It’s misleading, because both guys are basically the same size. Diaz has fought lots at 145. The fight is only at 170 because Diaz had one week’s notice as a replacement.
The Picket/Riveria decision was far worse. The Bisping decision was very close - Silva fought a really weird round 4 when Bisping was out on his feet and gave him that round. Bisping clearly won the 2nd round, and it’s not wacky to give him the 1st and 4th, even though Silva won the 5th decisively and beat up Bisping very, very badly. He was a complete mess at the post-fight conference.
RickH
1803
The card was in London, and was available in the US only through the UFC Fight Pass web/app subscription.
It looked like somebody ran over Bisping’s face with a lawnmower. Round 4 was terrible. I can’t imagine the complete adrenaline dump Silva must have felt after he thought he won the fight by knockout, started celebrating, and then was told he had to keep on fighting. It was a really weird fight.
I think UFC needs to revisit their rules. Even if they stick with the 10 point must scoring, I think they need to clarify what counts as effective striking, etc. Sans knock downs or finishes, does simply landing more strikes count as effective, even if there is no noticeable wobbling/damage to the receiver? Are three jabs to the face more effective than a heavy kick to the leg?
Yo_Rudy
1805
I don’t really like the idea of clearly defining what constitutes effective striking in numerical terms like that - I worry that fighters will attempt to game something like to get the win. I think ultimately the subjective nature of the 10 point must system is good - the issue is the judges. When the day comes that judges get the majority of the decisions correct, everyone will probably be pretty chill with the system. Right now, though, I have no idea what the criteria is to pick some of the dummies the Athletic Commissions choose.
fwiw i had bisping winning one, two, and four. Silva should retire. His chin is most certainly shot if 36 year old Michael Bisping can knock him down 1.5 times. I dislike Bisping 90% of the time, but he showed incredible heart to fight through being KO’d and bleeding like a stuck pig and STILL win the fight (or make it very close if you think he lost). He would be murdered by any current 185 top contender, but it always seemed like he was more about fighting Silva than winning the belt anyway. Maybe he can get a rematch with Belfort. I don’t understand how he can talk so much shit leading up to the fight then think Silva - a notorious baby regarding pre-fight talk - will be okay with it and still respect him.
Pumped for McGregor vs. Diaz even though I reckon it’ll be a beat down. If Diaz had a full camp and was able to fully into McGregor’s head then it might be more even (though McGregor seemed to get genuinely angry at the ridiculous [and hilarious!] steroid accusation), but I don’t see Nate having an answer for Conor’s footwork. Wish those Diaz brothers had better takedowns, but maybe Nate will get a lucky trip in. I would like to see more of Conor’s ground game.
In Canada it was televised on the Fight Network. For the future benefit of anyone with access to that channel, it has been broadcasting all of the Fight Pass preliminary cards and main cards (when only otherwise available on Fight Pass). For some reason they are not broadcasting the preliminary portion of Fight Pass cards, however.
One of the decreasing number of reasons I keep cable.
It’ll be an interesting fight, and I’m certainly not writing off Diaz, especially if he’s in anywhere near the form he was in December when he outfought a really tough and fast Michael Johnson. That was the best Diaz ever looked, despite fighting for only the 2nd time in two years. That said, Diaz has had some flat performances as well, and the fact that he didn’t have much of a training camp is worrisome.
I probably would rather have seen Cerrone vs. McGregor, as I think Cerrone matches up in well, both from a competitive standpoint and in terms of offering a really entertaining fight. Thank god we didn’t get BJ Penn though, who was also trying to weasel his way into replacing Dos Anjos. I never want to see BJ fight again in the UFC given the clear deterioration of his one time impressive skills. He’s just incapable of being competitive, let alone against someone of McGregor’s callibur.
Very curious how Holm will do against Misha Tate too. Would really like Holm to defend, but worry about her age and inability to cope with Misha’s grappling.
Holm defending and Diaz bleeding out in a couple of hours!
The new fans brought in by McGregor now realise what the old hands know. Never underestimate the ground game.
