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Haven’t seen one and there’s about 14 hours to go so (window closes at 11pm UK time) - saves people creating new posts to vent, as I have a feeling the rest of the day will see a progressive rise in anger. I don’t know about you lot, but personally looking forward to Aouar and Partey both joining later. I will look to update this summary where possible, but if I am resting my fingers momentarily from the trauma that is the F5 key, Arseblog are doing a rather good live update feed. Summary so far (this is the main feed - find Partey Watch below):
Torreira’s move to Atletico looks like it will go ahead.
Rumours linking Nelson to Southampton, and Saliba to Fulham and Rennes (as loans obviously). Saliba to Fulham seems off, as they have gone for Andersen from Lyon. Let's see if he therefore stays.
Ornstein has stated that moves for Aouar and Partey (as well as Jorginho) appear dashed, and it looks unlikely we can get any backup targets.
Gunnersaurus has been made a free agent, whilst some lovely people are insulting Edu’s son on Twitter.
FootballGhana and Sky Bet Compan- *sorry* Sky Sports News claiming Partey may still move. Charles Watts said earlier that there was no Partey development last night but if Arsenal pay the release clause, the deal would be wrapped up pretty swiftly. The player would've been keen to join & personal terms apparently wouldn't have been an issue. If we want to get really desperate, there is a hollow metal object on twitter who has claimed all summer that Partey will come.
There are some people claiming the Telegraph have said we are interested in a loan for Thomas Lemar (yes, our £80m man). I've yet to see where that is said though so take it with a pinch of salt for now.
From a distance I thought it was tap-in specialist Filippo Inzaghi, but turns out it's just Fabrizio Romano recycling old information for more interactions on Twitter. He says Atletico remain convinced Partey stays, as they have all summer. But 'let's see if someone triggers the clause'.
After an early flurry of news on outgoings and general disappointment on incomings, the current transfer scene for Arsenal currently is barren.
It's now almost 11, still barely anything in last hour.
Right, I'm assuming we must be preparing the Gunnersaurus statue, and that's currently occupying us, hence no news. As a fun exercise, why don't we name our favourite chocolate bars? I'll start, mine currently is that Dairy Milk one with popping candy in it, really rate it.
ALL PARTEY UPDATES WILL BE IN PARTEY WATCH THREAD BELOW. Saves me typing it twice, all non-Partey news is above.
I'm going to say this quietly, however Lyon are in breach of FFP currently following the collapse of Dembele to United (from Barca), and thus Depay to Barcelona. They need to sell. A private jet just landed in London from Lyon an hour ago. This could very well be Andersen to Fulham, but lets see.
Sky Sports hearing about an Arsenal departure that isn't Guendouzi or Torreira. More to follow apparently.
Rumours that Arsenal have now pulled the Torreira loan deal, and will pressure Atletico into making a permanent offer. I don't know about the origin of the source or where it was said, its just being floated around Twitter.
Andersen to Fulham is a loan without option to buy as per GFFN. I believe Lyon still fall short of FFP regulations. Interesting hours ahead, as I think Lyon are just under €30m in the red. They need a sale.
Kicker have said Kolasinac will not join Bayer today.
In one of the weirder rumours, according to Téléfoot, we rejected a loan offer for Sokratis from PSG.
Partey Watch (Tier 100 rumours will be posted here, didn't want it clogging the main feed above)
Ornstein stated this morning that a move for Partey is unlikely, barring a dramatic late change.
STRAP YOUR SEATBELTS, ALONSO IS AT THE WHEEL. THOMAS PARTEY'S REPRESENTATIVE JUST TWEETED AN AOUARGLASS. SURELY NOT. The hollow metal object on Twitter has just said that we rang Partey's camp an hour ago to confirm we will look to complete the deal today. My body can't take this. Just so people are aware, I don't think there is anything in this, but we've been starved of news for the past hour so I figured I would drop it in for all of you who are looking for anything. Please don't actually invest yourselves into Partey again, wait for someone with a bit more credibility.
COPE Journalist has said in the last hours Arsenal has communicated to La Liga its intention to pay Partey's clause. Apparently he is Tier 1 for Atletico. WHAT IS GOING ON.
Charles Watts: 'Legal team is at Colney now working on the transfer. Negotiations not needed with Atletico.'
Rumours that Arsenal have now pulled the Torreira loan deal, and will pressure Atletico into making a permanent offer. I don't know about the origin of the source or where it was said, its just being floatedaround Twitter. Yeah that was nonsense.
Sorry lads, went to the shops. Partey has completed his medicals according to various sources, and is on his way to London via jet. Race against time, but what a day its been.
Partey has landed in London
Charles Watts: La Liga have informed Atletico that Arsenal have met Partey's release clause. Neither the player or Arsenal have communicated this with Atletico. HUGE ARSENAL MOVE.
The Bell: Partey will sign a deal inclusive of bonuses at just over £200k a week.
Orny and the Bell both now saying that Partey is done.
Partey signs.
Rest easy boys, we did it, its been a journey. See you lads tomorrow for Buendia and Cantwell rumours.
[Game Preview] Week 2 - Los Angeles Rams (1-0) at Philadelphia Eagles(0-1)
Los Angeles Rams (1-0) at Philadelphia Eagles (0-1)
The 2020 Philadelphia Eagles season didn’t have the start they were looking for week 1 as they opened the season without their starting LT, RT, RG, RB, DT and WR and struggled against the Washington Football team to open their season with a loss. Luckily they will get two of those starters back this week in running back Miles Sanders and RT Lane Johnson. Both will be welcome additions as the Eagles struggled to block anyone against the Football Team both on the line and from the running back position. Additionally, getting a running game going will greatly help slow the pass rush which will be impressive as the Rams posted one of the best pressure rates last week led by All-Pro Aaron Donald. Hopefully Doug Pederson learns from his mistakes of last week and gets Carson moving with some designed rollouts and mixes up his play-calling more to establish the run. If Doug tries to do the same thing as last week it will be a long day for Carson and Donald will feast. On the other side of the ball, Schwartz had Slay follow McLaurin last week and it worked as Slay shut McLaurin down, but that is more difficult this week as the Rams have two talented receivers in Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp. The Eagles will need to see how Maddox holds up on the outside with a bigger challenge this week. With the struggles of the Eagles offense and their injuries on that side of the ball, the Eagles will need their defenses to limit the quick scoring Rams offense or it will be a long day. Should be a good test for the Eagles to rebound after falling flat out of the gate last week. Go Birds!
Record VS. Spread: Philadelphia 0-1, Los Angeles 0-1
Where to Watch on TV
FOX will broadcast Monday’s game to a national audience. Kevin Kugler will handle the play-by-play duties and Chris Spielman will provide analysis. Laura Okmin will report from the sideline.
Calling the game on 94WIP and the Eagles Radio Network will be Merrill Reese, the NFL’s longest-tenured play-by-play announcer (44th season). Joining Reese in the radio booth will be former Eagles All-Pro wide receiver Mike Quick, while Howard Eskin will report from the sidelines.
Location
Station
Frequency
Philadelphia, PA
WIP-FM
94.1 FM and 610 AM
Allentown, PA
WCTO-FM
96.1 FM
Atlantic City/South Jersey
WENJ-FM
97.3 FM
Levittown, PA
WBCB-AM
1490 AM
Northumberland, PA
WEGH-FM
107.3 FM
Pottsville, PA
WPPA-AM
1360 AM
Reading, PA
WEEU-AM
830 AM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WAFL-FM
97.7 FM
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA
WEJL-FM
96.1 FM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WAFL-FM
97.7 FM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WEJL-AM
630 AM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WBAX-AM
1240 AM
Williamsport, PA
WBZD-FM
93.3 FM
Wilmington, DE
WDEL-FM/AM
101.7 FM
York/LancasteHarrisburg, PA
WSOX-FM
96.1 FM
Philadelphia Spanish Radio
Rickie Ricardo and Bill Kulik will handle the broadcast in Spanish on Mega 105.7 FM in Philadelphia and the Eagles Spanish Radio Network.
Location
Station
Frequency
Philadelphia, PA
LA MEGA
105.7 FM
Allentown, PA
WSAN
1470 AM
Atlantic City, NJ
WIBG
1020 AM; 101.3 FM
Rams Radio
Rams Radio J.B. Long will handle the play-by-play duties and former pro bowl running back Maurice Jones-Drew will provide analysis. D'Marco Farr will report from the sidelines.
September 21, 1937 at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium, Philadelphia, PA. Cleveland Rams 21 Philadelphia Eagles 3
Points Leader
Philadelphia Eagles lead the Los Angeles Rams (843-842)
Coaches Record
Doug Pederson: 2-0 against the Rams
Sean McVay: 0-2 against Eagles
Coaches Head to Head
Doug Pederson vs Sean McVay: Pederson leads 2-0
Quarterback Record
Carson Wentz: Against Rams: 1-0
Jared Goff: Against Eagles: 0-2
Quarterbacks Head to Head
Carson Wentz vs Jared Goff: Wentz leads 1-0
Records per Stadium
Record @ Lincoln Financial Field: Eagles lead Rams: 2-0
Record @ Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: Rams lead Eagles 5-4-1
Rankings and Last Meeting Information
AP Pro 32 Ranking
Eagles No. 21 - Rams No. 09
Record
Eagles: 0-1
Rams: 1-0
Last Meeting
Sunday, December 12th, 2018
Eagles 30 - Rams 23
Nick Foles filled in for the injured Carson Wentz, taking up his spot under center after three months without game action. Foles promptly recaptured the magic, passing for 270 yards and confidently leading the Eagles to a 30-23 win over the Rams on Sunday night with plenty of help from his defense and his playmakers. Foles got plenty of help from his running game as Wendell Smallwood rushed for two touchdowns and rookie Josh Adams ran for another score as the Eagles (7-7) kept their playoff hopes quite viable with a gritty victory over the Rams (11-3), who lost consecutive regular-season games for the first time in coach Sean McVay's tenure.
Carson Wentz threw for 291 yards and four touchdowns before leaving with a knee injury and Jake Elliott kicked the go-ahead 33-yard field goal with 3:45 left for the Philadelphia Eagles, who beat the Los Angeles Rams 43-35 in a thriller Sunday to clinch the NFC East title.
Eagles - In a near-reversal of the previous season's opener, the Eagles scored the first 17 points, only for the Washington Football Team to then shut their offense out for the remainder of the afternoon. Meanwhile, Washington's offense scored 27 unanswered points, and the defense sacked Carson Wentz eight times, recorded two interceptions, and forced three fumbles. With the loss, Philadelphia's six-game winning streak against Washington was snapped dating back to Week 14 of the 2016 season, and the Eagles lost the first game of the season since 2015.
Rams - Playing their first game ever in their brand-new home at SoFi Stadium, the Rams held off the Cowboys in a close battle of NFC contenders. Receiving the opening kickoff (from former Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein), Los Angeles drove 75 yards in seven plays, with Malcolm Brown scoring the new stadium's first touchdown on a 1-yard run. Rookie kicker Samuel Sloman missed on his first field goal attempt, a 29-yard try that bounced off the left upright near the end of the first quarter, but later was successful on field goals of 35 and 31 yards in the second quarter. However, Dallas took a 14-13 halftime lead as Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott scored on both a touchdown run and a touchdown reception. The Rams reclaimed the lead as Malcolm Brown (who finished with a team-high 18 rushes for 79 yards) scored his second touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run midway through the third quarter to put Los Angeles ahead 20-14. Zuerlein converted a 33-yard field goal late in the third quarter, but it would be as close as the Cowboys would get. Rookie safety Jordan Fuller led the Rams with eight total tackles, including a key tackle of Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb on a fourth-and-3 play at the Rams' 9-yard line, just one yard short of a first down to kill a Dallas scoring drive.
Connections
Rams QB Jared Goff and Eagles QB Carson Wentz were selected 1st and 2nd in the 2016 NFL draft after both teams traded up.
Eagles S Rodney McLeod played for the Rams from 2012-16.
Eagles CB Nickell Robey-Coleman played for the Rams from 2017-19.
Eagles LB coach Ken Fajole was defensive coordinator of the Rams for three seasons from 2009−2011.
Eagles TE Zach Ertz went to Stanford (2009-13) and is from Orange County, CA.
Eagles Director of Sports Performance Ted Rath worked for the Rams from 2017-2019 as their Strength and Conditioning Coach (2017) and Director of Strength Training and Performance (2018-2019).
Eagles Special assistant to the general manager Connor Barwin played for the Rams in 2018.
