Best Matches Seen September 2018 |
GLORY 59 9/29/18: Murthel Groenhart vs. Mohammed Jaraya R2 1:05. I thought this was going to be a tough fight for Jaraya moving up a weight class to fight such a long powerful fighter, but you knew Jaraya was going to ensure it was a fire fight even if that just lessened the time until he went down on his shield. Jaraya's plan was to pressure with his kicks & then pivot off into an overhand right counter when Groenhart came in with his flying knee. Mainly though they just threw crazy full power shots that you were almost relieved when the opponent avoided. The refs were having a bad night as Zacharia Zouggary had a knockdown ruled against him when he landed hard missing a flying kick & here they called a knockdown when Groenhart kind of caught Jaraya's leg as he was pulling it back from landing a right low kick, and at the same time countered with a right cross that grazed Jaraya's block. Paul Nicholls was on the left side f the fighters, so he was blocked from the action on the kick's recoil, but still should have seen that Jaraya defended the blow. Groenhart closed distance aggressively as he likes to do on a restart & hopped into a right hook, but this is where Jaraya seemed undersized as Groenhart just walked through it & continued to pressure. Early in the 2nd, Jaraya went down again, and while it was a rightfully ruled a slip trying to answer with a haymaker, at least he took a legit shot before his counter. Groenhart was really coming aggressively though, and while that left him momentarily prone, he really dominated the action when he had Jaraya backed against the ropes. Jaraya landed a nice overhand right & circled away, but Groenhart cut him off with another flying knee for the knockdown. Jaraya started to get up then rolled onto his stomach, looking unsteady enough when he answered the count that a stoppage wouldn't have been unreasonable. Jaraya just couldn't stop Groenhart's forward charge no matter how hard he threw, and once Groenhart got him on the ropes he wasn't making it easy for Jaraya to get off, though earlier in the fight Jaraya really needed to recognize he was very overmatched there & make a point of circling away rather than exchanging from the disadvantageous position. By this point though, Jaraya was already half gone, so it didn't take much for Groenhart to overwhelm him enough to get the stoppage. You have to give credit to Jaraya for having the confidence in his abilities to take a fight against the former champion as his introduction to a new division, a win presumably could already have already put him into a title match, but that being said, it's probably smarter to fight another undersized not really fit for the division type as such as Johny Hendricks vs. Hector Lombard to get a better idea if you are physically right for the new weight class. Good match.
UFC Fight Night 137: Thiago Santos vs. Eryk Anders 3R. Santos replaced Glover Teixeira in the middle of August, while Anders replaced Jimi Manuwa with 6 days notice. Both moved up to 205 for the short notice fight, so at least they didn't have to deplete their body to ultimately weigh the same as the opponent once the bell rang, but the fatigue from not having full training camps was clearly the less than ideal factor in what was otherwise an impressive performance by both. Though time was on Santos' side, he had a lot of advantages that were more important in leading to his victory, primarily that he was the better athlete & the more diverse fighter. Though Santos is known for his powerful striking, and clearly hit harder than Anders, his speed & footwork were more significant difference in that his ability to move laterally & cut angles allowed him to land more strikes than Anders, as well as bigger & better ones. Anders big problem is he really only steps forward in very slowly & predictable manner. Santos really owned the mid range & was able to keep Anders from owning the close range by outmoving him. Anders should be the better wrestler, and while he did have 5 takedowns, his lack of speed was also crucial in the grappling sequences, as Santos defended his takedown early & wound up on top because Anders conceeded to lying on his back rather than attempting to quickly get back to his feet. Later, Santos would win the scrambles, which would allow him to get back to his feet. The action got going midway through the 2nd when Anders got off his back with Santos landing a knee as Anders stood & came in with a big left, but Anders finally found an angle to escape & charged in with a left straight to start a big exchange. Anders offense was mainly reliant on the left straight, whereas Santos was able to work Anders over with kicks as well as a variety of punches. Santos hurt Anders with a right middle kick late in the 2nd. Santos sat against the cage after accidentally gouging Anders late in the 2nd, and Anders was able to get a takedown & land a big knee on the ground before the bell. Still, it was too little too late, & Santos was up 2 rounds. Santos did a good job working low kicks to start the 3rd, but Anders knocked him into the cage with a left straight & ducked into a takedown. Anders got rear mount, but the fence kept him from being able to flatten Santos out, & Santos took the top when Anders tried to transition to mount. Santos landed a knee on the break & a left straight when Anders was trying to back into open space then began to really take over, hurting Anders with a short left hook. Anders was able to get his 4th takedown of the fight, but Santos got up against the cage. Anders desperately tried for yet another takedown, but although he got it, he wasn't able to secure the position, and throughout the process, he took some powerful hammerfists & elbows that knocked out his mouthpiece. Anders was using Marc Goddard for support when Goddard reinserted the mouthpiece, and Santos just flurried with short elbows & punches as Anders pretended to continue going for the takedown but really was just holding on to the legs offering little to no resistance. Anders rolled to his side at the bell where Goddard's leg was holding him up until Goddard moved, causing Anders to collapse to his back. Anders had to go all the way across the octagon to get to his corner, but even with some assistance from his team, would just collapse as soon as he got most of the way to his feet, leading to the stoppage for fatigue. Good match.
