The MMA thread

Rogan was insufferable tonight. No one else gets held to the same standard as Khabib, where you can dominate a guy 50-43 and have people disappointed with you. Anyone else and their stock goes through the roof. Lando Vannata of all people had Ferguson on queer street yet it's a very different tone. Joe loves to build people up to unhuman heights and then tear them down when they show vulnerability. Khabib is a man like everyone else and he's going to face adversity from time to time like everybody else.

Iaquinta beat Kevin Lee (who even had a staph infection when Tony fought him for the title), so I think part of it is Iaquinta not getting the respect he deserves.
 
Raoul said:
I definitely think Khabib took his foot off the gas after the 2nd round - possibly because he felt he had the fight under control. He wouldn't do that against a better opponent. See the Barboza fight for that.

I do think Khabib needs a marquee fight to finally shut the doubters up.
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Definitely. But not doubters. It’s just a shit way to win the belt. No issues with McGregor being stripped - got to fight and defend it, 500 days is a joke.

But Khabib winning it this way isn’t great. And makes it hard to argue he’s got a fair claim to be champion as he’s not beat the best in the division. Just iaquinta.
 
Rogan was a shithouse last night.
Khabib needs to work on his standup asap before the Conor fight. At least be consistent.
Boxing isn't an art that you have technical bad days with. You either have it or not.
He can't face Conor like this.
 
I agree Rogan is shit I’ve said it for ages he is a terrible commentator. However I think taking away his obvious bias he kind of made a few decent points.

Khabib won easily but I do think the likes of aConor and Tony will be more confident after watching that. I hope the Conor fight happens next cos it would be really interesting.
 
cyberman said:
Rogan was a shithouse last night.
Khabib needs to work on his standup asap before the Conor fight. At least be consistent.
Boxing isn't an art that you have technical bad days with. You either have it or not.
He can't face Conor like this.
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He wouldn't. Guaranteed he would just take him down time after time and maul him. He won't stand with anyone with a chance of knocking him out. Honestly felt like he coasted last night.
 
Oldyella said:
He wouldn't. Guaranteed he would just take him down time after time and maul him. He won't stand with anyone with a chance of knocking him out. Honestly felt like he coasted last night.
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But then he's in trouble because he walks the opponent down for takedowns, he doesn't set them up.
Its why I gave Max a good chance to beat him. Max is fantastic on the back foot. Even then Conor is world class at it as well.
 
“He won fight with bus, I win fight against real gangster” :lol::lol:

That first 2 rounds of Rose she looked the real deal but she won the fight with that first minute of the 5th then the takedown. Wouldn’t mind seeing that go again. Although kinda want to see Claudia or Karolina get a shot at her next. If I remember right Karolina messed Rose up.

Kahbib fight was good, he certainly looked suspect in the striking, kinda do feel after seeing that Tony might actually win it. Great jits, good wrestling, good chin but can strike on top of that.
 
In the post fight interview, the questioner observed that he felt Khabib was trying things out in 3 and 4, jabbing and moving etc etc. Nothing wrong with that. If the fight is wrapped up, and you are superior to your opponent, you can experiment a bit. its all part of your evolution, seeing what works, what doesn't. we have seen with most his fights he constantly looks for takedown and it will be the case against the big two. the threat is that the other 2 are much better on the feet than him and we already knew this.
 
Stacks said:
In the post fight interview, the questioner observed that he felt Khabib was trying things out in 3 and 4, jabbing and moving etc etc. Nothing wrong with that. If the fight is wrapped up, and you are superior to your opponent, you can experiment a bit. its all part of your evolution, seeing what works, what doesn't. we have seen with most his fights he constantly looks for takedown and it will be the case against the big two. the threat is that the other 2 are much better on the feet than him and we already knew this.
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The fact he has to try out a jab or slow, lateral head movement should tell us all we need to know.
Personally I think Khabib wins due to Conors gas tank falling away from one takedown but he isn't the favourite in my eyes ( if that makes sense)
Kind of like fancying a Utd result yesterday.
 
