[amphibian]

I want to go back a bit and say your evaluation of Joanna Champion switching tactics was exactly right. It was brilliant adaptation to what Letorneau was doing.

UFC 194 was brilliant from top to bottom. Wow.

I thought Aldo would win, but I'm appreciative of what Conor has done in his run to the top.

Rockhold looked so good too. I'm amazed he did that to Weidman.

I scored 29-28 Jacare and 30-25 Maia.

Didn't see Holloway/Stephens due to the holiday party going on.

[Binder of Demons]

Hey Amphib, how did you feel about the fence grab, stand up, but lack of point deduction? I personally thought it was fair enough, although standing them back up did probably favour Romero, but I wouldn't have argued with a point deduction if Goddard had taken it. I suppose the ref could have repositioned them standing in the clinch (or given Jacare the option of stand up in the centre of the octagon, or in the clinch by fence?). I actually had the fight 29-28 Romero but that second round was really close, and I think you could also argue that the first round could even have been a 10-8 considering how badly affected Jacare was. A draw might have been the fairest result.


The HOLLOWAY-STEPHENS match was something of an anticlimax. I was fully expecting Holloway to light Stephens up on the feet considering how badly Stephens struggled with Bermudez. But Holloway seemed kinda cautious (fair enough respecting the power), especially having seen how dynamic he had been against Cub Swanson earlier this year. Holloway's post fight call-out of McGregor was laughable on the back of that performance, especially having seen Edgar demolish Mendes the night before. And while Holloway managed to land some strikes on McGregor in their first meeting, he seems to have forgotten how easily Conor's straight left was landing through his guard. I think he would get crushed as well, even allowing for how much he has improved since.

I'm really looking forward to next week now, cos I think if Cowboy beats RDA for the lightweight title, then they might actually make a superfight between Cowboy and McGregor, which would be awesome (if massively unfair on the other ranked fighters at lightweight). But if RDA wins, I think they'll have Conor fight Edgar, maybe even at Madison Square Garden should the MMA ban in NY get lifted.

And you also have LAWLOR-CONDIT to come as well, which could be amazing.

[Trull's son]

A great card last night. Some slick jiu jitsu on display in some of the matches(McDonald-Kanehara comes to mind). That Lawler-Condit fight though... Judges almost certainly got it wrong, but it was fucking entertaining regardless. Saw it at the bar last night and people were losing their minds during the fifth round - it was wild. You can always count on Lawler to turn it on in the fifth. For the heavyweights I was a bit disappointed that Miocic put Arlovski away like that after Arlovski's string of victories (even though the Mir fight was a tad boring). Miocic is a beast though. And the Larkin-Tumenov fight displayed great striking styles (boxing vs. kickboxing). Tumenov's leg ate some nasty kicks that had him limping out of the octagon.

All in all, a good way to start the new year.

By the way, anyone catch the Rizin tournament held in Japan last week?

[Malankazooie]

[Malankazooie]

Damn, if Jones turns out to be positive for doping then his UFC career is probably finished. Feel bad for Daniel Cormier, with the fight only 3 days away.

[Malankazooie]

Ok, the UFC (with its new ownership) is starting to get really annoying.

At the weigh in for UFC 202 there were four burly police officers in place of the ring girls during Diaz's and McGregor's weigh in, with Dana White in between them. Like he could really do anything to stop them if they actually went at it. What a goofy hype machine. Man, the UFC is getting more and more into professional wrestling territory. I'm starting to question whether these matches have been scripted.

[Malankazooie]

Yup, pretty much encapsulates what happened.

[amphibian]

I'd say we saw a top ten ever fight last night. Both of them made huge adjustments during the course of the fight and I scored it a draw or narrowly McGregor.

Such a great fight and I'm curious as to where both go after this (hopefully not immediately into a trilogy).

[polishgenius]

So are we all getting hyped for UFC 205 next weekend? Fantastic card.

[amphibian]

polishgenius, on 06 November 2016 - 09:04 AM, said:

So are we all getting hyped for UFC 205 next weekend? Fantastic card.

I'm so hyped. But there is a drawback in that to make the card so good, the UFC turned most of the subsequent cards into gristle to feed this one.

