#Welsh Slate Signs London

[ansicred]

LECHAN YN Y GWAED | welsh (+ welsh descendant) ocs | part two: frank

You wouldn't think it from looking at his name or hearing him, but Frank is of Welsh descent; both of his parents are Welsh, having originally come from quarryman's town Blaenau Ffestiniog (near the Eryri National Park) in Gwynedd, before they moved to Dagenham/London for work and then to Basildon in Essex to raise their family. This means that he is, technically speaking, a 1st generation immigrant to England, having been born and raised there. His only tangible connection to Blaenau is having been there as a kid during school holidays to visit family, and knowing/understanding but not being able to speak very much Welsh (and using that area's slang). He knows all the nursery rhymes/child-level limericks (Gee Ceffyl Bach, Dau Gi Bach, Fuoch Chi Erioed Yn Morio), the national anthem, and folk songs and is able to recite/sing them in the original language -- but, aside from the odd swear word and basic phrases picked up from his parents, that's about as far his ability in the language really stretched. Before he died, he had been learning more conversational Welsh in his spare time and had even taught Suzy some things so she could share in his heritage -- both particularly liked listening to bands such as Bwncath. Thanks to his parents, and having gone out of his way to learn it for himself, Frank is very much aware of Welsh history but is especially knowledgeable about the cultural and industrial history of North Western Wales and its relation to quarrying (and a very specific, unique kind of blue-purple slate, and everything attached to that - including the people & quarries involved - is now protected under UNESCO World Heritage). He knows the Nid Oes Bradwr (There Is No Traitor) history better than anything and, in the 80s, he made a point of pasting a homemade sticker version of the sign that read 'Nid Oes Bradwr Yn Y Band Hwn' (There Is No Traitor In This Band, essentially meaning 'No Scabs In This Band') onto his bass guitars and he had hand-printed a whole series of T-shirts with the same phrase on the front and frequently wore them on UK-based television appearances as an act of solidarity with Welsh miners who were striking. Although he is in his right to refer to himself as a Welshman and he does actively engage with the language, culture, and history, Frank feels it would be disrespectful because he was born in England and therefore considers himself an Englishman. He has even turned down an arbitrary Honorary Welshman title from cousins (and their friends) after Odd Foxes got big because he doesn't think it's right to call himself that when he wasn't born in the 'mamwlad'. Before he died, he was very much pro-independence and outright stated so multiple times, because he felt like Wales should be free to properly rule/govern itself instead of being stuck to the imperial colonial country next door's idea of a 'union'.

[celtichousenameplates]

Why Choose Custom Made Hand Painted House Names in London?

A house is where we feel relaxed after a long day at work. So keeping it in its best condition and beautifying it offers us joy that we cherish. Custom made hand painted hose names in London are enough to make a property look its best. Installing a house name that is just not your regular house sign can make a simple wall look unique and stunning. You don’t need to break the bank to make the exterior of a property look mesmerising. Just invest in Welsh Slate signs to grab the attention of visitors and passersby.

Nameplates have been here for decades but customising their property and turning it into a business is new. The birth of hand-painted house signs is changing the industry and is allowing the house owners to beautify their properties as they imagine them to be. Installing slate painted house numbers in London is enough to make a property noticeable among similar houses in a lane.

Custom made house names not only make the property look aesthetically pleasing but also help the property to stand out. You can choose your house number among a wide range of shapes and sizes to meet the needs and the way you want it to look.

Hand-painted house numbers can be enough to pique the interest of the passerby. Many houses are recognised just by the nameplates installed on the outside walls thanks to their looks, colours and designs.

Choose the Right Material for Your Custom-made Hand Painted House Names in London

Though metal and wooden house plates are more popular among house owners but plastic, glass and stone nameplates are gaining momentum as well. When metal house names are concerned, most opt for rustproof ones to keep the decorative item in its best condition.

Do you wonder why hand painted house signs have become so popular suddenly?

It dated back to the era when there were no photoshop and illustration services available. In the earlier days, people used to decorate their houses by creating colourful designs on their outside walls. This practice gradually eloped and people started to be more mindful of the house names installed on the walls.

With the popularity of fashion and art, the emergence of custom made house names has gained speed. Thanks to social media sites, people have built a taste for colourful items and house names are no exception. On a solid, simple wall, a brightly coloured house plate is enough to give the property a top-notch look that everyone adores. Personalised slate painted house numbers are enough to enhance the overall look of a property. It offers a feel and sense that is unique to you. It reflects the taste of the residents or the people who own the house.

Hand-painted house signs mirror the personality of the homeowners right at the entrance. Who does not want that? Everyone wants to make others know their styles and personality whenever someone enters the property.

Colours play a crucial role in making a house sign visible even among the most shadowy places. A bright hue of any shade is enough to draw the eyes right at it. Choosing the right colour highly compliments the aesthetics of your house and resonates with the style that your property evokes.

A unique identity is what sets you apart from the other houses in a block. And custom made hand painted house names do the job well. Locating your house in a lane is just a house plate away.

Many counties legally ask to install house names. To prevent yourself from being tangled in legal actions, just buy signs from trustworthy and experienced signs manufacturing and designing companies such as Celtic House Name Plates. A reliable organisation knows which nameplates or colours work well with your particular house design or will let you abide by the law.

It has become a necessity. Detecting your house can be difficult for visitors or guests who are coming to your place for the first time. Installing Welsh slate signs in London can make the house look spellbinding that can come with minimal investment if you don’t want to break the bank.

Without putting a dent on your wallet, enjoy a house up-gradation that no other house building work offers. Transform the way your house looks with custom made house names in London.

Selecting a reputed sign production company is important when you want to change the way your house looks along with making it stand out among numerous other houses. From cutting to designing the nameplate — a specialist covers all. Once you have hired an expert, it becomes their responsibility to select the right design and size of the house number on behalf of you. This protects you from the avoidable hassle that nobody wants to face.

Enjoy a smooth journey with your nameplate design company!

[ne-dosta-je]

10 Awesome Things You Can Learn From Studying roofing.

Before hiring an organization, always see the paperwork that reveal the roofing companys liability and likewise its workers insurance policy. This is essential in making certain that the homeowner wills not responsible if any accident happens whereas work on the roof is happening. Another commonplace but quite essential step is to confirm whether the corporate has a genuine license for doing business from the federal government. Earlier than the work in your roof begins, the roofing contractor must submit to you a written proposal with signature that describes intimately all the particulars of the home and the roofing job. The estimate or proposal should embrace- Start date of work, choices for making payment, full date of the work, total cost concerned and paying of compensation in case of injury to the shoppers property. Ask the roofing company to introduce you to the one that could be supervising your job. Know clearly about details like how many workers will work on your project and the quality control strategies. You will get a paycheck, you will get some benefits, more detailed follow with video animation, and job safety. However you will even have a boss, coworkers and an organization which may just see you as one other cog. Operating your own private video animation company is a bit riskier, however the rewards in the long run are priceless. You may have to do all of the work your self, but when you hone your skills and build a consumer base, you will be the one in charge. For example, a stucco dwelling would look nice with a clay roof, but a metallic silver roof may seem slightly extra out of place. In fact, the price of each a steel and stucco roofing choice is not going to be low-cost, so that you do have to subsequent have a look at value. This after all means quotes are going to be essential for your new domestic roofing london roof. You want to be sure that you just ask the individual aiding you together with your roofing maintenance what different supplies would value put in.

Take time to make an informed choice.

When constructing a brand new roof, consideration needs to be given to the local local weather. Attributable to the way in which water travels over a roof slate, (the angle of creep) larger sizes are more appropriate for wetter climates. A premium slate roof carries a hefty price tag. Welsh slates are usually thought of to be the most effective available on the market. By way of appearance and sturdiness they are second to none. over at this website Sadly, at three to 4 pounds every the cost can be prohibitive. Are you looking for a residential roofing firm? It’s vital to choose a roofing firm that perceive all elements of the roofing trade. Under is a list of helpful ideas to help you in selecting the best roofing firm in Nevada and getting the most effective service attainable. Study what you possibly can from every one that seems at your roof, and ask questions. Take time to make an knowledgeable determination. Pay careful attention to what each roofer recommends. Don’t jump at the lowest bidder. If all bids for your roof are within 20 percent of each other, the low bid could be okay.

Ease of maintenance

Power washing and roof cleaning

To go or return house

Let us discuss a little more about the form of processes and systems you’ve in place

The heat/yellow brick to the cool/blue roof

Cleaning soap & Water

Also see SLATE ROOF INSPECTION & Restore - home

780 Lee Road

Finding an excellent roofing contractor is crucial part of any roofing challenge. It can make the difference between a pleasing experience and a nightmarish one. You need someone who can provide you with a very good product at a good price, with none sort of trouble or headache. Too many homeowners fail to inform the distinction between a good contractor and a nasty one till it’s too late. Your best guess to avoid any bother is to be sure you’ve gotten found a very good contractor earlier than signing any contract. How does one go about figuring out if a contractor is respected? Luckily there are quite a lot of things to look for that will tell you immediately whether or not an organization is price your consideration. First of all, you want to make certain that your roofer is certified and licensed in your state. Not all states require licensing, however in case your state does then it is vital that you simply solely hire a contractor that abides by state legal guidelines. Unlicensed contractors are the most important threat to your satisfaction. Ask to see proof of licensing earlier than proceeding with any discussions. It is vital that the roofing contractor can offer you a enterprise deal with and cellphone quantity. In different phrases, you need proof that the corporate is permanently established. You need proof that the company can handle your project and have it completed in a timely manner. A everlasting institution also provides you the boldness that you could name the contractor ought to any problems arise down the road. Additionally vital is the company’s liability insurance coverage and worker’s compensation insurance coverage. Ask to see proof of these insurance policies.

Beware of any contractor who asks for money up entrance.

Ask the previous purchasers if they can be prepared to rent the contractor again. This will provde the most dear indication of the contractor’s high quality and dependability. A superb contractor will give you a written estimate detailing the anticipated price of your undertaking. Beware of any contractor who asks for cash up entrance. The standard process within the roofing business is payment upon completion of the venture. This is to protect the homeowner from rip-off artists who take the money and run without finishing the work. A very good contractor will complete your challenge to your satisfaction earlier than requiring payment. Discovering an excellent, dependable contractor is a very powerful step in your home’s roof repair or replacement venture. It is crucial to acquire estimates from a number of respected roofing contractors earlier than proceeding with a project. Ensure that your chosen contractor is one who matches the highest requirements for high quality and dependability. A good contractor is probably the most important element to your roofing satisfaction. If you beloved this short article and you desire to get details concerning roof windows london (breaking news) i implore you to stop by the site.

[redsoapbox]

28 BANDS / WHAT HAPPENED TO MY TIPS FOR THE TOP?

 18 months ago, in an attempt to nudge the redsoapbox blog outside of its comfort zone, I spent many a long hour trawling the internet in search of up and coming artists with the potential to make an impact on pop culture. 28 bands (click the archive link to find the original article) featured acts from the blog’s base here in Wales, from many other parts of the U.K. as well as musicians from America, Canada, France, Sweden, New Zealand and Finland. All manner of genres were included - from country, soul and easy listening to indie-noir, psych-funk and art-punk. Some artists were easier to identify than others - Liz Brasher, for example, seemed an obvious star in the making, while others, such as Turku’s Those Forgotten Tapes, had yet to play even a single gig!  

So, how have they all fared? Well, as might be expected, it’s something of a mixed bag. There have been successes - one artist appeared in an Academy Award-winning musical, another in a long-running BBC soap, national album prizes have been won and summer support slots with Dylan and Neil Young secured. There have been dispiriting failures too  - one or two bands have barely gigged, some have remained unsigned (though in many cases they continue to self-release sublime music) and one group folded straight after an excellent debut album.

Taking the artists in the original order in which they were featured, here’s an update on progress made -

Hand Habits

Meg Duffy released sophomore album Placeholder in January 2019 to widespread critical acclaim. Pitchfork said it best, describing the album as a ‘bucolic mix of pleasing melody, soft guitars and gentle vocals’.

Boy Azooga

It’s been a massive year for the Cardiff combo. Storming singles “Face Behind Her Cigarette” and “Loner Boogie” secured the band a spot on the cult show Later... With Jools Holland and a record deal with Heavenly followed. The band’s debut album (One) (Two) (Kung Fu) won the 2018 Welsh Music Prize (for which I was a juror) and the group has recently been confirmed as support for Bob Dylan and Neil Young gigs later in the summer. I interviewed frontman Davie Newington for New Sound Wales last year  http://www.newsoundwales.com/interviews/boy-azooga-interview-by-kevin-mcgrath/

Liz Brasher

As mentioned in the intro, North Carolina’s Liz Brasher seemed an obvious choice in the ‘next big thing’ stakes. In 28 bands, I predicted a ‘tidal wave of hype’ would greet the release of her debut album. I wasn’t kidding, either, with  PopMatters declaring Painted Image to be evidence that Brasher is ‘one of the next thundering and commanding voices of soul music’.

Liz Brasher live

Family Jools

A run of exceptional tunes through 2016 - 2018 including “Get Off”, “Fallacy” and “Don’t Know” was supposed to lead to a debut album by the end of last year. The departure of Jack Hawkins (guitar) was the first outward sign that the project was in danger of veering off the rails and there is no sign at present of that elusive album. Another fine single “She’s a Mother” surfaced a few months back and exactly five hours ago they band have announced a forthcoming single by the name of “California Sun”. I’m still a true believer, though. You can find my interview with the band via the archive link. 

There is a Family Jools gig available here https://bndrmusic.io/

Sarah Munro

Sarah released a fine sophomore album Angel Road in June last year and, somewhat bizarrely, turned up busking outside a hospital in the long-running BBC soap Holby City which aired in February.  

Armstrong

The fact that I became somewhat smitten with Armstrong last year will be no secret to readers of this blog. That this fellow Welshman’s incredible music had hitherto escaped me boggled the mind somewhat. Discovering timeless albums like “Under Blue Skies” and “Songs About The Weather” gave me one hell of a kick. In an interview I conducted with Julian Pitt (the sole member of Armstrong) for Wales Arts Review in April last year, the singer/songwriter was excited about a planned re-release of Under Blue Skies (with a whopping 8 extra tracks!) and his continuing work on a brand new album Happy Graffiti. Anyone who read the interview closely, though, might have been a little worried about how long those projects might take to come to fruition. Happily, I can confirm that the sterling efforts of The Beautiful Music and Country Mile Records have borne fruit, with Under Blue Skies available to order from the following links

http://thebeautifulmusic.com/

http://www.countrymile.org/Releases/Armstrong/armstrong.html

You can read the interview here -

https://www.walesartsreview.org/interview-armstrong/

Keeva

While the much-hoped-for album has yet to materialise, there was a richly tender EP Four Sad Songs and a Ballad to cling on to in the meantime. Keeping my fingers firmly crossed that an album is just around the corner.

The Salient Braves

Aside from a single track,“Slob,” released last July, all seems deathly quite. I assume the Braves continue ‘pissing into the indie wind’ as their twitter profile proudly boasts!  Until we hear anything new then, we’ll just have to resort to re-playing the majestic Delusions of Grandeur over and over again. Believe me, that’s no hardship!

https://thesalientbraves.bandcamp.com/

Estrons

Local favourites with a fantastic live reputation, Estrons released a corking debut album You Say I’m Too Much, I say You’re Not Enough to huge approval and then promptly split. They made their mark though, 2015 single “Make a Man” should be on anyone’s shortlist for best song of the twenty-tens.

Thou Swell

Absolutely fell in love with the demo version of “What’s Your Name” that appeared on Soundcloud in December 17. There was a smattering of London gigs in the first half of 2018 and the promise of a live EP, but everything has gone worryingly quiet since.

https://soundcloud.com/user-911275129

The Regrets

Seattle’s pristine purveyors of jangle pop released a new EP, Endless Desire, which featured five frothy tracks including the rather marvellous “Under a Sideways Moon”. 

 https://wearetheregrets.bandcamp.com/album/endless-desire

Head Noise

Mitch Tennant’s electro art-punks continue to battle Welsh music establishment indifference. A sequence of intriguing EP’s has been met with stunned silence. Hopefully, a debut album, due before the year's end, will finally break down some of these artificial barriers. As Mitch himself often says, ‘D.I.Y or Die, Baby!’. 

Head Noise

You can read my interview with Mitch here

 https://www.walesartsreview.org/interview-head-noise/

Jade Jackson

Jackson’s sophomore album Wilderness earned across-the-board critical acclaim on its release last month with American Songwriter complimenting the singers ‘tenacious honey-and-grits voice’. Opinion former’s No Depression called it the same way, highlighting Jackson’s ‘warm, confident vocal delivery’.

QTY

The band seem to have disappeared from all thing social media!  Still, we’ll always have the eponymous debut album!

HOTEL LUX

Hotel Lux’s latest single, the stunning “English Disease”, had more than a dab of Robert Lloyd about it. If Hotel Lux can measure up to theNightingales, then you won’t hear me complaining. Set to play Cardiff’s Swn Festival in October, where I can get a closer look at them. 

Hotel Lux  

Cozy Slippers

Seattle’s three-piece Cozy Slippers released a cracking EP Postcards last April and are set to follow up with a new single “A Million Pieces” for German independent label Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten on the ninth of August. The band has also confirmed that plans for a U.K. tour are in the pipeline.

https://cozyslippers.bandcamp.com/album/postcards

Common Holly

The band is about to launch it's Back From the Dead’ tour later this month, taking in Toronto and Winnipeg along the way before hopping across the border to support Mauno on their short American sojourn.

BUZZARD BUZZARD BUZZARD

An enforced name change saw Cardiff outfit Buzzard triple their moniker in an unfortunate start to Tom Rees’ campaign for superstardom. Rees aims pretty high, recently telling N.M.E. that the combo’s single “Late Night City” made him cry in a way that only “Wichita Lineman” ever had before. Fresh from playing the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury, the band are set to release a new single “Love Forever” later this month. Mark them down as potential world-beaters!

Nervous Dater

The band is currently opening for Los Campesinos! on their ‘Save America Tour’. If you haven’t invested in their spiky Don’t be a Stranger album, then why the hell not? 

The Greek Theatre

As recounted in the original 28 bands blog, Swedish duo Sven Froberg and Fredrik Perrson wrote an entire series of albums and then decided on a date for their break up all within weeks of their formation in 2009. So far, the Greek Theatre masterplan has yielded two sublime albums Lost at Sea (2013) and Broken Circle (2017). I have struggled in vain to discover when the next record is slated for release, all to no avail. We can only assume that their surreal plan is still in force and that a third album is on the way! 

oblong  

Andrew Clement, Hwys Grav and Rob Daniel should apply to join the magic circle forthwith. The Llanelli post-punk band’s trick of conjuring up two feisty, furious and humorous albums Brilliant...Gwd (2017) and  Hollulluog (2019) in double-quick time deserve the respect of their musical peers.

https://oblong1.bandcamp.com/

The Glad Machine

Nothing to report here, save for the release of a Christmas single “Days Gone By” and, wait a mo, a brand new single released this very day (5th of July). Just going to take a listen.......be back soon!  Okay, the song is called “Virginia” and sits pretty neatly alongside the material from their debut album - file under thumping, melodic American rock.

Illuminati Hotties

The Hotties’ terrific debut album Kiss Yr Frenemies, the sound of which is described as “tenderpunk” by the group’s sole permanent member Sarah Tudzin, was rapturously received by the music press. Pitchfork, in particular, was persuaded, claiming that “every emotional abrasion and pang of longing on Kiss Yr Frenemies is conveyed with just the right mix of sadness and acerbity”.

Somehow

Erwan Pepiot’s tantalising description of the Somehow sound - ‘halfway between Joy Division and Belle and Sebastian’ should grab the attention of even the most jaded pop music consumer. The duo’s brand new single “Shut Your Eyes and See” certainly lives up to the billing. A new album, Low Tide, will be released on October the 25th.

