Best Matches Seen September 2020 |
UFC 253 9/27/20: Brandon Royval vs. Kai Kara-France R2 0:48. A short match, but just fireworks from start to finish. Royval looked great here, again facing a much more experienced UFC fighter, but looking more developed, as well as having the obvious physical advantages. The big difference in their striking wasn't the beginning of the combo, it's that Royval can actually land crazy, highly reactive, normally low percentage spins & high kicks at the end of the combo without just leaving himself exposed to the counter. Instead, it was Royval who was landing all the counters to Kai, who had to just kind of do suicide bomb exchanges because the only place he was on somewhat equal footing was in the pocket, as he had more punching power. Royval came out trying to use the right jab to set up the left high kick, and after Kai blocked it twice, he countered with an overhand right for a knockdown. However, after stumbling on the way up, Royval was able to counter Kara-France's right hook and drop him with a spinning elbow, though Kai connected a bit too. Kai never actually got up, he just went from his butt onto a knee and a foot to drive for a takedown, but the ref somehow decided Royval's big knee to a downed opponent was to the neck rather than the head. I want to say that this potentially changed the trajectory of the fight as Royval was the one that got to work submissions on the ground rather than Kai getting a chance to slow things down & collect himself, but the match was all about the standup, and Royval had pretty obvious advantages in reach, speed, and athleticism, though he also uses them better than most guys and is all around more evolved. Royval hurt Kai again with a left body kick then an odd right step knee that I totally didn't see coming. Kara-France was landing big hooks & overhands when he got inside, the problem is Royval's reach allowed him to almost always land big counters before Kai got out of the pocket. I felt like Kai really just needed to get in once and just do his best to stay there because he lost on the outside and he lost trying to get in and out. Though Kai's shots were all very powerful, Royval's pretty much were as well, and he was outlanding Kai 2 1/2 to 1. Still, this was a great 1st round, and Kai obviously showed the power to drop and potentially finish Royval, so he was very much in the fight despite the numbers. Kara-France seemed to try to make an adjustment in the 2nd to dropping for the takedown rather than trying to exit the pocket, but Royval immediately jumped into a guillotine and adjusted it until he had the tap. Good match.
UFC Fight Night 178 9/19/20: Donald Cerrone vs. Niko Price 3R. It's no secret that the best way to beat Cerrone is to do it before he finally gets going, and we've seen that strategy work lately for Justin Gaethje & Conor McGregor. I'd say Price pretty much emptied the tank in the 1st, throwing 123 strikes and landing more than half, but Price is known for maintaining a crazy output, and in his loss to Vicente Luque at UFC 249, his round low was 93 strikes in the 3rd, and that was only because the doctor stopped it at 3:37. Price would get off 1st, clinching off the 1st shot then manhandling Cerrone with a mix of elbows, punches, and knees. Cowboy is normally a strong clinch fighter, but Price hurt him early and kept after him. Cerrone seemed to start to wake up after not taking long enough to recover from an eye poke, starting to get off 1st with the jab, but still, this was at least close to a 10-8 round for Price except he gouged Cerrone again at the end, and Jason Herzog deducted a point. Price continued to work the body & legs in the 2nd, but this was a much better round for Cerrone, who was able to maintain distance with his jab, and started to get combos & bigger shots off of it now that he had space to work and be creative. Cerrone was up in the round, but then Price got the left middle kick going, and Cerrone stopped throwing the jab. Price ultimately outlanded Cerrone, but the round could have gone either way. It was important for Cerrone to be able to follow the jab with a kick, but he couldn't do it consistently because Price was applying too much pressure. Price gouged Cerrone again in the 3rd, and I thought they might take another point, until I realized that he was gouged by Cerrone in the same exchange, which almost seemed like a pro wrestling comedy spot playing off the earlier infractions. Cowboy had a flash takedown into a standing back mount, but he was too high on Price to capitalize. Cerrone had a nice high kick on the release after Price defended another takedown attempt. In the end, Price outlanded Cerrone by almost 45, but the fight was way closer than that, with every round being fast paced & action packed. Round 3 was Cerrone's even though Price once again landed more , but round 1 could have been 9-9 or 9-8 Price and round 2 was basically an even round. One judge had it 29-27 Cerrone, but the other two had it 28–28 for a majority draw. Good match.
