Best Matches Seen September 2019 |
UFC 242 9/7/19
Carlos Diego Ferreira vs. Mairbek Taisumov 3R. Taisumov was clearly the quicker fighter, and would circle on the outside, looking for his opening to land a solid shot then swarm Ferreira, hopefully for the early stoppage. He was doing damage with the calf kick, and stunned Ferreira once in the first when Ferreira tried to close the distance again after avoiding the jab/cross only to get nailed with a right hand behind the head. Ferreira did a good job applying pressure, and was trying to come in behind his double jab so it wasn't so easy for Taisumov to maintain his distance. Though Taisumov was still mostly too fast in the 1st, Ferreira did better & better as the fight progressed and Taisumov grew marginally slower. It wasn't so much Taisumov gassing on his own as Ferreira really upping his pressure and forcing Taisumov to move backwards rather than laterally though. Ferreira's corner told him to walk through Taisumov's kicks rather than try to check them, which may have sounded odd given how damaging the kicks were, but when Ferreira stopped to defend, Taisumov was able to maintain distance whereas when Ferreira just pushed forward, Ferreira was able to not only land his punches at close range but also stay inside Taisumov's kicking range. Taisumov would try to back to reestablish, but even if Ferreira was slower, he still moved forward quicker than Taisumov moved backwards. Ferreira's cardio was really outstanding, and rather than slowing down himself, he just increased his pressure with each round, landing more strikes in the 3rd than he did in the 1st two rounds combined. Taisumov, on the other hand, landed less with each round. He just couldn't find any space, and was looking overwhelmed as he sucked wind. He still tried to answer, but certainly there wasn't the same zip on his strikes when he did throw, which made it easier for Ferreira to continue to walk him down. Round 3 didn't feel like a 10-8 round to me, but 64 strikes to 14 is quite overwhelming. Ferreira won a unanimous decision 29–28, 29–27, 29–27. Good match.
Paul Felder vs. Edson Barboza 3R. A similar stylistic matchup to Ferreira vs. Taisumov with Barboza being the faster fighter who was scoring with low kicks, and Felder being the fighter who applied forward pressure & worked his boxing. Barboza's kicks are a lot more deadly than Taisumov's, or really just about anybody's, and he was doing a nice job of beating up the calf in the 1st and increasingly working the body as the fight progressed. He also busted Felder's nose with a jab. Felder loudly protested the cut he on the hairline from a headbutt, but one way or another he was bleeding all over the place. He landed a few good punches & could get a hold of Barboza now & then to grind on him, but this seemed a really obvious Barboza round with Felder just trying to walk through Barboza's shots & wait for him to slow down. Barboza wasn't slowing down though, and his speed was really the difference as both were throwing big power, but Barboza was much better at landing the quick kick that Felder couldn't counter whereas Felder was really sitting down on his punches so Barboza could counter him. Felder did land a good left hook counter to a low kick early in the 2nd, but Barboza surprised everyone with a double leg takedown. Felder cut Barboza with an elbow from the bottom though. Felder was certainly competitive, but it was more a fight where you admired him for his toughness & persistence. While the 2nd was a somewhat better round for Felder than the 1st, he still got outstruck & taken down. Dominick Cruz clearly had Barboza up 2 rounds because of the speed advantage, and Barboza's corner, while obviously not the most impartial, told him he was up 2-0 as well. Barboza fought with no sense of urgency in the 3rd, and while Felder did a better job of cutting him off rather than chasing him, that was also because Barboza wasn't throwing anything to slow Felder down or divert him. Barboza was looking to pull Felder into a spinning strike or a knee, which is an okay strategy when you can afford to either get the low percentage KO or win a decision, but letting Felder get off first every time isn't a good strategy when poor judges are the norm & you were winning by being proactive. Felder's left hand lead was the story of the 3rd, and as Barboza surrendered the round, you began to wonder if he put too much trust in the judges. The scores should have been 29-28 as second round was really the only one where the scoring was even debatable. When the 1st judge had it 30-27 Barboza it was looking really good for him, the 2nd had it 29-28 Felder, but when 30-27 was announced again you assumed the judges through the fight was more one-sided than it was until they shockingly announced Felder as the victor. I was thinking watching the Invicta the night before that, although I find 1 round fights just too short to really get excited about, the main thing that sucks about them is it means the judges will invariably get their chance to botch things as usual. Good match.