2020 Pro Bowlers
Eagles
Rams
DT Fletcher Cox (Starter)
DT Aaron Donald (Starter)
OG Brandon Brooks (Starter)
CB Jalen Ramsey
C Jason Kelce (Starter)
LS Rick Lovato (Starter)
TE Zach Ertz
SS Malcom Jenkings (1st Alt)
OT Lane Johnson (1st Alt
General
Referee: Brad Allen
Philadelphia has produced a 22-19-1 (.536) record in the all-time series vs. Los Angeles. The Eagles own a 6-game winning streak against the Rams, scoring 30+ points in 5 straight contests.
Philadelphia is 15-8 (.652) in home games vs. Los Angeles, with victories in each of the last 2 such meetings (last: W, 34-28 on 10/5/14 at Lincoln Financial Field).
The Eagles are 23-9 (.719) at home in the regular season under head coach Doug Pederson, which marks the 5th-best home winning percentage in the NFL since 2016, trailing only New En-gland (.818, 27-6), Baltimore (.758, 25-8), Kansas City (.758, 25-8) and New Orleans (.727, 24-9).
Philadelphia has captured all 4 of its home openers with Doug Pederson at the helm (since 2016). Pederson is one of only two head coaches in Eagles history to win each of their first 4 home openers with the team, joining Joe Kuharich (1964-67).
In Week 1 at Washington, Philadelphia allowed only 239 total yards (80 rushing, 5th; 159 passing, 3rd), which were the fewest by any defense in the NFL during kickoff weekend. The Eagles limited Washington to just 27.8% (5-of-18) on third downs, which was also the 5th-best mark in the league.
Draft Picks
Eagles
Rams
WR Jalen Raegor
RB Cam Akers
QB Jalen Hurts
WR Van Jefferson
LB Davion Taylor
OLB Terrell Lewis
S K’Von Wallace
S Terrel Burgess
OT Jack Driscoll
TE Brycen Hopkins
WR John Hightower
S Jordan Fuller
LB Shaun Bradley
LB Clay Johnston
WR Quez Watkins
K Sam Sloman
OT Prince Tega Wanogho
G Tremayne Achrum
LB/DE Casey Toohill
Notable Off-season Additions
Eagles
Rams
S Will Parks
DT A’Shawn Robinson
DT Javon Hargrave
OLB Leonard Floyd
CB Nickell Robey-Coleman
CB Darius Slay
S Sean Davis
WR Cody Latimer
CB Kendell Fuller
RB JD McKissic
G Wes Schweitzer
Notable Off-season Departures
Eagles
Rams
S Malcom Jenkins
DE Dante Fowler Jr.
CB Ronald Darby
RB Todd Gurley
RB Jordan Howard
WR Brandin Cooks
WR Nelson Agholor
LB Cory Littleton
OL Halapoulivaati Vaitai
S Eric Weddle
LB Kamu Grugler-Hill
CB Nickell Robey-Coleman
RB Darren Sproles
WR Jojo Natson
DT Timmy Jernigan
WR Mike Thomas
LB Nigel Bradham
LB Clay Matthews
QB Blake Bortles
Milestones
Eagles QB Carson Wentz (99) needs 1 passing TDs for 100 career passing TDs.
Eagles WR Desean Jackson (6322) needs 145 yards to move up to 3rd on the Eagles all-time receiving yards list all-time passing WR *Mike Quick
Eagles WR Desean Jackson (34) needs 2 TDs to move into a tie for 7th on the Eagles all-time receiving TD list tying WR Jeremy Maclin
Eagles DE Brandon Graham (51) needs 3.5 sacks to move to 4th on the Eagles all-time sack list tying DE Hugh Douglas
Eagles DT Fletcher Cox (48) needs 2.5 sacks to move up to 6th on the Eagles all-time sack list tying DE Greg Brown
Eagles DE Vinny Curry (27) needs 1 sack to move up to 19th on the Eagles all-time sack list passing DT Darwin Walker
Rams WR Cooper Kupp (2636) needs 28 yards to move up to 16th on the Rams all-time receiving list passing WR Carroll Dale
Pro Football Focus Matchup Charts courtesy of PFF Edge (join.profootballfocus.com/edge/)
It doesn’t take advanced stats to know that Wentz spent most of Sunday under significant pressure. Washington sacked him eight times behind a makeshift offensive line that struggled to contain the Football Team’s pass rush. The Eagles allowed a 34% pressure rate Sunday, according to ESPN Next Gen Stats. That was the third-worst in the NFL. Five different Washington players generated at least four pressures. And it doesn’t get any easier against the Rams. The Cowboys allowed a 40.5% pressure rate Sunday night in their loss to the Rams, which was the second-worst mark of Week 1. And a big reason for that was Rams star Aaron Donald. Donald — the six-time Pro Bowler, five-time All-Pro and two-time AP Defensive Player of the Year who has 44 sacks over the past three seasons — posted a 28.6% pressure rate on Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott himself. He pressured Prescott 10 times for 35 pass rushes and finished with four tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss and four quarterback hits. According to Next Gen Stats, Donald’s pressure rate over the past three seasons is 13.5%, 13.9% and 14.6%. The Eagles offensive line is going to have to be ready or it is going to be another long Sunday for Carson Wentz.
Matchups to Watch
Carson Wentz vs. Himself
I note this matchup not to downplay the Rams and what they bring to the table, but to note that Wentz had plenty of mistakes that ultimately cost us the week 1 matchup. Change nothing of the game last week, bad OL, questionable scheming especially in the second half, Carson Wentz playing better wins us the game. Things were bad around him and he actively made them worse at times. These two things can be true: Wentz cost us the week 1 game and he should bounce back because he is a really good QB. This isn't the sky is falling, #TankForTrevor blurb, it's simply acknowledging the biggest change from week 1 to week 2 that would aid in a victory - Carson Wentz returning to form. There was also a lot of good last week, namely the first half! Check out the first TD throw to Ertz. Short, compressed field where he needs to make a snap decision and he comes off his first read (JJAW) and hits Ertz for 6. This is a great play by Wentz where he showed how good he is capping off a great drive. We need more of this consistency. Wentz was even missing on staples of the offense. He was erratic in the pocket and regularly off target. I love hero ball, I hate when QBs play scared, but better urgency and avoiding negative plays in the pocket would go a long way in smoothing out the rough edges of his game. It's infuriating to have some of the same issues he had in year 3 continue in year 5. Regardless, Wentz is a really good QB, so he should be expected to bounce back from a bad game every QB has once in a while. It just needs to happen quickly so the Eagles don't fall behind in the young season. This Rams secondary has a phenomenal CB in Jalen Ramsey and a really good young safety in John Johnson III; they aren't slouches. Wentz needs to be better and it would be surprising if he isn't.
Eagles (downright) Offensive Line vs. Aaron Donald and the Rams Pass Rush
Washington may have a better, deeper defensive line but they don't have Aaron Donald. He is so good he lifts a pass rush up to the top tiers of the league on his own given his dominance and versatility. Donald isn't just a Defensive Tackle; he'll line up inside and outside while wrecking every part of the OL he can along the way. Just look at what Baldy has in his review for him this week. This is a problematic matchup for Philly given their patchwork offensive line. Even though there were positive things some of the new guys did, they made a lot of mistakes, and will continue to do so in their young careers. The last time the Eagles played the Rams in 2018, Philly held Donald to 2 total pressures in probably his most ineffective game during the course of his DPOY season. The difference between that Eagles OL and this one is the health. Philly won't have a healthy Brandon Brooks; while they'll have Lane Johnson again it'll be in his first start of the season, he's coming off a late summer ankle procedure. So his effectiveness is still TBD. JP, who also played in that game, has also declined a considerable amount since then. One player returning to the field Sunday that should also give the Eagles a boost in pass protection is Miles Sanders. Not only is Sanders the best runner on the team, he's also the best pass blocking running back on the team. This alone won't stop Donald, but it should help. This defensive front from the Rams can get pushed around in the run game (more on that later) but can absolutely get after it in the pass rush department. Dallas doesn't have the line it used to either and Dak was under pressure at a roughly 42% rate, among the worst in week 1. The return of Lane Johnson should increase the effectiveness of this OL a considerable amount but given the new parts there will still be an adjustment period. This unit needs to come together quickly and the coaching staff needs to actually focus their game plan on helping their OL much more so than they did in week 1. Otherwise, expect Donald and his homies to bring the pain up front.
Eagles Pass Rush vs Rams OL
Even with some of the sustained injuries on this roster, the Eagles still have a formidable pass rush and flashed it quite a bit in week 1. The box score stats are highly deceiving in this area as Washington shifted their game plan quite a bit as the game went along. Philly pressured Haskins at a 30% clip last week. That number isn't great considering the state of Washington's offensive line. However, Haskins had the quickest time to throw in the NFL in week 1 with an average time to throw of 2.13 seconds. It's extremely difficult to pressure QBs when they get the ball out that quickly. Last week, Jared Goff was 8th in the NFL in this category, which will present some challenges for the Eagles. Dallas pressured Goff at a 20% clip last week, which is a horrendous number. Goff is a good QB and will slice you up if you don't get to him. But when you do, oftentimes he's effectively standing in quick sand as he was a bottom 8 QB under pressure (by Rating) in 2019. It's imperative this defensive front plays well this week. We already saw Malik Jackson return to form, now we need Fletcher Cox. Philly should get Brandon Graham (concussion) and Derek Barnett (hammy) back this week which should increase the effectiveness of the pass rush. Josh Sweat has also shown tremendous growth in year 3 having the best game of his career this past Sunday with TY McGill flashing in limited snaps. This offensive line from the Rams underwent a mini make-over this offseason but still has some question marks up front. This will be a real test for them as the Eagles pass rush is much more formidable than the one Dallas offers. Furthermore, this is a defensive staff that has consistently gotten to Goff of late. Given the changes on both squads, this is a good measuring stick game in the trenches.
Eagles Coverage vs Rams Receivers
Jim Schwartz had Sean McVay's number in their most recent matchup in 2018 so I am curious to see who gets the upper hand this time around. The Rams have a really good WR room with Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Van Jefferson, and Josh Reynolds. They also have a good tight end in Tyler Higbee. Philly has their work cut out for them this week as the Rams are much deeper than Washington. The Rams passing attack was predicated on the short, quick game with a lot of motions and play action last week. Carson Wentz led the NFL in Average Intended Air Yards while Jared Goff was last. Goff's Average Intended Air Yards were 4.3 per attempt with roughly half his passing attempts coming within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Getting the ball to Goff's first read and out of his hands quickly is key as he can be an adventure when he is forced to hold onto the ball. McVay is really good at disguising what the Rams will do running multiple plays out of similar looks. Lastly, their receivers are great at getting quick separation and great getting yards after the catch. The defensive game plan for Philly in the secondary should look quite different this week than it did last week. There isn't one receiver the Eagles can key on for Slay to take away. I'd bet Schwartz moves him around quite a bit but with Woods as the primary recipient of special attention. Slay looked every bit as good as you'd expect last week and that's a huge addition to this secondary. One area of concern I have for Philly is the middle of the defense. This Eagles LB group is among the worst in the NFL in coverage; McVay is going to look to attack that relentlessly all game long. He did the same thing to Dallas last week. It was encouraging to see Rodney McLeod bounce back after a poor 2019 as he was every bit as spry as he once was. The rest of the middle of this defense leaves a lot to be desired. Either way, this is a deeper Rams receiving room, with a creative play-caller, and a better passer than the Eagles just faced. There was a lot of good to take from the defensive performance last week but they face a significant test Sunday in the Rams.
