Best Matches Seen January 2021 |
UFC 257 1/23/21: Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor R2 2:32. This fight was very intense because everything was thrown with the ill intentions and a lot of power. Both guys landed some nasty shots, and you felt like one big blow could turn their lights out like a heavyweight match, but these guys were quick and active. Since these two last fought on 9/27/14, Poirier has won 10 fights and improved tremendously, while Conor won 3 fights in 2015, but since then has mostly fought the law and various lawsuits. What McGregor has developed is the deadly shoulder attack, which he used to quickly defeat Cowboy Cerrone in his one win since 2016. It really gave him an advantage in the inside fighting that no one else has, especially with Dustin looking to slow things down. Although Poirier did land a few shoulders of his own, he doesn't have nearly the flexibility Conor does to make it a weapon. McGregor had a big speed advantage also, so in addition to wrestling, which isn't one of his big strengths and seemed to be tiring him out as much as Conor, Dustin looked to try to beat up the calf. McGregor was able to walk Poirier down when Dustin wasn't clinching, so the calf kicks were very important in keeping him honest, especially since McGregor was largely using a boxing stance. McGregor won the first round, but 2 early calf kicks in the 2nd shifted the advantage in Poirier's favor. Conor began catching the kick and trying to fire back with a straight punch. Poirier's confidence grew though, as he saw that McGregor wasn't really bouncing or even moving much anymore. He circled off the cage, and McGregor didn't adjust at all, with Poirier beginning to pour it on with McGregor finally being the one with his back to the cage. McGregor tried to dodge and fire back instead of getting himself into the better position, and Dustin just kept firing heavy shots until he nailed Conner with a right hook, with Herb Dean actually managing to just stop this fight, unlike earlier when he made Marina Rodriguez win twice. Good match.
UFC on ESPN 20 1/20/20: Mike Davis vs. Mason Jones 3R. A very action packed striking contest with Davis being the better boxer, especially when he had room, but Jones really succeeded in putting the pressure on him all fight to negate that as best as he could. Jones also did his best to kick the calf when Davis had his weight on the lead leg. Davis did a good job of kicking the calf also, and wasn't opposed to going for a takedown or trip on the inside early on, even though he wasn't that interested in actually fighting on the ground. Jones kept Davis on his back foot with all the pressure and volume, which somewhat negated Davis' power advantage, though Davis just had crisper technique, and was still landing the cleaner strikes, including knocking Jones' mouthpiece out with a right hook late in the second round. This was a close fight, but Davis certainly looked like he was winning given Jones was battered and bloodied under both eyes. Jones outlanded Davis and had better cardio, but Davis just did more to hurt him, including a couple big knees in the third. Davis won a unanimous decision 29-28. Good match.
Shoot Boxing INFINITY-S Vol. 1 2/1/04
Yoshiaki Ota vs NIIZU MAX!! 2R UD. This is basically what I want from an undercard match. You don't expect these guys to have the best technique yet, but you want to see all action, and the desire both to win and to entertain. These guys just attacked as fast and aggressively as they could muster the energy for, only eventually slowing from eventual exhaustion. The first round was more MAX! forcing the crazy pace by constantly moving forward, with Ota mostly just throwing to try to keep MAX! off him. Ota was the one who pressured to start the second round though, and seemed to have better cardio even though he took more damage. He hit a German suplex, but on the restart MAX! flew in with a wild switch kick, missed the left hand, but knocked Ota halfway across the ring into the corner with a big right hand. This was the signature shot of the fight, and likely one MAX! the round even though he was ultimately outworked. MAX! was finally slowing down after this, and the more he just stood in front of Ota, the more Ota could do damage with the short right hand. Even the Ref couldn't keep up these guys, accidentally falling down trying to separate them after Ota defended a suplex attempt. This was sloppy, but certainly never dull! MAX! won a unanimous decision. Good match.
