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Whats Next For TJ Dillashaw?

2019 has seen one of the worst falls from grace in UFC history with former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw. Coming off a two year run which saw him defeat the top bantamweights in the world convincingly, reclaiming his championship and defend it his career has taken a drastic change in momentum. Firstly his unsuccessful attempt to become a two weight champion, dropping 10 lbs to try and claim the flyweight championship. He was TKO’d in less than a minute by Henry Cejudo getting dropped several times and claimed the stoppage was early. I always was under the belief that him dropping so much weight at his age was a terrible idea and dehydrating himself so much would compromise his chin, which i think turned out to be true. Then in one of the biggest stories of the year so far in MMA he was flagged by USADA for a potential violation and relinquished his bantamweight title. My first thoughts were he got caught taking some sort of PED to cut so much weight for the fight with Cejudo. Earlier this week the news broke that he failed for injectable EPO, and is now suspended for two years, and he did not contest the decision.. Since then he and his team have come out and owned up to it as there is no deniability for failing for this kind of PED.  Personally i really became a fan of TJ in the last few years with his dynamic striking style, footwork, fight iq and just being one of the most well rounded fighters in MMA. Even in my own training and sparring I’ve drawn inspiration from elements of his fighting style with the footwork and stance switching. Jon jones’ is another one of my favourite fighters for having such a high level of skill and intelligent fighting and it's just discouraging to find out fighters you look up for years took these shortcuts to attain the level of skill or fitness they reached. Doing some more research I came across a tweet from Cody actually calling TJ out before their second fight for using EPO, and even in a press conference the year before claimed TJ had been using PEDs for a long time and showed other members of their fight camp how to. With all of this evidence existing I now 100% believe Cody’s claims, as being a former teammate training together day in day out he would know better than almost anyone. Even watching back his second fight with Cody in particular, I started to notice that him being able to throw such a high volume of power shots the whole first round is consistent with the effect EPO would have on your performance. With all this evidence I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s likely been using it since his first fight with Renan Barao or even prior to that and this amazing run he's had in his prime is all under question. All this leaves the question what's next TJ. He’s already 33 years old and for fighters in smaller weight classes age tends to affect them the most. For heavier guys they don’t have to dehydrate their bodies as much to make their weight classes, or rely on their speed and athleticism. TJ will be around 35 or 36 when he’s eligible to return and at that age your natural athleticism starts to decline, which is very detrimental especially for a lower weight fighter like TJ. I thought he could really establish himself as an all time great if he defended his title against the new generation of top bantamweights like Moraes, Sterling, Rivera, even Sean O’malley in the future and retire by around 35 or 36 on top of the game. With this news breaking i really am forced to question whether he’ll ever be able to perform at the level he has all these years without the EPO, and age won’t be on his side in a division full of young talented fighters. In a perfect world i’d hope he could still bounce back and come back and prove he did not need the PED’s to beat high level competition and reclaim his belt, however realistically I can’t see that happening. There’s now a lingering mystery of how he would look without any PED’s and at age 35 or 36 in his weight class i don’t think we’ll ever see him perform at the level he did before the Cejudo fight ever again. Retirement might be the best option for him at this stage, however if he can return successfully and prove me and the rest of MMA fans wrong it would be a sight to see.

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MMA Top 5 Pound for Pound

As a long time fan of MMA, the UFC matchmaking in recent years has been the best it's ever been. Going into 2018 my most anticipated match ups were Khabib vs Conor and the Jones vs Gustafsson rematch, which the UFC delivered on. Even the recent announcements are amazing and I’ll be tuning in to some great match ups scheduled all spring and summer. With that being said we’ve also seen a good amount of super fights and champion vs champion match ups. As of right now there doesn’t look to be any more super fights in the works, as most of the divisions have newly crowned champions or clear cut contenders in the rankings. That makes this a good time to make a pound for pound list based on what i factor into pound for pound. There are many factors to consider when making these which is why everyone’s opinions tend to differ so much compared to boxing, however I’ve narrowed mine down to these 5 in this order.