UFC Fight Night 177 9/12/20
Sabina Mazo vs. Justine Kish R3 3:57. Kish has more kickboxing skill than Mazo, or honestly just about anyone in the promotion, but giving up so much reach took away most of her punching (at least kicking is her strong point), so she had to use her speed and dexterity to get single kicks in while in Mazo's punching range. Mazo started slow, just trying to get reads on Kish, who had a lot of volume all things considered as she threw lengthy combos if she did get inside, and was doing a good job landing side kicks. Mazo really picked it up in the 2nd and 3rd rounds though, and ultimately had more volume than Kish, though it didn't feel like that was the case because she was largely putting the jab out whereas you really noticed what Kish was doing a lot more because it was GLORY level striking rather than the standard MMA fair. Mazo cut Kish outside the left eye early in the fight, and scored with a nice high kick later in the 1st. There was a great spot midway through the 2nd where Kish caught a kick and was looking for a takedown, but instead landed a high kick on the release. Later, Kish tried a spinning backfist off the release, but Mazo avoided. Though Mazo was controlling the center, it was Kish that was applying most of the pressure because she had the speed advantage and would use unorthodox creative attacks such as the regular backfist. I had Kish up 2 rounds, but Mazo started strong in the 3rd with back to back high kicks. Mazo did a better job of connecting with her jab as the fight progressed. If it didn't seem as effective as we'd expect from a fighter with a big reach advantage, that was more because Kish was still pushing through it because that's what she had to do. Mazo dropped Kish with a naked high kick when Kish was trying to get out of the pocket then jumped on her and choked her out for the comeback win. I thought this was the best fight of the night, as it was as competitive as Waterson/Hill, but the level & variety of what Kish was doing was certainly for entertainment value, and also mostly for effectiveness (she was getting too spin happy) beyond the other stuff we were seeing, whereas Hill arguably lost because she had nothing new to show in the 2nd half of the fight. Also this fight was more exciting because it had a late finish, and a finish by the fighter who likely would have lost the decision had the fight lasted another minute. Very good match.
Bryan Barberena vs. Anthony Ivy 3R. This fight was largely about whether Barberena could defend the takedowns, particularly Ivy's specialty against the kiddy cage, and land his big punches. Ivy tried to implement his grind early, but Barbarena hurt him with a left to the body and right to the head. Barbarena went back to the body then landed a big elbow to the head because Ivy had to protect it. Ivy was able to weather the storm though, and get a takedown late in the round. Barbarena tried to be more aggressive in the 2nd, and push forward, but Ivy would either dive at his legs or clinch, really going all out for the takedown any time he could get hold of Barberena. Barberena countered with knees if he could, or tried to land punches as soon as he could create enough space. Ivy landed some good shots too, his problem was avoiding Barbarena's big combo back and not allowing Barbarena to turn it into a slugfest. It felt like Ivy could clinch or he could land 1, maybe 2 good shots, but he couldn't use landing the good shot to avoid the counterfire by getting him right into the clinch. Most of Ivy's takedown attempts were counters to Barbarena trying to punch, so finally Barbarena was ready for this and willing to engage in the grappling, dropping down on top of Ivy & rolling him, but Ivy defended the anaconda so Barbarena tried to work strikes from side control but Ivy was up quickly. Barberena defended the 59th single leg attempt and landed a left straight and good overhand right on the break to stun Ivy, but again Ivy kept him from gaining much momentum by dropping into another single leg attempt. Ivy had 4 takedowns, but didn't get a lot of credit from the judges for them because Barberena was back up so quickly and doubled him in significant strikes. Barberena won a unanimous decision 30–27, 30–27, 29–28. Good match.
