Best Matches Seen June 2019 |
UFC on ESPN 3 6/29/19
Vinc Pichel vs. Roosevelt Roberts 3R. At 6'1", Roberts is most likely going to be the longer lightweight, and he's been well trained to take advantage of that frame, using straights on the outside & clinch knees on the inside whether he's initiating or the opponent is pushing him against the cage. Pichel normally has the size advantage, but was nowhere close here, and quickly saw he had to close the distance to avoid just eating jabs, but Roberts timed it with a flying knee, though apparently it landed to the armpit. Roberts was dominating on the feet, but he really wanted to take Pichel down since half his wins are via choke. Roberts did have a couple takedowns, but Pichel ultimately proved to be the better grappler, and that was one of the key differences in the fight. Pichel did a better job in the 2nd, coming forward with quicker and more direct leg kicks and getting a takedown against the cage after Roberts avoided his overhand right. Roberts came on in the 2nd half of the round with some more straights and a flying knee, and might have won the round if not for Pichel finishing with some ground and pound from mount. You felt like the younger Roberts, who had barely worked up a sweat, would be stronger in the 3rd, but Pichel's confidence really grew with his good finish to the 2nd and he was able to continue the positive momentum with an early takedown. Roberts seemed ready to take over again in the 2nd half of the round when he survived Pichel's standing guillotine attempt, but Pichel caught him with a spinning elbow. Pichel got another takedown against the cage, and Roberts quickly gave his back. Roberts did a good job of keeping Pichel from flattening him, but Pichel rolled him to his back then mounted and dropped some bombs. This was the least competitive of the 3 rounds, but I don't think Roberts was by any means done like Pichel tried to convince himself & his corner, Pichel really went out there & took it to him & from him, just keeping him defending all round. Pichel won a unanimous 29-28 decision. Good match.
Joseph Benavidez vs. Jussier Formiga R2 4:47. Benavidez won when these two fought 6 years ago, and though Formiga has improved, I'm baffled as to why he's ranked #1 in the flyweight division. Their records are comparable, but Benavidez has fought all the top names for the last decade plus and even when he was fighting up in weight because his real weight class didn't exist, he beat everyone but the absolute #1 guy in the division, losing twice to Dominick Cruz then twice to Mighty Mouse. Formiga beat Sergio Pettis, which was Benavidez only bad and, in fact, only other loss, but to me Formiga has beaten guys at the lower end of the rankings then lost to the bigger name opponents like Uncle Creepy, Dodson, Cejudo, & Borg. Benavidez was clearly the quicker fighter, and was doing a great job of working the body here, both with punishing liver kicks and entering low with punches to the chest so it was hard for Formiga to either duck into a takedown or headhunt with his counters and Benavidez could finish with the calf kick or the overhand right if it was there. Benavidez was cruising for the 1st half of round 1, but he tried to enter from Formiga's left side and use a left to the body to set up the overhand right then slide out on the right side, but Formiga intercepted him with an overhand right, cutting him in the eye socket with his thumbnail. Blood was flowing into Benavidez's eye the rest of the round, and he was spending so much time wiping the blood so he could see that he was pausing when he was previously attacking. Benavidez was still coming forward, but it was a lot easier for Formiga to time him because he wasn't flowing, he was getting out of the pocket, trying to regain some vision, then coming back at Formiga once he was done playing with the eye. Formiga got into the fight in the 2nd half of the round, but they did an amazing job to get the bleeding totally stopped between rounds, and Benavidez went back to befuddling him because he just had too many options of strikes to enter with. Benavidez had kind of locked into chest punching after starting the 1st round off strong with liver kicks, but he was really mixing things up in the 2nd, and actually he was doing the most damage with the calf kick, either staying on the outside or faking an entry and landing it. Formiga got a welt in his calf, and that just added to Benavidez's ability to outmaneuver him. Formiga needed a knee on the ground to get the takedown position & had to pick Benavidez up and slam him, but he did eventually get under a Benavidez entry only to have Joe roll to create a scramble the second he hit the mat then turn right into top control. The end came when Formiga tried to answer a right hook with a right elbow, but Benavidez showed some amazing reaction bringing up a left high kick up as he was leaning back to avoid it. Benavidez fell down trying to back out, but again wobbled Formiga with an overhand right once he got up then swarmed him with hooks against the cage until the stoppage. The win should set up a title shot with Henry Cejudo, who he's already beat and probably can again if it happens before he's too old, though between injuries, multi-division nonsense, and Dana White's indifference, who knows if will actually happen this decade. Good match.
