The judges gave him round 1 then?
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- Thread starter Fortitude
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DJ Pillashaw, fecks sake
Yan is absolutely right. He got robbed
Yan is a textbook Bond villain
The belt got sanctioned
Yan is still the better fighter but his plan today was terrible.
I gave that first round and therefore the fight to Yan but very little happened really so it probably could have went either way. Will rewatch it later. Fair play to Aljo. He's been on the wrong end of a serious amount of vitriol but should have won a few people around with that effort. He comes across as a nice dude in interviews.
Now gimme that first Asian champ with Zombie.
Also gotta love Ray Longo with the corner work. Look at that motherfecker is an instant classic.
If you’re a judge, and there’s not much in the first round, it must be psychologically difficult to score it against the champion.
Yeah, there’s a fragility-of-ego thing about Sterling which is a bit of a redeeming feature in such a brutal sport. The way his corner spent more time building him up mentally rather than giving actual fight instruction was quite telling
Yeah he's clearly super talented but lacks a little mental nastiness/ craftiness
Zhang Weili?
Men's champ
Men's champ
Damn Volk looks so fecking good. Hard to see an upset here
Zombie might need raising from the dead after this
Volk hits like a light heavyweight, ridiculous power!
Volks jab hits harder than many peoples straight
Zombie earning his nick tonight
If Volk moved up, how do we think he’d do?
Very well
I just think there’s nowt left for him at FW.
Utterly dominated.
Domination. Give us that max trilogy next
Aye, there's something very relatable and moving about watching someone wrestling with their mental demons on such a brutal stage, and it's uplifting when they succeed. Boxing rather than MMA, but I'm a sufficiently soft bastard that I remember being close to tears watching this mini-documentary about Johnny Nelson that discusses this theme:
They should have never scheduled Volkanovski as a main event
Another fight with Max is the only one that makes sense i think
Aye, they do tend to score them to the champion by default. In fairness, Aljo did throw some kicks in that round that might have been more eye-catching than Yan's scoring strikes, but I felt on first viewing that Yan's forward pressure was the story of the round.
Oliveira vs Gaethje nice maincard
With Max having knocked off Kattar and Yair as viable contenders in the short term and Kattar having pummelled Chikadze, it's not the most intriguing division at the top end at the moment. Arnold Allen has put a good streak together in fairness, but still seems a fight or two away from getting a shot. If Volk beats Holloway again I wouldn't be surprised if Cejudo gets parachuted in to fight Volk after that. Undeserved really, but I wouldn't have a problem with it in the absence of any other compelling contenders.
Obviously a great win for Khamzat but he did look beatable there. Might have humbled him.
Cheers, I’ll watch it when I’ve suitably recovered
Fixed that for you.
Really? I think the fight humanised Chimaev and took some of the mystique away. It was a good fight, but Burns is a yardstick everyone else can measure Chimaev by.
Colby has a greater engine than either of them, but the size, weight and strength of Chimaev makes it a wonder whether Colby can do as he pleases in the clinch.
I think the top boys will fight him as and when they have to and won't be as apprehensive now as they were when he was the big bad, never been touched, blah blah guy.
Totally agree, he's clearly a top fighter but before this fight it was easy to get sucked into the belief he was on a level above and was just going to mop up the division before moving up and looking to become champ champ (even 3x champ some said).
After watching that his peers will be happy to see he looks tough but not unbeatable, now of course he could still go on to win championships and fully expect him to at some point but I also expect it'll be less straightforward than I previously thought.
Pretty good card.
Khamzat made to look human but I was still reasonably impressed. Realistically he was never going to be that far ahead of the competition that he'd dominate a guy as good, as dangerous and as tough as Burns in just his 11th fight.
What he did show was a good chin, grit and that he belongs at this level already. I did think he looked like he was slowing a bit - whether that's just due to the pace and intensity of the fight, or weight cut, or long term COVID effects or a combination of these factors it's tough to say. He needs to be a bit smarter and be more responsible defensively at this level, as well as set his punches up better. But clearly a real legit contender.
I thought Yan should have nicked them fight, I'll have to go back and watch it again but I thought he edged an uneventful opening round. The others were pretty easy to score two apiece. Sterling was masterful at points with the back control but overall he didn't offer much other than constantly shooting for takedowns and a lot of that were easily dealt with as he did nothing to set them up and telegraphed them.
Not much to say about the Volk fight, went as expected really. I think Volk might be the best fighter on the planet currently not Usman, that was a complete clinic. Can't wait for the Max trilogy fight.
Khamzat made to look human but I was still reasonably impressed. Realistically he was never going to be that far ahead of the competition that he'd dominate a guy as good, as dangerous and as tough as Burns in just his 11th fight.
What he did show was a good chin, grit and that he belongs at this level already. I did think he looked like he was slowing a bit - whether that's just due to the pace and intensity of the fight, or weight cut, or long term COVID effects or a combination of these factors it's tough to say. He needs to be a bit smarter and be more responsible defensively at this level, as well as set his punches up better. But clearly a real legit contender.
I thought Yan should have nicked them fight, I'll have to go back and watch it again but I thought he edged an uneventful opening round. The others were pretty easy to score two apiece. Sterling was masterful at points with the back control but overall he didn't offer much other than constantly shooting for takedowns and a lot of that were easily dealt with as he did nothing to set them up and telegraphed them.
Not much to say about the Volk fight, went as expected really. I think Volk might be the best fighter on the planet currently not Usman, that was a complete clinic. Can't wait for the Max trilogy fight.
I’ll say right now Chimaev by UD if not stoppage. Imho Burns is far more dangerous on his feet than Colby and I think Chimaev will be too big for Colby to fight comfortably on the deck (as well as being a bloody good wrestler). Nobody really believed that boogieman, never-been-touched stuff….the reality is he’s incredibly green at this level, to be fighting the no2 rank. He’ll have learned a huge amount from that fight (his corner gave him a right bollocking at the end of R2), and we learned that he’s got a decent chin, the hook he took at the end of R2 would have sent most people to the shadow realm.
You’re right the fight humanised him….but I was still pretty impressed with the ‘human’ version
I think people are underselling Chimaev a bit after the fight, probably because they fell for his hype and aren’t looking at his actual fighting skills or the big picture. To put what he’s just done in proper context, he was plucked out of obscurity during the pandemic, and has in less than 2 years won each of his five fights, including now, against the #2 contender in the division.
Bear in mind that Burns took round one against Usman in their fight and it was 1-1 going into round 3.
I don’t think Chimaev is as polished as Usman (yet), but he’s not far off, and passing the tests against the likes of Burns will elevate his confidence and skills to make a serious run at the belt. Apparently, Usman v Edwards will be during fight week in July so Chimaev v Covington would seem a logical fight to put on the same card.
Bear in mind that Burns took round one against Usman in their fight and it was 1-1 going into round 3.
I don’t think Chimaev is as polished as Usman (yet), but he’s not far off, and passing the tests against the likes of Burns will elevate his confidence and skills to make a serious run at the belt. Apparently, Usman v Edwards will be during fight week in July so Chimaev v Covington would seem a logical fight to put on the same card.
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So, if Chinaev fights Usman in late 22/early 23, who wins?