1. Skill Level in all areas (striking, clinch work, ground)

2. Level of opposition beaten

3. Gameplanning/ fight iq

4. Physical attributes (speed, reach, KO power, etc..)

5. Heart (will to win, determination)

Here is my list for the top 5 pound for pound fighters in the world today:

5. Amanda Nunes (UFC Bantamweight & Featherweight Champion)

This was the toughest spot to determine with plenty of other fighters who could make a good case but looking at what Nunes has done you cannot deny her. She has the skills in all areas, KO power like a female Tyson and one of best resumes in the sport male or female. First she destroyed Miesha Tate to win the title and that was more of a beat down than competitive fight. Then gave Ronda Rousey an even worse beat down in her return and attempt to reclaim the title. Defended against probably the most well rounded and skilled women’s fighter in Shevchenko in a hard fought decision. Her greatest feat in my eyes that propels her to this height on the list is knocking out Cris Cyborg, who was on a 20 fight win streak, looked unbeatable and is naturally bigger and fights 10 Ibs above Nunes’ weight class, was considered the women's GOAT. For Nunes to go and knock her out in that fashion, instantly makes her the GOAT for women’s mma.

4. Max Holloway (UFC Featherweight Champion)

Out of every fighter on this list Holloway is the youngest and really has potential to be number one for many years if he continues the momentum he has right now. Holloway is currently on the longest win streak in the UFC with 13 consecutive wins and most of those wins coming against in my eyes against the toughest level of opposition other than the number one fighter on this list. He came in at 20 years old basically as just a striker and has evolved into one of the most well rounded fighters in the sport. His boxing skills, footwork, cardio and pace is just a puzzle that  no one's been able to solve while hes on this run, and he gets better every fight. Beating Pettis a former lightweight champ for his interim title and then beating Aldo for the undisputed belt twice is such an impressive feat. Both of those guys were at some point in the top 5 pound for pound and then he goes on to dominate Ortega in a one sided beat down of a title fight. He just gets better every fight and if he is successful in his next fight against Poirier for the interim lightweight title next weekend, it sets up a clash for pound for pound status against the next entry..

3. Khabib Nurmagomedov (UFC Lightweight Champion)

Years before Khabib was even in the top rankings the mma world usually referred to him as the “uncrowned champion”. Now that he is the champion we see what the hype was about, as he’s displayed the best grappling skills, tenacity and high pace we’ve ever seen against other top competition. There’s not much else to say all we’ve seen him do is get a hold of his opponent and just maul them round after round. His striking and stand up skills has also come a long way which he displayed in his two most recent fights with Conor and Iaquinta. His skills are undeniable and his fights with Johnson, Barboza, Iaquinta and Conor were complete dominations other than a select few moments in fights. He’s one of the few fighters that look to be almost unbeatable, with a 27-0 record, almost unheard of in the sport. The only factor holding him back from being number one is oppositions he’s faced. Not to discredit him any way because i do believe he’s the best lightweight in the world and favour him to win against anyone in the division. I can’t ignore the fact that Ferguson and Poirier have both fought against tougher and more stiff opposition on their rise through the ranks and arguably have a better resume of recent wins. I don’t think a bout with Poirier would be very competitive, however him vs Ferguson is the fight needed to establish who the best lightweight is and establish Khabib as the greatest lightweight of all time and possibly fighter of all time.

2. Daniel Cormier (UFC Heavyweight Champion)

DC is one of the greatest wrestlers the sport has ever seen, and has used that world class wrestling base to rise to the status of one of the greatest of all time. He has beaten and dominated almost all of his opposition except one man, and had a close hard fought win over Gustafsson. His clinchwork and dirty boxing is one of the hardest to deal with for any opponent, he has an amazing chin and big KO power in his hands, especially has a heavyweight. He also has one of the best resumes ever beating names like Stipe, Gustafsson, Rumble Johnson, and Henderson. His greatest feat which puts him this high on the list is holding both the light heavyweight and heavyweight titles at once, the second fighter ever to do it after Conor, against a much more dominant champion than Conor beat to win his second title. The story of Cormier’s career would be picture perfect and he might be regarded as the greatest of all time if he happened to exist in another era. However there is one fighter that has been his kryptonite in terms fighting and championship legacy and he also happens to be number one on this list..

1. Jon Jones (UFC Light Heavyweight Champion)

Jon Jones the current UFC light heavyweight champion where do you start. Firstly i’ll address the controversy surrounding his drug tests and failures for PEDs. If you do not agree with him being on the list due to the drug cheating controversy you have every right to feel that way and i would not argue against you. With that being said he is still an active fighter at the moment and the commissions clear to him to fight so being as objective as possible I include him on the list. Now to his fighting, Jones was the youngest champion ever at just 23 years old and has never been beaten in the cage. Skill wise he checks all the boxes coming in as a wrestler, now developed into one of the most dynamic strikers and most well rounded fighter in the world. He also has the most impressive resume of any fighter ever to me here’s just a short list: Cormier 2x, Gustafsson 2x, Machida, Evans, Shogun, Rampage, Vitor etc..