GLORY 66 6/22/19
Antonio Plazibat vs. Nordine Mahieddine 3R. Good.
Stoyan Koprivlenski vs. Mohammed Jaraya R3 2:13. Good
GLORY Welterweight Title: Cedric Doumbe vs. Alim Nabiev R2 2:48. Not long ago, Doumbe was on the duller side of GLORY fighters, with his first 7 fights going the distance. Since losing a close split decision to Nabiev at GLORY 51 3/3/18, Doumbe has not only finished 4 of his 5 wins (including this), but been a veritable wrecking ball. The transformation was perhaps at its most amazing here because Nabiev isn't a fighter Doumbe already beat and now he's just getting more confident and aggressive, believing in his ability to finish rather than win on point fighting, but a fellow point fighter who has no knockdowns much less finishes. This is a guy Doumbe couldn't beat the old way, but now he blew him out of the water once Nabiev pissed him off with two illegal punches to the back of the head early on. I won't completely fault Nabiev for the incident because while they got tied up after overhand rights failed, Doumbe continued to pin Nabiev's hand at his side rather than releasing. Nonetheless, Nabiev hit him not once but three times in the back of the head trying to punch himself free. Doumbe was pretty shocked that Paul Nicholls, who is normally the least apt to take shit from anyone and quickest to take a point, just gave Nabiev a warning, but I'd guess that's because Doumbe wasn't completely innocent. In any case, Doumbe decided to take matters into his own hands, applying a lot more pressure and quickly stunning Nabiev with a right hook. Doumbe began swinging big, but he wasn't really being reckless and leaving himself open because he's so quick, it's more that Nabiev was too content to stand against the ropes, and as long as Nabiev was going to give himself no room to maneuever, Doumbe was going to swing for the finish rather than to connect. Nabiev got moving again late in the round, and got things back more toward parity with his regular stance switching style, though he still wasn't landing any knees or significant shots. What was working for Nabiev was the low kicks, but when he tried to come forward Doumbe would intercept him. Doumbe surely wasn't thrilled with Nabiev clowning him after eating a couple of Doumbe's jabs, and when Nabiev tried to press forward, Doumbe landed an overhand right and a left hook to stun him. Nabiev tried to stay in the pocket & exchange, but Doumbe soon wobbled him & Nabiev had to clinch. Doumbe was really doing work with his jab, but Nabiev did finally land a good long left hand. The problem for Nabiev is Doumbe's jab was working so well it even knocked him back sometimes, so Nabiev couldn't take a break and was thus forced to attack to keep Doumbe from just picking him apart. Doumbe would time his attacks though and land his power punches. Nabiev closed the distance, but Doumbe dropped him like a ton of bricks answering a clinch knee with the overhand right. I couldn't believe Nabiev was allowed to continue, as usually the fight is just waved off when a guy hits the canvas that hard, and clearly Nabiev had no legs and didn't know where he was when he apparently stood up straight enough at the 9 count. Nabiev was still looking at Nicholls when the fight restarted, and by the time he figured out where his opponent was, Doumbe finished him again. Nabiev had never been knocked down in GLORY before this round. Good match.
