Best Matches Seen May 2020 |
UFC Fight Night 176 5/30/20: Billy Quarantillo vs. Spike Carlyle 3R. Carlyle is a wild man who goes all out from the opening bell, even starting the fight by sprinting at Quarantillo & landing a front kick to the face. The pace of this fight was crazy, both because Carlyle did everything he could to end it as soon as possible, but also because Quarantillo knew he'd fight that way, and was playing the long game by doing his best to keep Carlyle moving & pressing, while looking to take over in the 2nd half once he survived the 1st. While that's the way the fight ultimately played out, that didn't lessen the fight in the sense that Carlyle was still going hard to the finish even though the tank was well below empty & he no longer had the kind of speed or impact on his punches that he started the fight with. Carlyle was all over Quarantillo on the ground after the opening attack, hammering him & taking front & rear mount, looking for the submission. 2 minutes in the tide already began to turn already when Quarantillo seemed to bait Carlyle into a belly down armbar attempt, which allowed him to take the top when he defended. One of the reasons the match was so entertaining is they were really active on the ground, the positions & advantages kept changing and there were all sorts of submission attempts, mainly from Quarantillo. Carlyle was back in control before long, and easily took the round. However, in one of the most bizarre scenes I've seen in an MMA match, he got up, turned his back to Quarantillo, & began walking back to his corner as if the round were over, except there was about 5 seconds left. At first, I thought he mistook the 10 second clapper for the end of the round, but there was clearly a delay & no call from the ref before he decided to get off Quarantillo. In any case, Quarantillo came up from behind & cold cocked him. It was like all those cheesy distracted by the manager scenes in pro wrestlingm except Carlyle had no one to blame but himself! Early in the 2nd, Carlyle used Quarantillo's forward momentum against him, countering him coming in with a short elbow, but Quarantillo still managed to spin him to the ground. Carlyle was still outwrestling Quarantello, and again was able to take his back, but Carlyle was sucking wind when Quarantillo got back to his feet with 2 minutes left. Quarantillo scored with a nice knee to the midsection & had a takedown, but he still didn't have much offense in the 2nd. Carlyle was able to take him down again, but Quarantillo was now starting to get submission attempts off, a guillotine, 2 triangles, and an armbar. This might have won him a close round, but you certainly wouldn't want to bet on it the way wrestling is irrationally valued above actual offense that potentially finishes fights. Carlyle dodged a superman punch to start the 3rd, and had a flash takedown, but you could see that he was really running on fumes trying hard to go right into another takedown, and Quarantillo reversed it. I kept wanting to write Carlyle off, but he still kept finding the energy to explode, even bucking & turning to get off his back, though ultimately failing to maintain control & winding up in the same position. Quarantillo started battering him with punches & went for the choke, but Spike turned to the top. Carlyle didn't have any zip on his ground & pound to the point they were so slow it was almost too easy for Quarantillo to avoid , and again Quarantillo threatened with a triangle. Quarantillo took over in the 2nd half of the round, and was actually scoring with his punches, so this was an easy round for him, usually landing whereas Carlyle was almost only missing. They slugged it out in the final seconds, but Spike still had enough in him to sustain some powerful shots from an opponent who was hoping not the bet on the judges. Surprisingly, everyone gave Quarantillo the 2nd round, so he got the unanimous decision. Excellent match.
