Best Matches Seen May 2021 |
UFC 262 5/15/21
Lando Vannata vs. Mike Grundy 3R. Vannata looked really fast at his new featherweight home, and was fighting like a fighter who still plans to be relevant in 5 or 6 years, moving always, defending first, and attacking when he could. Vannata was looking to counter more than to attack, but was above all striving to be as unpredictable as possible, so he could time Grundy a lot easier than Grundy could time him. Din Thomas is a far cry from Trevor Wittman when it comes to analyzing what is going on, but the totaling nailed it here, pointing out that Grundy was either wrestling or striking (with just the big right), but couldn't to blend the two. Grundy was mostly looking for the takedown, but Vannata refused to let him get chest to chest, either pushing his hands down then turning away or giving his back and continuing to move standing or rolling until he broke free. Grundy did a good job of moving with Vannata rather than resisting him, but Vannata still ultimately made the move or moves to free himself before Grundy could improve position to secure him. As Grundy became even more predictable in his unwillingness to set up his takedown attempts or throw even a left hand, and also slowed from having to try so many takedowns, Vannata was increasingly able to hit him on the way in and stay away. Grundy had to keep attacking though, because Vannata was picking him apart at distance. As Vannata's confidence grew, he was more willing to let his kicks fly, and throw more combinations. Grundy landed a big right hand now and then, but was always loading up for the one the haymaker, while Vannata was flowing and punching him with a wide variety of techniques. Vannata had to surrender the takedown early in the third to avoid a potential D'Arce choke, but then stood and slammed Grundy hard as he continued to go for the choke. Despite Grundy's best efforts, Vannata continued to win the rest of the round on his feet for the same reasons, moving so much better and being far less predictable. For me this was an easy 30–27 for Vannata, but the judges came up with a crazy split decision 29–28, 27–30, 30–27 where Vannata luckily still won, despite one blind mouse giving Grundy every round. While I'd give Viviane Araujo the 2nd round against Katlyn Chookagian, the fight was basically Chookagian narrowly winning the first 6 minutes in standup with better movement and distance control, having 2 bad minutes on the ground where she absolutely didn't tap (you have to actually touch the opponent to tap not just randomly move your hand or arm) then winning the next 7 minutes big as Araujo totally gassed herself trying for the submission. The only reason we are even talking about that being a controversial decision is because scoring fights by round is retarded. Good match.
Edson Barboza vs. Shane Burgos R3 1:16. Savage standup action here! A great matchup for low kick specialist Barboza because boxing specialist Burgos had to get heavy on his lead leg to throw his jab, allowing Barboza ample opportunity to drill him in the calf. Burgos nonetheless did a nice job utilizing his left hand, quickly cutting Barboza around the right eye, as well as really digging into body with nasty hooks. Burgos did much better when he was able to back Barboza against a cage, smothering his low kicks, and forcing him into mostly boxing exchanges. Barboza hurt Burgos with a right hand soon after landing a nice spinning kick to the head, and wobbled Burgos with both a short left counter and an overhand right over the jab. Barboza's right shin was cut from kicking Burgos, bleeding heavily on to the top of his foot, and somewhat compromising his movement. Burgos was able to apply a lot of pressure from late in the 1st round onwards, and things were arguably shifting in his favor when he also damaged Barboza's left leg with a calf kick. Barboza continued to land switch kicks and knees, as well as some nice spinning heel kicks, but the significant strikes were much more even in the second round, so we could have been 19-19 going into the third. The scoring didn't matter though, as Barboza scored one of the oddest knockouts I have ever seen, not because of anything he actually did. Barboza landed a rather standard left jab/overhand right combo, but Burgos seemingly took 3 seconds to actually feel it, then began stumbling back halfway across the octagon until he fell hard backwards into the cage, and wound up out on his stomach. Of course, Barboza still had to punch Burgos twice before Slow Dan finally managed to get in there and stop the fight. This clown is going to get somebody killed sooner or later. Very good match.