Bellator 223 6/22/19: Paul Daley vs. Erick Silva 3R. Thought Daley's fight with fellow flashy striker MVP failed to deliver the action one would expect, which was extra disappointing because it should have been good use of Daley after the disaster of bringing in the king of lay & pray Fitch to stall out the welterweight division, Silva has always been a bonus fighter and his durability led to the most entertaining match either fighter has had in at least 4 years. Silva is a fighter who will try for the knockout even though the ground is his advantage, but he tried to stay disciplined here, staying on the outside & pulling Daley into either the big right hand or the level change takedown. Silva was able to take the first with half a round of top control, but Daley did a better job closing the distance in the 2nd, taking very small steps forward to back Silva into the cage rather than closing the distance with big aggressive steps that gave Silva the opportunity to counter. Silva's footwork was pretty lazy here in that if he just cuts an angle off the cage and starts circling Daley never really gets close to him, but since he would always be too content to just stand there & let Daley do what he wanted when there wasn't any room to back, he was quickly (and all too often) hurt made to pay. Daley hurt Silva with a big lead right uppercut that probably worked because Daley had just used the more conventional combo of putting out the jab to try to set up the big right. Daley was just swinging for the fences after this, which mostly caused him to miss, but the fight likely would have ended if anything did connect. Daley knew the moment had passed, disengaging with a spinning elbow before he blew too much energy and going back to walking Silva down with little steps, though he did explode with a flying knee. Just as McCarthy said movement or a clinch is what you want to see right now from Silva, he instead got caught flatfooted against the cage & ate some big hooks. Silva's takedown attempts were slow & telegraphed, and Daley wound up on top, landing a few postured up bombs before Silva got some semblance of guard. Silva did a better job of making Daley guess in the 3rd, mixing his movement with finally throwing some shots to hold his ground and switching to southpaw. Daley still obviously landed the harder shots when he connected, but Silva could have won this round (which still likely only gets him a draw after a 10-8 2nd for Daley) if he had more energy to do a better job with his takedown attempts. Daley was doing a good job of digging into the body with his punches, and though the round was still up for grabs with 90 seconds left, Silva was fading fast after expending a lot of energy on a takedown attempt. Daley landed a flying knee with Silva against the cage, but Silva got a takedown off this. The problem is Silva really needed time to recover, but he also needed to push hard in the final minute to get the submission. Silva did eventually go, but Daley got back to his feet & finished missing a couple movie kicks. Daley won a unanimous 29-27 decision. Good match.
K-1 LEGEND 12/10/94: Orlando Wiet vs. Taro Minato 5R. Though Wiet is mainly remembered for his appearance at UFC 2, he was a multiple weight class world champion kickboxer who dabbled into MMA & boxing to little success. I expected him to beat Minato, a "Marshal Arts" Japan Middleweight Champion who always seemed robotic because he holds a really rigid block, but Wiet was barely even landing above the belt in the first half of the fight. While Minato wasn't landing a ton either, as he was often just kicking the block, he did mix his shots well and was connecting a lot more to the midsection as well as backing Wiet into the ropes then using the clinch. Wiet was knocked down from shots that were difficult to discern the quality of. In the second, he fell into the ropes after a short right, which I thought should have been called a knockdown given he grabbed the ropes to keep himself off the canvas. However, early in the 3rd, Wiet blocked a high kick then probably was just off balanced trying to back away from a right straight, a theory strengthened by Wiet popping right back to his feet by the 3 count, but this punch did land solidly, so it's hard to fault the knockdown call given it could go either way even after seeing the replay. Wiet felt the urgency now, and this turned into a hell of a fight as he began to up the pressure. Minato was still able to slow him down here, as he would tie him up against the ropes in the clinch. Elbows played a large role here as this was muay thai rules, with Minato throwing some nasty elbows when he had minimal separation and Wiet repeatedly using jumping 12-6 elbows, even with his back on the ropes in Minato's clinch. I've probably seen jumping 12-6 elbows before somewhere, but I've definitely never seen anyone throw a few dozen jumping elbows in a match before, and you know quack doctors across the globe were surely fearing for Minato's life. Wiet hit a sweet belly to belly suplex at the end of the 3rd, a round he likely would have won if not for the knockdown. One of the things that really stands out about old