UFC FN 103: Rodriguez vs. Penn

Date: Sunday, January 15th
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass): 00:15 LP.net / 3:15pm PST / 6:15pm EST
Main Card (UFC Fight Pass): 2:00 LP.net / 5pm PST / 8pm EST
Live Streams: http://firstrowus1.eu/




Main Card (Fox Sports 1)

Yair Rodriguez (9-1) vs. B.J. Penn (16-10-2) (Featherweight)
Joe Lauzon (16-5) vs. Marcin Held (22-5) (Lightweight)
Court McGee (18-5) vs. Ben Saunders (20-7-2) (Welterweight)
Frankie Saenz (11-4) vs. Augusto Mendes (5-1) (Bantamweight)

Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)

John Moraga (16-5) vs. Sergio Pettis (14-2) (Flyweight)
Oleksiy Oliynyk (50-10-1) vs. Viktor Pesta (10-3) (Heavyweight)
Alex White (11-2) vs. Tony Martin (10-3) (Lightweight)
Walt Harris (8-5) vs. Chase Sherman (9-2) (Heavyweight)

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger (6-3) vs. Nina Ansaroff (6-5) (Women's Strawweight)
Devin Powell (8-1) vs. Drakkar Klose (6-0-1) (Lightweight)
Joachim Christensen (13-4) vs. Bojan Mihajlovic (10-4) (Lightweight)
Dmitri Smoliakov (8-1) vs. Cyril Asker (7-2) (Heavyweight)

Other

- Erik Koch was expected to face Tony Martin at the event. However, Koch pulled out of the fight on December 12 citing injury and was replaced by Alex White.
- Damian Grabowski was expected to face Viktor Pesta at the event. However, Grabowski was removed from the bout on December 21 for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Oleksiy Oliynyk.
- On December 29, two bouts suffered alterations: Jussier Formiga pulled out from his bout against Sergio Pettis and Jordan Rinaldi from his bout against Devin Powell. They were replaced by former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger John Moraga and promotional newcomer Drakkar Klose on 17 days short notice.

First impression of the match-ups:

• Rodriguez > Penn
• Lauzon > Held
• McGee > Saunders
• Rivera > Caraway
• Moraga vs. Pettis (dunno... ...read below)
• Saenz > Mendes
• Oli > Pesta
• Martin > White
• Ansaroff > Lybarger
• Klose > Powell
• Harris vs. Sherman (dunno)
• Christensen vs. Mihajlovic (dunno)
• Smoliakov vs. Asker (dunno)


John Moraga is taking this fight on 17 days short notice. This fight is in his hometown of Phoenix, AZ. On January 3, 2017, Moraga told MMA Junkie Radio that he’s going all-in on this fight because his job and career depends on it; he said he will retire from MMA if he loses and gets cut because there are no other MMA organizations who will compensate him the way the UFC does. Also, he said the wars have taken a toll on his body, and he is only fighting to support his family, not fame.

From what I gather, he knows his career is at its end and he figured what better place to give it one more try than in his hometown of Phoenix. While fighting in his hometown, he'll have the crowd and possibly judges on his side. If there's a finish in this fight, I think Moraga will get a submission, otherwise it will go to a decision. Moraga has been tentative in his past couple fights, but I have to go back and start watching tape later this week to refresh my memory.

Prior to the interview, I picked Moraga to beat Sergio Pettis on short notice, especially since it’s in his hometown, but now I’m not so sure.

Bryan Caraway pulled out of his fight against Jimmie Rivera, so both guys are off the card.

So lame about Caraway pulling out. Now I have a bunch of $ tied up on Rivera > Caraway at -235 in what I believe is a fight he wins an overwhelming amount of the time. Caraway is consistent and solid, always beats who he should but never beats the elites. There is plenty enough footage to say Rivera is better than Caraway at every aspect except finishing via submission, and I doubt Jimmie spends a second of the ground, let alone on his back.

As far as the matchups, after some refreshing,

Rodriguez > Penn - Penn really needs to stop coming back and fighting, especially killers (even though I was disappointed in Yair in his fight vs Cacares). Rodriguez via lopsided decision or someone throwing in the towel for BJ. Would be nuts if he somehow took Rodriguez's back though, he may be a slow old man now bur I bet the vicious, classic BJ RNC is still there.

