Desslock
1781
I’m still just not convinced Conor is for real against top competition, especially at lightweight. But I was even more uncertain prior to his last fight and he defeated one of the most dominant champions, in a competitive division, in as decisive a manner as possible. I just can’t picture him winning against Diaz if Diaz shows up like last night- he matches up badly.
Dos Anjos is another guy who has taken a while to convince me, but he’s tough and very well rounded and hard working, and I think he’d also beat Conor.
Charles Oliveira ALSO called out Conor on the same card (3 guys!) and that would be an interesting fight. I also really want to see Edgar fight Conor - Conor’s accuracy and range may allow him to dominate, as most people seem to expect, but Edgar is no easy target and seems likely to outwork Conor.
But it’s amazing how much interest one dude has spawned - so many interesting possible fights. He is definitely the best thing to happen to the UFC’s business in a while - other than Anderson Silva and Brock Lesnar I can’t think of a comparable phenomenon (not referring to the quality of the fighter, just the impact and ability to excite people).
Zuwadza
1782
If you didn’t watch the prelims of the last Fight Night McRory vs. Samman was a really good fight. A little one-sided, but some really good BJJ showcased.
ElGuapo
1784
I’d watch the hell out of Diaz vs Connor and Rousey vs. Holm 2 at UFC 200. That’s roughly 6 months from now for everyone to train.
Yep! Good call. I shouldn’t have forgotten about her in that list.
Just an amazing fight between Cruz and Dillashaw. The first couple of rounds, when both were really fresh, were the most interesting - it was shocking to see how much more evasive Cruz was - very entertaining to watch.
I think the decision was probably wrong (Dillashaw clearly won round 4 and probably 5, while 1 & 3 could have gone either way, and Cruz only clearly won 2), but I was really happy with the result because of the story it told. 49-46 Cruz was ludicrous, but 48-47 isn’t a huge unjustice, and I’d have to watch the fight again to come to a firmer opinion on those early rounds, in particular. Considering Cruz had only fought 61 seconds in 5 years, that was a great showing, especially since I think Dillashaw is a fantastic fighter.
I don’t see how they can avoid an immediate rematch, and that’ll be very interesting. I think it’ll be hard for Cruz to hold on to the belt vs TJ again, but he also will probably learn from the fight and be less nervous so it should be great to see.
Other fights/UFC news:
-
man, Pettis seems to be in real trouble, now that Dos Anjos provided a clear roadmap on how to beat him. He also just seemed slower and more methodical with his striking - incredibly accurate and dangerous still, but lacking the energy and intensity to really overwhelm an opponent, and his movement is too slow to avoid being pinned against the fence. He’s got to make some serious adjustments to get back on top.
-
glad Dana gave the poor dude who jumped in on short notice into a higher weight class and got the submission a performance bonus. It really seemed like the money could make a big difference to him.
-
how crazy is UFC 197? Conor vs Dos Anjos to give Conor a shot at a 2nd belt, and a Holly Holm defence on the card too - really surprised (and pleased) that the UFC didn’t hold some of that back for UFC 200.
RickH
1787
I was surprised by the decision. Anything close usually goes the champ’s way. But Dillashaw was being surprisingly one-dimensional in his approach to the fight, and refused to give up on tactics and moves that were not productive. I think they gave Cruz a bit too much credit for dodging & weaving away, since the scoring criteria are “effective striking, effective grappling, control of the ring/fighting area, effective aggressiveness and defense.” But I also think Dillashaw did himself no favors by continuing to make easily dodged high leg kicks and roundhouse swings well after it was obvious Cruz wasn’t going to be beaten that way. It made him look ineffective and Cruz look like a masterful defender, hiding Cruz’s lack of aggression and ring control over the course of the fight.
Agree, Rich. That said, Cruz was also reasonably effective on attack, and extremely accurate, especially in the first 3 rounds. Overall effective strikes slightly favoured Cruz, and considering how well TJ did in the last 2 rounds, Cruz racked up most of the effective strikes in the first 3 rounds. But it was very close. And Cruz definitely got some credit for the takedowns, especially since TJ had never been taken down before (although that shouldn’t weigh into it, it may have). Finally, at the end of the fight, I was surprised how beat up TJ looked - his face was a bit of a mess, largely from jabs and left hooks. Cruz scored far more effectively than any of TJ’s recent opponents. But overall, an exceptionally close fight.
I thought it was going to be one of those split decisions that goes to the Champion because he’s the Champion, but I had no problem with Cruz being given the win.
49-46 was wrong in either direction and I think it’s funny that two Judges saw exactly opposite fights.
I can see TJ potentially being scored 49-46 because the first 3 rounds were all very close. I can’t see how anyone could have given Cruz four rounds, however.