Somehow

Crystal Furs

Having released a new album, Pseudosweet, in January, the band seems to have successfully overcome the departure of lead vocalist Amanda Hand (now fronting electro-pop combo Big Heaven). 

Jetstream Pony

A rip-roaring EP, Self-Destruct Reality, captured the group on top form. A new song “Mitte” has just been demoed and is a forerunner for an album release later on in the year. 

Sandra’s Wedding

The band’s debut album, Northern Powerhouse, is a certifiable classic of indie-pop. An album for the ages! How to follow that? - with a corking EP Good Morning, Bad Blood which builds the anticipation for a much-anticipated sophomore album.

Marlon Williams

William’s sophomore album Make Way for Love racked up three New Zealand music awards, but perhaps the most surprising development among the 28 bands featured here was Marlon’s role in Bradley Cooper’s Oscar-winning remake of A Star is Born.

Those Forgotten Tapes

I’ve left the most disappointing news until last. Sadly, Those Forgotten Tapes have put their rock ‘n’ roll project on indefinite hold. When I interviewed the Finish combo shortly after blogging 28 Bands, the group was in the midst of recording a debut album and there was a real air of optimism around. Following the interview, I kept in touch with Jari Oisalo, the driving force behind TFT, but as time went by without any word of an album it became clear that something had gone awry. Without breaking any confidences, there have been health issues which contributed in large part to the dissolution of the group. Jari intends to remix the four recorded TFT tracks (which you can hear below) and has hopes that a TFT album will see the light of day at some point.

In the meantime, Jari has recorded an album Tahtijuttuja as Salainen avaruusohjelma (Secret Space Program), there is a link below to their track “Buffalo” as well as resuming work on a shoegaze album under the moniker Tyynyt. You can listen to their track Pusuudelleen, reviewed positively in the N.M.E back in the day, below.

https://soundcloud.com/thoseforgottentapes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd91VstQyWk

https://soundcloud.com/solinarecords/tyynyt-pusuudelleen

A number of the acts featured here are reviewed/interviewed in Pop Hack, my debut collection available now via Amazon Kindle and are included in my Spotify Pop Hack playlist (see the archive link for details) while I have also created a brand new 28 bands’ Spotify playlist which can be can be accessed here -

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5tKzsqVHGTQZzZVUDkxlGd?si=F1G7ZFTRTI2SXJ1uBOo_gg)

[oneent-blog]

The Caban – Bangor University

Heading into Bangor once again on a rainy afternoon, I noticed this unusual looking sculpture at Bangor University.

It is called The Caban. Seems like the locals don’t really like it.

Unveiled in 2016. It was sculpted by Joep van Lieshout.

Something to do with Quarrymen.

This view from near Storiel.

Main Building of Bangor University.

Grade I Listed Building

Road University College of North Wales Main Building (Original Courtyard Ranges only)

History

The University was founded in 1884 after the city of Bangor was chosen as the University’s North Wales site. First established of the former Penrhyn Arms Hotel; the present Penrallt site was donated in 1902.

Built 1907-11 by Henry T Hare, architect of London; chosen following a competition assessed by Sir Aston Webb and with other entrants including W D Caroe. The designs were modified by the University (Isambard Owen in particular) to take full advantage of the site. Contractors were Messrs Thornton and Sons of Liverpool; cost ca £175,000. Foundation stone laid by Edward VII on 9 July 1907; opened 14 June 1911.

"Collegiate Tudor" style with Arts and Crafts influences; Hare also carried it "generally of late Renaissance character". Designed around two courtyards, the larger of which was never completed (later enclosed with ranges by Sir Percy Thomas 1966-1970). The entire scheme is linked and focused upon the cathedral like central tower. Buff coloured Cefn stone in snecked courses with freestone dressings and flat buttresses; slate roofs with parapet and stone chimney stacks. Mullioned and transomed windows with leaded lights. Tudor style down-pipes etc dated 1909. Metalwork by William Bainbridge Reynolds of London. The building was described in his obituary as Hare’s finest work.

Exterior

Starting at the NW Hall range facing College Road. 2-storey, 6-window front with advanced end pavilions; altered to right by addition of modern entrance block closing the NW side of the SW courtyard. Steep roof, crenellated parapet and bellcote with lantern and spirelet. Tall segmental headed hall windows, double-transomed and with panel tracery; projecting flat roof ground floor with entrances to either end, deeply recessed doors. Left hand end pavilion had central stepped buttress flanked to 2nd floor by 2 segmental headed windows with unusual tear-drop oculi; right hand pavilion is lower with dentil cornice over 3-light window.

The original main entrances if on the SW gable end of this range. Broad gable with Tudor octagonal end turrets and Baroque niches containing statue of Lewis Morris to apex. Central segmental headed 4-light double-transomed and panel traceried window with flanking buttresses. Advanced below is a triple arched porch with panelled pilasters, coasts of arms and Latin inscription dated 1911. Enriched spandrels over recessed entrances with double doors and lugged architraves to each. Shaped gables at right angles to either side, to the advanced end bays of the adjoining ranges; commemorative tablets with garlanded borders below each gable. At the top of the steps up to the entrance are cast-iron square, tapered lamp standards with bracketed octagonal lamps and openwork ornament.

The spinal/administrative range, together with the Library, forms an :-plan group to the E side of the SW courtyard. The former has an 8-bay, 2-storey front, the advanced left hand bay as above, parapet is balustraded over cross frame windows with architraves to 1st floor and semicircular pediments to ground floor. Baroque entrance to centre with small-pane circular window over door.

The 2-stage tower to right has crenellated parapet and taller stair turret to SE side; splayed corners. 2 segmental-headed double-transomed windows flanking ogee niche to each face; niches contain statues of Welsh historical characters over coats of arms.

The Library at right angles has a 9-window front with central royal coat of arms; 2 bays are advanced with tall 1st floor oriel windows. Crenellated parapet and gabled and panelled buttress pilasters. Arched headed lights, square headed 1st floor windows and segmental headed ground floor windows and entrance which has open pedimented doorcase, lugged architrave and double doors. Plaque with Latin inscription.

Gable end to Penrallt Road has full height buttresses, extruded corners and small attic windows. Central 2-storey splayed bay with horseshoe shaped high arch above containing recessed 3-light window – no leaded glass to this elevation.

The 3-storey SE side of the Library overlooking the city had 1 9 bay front, (stylistically foreshadowing Sir Edwin Lutyens at Castle Drogo). Attic to the advanced and gabled end bay with Baroque scrolls over stepped buttresses; 2nd floor has statute flanked by cross frame windows under overall label. Symmetrical to right with a repeat of the courtyard elevation as above with the addition of a slightly swept out ground floor with single light windows and entrances below the oriels; 1st floor windows set in splayed recesses. Forward to right beyond the tower is the SE range of the NE courtyard. This has a gabled SW end with slate hung attic to left and chimney breast to right, the latter with open-pedimented tablet. 2-storey porch facing Penrallt road entrance with part balustraded parapet, tapered buttresses on chamfered corners and round arched entry with multipane fanlight – swaged shield over.

The main 3-storey and attic SE elevation is symmetrical with an especially collegiate feel to it. Tapered cross range gable ends advanced at the end advanced at the end of 10-bay range, the ground floor of which is arcaded and the central 4 bays open, forming a loggia; storey chimney stacks and flat roof attics over parapet. 2nd floor cornice extend to edges of end pavilions over shield; splayed broad buttresses. Lintels over 1st floor windows and broad ground floor windows, bowed to centre and with high parapets containing UCNW monogram, 1st floor double transomed windows between have lugged architraves and open pediments. Stilted arch arcade windows and part glazed doors to ends of loggia.

The NE end of this range is a repeat of the SW gable end. Advanced to its right is a 3-window bay with boldly tapered end pilasters; double transomed 1st floor windows. 9-bay tall roofed range beyond set into the hillside; largely 2-storey and attic with higher attic to south-eastern 3 bays, also with double transomed ground floor windows. Dividing pilasters to remaining bays. Segmental headed entrance to NW end bay and a smaller one lower down. Octagonal bellcote. The gabled NW return elevation is partly screened by the broader gable end of the hall range. This has a stronger Arts and Crafts feel to it – 4-light gable window, crenellated broad end pilasters with narrow lights (?stair projection) and grills to lower windows.

The enclosed NE courtyard is terraced with similar detail to that on the exterior of each range. The Hall range is at the top and has an ivy clad ground floor projection. The inner side of the SE range is symmetrical; lower gabled projection with polygonal corner turrets, lateral chimney breasts and frontis-piece with 3-light transomed window over scrolled inscription and round arched entrance. Six 2nd floor and three 1st floor segmental headed windows to either side; projecting ground floor. To SW the range is dominated by the tower’s 6-storey NE face; including splayed oriel with crenellated parapet and recessed plain Venetian window; lowest stage splayed out. Twin gabled 3-storey block projects to right of the tower matching similar projection opposite (NE range).

The 4-tier terrace has rubble walls, freestone copings and ball finials.

Main doors open onto a part groin vaulted entrance hall with original 3-lamp light fittings and brass War Memorial tablets by F Osborne and Co Ltd of London. Straight ahead is the 150 ft long Pritchard Jones Hall. 9-bay arches coffered ceiling with panelled ribs and strapwork ornamented ceiling panels, apsidal dais end; coats of arms over windows, panelled dado and other fine woodwork detail etc. Gallery raked over the entrance hall with panelled screen front and segmental open-pediments to the 3 doorways, Original brass light fittings (octagonal). Main staircase lies to SE in groin vaulted stairwell – marble topped ‘closed’ stone balustrade; stained glass window. Open pedimented and carved doorcase at top leads to hall gallery. To SE run 2 tiers of groin vaulted corridors with panelled ribs (not glazed until after 2nd Work War). 1st floor has various bronze oval plaques, panelled doors and cornices and similar pedimented doorcase at SE end leading to back stairs; plainer ground floor corridor. Stained glass windows at SE end by Dudley Forsyth of London 1910, the classical subject and signed "Architectus Dedit" with the monogram of a hare. Short arms of the passages lead off to the Library, that to the 1st floor contained a porcelain museum. The finest single room is the Council Chamber on 1st floor – segmental vaulted ceiling with panelled Jacobean plasterwork and coats of arms of the Welsh Princes full height wainscoting, segmental pedimented doorcases and ashlar fireplaces and overmantels with panelled and fireplaces. Also contains 2 busts by W Goscombe John, one of William Cadwallader Davies and another of Sir Isambard Owen.

NE range has smaller hall with coved ceiling ridges. SE range has metal staircase with barley twist uprights to courtyard side. Library range contains the ground floor Lloyd Reading Room which Hare had intended to be a museum and the 1st floor Shankland Library with segmental vaulted roof with square panel-lining and 36 heraldic shielded in oak frames. Two bays are screened off (corresponding to those with external oriels) and have broken Baroque pedimented openings – 1 bay also has wooden gates. Splayed oriel over entrance with similar doorcase.

Reasons for Listing

Architecturally, one of the most significant public buildings of the period in Britain and historically, the foremost institution in Wales to pioneer the academic development of the Welsh language.

Posted by ell brown on 2018-08-25 18:35:09

Tagged: , Bangor , Wales , United Kingdom , Great Britain , Gwynedd , Bangor, Gwynedd , Caernarfonshire , tree , trees , Waterloo St, Bangor , Waterloo St , Stryd Waterloo , Bangor University , Grade I Listed Building , Grade I Listed , Road University College of North Wales Main Building (Original Courtyard Ranges only) , former Penrhyn Arms Hotel , Henry T Hare , Edward VII , Collegiate Tudor style , Arts and Crafts influences , late Renaissance character , College Rd , College Rd, Bangor , Penrallt Rd , rain , raining , sculpture , The Caban , Joep van Lieshout , Quarrymen , Storiel , Ffordd Deiniol

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[torentialtribute]

Meet the British kids hoping to light up the Bundesliga in the season ahead

The German Bundesliga is quickly gaining a reputation as a finishing school for talented young British players.

Unable to make progress with the first team they crave fast enough in Premier League academies, more and more rising stars are looking for a career boost abroad.

Jusson Sancho of Borussia Dortmund one of the best players in the German top flight last season, of course leads the way.

But who are the other Britons abroad who hope to illuminate the Bundesliga in the coming season?

England star Jadon Sancho enjoyed the excellent 2018-19 season in Borussia Dortmund

RECEIVED OXFORD (Augsburg)

Great things were expected from Oxford when he became the youngest debutant of West Ham at the age of 16 years and 198 days in the summer of 2015, but that has not been entirely successful so far.

Several Hammers executives returned the center on loan to gain vital experience, but Oxford never seemed to play more than a handful of games.

However, the 6ft 3-inch defender appeared to lend the Bundesliga in the course of two loan spells in Borussia Mönchengladbach and another in Augsburg towards the end of last season.

Reece Oxford has granted its permanent stay at Bundesliga club Augsburg from West Ham

Made

With opportunities that clearly don't appear at London Stadium quickly, Oxford has made the decision to make a permanent stay in Augsburg.

& # 39; I have felt very comfortable in the city and club for the past six years and now want to take another step in my development in the Bundesliga, "said the 20-year-old at signing.

Although most expect Augsburg to be involved in the relegation battle in the coming season, Oxford will hopefully enjoy a lot of first-team football.

He started his opening game of the season on the Replacement bench when Augsburg traveled to Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.

Oxford was introduced in the second half when Dortmund rioted in Signal Iduna Park, with fellow Englishman Jadon Sancho scoring in a 5-1 win.

Oxford, 20, signs for Augsburg after three loan spells in the German Bundesliga

ADEMOLA LOOKMAN (RB Leipzig)

This was probably one of the most surprising transfers from England to Germany from the summer, as 21-year-old Lookman played 24 times for Everton last season.

The young Englishman, signed with Charlton Athletic in January 2017, became more aware when he scored on his debut in the 4-0 route of Everton from Manchester City.

That was about as good as it got for Lookman in Goodison Park and the player showed a stubborn streak for someone so young when he ignored Sam Allardyce's advice to go on loan to Derby and go to RB Leipzig went.

Ademola Lookman has Everton He left behind and joined RB Leipzig this summer

The winger made a great impression in the Bundesliga, but scored five times in 11 games to prove his right instinct. Leipzig tried to sign him last summer, but got his husband 12 months later.

Meanwhile, Lookman tested the patience of manager Marco Silva, who criticized his desire and tactical discipline.

Now, Lookman has moved for £ 22.5 million and has a clean slate and another opportunity to demonstrate his class to a German audience – and to leave Everton with a few regrets.

Lookman will begin its season on Sunday when Leipzig hosts Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.

Ademola Lookman is welcomed back to Leipzig, where he had a successful loan spell

had

ETHAN AMPADU (RB Leipzig)

The 18-year-old Welsh defender joined Leipzig for a long-term loan from Chelsea after a new manager Frank Lampard decided he needed more play time

Ampadu did not appear in the Premier League last season under Maurizio Sarri, after he signed a five-year deal in September.

He will hope to see all the changes in the Bundesliga in what is his first loan move from the Stamford Bridge club.

Chelsea has lent their highly rated Welsh Ethan Ampadu

Chelsea fans are excited about the potential of the dreadlocked defender by his brief glimpse of him in cup competition and he will try to play with more playing time.

"My goal this season is to develop as a player, but also to be part of the team and to win something and when I go back to Chelsea I want to win something there," he said.

Chelsea is training their young players on loan and Ampadu is at a club that expects a challenge for the Champions Le places, if not the title.

The 18-year-old Ampadu has signed a one-year deal with Bundesliga club RB Leipzig

LEWIS BAKER (Fortuna Dusseldorf)

While Ampadu is on its way to its first loan period, another Chelsea player is about to starting at the age of eight

Midfielder Lewis Baker, 24, has grown to become Sheffield Wednesday, Milton Keynes Dons, Vitesse Arnhem, Middlesbrough, Leeds United, Reading and now Fortuna Düsseldorf during his young career.

Baker was once one of the smartest talents who entered the club's academy, but still plays only three minutes of football for the first team for the Blues. [1 9459005]

His goal will certainly be to impress enough to earn a permanent move to the Bundesliga in a Fortune side hoping to improve his 10th place last season.

Baker started his season in the perfect possible fashion while playing the full 90 minutes in the 3-1 victory from Düsseldorf to Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.

The midfielder started in midfield alongside Alfredo Morales, while Düsseldorf was in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Chelsea borrower Lewis Baker points the way during the opening match of Fortuna Dusseldorf

JONJOE KENNY (Schalke)

Last season was a complete disaster for Schalke. Traditionally a club that challenged the Champions League, they flirted with relegation before finally bringing themselves to safety.

With the former Huddersfield manager David Wagner now at the helm, they will be desperate to prevent a repeat and one of

He played 13 times for Everton last season and 25 years before, but clearly had the feeling that somewhere else there was a greater chance.

]

A seasonal loan in Gelsenkirchen gives the England under-21 international the opportunity to show what he can do

& # 39; I could not & # 39; say no & # 39; To be with such a large club like Schalke means that I will become a better football player, & # 39; Kenny said on arrival.

& # 39; Being away from home means that I will also develop as a person. & # 39;

Wagner mentioned Kenny in his line-up for his trip to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday, with the right back playing the full 90 minutes in a 0-0 draw.

Kenny made eight tackles and completed 64% of his passes on what was a solid opening performance for his new club.

Jonjoe Kenny (right) bombs ahead during 0- 0 Schalke's draw with Monchengladbach

RABBI MATONDO (Schalke)

Like Sancho, winger Matondo seemed to conclude that the wealth of Manchester City was from offensive talent would have seen him waiting for quite some time. for a chance of the first team.

It is a reasonable decision to make an 18-year-old, but quite daring, which was sold for £ 9.6 million last January and a four and a half year contract signed.

He has since taken his first steps in German football and played eight times to help Schalke maintain their top fligh status, and will hope to continue this season.

Regular football will certainly justify the decision of the Wales international to take such a leap in confidence, although only 18, and he has enough time at his side.

Matondo was not mentioned in the Schalke boss David Wagner's matchday team because his match went away from Werder Bremen on Saturday 0-0.

Rabbi Matondo on the ball for Schalke during the Bundesliga last season's match with Freiburg

KEANAN BENNETTS (Borussia Monchengladbach)

Coming through the youth ranks in Tottenham, a club just up the road from where he grew up , winger Keanan Bennetts drew comparisons with Gareth Bale.

The expectation was that the teenager would eventually become a Tottenham player who had appeared to be under 23 on his side.

So it came as a surprise when Bennetts decided in the summer of 2018 to join Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach in £ 2m deal.

Keanan Bennetts at the ball during the friendly game of Borussia Monchengladbach with Chelsea

As Bennetts made clear, it was not a particularly important pursuit of him to shine in the Premier League – he just wanted to become professional and play regularly.

Germany was logical because Bennetts was born in Hamburg and has a German mother, so is the fluent use of language. He has also represented England and Germany in youth international ranks.

After spending the last season with Gladbach & # 39; s second team in the Regionalliga West, he will crack the first team of this campaign.

Bennetts was named in Gladbach & matchday squad for the opening game of the season on Saturday at home against Schalke, but did not come in the 0-0 draw.

The fast and skilled winger came through the rows at Spurs before he moved to Germany

LUKAS NMECHA (Wolfsburg)

Nmecha was someone else born in Hamburg, but was established in England after he moved there at a young age. He is currently a player under 21 in Germany, despite having played at the same level for England.

And for the coming season, the 20-year-old attacker will also carry out his trade in the Bundesliga signed for Wolfsburg on loan from Manchester City.

With a breakthrough in the title winning side of City that seems unlikely, Nmecha will hope to build on the games he played last season in the championship with Preston North End and improve on a return of three goals in 41 matches.