[Manga] Welcome to the U19 Club: The Wonderful World of Shonen Jump Table of Contents Speculation
If you’re a manga fan, you likely know about Weekly Shonen Jump - one of the most popular magazines in Japan, this weekly anthology of comics provided us such classics as Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece. Indeed, because of the prestige of WSJ, many aspiring mangaka submit their creations to Jump, hoping they can hit it big. However, while WSJ is popular, it is also one of the most cutthroat publications out there. Because of its size, it can usually only carry around 20 different series, excluding oneshots and the like. If your manga gets published in WSJ and doesn’t immediately become a hit, editors will cancel it as soon as possible to search for another hit instead. Anyway, on places like manga, 4chan’s /a/ board, and Twitter, a sort of speculation started. You see, every issue of Jump has a table of contents page, which simply shows the location of each series in the issue as well as the weekly author comments. However, while the order changes from week to week, the general trend is that the most popular series are located near the front, where they’re more accessible to readers, while the less popular ones are in the back. Of course, many editors and writers for Jump have noted that the head editor is the one who has the final say in the table of contents order, so they stress that it isn’t a barometer. However, one aspect of WSJ is that the print versions (probably digital versions too, though I haven’t checked) include a survey card in each issue - readers can submit which three chapters they enjoyed the most this week, alongside any sweepstakes offers or popularity polls. And there have been plenty of cases where a series ranks fairly high on the ToC and then suddenly drops to the bottom on chapter 8, which has led people to realize that it usually takes seven weeks to accurately tally survey results. So while it may not be 100% accurate, it allows people to speculate over which series are thriving and which are likely to be cancelled. Case 1: The start of the U19 club Of course, as mentioned above, the cutthroat nature of Jump means that low-performing books will be cancelled in about three to four volumes. However, at the time there was no real way to describe this phenomenon. That all changed in 2017. See, at the time, WSJ was going through a massive series exodus. Popular series such as Bleach, Toriko, and Kochikame had all ended in 2016 (note: the latter had been running for 40 years), and Jump really needed something to prop up sales. To that end, they announced an unprecedented event where, for six weeks straight, they would add a new series in each issue. Usually, whenever series get serialized in Jump, they’re done in groups of two or three, so it was clear that WSJ was looking for at least some hits. Enter U19, a series that made readers wonder how the hell it got approved in the first place. The premise is that adults have converted Japan into a 1984-like dystopia involving abusive discipline and selective breeding in order to strengthen the country and bring it back to its World War II-era glory. The main character finds out that his love interest has been deemed an elite student while he’s an F-rank, and when she is separated from him he develops a power called Libido, which manifests as a sewing needle that grows more powerful when he sees her. Then he is joined into the ranks of the U19 club, an underground resistance full of people under the age of 19 with similar Libidos. The description I gave it in the previous paragraph does not do this series justice. The art was fairly amateur, the concept of Libidos were just quirks from My Hero Academia with a different name, the villains were written to be cartoonishly evil, and in general it didn’t seem like the author knew what they were doing. It quickly was cancelled after 17 chapters, but a edit of one of the spreads by a 2chan user, where the members of U19 were replaced by characters from other short-running series, eventually blossomed into a meme. From then on, the U19 club became the unofficial way to refer to any series doomed to end in less than 19 chapters. People who saw the TOC rankings would soon gravitate to the bottom of the list, speculating over which series were likely to join the club. Case 2: The battle of the gag manga Okay, when I mentioned the idea of the table of contents, there was one part I glossed over. While the lower-ranked series were almost doomed to fail, for a couple of years the last series to be featured in the ToC would usually be a small comedy series. The idea being that no matter how unsettling or uncomfortable the rest of the books are, at the very least the magazine will always end on a happy note. For the longest time, this position was filled by Isobe Isobee Monogatari, but then it ended in 2017. So in a September 2018 issue, to the surprise of everyone, two gag series premiered in the same issue at the same time. The first, I’m From Japan, was about a young boy who is obsessed with the various prefectures of Japan and uses them in fighting styles. The second, Teenage Renaissance David, reimagined the Michelangelo sculpture as a hot-blooded high school student. It was clear that Jump was hedging its bets on a new gag series to be their mainstay, but the question was: which one? There was obviously a regional gap for this issue. Japanese fans were more likely to enjoy I’m From Japan, simply because the various puns and in-jokes made more sense to them. Western fans found Teenage Renaissance David better, because the classical art references were more familiar. What compounded the issue even more is that every issue, the two series would switch places - one would be in the middle of the magazine, while the other would be near the bottom. Compounding this issue was the unbelievable fact that in December of the same year, I’m From Japan was confirmed to have an anime in development (for reference, most Shonen Jump manga only get an anime greenlighted after at least a year of serialization, while IFJ had only been around for a few months at best - meaning an anime was planned before the series even started). While western fans were in disbelief, people soon came to the realization of why IFJ was promoted over David - tourism. The fact was that IFJ basically had every chapter talk about the top exports, notable attractions, and famous people of each Japanese prefecture - which made it perfect in terms of advertising people to go to those prefectures in question. Ultimately, Teenage Renaissance David ended after 35 chapters, while I’m From Japan was transferred to sister magazine Saikyo Jump... only to end after 45 chapters. In the end, nobody won, although the author of Isobe recently started a new serialization that may become the new gag series. Case 3: Chew Harder - The Tale of Samurai 8 While most of the titles I’ve been talking about so far have been obscure, you most likely know about Naruto. The ninja manga was published in Jump in 1999, and author Masashi Kishimoto made it into a massive work spanning over 70 volumes and 15 years. It’s arguably one of the most popular series to have ever ran in Jump. So it was surprising to hear that after Naruto ended, Kishimoto noted that he actually had plans for a new series. In late 2018, more information came out - his new publication would be called Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru, and it would be a science fiction title centered around cybernetic samurai. Notably, due to wanting a break from drawing, he would only write the series while one of his former assistants, Akira Obuko, would be doing the art. Considering that such a famous author would be writing another series, Jump immediately went to advertising S8 however it could. Animated YouTube ads done months before the series actually started, expansive murals in subways, even putting pamphlets of the first chapter in other Jump manga. While it had done some promotional acts for other manga before, it was on a completely different level with Samurai 8. In essence, they were setting it up to be one of the core pillars of Jump before it even started. And then the series actually started. While some people were optimistic, others noted that it wasn’t exactly a good start for the series. From the first chapter alone, the reader is bombarded with samurai lore that would honestly be better suited for explanation across chapters rather than in a massive exposition dump. The plot also became more complex - while the first chapter of Naruto framed the conflict as a plucky young ninja possessed by a demonic nine-tailed fox wanting to become the head of his village, the first chapter of Sam8 framed the conflict as a sickly young boy who wants to become a samurai, only to suddenly get a cybernetic body after committing seppuku and then he is told by a blind samurai master in a cat’s body that he must find the seven keys to Pandora’s Box, an artifact that could endanger the whole galaxy. The artstyle used to portray cybernetics made pages look cluttered, which made fight scenes difficult to understand. In essence, while Samurai 8 had the prestige of being written by the author of Naruto, everything else seemed to be changed - not necessarily for the better. Compounding this were two separate facts. The first is that when the first and second volumes of the series were released simultaneously (another marketing stunt to encourage binge reading), Kishimoto wrote in the first volume that he would compare reading Samurai 8 to chewing dried squid - if the flavor doesn’t come out, just chew some more (i.e. buy the second volume, I swear things will get better I promise). The second was an interview with one of the former editors of Naruto, which revealed that many of the most popular parts of Naruto were editor suggestions rather than Kishimoto’s own work. Compounding this was an interview with the Samurai 8 editor, who seemed to revere Kishimoto; this made fans believe that he wasn’t policing Kishimoto’s work as much, similar to how George Lucas made the original Star Wars trilogy with the help of various editor suggestions and then the prequel trilogy with virtually no supervision. The effects were noticeable. In 4chan, it became a meme to refer to Kishimoto’s chewing comment whenever Samurai 8 was discussed. TOC-wise, it dropped in the rankings until it was almost always near the bottom. Sales were night and day compared to Naruto, and ultimately, after the constant promotions over other WSJ series, Samurai 8 ended after five volumes and 45 chapters. Which seems okay enough until you realize that I’m From Japan, of all series, was compiled into six volumes. Case 4: Time Plagiarism Ghostwriter In May 2020, the same issue when one of Jump’s more popular series Demon Slayer ended, a new series called Time Paradox Ghostwriter started. The premise of it went like this: An amateur author whose manga has been rejected by publishers constantly gets his microwave struck by a bolt of lightning, which turns it into a time machine. When he opens it up, he sees that it contains a copy of Weekly Shonen Jump from ten years in the future. Upon seeing that its premiere series, White Knight, is the perfect manga, but believing it to be a dream, he copies the first chapter the following day and sends it to his editor, who immediately greenlights it as a series. Suddenly the amateur author must contend with the high expectations pushed onto him - as well as the original author of White Knight, who is surprised that someone else has used her idea. Maybe it was because of the premise alone. Maybe it was because it was one of the few Jump manga out there which didn’t fall into the typical conventions of being a battle, sports, or gag manga. Either way, TPGW immediately became popular in the west, with manypeople talkingabout howthey love it. Many were immediately convinced that TPGW could immediately become a top seller for Japan. So, seven weeks after the first chapter, people were eager to see the first ratings for the series - only for it to debut in the bottom half of the magazine and drop lower every issue afterward. People were surprised, to say the least. Why was a series with such an amazing premise flopping? Pretty soon, people came to a conclusion as to why this was happening: plagiarism. More specifically, in a magazine primarily aimed at young boys, the first few chapters tried to justify the main character plagiarizing White Knight and still paint him as a good guy, by having people constantly tell him that so many people are in love with WK and it would be a disservice to stop now. Even the original author, after meeting the main character, writes off the similar plot between his White Knight and hers as a fluke. And given how the Kyoto Animation Fire, one of the worst mass murders in Japan’s modern history, was caused because someone thought KyoAni had stolen their idea, it makes sense that people would be hesitant to like a series which pushes all of its consequences to the side. So anyway, the first volume of TPGW was released, compiling all the magazine chapters while removing any reference to plagiarism in the text itself. Even then, it sold terribly. The author quickly tried to pick up the pace of their manga, glazing over plot points and moving the story at a breakneck pace, but it was too little too late. The series ended in only 15 chapters - unusual for Jump, as even more recent U19 series have gotten more time before getting axed. People were upset, claiming that Japan just didn’t have as good of a taste as the west and being upset that the previously-mentioned gag manga by Isobe’s author was immediately started the week after. So yeah, people were upset. Anyway, that’s the long and short of some notable instances of Jump drama. I could add in some more stuff, like the quick cancelling of Act-Age or the drama surrounding mangaka like Kentaro Yabuki and Haruto Ikezawa, but I’ve written enough as is.
