UFC on FOX 6: 'Johnson vs Dodson'

[Egg Shen]

Anthony Pettis has the potential to be the biggest star in the sport doesn't he? Sky's the limit for that kid, he destroyed Cowboy.

[David]

Anthony Pettis has the potential to be the biggest star in the sport doesn't he? Sky's the limit for that kid, he destroyed Cowboy.

A bout with Henderson has to be one of my most anticipated fights of the year without doubt.

[jimufctna24]

The show did 3.77 Million and beat the last show.

 

That is a nice leaving present from Rampage. It also provided a great platform for Pettis's coming out party as well. So the show must be considered a huge success.

[Egg Shen]

few quick thoughts...

 

* If you wanna view Fox as the best platform for the UFC to build big potential fights, the show delivered. Both Pettis and Lamas came off looking like absolute killers. Pettis is already well on his way to becoming a household name but Lamas needed this win and he looked lethal, if Big John hadn't jumped in god knows what kinda state he would have left Koch in, brutal, brutal elbows.

 

* Compare Lamas ground and pound with Clay Guida's , now i'm a Guida fan but i thought he lost the bout 29-28, the second round i could see why people may give it to Guida with the top control but if you wanna look at the criteria for trying to finish Hioki won hands down...the 3rd round was basically a stalemate with Guida on top, there was a time when Guida looked like he was clinging on for life to stop Hioki getting back up.

 

Clay Guida's standup was awful, he's got all the bouncy movement but it just doesn't help in any way, Hioki isn't known for being a potent striker but he was picking off Guida with everything he threw. Not a great 145 debut and i think he was given a gift by the judges but i'll give him a pass for his first fight down there...whoever scored 30-27 like Rogan said, should be sacked.

 

* Read a few things prior to the show that Matt Wiman was the most underrated fighter in the UFC, nope...TJ Grant is the most underrated fighter in the UFC.

 

* Sucked to see Vlad lost like he did

 

* I was not overly impressed with either Glover or Rampage. Rampage was the same recent boxing based attack, there's such a lack of urgency about everything he does in the cage, he showed again that he's tough but i don't think Rampage is anywhere near the fighter he once was, he hasn't been in years. It may be harsh to have a pop at Glover but i just think it's more than i think he could have moved through the gears a little, i suppose when when you fight Rampage you don't really wanna throw caution to the wind though. Glover didn't strike me as a guy that's going to give any problems to Jon Jones put it that way.

 

* Title fight was quality. Demetrious Johnson put on a bit of a clinic championship performance. It was pretty even up until round 4 where Johnson just showed why he's the champ and turned into a mini muay machine, he beat the fight out of Dodson. Dodson's performance was a little to reliant on landing that big shot for me (to be fair, he got close several times) but i thought he lacked aggression to claim that he winning rounds, Greg Jackson was trying to encourage him to do more but in the end he was just outworked...i had it 49-46. 125'ers are cool with me.

[wandshogun09]

Like him or not, Rampage must have been a big factor in the show's success. Dana was pissed off with how he was at the press conference and it was unprofessional but Rampage shunning the media to play his PSP Vita got more play on the news sites than anything the main eventers said.

 

The whole story of Rampage's last UFC fight coupled with the beef with Dana all added to the hype in a weird way. Rampage isn't the fighter he was but it's a testament to his star power that he can still draw after the losses he's had.

 

Chuffed Pettis' performance was seen by a big audience. If Bendo beats Melendez in April and the show does well on FOX, a Pettis vs Bendo rematch could be the biggest lightweight fight since the BJ Penn days.

 

If that plays out and Bendo vs Melendez does good ratings I could see them trying Bendo vs Pettis 2 on PPV. I'd personally love to see a Primetime series for that. The backstory of thei first fight and career paths since. I think those 2 have the personalities to carry a Primetime too.

[Egg Shen]

yeh its definitely fallen in place nicely for a Benson/Pettis rematch, it's almost annoying that Gilbert Melendez might mess that up now even though we've all been hoping Gilbert make the move over for years.

[David]

yeh its definitely fallen in place nicely for a Benson/Pettis rematch, it's almost annoying that Gilbert Melendez might mess that up now even though we've all been hoping Gilbert make the move over for years.

Although anything can happen, I really don't see Melendez beating Henderson.

[wandshogun09]

Although anything can happen, I really don't see Melendez beating Henderson.

 

Me neither, but I think he has a better shot than Nate Diaz did just due to the fact he has better wrestling. Still think Bendo's combination of size, great timing and his underrated kicks will be the decider though. I think it will be a good competitve fight and Benson will win on points again.

 

Bendo vs Pettis 2 is a fascinating fight though. It's really hard to pick a winner for me there. Pettis won the first time but before that Showtime kick it was pretty neck and neck. As I recall I had them 2-2 in rounds going into the 5th and thought Pettis was edging the last round anyway but the kick defo sealed it. It was a really close one.

 

Since then Benson has improved a lot I think. The only fight he hasn't looked great in was the 2nd Edgar fight. His wins over Diaz, Guida, Miller, Bocek and the first title winning fight with Edgar were all really excellent performances from him. Pettis got off to a rough start in the UFC with the loss to Guida and a less than spectacular points win over Stephens. Since then though, he's got back on track big time with the buzzsawing through Lauzon and Cerrone.

 

I can't pick a winner but I'll be solidly rooting for Pettis.

[wandshogun09]

 

 

Ridiculous. I wish they had a better angle of that cartwheel kick so we could see how close it was to connecting.

 

Here it is again in sexy black and white;

 

That's some Tekken shit. I want to see Pettis vs Barboza at some point.