It appears that Germany has secured the international loyalty of Nmecha to England after he was chosen in their team for the European Championship under 21 this summer.

Now he has the chance to show a German domestic audience why he is considered such an exciting talent.

The youngster made a promising start in Germany after coming up as a substitute for the second half with three minutes to go from Wolf's Burg & 2-1 victory over FC Koln on Saturday.

Lukas Nmecha in training at Manchester City prior to his move

JADON SANCHO (Borussia Dortmund)

Last but certainly not least we come to Jadon Sancho. The young Englishman lit up the Bundesliga with a storm season in Borussia Dortmund, scored 13 goals and carried a total of 19 assists.

His stellar shape was enough for the 19-year-old to earn his first appearance in England and Sancho looks like a mainstay in Gareth Southgate's side for years to come.

Sancho & # 39; s escape goal to complete the season opening Supercup against Bayern Munich showed that he wants to go again in a season to end with a starring Euro 2020.

Quite a few nice Dortmund to win the Bundesliga this season, breaking the seven-year stranglehold of Bayern and the speed, creativity and deception of Sancho will be central to their title bid.

The winger could not have wished for a better start to the season, as he scored and assisted in Dortmund on Saturday during the 5-1 thrashing of Augsburg.

Sancho scored the second goal from his side of the afternoon with a well-taken finish eight meters, before setting Paco Alcacer for the fourth of Dortmund, after turning on the left and the Augsburg defense bamboo with a series stepovers and shimmies

Jadon Sancho celebrates after scoring in Dortmund & # 39; s 5-1 win over Augsburg on Saturday

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[jiminnieho]

10 Awesome Things You Can Learn From Studying roofing.

Before hiring an organization, always see the paperwork that reveal the roofing companys liability and likewise its workers insurance policy. This is essential in making certain that the homeowner wills not responsible if any accident happens whereas work on the roof is happening. Another commonplace but quite essential step is to confirm whether the corporate has a genuine license for doing business from the federal government. Earlier than the work in your roof begins, the roofing contractor must submit to you a written proposal with signature that describes intimately all the particulars of the home and the roofing job. The estimate or proposal should embrace- Start date of work, choices for making payment, full date of the work, total cost concerned and paying of compensation in case of injury to the shoppers property. Ask the roofing company to introduce you to the one that could be supervising your job. Know clearly about details like how many workers will work on your project and the quality control strategies. You will get a paycheck, you will get some benefits, more detailed follow with video animation, and job safety. However you will even have a boss, coworkers and an organization which may just see you as one other cog. Operating your own private video animation company is a bit riskier, however the rewards in the long run are priceless. You may have to do all of the work your self, but when you hone your skills and build a consumer base, you will be the one in charge. For example, a stucco dwelling would look nice with a clay roof, but a metallic silver roof may seem slightly extra out of place. In fact, the price of each a steel and stucco roofing choice is not going to be low-cost, so that you do have to subsequent have a look at value. This after all means quotes are going to be essential for your new domestic roofing london roof. You want to be sure that you just ask the individual aiding you together with your roofing maintenance what different supplies would value put in.

Take time to make an informed choice.

When constructing a brand new roof, consideration needs to be given to the local local weather. Attributable to the way in which water travels over a roof slate, (the angle of creep) larger sizes are more appropriate for wetter climates. A premium slate roof carries a hefty price tag. Welsh slates are usually thought of to be the most effective available on the market. By way of appearance and sturdiness they are second to none. over at this website Sadly, at three to 4 pounds every the cost can be prohibitive. Are you looking for a residential roofing firm? It’s vital to choose a roofing firm that perceive all elements of the roofing trade. Under is a list of helpful ideas to help you in selecting the best roofing firm in Nevada and getting the most effective service attainable. Study what you possibly can from every one that seems at your roof, and ask questions. Take time to make an knowledgeable determination. Pay careful attention to what each roofer recommends. Don’t jump at the lowest bidder. If all bids for your roof are within 20 percent of each other, the low bid could be okay.

Ease of maintenance

Power washing and roof cleaning

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The heat/yellow brick to the cool/blue roof

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Finding an excellent roofing contractor is crucial part of any roofing challenge. It can make the difference between a pleasing experience and a nightmarish one. You need someone who can provide you with a very good product at a good price, with none sort of trouble or headache. Too many homeowners fail to inform the distinction between a good contractor and a nasty one till it's too late. Your best guess to avoid any bother is to be sure you've gotten found a very good contractor earlier than signing any contract. How does one go about figuring out if a contractor is respected? Luckily there are quite a lot of things to look for that will tell you immediately whether or not an organization is price your consideration. First of all, you want to make certain that your roofer is certified and licensed in your state. Not all states require licensing, however in case your state does then it is vital that you simply solely hire a contractor that abides by state legal guidelines. Unlicensed contractors are the most important threat to your satisfaction. Ask to see proof of licensing earlier than proceeding with any discussions. It is vital that the roofing contractor can offer you a enterprise deal with and cellphone quantity. In different phrases, you need proof that the corporate is permanently established. You need proof that the company can handle your project and have it completed in a timely manner. A everlasting institution also provides you the boldness that you could name the contractor ought to any problems arise down the road. Additionally vital is the company's liability insurance coverage and worker's compensation insurance coverage. Ask to see proof of these insurance policies.

Beware of any contractor who asks for money up entrance.

Ask the previous purchasers if they can be prepared to rent the contractor again. This will provde the most dear indication of the contractor's high quality and dependability. A superb contractor will give you a written estimate detailing the anticipated price of your undertaking. Beware of any contractor who asks for cash up entrance. The standard process within the roofing business is payment upon completion of the venture. This is to protect the homeowner from rip-off artists who take the money and run without finishing the work. A very good contractor will complete your challenge to your satisfaction earlier than requiring payment. Discovering an excellent, dependable contractor is a very powerful step in your home's roof repair or replacement venture. It is crucial to acquire estimates from a number of respected roofing contractors earlier than proceeding with a project. Ensure that your chosen contractor is one who matches the highest requirements for high quality and dependability. A good contractor is probably the most important element to your roofing satisfaction. If you beloved this short article and you desire to get details concerning roof windows london (breaking news) i implore you to stop by the site.

[yumatrash]

How To Learn About roofing In Only 10 Days.

Before hiring an organization, at all times see the paperwork that reveal the roofing companys liability and also its employees insurance coverage policy. This is necessary in making certain that the homeowner wills not responsible if any accident occurs whereas work on the roof is occurring. One other standard however quite vital step is to confirm whether the company has a genuine license for doing enterprise from the government. Earlier than the work on your roof begins, the roofing contractor must undergo you a written proposal with signature that describes intimately all the particulars of the house and the roofing job. The estimate or proposal must embody- Start date of labor, options for making payment, complete date of the work, total cost involved and paying of compensation in case of damage to the clients property. Ask the roofing company to introduce you to the one who can be supervising your job. Know clearly about details like how many employees will work in your venture and the quality control methods.

You'll get a paycheck, you will get some advantages, extra detailed practice with video animation, and job security. However you may also have a boss, coworkers and a company that may simply see you as one other cog. Working your personal private video animation company is a bit riskier, but the rewards in the long run are priceless. You'll must do all of the work your self, however once you hone your expertise and construct a shopper base, you'll be the one in charge. For example, a stucco house would look nice with a clay roof, but a metallic silver roof could appear a bit extra out of place. In fact, the price of each a metallic and stucco roofing option isn't going to be cheap, so you do have to next take a look at price. This of course means quotes are going to be essential for your new domestic roofing london roof. You will have to make certain that you just ask the person assisting you together with your roofing upkeep what different supplies would value put in.

A premium slate roof carries a hefty worth tag.

When constructing a brand new roof, consideration ought to be given to the local local weather. Resulting from the way in which water travels over a roof slate, (the angle of creep) bigger sizes are extra suitable for wetter climates. A premium slate roof carries a hefty price tag. Welsh slates are typically considered to be one of the best available on the market. When it comes to look and durability they're second to none. Sadly, at three to four pounds every the cost can be prohibitive. Are you looking for a residential roofing company? It’s important to choose a roofing company that perceive all elements of the roofing industry. Under is a listing of useful ideas to assist you in selecting the best roofing company in Nevada and getting the most effective service possible. Learn what you'll be able to from every one that looks at your roof, and ask questions. Take time to make an informed choice. Pay cautious attention to what each roofer recommends. Don’t bounce at the lowest bidder. If all bids on your roof are inside 20 % of each other, the low bid may be okay.

Ease of maintenance

Power washing and roof cleaning

To go or return house

Allow us to speak a little bit extra in regards to the kind of processes and systems you've in place

The warm/yellow brick to the cool/blue roof

Cleaning soap & Water

Also see SLATE ROOF INSPECTION & Restore - dwelling

780 Lee Avenue

Discovering an excellent roofing contractor is an important a part of any roofing mission. It will make the distinction between a nice experience and a nightmarish one. You need somebody who can offer you a great product at a fair value, with none sort of trouble or headache. Too many homeowners fail to inform the difference between a superb contractor and a bad one until it's too late. Your best wager to keep away from any trouble is to make sure you could have discovered a great contractor before signing any contract. How does one go about determining if a contractor is respected? Fortunately there are plenty of issues to search for that will inform you right away whether or not or not an organization is price your consideration. First of all, you want to be sure that your roofer is certified and licensed in your state. Not all states require licensing, but in case your state does then it's important that you only hire a contractor that abides by state legal guidelines. Unlicensed contractors are the most important risk to your satisfaction. Ask to see proof of licensing before proceeding with any discussions. It is crucial that the roofing contractor can provide you with a business deal with and telephone quantity. In other words, you need proof that the corporate is completely established. You want proof that the corporate can handle your challenge and have it accomplished in a well timed manner. A everlasting establishment also offers you the boldness which you could name the contractor should any problems arise down the road. Additionally important is the corporate's legal responsibility insurance coverage and worker's compensation insurance coverage. Ask to see proof of these insurance coverage policies.

Beware of any contractor who asks for cash up front.

Ask the earlier purchasers in the event that they could be prepared to rent the contractor once more. This can provde the most useful indication of the contractor's quality and dependability. Web Site A good contractor offers you a written estimate detailing the expected cost of your venture. Beware of any contractor who asks for money up front. The usual process within the roofing enterprise is fee upon completion of the mission. This is to guard the homeowner from rip-off artists who take the money and run with out finishing the work. A good contractor will full your mission to your satisfaction earlier than requiring cost. Discovering a good, dependable contractor is crucial step in your home's roof repair or substitute venture. It's important to obtain estimates from a number of reputable roofing contractors before proceeding with a undertaking. Be sure that your chosen contractor is one who matches the best requirements for quality and dependability. A great contractor is the most essential part to your roofing satisfaction. When you liked this informative article along with you desire to obtain more information about roof windows london (breaking news) generously go to the web-page.

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[writingsubmissions]