UFC ESPN 8 5/16/20
Nate Landwehr vs. Darren Elkins 3R. These guys really went for it, keeping a fantastic pace where they each threw 80+ strikes per round. Elkins is such a gamer, and just keeps pressing forward no matter what you do to him, never giving up on himself or thinking he can't win. Elkins got off to a good start, faking takedowns & landing overhand rights. This, in turn, opened up the takedown where he had guillotine & anaconda attempts, and basically his striking & wrestling were really setting each other up early on until Landwehr figured him out & stopped biting. Landwehr wasn't showing much head movement either, so Elkins striking accuracy was pretty high early on. Elkins didn't have a great look because he was cut inside the right eye from an accidental headbutt. This got worse almost any time Landwehr connected with his jab, to the point that even Landwehr was covered in Elkins blood by the end. However, round 1 seemed a clear Elkins round to me even if you thought the damage was caused by Landwehr's jab, as he outlanded Landwehr and threatened on the ground. Landwehr's confidence grew in the 2nd as he not only defended the early takedown, but made Elkins pay with a right uppercut & left straight. Landwehr wasn't falling for any of Elkins takedown setups anymore, and they increasingly just slugged it out on the inside, with Landwehr landing more good uppercuts & now extending his combos. Landwehr opened up another troubling cut mid forehead with an elbow, and Elkins had a big mouse above the left eye as well. Landwehr was definitely winning the 2nd round, but overall, the fight was pretty even, it's just that his body was sustaining the damage a hell of a lot better than poor Elkins was. While Landwehr certainly deserves credit for damage, Elkins has about as many matches where he doesn't bleed as Abdullah the Butcher. What I love about Elkins is he never gives up or slows down. He was still pushing forward as aggressively in the 3rd as he was at the outset, but Landwehr had made good adjustments & was timing him with the jab & low kick. I felt like the fight was still up for grabs in the final minute. Elkins won the first 30 seconds of that, but then Landwehr came back with a big uppercut & then hurt him with a 3 punch combo in the final seconds. I thought Landwehr winning the fight was correct, but I don't see two judges giving it to him 30-27. Very good match.
Song Yadong vs. Marlon Vera 3R. Vera had the reach & was the much better kicker, staying outside or trying to get through the midrange that was Song's advantage and work the clinch or takedown game. Yadong was decidedly the more powerful puncher, but it didn't seem like he did much to keep himself in position to succeed, relying too heavily on the counter & hoping Vera would just willingly exchange with him at boxing distance. The first round saw Vera controlling the distance, coming forward slightly but mostly scoring from the outside. Yadong was very patient, and he landed the best shot of the round, a damaging left hook, and one good straight to the body, but for the most part Vera controlled the distance, & thus the fight with Song just not being active enough because he was waiting rather than making something happen. Song was much more willing to let his hands go in the 2nd, and that's really all he had to do in the sense that he had a considerable power advantage, so getting into an exchange was to his advantage where the single shot technical fight, especially with Vera walking him down, obviously wasn't. Song was now sometimes coming forward & throwing a combo behind the jab. Round 2 was a much better round for him, but Vera has a good chin & wasn't intimidated despite eating some hard shots. Vera landed a couple big elbows against the cage on the break, prompting Bisping to describe the bout as "a fight in a phone box with elbows". Vera hurt Song late with a punishing left to the body followed by a right straight. Both rounds were very close, and potentially the guy who landed the couple best shots was the one who landed a few less overall, so you couldn't feel too confident about how it was being scored, but I thought Vera ultimately won both rounds because, relatively speaking in a high activity fight, Song spent too much time backing & waiting. Vera charged across the ring to start the 3rd, and was able to score an early takedown then ripped a nice left hook to the body when Song got up 45 seconds later. Song got his left hook counter going midway through the round, ushering in the best sequence of the fight where they just exchanged power shots in the center of the ring. Vera was beginning to fade now, and it would definitely have been to his advantage to not just trade punches with an opponent whose main strength is his hands of stone, but he was really trying to impress the judges, & I'm also not sure he really had the energy to go back to instilling a tactical distance fight. Vera was able to get the clinch though, and when he got his second takedown of the round, Bisping declared the round was definitely his, though I'd still have given it to Song. Vera got on top again though, and this time had Song's back, but again he didn't have any real success on the ground. Somehow, Song won a unanimous 29-28 decision. Good match.
UFC Fight Night 175 5/13/20
Brian Kelleher vs. Hunter Azure R2 3:40. A good standup fight, though this mostly materialized because though both were looking for the takedown, their wrestling defense negated their wrestling offense. The pace was high, and Azure seemed to have the advantages in speed & power, landing a lot of head punches, but doing a good job of working the body & legs to open these up. Kelleher was the one who was actively pursuing the takedown, and he was more concerned with using feints to set up something game changing than with simply connecting. Kelleher's corner was looking for him to land the overhand right, and though he connected with it early in the 2nd, again round 2 was Azure simply outhustling him, coming in ripping the body & following to the head. The knockout was great, but overall, the fight seemed better the first time. Kelleher really didn't do much until the final 30 seconds when he began to land the left hook as Azure was dropping his hands because he was tiring. Kelleher attacked the right side then faded off to the left & landed the left hook over the low block for the finish. Kelleher was coming up in weight, so it's a very good sign that he was still able to get a 1 punch KO. Good match.
