UFC Paris Main Card Preview

 UFC Paris: Gane vs Tuivasa

5 Fight Breakdown

            1. Cyril Gane (10-1) Vs. Tai Tuivasa (15-3). Not the fight we want, but the fight we deserve. It's been a jolly good time watching 'Bam Bam' beat up top 20 heavyweights and chug grog from dirty shoes. Then he went and knocked out (kinda) Derrick Lewis. So here we are with Gane looming in the musty drizzle of Paris, France. The same striking technician whose only hiccup is a decision loss to Francis Ngannou. How the hell did we let this happen? Here's the uninspired quick take, Gane outpoints Tai for 25 grueling minutes and we the fans end up as sad as their filmed attempt at crossing arms to collaboratively chug grog from dirty shoes. Yeah, that happened, go watch the video. 

               What if we don't get that outcome though? After all, Tai is only 29, practically prepubescent for the heavyweight division. He's only been knocked out twice in his career (1 of those was a kickboxing match, don't look at me, I'm not his manager). So there's plenty of tread on those tires and bullying power to boot. He just needs to dirty box, nay, brawl like his life depends on it when Gane let's him anywhere near clinching range. Gane doesn't let that happen too often, but 25 minutes is a long time. Come to think of it, the more I consider that fact I'm left wondering who in their right mind books a heavyweight headliner? Did you not see Mir vs. Cro Cop or Kongo vs Jordan? Those fights sucked for a collective 29 minutes, and that was when non-title headliners only got scheduled 3 rounds. This is 5 freakin rounds. Sheesh. My prescription; pack a lunch, melt into the couch and pray to God that gummy kicks in before round 3. Here's to hoping I'm wrong.

            2. Robert Whittaker (24-6) vs. Marvin Vettori (18-5). The fight to determine who gets a title shot if Alex Pereira strikes gold and knocks out Israel Adesanya. Seriously if that doesn't happen then this fight may be for nothing. Lets indulge that rare future, say we live in a world where that miracle occurs and somehow Adesanya is out with an injury for 12 months so the UFC can't immediately blow their load *errrr* I mean book the rematch. Then we are looking forward to the champion, Alex Pereira, defending his title against the likes of either of these two blokes. I would personally prefer to see Whittaker take on Pereira, its a much more interesting style matchup with Whittaker's lunge in and out karate vs. Pereira's orthodox kickboxing. Whittaker will try to stick and move while Pereira walks him down to land that straight left bullet. What's the alternative, we see "Mad Marvin" lay and pray on the one dimensional striker for 25 minutes? Yeah, that sounds awful. Therefore my longwinded pick for this fight is... Robert Whittaker. He's come the closest to beating the champ and lets be perfectly honest, he is just way too nice to root against. Here's to the future trilogy between Adesanya and Whittaker. 

            3. Time to stretch. Get your next beer. Check your dm's. Text your ex. Just pass the time. 

            

            a) Alessio Di Chirico (13-6) vs. Roman Kopylov (8-2). I'm so darn excited for this fight... said no one ever.

Alessio rudely head kicked my man Joaquin Buckley right in his damn face 2 fights ago. Then in his last bout, some guy nicknamed 'Judo Thunder' went and returned the favor. Where as Kopylov is on a 2 fight skid with his most recent loss being to Albert Duraev, yeah the guy who just got ran-sacked by none other than Joaquin Buckley. You can't make this stuff up.

           

             b) William Gomis (10-2) vs. Jarno Errens (13-3). Two guys making their UFC debut. Not much to be said for these guys. Gomis is from France, so I guess you gotta throw some homegrown blood on there. Errens is coming in on short notice. A hazardous, but tempting way to sneak into the big show. Let's pray for a finish.

            4. John Makdessi (18-7) vs. Nasrat Haqparast (13-5). The old guard of lightweight vs. the new breed. 'The Bull' takes on the German born Haqparast. What to make of this fight? Well Makdessi started his pro career around 2008, he was considered a very dangerous striking prospect. 7 years later Donald Cerrone broke his jaw with a perfectly timed head kick. He did receive successful surgery on the jaw, but that wasn't going to stop him from fighting. A year later he got spinning wheel kicked in the face by Lando Vannata, double ouch! Yeah, he's still fighting. This guy has won 4 of his last 5 and may have stumbled upon a veteran savvy way to stay alive while avoiding getting his whole face broke. His opponent, Nasrat Haqparast, started his UFC campaign on very short notice, just barely losing a thrilling fight in which either man could have received the nod. He then won 5 of his next 6 fights before dropping his last 2 to absolute killers Dan Hooker and Bobby Green. 

                 Way too interesting to ignore: Nasrat Haqparast trains under GSP's legendary head coach, Firas Zahabi. He is the son of two Afghan immigrants who fled to Germany for greener pastures, we have them to thank for his current presence in the UFC. He had many visa issues before luckily ending up in Canada to train with Firas and his elite stable of savage grapplers. Possibly the most interesting note is that this fight has been booked three times in the past 3 years. Maybe Saturday we can finally get a result. Maybe we will find out who is on their way out and who is here to stay.

            5. Charles Jourdain (13-5) vs. Nathaniel Wood (18-5). Fireworks! That's the first image that comes to mind when picturing the potential war between. These are some of the most exciting featherweights on the UFC   roster. Jourdain shined in his last fight, a heroic battle with 'Hurricane' Shane Burgos. He lost the first 2 rounds scrambling for position, then dominated the last round with the fastest striking you could ever hope to see. This guy is the real sniper. His opponent, Nathaniel Wood, was on a 9 fight winning streak before snaking his last 4 wins and losses. He got right back on the horse though, and man was it scary to witness. This guy looked certifiably crazy (in the best way) as he kicked the ever-living hell out of Charles Rosa's left leg. To the point where Rosa fell down in pain multiple times and the doctor expended every last ounce of patience he had to not stop the fight. Wood was screaming in victory, letting everyone in the arena know how happy he was to be back in the octagon, not having fought since 2020 before that. 

                Way too interesting to ignore: We might first think of Nathaniel Wood as a striker, but he has been grappling for over 13 years. He won his UFC debut by D'Arce choke in the 2nd round and 7 of his 18 professional wins have come by submission.