Man, on second look UFC on Fox 6 is actually a very nice card. Exciting championship main event, two great other main events, and 2 solid undercard fights as well.
Predicting that Mighty Mouse, Rampage, Showtime, Clay Guida and Bader come home with the win.
It's a shame Mighty Mouse still hasn't gotten the respect he deserves yet. It'll be a real shame if Dodson somehow catches him with something, as Mighty Mouse is the much better fighter and deserves to be a long reignign champ and to be seen as a dominant one. He's the quicker and far more skilled striker, and the far superior grappler as well, only advantage Dodson has is more power.
lol, anyone think putting Clay on the undercard is some kind of punishment for the shit he pulled against Gray Maynard?
What do people think of Ryan Bader? I think he's the number 7 guy at LHW, he's had a few losses but imo Jones was just muich better than him like he is most people, machida is also damn good and stylistically a terrible matchup for Bader, and his loss to Tito was clearly a fluke. He has great wrestling, is very athletic, has a lot of power, and if you look at the numbers he statistically one of the best defencive strikers in MMA (significant strikes avoided I believe), interpret that how you will. He has understandable losses, and wins over Rampage and Lil Nog. The only people at LHW I probably rank above him, in order, are Jones, Rashad, Glover, Machida, Phil Davis, and Chael Sonnen.
Originally posted by Insomniatric
I've been saying this for a while now, Anthony Pettis is the most talented fighter in the LW division. He just walked right through Cowboy.I think he'll take Bendo's belt again.
Hmm I don't know imo the Clay Guida fight exposed a massive hole in his game, being his takedown defence and lack of an offence on the bottom or the ability to get back up. He definitely could defeat Benson simply because, Benson likes to mix things up and would never emplot such a LnP strategy like Clay did, plus in just that single area Clay may actually be better than Benson, but egardless I think any great wrestler has the tools to beat Pettis.
Cowboy Cerrone is a solid fighter but I don't think he's really championship material, he's lost to Benson twice now, and what really exposed him was getting destroyed by Nate Diaz like he did, so while impressive I dont know if we should start hyping Pettis too soon. He didn't look all that great in this fight either imo, his movement was pretty bad imo. The best he's looked in recent memory is his fight against Dennis Siver.
I think the top guys at LW right now are benson, Maynard, and Melendez (+ Frankie and BJ if they fought there). God imagine how stacked LW would become if BJ and Frankie did return, with them now also having Melendez, and maybe if they get Eddie Alvarex too, and hell, let's say some people like Clay aLSO COME BACKa. Frankie edgar, BJ Penn, Gilbert Melendez, Eddie Alvarez, Benson Henderson, Amthony Pettis, Cowboy Cerrone, Gray Maynard, Nate Diaz, Clay Guida, Jim Miller. Most insanse division ever lol.
Originally posted by srankmissingnin
lol @ Fox.Changing to Big Bang Theory re-runs before the main event ended. facepalm
lol thats funny. I watched it on ESPN so I got to see the whole fight, it was definitely a good fight.
I think I really underestimated Dodson going into this fight, I wasn't aware of his wrestling credentials, and he was looking really good up tunil he gassed, I still think demetrious was winning and definitely the better fighter, but he looked very good on the feet, he has the combo of crazy flyweight speed with power and the way he was dropping him in the second round had me worried.
Who do people think gave Mighty Mouse the hardest fights and should be the number 2 FLW? benavidez, Dodson or McCall?
I now have the ranking at:
Demetrious
Benavidez
Dodson
Mccall
Also, anybody find it interesting how people hype Jon Jones' age so much, when Aldo and Mighty Mouse are less than a year older (and some people could argue more well rounded/p4p betterm although its close)?
I'll comment on the fights later, but can anyone tell me
Why has Rampage turned so one-dimensional? I know it's not something "new", but every fight I keep my fingers for the Rampage of old and I get disappointed again. It's like Crocop all over again.
