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UFC on FX 6/ TUF: The Smashes (Aus vs. UK) Discussion Thread


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That was a quality show top to bottom. I really enjoyed everything on there from the first prelim to the main event.

 

Pearson vs SadsackSot

Yes. Lovely stuff. Aside from that one scare late in round 1 with the choke attempt, Pearson pretty much dominated this fight. I mean, Sots was landing some nice jabs and some decent right hands but he got dropped every round, wobbled every round and then put away in the 3rd with a nasty combo. Pearson looks much better at 155 to me. His last fight at 155 before tonight was vs Barboza and I thought he was unlucky with the judges that night. He never looked the same at 145 so it's good to see him back at lightweight.

 

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Unless I missed it, there was no embrace after the fight either. Did they even shake hands? Whatever the case it's clear this wasn't about hype, they genuinely disliked each other. Great fight and the perfect way to cap off the excellent Smashes series.

 

Whittaker vs Scott

This was a really good fight as well. I'd probably give this FOTN. Good back and forth, I thought Scott was about to get wiped out in round 1 then he completely turned it around in the second round. I thought my prediction was coming true because Whittaker was noticably fading. Then he came out for round 3 going for the kill. Really enjoyed this fight and the crowd made it even better. I'm glad we got one UK vs Aus final.

 

Freakshow vs Stormin Norman

Another excellent fight. Norman surprised me here, he looked good on the show but he surpassed that here. This was what we were on about where TUF allows guys to commit to training 100%. Norman looked improved since the show to me. He just seemed a bit too strong for Fletcher. Fun fight though, the grappling was brilliant to watch, especially that escape from the rear naked choke from the Freak.

 

Freakshow looked fresher in the 3rd and I gave him that round, he defo got the better of the striking late on but he needed a finish by then and it wasn't to be. Shame.

 

Lombard vs Palhares

OK, first of all, when did Palhares become Polyarris? Where did that 'y' come from? Is that the proper pronunciation? I thought Anik and Florian were making a cock up, then Joe Martinez announced him as Polyarris as well. It shouldn't annoy me but it does.

 

Anyway, this was the Lombard they hype was around. Straight away he was attacking more. Palhares couldn't cope with the power. To his credit he didn't seem intimidated by it but once the big shots started coming in and he couldn't get the takedown, he had no real answer for it.

 

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Lombard looked like a star tonight with the KO and the huge crowd reaction to him.

 

Prelims were tremendous.

 

Mendes vs Yaotzin

Another impressive quick stoppage for Mendes. They're talking him up for a title shot but I don't know. Cody McKenzie was a huge mismatch and this Yaotzin I didn't know anything about either until Bendo said he trained with him. I'd like to see Mendes fight the winner of next month's Guida/Hioki fight maybe.

 

Pokrajac vs Beltran

Really fun, wild brawl. I'm guessing there'll be the usual dismissing of this fight and 'Just Bleed' comments thrown about but there's a place for brawlers in the UFC. It's not for everyone but it's a style like any other. And I love it. Igor Pokrajac has been in two of my favourite gritty wars this year (this fight and the criminally underrated Maldonado fight). And you know what you're getting with Beltran. Good win for him here. Both guys showed a lot of heart and toughness, both came back from some big shots.

 

I liked Beltran's line after the fight: "I knew he wouldn't get knocked out. He's like me, but from Croatia"

 

Manny Rodriguez vs Ben Alloway

Jesus Christ. This was the Knockout of the Night hands down. Sorry Chad and Ross.

 

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The old Anderson/Vitor finish strikes again. Unbelievable KO, I thought I'd imagined it it happened so fast. The fact that Manny looked to be lowering to shoot in for a takedown just made it all the more devastating.

 

No doubt we'll be hearing this soon...

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Wilkinson vs Loughnane

Yet another great fight. Brendan looks to have come on a lot since the show. I thought Wilkinson would overwhelm him even with the reach disadvantage. Both fought their knackers off tonight. Really close but I agreed with the decision that Wilko won.

 

Penner vs Donovan was a crazy one rounder. I'd never seen either of these two before and being the first prelim, I wasn't that arsed going in. Wasn't really paying a whole lot of attention when the fight started but that changed pretty quick. I'll be looking forward to seeing these two again. Perfect opener with a big finish.

 

Cracking event. All in all between the series and the finale, I think this has easily been one of the best TUFs for pure entertainment. Defo the best since TUF 10 for me.

 

Bonuses were $40,000

 

Knockout Of The Night: Ben Alloway

Fight Of The Night: Penner vs Donovan

 

Since there was no Submission Of The Night I think they should have gave a second FOTN out. I'm sure most of the fighters on this card will be getting something extra though. They fucking should do anyway.

