of staying on.

In the main card, we start slow with a good likeable guy (Sam Alvey) who just might be the most boring fighter on the roster. The only reason he's still here is that he somehow keeps piling up KO's (usually after standing and doing nothing much for several minutes). The last 3 fights are great, overall this PPV is maybe slightly above average.

[alnorth]

***THE MAIN EVENT TONIGHT IS OFF***

Robert Whittaker had an abdominal hernia and needed surgery last night.

The fight card would have still been pretty good for TV, but it is now very much below average for a PPV.

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by alnorth

***THE MAIN EVENT TONIGHT IS OFF***

Robert Whittaker had an abdominal hernia and needed surgery last night.

The fight card would have still been pretty good for TV, but it is now very much below average for a PPV.

Whats Cowboy doing? Im sure hes up for a fight lol

Well I just googled him and saw this! He is up for a fight lol

Well I’m in Australia @danawhite “ I know a guy!! “

— Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) February 9, 2019

Also sounds like hes probably fighting McGregor this summer.

[alnorth]

Dana White pretty clearly spelled out what he thinks the interim title means tonight in a press conference. It only means you are next, thats it. "If you can't fight, then you are out ... the machine has to keep going". They may wait for champs, but they will not wait for interim champs.

[alnorth]

OK, here we go. This weekend is going to be very busy with a crapton of local cards, two Bellator cards, and ending with the first all-ESPN UFC card on Sunday night.

Friday

6:30pm - (Fightpass) - Hernandez vs. Garcia

Boxing

7pm - (Fightpass) - Invicta FC 34

Live from Kansas City, as far as Invicta cards go, this is much better than usual, with several high ranked top-50 prospects and their Flyweight title.

8pm - (Paramount) - Bellator 215, Mitrione vs. Kharitonov

Bellator is doing it again. They are giving us a crappy Friday card topped by a couple good fights to get us to tune in so they can hype the hell out of their DAZN card. They REALLY want us to pay another $5/month for that streaming service. Anyway, this card is below average, just tune in near the end for the last 2 fights.

Saturday

3pm - (Fightpass) - Cage Warriors 101

Top European B-league promotion, this is about average for them.

5pm - (Fightpass) - Coyle vs. Scott

Boxing

7:30pm - (Fightpass) - CFFC 72

This is one of the top B-leagues in the Northeast US, and its above average by local promotion standards.

9pm - (DAZN) - Bellator 216, MVP vs. Daley

This card is stacked for Bellator, with the first round of their Welterweight Grand Prix. The last 4 fights are all very good, but unfortunately you have to pay for DAZN to see it.

2:30am - (Fightpass) - Pancrase, Rebels Ring 1

I have no idea what this is, its not on tapology. Based on their history though, this card is probably hot garbage.

Sunday

6pm TV - (4:30pm ESPN+/6pm ESPN) - UFC Fight Night on ESPN, Ngannou vs. Velasquez

After wading through that big mess of fight cards Friday and Saturday, your reward is this card. The main card is insane for free TV, they are really starting their ESPN deal off with a bang. Out of the last 6 fights, 5 of them are very interesting, capped off with a crazy heavyweight bout. The prelims starting at 6pm are also great. The early prelims..... eh, whatever overall we have 9 good fights out of 13 booked. On paper this might be one of the best free UFC cards of the year.

[Titty Meat]

Some pretty good fights tonight wish this were on a Saturday tho