Glover Teixeira vs. Anthony Smith R5 1:04. Anthony Smith is one of those fighters who can win by being tougher than his opponents, but can also lose mercilessly for the same reason, this was an example of the later. Smith is a fighter I admire, his career was very much on a downward trajectory when Strikeforce died & he was out of the UFC after one loss to Antonio Braga Neto, and then out of Bellator despite going 2-0, eventually getting back to the UFC prelims & TUF two years later, and then somehow three years after that, he managed to go 5 rounds in a title fight with Jon Jones, even if he was mostly savaged. Still, one should be dubious of a main eventer who finds his validation in submitting a fighter who "doesn't lose to bad people", especially when said fighter, Alexander Gustafsson, retired immediately after that loss. Either way, Smith is a bonus machine who is rarely in a dull or uneventful fight, and despite taking on one of the best fighters to never win a UFC title, he was really in this fight early, only to be let down by his corner on multiple occasions. Smith is the longer & quicker fighter, so even though Teixeira is a great boxer, he needed some things to go right to win the standup, if just finding the opening for the takedown wasn't going to be his strategy. Early on, Smith was doing a great job, fighting long behind the jab & low kick. Cormier was already talking about Smith throwing constantly a few minutes into the fight, and this may be something that corners need to get used to if we can't get back to the point of attended shows, but with no one in the building it's easy for your fighter to actually hear you, so Smith doing exactly what he heard from the corner resulted in him burning himself out quickly, whereas normally he wouldn't have been able to respond to many or most of their instructions. Teixeira spent the 1st round pursuing Smith, but he was taking a lot of shots to the ever reddening nose & legs just trying to stay in Smith's face. Teixeira did land some body punches & kicks of his own, but he had to take punishment to get close enough to do that, so round 1 was a clear round for Smith. James Krause was constantly urging Smith to throw, throw, throw throughout the 2nd, but right from the start of the round you could see Smith was already tired, and Teixeira was able to maintain a distance that was much more conducive to him landing his punches. Teixeira showed veteran strategy & composure throughout, just fighting a really solid, technical fight where he gave himself the best chance to succeed over the long haul. Though round 2 was a much better round for Teixeira, midway through Smith followed the jab with a right to the body & then followed the jab with an overhand that finally got through clean & damaged Glover's eye. Teixeira was finally able to back Smith against the cage though, and landed a right high kick amidst a flurry of solid hooks. Smith paused after eating an uppercut to the eye that Herzog rightfully ruled was not an illegal gouge, and Teixeira landed a big right and dropped Smith with a left. Teixeira tried to finish on the ground, but Smith was always trying to stay in the fight so there was really no good opportunity for Jason Herzog to stop the fight, his job is not to gauge whether the fighter is likely to find a way to turn it around. Teixeira couldn't get a choke in, and was just pacing himself with ground & pound rather than risking anything going for the big flurry that likely would have supplied justification for the stoppage. This was arguably even a 10-7 round, but again this & the 4th round were a consistent flow of damage to a fighter who was doing his best to stay in the fight even though that likely wasn't in his best interest. Felder was somewhat critical of Teixeira for wanting to work on the ground in the 4th, but Smith was still dangerous on his feet, throwing hard elbows, whereas sure Teixeira was more likely to finish with his uppercut, which he hurt Smith with again early in the 4th, but it was all one way traffic when Teixeira was on top. When Teixeira did try letting Smith back up, Smith immediately landed a nice 1-2 and a couple other shots, even though Teixeira still won the exchanges overall and Smith's body was starting to give out. Teixeira got another 10-8 round in the 4th because of the ground & pound. Smith told his corner after the 4th round "My teeth are falling out" and Marc Montoya just responded, "Yeah, breathe, hey listen, breathe. Listen, don't panic, I want you to breathe deep." I don't blame Herzog for not stopping the fight because Smith kept answering the call when Herzog gave him the opportunity to back out, but his corner should take the hint when what he has to tell them is that he's down teeth, those aren't the words of a fighter who is looking for more because it's not the sort of injury the corner needs to know about in terms of strategy. They are the words of a fighter who doesn't want to be seen as a quitter but knows he's got nothing left, and Felder said as much at the start of the 5th. Herzog could have stopped the fight when Smith started to back off, holding his nose and covering up a bit after taking a solid jab to the nose then shot a desperation takedown, which Teixeira easily countered. This time Teixeira was able to mount without any real resistance, and the fight finally came to an end. Smith suffered a broken orbital bone, broken nose, and lost two teeth. Good match.