cyberman said:
The fact he has to try out a jab or slow, lateral head movement should tell us all we need to know.
Personally I think Khabib wins due to Conors gas tank falling away from one takedown but he isn't the favourite in my eyes ( if that makes sense)
Kind of like fancying a Utd result yesterday.
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No one is favourite. Bisping called it 50/50 a few months back. Conor could knock him down easily if it stays on the feet to long. Khabib could drain and maul Conor if it goes to ground. Its a case of Khabib sticking to what he knows. There have been many wrestler guys who have become dangerous punchers (Sugar Rashad, Woodley) Khabib certainly isn't one of them! Like you said, the cardio is perhaps the differentiator. In many of Conors fights, people try to trade with him (even Alvarez). Khabib's team will slap him if he tries that going forwards. I don't know if Conor can defend takedowns for that duration and Mendes was able to take him down and cut him up. If they stick to their skillsets, it's gonna be the most interesting match up I've seen in combat sports for a good while.
 
Joanna bitching again, this time that she won the fight. Now, I'm biased as I really like Rose, but thought she pretty clearly took rounds 1,2 and 5.
 
I like what Joanna brings in terms of personality but delighted Rose won.

Not sure how I feel about Khabib calling out GSP though.
 
Tom Van Persie said:
Agreed. Joanna won it quite clearly imo awful decision by the judges.
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Think you misunderstood. He meant Rose won 3 rounds quite clearly. Joanna is becoming boring to me. Great fighter n all but the whole I'm the queen shtick is boring. Been wanting her to lose for a while. Unfortunately she blamed the first fight on the weight cut then claims she won this one. This on top of never admitting she tapped to strikes.
 
Tom Van Persie said:
Agreed. Joanna won it quite clearly imo awful decision by the judges.
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Actually, I was saying that Rose won it. Imo Rose took 1,2 and 5 (5 was close but taking Joanna down sealed it). Joanna won rounds 3 and 4.

As I said, I'm biased here as I love Rose as a fighter, so could be wrong.
 
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Jim Beam said:
Actually, I was saying that Rose won it. Imo Rose took 1,2 and 5 (5 was close but taking Joanna down sealed it). Joanna won rounds 2 and 3.

As I said, I'm biased here as I love Rose as a fighter, so could be wrong.
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Thought round two may have been Joanna. She clearly outstruck Rose on volume, but it was one of those situations where one fighter had more strikes and the other had less, but more explosive ones. Result could’ve gone either way imo, depending on how the judges interpreted the striking.
 
Raoul said:
Thought round two may have been Joanna. She clearly outstruck Rose on volume, but it was one of those situations where one fighter had more strikes and the other had less, but more explosive ones. Result could’ve gone either way imo, depending on how the judges interpreted the striking.
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My view also, I even thought that first 2 rounds Rose went out of the exchanges with far more clean shots and she was quite comfortable in it. Than Joanna took over and the 5th round decided.

It certainly wasn't 49-46, but not a controversial decision also.
 
Jim Beam said:
Actually, I was saying that Rose won it. Imo Rose took 1,2 and 5 (5 was close but taking Joanna down sealed it). Joanna won rounds 3 and 4.

As I said, I'm biased here as I love Rose as a fighter, so could be wrong.
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Oh my bad. I had Joanna winning 2,3 and 4 but I watched when I was tired and fairly drunk so maybe I missed some things.

Not the best performance I've seen from Khabib but still dominant as hell. Al had no answers (like everyone else) to Khabib's grappling in the first two rounds.
 
Rose clearly won 1,2&5 no doubts about that. Not sure what JJ is chatting about. Such a sore loser. Really can't stand her.

Khabib beat Al in every department yet if you were listening to the commentary on radio, you'd have thought it was close. Rogan a grade A bellend.
 
Dirty Schwein said:
Rose clearly won 1,2&5 no doubts about that. Not sure what JJ is chatting about. Such a sore loser. Really can't stand her.

Khabib beat Al in every department yet if you were listening to the commentary on radio, you'd have thought it was close. Rogan a grade A bellend.
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Round 2 wasn't clear at all. Joanna got a lot of vicious leg kicks in, as well as a good number of jabs.
 
Rose for 1, 2 and 5. 4 was also close but I had Joanna just winning it. Rose tired slightly in 3 and 4 but found the second wind in the 5th. No way I'd want Joanna winning the belt based on that fight.

Brilliant fight. Hopefully they meet again at some stage.
 
A lot of people are complaining about Rogan this morning (myself included).