Roxanne Modafferi vs. Andrea Lee 3R. Modafferi had a big advantage on the mat when these two fought in 2014, which was just Lee's third fight. I felt Lee tried to hard to show how much she has closed the gap early on, rather than rely on her standup, which Roxy has improved a lot in, but still there's just a huge difference in the weight of shot. While Lee was able to get 3 takedowns to Modafferi's 4, Modafferi still certainly has more ability to reverse, threaten, and even finish on the ground, and was able to run up the vaunted control time, which was supposed to have been downgraded in the new scoring to the if there's nothing else to decide things level, but miraculously seems to decide every reasonably close fight rather than the criteria the judges are supposed to be scoring. And one of the things that gets totally lost in the shuffle is weight of shot, which Lee has a big advantage in because she's throwing with her whole body and getting full extension, whereas Roxy is mostly pawing, really just sort of straigtening a bent elbow or turning at the hip to touch the opponent. Lee is striking to hurt the opponent, whereas Modafferi is mainly trying to keep them distracted and off balance to open up the clinch or takedown. Modafferi's awkward movements were definitely distracting Lee, who spent too much time watching her and not enough time unleashing her own combos. Though Lee was more accurate and outlanded Modafferi 97 significant strikes to 60, overall Modafferi outlanded Lee 129-118, largely because of really little shots on the ground that need to be placed in a separate category. Lee took over late in the 2nd when she hurt Modafferi with a spinning backfist (that wound up being a forearm), and now finally started to open up. Modafferi caught a kick though and got another takedown, and this was arguably key in making Lee leery to let loose, but Modafferi put so little pressure on her early in the 3rd that Lee didn't need to. Lee started the 3rd strong, just holding the center and mixing things up, taking the single shot that was open whether it was the left body hook or right low kick. Modafferi's movement was good circling the outside of the cage, but ultimately, not really effective because she was only just grazing Lee if and when she actually connected, which wasn't doing anything to take Lee out of her game or make Lee give ground. Lee opened up a big lead in the 1st half of the round, but Modafferi was ready for her spinning backfist this time and was able to duck into a clinch then take her down against the cage. Lee got up only to be taken back down, and Modafferi, as Brendan Fitzgerald described "stayed just busy enough..." grazing Lee not even enough to be annoying, with Lee finally getting a reversal in the final seconds. To me, this was an easy round for Lee, as she did really well in the 1st half whereas Modafferi did nothing but weigh on her in the 2nd half, which isn't exactly effective even to wear the opponent down when it's done this late. Predictably though, Roxy got the unanimous decision 29–28, which is really bad for Lee after losing two split decisions in a row, the Lucky Lauren fight in particular being a total rob job. Good match.