fights is the lack of an actual corner. Wiet just had his wife, kickboxing star Valerie Henin, armed with little more than 2 buckets and towel, which was not going to deal with the massive hematoma above his right eye. Henin must have said something great though, or perhaps shocked Wiet a few times, as he was a different fighter in the 4th, just exploding with right uppercuts while holding Minato's head with his left glove and throwing nonstop hooks and uppercuts once Minato got his head free. Minato was so beat down that Wiet eventually even landed some of the jumping 12-6 elbows, but this zombie somehow stayed on his feet while Wiet gave his arms a break and instead started uppercutting Minato with front kicks. The 4th round was just insane because Wiet kept a Diaz like pace while throwing everything at full power and landing most of these shots cleanly. The crazy thing is when Wiet would finally stop throwing, Minato would be right in there landing an elbow or a kick, so Wiet was almost forced to go right back on the attack. Wiet was really gassing toward the end of the round, but he kept throwing the front kicks to the chin, and then finally almost dropped Minato following a missed left high kick with a reverse spinning right high kick, but the ropes kept Minato from falling to the canvas (so at least these non knockdowns evened out). This is where I really hate round scoring because despite the dominant 4th round where Wiet turned Minato into a bobblehead that somehow kept staggering around, he was still very far down in the fight having lost the 1st 2 rounds that weren't that amazing and the 3rd because the ref called him down. Minato came out for the 5th with so much gunk in his hair it looked like he forgot he had another round before he could shampoo. Wiet continued to rock Minato in the 5th round, knowing he needed another dominant round at the very least, probably a knockout. He hit a sweet jumping side kick to the face followed by a side kick to the midsection. It's no wonder Wiet was exhausted with all these high dexterity attacks, but he willed himself to try to end things, landing another reverse spinning high kick into a forward roll, which looked like it was right out of Bloodsport. Minato managed to hang on though and get the decision 47-46, 47-46, 48-45. Excellent match.
UFC 238 6/8/19
Eddie Wineland vs. Grigory Popov R2 4:47. It's hard to believe Wineland is only 34, as he won the inaugural WEC Bantamweight Title from Antonio Banuelos then lost it to Chase Beebe, both long retired, on some of the 1st WEC shows I saw back in the day when there was a channel called Versus. Though he's been a win one/lose one type of fighter in his 8 year UFC run, I've always found him to be one of the most interesting movers in the octagon, using a wide leg stance with endless elbows at his side hands forward left to right or fight to left shoulder fakes, and there's no doubt that he's willing to have a high paced fight where he'll bang with anyone. Popov, who is actually a year older than Wineland despite making his UFC debut here 7 years into his pro career, is a muay thai fighter who was trying to fight at distance, using low kicks and trying to keep Eddie off with the front kick. This wasn't really working and the fight seemed like it was going to be one-sided, but it had a lot of action & I enjoyed that Wineland really went after Popov, showing little respect for him, especially early on when he just kept faking his way in and landing the big right straight behind the jab. Wineland really generates a lot of punching power from his wide stance, and was throwing full steam early, but Popov, who was quickly busted open, started to earn his respect midway through the 1st kicking his arms & kneeing him in the chin. Wineland hurt Popov intercepting the body kick from the southpaw stance with a right straigh to the chin that Popov had no chance of deflecting given his hands were barely above his waist when he threw the strike. Popov made it a fight in the 2nd round, hurting Wineland immediately with a short right counter then getting a flash knockdown with another right after Wineland ducked a left elbow. Popov was willing to come forward in this round, and using his jab helped open up his kicking game because Wineland couldn't just wait for the kick to counter with the punch. Popov's confidence grew, and he was flowing really well in the 2nd, showing some nice balance as he switched stances right after a kick if not as part of a combo. Wineland still had his moments in this round, but was not nearly as effective because Popov wasn't as predictable and had him backing most of the time so it was hard for him to hold his ground and sit down on his punches. It looked like it was going to be a round a piece, but suddenly Wineland hurt Popov with a right hook on the inside, landed 3 more big rights to drop him then flirted with a guillotine but decided to just let Popov up & instead walked him down & took him out with 2 ferocious lead rights as Popov didn't seem to have a defensive clinch or really any defense when he was in trouble and was just trying to run away by backing up without throwing anything. Good match.