UFC 210 Preview

WHAT'S HAPPENING: *Fight Night from London, once again, continued UFC's main trend of 2017, delivering a show that featured a bunch of fun, well-made fights despite not being all that overwhelming at the box office. And while people ragged on the choice for main event, it all worked out in the end, as the star of the show did indeed wind up being London's Jimi Manuwa, who knocked out Corey Anderson in scintillating fashion just three minutes into their fight. Manuwa's sneaky old for a relatively inexperienced fighter, as he's already 37, and after high-profile losses to Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Johnson, he was looking like a bit of a bust, but after highlight-reel knockouts of Ovince St. Preux and Anderson, he's suddenly one of the top contenders at light heavyweight; honestly, if Jon Jones isn't ready to fight the Cormier/Johnson winner, the next title shot should probably go to Manuwa or, of all people, Shogun Rua. So it all worked out - admittedly, everything I said is more of an indictment of the depth at 205 than anything else, but a main event establishing an exciting title contender is pretty much exactly what you hope for. *The other big story on the night probably came third from the top, as Brad Pickett retired in pretty much the most deflating way possible, although it was still a great moment. Pickett had announced this was his retirement fight going in, and was pretty much handling late replacement Marlon Vera for the better part of the first two rounds. Vera came out more aggressive in the third and started getting the better of things, but after a bit, it looked like Pickett had pretty much stemmed the tide and would cruise his way to a decision victory...until Vera nailed Pickett with a head kick and put him out with just a minute left. It's an appropriate enough end for Pickett, whose late-career fights have been marked by sudden shifts in momentum against him, and it still wound up being sort of uplifting. First, Vera honestly probably gave a better speech than Pickett did, talking about how Pickett is a legend and how much this fight meant to him, as someone who watched a lot of Pickett fights growing up, and then Dan Hardy (who's particularly excellent at these post-fight interviews) did a masterful job of lifting Pickett's spirits and showing Brad how much his hometown crowd supports him. It looks like Pickett's already starting to corner fighters, so I assume he's going into coaching, and given his status as a British MMA pioneer, he should do quite well at it. *There were a bunch of standout performances on this card, and the most prominent was by Gunnar Nelson in the co-main - the Icelander's had an up and down UFC run, as his losses have been particularly disheartening, but this was one of those nights where he got to style on an opponent, as he absolutely ran through Alan Jouban in what might've been his best win to date. Nelson got things to the ground in fairly short order and kept them there for most of the first round, but then he stunned Jouban on the feet to open things in the second, then took him down again and slid on the fight-ending choke. Beautiful stuff, and at the very least Nelson should be prominently featured on European cards going forward. But while Nelson got the most prominent big win, the best performance was pretty easily by British prospect Marc Diakiese, who finally showed on the UFC stage what got people so excited for his arrival. UFC's been feeding him some solid grapplers, and Diakiese just blew the doors off of Finland's Teemu Packalen, using his athleticism to clown him with some flashy strikes before just destroying his consciousness with a vicious right hand in just thirty seconds flat. Diakiese still needs some seasoning, so I wouldn't rush him into deeper waters just yet, particularly in such a deep lightweight division, but Diakiese might have the highest ceiling of anyone at 155. *And there was a bunch of other fun stuff. Performance-wise, the next-best highlight was probably Joe Duffy pretty much dominating Reza Madadi, piecing up the Swedish grappler on the feet - Duffy's got top-ten level talent at the minimum and has proven himself quite well since a disheartening loss to Dustin Poirier, but the Irishman is now a free agent, and it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. One figures Japan and Russia won't particularly go after Duffy's services, so it really comes down to seeing if Bellator thinks Duffy is worth investing in as someone they can turn into a relative star. Two British prospects got big, if narrow, decision victories, as Arnold Allen and Leon Edwards beat Makwan Amirkhani and Vicente Luque, respectively. Amirkhani was able to show his prowess as a wrestler, but Allen proved to be more active and just the generally more well-rounded fighter, coming on more as the fight went on to eventually get the nod. And Edwards continues to look like a well-rounded stud, although he got himself in trouble at times unnecessarily going for takedowns - Luque pretty much showed he has a limited gas tank when he doesn't get the finish, so Edwards was able to control large swaths of the fight, though Luque did eventually bite down on his mouthpiece and sort of throw heat despite his exhaustion in the latter stages of the fight. Elsewhere on the card, Lina Lansberg beat Lucie Pudilova via decision in a really fun, bloody opener - Pudilova looked surprisingly game and had a really strong third round, but it wasn't enough to take the decision. Brad Scott beat Scott Askham in a battle of mid-tier British middleweights - like pretty much all their fights, it was a narrow decision that was pretty fun, but completely unmemorable. And the one rough stretch of the card saw Tim Johnson beat Daniel Omielanczuk in a fairly crap heavyweight fight, and Francimar Barroso once again neutralize an exciting prospect en route to a boring win, in this case over Britain's Darren Stewart. Stewart subsequently announced he was cutting down to middleweight - not a surprise, given his frame, but still disappointing given that 205 needs all the talent it can get. *Unfortunately, two of the more highly-touted prospects on the card were pulled at the last minute. Welsh bantamweight Brett Johns, who looked like a stud in his debut win over Kwan Ho Kwak, had his fight with Ian Entwistle scuttled for fairly unsurprising reasons - Entwistle, who's had weight issues in the past, missed weight and was subsequently deemed to ill to compete, enough so that Entwistle decided to retire on social media, citing the abuse he has put his body through. But the real worrisome one might have to do with Tom Breese, who's one of Britain's brightest prospects - this was slated to be Breese's debut at middleweight after moving up a weight class, but he got flagged for an elevated heart rate, and his fight was called off. The only real similar thing I could think of is Stefan Struve, who had anxiety issues before a 2014 fight, and Struve has gotten that taken care of and is now able to compete - hopefully the same winds up being true for Breese. *For once, a whole bunch of news is coming out of Bellator - I'm not sure if they're going to be an actual competitor to UFC just yet, but a whole bunch of interesting stuff is happening. The biggest one is probably Bellator announcing their own show in Madison Square Garden this June, headlined by Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva, and when that fight inevitably falls through, a second try at Fedor Emilianenko against Matt Mitrione. There's also showcase spots for two of Bellator's newest big signings from UFC, as welterweight contender Lorenz Larkin will get an immediate title shot against Douglas Lima in what should be a fun fight, and Ryan Bader will make his Bellator debut against "King" Mo Lawal. Add in a title defense for lightweight champ Michael Chandler and the debut of uber-prospect Aaron Pico, and Bellator has a fascinating card on their hands. Now, the question is exactly how it'll do business-wise - this is slated to be Bellator's second-ever pay-per-view, and I'm not sure Sonnen/Silva isn't just better off as a major TV draw. Plus I'm curious to see how well tickets move - Bellator seems to be charging Madison Square Garden prices rather than Bellator prices (for comparison, these prices are way more expensive than the Jon Jones/Sonnen UFC card that took place in Jersey in 2013), so...good luck with all that. Plus there's a whole bunch of other stuff with Bellator - they also signed former UFC bantamweight title challenger Michael McDonald, who successfully got his release from UFC, and also announced a partnership with Monster Energy to put on some fights at a few different NASCAR events this year. Alright then. And weirdly, it appears that Rampage Jackson is done with the company after losing to King Mo this past weekend - apparently Jackson is set to return to UFC, to fight out that weird deal he signed back in 2015, when UFC basically signed him to a contract even though he was under contract to Bellator, and the courts temporarily allowed it. *And just a few more news and notes to wrap things up, leading off with...hey, I guess that Conor McGregor/Floyd Mayweather fight is probably going to happen now? Somehow? UFC's basically that desperate for money, that as long as they get a solid cut, they'll basically let Conor go get slaughtered, with September being the working timeframe for that sideshow to take place. Nutritionist Dan Garner announced he is working with Ronda Rousey, fueling speculation that she might fight again - Garner's primarily been a nutritionist for MMA fighters, but mostly regional-level guys, so who knows if this means anything even though the rumors are now out there. Cris Cyborg officially vacated her Invicta featherweight belt, as expected. And in another sign that UFC is backing off its former goal of global domination, it appears the UFC Network in Latin America is no more, as a bunch of sudden shifts in UFC's television deals have left Mexico and Brazil as the only countries in Central and South America with UFC content. It appears the new ownership will start negotiating individual deals in each country, and I hope they figure something out soon, since we were starting to see trickles of talent out of places like Peru and Argentina. And I guess this means no TUF: Latin America season four. ------ BOOKINGS: *Alright, UFC announced a ton of stuff (including basically entire cards for this June) over the last three weeks, so let's do the run-through chronologically. Some upcoming shows each added a fun undercard bout - the Fox show from Kansas City added a bantamweight fight between Aljamain Sterling and Augusto Mendes, which is an interesting one; Sterling has kind of regressed a bit since signing a contract extension when it looked like he'd be the next big bantamweight contender, while Mendes is a raw, but interesting BJJ convert who's coming off a big win over veteran Frankie Saenz. Also, that stacked UFC 211 card in Dallas in May added a neat strawweight bout, as Jessica Aguilar returns from almost a two-year long layoff after a torn ACL to face Cortney Casey. Before UFC implemented a strawweight division, Aguilar was pretty much considered the top fighter in the division, but was stuck under contract to WSOF - but after losing her UFC debut to Claudia Gadelha and then suffering the ACL tear, she's been sort of a forgotten woman, and could use a win here. *From there, we head to Stockholm over Memorial Day weekend, and while I wouldn't say UFC added any major fights to this card, there's still some interesting stuff announced featuring some European favorites. The biggest fight of the four new ones is probably Peter Sobotta, a German-Polish veteran who looked excellent in his last fight against Nicolas Dalby, looking to continue the momentum by facing Ben Saunders in what should be a fun one. Former Bellator title contender Marcin Held returns to face Damir Hadzovic - while Held's last fight, a decision loss to Joe Lauzon that even Lauzon said he didn't deserve, was a robbery loss, Held still needs a win at 0-2 in the UFC, and Hadzovic seems to be a setup fight for that to happen. Ghana's Abdul Razak Alhassan, who's an exciting, reckless power striker, has his sophomore UFC effort against Omari Akhmedov, and Swedish prospect Nico Musoke, who's spent about two years away from the sport, returns to face Bojan Velickovic at welterweight. Also, Sweden's Magnus Cedenblad is injured and out of his fight against Chris Camozzi, so Camozzi will instead face Trevor Smith in a weird fight for a European card. This shouldn't be a bad card, but it's by far the worst of UFC's trips abroad this spring, at least as constructed, so I wonder if they'll put together another big fight or two for this one. *After that, it's UFC 212 in Rio, which didn't add anything that looks like a main card fight, but added a few neat undercard bouts. Paulo "Borrachinha" Costa, a raw, all-offense bomber who looked good in his UFC debut last month against Garreth McLellan, returns to face Oluwale Bamgbose in the perfect sort of low-level striking match that both guys need. And speaking of dynamic finishers, Erick Silva and Yancy Medeiros square off at welterweight, as UFC seems to finally be embracing Silva's destiny of being a flawed action fighter rather than trying to turn him into a Brazilian star. And there's an interesting fight between two mid-tier lightweights, as still-improving veteran and TUF: Brazil 2 winner Leonardo Santos faces Quebecois prospect Olivier Aubin-Mercier, who's coming off one of the more impressive performances of his career against Drew Dober. *Then we get into the meat of what UFC has announced, as they've basically filled out three straight cards taking place on three straight weekends in June, starting with a trip to Auckland, New Zealand. Mark Hunt seemed like an obvious choice to headline this card, but I figured he was out of the picture with the damage he suffered against Alistair Overeem - but nope, Hunt is not like most mortal men, and headlines the card against Derrick Lewis in what will be Lewis's toughest test to date. And in what appears to be the co-main, Australian judo dad Dan Kelly, fresh off his big win over Rashad Evans, gets a chance against someone in the top-fifteen proper, as he faces Derek Brunson in what, like all Dan Kelly fights, should be a weird one. And in what I'd call the third big fight of the card, Joseph Benavidez faces Australian favorite Ben Nguyen, as UFC just continues to throw people against Benavidez while never giving him a third crack at Demetrious Johnson. A few other undercard bouts got announced - former flyweight title challenger John Moraga, who's completely fallen off a cliff lately, gets what one would think is one last chance in the UFC against debuting Australian Ashkan Mokhtarian. New Zealand prospect Daniel Hooker moves up a weight class to take on Ross Pearson at lightweight, in what might be Pearson's own last chance for a UFC win. Light heavyweights Henrique da Silva and Ion Cutelaba square off in a fight originally slated for Fortaleza this past March, and lightweight Vinc Pichel, who's been out for almost three years with injuries after beating Anthony Njokuani in May of 2014, makes his return to face Australian vet Damien Brown. *From there we go to Singapore, and while it doesn't appear a main event has been announced yet, there's some interesting stuff going on. Top welterweight prospect Colby Covington finally gets the big fight he's been asking for, as he gets to challenge top-ten stalwart Dong Hyun Kim. This doesn't seem to be the main, though I haven't seen that confirmed, which makes me wonder what's going to be - Kim seemed like an obvious choice since UFC doesn't really have a ton of prominent Asian stars, but I guess not. Also, one of the men who headlined UFC's first foray into Singapore, Tarec Saffiedine, will be the man to welcome former lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos into the welterweight division - Saffiedine needs a win, and this doesn't seem to be it, but I guess he does make a good benchmark to see exactly how far dos Anjos can go in his new weight class. And in the only other fight that seems like an obvious main card match-up, Andrei Arlovski looks to stop the bleeding of his sudden losing streak against rising Polish heavyweight Marcin Tybura. As far as undercard stuff, it's solid, led by Justin Scoggins returning to flyweight after a one-off fight at bantamweight, taking on Japanese prospect Ulka Sasaki, who looked good in a loss to current top contender Wilson Reis. Beloved Japanese vet Takanori Gomi makes his return against Jon Tuck at lightweight, heavyweights Walt Harris and Cyril Asker square off, and in a fun bantamweight bout, Russell Doane takes on Korean prospect Kwan Ho Kwak. Plus we get some debuts - Chinese featherweight Guan Wang, who UFC seems to be pushing as their new face of the country, gets a tough first test against Alex Caceres, and debuting flyweights Naoki Inoue of Japan and C.J. de Tomas from the Philippines square off. There was also talk of Holly Holm fighting on this card against Ji Yeon Kim, a relatively unknown Korean bantamweight (which yes, means I guess even Holm isn't in the featherweight division anymore), but apparently Holm's management turned that fight down - given that it was seemingly an easy win, I'm not really sure what other fight they're holding out for. *UFC also announced a June card in Oklahoma City that filled out pretty quick, led by a really fun main event, as rising lightweights Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee square off. A perfect choice here, in my opinion, as both are marketable young guys that deserve this spotlight. And they're getting support from a bunch of weird, veteran-filled fights. B.J. Penn is going to fight again, though at least this time it's against Dennis Siver, who's the right kind of similarly shot opponent that shouldn't make the fight too depressing. Former welterweight champ Johny Hendricks, who has a bunch of ties to Oklahoma going back to his wrestling days, keeps working his way up the ladder at middleweight against Tim Boetsch, and in a weird one that's happening because light heavyweight is light heavyweight, Ilir Latifi is taking on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Given Latifi's status as a bit of a star in Sweden, this was a natural fit for the Stockholm card and was apparently initially slated for there, but it's unclear exactly what happened. Further down the card, we get two interesting strawweight bouts, as Felice Herrig takes on Justine Kish and Carla Esparza takes on Maryna Moroz, plus Clay Guida returns to lightweight to take on Erik Koch, middleweights Vitor Miranda and Marvin Vettori square off, and Jeremy Kimball and Josh Stansbury face each other at light heavyweight. *Past that, we have no official fight announcements, but stuff is leaking out and a few new dates and venues have been confirmed. UFC 213, this year's big July show in Vegas, apparently has two bouts already set - Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem will cap off a weird trilogy of fights at heavyweight, and we should get some awesome violence as Robbie Lawler and Donald Cerrone are slated to square off, in a fight that was initially targeted for Madison Square Garden last fall. Other than that, there's just a bunch of rumors that this will have some combination of GSP against Michael Bisping, Jon Jones against the winner of this UFC 210 main, and I guess Amanda Nunes/Valentina Shevchenko, since it appears that fight is taking place sometime around then. UFC also announced their first card from Long Island, as the July Fox show will emanate from the Nassau Coliseum - I assume you can pencil Chris Weidman into the main event, win or lose this weekend, but there's already one pretty awesome rumored fight that should be high up on the card, as "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung will apparently take on Ricardo Lamas on this card. And UFC also filled out some of its European slate for 2017, announcing two cards for the fall - the promotion will make their return to Rotterdam in the Netherlands this September, then follow that up with a trip to Gdansk, Poland in October, UFC's second card in the country. ----- ROSTER CUTS: 1) Michael McDonald (17-4 overall, 6-3 UFC, last fought 7/13/16, L vs. John Lineker): As mentioned above, McDonald successfully asked for his release from UFC and signed with Bellator, ending a bit of a weird UFC run. McDonald, a California native, made his WEC debut at age nineteen and was absorbed into UFC shortly thereafter, looking like the future of the division - he had some solid grappling and some devastating knockout power in his fists, and given his age, the sky seemed to be the limit. In fact, after a breakout win over Miguel Angel Torres, it was initially McDonald who got the call when Dominick Cruz got injured before his title defense against Urijah Faber in 2012 - but reportedly right after accepting the fight, McDonald went and broke his hand in training, and that spot eventually went to Renan Barao. So instead, McDonald took on Barao about half a year later, and frankly, lost a fairly one-sided fight - but again, McDonald was still just 22 at this point, so it figured to be the first title shot of many. The rest of 2013 saw McDonald blow the doors off Brad Pickett, but then lose to Faber in shockingly one-sided fashion, and then...silence. Word would occasionally trickle out that McDonald was continuing to deal with broken hands, and after the Reebok deal, it sounded like McDonald was ready to retire due to the dire financial landscape of the sport before he eventually decided to return in 2016, after over a two-year layoff. And, well, McDonald didn't really look like he had evolved, and the narrative of his career went from him being a prodigy to someone who probably wasted his potential by not going to a bigger camp, as McDonald has basically decided to stay in his hometown and train with his brothers. A win over Masanori Kanehara was closer than it needed to be, and John Lineker did John Lineker things and knocked McDonald the hell out last July, and then it was radio silence once again before the whole release and move to Bellator was announced. McDonald seems like a nice enough guy, so I hope he does well, even though I'm worried his story will be one of squandered talent. 2) Brad Pickett (25-14 overall, 5-9 UFC, last fought 3/18/17, L vs. Marlon Vera): As said above, Pickett's heartbreaking loss to Vera was his retirement fight, though Pickett did go out in somewhat perfect fashion. A pioneer of British MMA, particularly in the lighter weight classes, Pickett came to WEC in 2009 and had a fairly solid run, including a 2010 win over Demetrious Johnson where Pickett was able to rely on his wrestling. From there it was on to UFC, and looking back, as fun as a lot of Pickett's fights were, he was probably coming in just as his career was starting to slide downwards. Pickett hung around as a contender for a bit, even losing a number one-contender's bout to Eddie Wineland, but a one-sided loss to Michael McDonald made Pickett consider a move down to flyweight, in the hopes he could repeat his win against Johnson. But the cut down never really took, and a 2014 loss to Ian McCall started a 1-6 run that ended Pickett's career, with close decision losses eventually giving way to more one-sided losses. So Pickett's getting out at about the right time after a great career, and it looks like he's already doing some corner work, which is good news for someone who deserves to have a safe landing in the next phase of his life. 3) Ian Entwistle (9-3 overall, 1-2 UFC, last fought 4/10/16, L vs. Alejandro Perez): Entwistle announced his retirement after getting pulled from his slated fight with Brett Johns thanks to weight-cutting issues, and that's probably the right move, given that this marked the second straight slated fight where he was unable to healthily cut weight. Entwistle was a fun fighter if only for how one-dimensional he was - a stocky former soccer player, Entwistle's entire game was basically hunting for leglocks, which would often make for a weird fight. In fact, the one fight where it worked, where Anthony Birchak just pretty much charged into danger, was the most normal fight of Entwistle's three UFC bouts - his UFC debut against Daniel Hooker ended in weird fashion, with the much taller Hooker just sitting up while in a leglock and deciding to elbow Entwistle into unconsciousness, and his last fight saw Entwistle strangely accuse Perez of greasing repeatedly during the fight. UFC kept trying to book Entwistle as an interesting test for prospects since his game is so unorthodox, but he'd almost never make it to fight night - between the health issues and the fact that, frankly, Entwistle's one-dimensional game had probably already reaches its ceiling, it was probably time to get out, and I hope at the very least he's alright health-wise going forward. ----- UPCOMING UFC SHOWS: 4/15 - UFC on Fox 24 - Kansas City, MO - Demetrious Johnson ( c ) vs. Wilson Reis, Rose Namajunas vs. Michelle Waterson, Jacare Souza vs. Robert Whittaker 4/22 - UFC Fight Night 108 - Nashville, TN - Artem Lobov vs. Cub Swanson, Al Iaquinta vs. Diego Sanchez 5/13 - UFC 211 - Dallas, TX - Stipe Miocic ( c ) vs. Junior dos Santos, Joanna Jedrzejczyk ( c ) vs. Jessica Andrade, Demian Maia vs. Jorge Masvidal, Frankie Edgar vs. Yair Rodriguez, Eddie Alvarez vs. Dustin Poirier 5/28 - UFC Fight Night 109 - Stockholm, Sweden - Alexander Gustafsson vs. Glover Teixeira 6/3 - UFC 212 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Jose Aldo ( c ) vs. Max Holloway (ic), Kelvin Gastelum vs. Anderson Silva, Claudia Gadelha vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz 6/10 - UFC Fight Night 110 - Auckland, New Zealand - Mark Hunt vs. Derrick Lewis, Derek Brunson vs. Daniel Kelly 6/17 - UFC Fight Night 111 - Singapore, Singapore - Colby Covington vs. Dong Hyun Kim, Rafael dos Anjos vs. Tarec Saffiedine 6/25 - UFC Fight Night 112 - Oklahoma City, OK - Michael Chiesa vs. Kevin Lee, B.J. Penn vs. Dennis Siver, Tim Boetsch vs. Johny Hendricks, Ilir Latifi vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 7/8 - UFC 213 - Las Vegas, NV - Donald Cerrone vs. Robbie Lawler, Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum 7/22 - UFC on Fox 25 - Uniondale, NY - Chan Sung Jung vs. Ricardo Lamas ----- UFC 210 - April 8, 2017 - KeyBank Center - Buffalo, New York Well, this card is quite 2017 as hell. When UFC announced their return to Buffalo (UFC 7 took place there all the way back in 1995), people expected a big card, and rumors were flying pretty quickly - the Cormier/Johnson and Weidman/Mousasi fights were more or less confirmed for this card in pretty short order, but there were also rumors this would be where the Aldo/Holloway featherweight title bout would take place, as well as a rumored Frankie Edgar/Ricardo Lamas fight. But instead, fights just kept trickling about, and while every booking was pretty fascinating in its own way, eventually things just eventually got to thirteen fights with only the top two bouts as the "big" fights on the card. So, and it feels like I've been saying this for every card this year, we have a show that isn't that big on huge box office fights at the top, but continues the trend of UFC's matchmaking being quite fascinating and excellently done on the undercard. So, while this wound up being sort of a low-level offering for a UFC pay-per-view, once again, it should still wind up being a pretty fun show. MAIN CARD (Pay-Per-View - 10:00 PM ET): Light Heavyweight Championship: ( C ) Daniel Cormier vs. (#1) Anthony Johnson Middleweight (#4) Chris Weidman vs. (#5) Gegard Mousasi Women's Strawweight: Cynthia Calvillo vs. Pearl Gonzalez Welterweight: Thiago Alves vs. Patrick Cote Lightweight: (#9 Featherweight) Charles Oliveira vs. Will Brooks PRELIMINARY CARD (Fox Sports 1 - 8:00 PM ET): Featherweight: Mike De La Torre vs. Myles Jury Welterweight: (#11) Kamaru Usman vs. Sean Strickland Featherweight: Shane Burgos vs. Charles Rosa Light Heavyweight: (#12) Jan Blachowicz vs. (#12) Patrick Cummins PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass - 6:15 PM ET): Lightweight: Gregor Gillespie vs. Andrew Holbrook Lightweight: Josh Emmett vs. Desmond Green Women's Bantamweight: Irene Aldana vs. Katlyn Chookagian Flyweight: Magomed Bibulatov vs. Jenel Lausa THE RUNDOWN: Daniel Cormier (18-1 overall, 7-1 UFC, 8-0 Strikeforce) vs. Anthony Johnson (22-5 overall, 13-5 UFC): Ah, light heavyweight. While the division is thin and this is a fight that we've seen before, this should still be a pretty fun and solid fight. When Jon Jones started getting in his own way back in 2015, this time after a hit-and-run incident that got him stripped of his light heavyweight belt, this was the fight that UFC chose to crown a new champion - "Rumble" Johnson was already slated to fight Jones, and was pretty much the last man left for Jones to beat, and Cormier was still considered a top contender even coming off a one-sided loss to Jones in their big grudge match a few months prior. And it was a pretty binary fight - either Johnson would knock out Cormier in fairly short order, or Cormier would be able to get Johnson down, out-wrestle him on the ground, and eventually break him for a finish. The latter is what happened, and, well, little has changed since that fight about two years ago - Cormier has fought sparingly thanks to knee injuries and the continued misadventures of Jones, while Johnson went ahead and re-established himself as a dangerous and dynamic knockout threat with wins over Jimi Manuwa, Ryan Bader and Glover Teixeira. The stakes may be higher this time around - both guys are obviously two years older, and there are whispers the winner may get a returning Jones on the big July card this year - but in the cage, it's still pretty much exactly the same dynamic; Rumble's probably the most dangerous one-punch striker in the