Best Matches Seen April 2021 |
UFC 261 4/24/21
Ariane Carnelossi vs. Na Liang R2 1:28. The pace of this fight was just insane! Na just kept pressing forward, using barrage of strikes to set up the takedown. The thing is this fight didn't stall out on the ground, where it mostly took place. There were a lot of submissions attempts, scrambles, & reversals. It was like the old days when interesting things happened on the mat because fighters actually took chances, rather than the fighter on top just trying to maintain position, while the fighter on the bottom just tried to get up, or lay there thinking about getting around to it. Carnelossi even rolled Na into a mounted triangle near the end of the first round. Na escaped, but nearly got pounded out going for a leg lock, and was carried back to her corner by Song Yadong, which I don't remember being legal. Na didn't seem to recover much, but still managed to push forward like she was shot out of a cannon, getting a headlock throw but quickly getting overwhelmed by ground and pound once Carnelossi predictably slipped out the back. The Ref stop was kind of odd in that it was more because Na was completely exhausted than from the pedestrian ground and pound. Good match.
Jeff Molina vs. Qileng Aori 3R. Aori utilizes a ton of forward pressure, trying to fight like Tony Ferguson. He has a good jab, but tends to load up too much, whereas Molina is far more accurate because he is more concerned with simply touching the opponent. Aori won the first 8 minutes, but then Molina had a flash knockdown with a right cross. It still felt like this was a good round for Aori because he just has so much aggression and hits so much harder, until Molina also caught him with a lead a right straight in the final seconds for another knockdown. Aori once again responded by fighting angry, upping the pressure even that much more, and I was wondering if Molina was going to start to slow down because he spent the entire fight backing up. Aori was the one who ran out of gas though. Molina took over in the final minutes because Aori couldn't be bothered moving his head, and thus was an easy target. Molina finally started holding his ground in the center of the octagon, and this was some of the best action of the fight, just exchanging shots in the proverbial phone booth. Aori was showing almost no defense at this point, so now Molina was able to piece him up with some more powerful shots. Just as the announcers said Aori was fading, and it appeared clear he was seconds away from losing a decision, he got his 15th wind and nearly dropped Molina with a series of hooks. It's very possible that Molina would have been finished had the fight went another 10 or 15 seconds, but this late flurry wasn't quite enough to steal a round Molina had built up a huge advantage in. Molina won a unanimous decision 29–28, 29–28, 29–27. Very good match.
Bellator 257 4/16/21 Paul Daley vs. Sabah Homasi R2 1:44. While this had all the makings of the usual quick Bellator squash, Daley managed to survive a massive early onslaught and comeback to finish Homasi in second round. It was a very exciting fight with some huge explosive moments from both men. Homasi led with a left straight out of the southpaw stance that missed, but was able to hammer Daley with the subsequent right hook, and had a huge flurry of punches against the cage. Daley was able to circle away, and seemed to actually have recovered enough to stay in the match, only to get dropped with a big overhand right. I was OK with Homasi pursuing Daley to the ground initially, but when he didn't finish within 30 seconds or so, I would rather have seen him just let Daley back up because even though Homasi was winning the position battle, Daley clearing his head to stay in the fight was likely more important. Daley was able to play even in standup in the last 2 minutes, until hurting Homasi with two big knees and flurrying until the bell to avoid the 10-8 round. Early in the second round, Daley countered a step knee with a big right hand to drop Homasi, and flurried with a hammer fists on the ground. Homasi didn't look good when he got back to his feet, but Daley to rush things, instead looking to counter. He soon caught a kick, and dropped Homasi with a left hook on the release, this time finishing with ground punches. Good match.
UFC on ABC 2 4/10/21: John Makdessi vs. Ignacio Bahamondes 3R. Makdessi gave up 7.5 inches reach, but amazingly still managed to win this fight behind his jab. Early on Bahamondes looked great, using his reach and a wide variety of looks to keep Makdessi guessing. Makdessi was mostly just watching, getting overwhelmed by volume, but midway through the round he finally countered with a big left hook to stun Bahamondes. From here Makdessi started walking Bahamondes down, and was now the one who was getting off first, bloodying Bahamondes' right cheek. Makdessi controlled the center of the ring in the second round, and although he wasn't pressing forward as aggressively, he stayed close enough that could connect with almost every jab, and did a nice job of keeping his guard up and moving with Bahamondes. This round was less about Bahamondes movemment and stance switches, and more a high volume, center of the octagon toe to toe battle. I thought Makdessi had the better round overall, but the standout sequence came from Bahamondes with a great right, left, big uppercut combo out of the orthodox stance midway through the round. The defense broke down in the third round, and the blood began to flow, as both guys were really piecing each other up. Bahamondes was definitely doing better out of the southpaw stance, but really it was about who was getting of first, and Bahamondes lost this because he wasn't able to get back to that from when Makdessi hurt him in the first until sometime in the third round. I know Bahamondes wasn't bonus eligible because he missed weight, but this fight was miles better than all the other meh bouts on this middling show. Makdessi won a split decision 28–29, 29–28, 30–27. Good match.