Aljamain Sterling vs. Pedro Munhoz 3R. Sterling had two potential paths to victory, using his grappling or relying on his 6" reach advantage. He chose the latter, staying on the outside and giving Munhoz a steady diet of middle and front kicks and punches off his odd movements where he'd drop his head then come up with the overhand. Sterling wasn't exactly off the grappling, he tried to use his unique movements & level changes to catch Munhoz off guard for a "free" takedown, but when he couldn't just steal one without really committing to it he was content to avoid giving Munhoz the opportunity to try his feared guillotine. Sterling had the speed advantage, but Munhoz can keep walking you down for 3 rounds, so things increasingly shifted to Munhoz as the fight progressed & Aljo slowed down more and more. For me, it wasn't so much that Sterling was actually hurting Munhoz is that he was outmaneuvering him early. Sterling shots in the 1st were doing little more than touching Munhoz, but he was moving so consistently and so awkwardly that Munhoz couldn't capitalize on his power advantage because Sterling wasn't just standing around in midrange slugging it out with him. Munhoz began to come on late in the 1st when he got the fight out of the center of the octagon, and was able to exchange with Sterling close to the cage where he couldn't just run from him. Munhoz hurt Sterling early in the 2nd with a right body kick, and just kept throwing that as often as he could to suck the air out of Sterling. From this point, Munhoz was dictating the fight with a much more flatfooted Sterling exchanging then circling away rather than closing the distance on his terms & quickly getting out of the pocket & reestablishing it. Sterling was increasingly reacting to Munhoz, his hands were low to protect from the body kick, and he was changing circling directions because Munhoz was stepping outside to cut him off. The problem with all this is while Munhoz was getting his way to an extent, Sterling now began to land solid punches on a consistent basis because Munhoz was just stepping at him without throwing anything to try to keep the fight as mid range exchanges. Midway through the 2nd, Munhoz tried to capitalize on the low hands by throwing the high kick, but Sterling leaned forward to block it with his arms then hurt Munhoz with a left hand counter. Munhoz was content to eat straights hoping it would keep Sterling in front of him, but Sterling would land a few and then get back to moving, even if not as effectively as earlier on. Munhoz knocked Sterling down with a calf kick then pounced on an Anaconda choke, but released it so quickly I thought Sterling must have tapped. Apart from just being winded, Sterling's movement was also compromised from the calf kicks, and Munhoz was in his face in the later portion of the round, though he just ate too many jabs to be there. This was a really action packed round, and Munhoz, though taking punishment, really seemed to get into his game and be able to both control range & wear Sterling out with his pressure. I thought he won this round, and now liked his chances going forward because he wasn't slowing down from the punishment whereas Sterling was nowhere near the fighter he was 5 minutes ago. Sterling was mostly fighting southpaw to protect the left leg, but Munhoz just couldn't capitalize. The biggest problem for Munhoz in this fight is he lacked anything he could rely on to score with. I mean, he could dictate with his pressure game, but too often he was just stepping into Sterling's jab in order to maintain positional control of the fight. He wasn't using his own jab or coming in behind combos or doing much to keep Sterling from sniping him, so ultimately he got outvolumed & the lack of his usual signature big damage punches really hurt him because there wasn't the obvious case for impact over quantity. I felt like Sterling was in much more trouble in the 3rd, but he kept landing solid shots whereas Munhoz didn't do enough with his calf kick or body kick to take advantage of Sterling being damaged & winded, and just tended to step forward into Sterling's punches. Munhoz did a better job of kicking late in the round, but by that time it was going to be hard to get a finish off them, and the judges aren't very intelligent at scoring these, valuing the punch to the face over the kick to the calf. The action in the last 2 rounds was able to match the pace, and it was a really close fight. I agree with Sterling winning, but for me this was a fight where one big shot from Munhoz in the 3rd could have swung it to him whereas the judges had it 30-27 Sterling. Good match.