I think the theory that close decisions go to the champ is more of a boxing thing, and more a sign of the dubious nature of that sport than anything, but I do think there is a natural bias in close fights to reward the more popular or known fighter - in this case, I think if that bias had any influence it helped Cruz, as his story is certainly difficult to completely ignore. One thing I hadn’t realized until recently is that the judges each submit their score for each round immediately after the end of that round, so they can’t go back and adjust the overall score based upon their feelings after the end of the fight. I think that’s also true in boxing, but not certain.
I think utilizing the 10 point must system of scoring is something that MMA is beginning to more closely scrutinize as possibly not being the best manner of determining a winner, particularly since judges seem to be far too cautious in giving out 10-8 rounds - they should be much more common. Not in this fight, which was consistently close, but many UFC fights have rounds of significant dominance that aren’t appropriately credited. Overall scoring (and the winners of decisions) need to better reflect the total amount of damage/dominance in a fight. There have been several recent fights where one of the fighters was very much dominating at the end of the fight and had essentially broken the other fighter, but they lost because they were outscored in the earlier rounds, which creates some results that don’t seem to truly reflect who “won” the fight.
Winning early rounds should definitely matter, but if someone is essentially getting mopped up by the end of the fight but barely hangs on, that should be reflected in the scoring in some way, and more liberally handing out 10-8 rounds seems the best solution under the current scoring system. Again, I do NOT think any of that is relevant to the Cruz/Dillashaw fight - just a broader discussion. Like I said earlier, I do think Dillashaw won 48-47 but I don’t think it’s a huge burn to award the win to Cruz, and I certainly think that result is more rewarding for viewers and should lead to some great future fights.
I could have scored any of those rounds either way. Neither fighter ever inflicted significant damage, much less came close to a finish. I don’t know how one scores a fight like that and I didn’t have any idea who had won at the end. I feel like Dillashaw and Cruz need to go off somewhere and have a 25-round fight to settle things. Maybe eventually one of them would start to wear down.
(That said, FightMetric has Cruz outstriking Dillashaw in 3 of 5 rounds.)
Poor Anthony Pettis. His kickboxing is beautiful, but his wrestling still needs a lot of work and he’s in the wrong camp to get that work.
I think it was probably Cruz’ takedowns that swung it for him in the “effective grappling” area. They were otherwise fairly evenly matched in striking, Cruz’ accuracy and combos vs. Dillishaw’s power and aggression. I felt Cruz had the first 3 rounds by a slim margin, but those leg kicks by Dillishaw were starting to really take their toll in rounds 4 and 5.
Any of you guys see Lawler v. Condit in 195?
I see everything MMA related, heh. That was also a great fight, but I thought Condit clearly won it and was robbed. That said, it could have been a draw because Lawler had such an awesome last round that he should have probably won by 2 points, evening the match or making it closer. But that’s not how they scored it.
Credit to Condit for fighting right up to the end, instead of just being evasive in the last round and coasting to what he had to presume would be a decision victory, since he had to clearly think he’d won at least 3 rounds at that point.
Weak card today - very smart of Dana White to change it from a PPV card to a free fight night. Looking forward to the main event at least though, and hopefully some other surprises.
RickH
1795
Did not expect Hendricks to get chewed up like that.
That Rosholt-Nelson fight needed Pride-style yellow cards.
10% of your purse for being boring.
Me either. Ironically, I think Hendricks was in great shape for the fight - he just had a really terrible battleplan. Someone on Sherdog posted on Friday (before the fight) that Hendricks was going on about how he was just going to take a step back, or step forward, to mitigate Thompson’s kicking. The Sherdog commentator said that if that was actually Hendricks’s plan, he was going to get chewed up, as top tier striker/kicker Thompson would have a much, much better sense of range than Hendricks, and sure enough that’s what happened. I love seeing Karate guys rise into the top tier once they become well rounded enough to avoid being exploitable - very fun guy to watch.
So Bisping finally got the shot he always wanted against Anderson Silva. Silva at 40, after fighting once in 2 years, is still exciting to watch, but his brilliance is only evident in short, explosive bursts now, and he otherwise does little and has slowed down to the point where he can’t evade head shots just by moving his head as adeptly as he once could. Sad to see the marching of father time.
Kelan
1799
Ugh, I missed that. I was trying to figure out when it was on, but I guess it was during the day yesterday.
How about the upcoming fight with Nate Diaz and Conor Mcgregor, and at 170?! Wow, that is quite a weight jump for Connor from 145. That could be quite a fight and with Miesha getting another title shot, I wouldn’t mind paying to see this one. I am afraid I don’t give her much of a chance, but would like to see her get a UFC title at least once.
Anybody else think Silva was robbed? And that UFC should adopt Pride style judging? And that no sane fighter should accept a fight with a British fighter in Britain?
I might just be overreacting.
But I’m serious about the Pride style judging.
