Rory MacDonald is apparently asking Scott Coker to let him be an alternate if anyone has to pull out of the tournament. Scott tentatively agreed, but wants to wait to see what happens with Rory's next fight before he promises anything. [Reply]
This is going to be a really busy weekend with a really good PPV that probably wont sell as much as it should.
Friday
7pm TV - (6:30 pm Fightpass/7pm FS1) - The Ultimate Fighter Finale, Montano vs Modafferi
This is a Friday TUF Finale without the coaches on the card. So, its going to be terrible. Normally I'd say you have no other options, but in this case you have plenty of alternatives. You may want to switch to this at roughly 11:30pm if you are curious about who will become the inaugural UFC w125 champ.
6:30pm - (Fightpass) - Glory 48
Here's one alternative, Glory kickboxing. Thats cool, but you'll probably not watch because...
8pm TV - (Spike) - Bellator 189, Budd vs Blencowe 2
This is a bit below average by Bellator standards, but its probably the choice because the UFC card is utter garbage.
Saturday
7pm TV - (5:15pm Fightpass/7pm FS1/9pm PPV) - UFC 218, Holloway vs Aldo 2
The prelims are OK, but the main card is excellent. If you are a big fight fan who tries to watch most of the PPV's, then this is going to be on your schedule Saturday night, because if this holds together its an above-average UFC PPV. Alvarez vs Gaethje should be fun, the co-main is probably a heavyweight title eliminator, and then the main event is pretty cool. Other 2 fights are decent as well.
Sunday
8pm - (Fightpass) - EBI 14: The Absolutes
The Eddie Bravo Invitational is always fun and this time there is no weight class for the tournament, so we'll get to see who is arguably the best submission grappler in the world. [Reply]
Me too but it's pretty pathetic really, Only 4 are true heavy weights, Everyone but Meat Head are past their prime and Sonnen and Rampage haven't been good for years. I'm surprised they don't have Paul Buentello or Rico Rodriguez in there somewhere. [Reply]
GSP has decided to vacate the MW championship and has told the UFC he wants to go back to Welterweight. So, Whittaker will fight Rockhold for the real MW title.
edit: Whittaker has also been promoted to champion, so it'll be his first defense. [Reply]
This is a weird weekend, because we have a TON of fights on fightpass. And, lets see... oh of course Bellator is also going to be on. Well, lets dive in then.
edit: Just because I was curious, I just counted the number of fights. Between Fightpass, Spike, and FS1, there are 54 MMA fights and 9 Kickboxing bouts this weekend, and as you can imagine about 1/3 of the MMA matches are stuffed into the Pancrase card.
Friday
5:30 pm - (Fightpass) - TKO 41
Canadian local promotion from Quebec. Seems about average by local promotion standards, they seem to have the best local fighters in the city, but who knows if that means anything.
7pm - (Fightpass) - Invicta FC 26
Its about average by Invicta's low standards. There are a couple prospects who the UFC might be watching, including whoever wins the 125 belt in the last match since they are just opening that division up in the UFC.
Saturday
12:30 pm - (Fightpass) - Glory: Redemption
Its kickboxing, I don't know how good this card is, but it seems to have more hype than normal. If you don't want to watch kickboxing, then Bellator has an early card for you.
2pm - (Spike) - Bellator 190, Carvalho vs. Sakara
This short 5-fight card live from Italy looks really bad. Even with their MW title on the line, this is one of their worst cards of the year by tapology rankings.
7pm TV - (5:30pm Fightpass/7pm FS1) - UFC Fight Night, Swanson vs. Ortega
This card is a bit below average by UFC standards, but the hardcore fight fans will likely be interested because its loaded up with top prospects who might only need 1 or 2 more wins to break into the top 15 in their divisions. If you don't care about that, then tune in at about 11:30pm for what should be a fun fight between Cub Swanson and Brian Ortega
midnight - (Fightpass) - Pancrase 292
As usual, they have this loaded up with a silly number of fights, looks like about 17 this time. No commercial breaks, they just run them in and out of there. By their very low standards, this doesn't look bad I suppose, so if you are awake in the middle of the night, maybe have this running in the background on your computer. [Reply]
Hope this is a good fight. Pretty unremarkable card to get here. I was pretty high on Sterling before tonight, but he looked reckless before getting knocked out hard
