UFC Fight Night 224 7/22/23

Nathaniel Wood vs. Andre Fili 3R
ML: This seemed like it was going to be Fight of the Night, but they kind of limped home in third, reasonably hesitant after two very good, tough, back and forth rounds. The first round was definitely the best because it was the most back and forth. Fili had the size, reach and grappling advantages, but Wood had the hand speed, foot speed, and punching power. Fili dropped Wood 20 seconds into the fight, countering a right low kick with a left straight. Fili was using his long straight punches well, but Wood came over the top of his jab fake and rocked him with a right hand. This wasn't a clean knockdown, but that may have been worse for Fili, as he went down against the cage unable to keep Wood off him, and Wood really worked to move over with elbows to bust him open. Fili regrouped, but it was clearly a Wood round. Early in the second, Wood came over the jab with a good left hand to put more doubt in Fili about his long range game. Fili had been coming close with high kicks, and was finally able to land a solid one. The problem with what Fili was doing is he wasn't using any straight or body kicks to maintain his range, all of his range stuff was purely boxing, and that made it much more difficult for him to reestablished distance by pushing Wood back to avoid getting countered. This arguably also led to Fili being the more tired of the two in the 3rd because he was the one moving backwards and sideways a lot more when he could have been rejecting Wood and forcing him to reenter. Wood was becoming more aggressive as the fight progressed and he understood Fili's jab timing. He tried to come in behind his own jab, but Fili rocked him they left hook, and followed with clinch knees to drop him. Fili then took his back to rear naked choke, but he was too high up to flatten him out, and lost control trying to shift into an armbar. He regained control when Wood tried to transition from rear mount, and Fili spent the rest of the round on top, evening things at a round a piece. Fili's jab was working well enough in round 3 to keep Wood from closing the distance as consistently and aggressively, but for the most part Wood was still coming forward and landing, while Fili was circling away and missing too much. Fili was trying to set up the takedown since the ground worked well in the 2nd, but Wood was ready when he finally shot. This round was feeling like one that could have gone either way, but when they showed the statistics with a minute left, Wood was up 27 strikes to 10. Wood then stunned Fili with a left hook counter, which was the only really good shot of the round. Fili was fine, and was able to defend Woods late take down attempt, but the combination of the volume and the best shot was ultimately the difference in the fight, with Wood taking the unanimous decision 29 - 28. Good match.

Jonny Parsons vs. Danny Roberts R2 4:57
ML: Roberts fought the smart fight in round 1 to utilize his 5-inch reach advantage, using the jab, mixing low kick and body kicks, doing a good job of maintaining space against an opponent who is really good at closing distance. Parsons did a lot of nice fakes to work his way in and try to set up the high kick. Roberts began trying to capitalize on the openings left by Parsons coming in, but even though Roberts was doing good work here, that turned the fight more into a fast-paced brawl where Parsons could in turn answer him with his shorter range boxing game, rather than the more measured technical fight that Roberts was winning because he was too long and too skilled. Roberts becoming more aggressive did make sense beyond just trying to have a much more entertaining fight, as Parsons was the better kicker, while Roberts was the better puncher, so when Roberts pressed forward to counter Parsons attack, it meant he was initially able to work inside boxing, which he was clearly the superior of the two at. Aside from taking an elbow when Parsons reversed against the cage, Roberts continued to do well early in the second round until he twisted his ankle then slipped 2 minutes in. Parsons then dropped a couple bombs on him, but Roberts was able to slip out the back when Parsons mounted. Roberts just started swinging to try to get it back though, despite clearly not having recovered. He was far too reckless during the rest of the fight, and just left his chin open for Parsons hooks. Roberts was slowing down quickly as this high paced exchanging went on, which made his shots much more easy to avoid than early in the match when he was very accurate, and left his chin was far too exposed because he was no longer doing anything really to defend or even move after his own attack. Once Parsons landed a right jab to back Roberts into the cage, and followed with a left step knee, that was the beginning of the end. Roberts did fight his way out of the Thai clinch, and actually finally landed a few good punches back, but his hands were at his sides, and he was clearly the worse for wear. They started an even wilder exchange of hooks than a little earlier, but Parsons was still using his hands to block/defend, while Roberts hands were belly button height after each punch, so it didn't take long for Parsons to win this exchange. Parsons was wobbling Roberts with each jab, but Roberts just kept coming no matter what, either just on autopilor or simple unable to get out of the get it back attacking mode. Parsons finally finished with three hooks, but it was more the accumulation of damage giving Jason Herzog an excuse to finally stop it when Roberts went down, which unfortunately for him was just as the round was ending. Maybe with a minute to regroup, Roberts could have gotten back into the proper mental space, but it was a good stoppage by Herzog, just unfortunate timing for Roberts. Good match.