sport, but he also has a bully mentality that crumbles horribly under the first signs of pressure, which was essentially what happened in their first meeting. While Johnson seems to have cleaned some things up - Cormier was able to get the first big takedown of their first fight after Johnson basically swung and missed wildly going in for the kill, and I don't see Johnson allowing that to happen here - the real big factor in this fight is exactly what Cormier has left, which is somewhat hard to say. Since the Johnson win, Cormier's only had two fights - the first was a war against Alexander Gustafsson where Cormier still looked to be in peak shape, though taking the amount of abuse he did in the fight couldn't have helped DC, and Cormier's last fight was the weird one at UFC 200 against Anderson Silva. Cormier didn't really look all that hot, and some of that may have been knee surgery, but Silva coming in as a replacement for Jones on just a few days notice, and the emotional rollercoaster Cormier was likely going through as things shook themselves out, probably all contributed to the fight being kind of flat. So...now what. In the first fight, I was impressed by how Cormier basically just committed himself to walking through fire to take down Johnson, and was willing to absorb a few shots to do so (something Cormier criticized Ryan Bader for not doing in his fight against Rumble), but Johnson's also looked scarier than ever in just melting dudes, and Cormier's body seems to be betraying him as he turns 38 years old. Again, it's a fairly binary fight, and it wouldn't surprise me if it just looked exactly like the first one, but with the way everything seems to be trending, I really do have to favor Johnson to take this, and if he does so, the obvious manner seems to be via first round knockout. It'd be a sad deal, given how Jones has sort of been Cormier's white whale, and how Jones/Johnson would just be a weird-feeling fight thanks to the legal histories of both - but, well, this sport is weird and cruel. Chris Weidman (13-2 overall, 9-2 UFC) vs. Gegard Mousasi (41-6-2 overall, 8-3 UFC, 4-1-1 Strikeforce, 2-1 PRIDE): A really excellent fight here, as Gegard Mousasi looks to finally break into the ranks of the top middleweight contenders in what might be his last shot, but has to do so against Chris Weidman, who suddenly finds himself trying to hang onto his own spot in the title picture. Looking back, I don't think it's unfair to call Weidman's title reign a bit of a bust compared to what UFC may have expected - most people expected the Long Islander to be the man to finally unseat Anderson Silva as middleweight champion, a title that figured to create a future star whenever it happened. But for whatever reason, Weidman never really clicked - the way the two fights with Silva ended, with Weidman knocking out a showboating Silva in the first fight, then Silva breaking his leg in the rematch, kind of kept the focus on Silva and sort of deflated the impact of Weidman's win, and then Weidman just never really showed the personality to connect with the public at large despite some pretty fun title defenses, plus constant injury layoffs didn't help. And the last year and a half hasn't helped things for Weidman - first he lost his title to Luke Rockhold in a fight that has gotten remembered as more one-sided than it was, even if the ending was fairly drawn out and brutal, a rematch got called off thanks to another Weidman injury (opening the door for Michael Bisping, of all people, to win the title), and then in UFC's big debut in Madison Square Garden, Weidman basically got his head split open by a Yoel Romero flying knee in a fight that Weidman had been winning up to that point. So, suddenly, Weidman has gone from an important name for UFC - particularly as a guy they're trying to build their big New York cards around - to someone badly needing a win to stay in the title picture. And, well, Gegard Mousasi is no gimme, particularly in his current form. Mousasi was an interesting addition when UFC absorbed Strikeforce - the young veteran had been around forever, and it's crazy to think he's still just 31 years old. But losing two out of three to Lyoto Machida and Jacare Souza seemingly cast Mousasi's lot outside the title picture, and from there on he just sort of popped up in semi-prominent positions on random cards. That is, until a keep-busy fight against Uriah Hall went horribly wrong - Mousasi was using his wrestling and grappling to win rather handily through the first round, but the beginning of the second round saw Mousasi flukily dive right into a spin kick, giving way to a dynamic blitz of strikes that gave Hall the huge upset victory. It was a damaging loss, but it seems to have worked out in the end - Mousasi, who comes off as a fairly laid-back, monotone guy, has seemingly discovered his aggression since, reeling off a fairly dominant four-fight win streak over Thales Leites, Thiago Santos, Vitor Belfort, and a revenge win over Hall. So, suddenly, sixty fights and fourteen years in, Mousasi might be in the best form of his fighting career. It's a hard fight to call, simply because both guys are generally so well-rounded, but I tend to favor Weidman - he actually looked really good in his fight against Romero before that knockout, and without that one dynamic burst of offense from Romero (though admittedly that's Romero's entire game), the narrative around Weidman would be way different. Plus, looking at Mousasi's last real loss if we count the first Hall fight as a bit of a fluke, Jacare Souza was able to have a ton of success just pressuring Mousasi and keeping him against the fence, and I could easily see Weidman implementing a similar gameplan. Really, it's a coin flip, and I don't expect a finish either way - I'd say Mousasi's more of a finisher at the moment, but I see Weidman as almost too ridiculously tough for his own good a lot of the time - but I'll take Weidman via a narrow decision. Cynthia Calvillo (4-0 overall, 1-0 UFC) vs. Pearl Gonzalez (6-1 overall): Well, if nothing else, UFC seems to be firmly behind pushing Team Alpha Male product Cynthia Calvillo; when the Khabib Nurmagomedov/Tony Ferguson fight fell apart at UFC 209, it was Calvillo's UFC debut that surprisingly got moved to the main card, and as UFC was looking for another big main card fight for this show, they eventually wound up adding this fight, third from the top. And I can see what UFC likes about Calvillo - while she's only been a pro since late August, she has a long amateur career going back to 2012, and in that UFC debut against Amanda Cooper, she pretty much styled out when things went to the ground, using some sweet transitions to eventually clamp on the fight-ending choke. Admittedly, Cooper was pretty much the perfect type of fighter for Calvillo to look good against - Cooper's quite over-aggressive when things get to the ground, which basically left Calvillo some openings to try the weird, dynamic stuff that wound up working as good as it did. It'll be interesting to see if she can look quite as good against Chicago's Pearl Gonzalez, who's making her debut here, as while I couldn't find Gonzalez's most recent fight, there's a lot to like about her based off two fights from 2015 - she has a fairly solid submission game, and I was impressed by how much her striking had improved between the two fights I was able to watch, particularly in terms of output. Still, she seemed to have the decided physical advantage in both fights, so one wonders how she'll do against a higher-level athlete like Calvillo. I do still favor Calvillo, but she's not such an uber-prospect that it's a guarantee she'll run through Gonzalez - instead, I figure Gonzalez may give her some trouble (particularly if she can keep it standing), and Calvillo instead has to work for a decision. Thiago Alves (21-11 overall, 13-8 UFC) vs. Patrick Cote (23-10 overall, 10-10 UFC): This fight is sort of emblematic of the criticisms of this card - it's a pretty neat fight between two longtime veterans that should be kinda fun, but as possibly the third-biggest fight on a pay-per-view card, it's a bit stretched. Patrick Cote's recent resurgence was pretty fun - everyone loves the Canadian MMA pioneer, but for most of his career, he's been more or less a fringe UFC fighter, as that .500 record shows - Cote even found himself out of the UFC in 2011 and part of 2012. After cutting down to welterweight and just continuing to hang around, mostly in featured prelims on Canadian cards, Cote then went on a bit of a run - his fight against Josh Burkman was a fun brawl that Cote won with a brutal knockout, and his win over Ben Saunders to kick off 2016 was super-impressive, as Cote eventually went all hockey fight and just started punching Saunders in the clinch until he went down. But things came to a screeching halt against Donald Cerrone last June, as Cerrone pretty much dominated Cote as Cerrone spent 2016 proving himself as a welterweight contender. Still, even though Cote's 37, his striking game looks as sharp as ever, and he's still at the point where he can keep doing this as long as he wants to. Unfortunately, I kind of can't say the same for former welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves, whose career is in a bit of a weird spot. Alves was probably already trending a bit downward before an assortment of injuries caused a two year layoff from 2012 to 2014, but Alves hasn't really looked the same since he came back. Wins over Seth Baczynski and Jordan Mein were fine performances, but Carlos Condit pretty much wrecked him, and then after another year-long injury layoff, Alves made the surprising choice to try and cut down to lightweight. Given that one of Alves's calling cards was that he cut a bunch of weight for a welterweight, it wasn't surprising that he badly missed weight for his fight against Jim Miller last November, and the subsequent performance was just sort of flat. Alves can probably still beat some guys on the roster, but I haven't been all that impressed with him in the last few years, so unless Cote suddenly looks his age, this figures to be a win for the Canadian. I'll call for it to come via decision, but given that Cote's shown some more finishing ability in his recent fights, a late knockout also wouldn't surprise me. Charles Oliveira (21-7 [1] overall, 9-7 [1] UFC) vs. Will Brooks (18-2 overall, 1-1 UFC, 9-1 Bellator): A strange fight, but a fun one between two guys who suddenly need a win to get their careers back on track. As Eddie Alvarez was exiting Bellator, Chicago's Will Brooks was the guy that surprisingly took his place - Michael Chandler figured to be the new face of the Bellator lightweight division, but he just couldn't get by Brooks, who won a controversial decision in their first fight and then knocked Chandler out the second time around. And then, well, Brooks pretty much followed on Alvarez's path, defending his title a few times while grousing at his treatment from the company before fighting out his contract and heading to UFC last year. Brooks's ascent up the ladder was always going to be an interesting one - he's a guy that looks much better in five-round fights, since he's a slow starter who tends to break down his opponents as the fight wears on. And indeed, Brooks has already had a bumpy path in his two three-round fights in the UFC - his debut win over Ross Pearson saw Brooks overcome a lackluster first round to take a narrow decision, and his last fight against Alex Oliveira was just a complete disaster. Oliveira, who's a natural welterweight, basically blew his cut down to 155 and came in way overweight, and was pretty much able to bull around Brooks, even breaking one of Brooks's ribs before getting a late finish. The size difference basically makes that loss a mulligan, but still, Brooks could really use a win - and amusingly, UFC decided to book him against another Oliveira that has problems making weight. It's crazy that Charles Oliveira is still only 27 years old, since he's already had a long, strange trip of a UFC career. Oliveira came into UFC as a fresh-faced wunderkind of a prospect, tapping out his first two opponents in dynamic fashion and looking like a prodigy. So UFC immediately threw him in the deep end, and after losses to Jim Miller and Donald Cerrone, Oliveira decided to cut down to 145. And UFC repeated their matchmaking mistakes again - rather than move him slowly up the ladder, UFC gave him two more lower level wins, and then immediately rushed him to the top of the division again, where Oliveira lost to Cub Swanson and Frankie Edgar. Since then it's been a weird ride - Oliveira has alternated dynamic performances where he looks like the most dangerous grappler in the company with fights where he just starts to crumble at the first sight of danger, and his weight has been all over the place, with Oliveira sometimes coming in two pounds underweight, but sometimes missing weight completely, which really suggests the problem isn't diet or anything, but just a complete lack of understanding from Oliveira's camp about how to cut weight. And his last fight was probably the most egregious of all, as Oliveira missed weight so badly against Ricardo Lamas that the fight had to take place at lightweight - and after using the Alex Oliveira gameplan of trying to pull Lamas around, Lamas eventually reversed things into a fight-ending guillotine that gave Oliveira his second straight loss. So UFC has forced Oliveira back up to lightweight, at least for the time being, and he badly needs a win himself. It's a strange fight, and I'm concerned that Oliveira's kind of hitting the point of diminishing returns - his loss to Lamas was deflating, and his fight against Anthony Pettis before that was a weird one, where Oliveira suddenly looked shockingly solid on the feet, but was surprisingly unable to contain Pettis with his high-level submission game. Oliveira's probably still ridiculously dangerous, but the odds are probably higher than they've been in a while that Brooks will probably just be able to work his game a bit and basically just win rounds to earn a decision. Hopefully this will wind up matching up like Oliveira's surprisingly excellent fights with Nik Lentz, where Oliveira's grappling dynamism basically kept Lentz honest and active, but Brooks is savvy enough that I don't see a finish, and if anything, I could see Brooks eventually breaking Oliveira, who's one of the more notorious crumblers in the game, if things get fairly one-sided later in the fight. But my pick is Brooks via decision, and with a surprising amount of confidence given what I thought of this fight going in. Mike De La Torre (14-6 [1] overall, 2-3 [1] UFC) vs. Myles Jury (15-2 overall, 6-2 UFC): Well, judging by this fight's status as the featured prelim, UFC is still trying to make Myles Jury a thing, huh? UFC has kept giving Jury a bunch of prominent opportunities, like showcase wins over Diego Sanchez and Takanori Gomi, and I've always found it a bit weird - Jury has always been a highly touted prospect, yes, but he's not particularly charismatic and his fights aren't particularly memorable, so he's just been an odd choice for UFC to put their matchmaking muscle behind. And in 2015, things completely fell apart for the Michigan native - Jury was put against Donald Cerrone in the co-main of the Jones/Cormier pay-per-view, and wound up getting completely embarrassed, then mostly made headlines outside the cage, griping about the Reebok deal and then his fight against Charles Oliveira being slotted underneath Karolina Kowalkiewicz's debut. And speaking of that Oliveira fight, that went poorly as well - Jury was making his debut at featherweight, and we didn't really get a chance to see how well he'd do in his new weight class, as Oliveira got his hands on him and tapped him out in fairly short order. Since then, Jury pretty much dropped off the map, and he finally returns about sixteen months later, still at featherweight, to face California's Mike De La Torre. De La Torre's pretty much just fun roster fodder - he's fairly well-rounded, but aggression is pretty much the key to his game, and De La Torre's ensuing defensive lapses pretty much result in either a fun fight that goes to decision, or De La Torre just getting his doors blown off in fairly quick fashion. This really feels like the former - Jury's only real flashes of dynamism were knockout wins over Ramsey Nijem and late-career Gomi, neither of which are particularly durable - so while it's possible that Jury just catches an unawares De La Torre with a knockout blow, I see this as more of a workmanlike win for Jury. Since I don't really know where Jury's head is at, since he comes off like one of those guys who's just sort of unhappy with the current MMA financial landscape, I could see De La Torre's constant aggression giving Jury problems if he comes in flat, but even as uninspired by Jury as I've been, he still has enough natural talent that he should win a decision fairly easily. Kamaru Usman (9-1 overall, 4-0 UFC) vs. Sean Strickland (18-1 overall, 5-1 UFC): I'm not sure how exciting it'll be, but this is the sleeper fight on the card, pitting two of the best under-the-radar prospects at welterweight against each other. Kamaru Usman's been on top prospect lists for a while, and not really done anything to dissuade that - the Nigerian's an excellent wrestler and I guess would be considered the winner of that weird camp versus camp TUF 21 season, and he's pretty much dominated his four UFC fights since. Meanwhile, California's Sean Strickland didn't come into UFC with nearly as much hype - even if he did rack up a 13-0 pre-UFC record - but has had pretty much every bit the success, getting wins over a bunch of fellow prospects like Luke Barnatt, Alex Garcia, and Tom Breese. Strickland's an interesting fighter, and indicative of a trend a lot of MMA analysis community is starting to pick up on, that a lot of fighters who started MMA as teenagers are more concerned with surviving in moments and individual exchanges, rather than coming in with a gameplan of winning rounds. Strickland seems to be one of the better examples of this, though that still hasn't prevented him from winning fight after fight, albeit often by a decision and a margin closer than it needs to be. Still, I favor Usman in this fight - I tend to pretty much always favor the wrestler if a fight is close, since they can dictate where the fight goes, and while Usman flashed some pretty good striking in his last bout against Warlley Alves (who can be an explosive submission threat on the ground), Usman's been more than willing to just use his wrestling to dominate foes if it's obvious to do so. And Strickland's takedown defense is pretty much a question mark, since he hasn't really faced many opponents looking to take him down, and particularly ones as good at that skill as Usman. Strickland's enough of a talent that I wouldn't be surprised if he's just drilled takedown defense and is able to keep things standing (in which case I'd favor Strickland, albeit once again by a narrow margin), but I'll give Usman the benefit of the doubt and say he's just able to get takedowns and cruise to a rather one-sided decision. Either way this fight goes, I'm still interested to see where the ceiling is for both, though. Shane Burgos (8-0 overall, 1-0 UFC) vs. Charles Rosa (11-2 overall, 2-2 UFC): A fun featherweight prospect battle here, with the additional bonus of pitting New York against Boston. New York's Shane Burgos made his debut last December on that godforsaken Albany card, and looked good - while it was the first non-finish win of Burgos's career, he handled Tiago Trator pretty easily, showed off his crisp striking, and even got a haircut in-between rounds, as his cornermen cut off his ponytail after it was coming undone and getting into his eyes. Burgos is an interesting talent, and he gets a solid second test against Boston's Charles Rosa, who's fairly underrated. Rosa had a solid UFC debut, flying to Stockholm and losing a close decision to Dennis Siver on about a week's notice, and after a win over Sean Soriano, also took Yair Rodriguez to the limit in May of 2015, earning a scorecard in a split-decision loss to the Mexican uber-prospect. Rosa then fought on his hometown card when UFC came to Boston at the beginning of 2016, going through seemingly a million opponent changes before beating Kyle Bochniak, and has been off the radar since, apparently taking a while before deciding to re-sign with UFC. It's a weird fight for me to call - I do think Rosa is the much better fighter, but when I envision the fight in my head, I do see Burgos winning based on the style matchup. Rosa should be able to dominate if this goes to the ground, but Burgos's takedown defense looked good in that fight against Trator, and Rosa does seem like the type of fighter who can get lured into a brawl, which could get him knocked out against someone like Burgos. Basically, it comes down to if you think Rosa is just a level above Burgos to the point that the style matchup doesn't matter, which is entirely possible - but I'm not willing to go quite that far, so Burgos by second-round knockout is my pick. Still, it should be a fun fight, and of any of my picks on this card, this feels like the one I might come to regret the most. (Well, that or Patrick Cummins, but we'll get to that...well, now.) Jan Blachowicz (19-6 overall, 2-3 UFC) vs. Patrick Cummins (8-4 overall, 4-4 UFC, 1-0 Strikeforce): Ah, light heavyweight, you delightful(?) mess. In another division, both of these guys would sort of be afterthoughts, but here, they're somewhat appropriately enough tied for the #12 ranking in the division. Patrick Cummins had a notorious UFC debut - when Daniel Cormier was set to debut at light heavyweight against Rashad Evans in 2014, Evans dropped out of that fight at the last minute and in stepped Cummins, who talked enough trash to get himself noticed...and absolutely destroyed by Cormier in his UFC debut. Still, Cummins had made a name for himself, and the Pennsylvania native wound up looking like a solid prospect, using his high-level wrestling background to pretty much wreck some lower-level opponents. But once Cummins got into deeper waters, it became apparent that he has probably the worst fatal flaw someone can have in a heavier division - the dude just can't take a punch. Fights against Ovince St. Preux, Glover Teixeira, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira all saw Cummins doing fairly well until getting wobbled with the first solid punch he took, at which point each bout was over in fairly short order. So, well, he'll obviously try to avoid getting hit by Poland's Jan Blachowicz, who's had a bit of a disappointing UFC run himself. Poland has a pretty solid MMA scene, and Blachowicz had a bunch of wins over UFC vets before entering the promotion, so when Blachowicz made his debut by knocking out Ilir Latifi, the thought was he should be able to make a name for himself in the division fairly quickly. But that all ended pretty suddenly - for his second fight, Blachowicz was the big featured local hero for UFC's debut card in Poland, and Blachowicz just completely failed under the pressure, losing an awful fight by doing not doing much of anything against an injured Jimi Manuwa. Blachowicz then looked fairly poor in a loss to Corey Anderson, but was kept around for another shot, at which point he beat Igor Pokrajac, only for UFC to turn around and pretty much feed him to Alexander Gustafsson. Blachowicz has some solid individual skills - he's got some solid power striking, and some surprising submission skills for someone who doesn't look particularly fluid or flexible - but at the UFC level it just doesn't really turn into much of anything, as Blachowicz just kind of reacts and drifts through fights rather than imposing a winning gameplan. This is a pretty binary fight - if Cummins gets his takedown game going, he should be able to dominate, particularly in the later rounds, as Blachowicz hasn't really shown much of a gas tank even when things are going his way. Except, well, fights start on the feet, and before Cummins wears Blachowicz out (and hell, maybe even after he does), there's the constant risk that Blachowicz can connect with Cummins's chin, at which point the fight should be over. I'll favor Cummins by decision, just because I don't think Blachowicz has the craft to pull the knockout off - hell, Cummins is actually a pretty solid striker, all things considered, despite his complete lack of durability - but if Cummins just gets his lights put out during a fight that he's winning, well, that'll be par for the course. Gregor Gillespie (8-0 overall, 1-0 UFC) vs. Andrew Holbrook (12-1 overall, 2-1 UFC): This should be a solid showcase fight for Long Island's Gregor Gillespie, who's one of the better under-the-radar prospects in UFC. Gillespie came in with some hype, as the former collegiate wrestler was regarded as one of the better prospects in the Northeast, but he drew a horrible style matchup against Glaico Franca for his UFC debut - Gillespie has more of a frame for featherweight, while Franca is a massive grinder who's gigantic for the lightweight division. But after some early trouble, Gillespie was surprisingly able to get the wrestling advantage, and pretty much wore down Franca to score a super-impressive debut win. Honestly, I don't really see how Andrew Holbrook is going to give Gillespie any more trouble than Franca did - Holbrook's also a grappler by trade, but he's had a weird UFC career to date; Holbrook got a debut win over Ramsey Nijem mostly by working submissions, even though nobody thought he actually deserved the nod, then got his doors blown off by Joaquim Silva before scoring an upset decision win over Australian prospect Jake Matthews, which had more to do with Matthews looking flat than anything else. So Gillespie should be able to out-wrestle Holbrook rather handily, and maybe even get the better of things on the feet, and should eventually coast to a rather one-sided decision win. Josh Emmett (11-0 overall, 2-0 UFC) vs. Desmond Green (19-5 overall, 3-2 Bellator): Count me among the many that UFC signed Desmond Green - it isn't that Green is a bad fighter, as he's had a bunch of success in Bellator and Titan FC, but it's that stylistically, he's a fairly boring grinder, who looks to take down his opponents and not do much else. Then again, his wrestling days date back to his time at the University of Buffalo, so given the location of this card, I guess signing a local favorite trumps all. Anyway, Green gets a solid first test in the UFC in Josh Emmett, a Team Alpha Male product who's done a bit better than expected in two UFC fights, beating Jon Tuck in Europe on extremely short notice, then getting a fun win over Scott Holtzman in his hometown of Sacramento. This fight pretty much all comes down to if Green can get the takedown, and while I like Emmett as a fighter and think he's pretty well-rounded, I'm not really sure he can. If he can keep this standing, I'm interested in seeing how it goes, particularly since Emmett's last bout was so fun, but it is with a heavy heart I pretty much have to predict Green taking this by decision. Irene Aldana (7-3 overall, 0-1 UFC, 4-1 Invicta) vs. Katlyn Chookagian (8-1 overall, 1-1 UFC): A really interesting fight here, as both Irene Aldana and Katlyn Chookagian are interesting talents in a thin women's bantamweight division, but both are badly in need of a rebound win. Aldana came in with a solid amount of hype - while she's typically been regarded as the lesser prospect between her and teammate Irene Aldana, everyone's been high on both for a while as Mexican fighters who have both the good looks and the exciting boxing style to help MMA make some inroads into Mexico. But Aldana's UFC debut didn't really go all that well - Leslie Smith just decided to constantly pressure her, and Aldana didn't really handle it all that well; while the fight was a fun brawl and probably the best fight on December's show from Sacramento, Aldana still got hit a lot more than she hit back, and got a clear decision loss. So she'll look to rebound against New Jersey's Katlyn Chookagian, whose UFC debut went much better, as she was mostly able to keep Lauren Murphy on the outside and box her way to a decision win. Sadly for Chookagian, things went worse against Liz Carmouche, who was successfully able to implement her wrestling game, so now Chookagian is in need of a win of her own. This might be the hardest fight on the card to call - Chookagian's proven to be better against pressure fighters, but since both her and Aldana fight more from the outside, I don't really see that as a factor here. So this'll probably just be the two of them striking at range without much else in the way of ideas, and I suppose I'll favor Aldana, even though this is probably going to be a split decision that could go either way - I just hope it's more a fun back-and-forth rather than a staring contest. Magomed Bibulatov (13-0 overall) vs. Jenel Lausa (7-2 overall, 1-0 UFC): Well, UFC went ahead and signed Magomed Bibulatov, who's been regarded as one of the better flyweights outside of the UFC for a while now - Bibulatov's yet another of those Russian hard-ass grapplers to come out of Caucuses, and he's also pretty far up on the list of those guys whose connections are fairly worrisome, with some rumors even suggesting that Bibulatov might be a trigger-man for certain regional dictators. Anyway, this figures to be a layup win for Bibulatov against Jenel Lausa, who was pretty much signed to be on last year's scuttled Manila card and is just sort of hanging around on the roster. Lausa was able to beat Zhikui Yao last November in his UFC debut, but he's still an undersized striker whose overall MMA game doesn't really seem all that developed, so I expect Bibulatov to take him down and pretty much have his way with him in pretty short order. So my pick is Bibulatov by first-round submission, and then we can all feel really weird about that.