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Great card of MMA, nothing was FOTY caliber but near every fight on the card was at least above average. Several finishes from the prelims to the main event (surprised that no submissions occured though). A few FOTN candidates here, with Loughnane/Wilkinson, Whittaker/Scott and Sots/Pearson standing out. Beltran/Pokrajac was a good scrap, but Beltran controlling the 3 rounds so well was the shock of the card. Penner vs. Donovan was FOTN, I turned the TV on just before the finish. Damn. EDIT: Caught it on a replay. I don't really understand it getting the bonus, okay, it was impressive that Donovan finished after nearly getting finished himself, but I think the other single rounds of the other FOTN candidates were more exciting than this one, let alone the fights as a whole.

 

I really enjoyed Loughnane/Wilkinson. I was surprised at how aggressive they both were for teammates. Loughnane looks to have improved since the show, didn't think he'd give Wilkinson such a tough fight, had a nice kicking game and he's got a great chin. Actually thought he would take the decision, but I'm not bothered that he didn't, it was extremely close.

 

My call on Alloway/Rodriguez couldn't have been more off in that I said Alloway would have the ground advantage. Honestly thought Manny looked lost against Bola on his back until he managed to get the slam, and Benny showed some nice ground work against Brad Scott. Couldn't believe it when Benny nailed the Anderson Silva-esque kick for the KO. Scored a well-deserved $40 000 for KOTN.

 

The Pierce/Baczynski fight was the only dull spot of the card. The only solace being that it got me the best score of the night for my predictions. Fair bit of a snoozefest.

 

Beltran vs. Pokrajac was an interesting one. I already mentioned how Beltran winning was the shock of the night, but I was impressed with how Beltran mixed in his usual fun reckless abandon with a good gameplan. He's clearly in tremendous shape compared to his UFC debut, and was able to fire away strong even towards in the end of the 3rd round. He's dropped roughly 100 pounds since he began MMA, great achievement. Easily his biggest career win to date.

 

Not much to say about Mendes vs. Meza, other than Mendes can easily dispatch of fighters nowhere near his level, and those type of wins don't speak anything towards his chances of fighting Aldo again. Match him against Swanson, Koch or Zombie, then we have something.

 

Onto the main card... great to see Lombard meet the potential he showed pre-UFC. Palhares is no slouch, and he ran through him like a hot knife through butter. He said at the post fight show that he's completely healthy and wants to fight in the next couple of months, but then again he called out Bisping, and he deserves a top middleweight. Maybe Bisping can turn around after Vitor for an April fight? Nice that Lombard really embraces Australia as his home, now that he's finding success we can claim him completely as ours. The Great Australian Hope! :p

 

The Lightweight Smashes final didn't set the world on fire, but I thought it was decent. I thought Freakshow's crazy reach would aid him with chokes when he was on his back, and also when striking. As Florian said though, he didn't really utilise his reach as well as he could have. Parke deserves a ton of credit for being able to maintain ground control and fend off a few weird choke attempts. While not the best performance from Freakshow, it'll be good enough to get him back, as Supremo says, he's a promoter's dream. Also, the finalists always get contracts regardless, fighters are really fighting for the six figures associated with the winner's contract.

 

The Welterweight Smashes final... damn what a fight! Very aggressive and scrappy, back and forth, and my personal pick for FOTN. Helped that the crowd was going crazy, but both men truly brought it. Whittaker answered questions about his cardio and all-around ability. In seriousness, he's probably Australia's best hope at MMA glory. Just a pity he shares a division with GSP and Rory McDonald. Obviously has to work a bit on his movement, the way he backed up leaves him wide open for attacks. His defense against the clinch was impressive, as was his ability to initiate the "swarm" even late in the fight. At 21, by far the youngest Aussie fighter to get a UFC contract, he's definitely the future.

 

As for the main event... Sotiropoulos is showing that his time has passed. I mentioned during the season when George was being a dickhead that I had to support him as a fighter as he was the most prominent Aussie UFC fighter. Hopefully now Whittaker gets some wins against WW gatekeepers so I can get on his bandwagon. His striking defence has been his downfall in his last several fights, and that's 3 straight losses now, 2 of them being definitive knockouts. Where does Sots go from here, at 35 years old? As a prominent international fighter, UFC might give him another fight if he wants it, but honestly it's hard to see him doing anything of note any more. He's not getting any younger, he's coming off a big injury layoff, and his weaknesses have been exposed for all future opponents. Sots' future will be an interesting story to keep an eye on.