AJW 7/31/79 Tokyo Den'en Coliseum 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Mami Kumano & Yumi Ikeshita vs. Lucy Kayama & Tomi Aoyama
ML: A very energetic and spirited contest. The offense is obviously archaic, but if you can get past that, there is a lot to like in terms of the effort, enthusiasm, and urgency. Black Pair do a nice job of making it feel wild and out of control, which helped make up for some of the lack of precision in everyone's movements. Black Pair don't work a fast pace per se, but they never slow down, and the match always feels like people are trying to win, even though Black Pair are trying to do it through methods of questionable legality. Tomi is very fired up, and gets some dropkicks in early, but it doesn't take long before Black Pair are creating their brand of chaos, and Tomi can never quite save her partner. Lucy's previously injured knee becomes the target of their hostilities, ripping her support off, tying her up and choking her with it. Lucy is pinned in the first fall, and then is carried to the back, so Tomi is forced to continue one against two. Aoyama finally makes a comeback with what's supposed to be a springboard body attack to both, but the loose ropes don't support her, so it winds up being a forearm to Mami. Ikeshita escapes to the floor after a giant swing, so Tomi charges for the dive, but runs into Mami's chair shot. Aoyama manages to get just enough offense in to keep the crowd believing in her, while not making things ridiculous given the odds. You feel like she will somehow manage to take a fall, but it's probably better that she didn't, other than that I was really enjoying the match, and I would have liked to have seen it go longer. Aoyama & Ikeshita were the best two workers in the promotions at this point, so it's no surprise they were the standouts here. ***1/2

UWF 7/24/89 Fukuoka Hakata Star Lanes: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Tatsuo Nakano 9:04
DC: This was an exciting match while it lasted. The crowd was behind Tatsuo Nakano, who got bloodied, but kept fighting back. Maskatsu Funaki gave one of his best showings here, but it felt like it was Nakano who truly was the one who made this such a memorable match due to his display of determination and never-say-die attitude. Masakatsu Funaki threw some cool-looking suplexes and played his part, but Nakano was the more impressive of the two because he was more fired up. This seems to be the story of most of Funaki’s pro wrestling career, as he clearly had the talent, but he still somehow never seemed to really stand out as one of the most memorable workers. Nakano, on the other hand, came across as an overachieving underdog here during this portion of his career, and in this particular match gave arguably one of his very best performances ever. Nakano was mostly successful during the stand-up striking portions, and he hit several well-placed kicks. What they did particularly well, especially at the start of the match and towards the end of the match, was really put this over as a fight by just constantly trying to beat each other up and/or trying to fight back whenever the other attacked. They couldn’t quite keep the speed equally high at all times, and things slowed down particularly with Funaki in control during parts of the middle portion, but there was definitely a lot of intensity shown in this bout. The match also came across as violent, for instance during a moment where Nakano, who was bloodied and resembled a wounded animal, tried to take it to Funaki on the mat but was greeted by Funaki with several kicks to the head, as Funaki tried to defend himself against the determined Nakano. This was a very good shoot style match. **** 