UFC 249 5/9/20
Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price R3 3:37. This is a great matchup because Luque is going to get right in your face & apply constant pressure, but Price is a wildman who won't back down from any slugfest, and actually wound up taking it to Luque more than Luque took it to him. Luque did a great job of bouncing around and either going right into the inside or outside leg kick or doing it off the fake jab. Luque was clearly the superior technical fighter, with Price generally doing better when he was able to turn it into a brawl, particularly getting Luque against the fence & throwing wild flurries, though in the 2nd Luque managed to buckle Price with a right hand after Price was throwing big elbows on the cage. Price's calves were getting chewed up, but he landed a lot of nice right hand counters. Toward the end of the 1st, Price landed a front kick to the face & then got a takedown into a D'Arce attempt after a couple big right hands. Price could have stolen the round, but Luque landed a big overhand right in the final second, sending Price wobbling to his corner. Price was using a lot of front kicks in round 2, the better but harder to throw one was with the left because he could follow with the right hand, that was his best weapon, mainly coming after the long left jab. Price's movement was growing increasingly awkward from all the calf kicks, but he was turning the fight around, at least in terms of being the one coming forward in the 2nd & the one who seemed to have more left in the tank in this crazily paced war, both of which one would expect to be advantages for Luque. Both fighters were battered & bloodied, but it was probably a round a piece with Price carrying the momentum into the early 3rd round exchanges. Price has only been to the 3rd round once in his last bout for Fight Time, and he began to run out of gas midway through, throwing a lazy side kick & backfist then Luque just stepped in & dropped him with a lead left hook. Luque dropped into guard with a big hammerfist, and Price's right eye had so much blood going into it I'm not sure how many cuts there were & where they were located, but it looked like the problem was the cut on the eyelid & they had to stop it because between the bleeding & swelling Price couldn't see out of that eye. Presumably Luque would have got the decision had nothing else of note happened, but it was really close. Very good match.
Calvin Kattar vs. Jeremy Stephens R2 2:42. An entertaining fight, but not as good in actuality as it sounded on paper, although that's partly because it ended early, and rather abruptly. Kattar wanted to get off to a faster start than he's been known to after losing to Zabit Magomedsharipov in part because he just dug himself too big a hole. However, it was Stephens walking him down, and at least threatening with his hands if not connecting with them then finishing with a low kick. The low kick has been Kattar's other weakness, and there aren't many better displays of its deadliness than Stephens destruction of poor Gilbert Melendez, so things weren't boding well for Kattar in the early stages. Things really heated up in the last minute of the 1st, with Kattar landing one great long right straight, but while he finally seemed willing to let loose, his lead leg was in pretty bad shape already. Kattar tried to get his jab going in the 2nd, and when he was fighting long & thus able to throw punch combos, he looked good, but Stephens was still often the one who was getting off 1st and dictating a closer range fight. Midway through the 2nd, Kattar finally landed a couple nice combos. Stephens avoided the jab, so Kattar didn't really throw it, instead answering Stephens right hand counter with a big right elbow to flatten Stephens. Stephens was still in it, barely, but Kattar landed another big left elbow on the ground to bust him open & force the stoppage. Good match.