[benjsears-blog]

The Digestif

The Digestif

 A low afternoon light poured in through the sash windows of the old farmhouse. As dust came in to the light, it hung silently for a moment before drifting back in to the shadows cast by the Welsh dresser and thick, marble fireplace. Boisterous steam billowed above a large copper pot on a cream AGA, as white potatoes rumbled in a rolling boil within. Inside the AGA, a pork joint roasted slowly, its skin golden and bubbling. A small-framed woman stood at the rectangular unit at the centre of the large kitchen and reached slowly up with both hands to remove a heavy, wooden chopping board from a hook on the steel rail which hung from the ceiling above the unit. The board was scarred with slashes and nicks from years of abuse, but had a familiar and comforting feel to it. Drawing a large, glinting blade from the knife rack she set to work chopping the pile of swollen cooking apples, which had been peeled and cored earlier that morning. A sleeping Red Setter was curled in a tatty wicker basket which lay on a straw-coloured rug a few feet from a dark iron wood burner. Through the grubby glass of the burner, the logs peacefully glowed white and crimson, but every so often an ember would grow restless and flash across the black backplate like a shooting star. Sherman raised his old head as he was roused from his slumber by the sudden sound of steel on oak, lowering it again to rest on his paws once he’d acknowledge the sound was nothing that need concern him. At a long, pine table sat a white-haired man in a wheelchair. He wore mustard corduroys and a shapeless, blue woollen cardigan. The trousers and cardigan met and concertinaed in a pile on his lap and a bag of clear fluids hung above him like a cartoon speech bubble, dangling from a pole which protruded vertically from the back of the chair. From the bag, a plastic tube flowed down and disappeared under his ruffled sleeve.  ‘The potatoes will be in the oven soon, Dear’ Judith called from over her shoulder as she neatly cubed the last apple. ‘They’ll need forty-five minutes. I hope you’re hungry’. Judith knew that Stephen wasn’t hungry. He’d had no appetite for two months now, and his sinking eyes and sharpening cheek bones revealed the fact that his portions had gone from double-helpings to entrée-sized since his diagnosis. ‘Ravenous’ he replied softly with his eyes gently rested shut. Judith half smiled to herself as she swept the apples from the board and in to a pan of hot, glistening butter which sizzled and spat at her.

The symptoms had been subtle but clear now, with hindsight. A trip to the toilet in the night had become two trips, which became three, each trip lasting longer and longer as he stood at the toilet in his slippers waiting patiently for something to happen. Judith would eventually hear the faint, interrupted tinkle through the cracked door, but in her half-woken state had never considered it to be anything more than a sign that they were both getting old, and that their bodies weren’t as robust as they once had been. Stephen had had an inkling that something wasn’t quite right about a year ago, but in a perfect cliché of ex-serviceman stubbornness and pride, he’d pushed the idea to the back of his mind, washing his occasionally blood-stained pants in the sink, before burying them deep in the middle of the dirty linen basket so as not to be discovered. He’d finally conceded and made an appointment with his estranged GP, Dr Hutchins, after considerable nagging and the threat of divorce from his wife. Following some intrusive, uncomfortable tests and an MRI scan, Dr Hutchins had finally called him back in to the surgery a few weeks later. ‘Hello Mr Evans. Please, take a seat’. The doctor had been expressionless, peering down through his wire framed glasses at a short report. He was the kind of no-nonsense doctor that Stephen liked, and one who reminded him of those who’d treated him in a desert field hospital in Tunisia in 1942, after a Panzer shell had landed twenty feet from his dugout. ‘We’ve had all the test results back now, and I’m afraid it’s not good news’ he’d said flatly. ‘Mr Evans - you have Stage 4 prostate cancer. I’m very sorry’. Leaflets and a briefing on treatment options had followed and with a firm shake of hands he had made his way to the car, fastened his seatbelt, put on a Chopin CD and driven home.

Judith opened the AGA door and a cloud of smoke and steam spilled in to the kitchen, filling the room with the smell of sweet, salty pork. Hands folded in an old kitchen towel, she carefully lifted the sizzling tray out, carried it over to the dining table and placed it on some grey slate tiles which were arranged at the centre of it. Stephen slowly opened his eyes, alerted to the presence of the meat by the heat which radiated off of it. ‘That looks wonderful’. He slowly lifted his head to meet his wife’s eyes and smiled. The crow’s feet and the creases at the corners of her mouth told of the sociable and comfortable life they had shared. Of the dinner parties in South London at which they’d first met through common acquaintances who had all since passed away. She was still beautiful and the spirit of her youth remained in abundance despite her years and the toll the new role of carer which had been thrust upon her was taking.  She poured her husband a small glass of Malbec, which he raised carefully to his cracked lips and sipped gently, leaving a glistening residue. He sighed and his rounded, skeletal shoulders softened and dropped slightly. Judith took a large carving knife and cracked through the crisp, bronze skin to meet the faint, pink flesh beneath. The knife slid through the meat effortlessly and clear juices oozed from the joint’s centre, flowing around it to form a swirling moat of marbled liquid. She slid two slices on to his plate and placed one potato, a small pile of swede and parsnip mash and a dollop of thick apple sauce. Finally orbiting the plate with a china gravy jug, she placed it in front of him. ‘Thank you, Dear’.

Physically, her husband was barely recognisable, but he was more or less the same man Judith had fallen slowly and steadily in love with nearly forty years ago. He was uncomplicated and reliable, and she had always felt reassured by his strict but calm daily routines and the confidence with which he could talk around most topics with complete strangers. He had none of the neuroticism and self-doubt which seemed so pervasive in their children’s generation. Sophie, their eldest, had recently re-married following an acrimonious divorce from a philandering City banker. It had left her with two spoilt and aloof teenagers to raise alone, which had perhaps hastened her pursuit of James, her new and equally well-connected husband. Sophie’s younger brother, Tom was a confused and scatty young man who flitted from one hobby or business interest to another, never giving them the time or commitment to come to anything. He had had to reduce the font size on his CV to eight in order to fit it on to the generally accepted two side of A4. Judith and Stephen’s marriage on the other hand had been an unwavering constant, and whilst it had lacked thrills and spills, it had been full of kindness and patience.

Judith scraped the remains of her husband’s plate on to her own. He had left most of the vegetables and had coughed and spluttered his way through the pork, leaving the crackling entirely, which Sherman was now crunching his way through under the table. ‘Surely you’ve got room for just a smidgen of sticky toffee pudding?’ she teased ‘I’ll just get the fire going again and then I’ll make some custard’. Stephen stirred. ‘That sounds great’’ he mouthed softly.

She returned through the fogged French doors with a small basket of logs and kindling. Sherman had finished his crackling and was now tucked up under the footrests of Stephen’s wheelchair. The room was silent and still, but for the lonely tick of the carriage clock on the mantelpiece. Judith knelt down and twisted the iron handle of the wood burner. The dying embers flared slightly, as if surprised by the intrusion. She thrust at them with a brass-handled poker, disturbing them further, and placed two logs carefully on top, twisting the handle shut again. ‘Right, custard’ she said, standing up and wiping her hands on her apron. ‘How about a brandy too?’ Stephen’s hands were folded in his lap and his chin rested peacefully on his chest. She stood for a moment just looking at him. The final shafts of autumn sunlight were scattering in to the room as the sun dipped below the apple tree, which stood wizened and grey in front of the kitchen window. Judith walked over to the maple drinks cabinet and removed a crystal brandy glass and a bottle of Ragnaud Sabourin which they’d had bought in Provence ten years ago. She pulled out the cork, poured the amber cognac in to the glass, raised it in Stephen’s direction and smiled. ‘To life’ she toasted.

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[writingsubmissions]

