no one knows what this thing that circulating about ariel helwani? irritating hearing the topic being talked about without knowing what the deal is.
-
Comment -
Where in the world is Ariel Helwani?
Outside of his usual stint over at MMAFighting.com, UFC on FOX correspondent Ariel Helwani was absent from his UFC on FOX duties last weekend. Prior to his disappearance, word hit me (from a reliable source) that he was in a spat with UFC officials and removed from his broadcasting duties.
While I do have it on good authority that something is amiss, right now this entire story is just speculation and rumor.
What I’ve come up with, after digging in my heels, is a timeline. Nothing concrete enough, mind you, for me to feel 100% comfortable with reporting this as fact… so take it all with a tiny grain of salt:
- Ariel Helwani Covers Bellator Open workouts in New York (could this have been the issue?)
- Dana White, UFC and Lorenzo Fertitta stop following Helwani on Twitter
- Ariel announces he wasn’t invited to Dana White’s media scrum
- Ariel not present during UFC Weigh-ins, tweets cryptic message about his lack of access
- Ariel not present in FOX broadcast during fight night, does post-fight interviews from back room
Now, it should be noted that despite all of these events, UFC President Dana White took to twitter and told his followers that nothing happened between the UFC and Helwani.
So… has Helwani been forced out of his prominent role with the UFC? Or are all these strange and unusual events just a coincidence? Only Helwani and the UFC big wigs know for sure, I suppose.
Comment -
Spanks. God knows what Dana White can do.Comment -
What's your reasoning for being so confident in Trujillo? Fight seems like more of a coin flip to me...
He actually was.
I'm on Trujillo, by the way. Big on Trujillo, and big on Bagautinov.
You say that every time Makdessi fights. It is true, though. He's a natural striker.Comment -
I'm liking bag by decisionComment -
So he made one right pick that he was about 20 seconds away from likely being wrong as pettis likely would of got the decision as he is the bigger hyped fighter... Ill start dropping picks for every fight on the card !!! Now that takes ballsComment -
No no, that was back when Caceres fought Figueroa. He lost that play, and a bunch of other "locks", so he started a new account. And another one, and another one, and another one. He's persistent at least.
As for Trujillo, I think he's a lot sharper with a lot more upside. He's more prepared for Varner's game than Varner is for his. It's a competitive fight, and Varner can certainly win, but I think that Trujillo should be favoured.Comment -
Faber vs Barao:
Going to have to side with Barao in this one. As good as Faber has looked he lost a five round unanimous decision to Barao about a year ago. I'm sure he has improved since then but then again Barao has likely improved as well. I think Faber is getting so much credit for his four fight win streak but if you look at it you don't really see anything that demonstrates huge improvement in his game. He basically outgrappled Menjivar and Alcantara. That's the norm for him, nothing new there. He beat Jorgensen on the feet but frankly not by very much in my opinion. I could be misremembering that one but I don't recall him doing anything that impressive standing. That's the fight that makes me want to bet on Barao. It wasn't until Jorgensen basically gassed in round four that Faber was able to get him down and choke him out. Versus Mcdonald he looked good standing but that could be in part to Mcdonald being taken down in round one and being afraid to engage standing. In addition I think it was really just one shot that landed on Mcdonald standing that made the difference. I think Barao is still on a whole other level standing and his grappling could very well be better than Fabers. At least good enough that if Faber gets him down he will be safe and have a decent shot at getting back to his feet.
Aldo/ Lamas:
I don't see Lamas having the striking to get inside on Aldo. I'm not going to go into this one too much because I think we all probably figure Aldo wins it.
Reem/Mir:
I think this fight is Reems to lose so most likely that means he loses. I like the fact that he has decided to drop some weight to improve his cardio. That should help him against Mir. I don't like the fact that he mentioned in an interview that he might grapple with Mir. I know Reem is a competent grappler but Mir can obviously catch him and it seems like a pointless risk to take. Standing he is miles ahead of Mir.
Cariaso/Martinez:
Martinez is a better wrestler than Cariaso and probably a little bigger. His striking is somewhat rudimentary and I think his jiu jitsu is probably not very good though its sort of hard to evaluate. I only have two fights to go by. One against Jussier de Formiga and the other against Davey Grant. Formiga is so good at Jiu jitsu its hard to really knock Martinez for being outgrappled but its worth noting he did lose the wrestling against him. Cariaso did as well so theres not much to take from that. Martinez did tapped out by Davey Grant after a very long struggle to get a takedown against him that spanned almost two rounds. Grant doesn't have a wrestling background but he is a big strong guy in comparison to Cariaso. This fight is really tough to tell in my opinion. I think Cariaso should win the standup and be hard to hold down due to his guard being very active. Martinez doesn't seem to be a very good fighter overall but he might be good enough to hold Cariaso down. It might come down to what kind of ref the fight has and how they feel about stand ups. Tough call. I wanted to bet Cariaso but the lay and pray potential scares me.
I would appreciate any insight on Danny Martinez and Cariaso.Comment -
Agree with everything you said about Varner/Trujillo. I agree with you on Bauganitov as well. He is the better fighter however Linekers power is something to be concerned about. Ali is much more well rounded. I noticed that his striking is faster and his punches are much straighter than Lineker. Lineker tends to load up and throw hooks. I would think Ali should beat him to the punch and likely be able to win the wrestling part of the fight. Still a little too concerned about the Lineker Ko to bet. Maybe Bauginatov by decision at plus 300.No no, that was back when Caceres fought Figueroa. He lost that play, and a bunch of other "locks", so he started a new account. And another one, and another one, and another one. He's persistent at least.
