The Doctor's Stoppage MMA Blog

We finally got to see the highly anticipated rematch between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington almost 2 years after the original fight that became an instant classic and one of my favorite fights I have ever seen in real time. The first fight had pretty much everything you could want. It had the bad blood between the two in a back and forth battle that was finished in the last minute in somewhat controversial fashion. No matter which side you were on, it was the perfect storm for a rematch. A lot of circumstances led to this fight not taking place for almost two years. Colby wanted to wait, claiming that his performance in the first fight was worthy of the immediate rematch, but the UFC didn't seem to agree. Obviously, the pandemic really threw a wrench into things on top of all of that. The pandemic gave Gilbert Burns the opportunity and he ran with it, all the way to his own title shot. Unfortunately for him, he ended up with COVID the week of the fight and that created the perfec...

The UFC 268 co-main event pitted incumbent women's strawweight champion "Thug" Rose Namajunas against former champion "Magnum" Zhang Weili in an immediate rematch of their fight at UFC 261 this past April. The lead up to that fight was preparing everyone for a 5 round battle that would be determined by a razor thin decision. Despite all of that, Weili entered that fight as a roughly 2 to 1 favorite. All of that went out the window 1:18 into the fight when Rose landed a left high kick and followed up with a few hammer fists on the ground to capture the title for the second time in her career. The finish coming so early was shocking enough that the UFC booked the immediate rematch, which we witnessed this past weekend. Ultimately, we got the fight that everyone expected the first time around, which ended with a split decision victory in favor of Rose Namajunas. Like most people, I am a fan of Rose, so of course I was happy to see her get the nod, but I honestly di...

So many times in MMA, in sports, and in life in general, we go into something with expectations that are so high, that it is virtually impossible for those expectations to be satisfied. Those were the types of expectations being put onto the Justin Gaethje versus Michael Chandler fight this past Saturday. Fortunately for us, this fight not only met the expectations, but surpassed them in spectacular fashion. It goes without saying that this was the fight of the night, but what an experience it truly was. I sat with my family in my living room and it was a great atmosphere with only the 5 of us in here, so I can only imagine what it would have been like with a group or in the arena. If you didn't see the fight, you missed a back and forth battle that took place almost entirely on the feet. I thought for sure that Chandler would try to wrestle Gaethje more given how devastating Gaethje can be in the stand up and with Chandler coming off of a knockout loss, I figured he may not want t...

Alright, we made it. We got through the week and we are now set for a great slate of fights later on tonight. UFC 268 is almost guaranteed to be a tremendous night of combat and for the second time, I will be making my picks official and public, so no hiding and claiming to have known exactly what was going to happen. Like I said before, this isn't really a betting guide per se. I don't pick based on odds or try to pick props or find the best bets or anything like that. I just straight up pick the winners and we'll see how well I can do and you guys can either tell me how smart I am or that I should stop watching MMA altogether, whichever you see as the better option. Last week was my first time doing it and I went 10-4, meaning I am also 10-4 for the year. 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. Let's not waste any more time and get into it.  CJ Vergara defeats ...

 Alright guys, I didn't forget. Thanks to the worst homework assignment of my life, this is coming out even later than I thought, but it is coming out nonetheless. The full card picks are coming as well sometime after this. I feel like I say this all the time, but another one of my personal favorites is on the card and in the main event this weekend. That man is none other than the number one pound for pound fighter in the UFC, Kamaru Usman. I can't help myself honestly. I find his personality to be extremely likable and it seems like all of his fights over the last few years, all of his fights have a little extra juice on them, which makes everything feel a little bit bigger. That's not to say I dislike Colby per se, I just find him a little annoying. Political nonsense aside, I just find his character to be too much of a rip off of Conor McGregor. I think most trash talkers in some sense are all trying to recapture what Conor did and even what Chael Sonnen and Michael Bis...

 Alright, these are going to go out later than I anticipated, but better late than never I suppose. The co-main event on Saturday night will feature women's strawweight champion Rose Namajunas defending her belt in a rematch with former champion Zhang Weili. As of the writing of this post on Friday morning, this is the closest fight on the main card according to the betting odds, which have it at virtually a coin flip right now. Neither woman has fought since their first bout at UFC 261 this past April. That fight saw Rose capture the title for a second time by knocking out Weili with a high kick in 1:18. The UFC passed on a Rose vs Carla Esparza rematch and instead did the immediate rematch between Rose and Weili, but I don't think anyone is complaining too much there. Without further ado, let's get right into it. I don't think it's that I didn't know, but maybe I just didn't realize that for someone who has accomplished as much as Rose Namajunas has in her...

I'm finally doing the previews for this weekends big UFC 268 event. I'm really hoping to have them all done to put them out all at the same time on Friday morning, but this one is the first one. If you don't see a post for Rose vs Weili or Usman vs Covington, then just know that it's coming shortly. With that said, let's get into the main card opener.  The main card on Saturday night will open with a bang as we get Justin Gaethje vs Michael Chandler right off the bat. I probably don't need to tell you that this is a fight that was almost too easy to make. Both fighters wanted this fight and know that a win will put them on a short list for the next title shot. Both are also polarizing with Gaethje being a fan favorite due to his extremely explosive style and Chandler having played more of the villain since his arrival to the UFC and finding himself in a title fight in just his second appearance with the promotion. Fans are rightfully excited to see two of the mo...