Tony Ferguson vs. Donald Cerrone 2R. Definitely a main event quality matchup, but it was very much to Cerrone's advantage that it was just 3 rounds. You knew this was going to be a big time firefight, and these two didn't disappoint, though the match was probably more competitive and less exciting than we expected. Ferguson's pace is so ridiculous he forced Cerrone into the kind of nonstop action that he could withstand but Cerrone ultimately couldn't. Cerrone was able to more than hang with Ferguson in the first round though, actually coming on late and hurting Tony with a short left in the final seconds to potentially steal a close round that Ferguson outstruck him in. The key difference between Ferguson's attack & Munhoz's is that Ferguson is light on his feet & comes in behind a wide variety of strikes, sometimes almost seeming to throw 2 at a time, rather than being heavy and just looking for the power punches, so while the ceaseless pressure of both predictable, the angles and attacks of Ferguson really aren't. Cerrone did a lot of backing, but he would use the jab or body kick to try to keep Ferguson off him, and he would step forward and throw right power shots. Though Ferguson was hitting Cerrone, Cerrone was taking advantage of Ferguson's chin being up, and was scoring the last shot or two of the exchange. Ferguson seemed to start a little slow, and really wasn't using his feared elbows in the 1st round. I don't think Cerrone was gassed after round 1 so much as Ferguson came out with a body kick and started timing Cerrone's angling, hurting him with the jab as Cerrone was trying to throw so he could turn to maintain a more center of the octagon position rather than getting backed to the outskirts. This was crucial because once Ferguson showed he could hurt Cerrone in these transitions, Cerrone was more willing to either push forward to fight his way back toward the center or get backed near the cage before trying to get off it, and Ferguson was fine with either option because Cerrone had to either use more energy to struggle for a good position or spend more time prone in a bad one. Cerrone was landing nice combos when he pushed forward, but Ferguson had barely broken a sweat and Donald was starting to blow, partially because his nose was busted up & that was forcing him to breathe through his mouth. With Cerrone more stubborn to yield territory, Ferguson got his elbows going, both stepping in and using the reverse spin with the left. Cerrone ducked a spinning elbow into a flash takedown 3 minutes in, but Cerrone really needed some kind of break on the ground and Ferguson began to piece him up upon getting right back to his feet. You felt like Cerrone was throwing the harder shots, but Ferguson rolled with him well, and he wasn't marked at all, whereas Cerrone was getting bloodied and bruised. Ferguson landed an elbow to the left eye and a nice right straight to the nose at the end of the 2nd, but in this week's example of why Dan Miragliotta should never be allowed to ref an MMA match, he was typically a mile away at the end of the round and didn't bother to make any kind of move to get in between the fighters, just shouting from the peanut gallery when Ferguson continued fighting and landed a De Randamie special that ruined the fight. Sure, Ferguson should stop on his own, but in a loud, packed arena, Lazy Dan shouldn't be giving his break call from a mile away and just assuming the fighters are going to hear and respect it, and I'm sure it was Dan's bad reffing rather resulting in Ferguson not knowing the round was up rather than Ferguson actively trying to get away with something. The second problem with Miragliotta is despite Cerrone obviously suffering fight changing damage when he wasn't defending himself because he assumed he didn't have to, he just gave Ferguson a useless hard warning aka the official Jon Jones licence to cheat, which is only reasonable if Dan is going to put the blame on himself, which he obviously wasn't given the way he went at Ferguson. This was a Ferguson round, and given the way things were trending, one would have expected him to win the 3rd, but with a ref that actually had a pair, this fight would likely have ended a 28-28 draw. We'll never know though because Cerrone did the thing all fighters are always told not to do when they're nose is bleeding or broken, blow it, and the air got behind the swelling in his eye, blowing it up to the point it immediately closed. Cerrone, being the never surrender toughman that he is wanted someone to find some way to push the air back out from behind the swelling in his eye even when he thought Ferguson might get DQ'd, but that obviously wasn't going to happen & the doctor stopped it because his eye was almost completely shut. Miragliotta called for the replay to see if the late shot was to the eye, but you had this Catch 22 situation where the cheap shot directly resulted in the swelling that rendered Cerrone unable to continue, but didn't technically cause it because it didn't land on that spot to cause the swelling. Joe Rogan tried to explain to Miragliotta that Cerrone blew his nose after the illegal punch to the nose, but Dan didn't seem willing or able to connect the dots. I'm not certain if he could have at least still ruled this a no contest, which seems less of a screw job, but with 99.9% certainty one could say that Cerrone doesn't blow his nose if he doesn't just eat the cheap shot, thus the eye isn't a factor and the fight continues. Again, certainly with all the years Cerrone has been fighting he should know better, and he admitted as much after the fight. Probably if he isn't fighting someone who is taxing his cardio so hard he isn't so concerned about breathing with his mouth that he gives in the temptation, but we could go on forever with these kind of theories. In the end, Cerrone was TKO'd because he couldn't continue, and Miragliotta will be back putting fighters in danger next week with more late stoppages where he's simply too lazy and slow to get in there before the fighter takes the extra big shot or three. This was a really good match, but it was an incomplete one that left a bad taste in everyone's mouth, with the fans booing the stoppage like crazy & pelting the ring with ice and debris. Good match.