AJW 4/11/93 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Suzuka Minami vs. Harley Saito 13:31
DC: This was the sixth match of the nine-match All Star Dreamslam II show, which was a show that followed the All Star Dreamslam (I) show that took place nine days earlier in Yokohama. Both these Dreamslam shows are considered to be among the very best pro wrestling shows that ever took place. One of the more overlooked matches that month was between AJW’s Suzuka Minami and LLPW’s Harley Saito. While it’s obviously understandable that it’s somehow relatively easy to overlook an excellent match in a month filled with top-notch matches, it seems that both these wrestlers are quite underrated in general by the majority of pro wrestling fans. These two wrestlers weren’t very familiar with each other’s in-ring work, as they had only met once prior to this match, and that was in a tag team match in LLPW on 2/13/93, which happened to be the best match LLPW ever produced. Suzuka Minami started this Dreamslam II match off with a flurry of dropkicks, and went for a cover early. Harley Saito fought back with a spin kick and kept focusing on kicks, which made sense since striking was her strongest weapon. Suzuka started working over Harley’s right leg, which is Harley’s dominant leg, so it was a useful way to spend time in a hold. What was so good about the joshi puroresu matches from this golden age of joshi puroresu was that the wrestlers would always constantly stay on each other. Even when the pace wasn’t necessarily always super fast (although it oftentimes was), there was always still a moderately high tempo that would ensure there was never a real significant chance for the other to rest. While this wasn’t the case in every match from that era, there was certainly more opportunity to be a punk, than to be Punk. The fact that both these women weren’t recklessly and mindlessly leaping at each other, but instead had a focused and determined approach, gave this match the vibe of a serious contest between two wrestlers who were really trying to put their opponent and themselves to the test with the goal to come out on top. Harley eventually managed to stop Suzuka’s momentum and unleashed a series of kicks. Harley was now in firm control, and it felt like she had just undone everything Suzuka had accomplished earlier in the match. Harley aggressively started wearing Suzuka down, and Suzuka had to resort to rope breaks to stop Harley’s onslaught temporarily. Suzaka then hit a couple of quebradoras, which somehow were executed in a manner that made them somewhat realistic (relatively speaking). Harley almost pinned Suzuka via a bridging German suplex, and the pace started picking up more. Harley hit a spin kick that sent Suzuka to the floor, despite seemingly not connecting all too well, but we’ll forgive these two sympathetic workers. We can always just imagine that Suzuka was about to lose her balance. Harley then hit a pescado. Soon after, Harley almost pinned Suzuka after a side suplex and a bridging German suplex. Bridging German suplexes rule (after all, Karl Gotch is the God of Pro Wrestling according to the Japanese), so Suzuka also executed one for a near fall. Suzuka hit a beautiful tope suicida. The near falls continued. Harley came really close to pinned Suzuka with a superbly-executed tiger suplex. Harley missed a flying headbutt, and Suzuka tried to take advantage immediately by hitting a powerbomb. The match still wasn’t over, and it was so good that you wouldn’t want it to be over yet. But then, Suzuka hit a senton off the top rope and that was the end of the match. Suzaka was the victor. The crowd applauded Harley for her effort once she was able to get back to her feet after selling the idea that the wind had been taken out of her by Suzuka’s senton. It’s not quite an actual great match, but it’s truly an excellent one. It was such a well-wrestled match that felt so logical and intriguing from the start. It just clicked between these two workers, and it resulted in a very enjoyable match with a natural flow. ****  

RINGS 7/13/93 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Volk Han vs. Dick Vrij 9:09
DC: This was an exciting match all the way through. During the stand-up striking, the Dutch fighter Dick Vrij was quite dangerous, but Volk Han wasn’t afraid to try to beat Vrij at his own game.This made the stand-up striking portions of the match very intense and quite interesting to watch. Of course, whenever Han took Vrij to the mat, Han was significantly more dangerous than Vrij. Han once again proved that he was a master at guiding an opponent to a match that was better than they were normally presumed to be capable of having. Han, who gave a really strong performance here, was really good at working a logical match while carrying an opponent. Of course, it helps that Vrij gave a considerably better performance than a year prior. This match was significantly better than their decent match from 8/21/92, and this match was exciting and entertaining while it lasted. This was one of the best matches of Han’s career up until that point in time. Very good match. ***¾  