He doesn't wrestle any more. He barely kicks. He's tentative. Even his boxing, while good defensively, frequently turns into head hunting offensively. Just....damnit. 🙁
Originally posted by SebastianisI
Hmm I don't know imo the Clay Guida fight exposed a massive hole in his game, being his takedown defence and lack of an offence on the bottom or the ability to get back up. He definitely could defeat Benson simply because, Benson likes to mix things up and would never emplot such a LnP strategy like Clay did, plus in just that single area Clay may actually be better than Benson, but egardless I think any great wrestler has the tools to beat Pettis.Cowboy Cerrone is a solid fighter but I don't think he's really championship material, he's lost to Benson twice now, and what really exposed him was getting destroyed by Nate Diaz like he did, so while impressive I dont know if we should start hyping Pettis too soon. He didn't look all that great in this fight either imo, his movement was pretty bad imo. The best he's looked in recent memory is his fight against Dennis Siver.
I think the top guys at LW right now are benson, Maynard, and Melendez (+ Frankie and BJ if they fought there). God imagine how stacked LW would become if BJ and Frankie did return, with them now also having Melendez, and maybe if they get Eddie Alvarex too, and hell, let's say some people like Clay aLSO COME BACKa. Frankie edgar, BJ Penn, Gilbert Melendez, Eddie Alvarez, Benson Henderson, Amthony Pettis, Cowboy Cerrone, Gray Maynard, Nate Diaz, Clay Guida, Jim Miller. Most insanse division ever lol.
Clay didn't really expose anything IMO, Anthony didn't really care if Guida took him down (he threw his usual flashy kicks), and he was very offensive from the bottom. He reversed Guida a few times (got the mount once or twice and landed some nice strikes), landed some hard strikes from the bottom (admitted by Guida himself), and attempted many submissions.
The problem with that fight was the judges, they just don't understand how the guard works. It's a neutral position, and if the fighter on the bottom is being more effective, he wins. Anthony was being far more effective than Guida while on his back, and he was handling the striking. The judges just will automatically assume that the guy on top is winning, even though he didn't really do anything but defend submissions. Anthony would wreck him in a rematch.
Hatsu Hioki beat Guida too, that was just another case of bad judging.
Also, Cowboy is a solid win. Losing to Benson and getting outboxed by Nate Diaz is nothing to be ashamed of, especially considering the mind games that Nate plays. Anthony just walked right through Cowboy.
Anthony can definitely handle wrestlers, just ask Shane Roller. He really doesn't mind being on his back.
As of now, I have Anthony ranked at #2, but that's only because Benson has the belt. I think Anthony is the best LW in MMA.
Originally posted by StyleTime
I'll comment on the fights later, but can anyone tell meWhy has Rampage turned so one-dimensional? I know it's not something "new", but every fight I keep my fingers for the Rampage of old and I get disappointed again. It's like Crocop all over again.
He doesn't wrestle any more. He barely kicks. He's tentative. Even his boxing, while good defensively, frequently turns into head hunting offensively. Just....damnit. 🙁
Agreed as one-dimensional and predictable as his offence was his defencive boxing and head movement always really impress me, aside from Anderson Silva I think it might be the best in MMA.
Originally posted by Insomniatric
Clay didn't really expose anything IMO, Anthony didn't really care if Guida took him down (he threw his usual flashy kicks), and he was very offensive from the bottom. He reversed Guida a few times (got the mount once or twice and landed some nice strikes), landed some hard strikes from the bottom (admitted by Guida himself), and attempted many submissions.The problem with that fight was the judges, they just don't understand how the guard works. It's a neutral position, and if the fighter on the bottom is being more effective, he wins. Anthony was being far more effective than Guida while on his back, and he was handling the striking. The judges just will automatically assume that the guy on top is winning, even though he didn't really do anything but defend submissions. Anthony would wreck him in a rematch.
Hatsu Hioki beat Guida too, that was just another case of bad judging.
Also, Cowboy is a solid win. Losing to Benson and getting outboxed by Nate Diaz is nothing to be ashamed of, especially considering the mind games that Nate plays. Anthony just walked right through Cowboy.