Bellator 205 9/21/18: Patricky Pitbull vs. Roger Huerta R2 0:43. Huerta is the typical aquisition for the current incarnation of Bellator - albeit awfully young at just 35 - an over the hill star who hasn't been relevant in a decade. That being said, he's one of their few worthwhile guys they've actually brought in because at least he's still willing to take chances & capable of delivering an exciting match, something that almost never happens in Bellator under the Scott Coker senior league era. I valued this promotion pretty highly in the Bjorn Rebney create new stars and rightful title contenders via tournaments of hungry fighters on the rise, but the last MMA match the promotion put on that I liked was Derek Campos vs. Brandon Girtz from Bellator 181 7/14/17, which means a full 14 months & 24 disinteresting shows have come & gone. The Pitbulls brothers are holdovers from the halcyon days of Bellator, Patricky is definitely the lesser of two, but still a two time tournament finalist & one time title challenger who has beaten all the UFC castoffs Bellator has thrown his way. Huerta established that he was going to be the one to push forward, which would have been a problem for the younger, more aggressive version of Pitbull, but he's evolved into a fighter who can take advantage of the opponent taking the fight to him, waiting, if he has to, for his opening to press forward with his counter attack. What was great about this fight is they really took it too each other. Pitbull was landing the cleaner, more solid blows, but Huerta would answer with even more urgency & aggression, quickly turning this into a fire fight. Both fighters had their moments, but in general, Pitbull was a lot more concise in his strikes, while Huerta was mostly swinging wildly & forcing an all action affair. Huerta was cut on the bridge of the nose halfway through the 1st. Huerta hurt Pitbull with a series of hooks against the cage in the last minute, but Pitbull fired right back to stop the rot & ended the round with a takedown. As good as round 1 was, the start of the second was even crazier with the all out exchanging. Pitbull countered the liver kick with the left straight then avoided the right straight & threw a couple hooks, hurting Huerta with a left Huerta didn't see coming because he wasn't facing Pitbull. Huerta held onto the leg & eventually managed to get Pitbull down in desperation even though he was so woozy he didn't know where he was, but Pitbull just pushed him off, stood up, & came in with a flying knee & right uppercut for the finish. One fighter clearly being better than the other leading to a quick finish is pretty common in Bellator these days as they book so many obvious mismatches, but while this was a fight that Huerta was only going to win if he got lucky with one of his haymakers, it was very obvious that if he was going down, it was going to be on his shield, and we could use more of that in each and every organization. Good match.