UFC 208 Preview

WHAT'S HAPPENING: *The Super Bowl weekend card from Houston wound up being a fun one, and a surprisingly relevant one too, as there were a bunch of upsets and standout performances, led by the return of "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung, who managed to knock out Dennis Bermudez with a beautiful uppercut in just under three minutes. Zombie pretty much picked up right where he left off, showing his...Zombieness by absorbing a bunch of punches from Bermudez before coming back and landing the finishing blow. Outside of some better-than-expected takedown defense, as he stuffed a few Bermudez shots early, Jung pretty much just looked the same, which is both good and bad - on the downside, those defensive holes mean that Jung's probably not going to be a title contender in a featherweight division that's much stronger than when he left it, but on the upside, he's still an elite action fighter with a ton of fun potential next opponents, with Cub Swanson and Yair Rodriguez seeming to be the most obvious options. Whee. *The other big performance on the night belonged to Jessica Andrade, who pretty much confirmed that she'll be the next challenger for Joanna Jedrzejczyk at strawweight after an awesome brawl with Angela Hill. Andrade basically fulfilled her potential as the female John Lineker here, as she absorbed shot after shot from Hill, and just walked through them to continue beating the piss out of the returning Invicta champ. Some kudos should go to Hill, who proved she's rounded into a top-ten fighter in between UFC stints, but Andrade looks awesome and dangerous, and her fight with Jedrzejczyk might wind up being the champ's biggest challenge yet. *On the other side of things, Alexa Grasso had a decidedly not-great performance, losing a decision to Felice Herrig. This was a weird one, as I don't really feel we learned anything - this wasn't a case where Grasso's game didn't really work, this was a case where Grasso just...didn't really seem like herself, not displaying any of her trademark aggression and just seeming content to lose close round after close round as Herrig just did more stuff. Hopefully this isn't a case where Grasso's mental game has just suddenly fallen apart, but on the plus side, she's still only 23 years old, so the sky's the limit. And while the focus is on how bad Grasso looked, this was also a career-best performance from Herrig, who seems to have put some mental issues behind her and might actually have some potential to move further up the ladder, just when it looked like her career was stagnating. *All three debuting fighters on the card won, to varying degrees of effectiveness, and with varying degrees of surprise. The most shocking of the bunch was Marcel Fortuna knocking out Anthony Hamilton at heavyweight in brutal fashion - for one thing, Fortuna's pretty much entirely a grappler, and for another, he's not even a heavyweight, he's a relatively small light heavyweight who admitted that he lied, saying he was 230 pounds instead of 210, in order to get booked for this fight. But whatever, the lie paid off, and now suddenly Fortuna might be a bit of a thing. In the actual light heavyweight division, Swiss newcomer Volkan Oezdemir got an upset decision over Ovince St. Preux - I wish I could say Oezdemir looked impressive, but this was just sort of a trashy fight and says more about OSP letting this one slip away. St. Preux's game was always a tenuous balance, as his unorthodox grab bag of skills was held together thanks to his top-flight athleticism, but whatever happened, St. Preux just isn't able to win rounds anymore. And blue-chip bantamweight prospect Ricardo Ramos got a win over Michinori Tanaka, although it was an up-and-down performance - Ramos almost finished Tanaka in the first round, then gassed badly and just survived to hang on for the decision win. It wasn't the showcase it could've been, but hey, a win over Tanaka is still a good win, and at 21 years old, the sky's still the limit for Ramos. *And there was other stuff! Two native Texans each looked good, as James Vick and Chas Skelly got rather one-sided wins over Abel Trujillo and Chris Gruetzemacher, respectively. Tecia Torres sort of held serve with a one-sided win over Bec Rawlings - Torres is really good, but not particularly flashy anymore, and UFC doesn't really seem motivated to do a ton with her as a top contender. Curtis Blaydes continues to be a ridiculously scary heavyweight prospect - he threw around Adam Milstead before Milstead tore up his knee in particularly gruesome fashion, which is a really awful break for a solid prospect in his own right. Niko Price knocked out Alex Morono at the second-round horn in a fun brawl, and Khalil Rountree finally got on track with a quick win over Daniel Jolly, taking Jolly apart in 52 seconds after some brutal knees. So that finally showed what Rountree can do in the UFC - now if only he could work on that takedown defense... *Not really much in the way of news this week, outside of Dana White confirming in an interview that they won't match Bellator's offer to Ryan Bader, and that Bader is free to sign with UFC's biggest rival. It was an interesting argument either way - on the one hand, there wasn't a ton left for Bader to do in UFC, as he had pretty solidly lost to every top contender in the division save Daniel Cormier, and it's not like Bader was particularly magnetic in terms of starpower. But on the other hand, well, Bader's really freaking good in a light heavyweight division that lacks pretty much any depth whatsoever - add in the fact that Bader's a guy who can reliably headline a FS1 or Fight Pass card, and just that alone has a decent amount of value. But of course, you could say the same for Phil Davis, and it looks like Bader will be rematching Davis, who's now Bellator light heavyweight champ, soon enough. *One last late-breaking thing - Spike TV will apparently rebrand as The Paramount Network. Interesting, if only because I'm not really sure where Bellator would fit in once the network rebrands. Viacom owns the promotion, so they have options, but it'll be interesting to see what network Bellator ends up on. ------ BOOKINGS: *Not a ton of new fights - the main announcement was the top two fights for UFC 211, which hits Dallas this May. The rumored heavyweight title fight between Stipe Miocic and Junior dos Santos was confirmed, and joining it on the card will be a heavyweight fight initially slated for UFC 203, as Fabricio Werdum will take on Ben Rothwell. And let's just run through the rest of the new fights in quick, chronological order. Halifax got two late changes - in a disappointing bit of news, Liz Carmouche is out of her fight with Sara McMann, and McMann will instead probably run through Alaskan newcomer Gina Mazany. Also, a featherweight fight between Australian prospect Alexander Volkanovski and the debuting Michel Quinones was a late addition to the card, but Quinones got injured pretty much as soon as the fight was announced, so UFC is seeking a replacement as I type. Igor Pokrajac is out of his fight with Ed Herman at UFC 209, so Gadzhimurad Antigulov will step in as a replacement, while the London card in March got an interesting bantamweight fight between top Welsh prospect Brett Johns and British leglock specialist Ian Entwistle. And the cards in April are starting to fill out - UFC 210 in Buffalo added the debut of top flyweight prospect Magomed Bibulatov in what figures to be a showcase fight against Jenel Lausa, and the Kansas City card, which has been confirmed as a Fox card, has two new bouts rumored: Ashlee Evans-Smith taking on Ketlen Vieira at bantamweight, and in what figures to be a main card bout, longtime lightweight contender Gilbert Melendez making his debut at featherweight against Jeremy Stephens. *And some more details about UFC's remaining 2017 schedule have leaked out, though it's more about the amount of shows rather than any specific cards and dates. As far as specific stuff that's leaked out, there are a few highlights: UFC 212 will in fact take place somewhere in Brazil on June 3rd, and UFC is slated to do the same "three cards in three nights" thing in July that they did last year, with a Fight Pass show, a TUF finale, and UFC 213 all taking place from July 6th through 8th. UFC will have a pay-per-view in Canada, as UFC 216 will take place somewhere in the country, with the rumored (or should I say rumoured) location being Edmonton, and for the second straight year, UFC is running Vegas on December 30th, as that'll be UFC 220. Thankfully, the 30th is on a Saturday this year. ----- ROSTER CUTS: 1) Ryan Bader (22-5 overall, 15-5 UFC, last fought 11/19/16, W vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira): As mentioned above, Bader is heading to Bellator, ending a long, successful, but still slightly disappointing UFC run. Bader had little trouble running through the field of TUF 8 all the way back in 2008, and Bader looked like a blue-chip prospect, a former standout wrestler at Arizona State who had some natural knockout power. And Bader just worked his way up the card, racking up win after win, until a #1 contender's fight against Jon Jones in early 2011. Bader was a clear underdog going into that fight, but he was still considered in the same sphere of prospect as Jones, who won the fight via submission in a little under two rounds. But while Jones went on to win the light heavyweight title in his next fight, Bader instead managed to get tapped out in just under two minutes by a past-his-prime Tito Ortiz, in one of the most notorious upsets in MMA history. Bader's image never really recovered from that loss, as he got a rep as a guy who would just embarrass himself in the big fight, since, well, he often did - his loss against Glover Teixeira was a fairly normal knockout, but his two others were just cringeworthy. In 2012, Bader could've earned a title shot with a win over Lyoto Machida, but instead he just got pieced apart before running headlong into a Machida knockout blow, complete with Joe Rogan yelling "CLANG!" during the replay as Machida connected. And after rebounding from the Teixeira loss with a five-fight win streak that saw Bader flash the best boxing of his career, he choked in the big one once again against Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, diving for a shitty takedown, holding onto a Kimura for way too long, and eventually ending up with Johnson on top of him, knocking him unconscious, in just eighty-six seconds. Bader rebounded with wins over Ilir Latifi and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and despite not really being a contender, could be a reliable name in a thin division, but UFC just decided it wasn't worth whatever Bellator offered to pay him, so they let him go. And, well, good on Bader for getting his money. 2) Ricardo Abreu (5-1 overall, 1-1 UFC, last fought 6/6/15, L vs. Jake Collier): Shortly after it came out that he had failed a second USADA test, Abreu retired from MMA, explaining that the test failures were due to a hormonal replacement therapy he was going on to treat depression, and that his happiness was more important to him than his career. Abreu was an interesting prospect coming off season 3 of TUF: Brazil - a BJJ stud, Abreu instead mostly lived up to his "Demente" nickname, choosing to compete as a pathologically aggressive striker, which got him a one-sided win over Wagner Silva and then led to a split decision loss against Jake Collier in a fun brawl. Abreu was initially a Wanderlei Silva protege - which explains a lot when it comes to his fight style - but decided to move to train in California with the help of his sponsors, but between the Brazilian economic crisis and UFC's Reebok deal, things all sort of fell apart for Abreu, hence the depression. And, as mentioned above, Abreu got popped for one failed drug test, and then another, so facing at least four years without being able to compete in the sport, he saw the lay of the land and just decided to retire. He thankfully seems happy with the decision, and hell, there's always grappling coaching, so good on him. 3) Jerrod Sanders (15-4 overall, 1-2 [1] UFC, last fought 7/7/16, L vs. Felipe Arantes): UFC quietly cut Sanders, appropriately enough for a guy who, frankly, there's not a ton to say about. Sanders was a compatriot of Daniel Cormier during their days on the Oklahoma State wrestling team, and that was pretty much Sanders's bread and butter, as he was a bit of a throwback - just a one-dimensional, lay-and-pray wrestler, and not much else. He oddly made his debut at lightweight, losing due to injury against Yosdenis Cedeno, and then just skipped featherweight and cut down to 135 just three months later against Pedro Munhoz, quickly losing a fight that would be later turned to a no contest. Sanders's wrestling was enough to get an upset win over Russell Doane in 2015, and honestly, that's pretty much the peak of Sanders's UFC career. 4) Cesar Arzamendia (7-3 overall, 0-2 UFC, last fought 7/30/16, L vs. Damien Brown): Cesar "Goku" was UFC's other quiet cut this week, and oh what a disappointing prospect Arzamendia was. Arzamendia looked awesome in his first fight on the second season of TUF: Latin America, but a weird semifinal fight against Enrique Barzola, where Arzamendia was doing well, but then tapped after a punch to the body while he was on the ground, was the beginning of a sad trend for Arzamendia - the dude is just unable to take any damage. That trend continued in his UFC debut, as he was doing well before Polo Reyes put his lights out with one punch, and Arzamendia surprisingly got a second fight against Damien Brown, where, of course, he was doing well before going down as soon as Brown was able to start mounting any sort of offense. Oh well, at least Arzamendia will have the distinction of being UFC's first fighter from Paraguay, so...there's that. ----- UPCOMING UFC SHOWS: 2/19 - UFC Fight Night 105 - Halifax, NS - Travis Browne vs. Derrick Lewis, Johny Hendricks vs. Hector Lombard 3/4 - UFC 209 - Las Vegas, NV - Tyron Woodley ( c ) vs. Stephen Thompson, Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov, Mark Hunt vs. Alistair Overeem 3/11 - UFC Fight Night 106 - Fortaleza, Brazil - Vitor Belfort vs. Kelvin Gastelum, Edson Barboza vs. Beneil Dariush, Mauricio Rua vs. Gian Villante 3/18 - UFC Fight Night 107 - London, England - Corey Anderson vs. Jimi Manuwa 4/8 - UFC 210 - Buffalo, NY - Daniel Cormier ( c ) vs. Anthony Johnson, Gegard Mousasi vs. Chris Weidman 4/15 - UFC on Fox 24 - Kansas City, MO - Gilbert Melendez vs. Jeremy Stephens 5/13 - UFC 211 - Dallas, TX - Stipe Miocic ( c ) vs. Junior dos Santos, Ben Rothwell vs. Fabricio Werdum 5/27 - UFC TBA - Copenhagen, Denmark - Christian Colombo vs. Damian Grabowski ----- UFC 208 - February 11, 2017 - Barclays Center - Brooklyn, New York I still have no idea what to make of this one. Apparently, the initial plan here was to do Jose Aldo against Max Holloway to unite the featherweight titles, but that fell apart in pretty short order; Holloway suffered an ankle injury and we're at the point now where fighters don't want to do UFC management any favors. So after hemming and hawing about trying to find a true main event - Joanna Jedrzejczyk against Jessica Andrade was apparently on the table, but Andrade wanted to take another fight at 115 beforehand - UFC did indeed promote the initially announced inaugural featherweight title fight to the top of the card. And, well, it's a whole entire mess about how we got there, but more on that in a bit. But Holm/de Randamie pretty much fits in with the theme of this card, as there's a bunch of fights that don't make any sense, but will probably being pretty fun in practice. I don't think it'll live up to UFC 206 as far as "low star-power, high-action" cards, but this should be a good one, at least for the few that choose to buy it. MAIN CARD (Pay-Per-View - 10:00 PM ET): Women's Featherweight Championship: (#2 Women's Bantamweight) Holly Holm vs. (#10 Women's Bantamweight) Germaine de Randamie Middleweight: (#7) Anderson Silva vs. (#8) Derek Brunson Middleweight: (#3) Jacare Souza vs. (#13) Tim Boetsch Light Heavyweight: (#3) Glover Teixeira vs. Jared Cannonier Lightweight: (#10) Dustin Poirier vs. Jim Miller PRELIMINARY CARD (Fox Sports 1 - 8:00 PM ET): Welterweight: Randy Brown vs. Belal Muhammad Flyweight: (#5) Wilson Reis vs. Ulka Sasaki Lightweight: Nik Lentz vs. Islam Makhachev Flyweight: (#6) Ian McCall vs. Jarred Brooks PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass - 6:30 PM ET): Heavyweight: Marcin Tybura vs. Justin Willis Welterweight: Roan Carneiro vs. Ryan LaFlare Featherweight: Rick Glenn vs. Phillipe Nover THE RUNDOWN: Holly Holm (10-2 overall, 3-2 UFC, 1-0 Bellator) vs. Germaine de Randamie (6-3 overall, 3-1 UFC, 2-1 Strikeforce): I don't even know what we're trying to accomplish here anymore. Really, the more interesting thing than the fight is exactly how we got here, and it all starts with Cris Cyborg. Cyborg against Ronda Rousey was pretty much the white whale of UFC matchmaking ever since the company introduced women's MMA - Cyborg was the consensus most dominant women in the sport for years, destroying all comers at 145, but then Rousey came along, similarly ran through everyone at 135, and suddenly there was an argument to be settled about who, exactly, was the baddest woman alive. But things would always hit an impasse when it came to weight - Rousey, rightfully so, cited Cyborg's previous drug test failure as a reason not to move up in weight, since she was the champ of the prestige division and Cyborg could theoretically lose weight by getting off the gas, while Cyborg was alternately unwilling and unable to cut down to bantamweight. This dance went on for what felt like forever before UFC and Cyborg eventually struck a deal, essentially so UFC could keep Cyborg away from Bellator - UFC would pay her to fight for Invicta, hire a nutritionist, and help her eventually cut down to bantamweight, at which point she would be on the UFC roster. And, well, that never really happened - a fight in Invicta was set for Cyborg to cut down to 140, but she pulled out of that with an ankle injury and returned to featherweight title fights thereafter, actually getting bigger and more muscular, if anything. So, after all that, UFC basically said screw it and just let Cyborg fight for them despite essentially being a one-woman division, and returns were good - her debut win over Leslie Smith in her hometown of Curitiba was a nice moment, and when UFC decided to run a FS1 card pretty much based around her beating an unknown Lina Lansberg, the ratings came in way above average, proving that Cyborg is in fact a marketable star worth the trouble. But, of course, there were still issues - UFC still insisted that those two fights happen at a catchweight of 140 pounds, and Cyborg soon won public favor by releasing videos after the fact of exactly how brutal the weight cuts were, stating that she was basically too big to fight at any weight below 145, and that if UFC wanted her to fight in the promotion again, they'd have to create a featherweight division. And her plan worked, as UFC apparently called her up and offered to do just that sometime around Thanksgiving - in the wake of stacking two cards at the end of 2016, the promotion needed a viable main event for either January in Anaheim or February in Brooklyn, and Cyborg against one of two rumored opponents, Holly Holm or Germaine de Randamie, was what they were targeting. And, of course...Cyborg declined, stating that she would need more than two months to cut down to that weight, which, to be honest, is fairly ridiculous, and probably means she shouldn't even be fighting at 145. So, rather than wait things out since Cyborg was the whole point of the division, UFC just went ahead and put Holm and de Randamie against each other for a viable main event that really isn't all that viable, particularly since the big draw is theoretically the title, and titles have meant less and less lately, particularly since Conor McGregor showed that "moneyweight" seems to be the only weight class that matters, and, well, this title seems pretty much made up in order to have two bantamweights main event a pay-per-view. And you know, maybe the very stupid, stupid way we got here wouldn't be so bad if there was, well, any obvious point to this fight after it happens. The first natural fight, the winner facing Cyborg in a fight better late than never, is out of the picture at the moment, since Cyborg went ahead and got flagged on another drug test, potentially putting her on the shelf for the next two years. And the other obvious direction when the fight was first announced, Holm winning and then taking on Ronda Rousey, is also out of the picture after Rousey's one-sided loss to Amanda Nunes. So, now what? Featherweight is a thin division as is, with only about ten or so solid fighters (if that), and a handful of those are already under contract to Bellator. And it's not like UFC's made any other moves to establish the division - there's some rumors of Invicta champ Megan Anderson fighting on the upcoming Kansas City card (and admittedly, getting Anderson, who has marketable good looks and an exciting knockout-based fighting style, into the fold would at least be one reason for this division to exist), but other than that, UFC hasn't signed anyone at 145, and there's been no hints of any bantamweights moving up in weight, so...are these two just going to rematch each other after this? Just, what are we doing here. So, anyway, the actual fight. Holm's obviously best known for her one-sided upset over Ronda Rousey, where she became the first fighter to hold world titles in both boxing and MMA. And that was Holm at her best, using said boxing skills to great effect as, well, Rousey pretty much kept charging at her, allowing Holm to play matador and nail her over, and over, and over before unsheathing a kick to the jaw that put Rousey down for good. But Holm's never really looked that good, before or since - her first two UFC fights, wins over Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau, were fairly blah affairs as she just sort of used her skill to cruise to a decision (although the Pennington win was close), and she didn't win a fight in 2016. Her sole title defense against Miesha Tate was going well enough, as Holm survived a rough second round that exposed her complete lack of a ground game and was cruising to a victory, but Tate was able to score another takedown in the closing minutes of the fight and choke Holm unconscious for the victory. And what figured to be a bounce-back win over Valentina Shevchenko was anything but - Shevchenko, a decorated striker in her own right, was able to time Holm's strikes and counter them rather easily, and by the end of the fight, Shevchenko was mixing in wrestling and cruising to a one-sided victory herself. Women's MMA seems to be going through the transition that men's MMA did years back, as more well-rounded athletes are beginning to overtake those highly skilled in one area, and as great of a striker as Holm is, that really does seem to be her only dimension. On the plus side, she probably doesn't have to worry about takedowns or anything against Germaine de Randamie, a one-dimensional kickboxer in her own right. It's hard to get a read on exactly how good de Randamie is at this point - during her days in Strikeforce, she was obviously struggling to transition from a decorated muay thai career into MMA, but her UFC career has just been...weird. Her one UFC loss was Amanda Nunes just taking her down and beating the piss out of her, which there's no shame in, but it's hard to know what to make of her three UFC wins; her first was a close decision win over Julie Kedzie, who had one more fight and then retired, and her other two wins were over Larissa Pacheco and Anna Elmose, raw and overmatched prospects that de Randamie pretty much ran through. So while de Randamie's looked good in those wins, that may just say more about her level of competition - her three wins come over opponents with a combined 0-6 record in the UFC, none of which are still with the company, and hell, Elmose was a natural strawweight. Add in the fact that de Randamie has only fought four times in four-plus years thanks to injuries (and I must admit, I was morbidly curious to see what UFC would do if de Randamie was forced to pull out here), and it's all just a baffling mix of factors. So the one thing I can say about this fight is that I'm fairly confident it'll be on the feet, since neither woman seems to have much skill anywhere else. Past that, I pretty much have to trust Holm more to pull out a decision, though there are some causes for concern - Holm's a natural 135er, while de Randamie has in fact spent most of her pre-UFC career at featherweight, and the Shevchenko fight did show that if Holm's initial plan isn't working, she's not really capable of adjusting and implementing a plan B. Really, this just figured to be a solid, technical fight, and I wouldn't be surprised if it just sort of cruises along, never going above a simmer, en route to a narrow decision that could go either way. So, my pick is Holm by decision, since she's, well, actually beaten decent fighters, but the sad part is...I'm not sure the winner matters? Anderson Silva (33-8 [1] overall, 16-4 [1] UFC, 3-2 PRIDE) vs. Derek Brunson (16-4 overall, 7-2 UFC, 3-1 Strikeforce): The UFC 208 main event is weird, and things don't get any less weirder in the co-main event, as it's the return of all-time great Anderson Silva against Derek Brunson, of all people. Pretty much every superlative I could think of has already been used when it comes to Silva's sixteen-fight winning streak to kick off his UFC career, most of which was spent defending his middleweight championship. Silva would just go out there and make talented fighters look completely overmatched, using slick counter-striking to just showboat and embarrass opponent after opponent, typically delivering a highlight-reel finish when all was said and done. The one guy to really give Silva trouble during that run was Chael Sonnen, who shockingly out-wrestled Silva for the better part of four and a half rounds before getting tapped out and then popping for steroids, so a lot of people thought that Chris Weidman, a top-level wrestler in his own right with some solid boxing, could be the guy to finally unseat Silva when the two matched up in July of 2013. And indeed, that's what happened, though not without controversy - while Weidman won the first round of the fight, the finish came when Silva got too cute for his own good, showboating while dodging punch after punch before Weidman blasted him, prompting a chunk of the fanbase to say that Silva was playing dead, or would've beaten Weidman straight up. Anyway, between the controversial finish and Silva's status as an all-time legend, a rematch was hastily made, and marred by another...let's say unusual finish - Weidman was again winning the fight going into the second round, and almost to the same second as their first fight, Weidman checked a low kick from Silva and absolutely shattered the Brazilian's leg, bending it at a sick angle and causing Silva to go down screaming. And that, for all intents and purposes, was probably the end of Anderson Silva's real MMA career, although the legend still keeps fighting for the occasional big fight. (And Derek Brunson.) Silva returned in early 2015 for a fight with Nick Diaz that saw Silva look diminished, but still have enough to beat Diaz in a weird spectacle of a fight that consisted mostly of macho posturing more than anything else. But then Silva's legend took a hit with a failed drug test, which - and I feel this has gotten forgotten, particularly in the wake of the whole Jon Jones "dick pills" test failure - Silva blamed on a vial of blue "sex juice" that he had gotten from an unnamed friend of a friend. Anyway, that earned Silva a year's suspension, and then things continued to get weird in 2016. Silva's fight with Michael Bisping was the first time we got to see that Silva was in fact truly diminished - there were bursts of the old "Spider," particularly when he blasted Bisping with a knee at the end of the third round for a controversial non-finish, but for the most part Silva just sort of conserved energy and tried to bullshit his way through rounds before dropping a narrow decision. Silva was then set to face Uriah Hall in his hometown of Curitiba this past May, but was taken out of the fight just days before with