That’s 6 former champions he's beaten more than any other fighter ever and other than his first fight with Gustafsson he’s dominated every single one of them. He has the longest reach in UFC history and manages distance better than any fighter i’ve ever seen, and has the heart to dig deep even when losing which he showed in the first Gustafsson fight to edge out the decision in the championship rounds. Since his comeback he beat Gustafsson to clear up any debate in that matchup finishing him this time and also outclassed Anthony Smith for 5 rounds. He's fighting smarter than ever now and with his skills, physical attributes and approach. I don’t see him losing at light heavyweight however he does have one weakness in his game but i think only a select few fighters have the skill to exploit it and execute it at heavyweight where one punch is all it takes.

[combatnewsnation]

UFC 229 RECAP: KHABIB VS CONOR BREAKDOWN

With all of the craziness that took place in the arena after the main event it seems like some of the attention has been lost on the fights. Overall it was an excellent card which delivered with plenty of knockouts, a huge comeback KO and a few wars.

NURMAGOMEDOV VS MCGREGOR

In the most anticipated fight in UFC history we saw a lot stuff go down during and after the fight. The whole mess after the fight does affect things going into the future but that’s a separate topic on its own. The fight itself was a one sided domination by Khabib, who looked better in almost every aspect of MMA. If you read my pre fight analysis you would see that i predicted a one sided domination from whichever fighter won and ultimately picked wrong in Conor. We saw a combination of two things Khabib looking better than he ever has, fast, explosive and powerful. Conor McGregor also did not look like the same fighter we’ve seen previously in the octagon. The two things he needed most his footwork and precision striking seemed to have diminished compared to when he fought Alvarez. I thought he would stay on his toes, pressure Khabib standing up against the cage which he did, and then land precision counters but he was not able to get anything off during his window of opportunity. He looked flat footed, punches and reflexes looked a lot slower and Khabib actually had the speed advantage on the feet which also came as a shock to me and likely many others. His takedown defense was decent at moments in the first and third round, but when Khabib got a hold of him he punished him. The most shocking thing to see was Khabib dropping Conor with a vicious overhand right. This i believe stemmed from Conor’s attention to stopping the single leg and Khabib changing levels and faking the takedown to land the punch for a flash knockdown. Conor actually recovered really well and started throwing strikes back immediately. When Khabib got him to the ground and fatigued the fight was already decided and Khabib ended up finishing him with a hybrid kind of neck crank and rear-naked choke. It’s hard to say what’s next for these two due to the events that took place after but Khabib just solidified himself as the champion. To me the lightweight title he had before this fight was far from “undisputed” as Conor had the best claim despite his absence and Tony having one with a better resume in the division but now there’s absolutely no doubt that Khabib is the best lightweight in the world. Him vs Ferguson has to be next, they’re both on the second longest win streaks in UFC history with 11 a piece and it has to happen for one of them to cement themselves as the best lightweight of this era. As for Conor he took some damage and did not look like the phenom we’ve seen in years past. Whether it was due to the layoff or just game planning for the most dominant grappler we’ve ever seen he has to take some time to recover and then we’ll see what the future holds. He still will be the biggest star in the UFC and even though he does not deserve a rematch with Khabib after getting dominated, money talks and that post fight fiasco has one positive aspect in building interest for the rematch. Not the most exciting fight of the night but a great one between two world level guys nonetheless.

[combatnewsnation]

UFC 229 RECAP: FERGUSON VS PETTIS BREAKDOWN

FERGUSON VS PETTIS

In a fight that turned out to be fight of the night two former champs, Pettis former undisputed and Ferguson the former interim champ both went to war and put on a show for the fans. Coming in we knew Tony had the boxing and wrestling advantage and had many options in terms of game plan to try and implement against Pettis. Pettis had also been looking good as of late with an impressive win in his last outing against Michael Chiesa at UFC 226. A lot of people, including myself thought Pettis had the skills to be a tough matchup for Tony with his jiu jitsu and kickboxing wild style. It turns out we were slightly right as the biggest moment in the fight was Pettis dropping Ferguson with a right hand. Other than that moment Ferguson was pretty much dominating the fight with his superior reach, long range boxing and ridiculous pace. It really overwhelmed Pettis by the end of the 2nd round, who was also fighting with a broken hand. Pettis’ long time coach stopped the fight after noticing the injury giving Ferguson the win. This is now Ferguson’s 11th win in a row against another world class level opponent and he might have the deepest resume in the division right now. A shot for the undisputed title has to be next for him and its long overdue, considering he came back from a horrible injury so quickly and put on such a great performance. Pettis had a rough stretch exchanging wins and losses after losing his title, and even though he lost the fight he looked better in defeat than some of those losses he took during that run. His boxing seemed to have diminished during that time but he’s had a resurgence with it dropping Chiesa in the last fight and hurting Tony.I think it’s safe to say showtime is back and we can expect to see some fun matchups and performances for him going forward.