Anthony can definitely handle wrestlers, just ask Shane Roller. He really doesn't mind being on his back.
As of now, I have Anthony ranked at #2, but that's only because Benson has the belt. I think Anthony is the best LW in MMA.
Well even if you want to blame it on the rules, yiu can at least see that, within the confines of MMA and the rules, I feel Clay exposed how he can be controlled, and how he can lose on the judges' score cards. Though that being said, Clay Guida did outstrike his as well, both in total and significant strikes. And I disagree about it being a neutral position, I know they consider it neutral in Jiu-Jitsu but no matter how you look at it, the guy on the bottom has to carry the weight of the guy on top, strikign is more effective form top position than it is from bottom, its only neutral from purely a jiu-jitsu standpoint.
I tried watching the fight again but I wasn't able to find a video, but from what I remember Anthony Pettis really did not do much from the bottom position, and he was getting taken down easily and early into every round. It wasn't like the Hioki fight, Hioki actually had enough time standing to land a good offence on Clay, Pettis was repeatedly taken down before he could do anything, and Guida was displaying much better timing than Pettis was.
Also, no, losing to Benson is nothing to be ashamed of, but getting destroyed by Nate Diaz, imo, is... not that Diaz sucks but I don't think he's quite there with the elite, there are many ways his one-dimensional striking can be neutralised, and Cerrone was just getting destroyed, for a striker I think that was a pretty terrible performance.
Originally posted by SebastianisI
Well even if you want to blame it on the rules, yiu can at least see that, within the confines of MMA and the rules, I feel Clay exposed how he can be controlled, and how he can lose on the judges' score cards. Though that being said, Clay Guida did outstrike his as well, both in total and significant strikes. And I disagree about it being a neutral position, I know they consider it neutral in Jiu-Jitsu but no matter how you look at it, the guy on the bottom has to carry the weight of the guy on top, strikign is more effective form top position than it is from bottom, its only neutral from purely a jiu-jitsu standpoint.I tried watching the fight again but I wasn't able to find a video, but from what I remember Anthony Pettis really did not do much from the bottom position, and he was getting taken down easily and early into every round. It wasn't like the Hioki fight, Hioki actually had enough time standing to land a good offence on Clay, Pettis was repeatedly taken down before he could do anything, and Guida was displaying much better timing than Pettis was.
Also, no, losing to Benson is nothing to be ashamed of, but getting destroyed by Nate Diaz, imo, is... not that Diaz sucks but I don't think he's quite there with the elite, there are many ways his one-dimensional striking can be neutralised, and Cerrone was just getting destroyed, for a striker I think that was a pretty terrible performance.
The thing was though that Anthony didn't mind being on his back with Guida. He's kept it standing against wrestlers before, and Roller is a better wrestler than Guida.
You won't find many guys who can deliver decent GnP from the guard, and Clay isn't one of them. He wasn't even focused on GnPing Anthony, he just wanted to grind out a win. Clay said that Anthony's punches from his back were hard. Clay wasn't doing anything but defending from the top, IMO he should have lost that fight. Guida rarely postured up and attempted to land some GnP, and when he did Anthony would attempt submissions and stifle the GnP.
The numbers don't always tell who wins in the striking. I've seen one report that said Forrest Griffin landed more power strikes on Anderson than vice versa (and, it's tough to remember Forrest landing anything in that fight).
Getting outstruck by Nate Diaz is something that I would expect to happen with most guys in the division. His ability to keep his opponents at distance with his jab and his ability to get into his opponent's head make him a hand full. The guys who present a bad match-up for him are guys like Bendo who can mix takedowns and strikes, change levels, and handle him on the ground (same thing will happen to Nick Diaz against GSP).
You have Maynard listed as one of the best in the division, it's worth mentioning that Nate Diaz submitted Maynard on TUF and arguably won their second fight.
The problem though is that there weren't any big punches or moments from Pettis at all, all the strikes were basically as insignficiant as each other, but Clay did land more, and maintained top position. I've found it hard to find the fight so I can't say too much, but from what I remember Pettis was trying to keep the fight standing, but Clay was just timing the takedowns better than pettis was his strikes.