DRAKA V PPV 5/24/98
DRAKA World Super Heavyweight Title: Maurice Smith vs. Jean-Claude Leuyer 12R. I like kickboxing better as a 5 round sport than a 12 round sport because the fighters are forced to push a lot harder each round rather than to conserve energy for the long haul, but the durability of some of these old fighters is pretty extraordinary, especially when you consider the general inconsistency in rules & lack of weight classes they had to deal with. In these days, Smith was alternating between MMA fights in the US that rewarded you for being as large as possible, kickboxing matches in K-1 that were five three minute rounds with no weight classes or steroid testing so most opponents were huge, kickboxing matches in the US that had a bunch of weight classes but were sometimes twelve two minute rounds & had inconsistent kicking rules, all or partially worked fights in Pancrase & RINGS that still mar his MMA record for reasons known only to Sherdog & the like, and now DRAKA which was essentially Shoot Boxing without knees. Leuyer was one of the top US fighters of the era, a dominant force in the California scene with numerous ISKA titles, but unfortunately he will mainly be remembered for all his losses because his K-1 fights where he was just billed as Jean-Claude make up the majority of the footage that still floats around. Wikipedia claims a 39-11-1 career record, but Leuyer is 8-11-1 in the fights they actually have results for. A decade younger than Smith, Leuyer was in his prime here & focusing all his efforts on kickboxing whereas Smith had predominantly transitioned to MMA by this point, but was getting back into kickboxing after the frustration of Randy Couture laying on him for 21 minutes to take his UFC title. Smith was a better kickboxer in his younger days when he was lighter & relied more on his speed to find the opening for the big high kick KO or simple beat up your legs enough that you wilted before he needed it. Having spent so much time trying not to get taken down in MMA, Smith mainly relied on his boxing here, perhaps because he had an issue with his right ankle, but either way this wasn't his biggest strength in the prime of his kickboxing career despite having a powerful right hand. DRAKA rules allowing takedowns seemingly gave the edge to Smith, who probably stole the first with one, but Leuyer reversed him in the 3rd & the 7th, so overall it wound up being a disadvantage. Smith was a slow starter regardless as he looked to figure the opponent out & exploit their weaknesses while he warmed up, but this fight started extra slow because both were also pacing themselves. It was another example of why I hate rounds scoring, as the activity was low enough in the early rounds that no one was winning the rounds decisively & the scores wound up being all over the place. Leuyer spent more time walking forward & threw more kicks, but Smith landed more cleanly & crisply as well as doing the better work with short punches on the inside. The fight began to pick up in the 5th when Smith tried to back away from Leuyer's double jab, but Leuyer nailed him with a long overhand right. Still, it was essentially even through 6. Leuyer took control with a big 7th round where he began to finish his combos with clean left hooks. Round 8 was another close round, but while the arguement could be made that Leuyer won it, it was more notable for Smith changing his tactics & finally pushing forward, which led to the fight turning in his favor as he finally opened up in the subsequent rounds. Smith continued to box aggressively in the 9th, which was the biggest round of the fight for either, stunning Leuyer early with a few jabs then working him over with his hands on the ropes. Smith landed a solid left hook early in the 11th that slit Leuyer's eyelid all the way across, a cut similar to when Stallone had the corner cut it so he can see in Rocky though not that gruesome. Leuyer gave his back early in the 12th to avoid a takedown & Smith just released & nailed him with a short right hook in the corner then went to work on him, stunning him with a short right hand then getting a high kick in. Smith was a little tired & Leuyer did a good job of tying Mo up while he recovered to survive the round. This wasn't as bad a decision as either GGG vs. Canelo fight, but was kind of similar to their 2nd match where you were impressed by the lesser fighter early but then the better fighter really took over only to leave with nothing for his efforts. Blinky Rodriguez & Phil Stone both had Smith marginally ahead after 6 whereas I thought it was like 2-2-2, but Smith won the last 4 rounds, with 9 & 12 being dominant rounds & 11 being the biggest damage of the fight with a nasty cut. To have this be a majority draw where 1 judge had it 7-5 Leuyer was pretty inexplicable beyond the fact that Leuyer was fighting in his home state. Good match.
Tournament Semifinal: Cung Le vs. Gaik Israelyan 5R. This was Le's 2nd professional fight, and it was a fantastic watch as always, being thrown into the deep waters with an 18-3 fighter who held a couple of titles. Justin Gaethje has higher quality matches on a more consistent basis as he fights better competition, but there may not have been a more purely exciting fighter in combat sports than Le, certainly no one who could repeatedly make opponents look more foolish. Le was probably even been more exciting in Sanshou than in MMA because he was able to use his throws without worrying about the fight getting stuck on the ground. In typical Le fashion, he went right to the highlight reel material, starting off with a spinning high kick then dropping for a double leg, but instead scooping Gaik up & essentially powerslams him. Le's striking wasn't as impressive here as in later years, but he was regularly able to do variations of this slam, throwing his strike & then just dropping down at will before Israelyan could throw his counter & doing some sort of scoop slam variation. Le was just too quick & unpredictable early on. You always had to be on guard becuase he would do low percentage moves, but he could follow them up while the opponent was off guard, for instance missing a left spinning backfist, but then immediately landing a nice right hook. One of these low percentage specials eventually backfired on Le, as he missed an axe kick in the corner & was able to avoid Israelyan's right hook counter but then there was no space for him to evade the subsequent left hook. This could have been ruled a knockdown, and that would likely have changed the fight. I think what saved Le, aside from the ref having a bad angle where Gaik's back was in his way, is he immediately went into a desperation takedown once his knee hit the mat. Le wasn't doing much to keep Israelyan off him in the 4th, and Israelyan, who was primarily a boxer, was now able to overwhelm him with hooks in the corner for a knockdown that was scored. Le got up quickly, but wobbled from the neutral corner to his own, and the ref inexplicably brought the doctor in to check him after giving him the standing 8 count then let Le walk back to his corner, so almost 45 seconds passed before Le had to fight again. Le eventually got his senses back & took Gaik down with a beautiful jumping leg scissors then Gaik took a cheap shot, kicking him in the face before they got back up. Le had two more takedowns before the round ended to somewhat negate the knockdown. Sadly the PPV signed off before the start of the 5th round because the 3 hour window was up. The final round saw Le using more scissor takedowns, and Gaik again cheap shot him for his trouble, which at least cost him points. Le was expending a lot of energy as always, and Gaik was able to work him over with boxing because a tiring Le no longer possessed the kind of footwork & movement he had early in the fight, but Le did fire back with some powerful right hooks. Overall, Gaik's inability to adjust to the takedowns & actually stop some was the difference in the fight, and kind of what made it memorable as these techniques, albeit eventually a bit repetitive, were always amazing. Le got the unanimous decision here then won the final in the 1st round. Excellent match.
