UFC on Fuel TV 9: Mousasi vs. Latifi

canucksfreak19

canucksfreak19

Verified Trader,
Joined
Oct 14, 2007
Messages
16,592
Reaction score
0
Location
Calgary, AB
Alexander Gustafsson is out with a fight week cut. And pretty much completely unknown Swedish fighter Ilir Latifi is stepping up to the plate to take on the Young Vagabond. The Main Event has gone from a fight with title implications to a fight that better be a showcase for Gegard.

The fights are going to be starting early in the A.M., the Fuel/Sportsnet broadcast is going to pop off at 2:00 P.M. ET, 11:00 A.M. Pacific.

Main Bouts (on Fuel TV):
Ilir Latifi (7-2-1) vs. Gegard Mousasi (33-3-2)
Ross Pearson (14-6) vs. Ryan Couture (6-1)
Matt Mitrione (5-2) vs. Phil DeFries (9-2)
Brad Pickett (22-7; #5 Bantamweight) vs. Mike Easton (13-2)
Diego Brandao (15-8) vs. Pablo Garza (12-3)
Akira Corrasani (10-3) vs. Robbie Peralta (16-3)

Preliminary Bouts (on Facebook):
Reza Madadi (12-3) vs. Michael Johnson (12-7)
Tor Troeng (15-4-1) vs. Adam Cella (4-0)
Chris Spang (5-1) vs. Adlan Amagov (11-2-1)
Marcus Brimage (6-1) vs. Conor McGregor (12-2)
Benny Alloway (12-3) vs. Ryan LaFlare (7-0)
Michael Kuiper (12-1) vs. Tom Lawlor (8-5)
Papy Abedi (8-2) vs. Basem Yousef (8-1)
 
I really don't understand the UFC's disposition here with bringing in an unknown (to UFC fans anyway) fighter to fight a debuting Strikeforce guy. I mean, kudos to Latifi for stepping in on such short notice, but it's not like people on that card weren't willing to pitch in (Wanderlei Silva's April Fools Prank aside.)

Tom Lawlor offered to fight Mousasi at 205. I probably would have taken that offer, and brought Latifi to fight Kuiper at a catchweight. In fact, Kuiper probably could have fought Latifi at 205 given his weight cut.

The problem, from what everybody seems to be saying, lays with the Swedish Athletic Commission, and their stringent licensing requirements. That's part of the reason this all exists. Otherwise, I assume Mousasi would be pulled from this card, and Tate/Zingano would've moved up to be the main event had that been allowed in Sweden.

The other problem I guess lays with the fact that the UFC clearly built the card around the main event and put all their eggs in that basket. It's not as bad as UFC 124, where a GSP injury would've made Stefan Struve vs. Sean McCorkle the main event of a Pay Per View, but it's still pretty bad.
 
chadsexington said:
Dave might have a numeric breakdown later today, but everybody made weight this morning. :)
Click to expand...

I suspect I may be the only one, but I plan on getting up early to watch the prelims on facebook.

Got it right here. Work can get in the way of so many, actually important things.

Here are the results of the weigh-in:

Gegard Mousasi (204) vs. Ilir Latifi (206)
Ross Pearson (155) vs. Ryan Couture (154)
Matt Mitrione (259) vs. Philip De Fries (248)
Brad Pickett (135) vs. Mike Easton (135)
Diego Brandao (145) vs. Pablo Garza (146)
Robbie Peralta (146) vs. Akira Corassani (145)
Reza Madadi (155) vs. Michael Johnson (155)
Tor Troeng (185) vs. Adam Cella (184)
Chris Spang (170) vs. Adlan Amagov (170)
Marcus Brimage (145) vs. Conor McGregor (145)
Ben Alloway (170) vs. Ryan LaFlare (171)
Michael Kuiper (186) vs. Tom Lawlor (185)
Papy Abedi (170) vs. Besam Yousef (168)
 
Heck of a comeback by Reza Madadi, one of the most interesting characters in all of MMA. That was a great fight that he and Johnson put on.
 
canucksfreak19 said:
I suspect I may be the only one, but I plan on getting up early to watch the prelims on facebook.
Click to expand...

I did too...but I admit I had company over till 1:30 in the morning watching Invicta (and then one stayed behind to play Actraiser for SNES) so I actually fell in and out of sleep during some of the prelims.

I fell asleep during the intro videos for the MacGregor fight, and literally woke up 3 seconds before the KO, and then floated in and out of sleep during Spang/Amagov, but not before I caught Mike Goldberg butcher Amagov's name a few times. My personal favorite was "Add-lawn...uhhhhh...Agga-mov"

I suspect Garza, Yousef , De Fries and Cella will be cut. I'd put Spang at 50/50 only because 155 and 170 are packed. Keeping Spang miiiiiight be a political move, if only because his brother fights for Bellator.

A bunch of people on my Twitter feed thought Couture might be gone. Not sure about that...he can probably clear out a lot of the lower tier at 155 and work his way back up.
 
I watched the post-fight presser (which I rarely actually do) I learned that the bonus winners, Reza Madadi (Submission) Conor McGregor (Knockout) and Pickett/Easton (Fight) were awarded $60K instead the new standard $50K. According to Dana it was because of Diego Brandao campaigning for it backstage. To which Dana said simply "Brazilians..."

Some other interesting notes from the presser; Conor McGregor was drawing $158 a week in welfare payments before this fight. Dana also said that he will be on the Boston card this summer.

Ross Pearson broke his foot backstage warming up. Didn't tell anybody, fought, and became the first person to knockout Ryan Couture.

Ilir Latifi cut 27 pounds in 3 days to make weight for his fight with Gegard.

And Mousasi suffered a "serious" knee injury in training but was told by his doctor that he could fight with it, so he did. He will be undergoing surgery soon, and will be out for a "fairly long time." He did not say what the injury actually was, just that 95% of fighters probably would have backed out of a fight with this injury.

I still haven't watched the Main Card, I was at work all day yesterday, then at a concert all night, and will be watching the recording at some point later today. Sounds like the main card was pretty solid though to match the solid undercard.
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
389,472
Messages
2,232,873
Members
4,146
Latest member
E_Thom_Tech
Back
Top