CHIKARA 6/18/17 Johnny Kidd Invitational 2017 First Round:: Mike Quackenbush vs. Zack Sabre Jr, 10:23
ML: I'm in the minority, but I liked this more than their first encounter from 4/1/17, despite that being more than 7 minutes longer. Their first match just never felt serious to me, and while that exhibition feel is fine when Quackenbush is trading holds with a semi retired or years past their prime legend, it doesn't really cut it for me against a top younger fighter who has yet to reach his prime. I also preferred this because it was a legitimate attempt to do a true World of Sport style technical match four decades later without modernizing things at all really, whereas the first match was mostly just kind of randomly trading locks. This one was still somewhat light, and still had somewhat of an exhibition feel, but the technical ability was more or less as beautiful as I expected, with two flexible and athletic wizards trading holds and escapes. It's was all very quick moving stuff, they never stayed in any of the holds really, always twisting, turning, rolling, doing some sort of gymnastic escape then firing off their own leverage lock or joint manipulation. Things eventually escalated to a few strikes when ZSJ got salty, but that was a progression in intensity leading to the finishing sequence rather than what this was about. ZSJ was definitely the better of the two doing the style native to his country, and also has more heelish tendencies, so he was able to out clever Quack when things finally got a bit rough. Quack really shined with his athleticism, as always, but lacked the variety of ZSJ in this style, so a lot was based around the cravat. This was just a fun match where both guys had the rare opportunity to throw whatever lock they could think of at the opponent, knowing he would immediately be able to answer. It wasn't an attempt at a great match, partly because it was the first round of a one-night tournament, but it was a unique match for 2017, even if arguably somewhat commonplace 30 or 40 years earlier. ***

EVE 9/8/18 London, England Resistance Gallery: Charlie Morgan vs. Millie McKenzie 9:45
DC: Charlie Morgan’s EVE Title wasn’t on the line here, as she issued an open challenge to anyone who could prove themselves to be worthy of a title shot. Morgan hit a really cool-looking Silver King-style springboard plancha to the floor onto Millie McKenzie that also took some other people at ringside down. When McKenzie applied a chinlock, she applied it with a lot of intensity. McKenzie certainly is an amazing wrestler of someone of her age (she was born on 6/17/00). McKenzie hit some wicked released German suplexes on Morgan, who took them well. This match was a lot of fun to watch. The only drawbacks of the match were that it was just under ten minutes long, and Morgan just needed a superkick to put McKenzie away after McKenzie had a lot of momentum built up. This was a very good match overall though. ***½ 

SGPW 6/27/21 Niigata City Gym Sendai Girls Tag Title: Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Mio Momono & Rin Kadokura 17:38
ML: Marvelous had to get something back for Sendai Girls' domination at the 6/13/21 GAEAISM show, and it turned out to be a much deserved tag title win. Mio was excellent, interjecting so much energy and excitement, but Hashimoto really stole the show, working a junior style match, and matching her much later opponents in energy and explosion. Kadokura and Yuu were lesser versions of their partners in this speed versus power match, but Kadokura brought more to the match than Yuu because she worked better with her partner, and was just generally more on point. This was another impressive energetic performance from Kadokura despite basically just being the whipping girl. She got to land a strike, then have Yuu knock her down with one. Otherwise, her offense was basically a single jumping move or a flash pin attempt, but everything she did, even if somewhat basic, was well done. Yuu threw her body around, but never exactly looked graceful. Yuu is just nowhere near the athlete that Hashimoto is, Hashimoto seems twice as fast and explosive, keeping up with the opposition, and being a great base for them. Yuu doesn't have near the body control, and her execution isn't nearly as crisp and precise. She was okay, but at the same time, you never actually wanted to see her in the match. The focus, of course, was on Momono versus Hashimoto, setting up Mio's title challenge on July 11th. Mio was really pushing Hashimoto with her speed athleticism and quick reactions, forcing Hashimoto to not only be engaged but be on top of her game. Hashimoto was really putting a lot of effort and energy into everything she did, even jumping around when she had Mio in the torture rack. They started and ended with Hashimoto versus Momono, and the finishing sequence was definitely the highlight of the match, culminating with Momono finally pinned Hashimoto. The result was surprising in the sense that one always assumes Kadokura or Yuu will eat the pin in a tag, but Momono really needed something more impressive than that to make her seem credible in a one-on-one setting with Hashimoto after Hashimoto destroyed the entire Marvelous team earlier in the month in what was essentially a one against three handicap match. This wasn't a major match like the one that came before or the singles match that came after it, but for a transitional semifinal, it was quite good. ***1/4