UFC Fight Night 136 9/15/18: Petr Yan vs. Jin Soo Son 3R. A really crazy action packed fight where Son may have lost the battle, but he won the war in terms of being a really entertaining character that people will remember & want to see. Son is a joyful banger, standing in front of the opponent with little head movement & smiling when he gives or usually just takes a big shot. He just has a ton of charisma, joy, & playfulness out there, and provides endless reckless & wild action. That's not to take away from Yan, a -1000 favorite, who is the genuine talent in the fight, and has the upside, maybe even the skill right now, to be a top contender. He's an aggressive fighter, but it's an intelligent aggression, as he's very versatile in standup, trying to figure out & exploit the range, stance, & distance that's going to give him the biggest advantage. He's just got great reflexes & timing, and really takes advantages of the little holes & gaps in the opponents attacks to insert a wide variety of damaging strikes. In general, anything outside of the clinch was an advantage to Yan, who was a much better defensive fighter, but Son was very strong & was able to get a takedown or outmuscle Yan in the clinch. Once Yan understood Son had to grab him, he was able to time Son coming in with the uppercut or punish him on the break with big punches. Yan also picked up on Son exposing himself by leaving his hands out too long after throwing, and would shell up to protect himself from Son's combo then answer back with his own either before Son was quite ready to defend or simply because he was prone given his "defense" involved one hand below his waist. Son had takedowns in the 1st 2 rounds, but didn't do enough once he got the fight to the ground to warrant giving the round to, especially given Yan was lighting him up on his feet. I just loved Son's resolve & craziness though; he'd get tagged but just smile & slap himself in the face. Yan got better with each round, just repeatedly finding the right strike at the right time. The uppercuts & elbows on the inside were obvious repeatable weapons, but in round three he threw Son down with a trip & landed a high kick as soon as Son got up, landed a spinning elbow off the clinch break, a left high kick as Son ducked his left hook, etc. Yan even landed a jumping middle kick, but no matter how solid or spectacular the technique, Son just kept standing in his face, hands down, grinning away. I don't think Son won a round, but I'm not sure if Yan would have finished him had the fight went another three, Son just had so much resolve & was almost too tough for his own good. Yan won a unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 29-28. Very good match.