UFC Lightweight Title Decision: Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler R2 0:19. This was a really interesting fight on paper because these two aren't very similar beyond not going the distance very often. Oliveira is a really strong technical fighter, particularly one of the best submission fighters around, but for so long he was one of those guys that beat the guys outside of the top 10 only to lose to the actual contenters. After eight years of this in the UFC, he seemed about ready for gatekeeper status, and had almost zero chance of ever getting a title shot outside of maybe Raging Al level short notice desperation while champions continued to duck the then fearsome Tony Ferguson. However, Oliveira then ran off 7 fights in a row against has beens, carnies, & never weres, finally taking on a big time opponent when he broke an arguably already broken Ferguson, who he certainly met at the right time. Chandler, on the other hand, has appeared to be far closer to top of the game during the last decade, holding the Bellator Lightweight title three times, though obviously Bellator didn't offer any real competition beyond the all time great match again Eddie Alvarez and his many battles against the Pitbull Brothers. This has allowed him to almost always win despite never truly developing beyond an ultra aggressive chaos factor who has amazing power. You knew that Chandler was going to make the fight one way or the other, the question seemed to be whether he could bull his way through Oliveira or Oliveira would catch him in something that an athletic burst wouldn't be enough to get out of. Chandler had an early guillotine attempt, but we quickly saw the technique of Oliveira trumping the athletic surge of Chandler, as he knew wrestler Chandler was going to go to his knees to try it stand up, and was able to beat him there and take his back. Chandler tried to brute force his way out, standing and jumping back to slam Oliveira, but only put himself deeper into the rear naked choke attempt. Chandler was able to turn into guard and stand on the next explosion though. Chandler started wading in with big hooks, and before you knew it Oliveira was already almost finished. It's possible that Chandler would have knocked Oliveira out had he not pursued him to the ground, but Oliveira already had a cut around the right eye, and Chandler dropping down big punches and elbows was certainly a threat to get the stoppage pretty quickly, one way or another. This may not have been a 10-8 round for Chandler, but the fact that he didn't burn himself out going for the finish seemed to providing ample opportunity for him to continue to blitz throughout the second round. Instead, he's started off backing, and while he ducked a right hand, he got dropped with the subsequent left, and Oliveira just chased after him throwing wild punches until he dropped him again for the finish. This was a pretty shocking turn of events, with Oliveira winning in a fashion that you would really expect only from Chandler to capture the title in his first attempt, but his 28th UFC fight. Good match.
UFC on ESPN 23 5/1/21
T.J. Brown vs. Kai Kamaka 3R. This was really good match making, as it was one of those hard-fought fights that was mostly good because it was so close. The first round, in particular, was really difficult to score, as Kamaka landed a few more shots and was on top briefly, but Brown was a bit flashier, with his athleticism and fluid stance switches to utilize his left straight, so his moments tended to stand out a little more. Brown hurt Kamaka with a right cross, and then a short right early in the second, attempting to follow with a flying knee. Kamaka came right back though, and scored a knockdown with a right hook when Brown was coming forward trying to throw his own punch. Brown eventually had a Kimura attempt off his back, and scored a late takedown, but none of this was enough to erase the knockdown. Kamaka stuffed a takedown, and had almost 2 minutes of ground control to start the third. Brown ducked an overhand right, but Kamaka just plowed forward, knocking Brown off his feet, and controlling on the ground for another minute. Granted, Kamaka had little to no offense during the stretches, but the way judges score, it's difficult to think this wasn't going to be another Kamaka round. There was a brief great exchange, until Kamaka went down because he got hit with a right hook while Brown was holding his right foot, having just caught his kick. If this were an actual knockdown, the round would surely shift in Brown's favor. As it was, with him losing position going for a submission, i.e. actually trying to finish, and then being the one who actually went for a submission again, even off his back, I was surprised they actually scored it for him. Brown won a split decision 27–30, 29–28, 29–28. Good match.
Jiri Prochazka vs. Dominick Reyes R2 4:29. Prochazka in such a great athlete! He has an 80 inch reach, but he moves like a much smaller man. You know Jiri is coming forward, but he really mixes up his attacks so well, it's still very difficult to either time him or defend. He changes levels, users front kicks, switch kicks, uppercuts, body hooks, elbows, etc., it's just a constant swarming attack. Reyes had a takedown, but after the first few minutes was mostly backing up sucking wind trying to find some way to keep Prochazka off him, and he is a genuinely good counter striker who recently fought for the title. Reyes did better early on in both rounds, as he was able to use his kicks to back Prochazka momentarily, and hold the center of the ring, but once Prochazka started coming forward, he rarely relented. Midway through the second, Reyes hurt Jiri with a left then dropped into guillotine. The problem, of course, was once Jiri popped his head out, he went to work on Reyes with ground and pound. Although Reyes was able to get back to his feet, Prochazka was still on him like glue, and missed an elbow against the cage, but then knocked Reyes out with a beautiful highlight reel spinning elbow to theoretically earn a title shot against the winner of Jan vs. Glover. Good match.