[Malankazooie]

Overall, a nice event, but didn't quite live up to the hype. Best fights of the night were Jedrzejczyk vs Kowalkiewicz and Woodley vs Thompson.

Kowalkiewicz can take a beating and the fight was sort of meh until she landed that overhead right on Jedrzejczyk's nose and then things got interesting.

Thompson in that fourth round was incredible. First surviving what clearly looked like his was going to be knocked out, to then squirting out of that submission attempt by Woodley to end the round on top, dropping some ground and pound on Woodley.

About the McGregor fight. Once he squared off against Alvarez, I knew it was a done deal. I'm not sure what happens to McGregor between weigh-in and the fight, but it looks like he grows in size. He just looked bigger then Alvarez in all facets (reach, height, etc.) that I knew he could end the fight whenever he wanted. Anyway, the UFC needs to find a suitable opponent for him. I guess a McGregor vs Diaz III makes sense? But there's also the matter of him defending his titles.

Also, surprised/not surprised to see Miesha Tate retire. She was doing the interview rounds prior to UFC 205 talking about how she wouldn't be surprised if Rousey retired and how MMA is her career and how she has poured her life into it. But then again, she received a thorough dismantling from Nunes, like I'm talking a brutal beating, so when she fought Pennington (who she coached in TUF) and looked totally outclassed, I wasn't surprised she announced.

[Binder of Demons]

Stayed up to watch the McGregor fight. That was an absolute masterclass in striking. I know Alvarez has always been quite hittable in his fights, but to see how quickly McGregor picked up his timing was amazing. Even more amazing is that he caught Alvarez with the same Left-Right-Left-Right combination in both the first knockdown, and the finishing knockdown.

Putting aside my Irish bias, I would seriously fear for McGregor against Khabib, considering how dominant Khabib's grappling was against Johnson. The one positive for Conor in that regard though is how often Khabib ate clean punches before getting that first takedown. And then there's Ferguson. He's a really dynamic offensive threat, but again he's been very hittable in his recent fights. I don't know what fight Conor will go for next, but I think he'll try and get Khabib and Ferguson to fight an eliminator bout (maybe an interim title fight) before he returns to 155.

[amphibian]

Joanna vs Karolina reminded me of GSP vs Fitch. Fitch/Karolina was very good, but GSP/Joanna was just clearly better for almost the entire fight and handed over a beating.

I think if an immediate rematch happens, Thompson wins. If there's a few months to prep, Woodley can fine-tune his right hand setups some more and win three rounds more easily. I scored a draw this time around though.

I also think Miesha wants kids before it's too late. That's a heavy decision to weigh and I'm glad she's done when she wants to be and after she made at least one decent payday. Pennington is not a good athlete, but she's got good timing and skills.

Yoel was losing that fight before the huge knee. Very surprised Weidman ducked right into it, as he's usually got great timing on his takedowns to avoid those.

[Malankazooie]

Oh yeah, the Weidman vs Romero fight. After Romero caught him with that knee, and the blood started gushing from Weidman's head, I thought it was a serious injury for a few there. I was relieved to see Weidman was able to get up and stand for the announcement of Romero's victory.

But, yeah, agree. Weidman was winning that fight. It really bums me out because Weidman is one of my favorites and I want to see him get a chance at the belt again.

[Malankazooie]

UFC 207
Well, I guess I'll begin. So, Nunes VS Rousey. I think the fight is stopped, by either a straight up knock out by Nunes over Rousey or Rousey getting hurt and Nunes finishing Rousey with vicious ground and pound. Rousey then announces her retirement.

Maybe I'm wrong, but Nunes impressed the hell out of me with her win over Tate and I just think Rousey is not the same fighter.

[Coco with marshmallows]

psychologically i have to say you appear 100% correct.

This complete disregard of doing media and running off as soon as the weigh ins are done looks (to me at least) like Ronda's heart isn't really in it.

UNLESS....
It's an elaborate and deliberate ploy by Ronda's camp to make it LOOK that way to lure Nunes into overconfidence - which i could actually see happening.

