The Doctor's Stoppage MMA Blog

 I feel like every time Islam Makhachev fights, I say that this should be his toughest fight yet and should finally face some resistance. He then proceeds to go out and absolutely dominate his opponent with virtually no resistance at all and this time was no different. With respect to Bobby Green, I do wish we could have seen Beneil Dariush in that spot. I think we all have a great deal of respect for Bobby Green, but, especially on 10 days notice, he wasn't on the level of Islam Saturday night. I thought he would use his unique style and natural skills to give Makhachev a different look and at least give him something to deal with, but he didn't. Islam walked him down, threw him to the ground, and pounded him out like it was nothing. This was the same Bobby Green that Nasrat Haqparast couldn't even touch just a couple weeks ago. I like to address the performances within the article now, so I'll leave the intro there. Islam Makhachev was about as good as he could've...

 Alright, waiting until the last minute last week resulted in a good week of picks so maybe we can get two in a row because its 1:00 and I'm just starting so, here we go. Just to be clear,  my picks will be in the bolded font , and  the real results will be listed next to it in italics  after the fight is official. Victor Altamirano defeats Carlos Hernandez                              Result: Hernandez by decision (0-1)          The opening fight features two guys coming off of split decision wins on Dana White's Contender Series. Both men throw a lot of strikes and take some damage back. Altamirano landed more shots in that fight, but also absorbed more damage. He showed the ability to land a takedown in that fight and have solid defense. Hernandez also displayed solid defense, but didn't land any takedowns. Pair a slightly more well roundedness with a 3 in...

 These lackluster fight cards really have my motivation down when it comes to writing, so this will be later than usual. We were supposed to be getting Islam Makhachev vs Beneil Dariush in what was the clear and obvious number one contender fight. Unfortunately, for the second week in a row, the main event has fallen out. Last week was supposed to be Rafael Fiziev vs Rafael Dos Anjos, but apparently there was a problem with Fiziev's visa, so we'll be getting that next week as the co-main event to Covington vs Masvidal. This week, Beneil Dariush suffered what was reportedly a pretty serious ankle injury and will be unable to go. We'll hope that Beneil is relatively ok and that he's already on his way to a full recovery. That has led us to current day and how we've gotten to Islam Makhachev vs Bobby Green.  Bobby Green is just one of those guys where the normal rules just don't really apply to him. No matter how good or bad things are going for him, his performanc...

 I've brought this idea up in more than a few posts now since the start of 2022, but with it continuing for almost 2 full months now, I think it needs it's own full post. I have no idea what the UFC is doing with their scheduling, but someone needs to do something about it. The UFC had so much going for them really since they came back from the pandemic. They were the first major sport to resume action and they capitalized on it big time. They were putting on shows when they were literally the only sports on tv and they pulled in a massive new audience because of it. They carried a lot of that momentum into 2021 too. They put on some truly massive events and a lot of other great ones. The way the ended 2021 starting with the October 30 card, which was UFC 267, started an almost 2 month run of great cards. They had so much built up momentum coming into 2022 and I feel like they've wasted a lot of it. The cards that they have put together are just not up to the quality that t...

 I know I'm walking a fine line here, but I think this is something worth talking about. This isn't an idea that is exclusive or limited to fighting by any means, but that is sort of what we do here, so I'll keep it limited to that. It seems that today, maybe more than ever, it has become more clear that athletes really aren't any different than you and I. They make mistakes and do things that sometimes we don't like or don't agree with. In the worst cases, these actions can cause some of us to question our fandom of that individual. The question that I want to pose to you guys is how do you deal with this? You've probably heard the concept of separating art from artist when it comes to musicians like Kanye West or a comedian like Bill Cosby. I think that this is probably the best course of action to take if you can. I don't judge anyone who still consumes their content because if what they created makes your life better and more enjoyable, then I think ...

 Well, there wasn't a ton in terms of high profile fights on the card this past weekend and there is even less going into this coming weekend. That means we're going to have to get creative for the middle of this week and this is an idea that sort of came to mind a few hours ago for me. I'm writing this on Monday night at 10 PM and just started listening to today's episode of the MMA hour. It kind of occurred to me earlier today that MMA is a very strange sport. It is the only sport that I know of where wins and losses aren't enough. The way you win matters and so does the way you act outside of the cage and on social media. A lot of these things work both ways. If someone is a very exciting fighter and is entertaining on social media, then they can elevate themselves a little faster. I think of someone like Derrick Lewis and Tai Tuivasa as people who do this to their benefit. Of course they win, but they win in a way that fans prefer to watch and are fun on Twitter...

 Despite not originally being the main event for this past Saturday's card, Jamahal Hill vs Johnny Walker delivered an exciting fight and enough talking points coming out of it that it was probably a successful night for the UFC. I think we all knew Jamahal Hill had serious power, but that finish really has me wondering how significant it is because that was a bizarre ending. I've never seen someone react to a punch the way that Johnny Walker's body did to that shot. Then they show the replay and he didn't get him on the chin or behind the ear, which is typically where the big knockout blows will land. It was near the temple, but sort of just off the side of the head. I'm not questioning Johnny Walker at all and clearly he was out on his feet. If Hill can knockout someone out to that extent with a punch landing in that spot, then he is truly capable of anything in this division. He will have to take another step forward, so let's explore that for him and also wh...

 Well, I didn't do a preview for Jamahal Hill vs Johnny Walker. I honestly just didn't feel inspired to do it today. I don't hate the fight at all and actually really like Jamahal Hill a lot. It's 3:07 on Saturday morning and am just starting this so here we go. Let's just get into it. Just to be clear,  my picks will be in the bolded font , and  the real results will be listed next to it in italics  after the fight is official. Mario Bautista defeats Jay Perrin                                        Result: Bautista by decision (1-0)          We get striker vs grappler off the bat and I'll go with the striker on this one. Bautista throws with good volume on the feet and pairs it with a respectable level of power. He does absorb more damage than you would like, but Perrin doesn't throw with enough volume to capitalize. Perrin doe...

 The final one of these that I'll be doing for UFC 271 is for Jared Cannonier vs Derek Brunson. This one will probably be the shortest of them as things are a little more straight forward for Cannonier. Once this fight was up, that's when I started paying attention in a little more detail. In terms of stakes, this was the first fight that got really serious and it delivered. "Not to give myself the old Barry Horowitz", but this card was the best my previews have ever been and this one was pretty good. I pretty much touched on everything that happened. We all knew the main key was going to be Brunson's ability to consistently get the fight to the ground. If he couldn't, it seemed likely that Cannonier would be able to find a finish given his power and the way Brunson's chin had been trending. I'll talk more about their individual performances in their sections, so I'll stop wasting time and real estate. Jared Cannonier was able to do what he needed ...

 This fight just couldn't be bad. Tai Tuivasa vs Derrick Lewis was a fight made for the fans. It was supposed to just be a fun fight and Lewis would probably win, which wouldn't do much for his title asperations, but it would be a co-main event that the fans in the arena would get loud and excited for. Of course, it delivered what we wanted, just not with the final outcome most people were expecting. Tai Tuivasa was able to weather a bit of a storm and come out victorious after landing an elbow from a clinch situation against the cage. It was a shocking finish that I really hadn't seen coming. When it happened I thought I missed something because the elbow didn't immediately seem like something that would knock someone out cold in real time, but after the replay, it was very clear that it landed about as solidly as any elbow I've seen. It didn't have a ton of wind up or extra power on it, but when Tai Tuivasa is the one throwing it, he doesn't have to really...