[combatnewsnation]

UFC 229 Conor vs Khabib prediction

This is one of the historical striker vs grappler matchups, with arguably the best striker in the UFC right now in Conor and the almost consensus best grappler in Khabib. When breaking down the fight there are a lot of big unknowns to factor in. We haven’t seen Conor in an octagon since his last outing against Eddie Alvarez almost two years ago which could play a factor. Khabib’s last outing was against Al Iaquinta at UFC 223 where he won the vacant lightweight title in a bout where he was originally scheduled to fight Tony Ferguson. With all of that in mind we are going to assume that the most recent versions of both is who will show up on fight night. Conor put on in my eyes his best UFC performance to date in his last bout with Alvarez and Khabib was dominant against Iaquinta who is a solid competitor but came in on short notice and was ranked number 11 in the division. We saw Khabib decide to stand up more than usual in later rounds of the Iaquinta fight and showed some slight improvements in the striking while his grappling looked the same but he was not as effective as previous fights against worse grapplers like Johnson and Barboza. Conor is not as good a grappler as even a short notice Iaquinta which we do need to keep in mind, but his grappling is not as terrible as some make it out to be.The most success anyone’s had grappling Conor was Chad Mendes. Mendes was able to single leg and double leg conor quite easily, especially Conor’s long southpaw stance which leaves him vulnerable to single leg takedowns from an orthodox fighter. While Khabib is the best overall grappler in the UFC in my eyes, Chad Mendes is probably a better wrestler with his speed, explosiveness and technique with single and double legs from striking range. Khabib works best with a body lock against the fence or off relentless pressure from his initial single leg. To get in those positions he uses wild blitzing style striking combinations to get into the range which could cost him against a precision striker like Conor. If he’s able to get a hold of Conor and successfully take him down once the fight is pretty much over. He has to get him down first though which is the biggest factor playing into my prediction. I’ve had Khabib winning the fight since it was discussed as a potential matchup and even upon the announcement of the fight. Studying both fighters and their recent outings leading up to this fight my prediction has changed. If the Conor that showed up against Alvarez or an even better version shows up i think he catches Khabib while Khabib tries to close the distance. The two most alarming aspects of Khabib’s striking that changed my opinion are one how he throws combinations and flinches when strikes get thrown back at times during exchanges. As someone who’s trained in boxing and muay thai that is probably the worst thing you can do when fighting a precise striker like Conor. The second is Khabib also uses a lunging type lead uppercut from his right hand, and Conor is way too skilled to get caught or flustered by it. I think Khabib will get dropped by Conor’s counter left off an outside angle while throwing that specific punch and not be able to recover. In UFC gloves we all have seen how Conor’s left hand power drops everyone from featherweight to welterweight and i think Khabib also falls victim to it. Either off of that strike i mentioned or just trying to close the distance in general with his sloppy striking. I could be very wrong and Khabib may have fixed those things in this camp or have an amazing chin, those are some more of the unknowns like i mentioned previously, that we have to wait to see on fight night. I can confidently say that it won’t be a close fight either way it goes either Conor gets mauled and submitted or TKO’d by ground and pound or Khabib gets starched early in the fight. My chance for Conor to win is 51% and my chance for Khabib is 49%. Even though i say the fight won’t be close either way it goes its the unknowns that make it so hard to pick, and why we’re all excited to see what goes down on October 6th.