SGPW SENJO Chronicle 7/11/21 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Sendai Girls World Title: Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mio Momono 20:16
PA: Hashimoto ran over Mio and both her partners at the GAEAism show, but Mio was able to bring some pride back to Marvelous when her and Rin defeated Hashimoto and Yuu at the Big Show in Niigata. Mio actually pinned Hashimoto with a Momo Latch in that one, but facing Hashimoto again in singles action was a whole different beast. This really built off their singles portion in the GAEAism match. Mio knew she couldn't take Hashimoto head on, that the speed vs. power stuff doesn't work in this matchup. She was immediately overpowered and tried to use her speed, but Hashimoto answered her. Mio actually had some success in their first exchange on the mat, getting Hashimoto's back, but she couldn't do anything and it resulted in a stalemate. Mio wasn't damaging Hashimoto, but she was frustrating her, leading to an early error from Hashimoto as she hastily went for a rolling senton and Mio avoided it and tried a flash pin. Mio got Hashimoto in a wakigatame, before making her first mistake, which was trying to trade blows with Hashimoto. Hashimoto started really dominating at this point, she was just dragging Mio around like a ragdoll and doing whatever she wanted. Mio was struggling and trying anything she could think of to break free and she was able to bail herself out by going back to Hashimoto's arm. Hashimoto decided she was going to kill the kid by German suplexing her from the apron to the outside, but Mio struggled out of that and hit her footstomps, including one from the apron to the floor, followed by a plancha. Mio stayed in control using her speed until Hashimoto flattened her and started grinding her down again. When nothing else was working, Mio still had the arm to back to. I liked Hashimoto's selling of it, it wasn't a major problem, but she never let you forget that it was damaged. Mio did more damage to it with a wakigatame, and Hashimoto bailed out for breather. When she got on the apron, Mio charged in and we got as absolutely brutal and honestly terrifying a German suplex as you're likely to see from Hashimoto. She popped back in and overshot Mio, with Mio landing on her head. They had the striking exchange, and Mio slipped out of Hashimoto's German suplex and hit her own. Mio went back to the arm one more time and hit her JK Bomb for a near fall. She went for a dive, but Hashimoto got her knees up. Another brutal German suplex and Mio was just about finished. She tried to fire up, but crashed down to the mat. Hashimoto planted her with a nasty powerbomb and Mio survived that. Hashimoto went for her German suplex and Mio caught a stunner, one last attempt at a burst was futile though, and Hashimoto put her away with a German suplex. ****

ML: An unusually interesting bout that wasn't simply the expected power vs. speed and/or big vs. small battle. There were aspects of that, of course, but for the most part Momono was trying to win via submission rather than with her usual athletic offense, which may have been a good idea given Hashimoto essentially beat the Marvelous trio three on one in an excellent lightning paced match the month before. They established this story early on, where armbars were reliable and "safe" for Momono, but risk didn't yield reward. Momono may not exactly be known for her submissions, but she never does anything half-hearted or half-assed, so this was a far cry from the sort of occasionally pretending to be half interested in the appendage she's holding stuff we used to see from Manami Toyota until she got around to bringing the high flying. Hashimoto was Hashimoto, using her big throws and showing excellent ability to move, bump, and transition, not feeling like a woman of her size. Momono was really making a concerted effort not to play into her hands by being reckless, and instead trying to utilize her quickness on the mat, taking chances only at more opportune times. Hashimoto has better wrestling obviously, but Momono could use her speed to beat her to the submission or in the scramble. Momono managed to have more time in control, but it didn't necessarily feel that way because Hashimoto was so overwhelming when she actually hit something, which made for a nice balance. At one point, Hashimoto tried to power her way out of an armbar by slamming Mio into the corner, but Mio held on, and pulled Hashimoto over the top rope to the floor, maintaining the armbar as both crashed to the concrete. This was probably my favorite spot just because it showed the kind of committment Momono had to her strategy, and her general determination. Hashimoto would at least threaten to throw Mio almost any time she took a chance, so Mio just felt she had to be more careful, and fight really hard to find a counter once Hashimoto caught her or grabbed her. Hashimoto was doing a really nice job of bumping for Momono when she did do something athletic. She has really improved her body control over the years, and that really separates her, because pretty much everyone her size is rather lumbering . At one point, Hashimoto tried to counter Momono's charge with a crucifix roll, but Momono slid onto Hashimoto's back, and turned it into something of an armbar. The arm was always Momono's focus, with the big near finish coming on an avalanche style armbar after Hashimoto stopped the sunset flip powerbomb. The last 5 minutes had more of the traditional stylistics you'd expect from these two, but without Momono losing the arm plot. Hashimoto nearly countered a huracarrana with a powerbomb, but Momono turned it into a sunset flip and went into to an armbar when Hashimoto kicked out. Hashimoto finally hit a nasty powerbomb for a near fall, and Momono charged into a powerslam then was finished with the high angle German suplex. They could do a more traditionally "exciting" match, but I felt this was more genuinely exciting in the sense that it never felt on rails. ****

