Love him, but looked like Lewis basically quit twice. He turtled up about a minute before the end, had a brief exchange, then did it again for the finish.
He was hurt. Badly. It was not one blow but about 50 strikes that looked casual but were all landing hard enough to flat line any one of us. And the leg kicks like beating Lewis’s thigh with a light post.
Oh I would quit after one punch so not judging. Just not something you see a lot in a non-Brock fight.
Shiiiiiiit I wouldn't even throw wildly. I'd get in there for the right amount of money but my #1 goal would be not dying.
He’s insanely confident in a “I don’t give a fuck about telling you I’m confident” type of way. He has done well sparing the champ his ex teammate. He’s not worried about these one dimensional guys.
Yea a lot of credit to Gane but damn Lewis' execution was awful. He backed up and let Gane strike at distance and destroy his leg. Lewis can't go in and try to be technical. He just has to go forward and force a brawl. He didn't do anything close to that tonight.
Wonder if it has to do with them growing up in cultures different than American which basically allows guys with their physiques to be shit heads but everyone is just like “heckuva football player, his teammates love him!”
Just like the Ngannou fight, Lewis seems to choke on the biggest stage. Hell, even the Volkov fight he was getting whooped until the Hail Mary KO with seconds left. I love him, but he doesn’t know how to deal with the biggest stage.
kind of reminds me of “fumble luck” in football. There is a high amount of variance I’m recovering fumbles. Obviously causing the fumble in the first place is great but it’s not the whole play. Seems similar with KO luck and Lewis. But Lewis has been on the right side of KO luck a lot. Not tonight.
He won the Ftancis fight so that's not the best example. He was very active then either but he still won. Tonight he just laid back and got picked apart.
He threw like 3 punches in that fight. He’s just fortunate that Francis only threw 2. They both choked bigly.
From a technical standpoint I think Stipe might be a decent matchup for him. I wouldn’t mind seeing him vs Jones either.
Was talking to a buddy about this. For all I care throw Francis, Cyril, Stipe, Bones in a bag and pull out two names to make a match up and the remaining two can fight each other as well. Exciting times for heavyweight. I look forward to us seeing the match ups we want some time in 2024 when everyone is old af!
Gane looked great tonight but that was more just being more athletic than Lewis and Lewis not doing anything. I haven't watched a ton of Gane so not trying to speak in absolutes here. I'll just need to see someone beat the current version of Francis to believe it. He's that dude to me right now.
Gane is tactically insanely good, which is freakish because he’s been a pro for just 3 years. I think he has a chance to take Francis past 2 rounds and that’s when Francis will gas.
Is there a website to rewatch the ppv from the beginning or do I have to wait until it comes out on ESPN+
Gane was 13-0 as Muay Thai fighter with decent amount of kickboxing experience before he switched over to mma. Also the heavyweight division is garbage outside of maybe the Top 5 guys.
He didn’t even fight in the elite promotions of kickboxing and we’ve seen the elite of kickboxing try UFC and just get annihilated. Gane has insanely good balance and movement, and it’s not like Francis would try to take him down. If and big if, Gane can get past 2 rounds with Francis he will easily win by decision or even a late finish. Had Stipe stuck with the game plan and taken Francis late, he would’ve beat him again. He said Francis was already starting to gas but still had enough power early in Round 2 to do what he did combined with Stipe charging. There’s a reason Gane has already opened as the favorite against Francis.
ken shamrock looks like the ultimate warrior in this early ufc stuff. i'm sure he was just lifting super hard
Didn’t work out as well for Gokhan Saki and Melvin Manhoef, who are way more decorated kickboxers than Adesanya.
No idea what his striking would be like or ability to take a punch, but he’s a freak show of an athlete, and of course the best HW wrestler in the world.
He can always fall back to WWE, but he’ll still likely want to compete at the highest level possible. WWE and UFC are both United in paying their “contractors” like shit relative to their worth, but there’s still more money to be made being a UFC star considering you can fight once or twice a year. But the main thing will always be is he ok taking a punch? If he somehow has an iron chin, he will be the most dominant HW ever in MMA. If he can’t take a punch and wants to be on the road non stop, WWE is for him. Whatever he does, I hope he gets paid a fuck load of money.
i've been watching khabib interviews and behind the scenes stuff on him. i wish i had been paying closer attention to him before he retired because he is a pretty interesting guy. almost like the polar opposite of michael jordan personality-wise but similarly dominant also i will not hesitate to bet on anyone with that kind of beard in the future because those guys don't seem to do anything but train
I think this is skewed in a way. They put on so many fights now. A lot of fight night and undercard fighters are basically minor leaguers.
Nah it’s fucked. They get a crypto deal and make the fighters wear it while giving them $0. Every major fighter bitches about their pay. Don’t excuse it