emergency gallbladder surgery, before weirdly resurfacing to fight Daniel Cormier on just two days notice at UFC 200, after that said Jon Jones "dick pills" incident left Cormier suddenly without an opponent. It's hard to glean much from that fight - Silva had his brief moments standing but Cormier just did the smart thing and took Silva down over and over again to the boos of the crowd. So, yeah, Silva's in a weird place as long as his career goes on - he's still an all-time great, but there's really nothing left for him to do except check off big fights against big names. It was rumored for a while that he was going to take on Georges St. Pierre in Toronto last December before negotiations with GSP fell through, but instead of waiting for another big name, UFC rang up Silva to try and save a UFC 208 event without a real viable main event, and gave him the best opponent available, which is apparently Derek Brunson. That's not to say Brunson is a bad fighter, but it's just a weird fight that really doesn't seem to make a ton of sense from a box office standpoint. But, hell, good on Brunson on working his way up to a position where he can fight someone like Silva, since he wasn't really regarded as a top prospect during his days in Strikeforce. At that point, Brunson was pretty much every negative stereotype of a wrestler, just taking opponents down and laying on them, but sometime around 2015, Brunson suddenly unleashed a beastly striking game. Brunson suddenly went on a streak of four straight first-round knockouts - essentially, Brunson would briefly feel out his opponent, and once he felt he had nothing to fear, he'd just rush at them guns blazing, and this was enough to keep overwhelming the competition. At least, it was to a point, as Brunson took this style to its necessary endpoint against Robert Whittaker this past November - seeking a statement win in his first UFC main event, Brunson just literally decided to charge at Whittaker with his chin in the air and his fists swinging, and after some initial success, Whittaker finally learned how to play matador, nailed a counter-punch to stop Brunson dead in his tracks, and then finished him off for the win. Brunson was the butt of many jokes after the fact for such a crazy gameplan, but hey, we often hate fighters for not taking enough risks, so good on him. So there's really two different ways the fight can go - either Brunson fights smart and just takes Silva down en route to a boring decision, or, hopefully more likely, we get crazy aggressive Brunson trying to charge at Silva, overwhelm him with powerful strikes, and get the win in fairly short order. And if that happens, it pretty much comes down to what Silva has left as he approaches his 42nd birthday - in his last few fights, he's shown brief flashes of the old Silva, and honestly, against someone as wild as Brunson has been, that's all he needs to end this just as quickly as Brunson can. But, sadly, since the world is a cold, harsh place and all of our heroes must die, the likeliest thing is that Brunson just goes out there, bull-rushes Silva, and puts the former champ's lights out before he can really react to what's going on. So my pick is Brunson by first-round knockout, and I'm kind of sad that it's come to this. Jacare Souza (23-4 [1] overall, 6-1 UFC, 7-1 Strikeforce) vs. Tim Boetsch (20-10 overall, 11-9 UFC): UFC still really has no idea what the hell they're doing with Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, though I suppose this is as good a keep-busy fight as any. Even though Luke Rockhold had beaten Souza for the Strikeforce middleweight title, Souza was still the one most expected to contend for UFC gold once UFC absorbed Strikeforce. And even though it was Rockhold that eventually unseated Chris Weidman as UFC middleweight champ, Jacare really hasn't done much to disprove that he's a champion-level fighter himself. Jacare - Portuguese for "alligator" - got his name thanks to his vicious BJJ game, and he's supplemented that with solid striking and pretty much run through most of his UFC competition, most impressively absolutely wrecking Gegard Mousasi in a September 2014 main event. But there is one loss on Souza's UFC record that threw a wrench into the works, as on the same card where Rockhold defeated Weidman, Yoel Romero won a controversial split decision over Souza to become the assumed number-one contender. But then Romero subsequently had a drug test get flagged, and with both him and Souza essentially out of the title picture at the moment, a chain of events started that somehow wound up with Michael Bisping as middleweight champ. With Bisping deciding to avenge his loss to Dan Henderson rather than fight an actual contender, Souza was matched up with Rockhold before Rockhold went down with a knee injury, and with Romero still ahead of Souza in line for a title shot, there really isn't a ton left for Souza to do. After the Rockhold bout was scrapped, Souza pretty much demanded a fight as soon as possible, so, well, here he is against Tim Boetsch. It's really been about four years since Boetsch was any type of concern at middleweight - after cutting down from 205, Boetsch had a run of success that included a shocking comeback win over Yushin Okami and a split decision win over Hector Lombard in a fight neither guy really deserved to win. And then, well, Boetsch's luck evened out in a pretty bad way, as he proceeded to go 2-6 over the next four years, and even one of those wins was a robbery decision over C.B. Dollaway. But, to his credit, Boetsch has rebounded with two straight wins just when it looked like he was about to be cut - admittedly, one of those was the late Josh Samman deciding to clinch with him for some unknown reason, but Boetsch did look good in knocking out Rafael Natal on the Madison Square Garden card this past November. But yeah, while Boetsch is dangerous, he's pretty much in here to lose and keep Souza busy and paid. There may be some danger on the feet, since Boetsch is a big guy with power, but Souza really should be able to take him down without much problem, and from there, things could get pretty one-sided. I'll give Boetsch some credit and say he lasts a round, but Souza by submission seems like a pretty clear result, and I'll say it happens in the second round. Glover Teixeira (25-5 overall, 8-3 UFC, 3-1 WEC) vs. Jared Cannonier (9-1 overall, 2-1 UFC): Hey, more weird matchmaking. Glover Teixeira's in a weird spot that more and more fighters are finding themselves in, where he's obviously among the top fighters in his weight class, but nowhere near a title shot. After waiting years to be signed thanks to some visa issues, Teixeira finally made his UFC debut in 2012 and immediately shot his way up the ladder towards a title shot, winning his first five fights in one-sided fashion. Teixeira then proceeded to lose a one-sided fight to Jon Jones, though the Brazilian did put up a game effort, and after rushing back from injury and dropping a fight to Phil Davis, Teixeira recovered and soon was on his way back towards earning a title fight. Things were going well enough - Teixeira had little problem with Ovince St. Preux, Patrick Cummins, and Rashad Evans - but when Teixeira got what was ostensibly a #1 contender's fight with Anthony Johnson, things were over pretty much as soon as they began, as "Rumble" slept Teixeira with just one punch in thirteen seconds. So, now what? Teixeira's the third or fourth best fighter in the division at the moment, behind champ Daniel Cormier, Johnson, and maybe Alexander Gustafsson, but there's not really a ton for him to do except pick off other contenders. So, instead, UFC's gone a completely different route, and decided to rush Jared Cannonier into deep waters shortly after an impressive light heavyweight debut. Cannonier, an air traffic controller from Alaska, didn't really make much of an impression in his UFC debut, losing a quick heavyweight fight to Shawn Jordan to kick off 2015, but 2016 went much better for the "Killa Gorilla." First, Cannonier went to Croatia and knocked out Frenchman Cyril Asker in pretty short order, and then came that light heavyweight debut, a fun back and forth brawl that saw Cannonier eventually overwhelm and take a decision win off of Ion Cutelaba. Cannonier showed some toughness and some fast hands, which had people pegging him as a fighter to watch in his new weight class, but, still, people were quite surprised when shortly after that fight, it was announced that he'd be facing a top-five opponent. Cannonier's dangerous - again, he has some quick hands and knockout power, so if Teixeira makes an error, this could be over in a flash - but even Cutelaba was able to take Cannonier down, if not hold him there, which doesn't portend well for the Alaskan in this fight. Teixeira's probably skilled enough to win this on the feet, but he's also smart enough to know that he doesn't need to keep it there, so I expect him to take Cannonier down in rather short order and then finish it however he pleases. A straight-up ground and pound stoppage is possible, but I'll say Teixeira works his submission chops and gets the tap within the first round, and then we all wonder why UFC doesn't really seem to know how to bring along a prospect at times. Dustin Poirier (20-5 overall, 12-4 UFC, 1-1 WEC) vs. Jim Miller (28-8 [1] overall, 17-7 [1] UFC): If you had to pick any fight on this card that is guaranteed to have fireworks, it's probably this one, as Dustin Poirier looks to rebound from his first UFC loss as a lightweight against division stalwart Jim Miller. Louisiana's Poirier was a fringe contender for most of his featherweight run, and one of the division's surest bets for good action every time out - his 2012 fight with Chan Sung Jung is among the best fights in company history. But Poirier's lack of defense would inevitably catch up to him at some point rising up the ladder, and after a loss to Conor McGregor, Poirier decided to ply his trade at lightweight. And the results were outstanding - Poirier suddenly had the energy to be a much better striker, throwing higher volume and improving his head movement on defense from "bad" to "passable," particularly since his power carried up and he was knocking opponents out in rather short order. But in what figured to be a bit of a showcase main event against Michael Johnson, Poirier left himself open and got absolutely starched on the counter by Johnson, getting knocked out in just 95 seconds and having all his momentum halted. Poirier's still dangerous to be a going concern at lightweight, and a win over Miller would be a solid bounce-back, as the Jersey native is a favorite son of the MMA community, particularly in the Northeast. Miller just made his name by taking whatever fight he could, whenever he could, and he won most of them in pretty exciting fashion - by the time all was said and done, Miller temporarily had the record for most UFC wins at lightweight, was a fight away from a title shot a few times, and had basically established himself as someone who, like Poirier, would give you a fun fight every time out. But now solidly in his thirties and having fought all those fights, there's some obvious signs of slowdown from Miller - Donald Cerrone kicking his head off in 2014 was the beginning of things, and Miller looked relatively slow in losses to talented young grapplers like Beneil Dariush and Michael Chiesa. A one-sided decision loss to Diego Sanchez last March suggested the end could be near for Miller, but, of all things to happen, Miller discovered he had been fighting with an undiagnosed case of Lyme disease, and after getting that taken care of, he's looked much better. A split decision win over Joe Lauzon was a bit of a gift, but Miller had little problem handling Thiago Alves at UFC 205 this past November, suggesting that while Miller's best days are still behind him, he's more "tough out" than "completely shot" at this point. Still, while I'm hoping for a fifteen minute brawl, I do think Poirier is probably too athletic and powerful for Miller to handle at this point. If Miller gets it to the ground, it'd be a much closer battle, even though Poirier is no slouch on the mat himself, but I'm not sure he'll able to get it there. While Poirier might be there to be hit, Miller's never been too much of a knockout artist, and, well, Poirier is, and while Miller's tough as nails, Cerrone showed that if you hit him hard enough, Miller can go down. So my pick is Poirier by first-round knockout, but if I'm wrong, I won't complain, since it means we probably got a hell of a fight. Randy Brown (9-1 overall, 3-1 UFC) vs. Belal Muhammad (10-2 overall, 1-2 UFC, 2-0 Bellator): A really interesting fight here, as both Randy Brown and Belal Muhammad are solid prospects who have been pretty inconsistent to date. Queens's Brown was signed off of Dana White's reality show, and he pretty much fits the mold of the guys White has signed - he's a raw, physically gifted athlete high on potential, but still with a lot of kinks to work out. And befitting that, Brown's had a bit of an up and down run - his debut against Matt Dwyer was a fun brawl, but Michael Graves exposed a lack of wrestling defense on Brown's part, and Erick Montano was doing the same before eventually running headlong into a guillotine. Brown was somewhat expected to run through Montano, so that was quite the disappointing performance, even in a win, but Brown rebounded to take of Brian Camozzi rather handily, and it seems like Brown's back on track, although there's still the concern he can be overpowered by strong wrestlers and clinch fighters. Meanwhile, Muhammad had sort of the opposite path to the Octagon as Brown - Muhammad's not a particularly flashy athlete, but a meat-and-potatoes boxer with some solid wrestling. The Palestinian-American came up the ranks as a bit of a decision machine, but as he moved into title fights for smaller organizations, five rounds gave Muhammad the room to work on breaking down his opponent, just wearing them down before getting a finish in the championship rounds. Muhammad's UFC tenure has been a bit of an inconsistent mess, too, though - he lost a fun, close debut to Alan Jouban, then pretty much ran through Augusto Montano, having a much easier time facing a Montano brother in Texas than Brown did. But at UFC 205, Muhammad got knocked out in pretty short order by Vicente Luque, and that seems to have stalled his momentum a bit, as Muhammad figured to be the kind of fully realized prospect that should've moved up the ranks in quick fashion. It'll be interesting to see if Muhammad falls back on his wrestling, which we haven't really seen in his UFC career to date, since that seems to be the easiest path to victory against Brown. But even on the feet, Muhammad shouldn't go quietly, as he's a solidly built guy that probably won't be overpowered by Brown's athleticism, which seems to be when Brown truly shines. I expect Brown to have some trouble, but given his physical tools and how good he looked in the Camozzi fight, I still favor him to win a close decision, though this is some really solid matchmaking, and hopefully Muhammad gets another UFC shot even with a loss. Wilson Reis (21-6 overall, 5-2 UFC, 5-4 Bellator) vs. Ulka Sasaki (19-3-2 overall, 2-2 UFC): Wilson Reis is in a bit of a weird spot, since it's not really clear if he's a title contender or not at the moment. Reis has been a solid veteran, and looked pretty good since cutting down to flyweight, but it was still a shock when it was announced that he would be getting a title shot against Demetrious Johnson this past July. Reis was coming off of only one win, rebounding from a loss to Jussier Formiga by beating Wilson Reis, and it really just seemed like a fight made out of convenience, as Reis was the top-ranked available fighter coming off a win that Johnson hadn't already beaten. But then Johnson got hurt, Reis ran through late replacement Hector Sandoval, and with Johnson going on to fight TUF 24 Tim Elliott and seemingly being set for a trilogy fight with Joseph Benavidez, it's unclear exactly where Reis stands. Like the Teixeira/Cannonier fight above, UFC got a bit weird with the matchmaking here, as Reis is put against Ulka Sasaki, who's an interesting prospect probably being rushed in way over his head. Sasaki came into UFC as one of the more hyped young Japanese imports of recent vintage, and had a great debut with a quick submission win over Roland Delorme, but things went to hell shortly thereafter, as Sasaki was overpowered both grappling and standing against Leandro Issa and Taylor Lapilus. Stunningly, Sasaki then decided to cut down to flyweight - at about 5'10", he was thin and skinny even for bantamweight, so he's even moreso at 125 - but early returns were good, as he tapped out Willie Gates in his divisional debut this past May. I'm really fascinated to see what Sasaki has to offer here, since Reis's bread and butter is his grappling and Sasaki is pretty slick in that area as well, but this really does seem like a case where the story will be how well Sasaki performs rather than if he can actually win. There's a small chance of a Sasaki submission in an exchange, but Reis may be able to overpower him, and hell, there's even the chance that Reis doesn't even need to take this to the ground, and his striking is pretty solid and Sasaki's striking defense seems to be piss-poor. So while there's a chance of a quick finish, I'll still give Sasaki the benefit of the doubt when it comes to surviving, and say Reis wins a competitive, but clear decision. Nik Lentz (27-7-2 [1] overall, 11-4-1 [1] UFC) vs. Islam Makhachev (13-1 overall, 2-1 UFC): It's pretty crazy that Nik Lentz has lasted seven and a half years inside the UFC, particularly since they obviously wanted him out at one point. Lentz's 2010 win over Andre Winner is one of the most legendarily bad fights in UFC history, a grinding decision in a featured prelim that was actually thought to be so bad that it hurt the buyrate of UFC 118 - after that, UFC obviously tried to put Lentz in difficult fights so that he could lose and they could cut him, but Lentz just kept winning them, and eventually earned enough respect that UFC just decided to hang onto him. And Lentz has just sort of chugged along - while his striking is decent, Lentz is still a grinder first and foremost, and typically in the prelims, since frankly, his fights have only really been upgraded from "actively bad" to "fairly unmemorable," with a 2015 barnburner against Charles Oliveira being the only exception. One of the reasons that fight was awesome is that Oliveira's submission ability kept Lentz from just grinding a win out, and hopefully we get some similar magic when Lentz faces Islam Makhachev, part of the crew of Dagestani fighters led by Khabib Nurmagomedov. Makhachev is probably the most submission-based of the bunch - they're all solid wrestlers and grapplers, but unlike some of the others, Makhachev uses his grappling game to basically work for the back and try to get a choke rather than rely on top control and ground-and-pound. His striking still seems to be a work in progress, though, as his lone loss was a pretty quick knockout at the hands of Adriano Martins. It's hard to get excited about a Nik Lentz fight, but this is some solid matchmaking, particularly if Makhachev's submission chops make things an exciting back-and-forth. I do tend to favor Lentz, though - while Makhachev's sambo credentials are no joke, his last win over Chris Wade saw a lot of control exchanged back and forth, and I consider Lentz to be a better wrestler than Wade, so he should be more powerful here. Plus, if this somehow becomes a striking match, Lentz should have the advantage there as well. So my pick is Lentz by decision, but hopefully it's not too one-sided. Ian McCall (13-5-1 overall, 2-3-1 UFC, 1-2 WEC) vs. Jarred Brooks (12-0 overall): So...we're sure this is happening, right? Hopefully the sixth time is the charm for Ian McCall, who's had five fights fall through since taking on John Lineker in January of 2015. That's only the latest bit of bad luck for McCall - he's had a ton of tragedy in his personal life, and there's probably an alternate universe out there where he's had a stint as UFC flyweight champion. McCall was the consensus best flyweight in the world when UFC launched the division back in 2012, and the first round of UFC's four-man tournament saw him take on Demetrious Johnson, who was cutting down from bantamweight. It was a close fight, which saw Johnson win the earlier parts but McCall come through with a one-sided round three, but it was announced in the cage as a Johnson win...only for everyone to realize after the fact that they added the scores wrong, it should've been a draw, and that it should've gone to a fourth round, which McCall probably would've won given the momentum of the fight. So a rematch was put together, Johnson won that in fairly one-sided fashion, and McCall was just left out of luck. Since then, it's been all injuries and inconsistency from McCall - he's been forced to pull out of six UFC fights while only having six UFC fights, and that last bout against Lineker showed how frustrating McCall can be; he was winning the fight pretty handily by mixing his wrestling in with his mobile striking, but he decided to get lured into a brawl during the latter stages of the fight and gave away the decision. Hopefully McCall fights smarter - or hell, given the track record, hopefully McCall just fights - against late replacement Jarred Brooks, who steps in for Neil Seery. Brooks is going to make this an interesting fight - the Michigan native was regarded as one of the best flyweight prospects outside of UFC, and looking at his tape, you can definitely see why, as he's a powerful wrestler, a slick submission artist, and during his odd fights at strawweight, he's also shown some vicious knockout power. So, basically, McCall can't afford to screw around, which means this fight pretty much comes down to if McCall will in fact screw around. I'll pick McCall to win a decision, but not without a ton of trepidation - while McCall's striking and years of experience should be enough to handle Brooks, McCall rarely fights the smartest fight, and I could see him diving straight into a guillotine or something similar. Add in that McCall's lived a hard 32 and a half years, and there is the chance that he's fallen off badly in the two years since we've seen him. But, that all said, I'm still rolling with "Uncle Creepy," even though Brooks is the type of prospect that could make that look really dumb. Marcin Tybura (14-2 overall, 1-1 UFC) vs. Justin Willis (4-1 overall): Lower-level heavyweight fights are always a crapshoot, but this one should be pretty fun. Marcin Tybura's an interesting entrant in the division, since I'm not really sure how well his game is going to work in the UFC going forward - he was one of the best heavyweights in Europe at the time he was signed, so he obviously belongs at this level, but his debut fight against Tim Johnson showed a lot of the problems that Tybura might have. While Tybura is obviously a big dude, he's not a big heavyweight - he's "only" about 240 pounds, and the UFC is filled with huge, athletic guys who have to cut down to make 265. And that's what doomed him in his fight against Johnson - Johnson's a massive guy and was pretty much able to just grind out Tybura with little trouble. Add in the fact that Tybura doesn't seem to be a particularly high-level athlete, and despite his skill, I just wonder if he'll be outgunned physically against most of his opponents. His second UFC fight, against Viktor Pesta, showed a lot of what Tybura can do - Pesta is a similarly sized guy, and Tybura just pieced him up on the feet before putting his lights out with a beautiful head kick - just, hopefully he can actually do it. After Luis Henrique got pulled from this fight with an eye issue, newcomer Justin Willis steps in on short notice, and this makes for an interesting fight, since Willis is exactly the type of massive, athletic human that Tybura might struggle with. Of course, Willis is also ridiculously raw - he's essentially less than three years into his career, and his gameplan doesn't seem to be much outside of "be giant, aggressive human", which has been enough to overwhelm his foes. So it's really just a case of size versus skill at this point - Tybura's the better technical striker, and we may get to see him bust out the submission game we haven't really seen in the UFC yet, but Willis might just be too big and strong to handle. I don't really have a good feel for this one, but I'll actually go with Willis - Tybura may have his moments, but I say Willis is just too physical for Tybura to do much with, and the Californian gets the second-round knockout. Roan Carneiro (21-10 overall, 4-4 UFC) vs. Ryan LaFlare (12-1 overall, 5-1 UFC): This is certainly a fight that's happening - it seems like once every few cards there's a fight between good fighters that UFC just sort of sweeps under the rug and buries on the undercard since it might be boring, and this is definitely one of those. It's very weird that Ryan LaFlare headlined a FS1 show once, due to his lack of, well, flair, but it happened, as he lost a rather one-sided decision to Demian Maia. LaFlare is pretty good - obviously, with that record - but the Long Island native is just ridiculous unmemorable; he's a balding white guy with a shaved head, and his game is basically predicated on wrestling and decent boxing. So, yeah, LaFlare wins rounds in fights you forget about by the next day. He faces longtime vet Roan "Jucao" Carneiro, who's sort of in a similar boat as someone skilled but rather boring. A BJJ expert, Carneiro had a brief and disappointing UFC run roughly a decade ago, and then had a weird career on the regional scene - from 2009 to 2014, Carneiro would only fight one night a year, the last of which was a one-night, eight-man tournament that Carneiro won mostly by out-grappling his opponents. That got him back on UFC's radar and earned him a late replacement spot against Mark Munoz, and Carneiro suddenly became a concern with a quick submission win...before taking another year off. 2016 saw Carneiro get destroyed by Derek Brunson, then cut back down to 170 to get a boring win over Kenny Robertson, and...yeah, Carneiro's pretty much the other king of the uninspiring victory lately. This is solid matchmaking, and hopefully these two somehow neutralize each other in a way that becomes exciting, but I expect a close, lackluster decision. I favor LaFlare, but...yeah, this could go either way. Rick Glenn (18-4-1 overall, 0-1 UFC) vs. Phillipe Nover (10-7-1 overall, 1-5 UFC, 2-1 Bellator): A fun fight to open things up here, and a homecoming for Brooklyn's Phillipe Nover, who's had a long, strange run. It's hard to believe it's been almost a decade since TUF 8, when Phillipe Nover was running through the competition in the house. This infamously led to Dana White calling Nover "the next Anderson Silva" and comparing him to Georges St. Pierre, and, well, those expectations fell apart almost immediately, as Nover lost the season final to Efrain Escudero, suffered two more losses, and then was out of the promotion. Nover popped up in Bellator and in regional fights for the next few years, but UFC somewhat surprisingly re-signed the Filipino-American for a card in Manila back in 2015, and while his win over Yui Chul Nam was a bit of a robbery, it was at least a nice moment for Nover to get his first UFC victory. But now Nover's coming off two straight losses - including an odd co-main event slot against Renan Barao - so he badly needs a win against Rick Glenn. Glenn was a solid late-replacement signing by UFC in September, as he had proven himself as a former WSOF featherweight champ, and he acquitted himself well in his debut, losing a hell of a fight to Evan Dunham that saw Glenn pretty much consistently battle back from adversity. And this should be a similarly fun one, as both guys are fairly aggressive and solidly skilled. I favor Glenn - he's the more physically imposing guy, has more finishing power, and honestly, just seems to be better pretty much everywhere. But that's not a knock on Nover - even though his initial hype has still made him sort of a punchline, he's the sort of jack of all trades, master of none that doesn't really do a ton to win rounds, but can pretty much hang tough with whatever opponent gets thrown his way. I could see Nover stealing a decision, but I'll favor Glenn to take three rounds, and it should be a good one.