I'm not saying Diaz is bad, just that imo for someone who is first and foremost a striker, I cannot rate him too highly if he gets absolutely destroyed by someone of Nate's calibre. Condit showed how easily their striking can be neutralised as well btw.
Originally posted by SebastianisI
The problem though is that there weren't any big punches or moments from Pettis at all, all the strikes were basically as insignficiant as each other, but Clay did land more, and maintained top position. I've found it hard to find the fight so I can't say too much, but from what I remember Pettis was trying to keep the fight standing, but Clay was just timing the takedowns better than pettis was his strikes.I'm not saying Diaz is bad, just that imo for someone who is first and foremost a striker, I cannot rate him too highly if he gets absolutely destroyed by someone of Nate's calibre. Condit showed how easily their striking can be neutralised as well btw.
Condit is one of the better stikers in the WW division. Granted he does throw his punches and kicks in technically wrong ways, he's brilliant at setting them up. That kick he landed on GSP was brilliantly timed.
Originally posted by SebastianisI
Damn close fight I scored it 48-47 for Edgar I think he won the last 3 rounds. No way that was a 49-46 fight like two of the judges scored it.
I think 49-46 was the right call. Imo, the only round Frankie took was the 4th.
Joe Rogan did a bad job of commentating tonight. In the later rounds, he would freak out whenever Frankie landed a powerless combo, and ignore it when Aldo landed something. Aldo countered many of Frankie's shots but Joe didn't say anything.
I think he has something against Aldo.
"He's outboxing Jose Aldo right now."
It's okay though. For me, the highlight of the night was Reem getting put down.
I think everyone can agree that rounds 1 and 2 were definitely Aldo's, and that round 4 was definitely Edgar's. People seem to disagree on 3 and 5, but imo there's no doubt that Edgar took both rounds.
Nothing major happened or landed in those two rounds, you could argue that Aldo's attacks are the harder ones, but then I would counter with Frankie Edgar having a much higher tolerance for taking hits (and the fact that throughout the fight the one that slowed down the most was Aldo).
So imo you have to look at two thing:
1. the numbers, in which case Edgar outstruck him in both total and significant strikes in both rounds.
2. The judging criteria of octagon control and aggression, in which case Frankie Edgar was CLEARLY dictating the pace, acting as the aggressor, and taking the centre of the octagon for the most part.
So imo Frankie definitely won those two rounds, no question about it imo, if the judges knew how to do their job properly they would have given them to him.
That said Aldo defintiely impressed me a lot, I didn't realise he would have such success at defending the takedown, and he looked really good in the first two rounds in the striking exchanges. He had a really good fight strategy as well, go strong in the first 2 ronds but not compeltely blow his wad, slow down considerable in rounds 3-4, and save some energy for the fifth round. But through just sheer toughness, heart and conditioning, I feel Frankie took the best Aldo could give him, and did end up winning, whether you look at either the ten must scoring sytstem, or the state they were in by the end of the fight (where Jose had slowed down considerably and Frankie maintained nearly the same pace he had at the beginning of the fight).
Also I've been reading some of the threads at Sherdog and it really annoys me how people will claim that Frankie isn't dangerous and is just a point fighter etc for two reasons:
1. One, this IS a sport, and there's nothing wrong with playing the game effectively.
2. If you took one major element of the sport out of the equation, the rounds and the time limit, then Frankie Edgar would be P4P one of the most dangerous fighters in MMA, if not the most dangerous, simply for how good his chin and cardio is. If Frankie and Jose Aldo fought with no time limit (a restriction of the sport), the likelihood is that Jose Aldo would not be able to finish Edgar at any point, and would in fact tire to the point of becoming easily finishable.
Edit - Also to be fair to Joe Rogan he was very complimentary to Jose Aldo in the first couple of rounds, I just think that he noticed that Jose Aldo did start to slow over in the later rounds and the momentum was slowly shifting to Edgar.