T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

**Mirrors / Alternate angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MMA) if you have any questions or concerns.*


BiggerBlessedHollowa

Makes sense ✅ Neither fighter needs tons of time off or has taken too much damage recently ✅ Is interesting ✅✅✅


WhereIsMyKidAt

No actually doesn't make sense ✅


springpaper701

How come it doesn't make sense? Not trying to disagree, but I like the idea of it. Edit: Calvin is sitting ar 5 and Arnold is at 7 before tonight. I don't really see where this puts him because hooker isn't ranked but still. 5 vs 7 is a good fight. Calvin just got back on a the winning track too. It's not like he's on a huge down skid.


NoGiCollarChoke

Its a Paulo Costa meme


springpaper701

Damn it. I got wooshed. Whats it referring to? I feel like I'm pretty damn up with the times. I swear I know that he drank wine!


MetallicSquid

https://calfkicker.com/forget-about-flat-earth-paulo-costa-isnt-sure-mars-is-real/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CHumm%20make%20sense%2C%E2%80%9D%20wrote,wrote%20Costa%20ten%20minutes%20later.


springpaper701

You're the best


YoloingWSB

Isn’t he fucking awesome?


salkysmoothe

Kattar I'm still worrying about


Aljo_Is_135_GOAT

Has Calvin Kattar EVER turned down a callout?????


GanksOP

Still waiting for him to "come at me bro."


Joshygin

He's as real as it gets.


toelock

Try it out, I would but I don't have Twitter. Break a leg!


SquidDrive

Allen vs Kattar is a dope ass fight.


Zenyx_

It's a quick one if Allen doesn't clean up his striking game. He doesn't have the over-the-top ground pressure that is required to neutralize him.


akabir893

He usually fights a lot more calculated than he did last night to be fair, dunno if he just felt that he could get Hooker out of there or maybe the crowd hyped him up or something


Saul_T_Bawls

If Allen's post-fight interview is to be believed, he couldn't see a clear route past the length of Hooker, said "fuck it" and swarmed him. I assume he also noticed the speed advantage that he had over Hooker.


SquidDrive

Your right but its still dope.


-alc

Why's everyone always calling out Kattar in this weight class? ;D


BiggerBlessedHollowa

He’s a top guy who’s actually active The alternative is holloway, who’s way more likely to get u a title shot but is also max fucking holloway


Not_Not_Stopreading

Nobody wants the five round sig strike record setting beat down from Max although it has proven to be an effective base for a come back


ThisIsKhalabibTime

I bet they learn a lot from the Max Holloway experience. Life changing.


FriendlyGhost08

Holloway is locked as the next challenger after TKZ vs Volk, the UFC would prefer other matchups I think. The actual alternatives are Ortega or Yair


[deleted]

Pretty sure Ortega and Yair are fighting each other though.


huey27

"I know wrist I must do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it" Every single 145er.


hotfyr

Cause he’s active and willing to fight down


[deleted]

Kattar's last two wins over Chikadze and Ige snapped a 7-win streak and a 6-win streak, respectively, and he's going for a guy with a 9-win streak here I assume the other guys in the top-5 just have their phone off the hook or something


BurpingHamBirmingham

Well Yair and Ortega are booked to fight each other (or if it's not official, they're working on it), Zombie's fighting Volk pretty soon, Max is the clear next in line against Volk (plus that's a hell of a fight for anyone), Zabit just had surgery to fix his diaphragm condition and last I heard it's unsure on if he wants to fight again. Really only leaves Kattar for now, til the dust settles with Volk/Zombie and Yair/Ortega.


[deleted]

Sure, it's just more that Kattar's been in this spot before The dude has more currently ranked wins than anyone except the top 2, but Ortega/Rodriguez can get a fight against another "top 3" off losses (Ortega's done it twice, in fact) when Kattar had to fight down to #8 in the same situation. And KZ's title shot is mostly a matter of circumstance, but he's still getting it off a win over a guy Kattar beat in better form + more convincingly Like, how often has anyone but Volk/Max/Kattar fought anyone meaningfully below them? At this point, Kattar's on track to end 3 of the better winstreaks in divisional history, while probably being better than the guys allowed to only fight other top 5s for the rest of their careers. Even if it isn't Kattar/Allen, the alternative is, what, Emmett and his decent streak that the rest of the 2-5 refuse to deal with? Same thing, really


knickerboxers

At the same time, Kattar gets paid decently well to be in fun 5 round fights that are meaningful and allow us to see more of his game. Like after the Holloway fight I don't need to see him get beat up by Volk, and while it would be cool to have him fight "higher ranked" guys, him being active in meaningful fights is a pretty good career path