Lauzon > Held - Should be fun, hoping for some good grappling exchanges, JL just needs to try and not play there too much or else he may lose a leg. Joe has become a decent boxer while Held has nothing on the feet, whereas Lauzon's weaknesses - cardio and striking defense are not things Held should be able to exploit. Lauzon via close 29-28 split type of decision.

McGee > Saunders - If someone gets a finish it's probably Saunders with a sub, but McGee has a big edge in the striking, pressure/pace, athleticism, intelligence, and cardio departments. McGee via late 2nd or 3rd rd stoppage.

Pettis > Moraga - Not sure what Moraga is better at than Pettis besides having a decent chin and he hits a little harder, but that's literally the only thing he's got going for him here. I'm betting Pettis strong at -135. I feel like people got way ro to low on Sergio after getting KTFO by Benoit in a fight he was utterly dominating Pettis via submission in a competitive but clear fight.

Saenz > Mendes - Not confident in this one - I should just say 'dunno' but on paper its a rough style matchup for Mendes. Neither can strike at distance well.but Saenz has excellent cardio and wrestling so he should be able to grind it out without getting swept or taken down. Saenz via decision.

Olinik vs Pesta - I



.

You know they are trying to build another frail star when they match him against Penn for no reason

How can Penn possibly win this? Roids?
These fighters will never retire until they reach Liddell-level, one-touch KO's every fight
GSP is the only dude I think who can pull off retiring the best way.

Doubt GSP s coming back considering all the drama last year

On January 10 2017 08:14 whamm! wrote: How can Penn possibly win this? Roids? These fighters will never retire until they reach Liddell-level, one-touch KO's every fight GSP is the only dude I think who can pull off retiring the best way.

GSP is trying to come back too.

I suppose if its the thing you have done all your life, you love it and you get paid for it after a while you get an itch to fight, they might tarnish they legend status but who cares its their lives, as long as they arent doing the Nogeira thing of fighting till you get severe brain damage its ok.

This is a small section from GSP's time on the Joe Rogan Experience. This took place in April 2013, which was a month after the Nick Diaz fight, and 6-7 months before his fight with Johny Hendricks in November 2013, which was his last MMA fight.

GSP talks about losing track of time throughout the day, even up to a few hours at a time. Many people thought that it could be due to brain trauma. In GSP's last few fights, he began to take a lot more hits, especially in his Hendricks fight, which I think was the most he ever got hit on his face/head. Not to mention that most of the head trauma a professional fighter absorbs is during gym sessions.

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^ That still of Charles Rosa makes it look like he's pouting. What an awful picture

Aliens...

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Ring rust

- B.J. Penn 924 days
- Augusto Mendes 329 days
- Tony Martin 351 days
- Alex White 344 days
- Nina Ansaroff 379 days

3 years? damn he is drawing dead

I've never seen BJ Penns' condition, but I think Yair Rodriguez is really pretty bad. I don't know that hes drawing dead.

On January 11 2017 11:34 ToT)MidiaN( wrote: ^ That still of Charles Rosa makes it look like he's pouting. What an awful picture

someone photoshop dat into a gay porno movie poster lol

On January 13 2017 02:46 Minsk wrote: I've never seen BJ Penns' condition, but I think Yair Rodriguez is really pretty bad. I don't know that hes drawing dead.

he is, yair likes em kicks and BJ will just keep eating it until it hits his dome. His last fights vs GSP and Nick Diaz were so bad too. his mma boxing is overrated and fought a lot of rasslers who knew shit about striking back then. his rubberguard is fine but in today's MMA unless you're maia or kebab, you ain't winning a fight with gnp and bjj against potential stars like Yair, you gotta clip em first or allow the set up to get anywhere.

these are fights where you make easy money. past superstars against hungry, potential stars.

I guess its just what % "can he knock-out or hurt-into-win Yair Rodriguez, who seems young and sloppy, succeptible to such a thing, a mere 20% of the time? Perhaps....

Nevermind. He just looks awful. I just watched his fight against Machida. He just has awful hands. I have no idea how he was winning.