Lucha Underground S4 E11, Lucha Underground Title Last Man Or Machine Standing Match: Pentagon Dark vs. Cage 13:17. Brutal brawl where they used every object they could find as a weapon to enhance their moves. They were just trying to kill each other, never pausing or relenting to allow the opponent to recover. Cage is hardly a great worker, but there wasn't a lot of finesse here, Penta primarily made the match taking sick bumps on Cage's assortment of now souped up power moves. That being said, this wasn't a one-sided match where the machine just tossed the skilled athlete around, Penta may have even gave more than he took, and ultimately convincingly defeated the cyborg in such a sick fashion you almost felt bad for him. This wasn't high art, but they were actually given time, and used it really well, going all out delivering one dangerous move after another until someone was incapacitated. Cage no sold Penta breaking a glass bottle over his head then broke one of his own & gored Penta with it. He tried to powerbomb Penta through a table, but Penta countered with a Death Valley bomb through the table. Cage did hit the powerbomb into the security rail, but Penta also hit the Death Valley bomb off the apron through a table. Cage stood on the middle rope & suplexed Penta from inside the ring through a table on the floor. Penta finally took over with an insane Canadian destroyer off the top through a table then set up 6 chairs so he could stand on them & hit his package piledriver. Penta then "broke" both of Cage's arms & stomped his head into a concrete block to finally complete his 4th defense. ***1/4
UFC 228 9/8/18: Irene Aldana vs. Lucie Pudilova 3R. A hard nosed, high paced all out war where Pudilova refused to relent & dragged Aldana into her nonstop striking style by denying Aldana even a momentary reprieve. Aldana has a far more refined striking style with footwork, feints, & diversity, but Pudilova is just a tank that plows straight forward & forces you to keep dealing with her. She endlessly pressured & threw bombs, and although she's rather easy to hit given she literally just keeps stepping forward with shoulders square to the opponent, she was able to walk through Aldana's shots early, and that gained her the confidence to exchange even more aggressively as the fight progressed. Aldana really wanted to use her lateral movement & stay long behind the jab, but Pudilova kept chasing her to the point that it was hard for her to use her angles & set things up, her options were almost down to whether to keep running or stand her ground. Aldana was a lot more accurate, and did a good job of landing the counter left jab, but Pudilova had her fighting off her back foot most of the fight, accentuating the power differential, which was totally the difference in the fight. Both landed almost an equal number of strikes, 121-110 Aldana for the fight, but Pudilova attacked right through everything Aldana had to offer whereas Pudilova's better shots usually caused Aldana to retreat. Aldana is the more evolved & technical fighter to be certain, but her defensive advantages didn't really pan out her given she couldn't slow Pudilova down, so while Aldana connected at 53% to Pudilova's 31%, Pudilova just threw almost 100 more to make that largely irrelevant. Aldana's cause wasn't helped by breaking her hand in the 1st. Both tried to finish the opening round strong with Pudilova opening up with her kicks, but taking a spinning backfist. Aldana started to do better in the 2nd half when she got her low kick going, but Pudilova was such a machine that she pressed through the pain & managed to throw 139 strikes in the 3rd (37 more than in her next best round). Both women were pretty busted up by the end of the second, taking way too many shots to the nose, and having a big red bullseye that just expanded as the fight progressed. The fight lacked signature moments, but was amazingly consistent, starting really fast & just increasing in activity with each round despite all the punishment both endured. I gave Pudilova the 1st, Aldana the 2nd, and thought Aldana might be up in the 3rd but Pudilova again finished strong after Aldana landed a couple good knees with a minute left including a nice superman punch. The fight was close enough that a split decision wasn't surprising, but as Cormier pointed out right at the end, Pudilova had Aldana grimacing every time she landed down the stretch, and generally I just don't see where anything Aldana did was really effecting Pudilova in the moment. I think Aldana is the better fighter in a vacuum, but her advantage on the ground didn't materialize with just one failed takedown, and her standup technique wasn't enough given she just exchanged for three rounds with a much harder hitting fighter. Aldana won a split decision 29-28, 28-29, 29-28. Very good match.
ONE 79 Beyond the Horizon 9/8/18, ONE Women's Strawweight Title: Jingnan Xiong vs. Samara Santos 1:22 R3. A fairly one-sided match that had a lot of action as Xiong pressured with her big punches & didn't care if that allowed Santos to clinch. Santos should have had the ground advantage, but Xiong was just too strong for her to ever take advantage, getting top control because she dropped Santos with strikes or because she overpowered her once Santos employed a standing clinch until she found the opening for the trip. Santos briefly had a standing rear mount, but Xiong took over dropping Santos with a flying knee midway through the first & went to work on her on the ground, mounting & dropping punches & short elbows. The ref may have stopped the fight if she just continued with her pounding instead of gambling on the armbar before the bell. Early in the 2nd, Xiong reversed Santos' clinch & tripped her up, but the fight was quickly stood back up when Xiong landed an illegal kick to the head of her downed opponent that was presumably intended for the shoulder. Santos finally tripped Xiong out of a single leg attempt with 90 seconds in the 2nd & was nearly able to transition right into mount, but wound up losing control trying to catch a standing guillotine as Xiong stood. Xiong then got the hiptoss & had a better armbar attempt to finish the 2nd. The finish was odd as they claim the spinning back kick landed to the liver, but I couldn't really tell it connected. Xiong definitely followed with a standing hammerfist to the side of the head and then Santos paused for a second then waived her hand in surrender. Xiong was a very classy opponent, pulling up on her subsequent punch because she saw something was wrong with Santos before the ref realized Santos quit. Good match.