They really fecked things up royally by allowing Goldberg to leave for Bellator, then bringing on Anik and now Smith. Horrible chemistry.
 
Nucks said:
Barboza is 2x the striker Ferg is, at least, and he had nothing for Khabib zombie moding into him.

The person that Khabib has to worry about, is a big punching wrestler, someone with legit one shot KO power. Conor only sort of had that power at 145, and it doubtful he has it at 155 (one shot KO power). Conors big KOs relied on the dude literally leaping into the shot face first. The rest have been accumulation of damage. Ferg does not have, or at least has never shown that kind of power either.

Conor has a punchers chance. Ferg, I don't think he has much of a chance period. Something crazy could happen, but this fight with Al was so one sided, I mean, it was one of the most lop sided fights IVE EVER SEEN. People are bagging on him cause he didn't finish him? Khabib has never been a finisher, he's a punisher. He sits on you and punches you until you mentally break, and then he punishes you more. If you expect Khabib to knock everyone out, that's not what he is known for. He's known for taking years off your life by giving you brain trauma.
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Also worth noting that Khabib's performance last night can't really be judged on similar terms as when he fought Barboza - sort like DC couldn't really be judged when he faced Anderson Silva. Iaquinta was literally his 4th opponent within a few days after an entire training camp preparing for one style of fight. He improvised well enough to take care of business and still give the crowd an entertaining fight. Iaquinta did great to step in and do the same after himself training for a completely different style during his camp. He came in to not get humiliated and succeeded.
 
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Very good case for Joanna winning the fight imo. I think the judges were duped into the perceptual illusion that Rose's striking was more substantial when it was actually Joanna who was scoring more.

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I'm a big Khabib fan but it wasn't impressive.

Al was able to avoid the type of damage MJ and Barboza took where it looked like the ref could step in to save them at any moment, Al didn't appear to take too much punishment.

Khabib is having to pace himself a lot more in 5 round fights, as we saw last night. This is going to result in a lot more failed takedown attempts, and more time spent on the feet. Whilst Khabib was able to edge the stand up with his jab in round 3/4/5, if Ferguson has 2 full rounds where he keeps the fight standing like in rounds 3 and 4 last night, he's almost certainly going to win them, and his output and pace may put Khabib in serious trouble.
 
Dominos said:
I'm a big Khabib fan but it wasn't impressive.

Al was able to avoid the type of damage MJ and Barboza took where it looked like the ref could step in to save them at any moment, Al didn't appear to take too much punishment.

Khabib is having to pace himself a lot more in 5 round fights, as we saw last night. This is going to result in a lot more failed takedown attempts, and more time spent on the feet. Whilst Khabib was able to edge the stand up with his jab in round 3/4/5, if Ferguson has 2 full rounds where he keeps the fight standing like in rounds 3 and 4 last night, he's almost certainly going to win them, and his output and pace may put Khabib in serious trouble.
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I don’t think we can accurately assess Khabib based on last night. These fighters trained for completely different opponents for months and then 36 hours before the fight are asked to fight someone else. I also got the impression that after round 2, Khabib felt confident enough to have a bit of fun and give the audience a longer, slightly more enjoyable fight. Iaquinta also did the same when they started talking to one another during rounds 3 & 4.

This fight was no different than when DC had a Jon Jones cancellation and wound up fighting Anderson Silva (who just happened to be in town) as a replacement. It was basically an exhibition for the fans, as was last night. I have zero doubt that the Khabib we would’ve seen against Ferguson would’ve been the same fighter in terms of intensity, as we saw v Barboza.
 
Raoul said:
I don’t think we can accurately assess Khabib based on last night. These fighters trained for completely different opponents for months and then 36 hours before the fight are asked to fight someone else. I also got the impression that after round 2, Khabib felt confident enough to have a bit of fun and give the audience a longer, slightly more enjoyable fight. Iaquinta also did the same when they started talking to one another during rounds 3 & 4.

This fight was no different than when DC had a Jon Jones cancellation and wound up fighting Anderson Silva (who just happened to be in town) as a replacement. It was basically an exhibition for the fans, as was last night. I have zero doubt that the Khabib we would’ve seen against Ferguson would’ve been the same fighter in terms of intensity, as we saw v Barboza.
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Maybe. This is the 2nd fight in a row Khabib wants to run the narrative that he could've finished the fight if he wanted but decided he wanted the extra rounds (he also claimed this against Barboza).