Conor (51%)                                                   Khabib (49%)

Conor KO/TKO (85%)                                  Khabib KO/TKO (35%)

Conor Submission (5%)                               Khabib Submission (35%)

Conor Decision (10%)                                  Khabib Decision (30%)

[combatnewsnation]

Top 5 Pound For Pound Boxers Today

Who is the best in the world? In any sport this topic is always debated heavily amongst fans, whether its Ronaldo vs Messi or Lebron vs Durant. In the sport of boxing we have the pound for pound rankings to answer that question. By definition pound for pound is used to rank who’s the best relative to weight class but in debate many different ideas of what makes the best pound for pound fighters tend to emerge. Does it mean if weight classes disappeared we could identify the best in the world? Is it defined by who has the best wins or their resume? Or is it a matter of which fighter regardless of weight has the best skill set? My answer is we do have to take all of these factors into consideration when defining who is the best in the world. For my rankings I take skill set, quality of opposition, dominance in performance and resume in different weight classes all into consideration to rank the best 5 boxers in the world today.

5. Guillermo Rigondeaux “El Chacal” 17-1 (11ko)

Although his last outing against Lomachenko rightfully disappointed many of his fans with not much action and him quitting on his stool due to an alleged hand injury, Rigo remains one of the best boxers in the world today and the best super bantamweight in the world today. Rigo has dominated the rest of his opposition with his insane matrix like defensive and counterpunching, and knockout power in his left hand, often making his opponents look like amateurs. Rigondeaux along with Lomachenko are the only boxers today to win two consecutive gold medals in separate olympics. With that long amateur stint he made the transition to pro later in his career which is why he has a relatively short pro record, fighting at world championship level just 7 fights in. His best win is Donaire, who at the time was on almost every pound for pound list and Rigondeaux outclassed and broke his jaw over a 12 round beating. If shrunk or blown up in size i don’t see many fighters being able to beat this guy, even at age 37.

4. Naoya Inoue “Kaibustu (the monster)” 16-0 (14ko)

I don’t know if there is an active boxer right now with a more fitting nickname than the monster Inoue. He has looked like a monster so far in his career picking up a world title as early as 6 fights into his career. A devastating body puncher with power in either hands and excellent overall skills, this guy has the whole package. He has destroyed all of his opposition so far, becoming a 2 weight champion in his most recent outing. We still have yet to see him face big names yet and that is the reason he is not higher up this list yet. Only time will tell, but I won’t be surprised to see this guy on the top of the list in years to come if he keeps putting on performances like the ones we have seen so far.

3. Mikey Garcia 38-0 (30ko)

After coming off a two year layoff, Mikey Garcia has put himself in the pound for pound conversation. He has now become a 4 weight world champion beating some very high level competition en route to it. Known as more of a power puncher on his rise in the lower weight classes he has become an excellent boxer puncher, who does everything textbook and is extremely fundamentally sound. He will face off with fellow lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr later this month, a fight many including myself expect him to win, and become a unified champion at lightweight. A fight and win over the next fighter on this list is one that can catapult him to the number one spot in years, or maybe months to come.

2. Vasyl “Hi-tech” Lomachenko 12-1 (9ko)

2 consecutive gold medals 396 amateur wins with one loss, 12 professional fights, 3 division world champion and a string of victories over world level opposition and champions by way of “no mas”. Those accomplishments pretty much speak for themselves and there is still more to come. Many make an argument for Lomachenko being the best boxer alive right now, and he has earned the right to be put in that conversation. His high output offensive style, while being defensively responsible and his use of angles like no other today in attack has made Loma one of the best boxers alive today. Not only that but fighting for a world title in his second pro fight, and only fighting for world titles since is already a remarkable achievement in itself. The only flaw people point out is his lack of knockout power, however he has stopped 9 out of his 13 opponents, and what he may lack in explosive power he more than makes up for with skill that has lead many world class fighters to giving up against him. He’s in his prime now and he can further cement his name as all time great with some more victories over big names in and around his weight class.

1. Terence “Bud” Crawford 33-0 (24ko)

Imagine trying to beat a guy with a complete skill set, can come forward or counterpunch, with good power and movement, and can do it equally well in both stances. That is what 33 men have tried and all failed in fighting Terence Crawford. Already a 3 weight world champion, and previously becoming the first undisputed junior welterweight champion, his resume pretty much speaks for itself. His only flaw previously was getting hit more than he should especially in southpaw, but he has corrected that and is looking like the perfect fighter these days. He is only a couple of career defining wins away from being in the argument for greatest of all time already, and he is in his prime right now. Wins over Thurman, Porter, Garcia and especially Errol Spence Jr will give him an excellent case for greatest of all time. With that being said, with his current skill set and attributes if you shrunk him down or blew him up i don’t think any fighter in the world in any division beats him right now, making him undoubtedly the best in the world right now.