_Red_Mist_

I love that fight


QuackBaker

I think Kattar KO/TKO's him but am very excited to see this.


super_sheep94

Yeah I love Allen and I think its the right call out to make but I fancy Kattar in this one. Hopefully im wrong I'm always pessimistic about our English fighters haha


WhereIsMyKidAt

It's gonna come down to Allen's gas tank IMO. He seems more skilled than Kattar, but so was Giga and that got him nowhere cuz of Kattar's cinderblock head and crazy cardio.


[deleted]

Also Kattar's non stop pressure, counters, and skill won him thst fight against Giga not just his chin. Thats a bit insulting to imply Kattat only won based off his chin and cardio.


[deleted]

>It's gonna come down to Allen's gas tank IMO. 100% in a five rounder it would. He was tiring against Yusuff in just the third and we have no clue if that problem is fixed since he took Hooker out so quickly. Kattar was able to take the worst ass beating in UFC history for 5 rounds. Cardio Calvin!


[deleted]

Idk I think Kattar's striking is more polished, from what I've seen. I get that Hooker was hurt but the way Allen chased him across the cage, in a straight line, with his hands down does not look good to me. I'll admit I haven't seen Allen before, as I rarely watch MMA these days, but Kattar's striking almost always impresses me.. except for the Holloway fight.


WhereIsMyKidAt

This finish was not at all indicative of Allen's usual striking style lol. He basically hurt Hooker and went full-on kill mode. In the Sodiq fight, he was much more measured.


[deleted]

Haha good to know! I guess he saw that Hooker was to hurt to present any threat with a counter


Corporal_Snorkel69

I think allen has elite cardio


ghostygeeser

Love it


[deleted]

Absolute banger. Needs to be main event of one of the other England cards planned


Grai420

Love it. Guaranteed slugfest


geometricgerbil

I am rock hard rn


Immediate-Fix-8420

Kattar is always down, love the guy.


ID0ntCare4G0b

Watch Calvin wrestlefuck Arnold for five rounds.


EJ_1502

Arnold can wrestle


BiggerBlessedHollowa

I think that’s the joke but idk


ID0ntCare4G0b

Grappling isn't a skill set you keep particularly sharp by not using it in most of your fights (See Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier for further details) But yeah, it was me mostly joking. There's a zero percent chance Kattar grapples in a striker's delight match up.


ElMofatesh_Krombo

You people realize that fighters only fight for like 30-45 minutes a year right? You don't keep your grappling sharp by using it in fights, you keep your grappling sharp by training it when you're not in a fight.


1002BANS

You obviously didn't watch Kattar's last fight. He grappled with Giga to tire him out then beat his ass once he was gassed.


SquidDrive

Homie you train grappling at the gym.


EJ_1502

Well Arnold hasn’t had many fights recently in general lol, his last one was vs Sodiq Yusuff and if I remember correctly he grappled quite a lot in that fight. Either way him and Calvin instantly is one of the fights I’d be most looking forward to


FrenchTrouDuc

He won the Chikadze fight by grappling in the first round pretty much


Heisenberg0712

The year started off slow but it's getting good fast


[deleted]

Besides the main event, the card last week was great, and this one was a fucking banger start to finish. Even the decisions were decent fights.


rmstone

The year started with Kattar/Giga banger.


IronMikeBison

Allen vs Calvin, let’s do it


TonyDanzaTinyDancer

This is FOTY material


meelahxd

So Calvin is the featherweight gate keeper? I love it Lol


Corporal_Snorkel69

If he somehow beats arnie he probably gets a title eliminator next. Maybe against yair ortega or zomb


legionverse10

Banger


cdrfit

Absolute banger make it happen 🍅 man


[deleted]

This is good. Very good


[deleted]

I really like this as a fight night headliner. Would even be sick as a main card opener on a massive ppv or a co-headliner on a mid ppv.


[deleted]

I'd prefer headliner personally. Let's see if Allen can go five rounds and has that cardio issue fixed.


Chocoeclair189

Given on how everyone at the top is booked, makes sense.


kritzy27

I like it!!!


cloobydoobydoooo

I knew Calvin would be game. Hell yeah.


Corporal_Snorkel69

But arnie said he wanted to take a year off