 

Well done to Ross for a great victory. Always enjoyed watching him, I couldn't bring myself to have animosity towards him despite the "national pride" thing. Funnily enough, the response to him was mixed with the live crowd, with some decent cheers instead of the boos I expected. Also, Sotiropoulos didn't get anywhere near the ovation Lombard and Whittaker got. I guess a lot of people soured on Sots due to his behaviour on the season. Anyway, this was new school beating old school, Ross is a legitimate mixed martial artist, another young guy, and constantly improving (let's not forget how close the Barboza fight was before he tried FW). I think he could go on a great run at LW now.

 

Unless I missed it, there was no embrace after the fight either. Did they even shake hands? Whatever the case it's clear this wasn't about hype, they genuinely disliked each other. Great fight and the perfect way to cap off the excellent Smashes series.

 

Ain't nobody got time for that. Nothing at all, no glove touch at any point, no embrace, no handshake. That's a rarity, even Sonnen and Silva squashed the beef.

 

Again, despite not being loaded with star names, almost everyone delivered quality fights. It's too bad Dana White didn't come to Australia as he originally said he was, choosing instead to attend the TUF 16 weigh ins and tomorrow's fight card without the crazy travel. It's understandable, but I kinda missed his presence there, particularly for the weigh-ins and the awarding of the contracts to the TUF winners. No "congrats" or shiny trophy/plaque handed to them by the boss. :(

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Great performance by Ross, looks better than he has since the Riley fight. Be interesting to see who he gets next.

 

Shame about Freakshow, he didn't look like the same fighter I know and love. Very tentative (bar the 3rd round) and wary of Norman's ground game, also looked a little nervous which is unlike him - hopefully he gets another shot down the line as he didn't look terrible. Norman fought a good and smart fight.

 

Lombard was just picking Mr. Paul Harris off, great striking like his Bellator run - hopefully more determined performances like this rather than his debut, I still can't warm to his as a person though. I didn't get the Bisping call out at all, Bisping has Vitor next and if he wins that he's more than likely got a title shot and Lombard just isn't there yet, he's 1-1. A lot of people saying he should fight Luke Rockhold next, I love the sound of that fight.

 

Finally, the story of what happened on the show:

 

Ross Pearson had his reasons for not shaking George Sotiropoulos' hand following his third-round TKO victory at UFC on FX 6.

 

Pearson (14-6 MMA, 6-3 UFC) told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Sotiropoulos

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Really dissapointed with George if that is true. Thats not what I want from the proffesionals.

 

Good show overall. I was happy with all the winners and I hope to see them do well in the UFC.

 

Lombard is over his octagon jitters, but Palhares had the wrong gameplan for this fight. Do NOT stand in front of Lombard :)

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Lombard is over his octagon jitters, but Palhares had the wrong gameplan for this fight. Do NOT stand in front of Lombard :)

 

He didn't have much choice to be fair. Every time he tried to close the distance to where he could try to grapple, he got lit up.

 

So the boxing coach stuff was true after all. Sots is a berk isn't he. Not only did he make a twat of himself on the show, he blindsided (according to the article) someone and still came off worse and then got bashed about by Pearson on home soil.

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The only thing I will add over everything else that has been said.

 

G-Sop is the Victor Meldrew of MMA, I right miserable bastard with a temper.

 

Great show last night. Lombard looked like a beast and proved me and a lot of doubters wrong, as someone else said he came across as a mega-star.

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Lombard is over his octagon jitters, but Palhares had the wrong gameplan for this fight. Do NOT stand in front of Lombard :)

 

He didn't have much choice to be fair. Every time he tried to close the distance to where he could try to grapple, he got lit up.

 

So the boxing coach stuff was true after all. Sots is a berk isn't he. Not only did he make a twat of himself on the show, he blindsided (according to the article) someone and still came off worse and then got bashed about by Pearson on home soil.

 

Justice is served, good stuff!

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WAR PEARSON!

 

Brilliant fight but, as someone above said, that was the best Pearson I've seen since the Riley fight. Del Fierro telling him between rounds to let fly with the second and third punches rather than the first seemed to really work for Ross who then went and delivered a knockout combo beginning with his left hook of doom which Sots didnt have an answer for. I love all that "Alliance MMA, best gym in the world" craic aswell.

 

Would love to see Ross go on a streak at 155. Shame his strength never followed him down to 145 but he's back now and the shining light of Sunderland's growing MMA scene. Great guy and work ethic to boot.

 

Seemed like there was a moment just before Sots' post fight interview where Ross wanted to go over but can understand the animosity. Fighters should avoid getting 'The Real Deal' angry before fights in future.

 

Real shame for Fletcher who looked visibly upset after his fight. Never got going till the 3rd and by then it was too late. Hopefully he'll be back and use his height as a threat at lightweight. Would love to see Freakshow vs Cole Miller actually.

