The Doctor's Stoppage MMA Blog

 The bets are really spiraling and I'm taking the time to try and reevaluate where I'm going wrong. I don't necessarily think I'm making awful reads consistently because my picks are going ok for the most part. There seems to be a disconnect between my general take and breakdown of the fight versus what I actually play for that fight. I think I need to be more confident in the reads I'm making, especially for minus money plays. I'm so reluctant to play medium sized or better favorites and I think that is an area that I could look to be a bit more willing to jump in on. Anyways, This week is a solid lead up to a really good stretch in the UFC schedule. I'm not here to say this is the best Fight Night in the world, but it is definitely a step up compared to the last few Fight Nights, at least in my mind. There may be some decent plays to be had as well. Just to be clear,  my picks will be in the bolded font , and  the real results will be listed next to it in

 While UFC Vegas 69 wasn't the sexiest event ever, the main event had some hype going into it, especially after Jessica Andrade was the woman to step in on short notice after Taila Santos was forced out. It was a chance for us to get a new breakout star in Blanchfield and man did she deliver. I don't know that even her biggest fans saw this coming. I've been pretty impressed with her brief UFC run and thought this may have been biting off a bit too much too soon. Going from Molly McCann to Jessica Andrade is a serious step up and she looked phenomenal. Everyone is really excited about her immediate future coming out of this and rightfully so, in my opinion. This is also what I was talking about when I said the UFC needs to start making more main evens like this to build stars, but I won't say I told you so. I don't want to say too much in the intro, so I'll just get to it. Erin Blanchfield looked nothing short of incredible. Seeing her having grappling success w

 We're back in the UFC rocking chair of having fantastic events bookended by less than great events. Much like the Lewis vs Spivac card that came before 284, this week's event isn't looking very good on paper. From top to bottom, it honestly may even be a tad worse, but I think the main event is actually a bit more intriguing. Erin Blanchfield is getting her big opportunity in her first main event and is getting a short notice Jessica Andrade stepping in for Taila Santos. I know a lot of MMA fans really dislike women's main events, but I think they're actually necessary in order to progress women's MMA. WMMA fights have the label of being lower level and not as entertaining, at least from the casual audience. While there are multiple factors that contribute to some fans thinking that way, I think a huge one is lack of exposure to the fighters. Women's MMA fights are so infrequently given prime spots that, unless someone has challenged for a title, a casual f

 That was awesome. That was so much fun. I'm on record saying that was my most anticipated fight of 2023 and it even exceeded my expectations. We're like 6 weeks into 2023 and that may very well be the fight of the year. That's as into a fight as I've been in awhile. I was almost emotional in a weird way over the last few days. I've said this before about something, I think maybe it was Luke Rockhold's return fight, but I sit here today proud of what both Islam Makhachev and Alex Volkanovski did on Saturday. I understand that is a weird thing to say and a strange feeling to take away from a fight, but it's true. Maybe I take it too seriously and care too much, but I can't help it. That was an amazing fight and it's nights like Saturday that will keep me coming back to MMA for decades, despite all of the nonsense. There's so much to potentially take away from this fight that I'm afraid I'll start rambling, so I'm going to try and keep

 The cold streak has lasted long enough. We have to turn these bets around at some point and there's not better time to start. The picks are doing just fine, even after a mediocre event last week, but the bets have really taken a nose dive. We can't win it all back at once, but we can start. UFC 284 is an odd event. In terms of a PPV card, it's really not all that great. We aren't getting a lot of the Australian fighters that you would expect. Dan Hooker, Robert Whittaker, Carlos Ulberg, Jacob Malkoun, Jake Matthews, Carlos Ulberg,  Casey O'Neill, Kai Kara-France, and Tai Tuivasa are amongst some of those we won't be seeing on Saturday night. That leaves us with a pretty lackluster looking event up until the end. Yair Rodriguez vs Josh Emmett is a really good fight and seeing one of those guys become interim champion will be fun. The main event is my most anticipated fight of the year, even including Jon Jones returning, so I'm all in with this card despite