ROH 3/31/23 Los Angeles Galen Center, AAA Mega Title: Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander 15:43
DC: This was a battle between two young and extremely talented Mexican luchadores who are two of the very best high flyers in wrestling today, possibly THE two very best high flyers in the world today. After briefly executing some fun lucha matwork, they started going for highspots and never stopped focusing on highspots. Hijo del Vikingo went for a twisting tope con giro, but Komander caught his opponent. Most of the moves were so spectacular that a springboard dropkick seemed simple in comparison. Komander hit a tope con giro, and soon after, Komander hit a 450 splash off the stage onto Vikingo on the floor. Vikingo fought back and hit several amazing moves. Vikingo went for a shooting star press off the apron to the floor, but Komander got his knees up. Vikingo hit cool flying kicks and knees. Vikingo stood on the post and leaped on the top rope and went for a springboard move, but Komander caught him in a Liger bomb. Komander went for a move off the top, but got pushed to the floor by Vikingo, who then followed up with a tremendous springboard off the second rope into an inverted somersault plancha. Vikingo executed a tremendous springboard twisting plancha off the second rope from the apron into the ring onto Komander. Once Komander was able to stop the momentum of Vikingo with a sunset flip piledriver on the apron, Komander went for his unique ropewalk into a springboard twisting plancha to the floor, an amazing move! Vikingo springboarded off the second rope and twisted forward in the air twice before landing on Komander on the table. The main issue with this match was that it was all about highspots, and several of them took quite some time to set up. While this type of match isn’t the most realistic to begin with, its somewhat lack of resembling a wrestling match could be explained by the fact that incredible aerial moves are the weapon of choice and speciality of both these athletes, and since they both respect each other for being top high flyers, you could say that they both tested each other to see how many incredible maneuvers the other could take before going down. In spite of the match being so focused on highspots, at least all the highspots were incredibly amazing. Vikingo hit the 630 splash of the top rope for the win. Vikingo retained the AAA Mega Title. Excellent match. ****¼

UFC on ESPN 48 7/1/23: Elves Brenner vs. Guram Kutateladze R3 3:17
ML: Guram has some of the best and most evolved Muay Thai skills in the UFC. He is able to pretty consistently throw the really high level combos you'd see in standup only fighting, utilizing elbows and knees to both keep the opponent guessing, and also cut them to ribbons. The difference in skill warranted Brener being every bit of the +500 underdog he was, if not more, but Brener had a ton of heart and determination, able to keep wearing Guram down, even if he was losing most of the exchanges, and not really getting much offense off in the clinch or on the ground. Brener took a few heavy hits, but was able to slow Guram down with his grappling for the majority of the first round. Guram initiated a clinch and put Brener against the cage with a minute left, but didn't seem like he was really going to do anything notable, and was thus somewhat conceding the round on control. In the final 20 seconds though, he landed a big right elbow followed by a right knee and two left elbows, pouring it on until he dropped Brener with a right hand. Brener was cut outside the right eye in this barrage, and had to be disgusted with himself that he allowed Guram to steal the round that way. Brener seemed willing to bang with Guram at the start of the 2nd, or at least didn't want to shoot from a point of weakness, but we continued to see Guram's impressive and diverse kickboxing talent, using a right low kick and left hook combination to pull Brener into a clinch knee. Now Brenner felt compelled to shoot, but Guram was able to defend with a whizzer and land some nasty elbows from the top, opening up a big cut across Brener's forehead. Guram nonetheless let Brener up thinking he was going to knock him out, but Brener began to time him, and counter with the left hook. Guram was cutting Brener up with step elbows though. Brener's short blonde hair had turned entirely red on the left side from all the blood, and the only saving grace for him was that Guram was fatiguing somewhat. I had Guram up 2 rounds, but regardless there was no quit in Brener, and he came out with a good punch combo, but couldn't advance beyond the clinch. Guram was looking increasingly gassed, backing up more and more, and attacking less and less. The body hook wasn't a surprise coming from Guram, but Brener answering with one, and following with a step knee was. Just as they were showing the stats that Brener was outlanding Guram 23 to 7 in the third round, Brener scored a delayed knockdown with a left hook under the ear after an accidental headbutt that no one mentioned, and Guram just curled up in submission until the ref stop. The first round was nothing special until the final seconds, but the second round was pretty crazy, and the third round was at least good as well, with Brener just gutting it out until he won the battle of wills. Very good match.