 

Here's Rampage's post-fight interview with Helwani;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQS8YJDP3OY

 

I feel a bit bad for Rampage there. As much as he's irritated the bollocks off me in recent times with his incessant moaning, I've always been a fan and the way he talks here is sad to listen to. Doesn't resemble anything of the mega confident, cocky Rampage of Pride and UFC pre-2009. I think he was genuinely up for this fight and in the best shape he's been in ages, and he still lost. That's harder to come back from than the Bader loss, he doesn't have the injury to fall back on here.

 

To be fair as well, he gives Glover a lot of praise. That's the first time I've seen Rampage lose and make no excuses. There's still time for excuses to trickle out of course but he was humble in defeat there.

 

It's funny, people were all over Glover's cock when he was bashing up Kingsbury and Maldonado yet I've seen a fair bit of criticism of him after this fight. I don't get it. He didn't look like a world beater but he was fighting a tougher fighter. He impressed me more in this fight than he did in any of his others. Bar maybe Maldonado because that was a massacre and Maldonado was dangerous.

 

He handled Rampage almost perfectly. If he'd come at Rampage the way he came at past opponents he'd likely have taken one of them murderous uppercuts flush and that would be that. There's times he could have finished but it's not like it's easy to finish Rampage. Even in current form who finishes him? Only Jones has stopped him in the UFC. Before that you have to go back to 2005 Shogun. No shame in that.

 

I don't see him troubling Jones, but then I never did. Maybe that's why I'm not as lukewarm on his performance as most, because my expectations of him weren't as high as most anyway. I'm more convinced he's top level than I was before Saturday though. He beat a fired up, motivated Rampage, and he beat him everywhere. In every round. Again, he won't beat Jones but no-one else can either.

[David]

Was I the only one who was impressed by Rampage's improved boxing? I'm not sure how long he's been working with Bobby Rimmer, but his head movement and defensive boxing was fucking excellent, and was some of the best I've seen in MMA if I'm being honest.

 

It very likely made the difference between him making it to the final bell and getting knocked out, especially when he was sucking wind from the middle of the 2nd frame onwards.

[lambyUK]

Was I the only one who was impressed by Rampage's improved boxing? I'm not sure how long he's been working with Bobby Rimmer, but his head movement and defensive boxing was fucking excellent, and was some of the best I've seen in MMA if I'm being honest.

 

It very likely made the difference between him making it to the final bell and getting knocked out, especially when he was sucking wind from the middle of the 2nd frame onwards.

 

I agree with David here actually. I thought Rampage's boxing looked crisp and actually better than Glover's. Rampage's problem was that he gassed before the end of round 1. Despite being great physically, his cardio was obviously not up to scratch. Because of this he wasn't able to put anything behind his punches.

 

If his cardio was better, I do believe Rampage would have had a much better chance in beating Glover. Additionally Glover was able to take Rampage down with ease due to his Rampage being absolutely exhausted.

[David]

I agree with David here actually. I thought Rampage's boxing looked crisp and actually better than Glover's. Rampage's problem was that he gassed before the end of round 1. Despite being great physically, his cardio was obviously not up to scratch. Because of this he wasn't able to put anything behind his punches.

 

If his cardio was better, I do believe Rampage would have had a much better chance in beating Glover. Additionally Glover was able to take Rampage down with ease due to his Rampage being absolutely exhausted.

Don't sound so surprised! It may make for interesting arguments on a pro wrestling forum when I get disgruntled at the lack of proper sports etiquette, but I am a bit of a geek when it comes to the actual mechanics of an MMA fight

[deathrey]

I agree too, I think his boxing looked really impressive, his movement was really good, its just a shame he gassed so early on.

My feelings on Rampage are a little more positive than most people, probably because I didn't watch much MMA over the last 2 years so I've not soured on him because of his antics. I think he looked good on Saturday, other than the cardio, Glover was just better, but I was sad to see Rampage lose, and I'll be sad to see him leave UFC, I hope he doesn't give up on MMA completely.

 

I've not watched the Helwani interview yet, but will check it out when I get home from work.

[jimufctna24]

Was I the only one who was impressed by Rampage's improved boxing?

No, I wrote on the previous page his head movement was top notch.

 

From a pure boxing perspective, he is one of the more advanced in MMA. Its rare you see head movement, body shots used to be rare as well but they are picking up recently. Hopefully so will head movement eventually once people learn to adapt it well to MMA.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah Rampage showed more head movement than usual against Glover. His boxing's been good for a while though. He was always gonna be the more technical boxer in there with a slugger like Teixeira.

 

I think Rampage's boxing really started improving under Juanito Ibarra, at a cost of course because Ibarra was said to be ripping him off, but he defo started to look more polished with his hands. He kept his boxing pretty sharp at the Wolfslair under Mark Kinney and of course now with Hatton's old coach Bobby Rimmer.

 

Of course, when I say he has very good boxing, I'm talking for MMA. I'm not expecting him to make waves in pro boxing or anything. But for MMA he's ahead of most in terms of boxing skill. offensively and defensively.

 

As well as head movement, he is one of the best in MMA at covering up, avoiding the big shots and countering at the right time;

 

 

and

 

 

And while we're on the subject of Rampage and boxing, might as well leave these here...

 

 

And while I'm here, Pettis quote on being #1 contender, again...

 

"Honestly, I don't care [who wins] as long as we don't have a decision that's close. Somebody finish the fight so we'll have a champ that I can fight. At this point, the belt's been avoiding me. I'm tired of chasing after it. I'm tired of waiting and putting my career on hold. I just turned 26. I think I'm going to be entering my prime here in the next couple of years. I want to take full advantage of that. ... I just want to make sure that it's official and no matter what happens [between Henderson and Melendez] -- a draw, a close decision, no one's going to cry about the decision -- that I'm next no matter what."

 

Watch Bendo and Gil go and draw now. If they do I say just chuck Pettis in with both in a triple threat.