Hello friends! Firstly, I hope you're all doing well, I hope you're all happy, healthy and ready to watch a monumental event. This has been a very fun card to talk about. It may not be as star stacked as the last card was, but it's stacked in terms of raw talent alone. But... I will state this now because it's pretty important. There are very controversial decisions in this prediction post, I'm sure you'll spot it. and with that warning said, please bet at your own discretion, it's a very hard card to predict. With all the formalities said and done, lets get dirty. (c) - Champ (D) - Debut FLS - Fight Lose Streak FWS - Fight Win Streak NS - No Streak (#x) - Rank in Division Lets go! Prelims Light Heavyweight Khadis Ibragimov (8-3-0, 3 FLS) v Danilo Marquez (D) (9-2-0, 2 FWS) - I’m not sure if i’m keen on this, but I suppose any Light Heavyweight bout could be explosive. Ibragimov is on a pretty severe losing streak so far, and considering he hasn’t won any fight in the UFC in his 3 fights, he seems to be on the brink of being kicked off the roster, which is a shame really because he kinda just started. Ibragimov seems somewhat well rounded, he is an adequate grappler and has serious power behind his punches, but at the end of the fight he just seems to be outdone, so i’m a little skeptic about his future performances. Marquez is coming off the regional circuit as a fairly strong finisher who only has one decision win in his professional career. One relatively large issue that I see straight off the bat is his inactiveness, he hasn’t had a fight in over two and a half years, so I feel like there might be some ring rust, and well, it’s hard to tell what he’s gonna bring to the fight. I’m not sure who is gonna win this one, but judging from how active versus how inactive each fighter has been, I feel like Ibragimov has this one. Ibragimov via KO R2 Heavyweight Jeff Hughes (10-3-0, 2 FLS) v Juan “Cejudo but bigger” Espino (9-1-0, 7 FWS) - Well, that’s a name I did not expect to see. Hughes seems to be one of those heavyweights that made it through to the UFC on power alone. He’s a big dude that swings and if this was the early 2000’s that would be fine, but considering he lost to two much more well rounded fighters, I strongly hope that he finds a quick turn around because he’s still young and no doubt hungry for victory. In his last fight against Pessoa, Hughes was incredibly patient and didn’t take any unnecessary risks because Pessoa is fairly explosive, he was methodical with his approach and even though he lost the fight, we saw that he didn’t always have a one dimensional approach to fighting. Now, the interesting fighter in this bout is Espino. Now, you might be wondering where you heard that name from, well, he’s the winner of TUF 26 (Heavy Hitters), and at the ripe old age of 37 he won in quite dominant fashion against fellow contestant Justin Frazier. For two years now, I have always asked, where the hell is he? Here he is, his announcement must have completely flew under my radar because I had to blink twice to see if I was dreaming. Espino is an excellent submission artist who has a relatively large background in grappling and submission competition and he has absolutely dominated the scene. Expect the fight to go to the ground early, because that is where Hughes doesn’t want to be, and where Espino needs to be. The tricky part about Espino is how will he look after a 22 month layoff? I’m not sure but i’m pretty excited to see him come back. I got Espino on this one. Espino via Sub R2 Light Heavyweight William Knight (#1 US Northeast) (D) (8-1-0, 2 FWS) v Aleksa Camur (6-0-0, 6 FWS) - Knight has been at the forefront of hype during this season of DWCS, he is built like an absolute Abrams and he has insane punching power. Now, whether or not he’s a clean fighter with just insane Usman-esque genes or if he’s best friends with Jon Jones, but either way, he’s a dangerous opponent. We have only seen almost 3 minutes of him beating up his opponent so there’s not too much analysis, but just know that when he lands, he lands extremely hard. The best way for Camur to deal with him, is to avoid him for the first round, gauge the explosiveness, read his setups and then counter. Camur is the longer fighter in terms of range, he can counter jab any aggressive movement that Knight makes. Now, this at the moment is all pure speculation because we’ve only seen a little bit of Knight and Camur, but judging from each fighter's style, if Camur can survive the onslaught from Knight then he’s got it. It’s a tough one to call though, but I might go with the hype train for now, I could be wrong so please don’t bet based on this prediction. Knight via KO R1 Featherweight Shane Young (13-4-0, 2 FWS) v L’udovit Klein (D) (#2 Europe Eastern) (16-2-0, 7 FWS) - That’s one hell of a debutant right there and in my opinion an underrated matchup. Young is an excellent kickboxer who throws excellent and slick combo’s efficiently and with such speed. He has often outstruck his opponents and he’s always throwing and always in his opponents face, the pressure is insane and if Klein can’t handle that then he’s in trouble. Klein has an extensive knockout record and at a young age of 25, the fact that he’s knocked out veterans of the sport with relative ease, shows how dangerous he really is. These european guys don’t mess around and we’re seeing more and more talent from that part of the world dominate the scene, and this man is no exception. 7 knockouts, 8 submissions, all action. I don’t like betting against my fellow Aussie/NZ fighters but all of my eyes (I only have two) are on Klein on this one. Such an insanely fun matchup. Klein via KO R2 Welterweight Diego Sanchez (30-12-0, NS) v Jake Matthews (16-4-0, 2 FWS) - I love how much of a big favourite Matthews is even though he’s facing a legend in Diego Sanchez, someones probably going to make a whole lot of money. Sanchez might be the strangest fighter both personality wise and his antics in the octagon, but he is no doubt one of the most experienced fighters on the roster. He’s exceptionally well rounded and he gets the job done in many cases. The big question here is whether or not Sanchez will be all there, he’s been knocked out and to many people out there he seems to be a shell of his former self. Now, my man Matthews has one hell of a mountain to climb this coming Sunday, it’s a large step up in competition considering his last fight was against Meek (who at the time of the fight, was 1-2 in the UFC). So to say that Matthews has an opportunity of a lifetime to pull a significant win and get his name in the spotlight is to put it pretty lightly. Matthews is very well rounded with a heavy focus on ground control to major tom. His grappling is excellent, and his relatively large frame allows him to smother his opponents and control everything that his opponent does. Now, will Sanchez be able to avoid the ground? Sure, he’s done it before, but each fight is different. This is a very interesting fight and I wonder how the stress/anxiety of Matthews will be handled, he’s been known to shrug off pressure and get to work without any forethought, but I feel like Sanchez has this one, very controversial I know, you can yell at me in the comments below, so feel free to bet against this, the reasoning why I think Sanchez wins this one is simply experience and knowledge. I just hope that Sanchez doesn’t somehow trip on DMT as he enters the Octagon. Sanchez via Sub R2 Lightweight Brad Riddell (8-1-0, 5 FWS) v Alex Da Silva (21-2-0, NS) - The more I watch RiddellThe more that I realize his style is very similar to Volkanovski, with a wide variety of feints which gives his opponent a false sense of varied attacks incoming, when in reality, it's just setting up a strong right hand. It’s exactly how he managed to knock down Mustafaev earlier this year, he started off with many different looks, then amongst the confusion, and the anticipation of something, Mustafaev got hit with the right hand. Riddell is a very good kickboxer, he’s extremely loose on the feet and has great defensive movements. The only thing he really needs to work on is his ground game, in both of his fights in the UFC, his opponents have taken him down numerous times, and whilst Riddell did manage to stand back up and power through, it wasn’t a very technical stand up. That’s pretty dangerous territory if you’re coming up against a submission specialist in Da Silva. Now, Da Silva isn’t only just a submission specialist, he has 13 knockouts as well so its clear that he’s got phenomenal power in his hands. He’s a high level finisher and I’m so glad the UFC picked him up at such a young age. He only has two losses, that’s pretty nuts. This is a very good fight, and I feel like if Riddell has an advantage here, it’s in the striking, it’s very advanced and the fact that he has a heavy focus on feints and different looks he gives off to his opponents, he’s going to be trouble for Da Silva whilst the fight stays on the feet, although i’m quite curious to see if he has upped his ground game and grappling defence a bit. Very interesting match up. Riddell via UD Main Card Featherweight Hakeem Dawodu (11-1-1, 4 FWS) v Zubaira Tukhugov (19-4-1, NS) - This is lowkey a banger. Dawodu is a solid kickboxer who has a solid background in Muay Thai (42-5-0), a prodigy in combat sports is what I feel Dawodu is. Dawodu has such great consistency with his accuracy and variety of techniques, his kicks are fast, his punches and combos are fast, he’s powerful and he’s always moving. If you watch him closely, no matter what he throws, he has his defence up ready for a counter from his opponent. Do not sleep on Dawodu. I don’t care if your house is on fire, shit it’s probably on fire coz it senses Dawodu on the screen. Tukhugov is well known for his escapades after the Khabib v Conor fight, and he probably boasts about his ability to punch an already defeated McGregor, but all that stuff aside, Tukhugov has very fast and powerful hands, but his most advantageous style over Dawodu is the grappling and Sando style that typically comes from being a cousin of a Nurmagomedov. I highly doubt Tukhugov will exchange with Dawodu. I clearly have Dawodu on this one, very confident with this pick, I just hope Dawodu can avoid the takedowns of Tukhugov. Dawodu via KO R2 Women’s Bantamweight Ketlen Vieira (#5) (10-1-0, NS) v Sijara Eubanks (#14) (6-4-0, 2 FWS) - This is a pretty interesting fight because Eubanks was in a fight fairly recently and whilst her being active is great and the opportunity to stack up wins is certainly there, I personally don’t think it’s safe nor smart to get back to back fights considering her history with rough weight cuts and weight misses. All that aside… Vieira is a dominant grappler and BJJ based fighter who drives for a takedown or a trip, she’s very much a ground based fighter and she’s going to be looking to get close and personal, get into a clinch situation and then take Eubanks down because Eubanks has strong striking, and not necessarily clean striking at that. Her only loss was against Aldana who is now headlining the next card after this one, so really that’s a pretty rough loss but it was against a dangerous opponent. Expect the fight to go to the ground during this fight, because Vieira will be looking for it consistently. Eubanks is, as I said before, coming off a decision win over Avila, and what that tells me is that she is going to be cutting weight twice within a month so that’s no doubt going to be detrimental to her health in the long run, but i’m not sure how much it will affect her performance, but i guess we’ll see how she looks at the weigh ins. Safe bet? Vieira, she’s got a great set of techniques that can take Eubanks to the ground and has the experience to keep her there. Vieira via UD Co-Main Event Kai Kara-France (#8) (21-8-0, NS) v Brandon Royval (#12) (11-4-0, 3 FWS) - Now, before you scratch your head and say “Slayer, this isn’t the co-main”. Hear me out, I always do this with multi-championship bouts, and I firmly believe that Reyes v Blachowicz deserves more praise than “Co-Main”. Back to this fight. Kara-France is a very well rounded kickboxer coming out of City Kickboxing (which, I mean, doesn’t surprise me, it seems whenever Izzy is fighting, his whole team is, it’s one hell of a thing to see). Kara-France is a majestic fighter to watch, the way he moves and gets in and out of range, the way he switches stance to launch an attack then switches back almost instantaneously, his footwork is truly something to marvel at, and it’s the main reason why it’s been so successful. It’s just so hard for his opponents to keep track of. It seems to be the core technique of City Kickboxing to have excellent feints and well timed strikes from those feints, because every fighter coming from that camp does it exceptionally well. Kara-France is no different, he doesn’t rush for a finish, he sets a plan and executes it. Royval is still very new to the UFC and has one very good submission win over Tim Elliott, he’s clearly comfortable on the ground and with his relatively dominant time in LFA, it’s clear that the UFC is his next stage of evolution as a fighter. He’s got a very tough challenge ahead of him in Kara-France, but if he can take the fight to the ground I'm fairly confident he can make Kara-France struggle because he’s so fast on the ground. Not only is he fast, he’s significantly taller than Kara-France and longer, so it could be easier to maintain position or to slip in a choke. Either way, This feels like your typical striker v grappler fight and I have a feeling Kara-France has this one. Kara-France via UD Light Heavyweight Championship bout Dominick Reyes (#1) (12-1-0, NS) v Jan Blachowicz (#2) (26-8-0, 3 FWS) - This is a fucking phenomenal fight. You have no idea how loudly I said “holy fucking shit” when I saw that these two were fighting. Reyes went 5 rounds and arguably won his fight against Jon Jones, we haven’t seen Jones in trouble like that in a long time and that’s why I firmly believe that Reyes has the toolset and athleticism to become the champion. Reyes’s background in American Football is pretty beneficial when it comes to MMA if you think about it, explosiveness and cardio are two of the main things for that particular sport and when transferred to MMA you get Reyes. Reyes has what seems like the perfect amount of power and speed, and we saw how much he can adjust in a championship fight against Jones and he exceeded everyone's expectations. The variety of strikes and targets he attacks is incredible and just shows how much he has implemented into his style so early on in his career. Blachowicz has some serious Fuck You power. The way he shut down Corey Anderson in the very first round with a powerful right hook just shows how dangerous he is. Blachowicz has an extensive record and with that record comes devastating knockouts and slick submissions. We have seen him dominate opponents on the ground, in that Jared Cannonier fight he managed to just smash and smother him the whole fight. I do honestly feel that Reyes in this case, having experienced Jones and his ability to survive and thrive, has no doubt added a substantial amount of experience to his fight game. I have Reyes on this, I’m very confident that Reyes has this, it doesn’t need to be a flashy fight, he can avoid the power of Blachowicz and just put on a striking clinic from a distance. This is an insane fight. Reyes via KO R4 Main Event Middleweight Championship Bout Israel Adesanya (c) (19-0-0, 19 FWS) v Paulo Costa (#3) (13-0-0, 13 FWS) - Now, this is the fight I feel like all of us have been waiting for. This is going to be long. Adesanya is one of the biggest names in combat sports at the moment, his extensive kickboxing record has left a mark on that sport, and his introduction to the UFC has shaken the world of MMA. Adesanya has consistently proven to us that he can get it done, it doesn’t have to be a fancy or explosive finish, because at the end of the day, he still wins, and he’s going to win this time… or is he? Adesanya has every technique in the books covered, he has mastered the sport of striking, he has been capable of setting up submissions (See Gastelum fight), he is evasive, but he does have one glaring issue, and that’s the fact that Costa is fighting him. See, Adesanya has fought some big motherfuckers in his time, he has knocked out some huge fighters, and he has survived an onslaught. But everyone slips up, and as the promos about this fight say, someone's 0 has got to go, and we saw some openings in his fight against Gastelum where he suffers, and that’s his inside defence, he’s exceptional at evading and dodging attacks from a distance, but with Gastelums ability to hop into range and land a clean strike, we saw where Adesanya's defences lack, and that’s the movement. Now, before you scratch your head, look at where Adesanya has always been in trouble, against the cage. Costa has this remarkable ability to just constantly be in the face of his opponent and throw hooks, and hooks are dangerous for fighters who evade using lateral movement, it cuts off routes of escape, and I can see Costa cutting off the Octagon and landing solid strikes on Adesanya. Now, what Adesanya does best is counter, if he can counter the oncoming attack from Costa, and change angle to get out of the way, he’s got a very solid chance, and well, his range advantage (8 inches) will play an important role in this bout. Costa on the other hand is all offense. His fight against Romero? Evident that he has the power and weaponry to knock out Adesanya, but he needs to cover that distance first, and by the time Costa goes from his position in the Octagon, to where Izzy is, Izzy is to Costa's left, or right, way out of danger. Costa needs to find an opening, catch a body kick, do something to get into that range where he can land some solid hooks, but this fight is that hard to predict, that anything can happen. Costa is the definition of power. Whether it's Costa winning by KO R1 through 5, or Izzy winning via KO or UD in any round, this is one of those fights that is near impossible to predict. In my honest opinion, I feel like Izzy will simply outstrike Costa, and perhaps knock him out in the championship rounds, so here’s the official prediction. Adesanya via KO R4 There we go! See, a few controversial picks, so please implement your own bets into this, i doubt i'll get all of these correct, some ballsy picks haha. If you would like to follow me on twitter, you can find me @Slayer_Tip or if you want, add me on discord and we can have a super friendly chat about all things MMA: Slayertip#7013 With all of that said and done, I hope to see you guys in the comments down below, it's an amazing event, and I wouldn't pick a better community to share my thoughts and have a discussion with than you fine people. Much love and happiness to all. o/
Twitter - Often the best place for team news. If you put some work in following the right people for your sport, you twitter can pay off. I don't actually have any good sports specific follows to shout-out though. There are also decent sports bettors who post their picks if you're in to tailing.
whoscored.com - Lots of stats, and they use opta data which most betting sites also use. Gives most accurate rendition of stats vis-a-vis matching your sportsbook.