Vacant UFC Bantamweight Title: Henry Cejudo vs. Marlon Moraes R3 4:49. A tale of two fights with Moraes dominating the first half at distance chewing up Cejudo's legs, and Cejudo dominating the second half finally getting inside and making it ugly then getting his wrestling going against an opponent who was gassed. I really don't know what Cejedo was doing early on, as though Moraes fought Cejudo similar to the way Demetrious Johnson beat him then didn't get the decision, this wasn't the same Cejudo. Granted, Moraes physically has more ability to use this style because he's got slightly more reach, but Cejudo wasn't trying to close the distance or use his wrestling, or really do anything that would lead to him winning. He was really just taking kicks and answering with nothing. As with Johnson, Moraes wasn't landing a ton of kicks, but 9 in the 1st & 6 in the 2nd did add up to a lot of to the lead calf, forcing Cejudo to use his secondary stance more than he wanted to & even causing him to hit the canvas in the 2nd. One interesting thing is Moraes looked too fast for Cejudo at kicking distance, but Cejudo looked too fast for Moraes once he forced himself to get into punching range, though that's mostly because Moraes insisted on trying to knock him out with big wide heavy counters instead of just being quick and direct. Though Cejudo's boxing is somehow still really underrated even though he's used it a lot more in MMA than his wrestling, what really won him the match was his clinch knees. This is where Moraes finally seemed like a fighter who, despite having 6 title matches in WSOF & now 6 fights in UFC, didn't know what to do once things finally weren't going his way. He really had no defense for the clinch knees, and was just getting drilled with them repeatedly like a kickboxer who was thrust into a muay thai bout without ever actually training under those rules. It's not that Cejudo was simply waiting on Moraes to tire, but that he couldn't use his side stance as much because Moraes was kicking his leg out and when he did close the distance, Moraes was landing big punches on the exit. Althought statistically Moraes only outlanded Cejudo 16-5 in the 1st, everything about the actual round showed Moraes as an intimidating quick & diverse powerhouse you didn't want to mess with & Cejudo as a guy who was hoping for an answer. After Cejudo was upended with a low kick, he seemed to finally fire up, cutting Moraes off stepping in with a short right to stun him. Cejudo now turned the forward pressure he was using throughout the 2nd into just trying to brawl on the inside. Moraes landed a high kick, but generally was way too willing to just stand in front of Cejudo and trade punches with him instead of moving and making Cejudo keep working to get inside. Moraes was taking too much punishment, and quickly looking winded if not dazed, allowing Cejudo free reign to use the plum clinch on him. Whether the knees went to the body or the head, the more Moraes took, the more he looked like a guy who wasn't going to last 5 rounds even if he took short cuts. Within a minute, this round went from a Moraes round to Marlon should use his movement to Marlon is in real trouble. Moraes landed a nice right hook at the end of the 2nd, but generally just looked too spent to do anything but exchange and hope. Moraes recovered somewhat in between rounds, but didn't listen to Mark Henry's advice & was still sitting down on big wide counters rather than throwing quicker straight counters. Cejudo took over again when he went back to the clinch, and this time he took Moraes down after a knee to the midsection. Moraes was barely fighting back at this point, just looking to rest no matter what Cejudo was doing on top. Moraes did have a decent armbar attempt, but he was too tired to pull that off, and you felt it would take a massive blunder for Moraes to pull the fight out from anywhere at this point. Still, it was pretty bad that Moraes didn't manage to survive the 3rd as he was so focused on trying to regroup he did nothing to stop Cejudo from posturing up from half guard, and from there it could have been stopped sooner than it was even though there was only 15 seconds left and Goddard wanted to give him every chance to make it to the 4th. Good match.