UFC 290 7/8/23 IFC Flyweight Title: Brandon Moreno vs. Alexandre Pantoja 5R
ML: Moreno had the better stamina and long distance game due to his amazing hand speed and great jab, but Pantoja had the better game in range, a lot more power, more diversity, and a big advantage in grappling with the takedown game to back it up. Pantoja was forced to fight a very aggressive match because when he stood still, Moreno would eat him up with his quick hands. As long as Pantoja kept coming forward to stay in range, he had a lot more options though, either he would beat Moreno with his power or with the ground game. Pantoja's power strikes did more damage, even though he still ate way too many clean jabs in the mid range. Moreno was definitely the better boxer, but that was also virtually all he did, whereas Pantoja utilized a much wider variety of strikes and was regularly taking Moreno down. Moreno was very successful with the jab, but he just felt so incredibly one-dimensional here, especially since Pantoja did his best to simply ignore the jab, taking it when he had to in order to stay close enough to land his bombs. Moreno was winning the first half of round 1, but almost nothing happened before Pantoja dropped Moreno with a left hook that cut him outside the right eye midway through the round. Pantoja burned himself out trying to finish, both on the ground, but mainly by walking Moreno down, completely ignoring the jabs that Moreno was throwing back. Pantoja's footwork was breaking down early in the second round, and he got into the bad habit of just standing in front of Moreno like a pro wrestler, throwing everything with full power, but it was easy to avoid, and Moreno looked so fast in comparison because he was still moving his feet and using good fundamentals to land his jab repeatedly. Moreno was making Pantoja work in round 2, both in defending the choke and by keeping a high pace in stand up. Though the fight was now a round a piece, even though Pantoja's round was much much better, everything seemed to be trending in Moreno's direction. Moreno was shockingly unable to build on this at all though. He did a few different things in the third round, cutting Pantoja with a step elbow and landing two high kicks. Unfortunately for him, Pantoja got his wrestling game going, and Moreno spent most of the round on his back before getting the reversals. It really felt like Moreno was simply trying to beat Pantoja with speed and stamina, which totally made sense, the problem is he was basically relying on only the jab to do so. Although Moreno had the better jab, the start of the fourth round was a good example of how Pantoja was utilizing his jab better in the sense that he actually used it to start his combos and set up the takedown, rather than just trying to maintain range and throw more jabs. Moreno did a great job of getting reversals, but a lot of time would run off the clock before this would happen, and a couple decent lightning fast strikes from Moreno would then look even more impressive, but Pantoja still won the third and fourth rounds by controlling Moreno for the majority. As good a fight as this was, it was somewhat surprising that neither showed much urgency in the first half of round five. I think it was more that Moreno was content enough with the distance than that he was finally tired, but while he was winning this portion, it was only marginally, not enough to get him the finish or the 10-8 round he needed by any means. Midway through the round, Pantoja stormed forward for another takedown. Moreno quickly got off his back, but Pantoja took his back while he was standing up, and spent the last 2 minutes of the fight in a standing rear mount. Even for someone like myself who wants to score striking above control, you can't just be letting the opponent backpack you for the second half of the final round, trying to rely on early advantage in quality of stand up, when the connect numbers are even. You could maybe make the argument that Moreno won the stand-up as a whole even though he never hurt Pantoja, while Pantoja hurt him badly in the first, but even finding another round beyond round 2 to actually score for Moreno would be difficult at best. I have no idea how the judges had so much trouble scoring this fight. Every judge gave Moreno round 4 despite Pantoja having 3 takedowns and 3:04 of control. Don't get me wrong, it was a very competitive fight, and both Fighters did at least some good work in each round, but at the same time I don't think there was any round that was actually all that difficult to call. If I were to give Moreno another round, it would be the 3rd where the striking numbers were more equal, but Moreno did more damage because he actually threw something other than the jab. Still, Pantoja had 2 takedowns and 2:01 control. Pantoja won a split decision 48-47, 46-49, 48-47. Ben Cartlidge giving Moreno the final 4 rounds may well be the single most ludicrous scorecard of the year. Very good match.