BASKETBALL:
https://stats.nba.com/teams/advanced/ -the NBA website tracks basic advanced stats. I mostly use it to check off/def ratings, what pace team are playing at and how teams will match up on grabbing rebounds, but it's pretty customizable and I imagine could be used for more
https://www.teamrankings.com/ - also a good site for free granular stats. Covers most American sports. I don't use it too much but I probably should.
Dunc'd on podcast and the Lowe Post -Probably the 2 most informative podcasts when it comes to keeping up with the league
rotowire and rotoworld for team line-ups
REQUEST: I'd love to know some basketball blogs that preview games from an X and Os match-up, or data perspective, even if it's only specific to one team.
Nintendo's missing franchises and their chances of coming to Switch (long read)
“I want X for Switch”, “when is X coming to the Switch”, “X is perfect for the Switch!” How often have you heard or said these sentences? Quite a lot, probably, especially about Nintendo franchises. Nintendo fans really like first-party games, and they’re always asking for their favorites to come back. Problem is, even though Nintendo owns dozens of franchises, there’s only a few that are guaranteed to show up during any given console, so fans of smaller franchises are left wondering when they’ll play them again. Well, today I’ll try to mostly answer these questions. I’ll take a look at several, Nintendo-owned franchises and try to figure out what are their chances of coming to Switch. I’ll be basing myself on this such as release schedule, success of previous entries, popular demand, market niche and internal interest at Nintendo. However, keep in mind two things. One: Nintendo owns a shit-ton of IPs, and I won’t cover them all. I’ll focus on the ones that have multiple entries, and even then, I might skip a few if I feel I have no meaningful insight. And two: No matter what I or anyone else says, the chances for any of these games to come back is NOT ZERO. Nintendo is unpredictable and they’ll sometimes bring something out of the blue when you least expect it. This year alone we saw the return of Brain Age (a franchise not seen since 2012), Clubhouse Games (a sequel to a game from 2005), and Famicom Detective Club, a franchise with two games from 1988/89, which then received a remake in 1998 and then nothing until twenty two years later. Granted, it’s another remake, but it is still a modern installment in a franchise twenty two years dormant. If Famicom Detective Club can come back in 2020, so can your favorite franchise. Now, let’s begin, in alphabetical order: Art Academy Starting off with a small one. Art Academy is a series of drawing games that started on the DS in 2010 and then released pretty consistently over the following years, with three entries on 3DS and two (well, one and a half) for the WiiU between 2010 and 2016. Already this feels like a franchise with a pretty consistent release schedule, even though it hasn’t been seen for four years now. I don’t think any of the games were blockbusters, per se, but they also don’t need to be. They’re small games, probably inexpensive to produce that seem to do consistently well enough to get new sequels. There are several obstacles that present themselves to the release of a new Art Academy, but I think all of them are easily overcome. For starters, AA is the type of casual game that thrived during the DS/Wii eras, a Touch Generations game. Since the Switch released, many have noted that Nintendo may want to distance themselves from that era due to the failure of the WiiU, and there may be some truth to that, but I feel like this is starting to change. Again, this year saw the return of both Brain Age and Clubhouse Games, both casual, Touch Generations DS games. I feel like, at the start of the Switch’s life cycle, Nintendo was indeed trying to focus on core gamers, but now that they have secured that core gamer audience, they may be more comfortable releasing more casual fare. Furthermore Art Academy is developed by Headstrong Games, a British developer that doesn’t seem to do much other than AA. However, in 2017, that team was absorbed into its parent studio, Kuju Games. This move, which happened the year after the last AA game released, may have something to do with the franchsie’s MIA status. But, Kuju games is still active, having released a game just last year, and I don’t see why they couldn’t take up the mantle. Finally, some speculated a few years ago that AA was dead due to the Switch not having a stylus but, OH WAIT, Brain Age fixed that too! All in all, even though Art Academy is hardly a hot franchise, there’s very little standing in the way of its return, and little reason to doubt that it will. Chances: Good Chibi-Robo! We may have started on a positive note, but here comes a downer. Chibi-Robo is probably not coming back anytime soon. This cute little robot debuted in his self-titled Game Cube game, developed by Skip Ltd. Like most games by the developer, it was quirky and fun, and not very popular, but had its fans, and Chibi-Robo must have endeared someone at Nintendo, because he kept showing up here and there. He got two DS sequels, though the second one was Japan-only, already a red flag. In 2013, he starred in a 3DS eshop game that was very different from the main games, more of an experimental spin-off, and was not well-received. But the real final nail came in 2015, with Chibi-Robo Zip Lash! The game was announced to be a 2D platformer, and many fans identified the change in genre (from a unique adventure game to one of the most over-saturated genres in Nintendo consoles) as a total sell-out, and they were totally correct! The developers basically admitted that they did it to try and get more players (red flag). Series producer Kensuke Tanabe then said that if the game didn’t sell well, it could be the end of the franchise (RED FLAG). And then, the unfortunate but inevitable happened. Zip Lash was a critical and commercial bomb, and neither the developer nor the franchise has been seen again. Aside from the inevitable Smash Bros mentions, Chibi-Robo has only been seen on that infamous flaming tweet from 2018 (I told you someone at Nintendo really likes them). To make matters worse, there are increasing signs that Skip Ltd may be going under So, a struggling franchise makes a desperate move to gain fans, a developer expresses concerns for its future if the game bombs, said game bombs and now the developer may be going out of business? It seems the writing is on the wall. Now, even if Skip goes under, that is not necessarily the end of Chibi. Nintendo would still retain the rights, as they did for Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk after developer Cing went under. As for whether or not Nintendo would want to give the franchise a second (third? Fourth?) chance, it doesn’t look good Chances: Very bad Custom Robo From one diminutive robot to another, the Custom Robo series is and robo-battle series that began on the N64. It was Japan only, as was its N64 and GBA sequels. Afterwards, Nintendo did try to expand it, releasing a GameCube game in NA, and a DS game in NA and Europe. However, despite the fact that players of these games will attest to how good these games are, they didn’t seem to do very well, and the franchise has not been seen since 2007. There was one statement of internal interest, when a developer in 2014 said that he heard demands both inside and outside the company for a new entry, but that there were no plans for one, and he was unsure when there would be. Six years on, it seems there still aren’t. In fact, the developer itself, Noise, is also strangely MIA. Though they are officially still active, with their website being updated for 2020, they have not worked on a game since 2015. Then, in 2018, many fans watched in horror the news that Nintendo let the trademark expire. Some have pointed out that this isn’t as bad as it seems, as it refers specifically to games on optical discs, which Nintendo doesn’t make anymore, but I don’t know enough about the subject to say for certain. Regardless, it’s evident that Nintendo still owns the franchise, as Custom Robo content appears in Smash Ultimate. On the other hand, one of the series creators, Kohji Kendoh, is still thinking about it. He is working for another developer, and released a suspiciously similar game called Synaptic Drive just this year, as well as talking about Custom Robo in social media. It seems like a Mighty no9/ Yooka-Laylee/Bloodstained situation, in which the owner of an Ip is not using it, so the creator releases a spiritual successor. Bottom line, there seems to be demand for Custom Robo. A developer saw it six years ago, and the creator is seeing it now. Whether or not thinks this demand is enough to revive the franchise, is tough to say, but doesn’t look great. Not as bad as Chibi-Robo, though Chances: Bad Daigasso! Band Brothers Here’s a franchise Americans never got. Daigasso! Band Brother is a rhythm game released for the DS in 2004 and stars Barbara the Bat, who has an uncharacteristically risqué design for Nintendo. The game was Japan-only but seems to have been successful, it received a sequel in 2009 (released in Europe, but not NA), and another in 2013 for the 3DS. Despite not having received new games since then, the series is far from inactive. Barbara the Bat in particular, like Chibi-Robo, seems to have fans inside Nintendo because she pops up everywhere. She had cameos in a few other DS games, she was an AT in Brawl and a spirit in Ultimate, she was a costume in Mario Maker, she appeared in a comic strip with WarioWare’s Ashley, and the series has a Twitter account that was super active all the way up to April of this year (more on that later). In 2017, that account even tweeted a comic strip of Barbara demanding a Switch. That was probably not a tease of anything, as it’s been 3 years and nothing, but stuff has happened with the franchise even more recently. Last year, in 2019, six years after the release of the 3DS game, there were 30 songs added to the game in celebration of the series 15th anniversary. So as late as last year, Nintendo was celebrating this franchise with an in-game event. Now, the servers for the game were shut down earlier this year (hence the end of the Twitter account), and the game was removed from the eshop (as it is basically pointless without the servers), but with recent news that the 3DS has ceased production, it’s pretty clear that the game’s end is a consequence of the 3DS’ end, and not a lack of players. So if the series is alive, but can’t be on the 3DS, it has to go somewhere, no? Bottom line: the games are successful, the series is active, and the character is popular. I don’t know if Barbara the Bat’s next tour will be an international one, but I’m confident it will happen Chances: Very Good Dillon’s Rolling Western DRW is a unique western-themed tower defense game released on the 3DS eshop in 2012. It received mixed reviews, but had a dedicated fanbase, and was successful enough to spawn two sequels, one in 2013, and a post-apocalyptic themed one in 2018. With a game having released just two years ago, its reasonable to say the series is not dormant, so the prospect of a new game is always likely. The developer, Vanpool, who mostly works on smaller scale stuff like this, is both still active and still working at Nintendo. So, really the only reason to believe the series wouldn’t continue would be if the latest game bombed really hard. It’s hard to say that it did, as sales figures are unavailable, but it was a 3DS game in 2018, probably didn’t set the charts on fire. But then again, unless Nintendo had some really unrealistically high expectations, I don’t think it could have bombed hard enough to kill the franchise that fast. There’s not much more to say. There aren’t any rumblings of a return, but also no reason to be pessimistic. Chance: Above Average Earthbound Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: There will not be a Mother 4 The Creator of the series, Shigesato Itoi, has said that he would not work on a fourth installment, as he feels the story is complete. Now, normally, Nintendo could just say “screw creative integrity, let’s make a fourth game anyway!” but Shigesato Itoi directly co-owns the series’ copyright so they actually can’t. So unless Itoi changes his mind, or he dies and Nintendo decides to ignore his wishes (neither scenario is completely outside the realm of possibility), Mother 4 is not happening. So, if new Mother content is made, it’d be either a remake, or Mother 3 localization. We all know demand for this last one is overwhelming, Nintendo themselves have acknowledged it multiple times, but it still hasn’t happened, and it doesn’t seem things have changed. A remake is possible, but don’t hold your breath for it. Despite the series’ popularity, I think all we’ll see of it is the first two games in NSO. Chances: Bad Excitebike This is a hard one to pinpoint. Excitebike is one of those classic NES games that Nintendo likes to reference all the time, like Ice Climber, Balloon Fight, Wrecking Crew and Duck Hunt. Unlike those, Excitebike actually received sequels and established a franchised. There was a great entry on the N64 and three entries on the Wii, but nothing more since. I can’t imagine the Wii entries were super successful, and there really hasn’t been any word from Nintendo about any interest in reviving the series, either from developers, or the fans. The developer of the Wii games, Monster Games, is still active, and still makes racing games and extreme sports games, but hasn’t worked with Nintendo in 5 years. Now, one point I see often, and that I’d like to address, is the idea that Nintendo doesn’t want multiple games from the same genre on the same console. I can’t agree. With the exception of the WiiU, every Nintendo home console since the SNES has had multiple Nintendo-published racing games released for it. WiiU didn’t but that console is an exception to many norms. I don’t see why Mario Kart, behemoth that it is, would stop any other racing game from being made, especially when they are so very different (although the fact that MK8 has an Excitebike track doesn’t inspire confidence). No, I don’t think Mario Kart is the problem, I think is just lack of interest. And though Excitebike is not a franchise Nintendo will ever truly forget, it’s not really revving up for a comeback either. It could happen, it could not Chances: Medium Fatal Frame This horror franchise wasn’t originally a Nintendo product, being released on the PS2 by Tecmo. However, since the fourth game, each title in the series has been published and copyrighted by Nintendo, and this seemingly applies to all future entries, as the series producer said the series’ future is up to Nintendo. So, how does that future look like? Well, the last game in the series, Maiden of Black Water, was a WiiU game, which means it didn’t sell