Such an anticlimax for a main event, nonetheless it was an enjoyable card.
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The Black Best and Whittaker both lost 
I like Tai though. That fight was weird. I didn't want either to lose.
UFC has a problem.
In middleweight, welterweight and featherweight the champ and #1 contender are so far ahead of the rest and the #1 contender has lost to the champ twice now
I like Tai though. That fight was weird. I didn't want either to lose.
UFC has a problem.
In middleweight, welterweight and featherweight the champ and #1 contender are so far ahead of the rest and the #1 contender has lost to the champ twice now
Whitaker fought a bit too cautiously to have a chance at winning. Izzy outstruck him in each round, so even the 4 take downs that Rob managed didn't end up counting for much.
Too easy for Adesanya there. Dull fight apart from those calf kicks.
Bloody hell mate, Izzy’s not that bad
Bisping and Hendo had bad blood because Hendo admitted to throwing that extra unnecessary shot at the end after he knew Bisping was out in their first fight, then it was revealed he was on the testosterone boost and also kept being nice to Bispings face and trashing him behind his back. This once played out even years later when Bisping was on commentary and Dan was trashing him on Twitter forcing Bisping to address it live on air
I think many people hated Bisping because of his overall cocky persona as a fighter and generally playing the heel but once people realized that most of the fighters which beat him were on the roids, people starting warming to him and it was a feel good moment when he finally won the belt and it was extra special because he sent Rockhold into the netherrealm on his way to the title. Rockhold is now a shadow of himself
On yesterday's card:
Glad Hernandez got humbled again.
feck Derick Lewis. Love seeing him get beat. I used to be a fan but he loves giving his opponents unnecessary shots after beating them. Can't stand him now.
Happy for Cannonier, he deserves a title shot next.
Sad for Bobby Knuckles. Not sure why he thought he won that. Need Adesanya to go up weight again so he can get his ass beat.
I never thought I would, but I missed Rogan on coms last night, Bisping was all over the place.
Last night didn't noticed that Brunson's corner threw in the towel. A bit too late though
Not sure i have ever seen a really fun fight with Izzy. Impressive for sure but almost always puts a wet blanket over the excitement. Lewis vs Tuivasa was the only fun fight. Will never know how he survived all those overhands from Lewis!
Izzy Gastelum was an absolute epic. He's been a bit of a boring champ though, just doing enough to keep the belt and nothing else. Similar to recent time Jones actually.
I may just be biased being Australian and all, so I obviously just waited a day so I could assess the fight on a clear mind, but I still think Bobby was robbed of that fight. It was an extremely close fight, don't get me wrong, but apart from leg kicks and a very dominant first round, I gave Bobby 3, 4 and 5 with Izzy getting 1 and 2.
I feel like the current culture with champions in the UFC is why he got the decision. This whole idea that you need to 'take the belt' from the champ. You've got fighters like Adesanya who can play safe, fight from range, throw a few jabs and leg kicks and win on points because they weren't put to sleep or choked out. It's also extremely inconsistent, Figueriedo didn't put on a dominant display against Moreno, yet he still won the belt back. It seems this idea is just applied whenever it benefits the argument.
I personally think Adesanya is the better fighter of the two, but I think Bobby won that fight personally. Even if his takedowns didn't always lead to more, he was the more active fighter, was landing the jab quite often, got a few takedowns in the fight, attempted a gullotine and took the back a few times (even if it didn't pay off). Adesanya landed more, but a significant majority of his shots were calf kicks (tbf though, bloke has a weapon of a calf kick, lethal)
Was a boring fight, all things considered and I agree with the sentiment that a lot of Izzy's fights are like that these days. I think that's personally down to how good he is and his style. He's a counter puncher with ridiculous range, unless there's a clear opening, he's not going to rush into anything, which is why he does a trillion feints a fight. Also he's too fecking good that a lot of his opponents have to fight that kind of style because if you try to rush him you're going to sleep.
Either way, it's clear these two are just on another level to anyone else in the division, Cannonier will get the shot, will get absolutely smoked by Izzy and unless they leave the division or the sport, I see these two fighting again down the line.
I feel like the current culture with champions in the UFC is why he got the decision. This whole idea that you need to 'take the belt' from the champ. You've got fighters like Adesanya who can play safe, fight from range, throw a few jabs and leg kicks and win on points because they weren't put to sleep or choked out. It's also extremely inconsistent, Figueriedo didn't put on a dominant display against Moreno, yet he still won the belt back. It seems this idea is just applied whenever it benefits the argument.
I personally think Adesanya is the better fighter of the two, but I think Bobby won that fight personally. Even if his takedowns didn't always lead to more, he was the more active fighter, was landing the jab quite often, got a few takedowns in the fight, attempted a gullotine and took the back a few times (even if it didn't pay off). Adesanya landed more, but a significant majority of his shots were calf kicks (tbf though, bloke has a weapon of a calf kick, lethal)
Was a boring fight, all things considered and I agree with the sentiment that a lot of Izzy's fights are like that these days. I think that's personally down to how good he is and his style. He's a counter puncher with ridiculous range, unless there's a clear opening, he's not going to rush into anything, which is why he does a trillion feints a fight. Also he's too fecking good that a lot of his opponents have to fight that kind of style because if you try to rush him you're going to sleep.
Either way, it's clear these two are just on another level to anyone else in the division, Cannonier will get the shot, will get absolutely smoked by Izzy and unless they leave the division or the sport, I see these two fighting again down the line.