Still give it to Nunes overall though.


looking forward to stun gun's return, hope he gets a win, think Dillashaw will go over Lineker...

Not that fussed about the other fights personally.

[amphibian]

Coco with marshmallows, on 30 December 2016 - 09:16 PM, said:

psychologically i have to say you appear 100% correct.

This complete disregard of doing media and running off as soon as the weigh ins are done looks (to me at least) like Ronda's heart isn't really in it.

UNLESS....
It's an elaborate and deliberate ploy by Ronda's camp to make it LOOK that way to lure Nunes into overconfidence - which i could actually see happening.

Still give it to Nunes overall though.


looking forward to stun gun's return, hope he gets a win, think Dillashaw will go over Lineker...

Not that fussed about the other fights personally.

The lack of MMA media involvement is the smartest thing Rousey and her camp's negotiated (beyond the movie appearances with her level of acting ability). The MMA world is already 100% saturated with knowledge of her. The people reachable by MMA media (mostly small potatoes media) have already made the call on whether or not to buy her stuff/shows. It's the casuals who don't pay attention to MMA media who she can and will reach with her appearances on Ellen and so on. She's a big enough star to get there and it makes a ton of sense to do things that way. It certainly brings more eyeballs and $ to the show.

That being said, doubling down on the Tarvedyan training is moronic. She's also downgraded her grappling training to Jason Manly from Ryron/Rener Gracie and before them, Henry Akins.

Rousey still hits real hard - about as hard as Nunes does. So there's a good chance either of them sparks the other out, but it's more likely that Nunes will be hungrier and faster in the cage because it's partly about if your head is in the game. Rousey's already got one foot out the door and wants babies with Browne (probably a bad call there too, but it isn't my call). I don't think Rousey fights again, win or lose. This is the last one. She's gonna go on with the rest of her life.

I hope Lineker does destroy Dillashaw with his thudding body work, but yeah, Dillashaw will probably evade everything, be astonished by Linker's power, and manage to eke out a decision.

Cruz will make Garbrandt look like a teenager with his takedowns.

Always liked Dong Hyun Kim. Hope he does well too.

I also think Hendricks is gonna have a very hard time getting past Magny's reach. He'll look bewildered for a while and then drop the decision.

[Malankazooie]

amphibian, on 30 December 2016 - 11:03 PM, said:

I hope Lineker does destroy Dillashaw with his thudding body work, but yeah, Dillashaw will probably evade everything, be astonished by Linker's power, and manage to eke out a decision.

lmao

amphibian, on 30 December 2016 - 11:03 PM, said:

Cruz will make Garbrandt look like a teenager with his takedowns.

LMAO!

amphibian, on 30 December 2016 - 11:03 PM, said:

Rousey still hits real hard - about as hard as Nunes does. So there's a good chance either of them sparks the other out

L-M-A-O !!!!

[Tsundoku]

Whoa! Nunes just destroyed Rousey in under a minute!

Obviously Nunes didn't get the "Rousey Comeback Fairytale" script. Or if she did, she didn't read it.

[amphibian]

I was fairly happy to see Rousey get knocked out - she's now unable to move AND punch at the same time. Used to be that she'd punch and move in with a successful clinch. Tarvedyan ruined her ability to do that and her boxing skills actually got worse.

That being said, Nunes did a terrific job of moving her head, successfully using that elbow/tricep shove, and re-angling to thunder in the straights on Rousey's face. Note that Rousey still did clip Nunes a couple times. Nunes can be gotten if one stays calm and shifts with Nunes's shifts. Holm might be able to finish her and Shevchenko could beat her with pure kickboxing if Nunes's cardio isn't any better (hard to say if there's progress on this with the dominant one round win streak).

I, and most of the MMA world, was shocked by Garbrandt successfully making Cruz lead and thumping him up. Speed matters and Cruz has lost enough of it that he couldn't cope with Garbrandt's movement. Changing up a style that radically is wild. Most fighters can't do it in a lower level fight, much less the biggest fight of one's career against a very, very good fighter.

Dillashaw will be a great challenger for Garbrandt, who is unlikely to win the McGregor or Aldo sweepstakes. Might get and beat Holloway if he agitates hard enough.