Michelle Waterson vs. Angela Hill 5R. This match really panned out because they were so evenly matched and had such good stamina that you got 5 high paced rounds where they wasn't much between them. Early on, Hill had a clear advantage in footspeed as well as handspeed, and was able to capitalize on that. Bisping was talking about Hill crowding Waterson so she could land her punches, while Waterson didn't have room for her kicks, but what was making Hill effective is that she wasn't forced to keep closing the distance or really apply a ton of pressure to stay on the inside. Hill was instead able to stay just out of Waterson's range for the kick and the takedown when she wasn't striking then close the distance without getting hit, throw a quick flurry of punches, and get back out of range. This mostly worked because Waterson was being too passive early on, really allowing Hill to dictate range. Even though Hill was defending the takedown, Waterson was a much tougher opponent to deal with when she was putting out a punch to either set up a kick or dropping into a takedown attempt, as this was doing a lot more to not only keep Hill from throwing, but prevent her from just moving in and out at her convenience. Waterson came on in the later stages of the round, but the mouse she had on the left side of her forehead was a potential issue because Hill's hooks & overhands were all more or less landing to that same spot. Round 2 was pretty close numbers wise, but Hill had a couple big hooks midway through to stun Waterson. Hill bloodied Waterson's nose early in the 3rd, but Waterson was finally able to get a takedown, countering the step knee with a trip. Though Marc Goddard wouldn't have been out of line standing them up, it was telling that Hill couldn't get back to her feet on her own, and in the last minute decided that she'd rather take a few more love taps than waste more energy trying. Hill definitely wasn't as fast in the last 2 rounds, and wasn't really getting inside anymore, partly because of the threat of the takedown and partly because Waterson would plow forward for the double leg when Hill tried to make her move, she also countered with a beautiful superkick to the chin that reminded me why that move always feels so inadequate in pro wrestling (especially when done by Michaels). Hill was defending every takedown though, and one really has to wonder how we got so far away from the idea that defense actually meant something. I mean, this was a super close fight, and in some sense the takedown that Waterson got decided the fight even though she just held her down for half a round, but what about the 17 that Hill defended? In any case, round 4 was Waterson's best round striking (she still only had 4 more significant strikes), and the fight was seemingly up for grabs going into the 5th. Waterson's left eye was in pretty bad shape, but she was able to be effective while protecting it fighting out of the side stance. These two were so evenly matched that it would be hard to argue any decision, especially just calling it a draw, but if there was a difference here, it's that Waterson was able to keep adjusting and mixing things up, while Hill kind of just did her thing and relied on her athleticism. Waterson won a split decision 47–48, 49–46, 48–47. Good match.
UFC Fight Night 176 9/5/20: Michel Pereira vs. Zelim Imadaev R3 4:39. Pereira needed a win in the final fight of his UFC contract after the luck of the Sanchez saw Diego wimp his way into a late DQ win in a fight that even Cecil Peoples or Adalaide Byrd couldn't have gifted him a decision had it gone another 2 minutes. I was cringing when I saw a Russian, but then I remembered Imadaev is a boxer rather than a blanket, and should be an easy win. Pereira had way too much speed, length, and variety for him, even though the kiddy cage makes it more difficult to utilize any of that. This fight was never competitive, and wasn't nearly as spectacular as almost any of Pereira's earlier fights, partially because just being solid was working so well there was no need, partially because an opponent who was basically just boxing and wasn't taking chances didn't give him a lot of openings, and partially because there was no energized crowd to thrill. Imadaev tried to walk Pereira down early, but surprisingly wasn't using his kicks to cut Pereira off or set up his punches, so Pereira had an easy time just moving sideways and waiting to counter. Imadaev attacked early, but Pereira landed a good knee after missing his superman punch of the cage counter. Pereira also cut a nice angle getting off the cage and landed a nice right to the chin then grazed with the Showtime kick. Mostly, Pereira was using his movement to get outside of Imadaev then throwing a fast shot or combo, and this led to a flash knockdown when he with a left straight, but glanced Imadaev's temple with a right. The speed at which Pereira was able to follow his left body jab with the right to the head was way too much for Imadaev. Round 2 was closer because Pereira was being less active, trying to set up the spectacular shot. Pereira hurt Imadaev with a 2-1 in the final minute though. Pereira got Imadaev with a superman punch off the cage early in the 3rd. Imadaev slapped Pereira during the lame requisite staredown after the weigh in, and Pereira told him he would pay him back, so now with the fight well in hand, Pereira showed Imadaev his hand, kissed it, and slapped him with an overhand right. Pereira did it again later in the round, because he could. Periera later said this humiliation was aimed at teaching Imadaev not to disrespect his upcoming opponent in the future. Midway through the 3rd, they showed the stats and Pereira was landing at 60% to Imadaev's 19%. Pereira finally put him out of his misery with a German suplex into a rear naked choke. Pereira didn't even have the hooks in, but Imadaev seemed to do a little half hearted tap. Definitely the downfall of this fight is it wasn't competitive, but even a Pereira squash is more interesting than 99% of the fighters best match. Good match.