As for Trujillo, I think he's a lot sharper with a lot more upside. He's more prepared for Varner's game than Varner is for his. It's a competitive fight, and Varner can certainly win, but I think that Trujillo should be favoured.Comment -
I wouldn't count too highly on Ali's hand speed here. Lineker should have somewhat of an advantage on the feet, I think. It's close, but I think Lineker is better and more diverse with his hands. Massive grappling edge to Bagautinov, though.
Bagautinov line just got taken down, by the way.Comment -
What do you think about martinez vs cariaso?Comment -
2 dreadful (takedown counting) excuses for judging thus far...Watson and especially Makdessi hosed badlyComment -
Lost this thread play. +10u on my Twitter plays, unfortunately Makdessi is one of the ones that missed. Should have been a bigger night, but hey, I had some variance in my favour, also.
Comment -
somebody just finished a Tony Robbins workshop, lol...http://forum.sbrforum.com/boxing-mma...ssi-145-a.html
Lost this thread play. +10u on my Twitter plays, unfortunately Makdessi is one of the ones that missed. Should have been a bigger night, but hey, I had some variance in my favour, also.
module 3, part 2: cultivating even-temperedness by re-discovering "the power of the euphemism"
old self says" "my bet on Makdessi got fukked by shit-judging"
new self says: "...unfortunately Madkessi is one i missed"
_________
BTW, it is the right attitude to cultivate (and expensive appliances around you last MUCH longer when u adopt it!)
Thanks a lot, pal: I tailed all your twitter plays.
Barao is an unbelievably-explosive beast.Last edited by fitguy67; 02-02-14, 03:41 PM.Comment -
Probably won't be posting much for a while, just a heads up incase anyone asks me a question or something. I'll post my plays tomorrow, and possibly for the next card if I decide to 'cap it, though.Comment -
^ Lost this thread play, lost around 6.5u on my twitter plays. Not a big losing night, but it was compounded by how awful the card was. Anyway, yeah, probably won't be around as much for a while, got a lot going on. Should be here during fight nights, though, since I'll be live betting them. Can't resist spamming up the event thread.Comment -
Comment -
Hope all is well with you, always enjoyed reading your analysis and opinionsComment -
Yeah, just personal shit, bit of a transition period going on in my life where I have to accept letting certain things go. May take up a lot of my time, which is why I may not end up 'capping fights for a while. Knowing me, though, I won't stand by while you greedy focks steal all my money. I'll probably be back in the game by Wednesday. I hate leaving money on the table, gotta scoop up dat EV. I'll still sign in when I can, just may not be able to find the time to post. You can always shoot me a PM or a tweet or something if you want my opinion on a fight, for whatever it's worth.
On the plus side, I'm posting this at a reasonable hour for once. Normally I'm awake from midday until early morning like a true Gabe-style degen, but I can't sleep. Might download True Detective and marathon that or something, I've heard it's amazing.Last edited by MD; 02-16-14, 08:35 AM.Comment -
Good luck mateComment -
Ok, stop by when you can. I need to start analyzing this next card. I just hooked my female coworker on MMA betting in one play. I had her place 100 on a 3 teamer of alcantara, oliveira and Souza and it hit. She acted like she won the lottery, absolutely bonkers lolComment -
Thought I'd post this here. I'm pretty much the only guy here who thinks Mousasi edged it, but Fightmetric stats are ridiculously misleading and often inaccurate. I would be extremely surprised if the actual numbers were anything close to those; Machida's clearest rounds were so much more dominant than the close rounds that I would expect him to have built a reasonable edge in significant strikes overall. I don't have a problem with anything from 48-47 Mousasi to 49-46 Machida, but as a complete fight, Machida definitely did more.Comment -
I still gave it to Machida 48-47, I have to rewatch but Mousasi was close stealing round 5 but he couldn't finish his takedown. The decision prop at 7 to 1 on Mousasi had to be the right side.Comment -
[QUOTE=rosietop;21180206]yeah and did you tell her the alcantara fight was bs?
Nah, I just told her the basic rules of UFC Brazil betting. #1 if the fight might be close make sure you are on the Brazilian. #2 if it is two Brazilians fighting, pick the more popular Brazilian. #3 when 1 and 2 fail hope for a little luck. Take luck over talent any day of the week. (Talent being good capping, in this case.)Last edited by goodfellas433; 02-17-14, 07:43 PM.Comment -
goodfella I wasent trying to have a go at you. Im actually trying to help you, its common knowledge that casinos and bookies hook people to gambling by letting them win a little at first, and the natural human instinct of greed takes over and before you know it they have turned into degenerate gamblers waiting and waiting for that one big pay day that never comes. Im happy the girl won money betting (any day David beats Goliath is a good day in my opinion) but dont think you are doing her or anyone else any good by getting them hooked to gambling. The majority of cappers are losers if they weren't how do you think bookies and casinos exist?Comment -
No worries rosietop, I'm not one of the easily offended sbr members...you are 100% correct, trust me I know they dont build beautiful casinos by giving away money. It gave me someone to text with and she took an interest in the sport because of the bet she made. Your point is well taken
though
Since you seem to be the only one checking in tonight, what are your 3 fav plays on the upcoming card? Quite the decent price on the champ, no?Comment -
I havent really studied the fight card much but from the champ im guessing you mean Ronda? yeah I think her odds are ok to throw in a parlay I do think she wins. Like Cormier as well, yes even at those odds and I couldn't give you another favorite just yet (need to do more research). Most people think Rory is a lock but Maia has the potential to make this one a stinker. And by "tonight" why do people always assume im American? lol Im on the other side of the planet buddy.Comment