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He also hits hard enough that opponents actually don't want to endure what they're walking on to and then reset, which puts them back to square one - a mile out and perfectly set up for him to poke them all night whilst not over committing on anything. One of the things Whittaker really backed up from was the kicks to the body - the ones to the legs really bothered him, but the ones to the body, he took a few, and wanted no more of them, which shut off angles for him making the fight more linear and in Adesanya's favour than I'm sure Whittaker's camp had planned for.
We've already seen people go to sleep off his counter-punches, but his kicks - all of them - really kill opponents in terms of options and the willingness to even be in range for a prolonged period of time. Izzy going up a weight class in a body that was not conditioned for the weight class meant he had to approach that fight differently, and he was much more wary of the power and weight of Blachowicz than he ever is in his own division. I don't think anyone at middleweight can do anything to him and he's more likely to go up again and try and avenge himself in a truer LHW body than he is to stick around much longer in the MW's. He has nothing left to do there and unless the fella who knocked him out as a kickboxer rises through the ranks rapidly, he isn't going to be challenged in the weight class because his striking is literally on another level to everyone else.
Lyoto Machida to face Fabian Edwards in May. Respect to the legend for never turning down fights against younger and stronger opponents.
Unexpected announcement but one I feel like Lyoto could win.
Unexpected announcement but one I feel like Lyoto could win.
On another note, Mcgregor claimed to have the best ground game in the sport...
1) Jonny Bones
2) Rockhold
3) Yoel
Conor can claim to be more creative than them on the ground, but the three I mentioned above can cause way more damage.
1) Jonny Bones
2) Rockhold
3) Yoel
Conor can claim to be more creative than them on the ground, but the three I mentioned above can cause way more damage.
Am I reading this right? McGregor has been manhandled on the ground every time he's taken down.
This is a strange post. McGregor has an awful ground game. The only creativity he has on the ground is the number of ways he can cover up while getting smashed.
Yoel is a wrestler but doesn't incorporate that in MMA. Jones isn't exactly Damian Maia. Rockhold doesn't have an elite ground game either.
I’m just impressed you managed to translate Conor
He said he has the best ground and pound, not ground game in general. Still bullshit but not as bad as if he did say ground game.
Don't think he's ever done any ground and pound on an opponent? Unless he means that when on the ground, he pounds his opponent with his furious tapping.
The only creativity Conor’s ground game has is his ability to tap the moment he gets into trouble.
He seems to be counting his knockouts like Mendes and his first fight with Poirier as ground and pound. It's just more of his nonsense. I'm just surprised he could even make the post with the amount of booze he's consuming lately.
best ground and pound vs Khabib. Got to the ground and lost a pound through shitting his pants
I've seen Conor cutting his opponent's face with elbows from the bottom. That is the creativity. He obviously doesn't have much more, but he is creative with his ground striking in a way that others may not be.
Well, yeah. I meant ground and pound. I often confuse ground game with that since I remember Jonny Bonnes smashing people's faces from top position
Throwing elbows from the bottom is creative?
i haven't seen many fighters attempt it. Maybe i'm not paying enough attention. Is that a common technique these days ?
Yeah, it's pretty common.
...At least he remains in the card.
Dariush fears the smesh
bonus:
Any idea where there are a whopping 5 fights cancelled on tonight's card ?
From wiki:
A lightweight bout between former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael dos Anjos and Rafael Fiziev was expected to serve as the event headliner.[2] However, the bout was postponed to UFC 272 due to visa issues with Fiziev. A light heavyweight bout between Johnny Walker and Jamahal Hill is now expected to serve as the main event.[3]
Jim Miller and Nikolas Motta are scheduled to meet in a lightweight bout at this event.[4] They were originally booked for UFC Fight Night: Smith vs. Spann in last September, but Miller tested positive for COVID-19 a week before that event and was pulled from the contest.[5]
John Makdessi was expected to face Nasrat Haqparast in a lightweight bout.[6] However, Makdessi pulled out due to injury and the pairing was scrapped.[7]
A heavyweight bout between Ilir Latifi and Alexander Romanov was expected to take place at the event.[8] However, Romanov withdrew due to injury and the bout was scrapped.[9]
A middleweight bout featuring Julian Marquez and Kyle Daukaus was scheduled for the event.[10] However, Marquez was pulled from the event due to undisclosed reasons.[11] He was replaced by Jamie Pickett and the contest will take place at a catchweight of 195 pounds.[12]
Austin Lingo and Jonathan Pearce were expected to meet in a featherweight bout.[13] However, Lingo pulled out due to undisclosed reasons.[11] He was replaced by Christian Rodriguez.[14]
A bantamweight bout between Mario Bautista and Khalid Taha was scheduled for this event.[15] However, Taha had to pull out of the bout due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced by promotional newcomer Jay Perrin.[16]
At the weigh-ins, Gabriel Benítez weighed in at 148 pounds, 2 pounds over the featherweight non-title fight limit. His bout is expected to proceed at a catchweight and he will be fined 30% of his purse, which will go to his opponent David Onama.[17]
Yikes. I guess that will make for a much quicker card which is good at least.
We are live!!
It’s ok Herb, he’s actually dead….you can step in now
Herb: hold on, you never know
Insert: cartoon-style soul leaving the body….Herb uninterested
Jim Miller is the gift that keeps on giving. What a true legend of the sport.
P.S. Felder is looking real skinny.
P.S. Felder is looking real skinny.