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Finally got around to seeing this fightcard. It was a busy day for me, so I may be a little late to the dance. I haven't seen the prelims yet, so I'll just jump in with my main card thoughts and scores;

 

Lombard vs Palhares

 

This fight was tailor-made for Lombard, and we knew what was eventually going to happen if Palhares couldn't take him down. He tried a few times, but to no avail. I have to admit that I'm still unconvinced by Lombard at this level. He was found wanting against Boetsch, and Boetsch is certainly not a world beater. Was it octagon jitters? Maybe.

 

Lets see him against someone who has more of a complete MMA skillset and see if he does any better. The jury is still out in my opinion.

 

Parke vs Fletcher

 

Round 1 - Two takedowns pretty much secured the round for Parke in my eyes. He dominated on the ground, although he didn't really do too much damage. Fletcher managed a nice reversal, but it wasn't enough to win the round I don't think. 10-9 Parke

 

Round 2 - Another two takedowns from Parke without reply, and he managed to score mount in this frame as well which was impressive. I thought the striking was pretty even, which shocked the shit out of me to be honest. Parke's combinations were sharp, whilst Fletcher seemed to be throwing single punches/kicks. 10-9 Parke

 

Round 3 - Most of this frame was spent on the feet, with Fletcher getting the better of a close standup battle. He was throwing more punches, and had more urgency in his game. Parke scored a late takedown, but I don't think he did enough to take the round. 10-9 Fletcher

 

Final score on my card - 29-28 Parke

 

Scott vs Whittaker

 

Round 1 - I have a feeling that I've scored this round differently to most, as I feel that despite Whittaker scoring a bit of a flash knockdown that Scott did enough to take the frame. He scored well on the feet, and on three occasions managed to get Whittaker into the clinch on the fence, holding him there and putting in some decent work. I don't think the brief flurry that resulted in the knockdown was enough to win the round back for Whittaker, especially as Scott recovered. 10-9 Scott

 

Round 2 - I thought this round saw a pretty even standup game, with Whittaker looking good in patches, but not doing enough to trouble Scott, whilst Scott scored the all important takedown and ground control to take what was a very close round in my opinion. 10-9 Scott

 

Round 3 - With no takedowns in this round, and Scott unable to work his clinches against the fence he looked as though he'd tired slightly by this point. Whittaker put some decent standup together to take the frame. 10-9 Whittaker

 

Final score on my card - 29-28 Scott

 

Sotiropoulos vs Pearson

 

Round 1 - I had this heading towards a 10-8 round in favour of Pearson until Sotiropoulos came back with a takedown and some good grappling at the end. It wasn't anywhere near enough to save the round for him though, as he went down hard and looked to be in trouble for most of the frame. 10-9 Pearson

 

Round 2 - I felt that Sotiropoulos managed to recover well and come back into the fight in this round. Pearson looked a bit edgy after that late takedown at the end of the 1st, which could have resulted in some trouble for him had the round not ended when it did. Sotiropoulos was putting together some good combinations in this round, and looked to have recovered. Pearson caught him again, but Sotiropoulos was quick to bounce right back up and didn't look like he'd been affected by the punch at all. He was solid throughout this round, and it looked as though we were on our way to another cracking round. 10-9 Sotiropoulos

 

With Sotiropoulos dropping three on the bounce (two in succession via KO) he must surely be close to getting his marching orders. His next fight will be crucial in determining his UFC career. He simply couldn't handle Pearsons power. I don't really think that this win means Pearson is going to be instrumental at 155lbs though. Don't get me wrong, he's a good, solid fighter, and will always be competitive against the likes of Sotiropoulos, Spencer Fisher & Junior Assun

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Shit I forgot to even keep score.

 

I like the suggestion of Freakshow vs Cole Miller. Two lanky fuckers with attacking BJJ and busy striking. Miller's at 145 these days though, would have been a great shout for Freakshow's next outing.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing Freakshow vs Henry Martinez and I'd do Pearson vs John Makdessi. I think they would both be cracking fights.

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Hector Lombard finally arrived! i was left eating a little humble pie after the Boetsch debacle but that was classic Lombard on Friday, there are few scarier fighters coming forward. How does everyone fancy a proposed Lombard/Bisping fight? it's obviously down the line but i don't Bisping's chances against a rampaging Hector Lombard.

 

Sotiropulous' heel turn is complete. TUF has had a negative effect on certain fighters legacies and it undoubtably had harmed George...by all accounts it's pretty justified but it was nice to see him get completely humbled by Pearson. It's interesting stuff because just a couple of years ago Sotiropolous was probably one of the most popular fighters on this board.

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