UFC Interim Lightweight Title: Justin Gaethje vs. Tony Ferguson R5 3:39. Gaethje changed his fighting style quite a bit, basically finally losing to Eddie Alvarez & Dustin Poirier made him rethink just standing in the pocket & exchanging all the time. He was still fighting with a high pace & throwing all power punches, but he wasn't doing the thing that only he did, which is to just remain in the pocket covering up taking shots once he finished his combo. Gaethje didn't do any less damage because of this, if anything he did more, though mainly because Ferguson withstood a lot of blows others would have wilted from. The fight was arguably less entertaining because Gaethje wasn't getting bobbleheaded after bobbleheading the opponent, but for the most part he simply withstood less brain damage, which should allow for more high quality fights later in his career. If this fight was worse than many of his better ones, it was mainly because without Gaethje giving the opponent so many great opportunities to pick him apart in return, the fight was actually rather one-sided, which was shocking given Ferguson has been the superior fighter, having not lost since 2012, but the younger fighter basically won every fight tonight. Ferguson just couldn't match Gaethje's power or find any answer to it. His usual tactic of pushing the pace not only didn't bother Gaethje at all, but was really just serving himself up to take more punishment, and there were times when Ferguson wasn't throwing much and others when he was just trying to touch Gaethje to try to open something up, but Gaethje would land more clean shots & Ferguson would land shots that may not have even been annoying. Gaethje was actually stronger down the stretch today than perhaps he's ever been, likely due to getting hit a lot less getting there. Ferguson started mostly on the outside, trying to keep up the activity, and as the fight progressed he wasn't able to beat on or wear out Gaethje to really get to the point of wanting to fight on the inside with the much harder hitter. Gaethje had the more damaging low kick, and being able to throw it in shorter ranges was an issue for Ferguson, but what was surprising is how Gaethje could consistently land lead step hooks. Ferguson has more evolved footwork and would likely win a race, but Gaethje had a big of a striking speed advantage. Few fighters can just consistently land a clean power shot on strike 1, that's why normal fighters throw jabs & try to put 3 or 4 shots together. Gaethje would just step in and nail Ferguson with a hook, almost as if Ferguson couldn't see it coming because his eye was swollen shut or something. Ferguson was taking so many clean shots early in the 2nd that he was barely even firing back, but he eventually worked his way into the round with his jab & body shots. Gaethje was nonetheless winning the round big until the final seconds when Gaethje telegraphed a right uppercut & Ferguson beat him to it for the knockdown. I think you give Ferguson the round for that, and it would have been interesting to see what would have happened had he had a minute to work Gaethje over before Gaethje got to recover. Gaethje was fine to start the 3rd though, and Ferguson was going downhill quickly, with a cut & big swelling under the right eye where Gaethje's left hooks connect as well as a cut outside the left eye that wasn't bleeding into the eye but was getting worse as Gaethje landed more overhand rights. Ferguson was buckled midway through the 4th walking into an overhand right. Ferguson squatted and did a sliding left low kick, which I don't think I've ever seen before in MMA, but for the most part he was just eating bombs this round & getting by on his ridiculous chin. Gaethje's defense was more predicated on timing & throwing clean concise counters, but it was nonetheless remarkable how hard of a time Ferguson was having of hitting him with anything significant. In the 4th, Ferguson was throwing a lot of jabs to the thigh partly just to get into an exchange and partly because Gaethje wasn't landing big counters when he did that. Gaethje reached with a body jab then stunned Tony coming over the top with the right midway through. Ferguson's body was finally starting to give out in the 5th. Now when Gaethje landed the big shot, he'd get wobbled or turned & just kind of take a second to get back into his regular movements. This was partially because of the damage from the leg kicks making Ferguson stumble on the left leg. Ferguson stopped to spit blood after missing a low kick, and Gaethje actually threw a jab, catching Ferguson flush on the nose. Ferguson shook his head, backed off, shook his head again. Cormier was already saying they were going to stop the fight because clearly something was more off than before. Ferguson tried to get back to bouncing and just run away to buy some time, but Herb Dean stepped in. Ferguson was unhappy, but despite Dean being in the bottom half of the refs on this card, this was a good stoppage. Ferguson was clearly trending really badly, and while maybe he could have survived, there was no way he was winning this in any fashion and nothing to be gained by taking more punishment until his body completely collapsed. Gaethje threw the Interim belt down almost as soon as it was put on him, and when Rogan asked him why, he said "Wait for the real one." Very good match.