The sort of pace he put on MJ and Barboza, I'm not even sure it's possible to do that for 5 rounds.
 
Raoul said:
Very good case for Joanna winning the fight imo. I think the judges were duped into the perceptual illusion that Rose's striking was more substantial when it was actually Joanna who was scoring more.

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Yeah that's how I saw it. It seemed to me like the judges were ignoring the leg kicks from Joanna and just focusing more on the punches Rose was landing when they exchanged. A lot of times in the fight Rose landed more punches in the exchange but Joanna would come back with a solid leg kick to even it up. I've always had a feeling that most judges in MMA don't really score leg kicks as much as they should but maybe that's just me.

I gave the fight to Joanna mostly based on volume. I felt she was out striking Rose especially in the mid rounds. I could definitely see 48-47 Rose but all three judges giving it 49-46 is a bit of a joke imo.
 
Thought Rose won that. Landed the more deliberate significant and clean strikes in contrast to JJ who was throwing a lot of jabs but unable to set herself up because the jab was not effective due to Rose's movement. Quite simply Joanna wasn't able to impose her game on Rose because Rose didn't allow her too. Gutted , wanted JJ to kick her ass.
 
Dominos said:
Maybe. This is the 2nd fight in a row Khabib wants to run the narrative that he could've finished the fight if he wanted but decided he wanted the extra rounds (he also claimed this against Barboza).

The sort of pace he put on MJ and Barboza, I'm not even sure it's possible to do that for 5 rounds.
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I don't think he wanted to go any more rounds than he had to with Barboza. He just wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp before winning. This was clearly a different situation where he was fighting someone who he two days earlier didn't know he would be fighting. Its therefore impossible to get an accurate sense of how Khabib would have performed against Ferguson.
 
Tom Van Persie said:
Yeah that's how I saw it. It seemed to me like the judges were ignoring the leg kicks from Joanna and just focusing more on the punches Rose was landing when they exchanged. A lot of times in the fight Rose landed more punches in the exchange but Joanna would come back with a solid leg kick to even it up. I've always had a feeling that most judges in MMA don't really score leg kicks as much as they should but maybe that's just me.

I gave the fight to Joanna mostly based on volume. I felt she was out striking Rose especially in the mid rounds. I could definitely see 48-47 Rose but all three judges giving it 49-46 is a bit of a joke imo.
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Agreed. Both their faces were comparably bruised and bloodied after, but Rose's leg looked quite....well Rose colored. Joanna did abandon the leg kicks towards the end because her leg was hurting her, which imo opened the door for Rose to finish strong. Result could've gone either way imo.
 
Raoul said:
Agreed. Both their faces were comparably bruised and bloodied after, but Rose's leg looked quite....well Rose colored. Joanna did abandon the leg kicks towards the end because her leg was hurting her, which imo opened the door for Rose to finish strong. Result could've gone either way imo.
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Can't agree on that.

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Raoul said:
I don't think he wanted to go any more rounds than he had to with Barboza. He just wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp before winning. This was clearly a different situation where he was fighting someone who he two days earlier didn't know he would be fighting. Its therefore impossible to get an accurate sense of how Khabib would have performed against Ferguson.
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That's true, a lot would be different, but you can draw some conclusions as well.

For example, Khabib will never be a better stand up striker than what he is. I didn't saw any improvement in that regard, he keeps putting his head right up there waiting to be hit. Guys like Conor or Cucuy would box him up easily. But then again as you said, it would be a different fight and a different gameplan. Khabib not gonna stand and trade with those guys for starters.
 
Like half of Joannas significant strikes were leg kicks. Leg kicks are sort of a weird thing in judging, because they rarely are scored equally to a head strike, or even body strike, but they typically make it easier to land a head or body strike if you work them enough.

Joanna got boxed up. She lost almost every single striking exchange. The fight for me was in some ways reminiscent of Arlovski/Fedor. Where Arlovski threw a lot of stuff that most people assumed landed, but didn't because Fedor was slick in his movement. Joanna would throw a flurry, nothing would land clean, and Rose would ding her with 2 shots that caused damage. That was the story of the fight in 1-2 and 5. While in 3 and 4 Joanna did really wrestle control of the fight from Rose.
 
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