Shoot Boxing 1st Super Welterweight Title Champion Decison Match: Andy Souwer vs. Hiroyuki Doi R4 1:11. This is a great example of Souwer at his finest. He was sort of the best of both worlds because he had the power to hurt the opponent as well as the stamina keep after them, so they never really had a chance to recover. For the most part, he was able to keep Doi out of the fight by refusing to ever yield an inch. Doi would try to strike when they were at parity, but Andy would only come forward, thus Doi was invariably striking off his back foot. Soon Andy would back him into the ropes with a big shot, and throw hard to the head, which would force Doi to block there, which would then allow Andy to nail him in the stomach. Doi would be forced to block the midsection, which would allow Andy to nail him in the head. Before you knew it, the fight was about Doi defending, but not really, as he was always a step behind what Andy was doing next, with Souwer simply landing around where he saw Doi had set his defense. Doi is a good fighter, and knew what he had to do, at least to some extent. When he moved laterally after his kicks, he was able to keep moving into the open space rather than allowing Andy to back him into the ropes. Even throwing some wild flying attacks wasn't bad, other than when he lept into a big right hand that setup the first knockdown, because they propelled him forward. The problem was that Andy hits so hard that it never took long to stun Doi, and then seize the space Doi just yielded. Once Doi was in a bit of trouble, Souwer had the stamina to just a flurry of him against the ropes until the round ended or Doi crumbled. Doi definitely faired better in the early portions of each round, before the real estate battle shifted the fight dramatically in Souwer's favor. The fight should have been over with the second knockdown in round three, but Doi showed a ton of heart, somehow getting up there, and again in the fourth before the towel was mercifully thrown in after the fourth knockdown. Good match.
UFC on ABC 1 1/16/21: Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar 5R. Though this is just the first UFC show of 2021, it's probably already safe to proclaim this 2021 Squash of the Year! Bellator will surely offer at least two per main card, though if a handful actually manage to be of any interest, it will be a good year for them. This, on the other hand, may be the greatest 50-40 blowout in the history of MMA. There was just an insane amount of action here, with Holloway setting seemingly every record for strikesght his thrown and landed. Kattar, for his part, showed virtually unprecedented refusal to give up on himself even though he was never remotely being in the fight. Despite his determination, Holloway was literally dancing circles around him, with a speed advantage so obscene that he appeared to be in fast forward, while Kattar appeared to be in slow motion. It's amazing this fight manage to go five rounds, but for that we can thank the ineptitude of Herb Dean, who somehow couldn't find a place to stop a fight where Max connected with 447 shots at a 60% rate, which was more than three times the 134 that Kattar landed. It's not like Kattar had a single takedown, or that any statistic was trending in his direction. The closest round was the first, where Max only outlanded him 56-24. The fourth round saw Max rack up a 141-34 advantage, but Dean somehow couldn't step in. The fifth round could have been almost as bad if Max wasn't so bored he started finding other ways to amuse himself. Kattar's big problem, beyond the speed obviously, was that he was rarely able to hold his ground, much less actually come forward. Max would feint, take to space if Kattar backed, land a three strike combo, take to space if Kattar backed, wash, rinse, repeat. Kattar was always on the defensive. He just had no time to lead or to counter. The big improvement for Max here was the amount of variety he brought to his combos. He did a great job of punching the body, but certainly he was a lot more dangerous today when he was also able to land big elbows and body kicks then in the past when he was mostly just volume boxing. Holloway had a huge flurry at the end of the second round after hurting Kattar with an elbow, busting him up with some of the subsequent elbows. Kattar was very wobbly midway through the fourth when Holloway was a bludgeoning him with real blows to the head and left hooks to the body. Holloway began showing off at the end of the round with a high kick, handstand kick, and spinning heel kick. At points in the fifth round, Max stopped attacking and just talked through to the announcers or posed like a jerk to show that Kattar couldn't even a hit him when he wasn't even paying attention. The announcers kept trying to make this out to be a fight of the year, but that requires something that's actually competitive, and thus has drama. The only question here was why was such a ridiculous mismatch still continuing? Holloway won a unanimous decision 50–43, 50–43, 50–42. Good match.