So I wonder what was going through Ronda’s mind when she saw Tate getting the belt put around her waste.
I’m thinking this. Replace Khan with Tate.
They really shouldn’t bother with “building up” fighters as “stars” in a sport like this that’s still got a fairly genuine combat sport element to it.
It’s fine to have the hero/villain drama in WWE or something, that’s more straight-up entertainment, but things aren’t so simple and clear cut when the outcome is skill-based. In reality, any of the the “ranked” people are probably capable of beating any of the others on a good day, or losing on a bad. There is a gradation, but it’s extremely fine and sensitive to all sorts of extraneous conditions.
It’s the same as with something like running at an Olympic level: a few fractions of a second between 1st and 2nd place doesn’t mean the winner is some sort of godlike being and the person in second place is a worm.
Oghier
1812
Casual fans are attracted to athletic greatness, so building up a Rousey or MacGregor pulls eyeballs. I know plenty of sports fans who initially decided to watch some UFC specifically because they wanted to see what the fuss surrounding those two fighters was all about. I am one such (the first bouts I watched were Rousey-Holm and MacGregor-Aldo). Once you’re watching, then you can decide whether the sport itself is worth sticking around for. A buddy of mine went to a watch party last night, and he said half the people there had never seen a fight before, but they were interested in seeing the MacGregor fellow.
It’s the same tactic the NBA used. People who don’t give a damn about pro basketball can be convinced to have a look just to see a Jordan, James or Curry dominate.
Holm fought till the very end, and even after a little bit. Look how her arms start trying to box as an instinct even as she passes out:
RickH
1814
Looks like you picked 'em. Pretty good card overall.
I was pulling for Holm when the fight started, because I wanted to see the rematch with Rousey with the full weight of the belt on the line, but after watching her fight soooo conservatively for the first four and a half rounds I’m glad Misha won. I don’t know if I could have handled another Tim Sylvia with the belt.
On the plus side, Misha managing to win the fight in the final round like that was one of the coolest come-from-behind victories I’ve seen in the UFC in some time. And it was fun watching Diaz’s Stockton Slap wear McGreggor down over time. I’d be interested in watching a rematch at 155. Both of them looked wicked out of shape, sucking air in the second round.
Diaz was fighting with 11 days notice. He and his brother Nick are well known for their cardio. With a proper camp Diaz will punch for 5 straight rounds. Feel we saw Conner get a tad exposed when he cant just use is early power to take a guy out. Nate took his shots in the first, kept coming in the second and gave as good back tagging him a bunch. I mean to see Conner go for a takedown against a great jujitsu guy like Diaz? He was getting desperate and paid the price.
I basically agree with everything you said. I’d just rather see them fight each other while they’re both in shape and able to perform at the peak of their abilities. Just like I’d like to see Mendes rematch against McGreggor with enough time to actually train. I don’t think McGreggor-Diaz II would necessarily be any different, but I think being able to see more movement from both of the fighters for a longer period of time would be more interesting than what either one of them did last night. And I really enjoyed that fight last night
True, but all the ranked fighters are athletically great. MacGregor and Rousey just happen to be athletically great and also quite handsome and fairly charismatic. That’s really what the draw is: they don’t look like the usual pugs, and they’re articulate.
Which is fine, I agree that it draws in the uncommitted. But the further the UFC goes down that road, the more it becomes entertainment and the less it’s actually a combat sport.
I suppose all I’m saying is it’s balancing act between purist sport and entertainment, and to some extent the UFC have been going a little bit over the line with those two, which is going to make inevitable reversals like we’ve seen recently hurt them all the more psychologically.
Still, I suppose they’re psychologically pretty tough as well as physically tough.
Kelan
1820
I caught the fight on a replay last night. Hunt does have some serious power, but Mir also probably shouldn’t have let him get off a punch like that so easily either. Mir did do the same to that younger guy last summer, Duffee or something, but he probably should start thinking of retirement after such a long career and only winning 2 of his last 8 fights.
