We're Back!!! Let's Catch Up and Move Forward

Let's catch up on what has been going on outside of GET THE KO! First thing I have finished college officially and I am graduating with my Master's Degree in Sports & Health Science. We have had a lot of news going on with fighters all over the place.

RDA

Let's not worry about what happened last night, we witnessed another defeat of RDA. Though I was pulling for the man himself, he did not come through at all. He has had some tough losses and, hopefully next year we see him get back in the win streak.

THE RETURN OF GSP

We have to talk about the possibility of Georges St. Pierre to return to the octagon. He is officially a free agent and can sign with any promotion, however I do not see the UFC letting him go without a fight (pun intended). Names like Nick Diaz, Anderson Silva, Tyron Woodley, and Stephen Thompson have been thrown around as possible opponents. Hopefully we see him back within the next year, it would be amazing to see Rush back in the octagon fighting.

THE ROWDY ONE

It has almost been a full year since we have seen Ronda Rousey in the octagon, in fact the last fight he had was November 15, 2015. She will be back in the octagon fighting Amanda Nunes in UFC 207 on December 2016. She has not had it easy since her last loss, and has been pretty open about her countdown to retirement. If she is wanting to get back Amanda she is going to have to utilize that judo game that made her so dangerous. Nunes loves to start fast, most of Amanda's wins have come in the first round. However Rousey is going to have to be careful Nunes is quick on the ground and will look for submissions, 3 of her 13 wins have come through submissions all coming in the first round. 

New York City And How We Got Here

It goes without saying we are getting ready to witness history in the making; after several attempts to bring MMA to the Big Apple, we are finally going to get it. Since the UFC started in Denver, Colorado, the UFC has been all over the world. We have seen events in Dubai, Mexico City, Boston, Baltimore, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Las Vegas...so why was it, it took so long to get it to New York City. Well it seemed the panel for MMA was ran by some corrupt politicians; and when a scandal broke out about a couple members on the panel, we saw the UFC get welcomed. 

Dana White understood how big this event was going to be and decided to unload the talent pool attached to this card. This card is loaded with so much talent by the end of the night the only thing a person could want is a heavyweight fight (which this fight card is missing, but i digress). There are 3 HUGE title fights, while the other three fights on the main card will have big ramifications for the title picture. Every fight on this fight card could be on the main card of another event, some of these fights on the under card could be Main Event fights on another card. There are 8 former or current champs on this fight card from bottom to the top. 

UFC 205 And The Fights To Look Forward To...

Now let us break down this card and talk about what we expect from the fights people are not talking about. We also know the Alvarez VS McGregor, Woodley VS Thompson, Tate VS Pennington, and Jedrzejczyk VS Kowalkiewicz. But there are some other fights on this card I want to talk about, and are not as hyped as some of the other fights, I want to talk about three of those fights:

FRANKIE EDGAR VS JEREMY STEPHENS

We have to talk about how a former champion in the lightweight world is on the undercard for this event. It is amazing to see Frankie again in the octagon though the last time we saw him he lost to Jose Aldo at UFC 200. He still has the endurance and drive to fight through championship rounds. He has great boxing and still can take any person down at will. However he is getting older and though it has not shown, he is stale in his talents. MMA is continuing to evolve and though every fight starts on their feet, Edgar has not shown his evolution in the game. 

Jeremy Stephens is coming off of a tough victory over Renan Barao, he is going to continue to try and utilize his advantages over Edgar. Jeremy has had trouble with fights who can throw serious hands. Max Holloway can throw with the best of the UFC and even beat Jeremy in a unaimous decision. However Jeremy does have youth on his side and can push a tempo further to see how Edgar can do. This will be a tough match-up for Stephens if he does not utilize his ability to push the fight in his favor. 

LIZ CARMOUCHE VS KATLYN CHOOKAGIAN

In the last five fights Carmouche has not faired so well, she has lost 3 of her last 5 fights to include losses to Rousey and Tate. But she is coming off a victory over Lauren Murphy in a decision, Liz is known for taking fights to the ground and either submitting them or finishing them in TKO. This is a fight I believe she is going to be able to boost herself back up and into title contention, if she can utilize her ground game and control the fight. 

Katlyn is by far going to be a tough test for her, she is currently undefeated at 8-0 but has not faced someone like Liz before. Katlyn has 5 wins by decision, 2 by KO, and 1 by submission. She is a well rounded fighter and it will be good to see her in the octagon. If people have not noticed yet, the women's division is loaded with talent. It is getting thick and if you think Ronda is the face that runs the place (a John Cena phrase), you are not really looking at the entire roster. 

DONALD CERRONE VS KELVIN GASTELUM

The Cowboy is returning to the octagon since UFC 202, where he punished Rick Story. Cowboy is a crazy dude who likes to throw punches from all angles. He loves his submission game as well, he is one of the few fighters who is well rounded at 170 but he wants the title at 155. I think with a win over Kelvin, he should definitely get the opportunity after the Alvarez VS McGregor fight. 

But, let us not get too far ahead of ourselves Kelvin Gastelum is no push over either, he has won 3 of his last 5 fights. Those victories are coming over Jake Ellenberger, Nate Marquardt, and Johny Hendricks those are no push overs and he had no issues with those individuals. Those are true test for Kelvin and getting an opportunity at Donald will strengthen a resume for a championship fight with a victory over the Cowboy. 

COME AND CATCH UP WITH ME

Since I had to put down the site for a while some new things have come through. If you want to hear my predictions for the UFC 205 event coming up, you can catch me on 1570 AM WNST on Thursday, November 10th between 3PM to 5PM or you can go here www.wnst.net and stream it live. Also during the fights you can follow me on twitter @cm_miller85 or @getthekoblog. Also for the first time you can follow me on Snapchat as well @icendaveins. My friends and I will be talking about each fights and going through round-by-round. Hope to hear from you all and it is great to be back!