well, but not as badly as you might think. From all I could find, which is admittedly not much, sales for the game seemed to be only slightly less than previous entries, a gap more than explainable by its console. So, if the series was getting sequels before, the WiiU game’s sales wouldn’t be the reason why there wouldn’t be more. And though Nintendo of America has had to take baby steps into accepting the franchise overseas, Nintendo of Japan seemed satisfied with it, releasing four games between 2008 and 2014. So sales aren’t an evident problem, what about the developer? That developer is Tecmo Koei, who is not only active and buddies with Nintendo, their current project is none other than Nintendo’s big holiday title. There’s obvious trust there. As for interest, there is a lot. From Koei Tecmo calling it a valuable IP, to the series producer stating multiple times, including this year, that he’d like to bring it to the Switch Now, this comment pretty much confirms that a new Fatal Frame is not in development as of now, but it has a chance of happening. And remember, the last game is on WiiU, and if we know anything about those, is that they like to come to Switch. And though I don’t see Nintendo breaking their necks to make a new entry, I don’t think they’d oppose it if Tecmo pitches it to them, especially if it’s just a port. Chances: Good Fossil Fighters This game is not Pokémon, or so its fans tell me. Fossil Fighters is a DS game from 2008 where you collect various species of dinosaur and battle with other ~Dinosaur Trainers~ Fossil Fighters in RPG battles. It didn’t receive great reviews, but was successful enough to get a sequel two years later, and another one on the 3DS in 2014. Three games in six years is a pretty good release schedule, and things were looking alright, until that 3DS game came. It was primarily developed by a different studio, and it showed. The game received abysmal reviews, and fan reception was similar. Sales weren’t awful, but not great either. Since then, the series has been completely quiet. The developer, Red Entertainment, is still active, but hasn’t worked with Nintendo since the 3DS game. As for interest, there hasn’t been a peep from Nintendo about this series at all. No interviews describing vague interest in bringing it bad, no acknowledgment of fan demand, no cameos in other games (aside from Smash, which doesn’t count, Smash has everything). Even fan demand doesn’t seem too high, most of what I’ve seen is a Change.org petition which has been up for a year and has not reached its 2500 signatures goal. It looks like this series could become a fossil itself. Someday some might dig it up and revive it to use in battle, but I’m not feeling it. Still not as bad as Chibi-Robo Chances: Bad F-Zero This is the reason you’re reading this. Oh, F-Zero. If fan demand alone was the deciding factor, F-Zero would be top priority. People want F-Zero, people beg for F-zero, people who have never played, beg for F-Zero. And Nintendo knows this, they’ve acknowledged it. They themselves haven’t forgotten it. Even putting Smash aside, there was an F-Zero minigame in Nintendo Land. There are F-Zero tracks in Mario Kart. They’ve done everything but make a new F-Zero game, but why the hell not? Well, it’s important to understand that the F-Zero series declined in sales throughout its life. The best-selling game is still the first, and though the following games were fantastic, they sold less and less, and yet, strangely enough, between 2003-2004, Nintendo released THREE F-Zero games. Around the same time, they also released an anime. There are several great articles and videos about what happened to F-Zero, but the best point I’ve seen is that Nintendo tried, in 2003, to really push F-Zero, but it didn’t work. So, with their attempt failed, they let the series sleep, and just never woke it up, even as fan demand increased. In 2015, Miyamoto commented on the series, and said that, though he heard the demand, he was unsure on what to do with the series, on how to make a new game. Many fans scoffed and said he’d just need to make a modern F-Zero and that’d be great, but I think internal concern runs deeper. Just doing F-Zero failed in 2003, so why would it work now? That said, I think there is hope. Fan demand is powerful, and more and more we see a new generation of Nintendo developers pushing the company forward. These younger developers are the ones behind new IP like Splatoon and ARMS, and great reinventions of existing ones like Odyssey and BotW. It’s possible that these same younger developers could hear the fan demand, and want to take on the series without the hesitation of their older peers. It’s been 16 years, but Kid Icarus was gone for 19, wasn’t it? Stranger things have happened Chances: I want to believe Golden Sun And here’s the other one. Few Nintendo fans are as vocal and dedicated to their dormant franchise as Golden Sun games. For those who don’t know, Golden Sun was a couple of excellent GBA RPGs released in 2001 and 2002, with a DS sequel in 2010. Such erratic release schedule would make predicting the series’ future difficult at the best of times, but the DS game was seen as a disappointment by many fans and sales were unimpressive. With ten years having passed with no new game, is the series done for? Well, let’s look at it. In 2012, one of the developers gave an interview in which he straight up said that, if there was fan demand for it, there would “naturally” be a fourth game. We know that developer interview doesn’t immediately guarantee a sequel, but this is also a much more positive statement than Custom Robo and F-Zero’s “We know there’s demand, but we don’t know what to do with it”. This is “If there’s demand, it will happen.” So, is there demand? You bet your ass there is. And it feels like it is growing. There was a high-profile hoax about a fourth game in 2017 (a similar hoax happened some time before the third game, by the way). The series received notably more content in Smash Ultimate than series of similar standing (quite possibly an acknowledgment of its popularity). And last year, Cory Balrog, director of 2018’s GOTY God of War, tweeted about all the franchises he would trade for a new Golden Sun. Nintendo could hardly have asked for a higher profile endorsement within the industry. So if fan demand is there, why hasn’t it happened yet? Well, it helps to look at the development history of the series. The first game took eighteen months to develop, considered a long time for a handheld game at the time. And though the eight years between the GBA and DS games may have you believe it took a long time to greenlight a sequel, that’s not the case. Signs point to internal discussion about a sequel to the GBA games as early as 2002, with developers quoted as saying that Nintendo was asking them to make a new one. One of the series producers also said that the series takes a long time to make because of its complexity. After the DS game failed to meet expectations, its understandable that Nintendo may not have been as enthusiastic for a new game as it was before, but it seems like, even if the series is alive and well, the long hiatus would not be uncharacteristic. In that same interview quoted before, the developer even said that a new game would take a long time. In fact, if GS4 had started development shortly after that interview, if it took as long as Dark Dawn, the game would be wrapping up production around now. Then there’s the developer, Camelot. Aside from Golden Sun, they pretty much only make Mario Tennis and Mario Golf. They release schedule is also super consistent, with a new game every other year, sometimes every year. We already got a Mario Tennis on Switch two years ago so, if not for COVID, their new game would probably have released this year. All things point, then, for the next Camelot game to hit the Switch next year. Smart money would be in Mario Golf, but maybe it is finally Golden Sun. Finally, I don’t think, as others do, that Xenoblade is the reason GS is not happening. Again, I don’t see evidence to support the idea that Nintendo doesn’t want to publish more than one game in the same genre. Both the GBA and DS had more than a dozen Nintendo-published RPGs, and the Wii and 3DS got RPGs even after Xenoblade released for them. I don’t see why Xenoblade would stop a Switch Golden Sun, especially when they are very different kinds of RPGs. GS is actually closer to Octopath Traveler, whose success was enough to impress SE, why wouldn’t Nintendo want a piece? Really, I think the biggest obstacle is that Nintendo might want to prioritize the safe investment of Mario sports games over Golden Sun, but the more I research, the more I feel like GS’s chances are higher now than they were at any point in the last ten years. I feel there’s hope this sun will rise again Chances: Above average Kid Icarus Sorry to keep you waiting. Kid Icarus was an OK NES game that had a forgotten Game Boy sequel and then nobody cared about it for 19 years until it was unexpectedly revived for the 3DS in 2012. This story is a testament to the fact that, just because its been a long time, it doesn’t mean it will never happen. But in order to know if it will happen again, let’s understand how it happened in the first place. It’s important to mention that reviving Kid Icarus was not the intent behind KI: Uprising, it was the idea of its director, Masahiro Sakurai. Nintendo had given him a project and Sakurai decided to use an established franchise for it. He briefly considered Star Fox, but decided to use Kid Icarus, for which he probably had a soft spot, considering he had added Pit to Brawl some years earlier. So, there wasn’t an exec at Nintendo who woke up one day and decided to bring Kid Icarus back, they gave the director a project, and, after some deliberation, he decided to use Kid Icarus for it. That director is currently busy developing Smash Bros DLC, but even after that’s over, he probably won’t revisit Kid Icarus. He has shot down the idea of him working on a sequel or a port. His words were: "For now, my thought is that perhaps we'll see someone else besides me make another Kid Icarus in another 25 years." Yikes. That’s pretty damning. Sure, Nintendo could get someone else to make the game, but if it was only Sakurai that was interested in the series in the first place, what is the hope of that? Well, that statement is not super accurate. Before Uprising, there was actually a Kid Icarus reboot in development for the Wii. It was cancelled, and thank God for it, as it was an awfully stupid gritty reboot, but it showed that there was interest in the franchise even before Uprising. Naturally, you’d expect interest to be bigger now than before. The fact that Uprising not only grew the series’ fanbase, but the that there are Kid Icarus characters in Smash Bros, means that the franchise has a permanent place in the interest in Nintendo fans. Smash in particular means that there are 18 million people who know Pit and Palutena and would turn their heads if a new game was announced. Furthermore, Nintendo’s new CEO is interested in bringing 3DS franchises to the Switch after the success of the Switch Lite, especially now that the 3DS is officially dead, so the opening is there for it. There is definitely demand for a new Kid Icarus game, but it is too sporadic a franchise to be certain, and if it were to happen, Nintendo would have to find someone new to do it. But, in the end, the series is definitely in a better place now than it was 10 years ago. Chances: Medium Legendary Starfy Legendary Starfy was a 2D platformer for the GBA that was apparently really successful, as it received four sequels in the span of five years. Not only that but, like Barbara and Chibi-Robo, Starfy himself was quite popular. He had cameos in Mario & Luigi and Super Princess Peach, music of the series was in Donkey Konga, he is a regular Assist Trophy in Smash and was a costume in Mario Maker. Though the series took until the last game to come to the West, there were plans to bring the first four games too, as well as consideration for expanding the series to the Wii. The series was widely advertised, with animated commercials and tons of merchandise, including plush dolls, CDs, pencils, birthday balloons, casino cards and two manga series. When asked if there were plans for a sixth game, the developer answered “Yes!”, no ifs, not buts, straight-up Yes. And then… nothing. The series just stopped. And the reason why is: I have no idea. Maybe if the last game bombed spectacularly, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Sure, Japanese sales declined with each entry, but not by that much. Maybe NA sales weren’t what Nintendo was hoping for, but surely not enough to kill such a steady franchise. The confusion only grows when we look at its developer, Tose. Now, this is interesting. You’ve probably played a Tose game without knowing. They have worked on over A THOUSAND GAMES, but they never receive credit. They merely assist with development in the shadows. As one exec puts it: "Our policy is not to have a vision. Instead, we follow our customers' visions. Most of the time we refuse to put our name on the games, not even staff names." They are a ghost developer. Even its Wikipedia page admits that the list of games on it is purely speculative. There are probably hundreds more, that we don’t know about. The only exception is the Starfy series. That series was their vision. So why did they stop? Could they have decided that it was against their vision to make a game of their vision? We can only speculate. The fact that the series’ end was so unexpected, and its developer so mysterious, means that any speculation about it is a shot in the dark. All I can say is that there’s no particular reason to expect it. Chances: Not Good Nintendogs Here’s a big one. Nintendogs was one of the biggest successes of the casual era, on par with Brain Age and Wii Fit, but unlike those, it remained a multi-million seller during the 3DS/WiiU generation. And though Nintendo may have tried, at first, to distance the Switch from that era, the return of Brain Age and Clubhouse Games indicates that other casual games would follow, and Nintendogs would be a no-brainer. There is, however, one big problem: the Switch does not have a microphone. While Brain Age on the DS also used the microphone a lot, it was not essential to it. You could easily make Brain Age without it. But not Nintendogs. Issuing voice commands to your virtual pup is integral to the experience. No microphone means no Nintendogs. But with that said, Nintendo did go to the trouble of making a Switch stylus, seemingly just for Brain Age, so maybe they could make a microphone peripheral. Sure, a microphone would be more complex to make than a stylus, but not inconceivable. They did something like that with the Wii Speak. I’m sure for that nintendogs money, Nintendo would do it. Worst case scenario, Nintendo releases Nintendogs