UFC Fight Night 157 8/31/19
Heili Alateng vs. Danaa Batgerel 3R. Though this was entirely a standup contest, Batgerel has a kickboxing background while Alateng has a wrestling background, and that really defined how they went about the fight. Batgerel was much lighter on his feet, and was really able to dictate the range, scoring on the outside & coming in when he saw fit. Alateng was really heavy on his feet, so he had more on his punches, but he really had a hard time initiating anything and rarely threw more than a single shot. For the most part, Batgerel just outworked him, coming in, landing something from his combo and getting out of the pocket quick enough that Aleteng's counter came up short. Aleteng occasionally intercepted Batgerel on the way in with a powerful counter hook, but that was pretty much his only offense, and he was just so inactive. Batgerel had a mouse under his left eye, but one of the reasons I wasn't that high on this fight is it just seemed rather one-sided. Batgerel not only outlanded Alateng 85-36, but he actually connected on just 4 fewer significant strikes than Alateng even threw, and his stats were consistent with 21-14 in the 1st, 31-11 in the 2nd, & 33-11 in the 3rd. There was a big difference in round 3 in that Alateng, who had 0 takedown attempts through the 1st two, suddenly converted 3 of 7 in the 3rd. Still, Alateng ate a flying knee to get his first takedown, and Batgerel was right up, but then Alateng actually secured him on the 2nd one, though Batgerel was up without taking a single significant shot. Batgerel couldn't break the body lock, but he was landing knees with his back on the cage while Alateng was just holding him waiting to make his next surge to get him back down. Aleteng did get him down again, but Batgerel was landing an elbow from the bottom then moving to the opposite side, usualy left to avoid Aleteng's right hand. Bisping tried to make it sound like Aleteng was doing something on the ground, but he's just missing one wild shot after the other, definitely doing more damage to the canvas than to Batgerel. I scored this 30-27 Batgerel. I'm not morally opposed to giving Alateng the 3rd and knew this would happen since he's the native. However, he was beat in standup in the 1st half of the round, which was the most exciting portion of the fight, & still outlanded badly in the clinch & while in top position in the 2nd half, so to me actually scoring with blows is worth more than getting hit while in a controlling position. Overall, Batgerel officially outlanded Alateng 66 total strikes to 37 in round 3, though I'd be surprised if more than 20 Alateng strikes actually connected with a better look at things. Regardless, none of this should have mattered because Batgerel clearly took the 1st two rounds. Instead, the judges came back with a unanimous 29-27 decision for Alateng. I'm all for way more 10-8 rounds, but anyone who thinks any of these rounds was a 10-8 for anyone should not be judging MMA. Good match.
Kai Kara-France vs. Mark De La Rosa 3R. Theoretically, we had a striker vs. wrestler match, but after Kai spent the 1st half of round 1 defending the takedown, eventually tossing De La Rosa & having a flurry of hammerfists, De La Rosa shifted his focus to outboxing Kara-France & was no longer even threatening the takedown. De La Rosa had the better boxing technique, and was landing more consistently, but he wasn't going beyond the technical & really opening up to try to hurt Kara-France. His corner told him as much after the second round, "You need to bite down on your mouthpiece & commit to your punches. All this pitter patter fighting from the outside, it ain't cutting it. You're outboxing him, but it don't mean nothing, you're not scoring heavy. Score heavy...start putting your punches together, sit on your left hook, sit on your 1-2s, work your feints down the middle." De La Rosa tried to up his aggression & power in the 3rd, and again was winning the round until he got stunned by a liver kick midway through. Kara-France followed with a hook to the body then tried for the big right to the head, but though De La Rosa was cut around the eye, he blocked the majority of this flurry & recovered quickly. Kai has never been concerned with winning every minute of the fight, but rather he is more than happy to sacrifice volume to just try to find that opening to stun the opponent. While De La Rosa won the fight if it were scored by who had more successful seconds, Kara-France had at least one big flurry in each round, and De La Rosa's offense in the interim wasn't the sort that really stands out enough to make up for that. Kara-France's signature moment came early in the 2nd, backing De La Rosa with his jab then finally followed with the right to drop him. Kara-France also kicked De La Rosa's leg out in the 2nd en route to a unanimous 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 decision. Good match.
Li Jingliang vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos R3 4:51. Li was a tough matchup for dos Santos because he had enough of a footwork & speed advantage that it was difficult for dos Santos to have any success being the aggressor, as Li would just circle away and pick his spots to attack, but the counter striking game that dos Santos was trying to employ to counteract this wasn't working at all. Li's skill seemed quite a bit better here, hence he was mixing it up less, which made for a worse match but dos Santos isn't a guy you really want to be brawling with. Instead, Li was circling to the right & making dos Santos chase him. The big moment of round 1 came when he suddenly took a step left & flattened dos Santos with a right straight. Dos Santos was being more aggressive in the 2nd, trying to close the distance with quicker & more aggressive movements. For the most part he was still missing, but the threat had Li more on the defensive, and Li wasn't getting many counters off. As Li was worried about the big punches & unconventional capoeira kicks, Zaleski was able to get his low kick going, and that was the primary reason he outstruck Li in the 2nd. Dos Santos may have won this round, but he was down in the 3rd and without any signature moments there was no way he was getting this decision in China so he decided to hunt for the finish, trying to pin Li against the cage. Li was able to circle around him & land a big uppercut with 20 seconds left that sent dos Santos stumbling back 10 feet until he fell into the octagon. Li could have just taken the decision, but pounced on Zaleski throwing huge hooks for the stoppage. Good match.
