The Doctor's Stoppage MMA Blog

 We're a bit removed from the card now and I think it is setting in just how forgettable the event actually was. I'm not someone who complains about the quality of events too often as I value the UFC being on basically every weekend of the year, but that one just really fell flat. Most of the time, Fight Night's really aren't built up to be much more than just some action with one or two important fights at the end. When the card is supposed to be something more than that and is one of the most uninteresting events of the year, it's tough to take. Anyways, I'm not going to harp on it too much, but it was just a realization that set in when I started preparing to write this as I honestly didn't remember the first couple of fights of the afternoon. Let's start talking about some of these fights and what we should see next for these winners. Nicholas Dalby started off the card with a nice win. He had a tough first round, but then his cardio advantage really...

 This past weekend was the second UFC London of 2022 and to say this event fell a tad flat is an understatement. The first card in London this year was in March I think and it has probably been the best MMA event of the calendar year to date. They tried to replicate a lot of that magic again and it just didn't live up to the expectations. There was only 5 finishes in 14 fights and 4 of them were in the last 5 fights of the night. By that point, the energy had just been sucked out of the arena and it didn't feel like the finishes generated that much excitement. Molly McCann's entrance was subdued and it didn't feel like her finish was even that big of a deal. If the pop was there, it didn't really come through on the broadcast for me. Gustafsson was finished, but I think that made everyone a little sad more than actually excited. Paddy's walkout didn't even feel as big and then he got the choke and that was probably as loud as the crowd was all night. The Her...

 Last week was the first card where I ever added the betting stuff to it and it was a lot of work, but it was fun. We did ok on the picks and ended up in the positives on our bets, so I'll consider that a win. This week we are back in London, which is always a good time. Upon first glance, this should be an event that is a lot more fun to watch than it will be to bet. So many of these lines have been juiced into oblivion and I really don't feel great enough to play the other side on a lot of them. I'm excited for the main even though as that is really the only fight with real stakes. If Chris Curtis wins then that will be a big deal, but a win for Hermansson probably doesn't do a whole lot other than get him off of a losing streak. There's a lot more fun to be had this weekend than true high level competition, but this is ultimately an entertainment product right? Let's have some fun and get into it.Just to be clear,  my picks will be in the bolded font , and  t...

  We're approaching the second London card of the year and if it is anything like the first, we are in for a fantastic day of competition. I don't if this card really can live up to the first London event of 2022, especially after we lost Darren Till due to another injury, but the hope is that it can get close. I think what gives it a chance is that the main event felt really important for the heavyweight division. That was until I realized that I'm not really sure exactly where the winner of Aspinall vs Blaydes stands. Champion Francis Ngannou stands to be out for the rest of the year after knee surgery and he wasn't likely to fight anyways due to his contract situation. The UFC wants to make a Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic interim title fight and even though it seems like everyone involved agrees that is the fight to make, we still don't seem to have any momentum towards it happening. Then there is the Cyril Gane vs Tai Tuivasa fight happening in September. I suppose ...

 I'm writing this on Tuesday, a couple of hours after Khamzat Chimaev vs Nate Diaz was announced as the main event for UFC 279 in September and I am having trouble finding the words for how bad this fight is. This is so inexplicably stupid that it is quite actually infuriating. The UFC is so petty and run with the mindset of a 13 year old sometimes that they'll make fights like this out of spite. Of course, the UFC is a very successful business, which doesn't happen on accident, so obviously there's more than a few people who are quite smart. This decision threw all intelligence and nuance out the window in favor of petty bullshit. The UFC would actually rather lose money on this PPV (well, not "lose" in a sense, but leave money on the table) than to put together a decent fight. I just wrote something about Nate Diaz last week after his interview on the MMA Hour, but we're back with more because this is the dumbest thing I've seen in awhile.  I'm n...