and forces you to use the NSO app’s voice chat to talk with your dog. You know they’d do it. There’s also the fact that another developer released a nintendogs clone for the Switch last year, but I don’t think Nintendo gives a shit. Chances: Good Nintendo Wars You may know this series better as “Advance Wars” and you may also know that it is fantastic. In fact, it is one of the highest rated Nintendo franchises on Metacritic, and had a pretty consistent release schedule between 1988 and 2008. All was looking pretty god. But unfortunately the series has been dormant since the last entry on DS. Part of it may be because the series, though originally Japan-only, was never all that popular in Japan. In fact, that last game only saw a limited release as a My Nintendo reward in the region. There is, however, still demand for the series, both externally and internally. Producers from both Nintendo and developer Intelligent Systems have expressed enthusiastic support for a new entry, although they’ve also expressed some uncertainty on what they’d do with it, similar to the Custom Robo and F-Zero responses. The developer for the series is Intelligent Systems, who do a ton of stuff and will be discussed multiple times in this post. They used to release multiple games a year, but have slowed down this past game to just one or two games a year, another possible reason why Advance Wars has been deprioritized, especially in comparison with that boogeyman of Advance Wars and Smash Bros fans alike: Fire Emblem. There is real concern that Nintendo might not want to make a new Advance Wars when they could just make the similar but more popular Fire Emblem instead. That said, IS has already released a Fire Emblem and Paper Mario for Switch, and though we definitely will get at least one more FE during the Switch’s life cycle, there’s enough years left for IS to release some other games, whether they be AW or one of the three other franchises we’ll discuss in the future. Problem is, of those franchises, AW might be the most difficult to produce, and the most risky, so it could probably be lower priority. When asked about the series last year, one IS producer gave a pretty evasive answer, so things aren’t looking too good, but they aren’t hopeless either. Chances: Medium Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents This rhythm series for the DS is widely beloved by those who played it, but its life cycle was pretty limited. One game in 2005, and Americanized version in 2006, and one sequel in 2007. Nothing more since The games were critically acclaimed, but not blockbuster hits. The series creator said back in 2016 that he would love to create a new game, but nothing else has been said about it. The game’s developer iNis, doesn’t appear to be super active either. All in all, there is very little pointing to a return Chances: Bad Pilotwings The biggest obstacle to seeing this series of arcadey flight sims on the Switch is that the series has a very specific purpose: it’s a tech demo. All three games were launch titles for their systems and explicitly meant to show off each system’s new tech. The original game was made to show off the SNES’ Mode 7, the N64 game was meant to show off the console’s polygonal graphics, and Resort was meant to showcase the 3DS’ stereoscopic 3D. With the Switch’s release far behind us, and its graphics not really needing a showcase, Pilotwings chances seem low. Granted, Pilotwings doesn’t need to be a tech demo, but it could be how Nintendo views it as. There is some fan demand for it, but not as much as F-Zero or Golden Sun, and no developer has commented on the possibility of a return. Pilotwings has always been moderately successful, but not enough to justify constant releases. The only glimmer of hope is the comment from Nintendo’s CEO about wanting to bring more 3DS franchises for the Switch, but it’s quite possible that he didn’t have Pilotwings in mind when he said that Chances: Bad Punch-Out!! Another series popular enough to get a Smash character but not popular enough for consistent sequels, Punch-Out is a beloved classic with a consistent fanbase, but with a very erratic release schedule. After the SNES game in 1994, the series lay dormant for 15 years until it was revived for the Wii in 2009 and then laid to rest again. One explanation is that the series was never really popular in Japan. Neither the NES or SNES games were even available as full releases in the country, being instead, distributed as prizes or rewards. And though the Wii game got a full retail release, it sold very poorly. It’s always been a game more for Americans, so it is understandable that the Japanese developers at Nintendo aren’t super enthusiastic about it. That said, it was Nintendo who pitched the reboot in the first place, so they may want to do it again someday. The developer for the Wii game was Next Level Games, who release a game every three or two years, and they also develop Mario Strikers and Luigi’s Mansion. Having already released LM3, it’s likely they’ll release another game for the Switch some time soon. That could be Punch-Out, but it is just as likely that it could be Mario Strikers, or something else entirely. Some think that the series use of flagrant national stereotypes would impede it from coming back in today’s political climate, but frankly, I don’t think that’s as definitive a problem. Worst case scenario, they simply make a new cast, just like Super Punch Out, but less racially insensitive. Another interesting development is that Mike Tyson has been talking about wanting a new Punch-Out this year. I don’t think Nintendo cares what he says, and they definitely don’t want to associate with him again, but it is a pretty high-profile person talking about the series, which is bound to raise interest. Whether that’s enough for Nintendo to consider a new game? I don’t think so. But regardless, Punch-Out is popular enough that the door is never truly closed for it. Chances: Not Good Pushmo This acclaimed puzzle game was released for the 3DS eshop in 2012 and was successful enough to get three sequels. Although it hasn’t been seen since 2015, there doesn’t seem to be anything impeding its return. The developer is our good friend Intelligent Systems, and, of the aforementioned IS franchises still to launch on the Switch, Pushmo, being a simple, but beloved, puzzle game, seems like the safest investment. It likely could be developed alongside another major game. There is demand for it, and considering Nintendo’s eshop efforts, Pushmo would fit in perfectly alongside Snipperclips and fellow 3DS eshop puzzle star Boxboy. All in all, there’s no reason not to expect Pushmo to come back. Chances: Good continued in comments
UFC Fight Night Sandhagen v Moraes Fight Predictions
Hello! I hope every single one of you is having a good week, and if not, I hope it gets better. This is a chunky card, not too huge but getting there. Some excellent fights but also a whole lot of debuts and a whole lot of new faces which makes predicting kinda difficult. But with that aside, lets get down and dirty. I'm thinking of adding some more stats, but i've yet to decide what kind of stats. I'm not a numbers guy but I know a lot of you are, so let me know what you're most interested in, in terms of stats. (c) - Champ (D) - Debut FLS - Fight Lose Streak FWS - Fight Win Streak NS - No Streak (#x) - Rank in Division Lets go! Prelims Flyweight Tagir Ulanbekov (#1 Russia) (D) (12-1-0, 3 FWS) v Bruno Silva (10-5-2, 2 FLS) - A very interesting debuting fighter coming from Russia, I fully expect some form of fireworks in this fight. Ulanbekov is coming in as a hot prospect, and for very good reasons, he is incredibly fast to work on the ground, if he sees a potential choke or a submission, he goes for it, and it’s not like he’s choking out cans or anything, he’s facing opponents who have 13 wins and 3 losses, people who have a legitimate career in MMA, and that alone makes me think this is the perfect time to debut in the UFC, we need to beef up the Flyweight division, and this is a perfect addition to the roster. Silva is also a profoundly good grappler, with a heavy focus on takedowns and taking control on the ground, it’s unfortunate that in both of his UFC fights, he got absolutely dominated by both Dvorak and Taha. I don’t see Silva getting the upper hand on the ground in this bout. If he manages to land a takedown on Ulanbekov, he needs to keep active or he’s probably going to get caught into a limb lock or an arm triangle because Ulanbekov is a very long and lanky fighter and so it would be easier for him to slip in an arm for a choke or set up a triangle off the back. But i’m no psychic so I really don’t know how this fight will go. I got Ulanbekov on this one though, an incredibly interesting debutant. Ulanbekov via Sub R1 Women’s Bantamweight Tracy Cortez (7-1-0, 7 FWS) v Stephanie Egger (D) (5-1-0, 3 FWS) - I don’t really think there’s much going on in this fight. Cortez is a grinder. She doesn’t have the cleanest striking in the game, she might look incredibly wild, but all of that is to set up a takedown or initiate a clinch situation in which she can somewhat easily control her opponent. Cortez is physically very strong and that no doubt helps with her takedown and wrestling. That’s probably going to be her gameplan coming into this fight, get in close with a flurry then initiate a clinch. I don’t expect a finish. Egger is a very new fighter and I haven’t watched a lot of her videos yet, but from what I could see from two years ago, her striking was much like a teenagers bedroom, messy and depressing, it was very slow, and although it did open up her opponent to a takedown, that’s not gonna work in the UFC and I hope she’s refined her striking capabilities since then, i’m sure she has. I have Cortez on this one. I’m not gonna go into specifics into what she’s better at because frankly I have no clue, but in my opinion she’s got this. Cortez via UD Featherweight Giga Chikadze (10-2-0, 5 FWS) v Omar Morales (10-0-0, 10 FWS) - I believe Morales is dropping down to 145 so that will be interesting. Chikadze is a very proficient kickboxer who doesn’t rely on overwhelming his opponent with vicious and wild combos, he is a patient fighter who waits for a perfect opening. He is great defensively but also very choosy, you’ll notice his diversity in targets, he’ll never throw the same thing twice. If there is one thing that i’m sure will land, it’s his kicks, his front kick and leg kicks are accurate and hit with impact. He is a very good kickboxer, plain and simple, and that’s already a big selling point for me. Morales is an undefeated prospect who has proven to use twice in the Octagon that his striking is excellent and can not be underestimated. His methodical movements and feints to read his opponent is imperative to his gameplan and he has such a diverse range of striking, his step in head kick not only covers a huge distance, but it lands, even if its on the glove its enough to back up his opponent and keep them guessing. This is a fun match up. Both fighters are at their prime and frankly i’m not sure who is going to win this one, we have yet to see Morales at Featherweight so already that makes me wonder how drained he will be, if he will be. I’m going with Chikadze on this one. He’s going to open up with strong leg kicks and negate Omars ability to explode and cover huge distances. Chikadze via UD Bantamweight Ali AlQaisi (8-4-0, NS) v Tony Kelley (6-2-0, NS) - This is a fun one. AlQaisi is a fairly well rounded fighter who had a very competitive fight against Irwin Rivera. There was a lot of energy and cardio used during this fight, so many explosive moves and not all of them were effective, so it’s very hard to tell where he is on a skill level. He still seems like a developing fighter so there is no doubt still a lot for him to work on, with that said though, he is powerful, his right hand, when it lands, it lands hard, nut Rivera isn’t exactly known for moving away from danger, and i suppose in this case, Kelley isn’t either. Kelley fought a wild and exciting fight against Kamaka earlier this year, it was the first fight of the event and both fighters stepped up to the occasion and made every fight fan tune in. It was a beautiful and violent fight, but it did make me wonder how far Kelley will go in the UFC. His defences aren’t exactly there, he covers up but he doesn’t move, he clashes and somewhat hopes to be the one standing after the end of those exchanges. He is a very fast and wild striker and he is no doubt going to make a solid career in the UFC, but he needs to be patient, especially in this fight where AlQaisi can explode and land some solid takedowns, takedowns which from what I can see, are an issue for Kelley. I should also note that Kelley is moving down a weight class, which means a larger weight cut and potentially a more drained Kelley. If he can safely cut weight and maintain his power and speed, then i’m all for Kelley winning this one. It’s just a difficult fight to predict overall. Kelley via KO R3 Middleweight Impa Kasanganay (8-0-0, 8 FWS) v Joaquin Buckley (10-3-0, NS) - Kasanganay has a very interesting stance when he fights, he stays quite low and loads up his punches, so expect him to come out low and looking for an overhand or a left-right hook combo. He doesn’t exactly have much head movement or raise any defenses, he’s more of a pressure fighter, someone who is constantly moving forward, eating shots only to throw them back with extra spice. From what I could see in his fight against Maki Pitolo, he loves his left hook to the head, followed by a straight right to the body, then finishing with a left hook to the head, so his ability to change target mid combo will be troublesome for any opponent because either way, he’s gonna land something, and that’s exactly why he stays so low when he moves around, such explosive and accurate movements. REally my biggest worry with Kasanganay is his absorption rate, the dudes a punch sponge, and in terms of longevity, it ain't the right way to fight, especially against a walking cloud like Buckley. Buckley has a heavy reliance on power and forward momentum. He will hop into range and launch an overhand left, a dangerous move, but as we saw with his fight against Holland, all it takes is one well placed shot and Buckley backs off. I don’t know who is going to win the exchanges coming into this particular fight since both fighters tend to explode in bursts, and with Impas tendency not to move his head, he’s a target waiting to get hit. I can only hope that Impa has implemented some form of head movement drills during his camp or else Buckley will find his mark and shut down Impa. This is an interesting fight simply because I can see it going either way, but I like what I see from Impa. Kasanganay via KO R3 Heavyweight Rodrigo Nascimento (8-0-0, 8 FWS) v Chris Daukaus (9-3-0, 2 FWS) - Nascimento is a submission artist who