UFC Fight Night 153: Anthony Smith vs. Alexander Gustafsson R4 2:38. The last two light heavyweight challengers squared off on Gustafsson's home turf, presumably to see who will challenge the winner of the 7/6 Jon Jones vs. Thiago Santos at the T-Mobile Arena or wherever they need to move the show to if Jones' licence to cheat is challenged. This wasn't as action packed as some of Gustafsson's more famous fights, but more of a tactical contest where where Gustafsson tried to be smart & use his movement & length to chip away at the more powerful puncher who was more of a an angling right hand bomber who refused to engage in chasing Gustafsson. Gustafsson really didn't seem to care if he landed punches here, he put a lot of jabs out, but he wasn't using them to start his combinations, it was really just keeping the range, and if he touched Smith great. I think this was mainly out of respect for Smith's great punching power because Gustafsson didn't want to give him any opportunity to counter with the big right hand. He figured if Smith was leading with punches, as long as he kept him on the outside, he'd have enough time to avoid, which was mostly the case, though Smith doesn't need to land too many of these big punches because they have so much on them. Gustafsson mainly tried to chip away with an assortment of leg kicks, seeing what worked for Jones and just trying to give him the same steady mix of low, front, and oblique kicks. Gustafsson was really light on his feet, dancing around the whole fight, so I really liked when Smith would actually step forward or better yet use angles on his feints to try to get outside in the direction Gustafsson was circling in to cut him off. Smith looked good when he put the energy into Gustafsson to dance to operate on outskirts of the octagon rather than letting him move around the center, denying him free reign over the distance the bout was contested at. Whereas Gustafsson jogs around the ring, Smith really uses an economy of movement, never bouncing, rarely switching stances or squaring up to the opponent, not feinting much, we've gotten so used to guys trying to provide so many different looks that Smith almost reminds me of the old side stance karate fighters in that all his footwork was based on keeping the weak side forward. Gustafsson wanted to avoid circling into Smith's right hand, so Smith was focused on keeping his left leg outside Gustafsson's to limit his options to circle as much as possible, and pick his moments to cut him off and throw a big punch. Smith said he broke his left hand on the 1st hard punch he landed in the 1st, so that probably caused him to be so right hand focused. In any case, Smith was good about not getting impatient & overcommitting, which limited the offense Gustafsson was willing to throw given he was content to move & wait him out. Though Gustafsson threw most of the kicks, it was his shin that was cut early in the 1st from checking one. I thought Smith won the 1st 2 rounds, which were certainly close, but regardless you could see the fight shifting late in the 2nd because Gustafsson was looking ever more loose & relaxed and Smith seemed to be slowing down already, less willing to move forward & more willing to allow Gustafsson hold the center or push him back. This may have been a tactic on Smith's part to bait Gustafsson in though, as he was looking to get him to engage & to pull him into the overhand right, which is what we started to see early in the 3rd. This round was more action oriented as Gustafsson was more interested in trying to land punches, which meant he was now willing to gamble that he could avoid the big right that was likely to come back at him. Gustafsson took a couple big shots here, but you felt like he'd really found his rhythm & was now flowing with some combos, finally following the jab with a power punch or low kick, while Smith's activity dropped. Late in the 3rd, Gustafsson surprised Smith bringing the kick up then took him right down when he was reacting to the body blow. Gustafsson tried to follow the jab with a high single then switch into a hip toss, but Smith pushed forward & came down on top with Gustafsson inexplicably giving his back right away when he couldn't just stand against the cage. Smith went for the choke, and it seemed like he was so high on the back Gustafsson should have been able to shake him off, but Smith took his base out by getting the underhooks. Smith then postured up & landed a couple big shots to break him down then got under the neck & the arena went dead silent when Gustafsson tapped to the choke. Things weren't getting much better for the Swedes in the post match when Gustafsson said "the show is over guys" and left his gloves in the octagon to signify his retirement. Good match.