has completely shut down Don’tale Mayes, despite being the smaller fighter, it was very clear that Nascimento has worked incredibly hard to master his ground game and his takedown proficiency. What I loved about Nascimento was his attitude, he didn’t back down from the strikes of Mayes, and just stayed in his face. Now, this is heavyweights so its very clear that anyone at heavyweight can strike and has knockout capabilities, but not everyone has the masterful ground game like Nascimento. I’m not saying he’s Werdum levels of great on the ground, but he’s still a huge threat to pretty much any heavyweight that is allergic to any form of ground based fighting. Daukaus from what I can see, has pretty decent striking and great timing, especially with that right hand. He is not technical by any means, but he is also fairly young in terms of experience and knowledge and i’m sure that over time he will improve. I just don’t see Daukaus getting the upper hand here, the threat of the takedown will always be on Daukaus’s mind, and when fighters think one dimensionally like that “I gotta stop the takedown, i can’t get to the floor” they eat knuckles. I feel like Nascimento will overload the senses of Daukaus and end up taking the fight to the ground, maybe even rock him by faking a takedown. Nascimento via Sub R2 Middleweight Tom Breese (11-2-0, NS) v KB Bhullar (D) (8-0-0, 8 FWS) - These are some very tall Middleweights. Breese in his early career was a very formidable submission artist, and over time has racked up quite the resume of knockouts as well. In fact his only decision win in the UFC was against Keita Nakamura back in forever ago. Breese has faced some incredibly tough opponents and I truly believe that experience and his level of competition far exceeds that of the newcomer, no disrespect to Bhullar. Breese hasn’t been the most active fighter on the roster, in fact his last win was against Dan Kelly back in 2018. Bhullar is a tall, lanky middleweight who is on a fairly decent undefeated streak, the only thing that makes me mildly disappointed in his record, is the fact the he hasn’t fought the best of the best. Sure, he’s fought experienced fighters, but none on the level of Breese, so I feel like this will be a relatively large step and a challenging one at that. If Sherdog isn’t trippin on something, then I believe he also has a fight scheduled next month for DWCS, so he’s certainly getting his name out there. Bhullar seems fairly well rounded, with a variety of wins on his record, but he’s got quite a challenge ahead of him and I don’t see him winning very easily. Breese is a challenging fighter for anyone and it’s gonna be an interesting, competitive fight. I got Breese on this one. Breese via KO R2 Main Card Featherweight Youssef Zalal (10-2-0, 4 FWS) v Ilia Topuria (D) (8-0-0, 8 FWS) - An interesting start to the main card. Zalal has slowly become a fighter that I have come to respect. He may not have any finishes in the UFC but he always puts on a spectacular performance and always introduces his opponents to the nasty style he has. He is incredibly fluid on the feet, and if you watched his last fight against Barrett a few weeks ago, you’ll know exactly why I love him so much, that spinning back kick in the first round? Cleaner than lemon pledge. Zalal is a perfect example of a striking prodigy that still has years ahead of him to learn and develop and that’s exactly why he’s going to go very far in the UFC. His footwork is impeccable and allows him to subtly switch stance and mask his incoming attacks with just a whole lot of feints and movement. Everything you love about kickboxing or striking based martial arts, you’ll love about Zalal. He has also won all 3 of his UFC fights this year, so I don’t see any slowing down from him. Topuria is on a very strong streak at the moment and by the looks of things is a substantial danger on the ground, 7 submission victories makes it pretty clear to me that he’s most comfortable on the ground and will most likely look to avoid any striking exchanges when fighting Zalal. Now, Topuria is a somewhat late replacement, but that shouldn’t matter too much because it gave both fighters a little over a week to prepare for the upcoming bout, which is much better than the typical covid-cancellations in which its an overnight change where both fighters think “who da fook is that guy”. This is an interesting fight, and i’ve got my eyes on Zalal winning this one, the year 2020 is made for Zalal, and he has certainly proven to us time and time again that he’s the next gen fighter that everyone wants to see. Zalal via UD Heavyweight Tom Aspinall (8-2-0, 4 FWS) v Alan Baudot (D) (8-1-0, 2 FWS) - I fucking love this. Aspinall had his octagon debut a few weeks ago and he absolutely blew me away with his outstanding performance against Jake Collier. A knee to the body, followed by a one two combo within the span of 1.5 seconds, this dude isn’t a normal fat blob of a heavyweight that we’re used to seeing. He’s very fast, very powerful, and fucking huge. Now, I don’t want to overhype him because anything can happen and if there’s one thing that I saw that might be an issue for Aspinall, that’s his head movement, he might have too much of a reliance on counters and offensive, and not enough on avoidance and defense. But that’s just a quick ass analysis from a very short fight. Aspinall is someone you simply cannot miss, and that’s not a double entendre. Baudot is a debuting fighter coming from a strong record of 7 knockouts, although some of his opponents raise some sort of a red flag, especially when he fought some can called Yuto Nakajima. Baudot seems to be given a jump start and an easy path to the harder fights, but that’s not gonna fly in the UFC and when you have someone like Aspinall on the other side of the Octagon, you’re going to have to let everything fly loose. I don’t really know what Baudot has to offer that Aspinall hasn’t already seen. Shit i’m just pretty excited to see Aspinall again so soon. Ride this train whilst you can guys. Aspinall via KO R1 Middleweight Markus Perez (12-3-0, NS) v Drecis Du Plessis (#1 South Africa) (14-2-0, 2 FWS) - I have no idea what to think of this one. Perez has been semi-active during his UFC career, and with a rough loss against Wellington Turman, it’s hard for me to tell where he is at mentally and physically. His last win way back when Cejudo just fought Dillashaw… Feel old yet? Perez is probably going to be fighting differently, he was a proficient grappler and a wild striker, but perhaps throughout the past year or so he’s calmed down a bit and perhaps found himself a proper style that doesn’t tax on the cardio or is more effective. Now onto the interesting debuting fighter in Du Plessis. Du Plessis has a 100% finish rate and at a young age of 26 he isn’t showing signs of fatigue, he has been a dominant fighter throughout his whole career, 14 finishes, 16 including losses, but all that means is he’s never had a fight go the distance, and I doubt that’ll be the case here. Not exactly a deep dive analysis I know, but I think Du Plessis is going to show us something spectacular. Du Plessis via KO R2 Heavyweight Ben Rothwell (38-12-0, 2 FWS) v Marcin Tybura (#14) (19-6-0, 2 FWS) - This is gonna be a brawl. Rothwell is one of the most experienced heavyweights in the UFC, he’s up there amongst the likes of Overeem and Aleksei Oleinik. His experience is no doubt a key advantage coming into this fight, but he also has disgusting power. Especially when he aims for the nuts. The Skyscraper lost his soul that day. Rothwell is a powerhouse and whilst he doesn’t necessarily throw volume, he does have excellent timing with his strikes, he’s methodical and waits for the perfect time to land an overhand or a quick little combo. The only way I see him not really succeeding is on the ground, and Tybura is an incredible grappler, speaking of which… Tybura is on a relatively decent streak at the moment, granted it’s against relatively forgotten fighters, but that aside, he’s facing a legend and long standing heavy hitter, and I can say with some confidence that he’s going to be looking to grapple, and grapple a lot, we’ll see some long, drawn out ground game stuff going on, both fighters will probably be exhausted by Round 3, but in my opinion, Tybura will probably get the most advantage coming into this fight, because as I said very early on in this prediction post, every heavyweight can swing and land, but not every heavyweight has excellent wrestling capabilities. Tybura is that rare fighter that has the ability to simply take the fight to the ground. Tybura is I believe an underdog so if you want money, this feels like the safest underdog of the card to bet on. I got Tybura on this one. Feel free to bet on Rothwell because he has stupid power, but Tybura in my opinion has the tools. Tybura via Sub R2 Co-Main Event Featherweight Edson Barboza (20-9-0, 3 FLS) v Makwan Amirkhani (16-4-0, NS) - Does Barboza need any introduction? If you’re new to this sport, then you’re about to watch one of the most insane kick-based strikers in the history of the UFC. The power and speed, and the sheer simplicity of Barboza's kicks still baffle me, how can something so simple look so incredible. It’s like a pizza, all it has is cheese, tomato sauce and maybe pepperoni, but holy hell it looks divine. That’s essentially Barboza’s kicks, it’s hella pizza. Now, unfortunately, Barboza is on a rough losing streak, but they’re also wins in a sense because those fights were absolute bangers and he stood his ground and fought like a champ throughout all three fights. Barboza seems to not do very well on his back pedal and I feel like Amirkhani will make use of that. If Amirkhani throws hands whilst coming forward, that negates the kicks of Barboza completely, you can’t kick and step backwards, you don’t only lose balance, but you also lose significant power, so even if you do land, nothing really big happens. Amirkhani is a very well rounded fighter with a very heavy focus on grappling, there really hasn’t been a fight where he doesn’t take down his opponent and mauls them completely. He isn’t the most active striker but that doesn’t mean he won’t strike. He needs to set up those takedowns somehow, and I know trading with Barboza isn’t a smart idea, but you can be smart about setting up a double leg, heck he could even catch a kick if he’s fast enough, either way, this feels like a traditional grappler v striker bout and it’s a perfect co-main. I don’t know who I have coming into this one. I am a huge, huge Barboza fan and personally I feel like he’s got this. Barboza via KO R2 Main Event Bantamweight Marlon Moraes (#3) (23-6-1, NS) v Cory Sandhagen (#4) (12-2-0, NS) - A great main event. Moraes needs no introduction, he has been on the top of the division for a very long time, and for a very good reason. Moraes is a magnificent striker, with sniper-like accuracy and he has such grace when he throws combinations. He also has significant power and he’s dangerous at all ranges, but especially in the clinch… His knees are masterful, it’s clear that it’s his main weapon because his clinch hold is strong enough to land knee, after knee, after knee, without a break. Moraes is a savage, plain and simple. He’s coming into this with some anger though because despite winning against Aldo, Aldo fought for the belt before him, it makes zero sense and it was a controversial decision. Sandhagen was on the receiving end of an incredibly quick submission by Aljamain Sterling, and we didn’t get a chance to see Sandhagens incredibly slick kickboxing. Sandhagen also has a very methodical movement style, a lot of switches that is very fast, and he just constantly changes, always changing his stance, giving his opponent different looks and with a wide variety of attacks, it’s clear that Sandhagen will be a challenge for anyone willing to trade, which is perhaps why Aljamain went to grapple instantly. I don’t know who is actually going to win this one. I’m 51/49 leaning on Moraes simply because of his experience and that clinch game could easily shut down the distance striking of Sandhagen, but on the other hand, Sandhagen will probably stick to a certain range to avoid any attempts at a clinch from Moraes. Sandhagen is coming in at a large physical advantage, with a huge reach advantage that could compliment his kicks and his ability to weave in and out of danger effortlessly. This is a great fight, and a fight like this isn’t easy to predict. Probably an unpopular pick but let’s do this. Sandhagen via KO R3 Holy shit that's longer than I expected. I forgot to do a word count prior to copy and pasting from my drive. Anyway, there it is! I hope that there are no cancellations, because what happens with cancellations post-prediction is that the fight is null and void unfortunately, because there's just not enough time to re-write stuff. I gotta have my days off too ya know. Anyway, Feel free to start a discussion down below, more than happy for a nice chat :) If you would like to follow me on twitter, you can find me @Slayer_Tip or if you want, add me on discord and we can have a super friendly chat about all things MMA: Slayertip#7013 Until then, it's been a pleasure writing for you lovely people, take care of yourselves :) o/
Top sports betting Twitter and #GamblingTwitter accounts for sports wagering enthusiasts. The following list includes oddsmakers, bettors, industry experts, sports betting information sources, live movement reporters and more. David Purdum — As dialed-in to the sports gambling world as anyone. Purdum writes about gambling for ESPN Chalk ... The betting expert tips account on Twitter has been around for a few years now and posts tips to their feed that are taken from the main bettingexpert.com website. There are a huge amount of tips posted, covering a wide variety of different sports, although football is the main sport they cover and that includes leagues from all over the world. List of Must-follow Sports Betting Twitter Accounts. Sports betting used to be a case of using your gut instinct and the information you could find in a newspaper. Based on that alone, you would go into the nearest bookmaker and place your bet using pencil and paper. ... Mark has recently won an award as the Best Gambling Content Creator 2018 ... About Blog The Church of Betting Sports Betting Blog for betting strategies, sports analytics, sports arbitrage and more. Frequency 9 posts / year Since May 2016 Blog churchofbetting.com Facebook fans 72 ⋅ Twitter followers 628 ⋅ Social Engagement 9 ⋅ Domain Authority 19 ⋅ Alexa Rank 1.4M View Latest Posts ⋅ Get Email Contact Here, we present you with our top list of the most influential and popular sports betting twitter accounts. There’s a bevy of great accounts to choose from, running the gamut from new agey, dedicated stat heads to old school, dyed in the wool Vegas types.
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