Ultimate Fighter: Rousey v Tate

[wandshogun09]

Remember when Dana used to say Nate was the easy to deal with Diaz brother? Nate seems to be getting more and more strange by the month. Either that or he's just trying to be like Nick.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I just looked up Nate's reported salary for his last fight at UFC on FOX 7, and maybe he has a point actually.

 

Josh Thomson: $95,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)

def. Nate Diaz: $15,000

 

So Thomson's show money was $85 000, making his UFC debut. All the winners on the card got more than Nate, including the lowest prelim fighters, and fellow losers Jordan Mein, Darren Elkins and Lorenz Larkin were all paid more in defeat.

 

Changing my stance here, Nate's getting a raw deal. Not saying he should making six figures, but that's a shocking amount when you put it in that perspective.

[Carbomb]

A propos of nothing, but is it just myself who sees Rousey as MMA's Julia Stiles?

[wandshogun09]

That headkick in the Holdsworth-Grant fight shouldn't have got the Jack Daniels Move Of The Night award. No. This should have;

 

 

That's how I look after a few anyway.

 

"I got shit to do man, I'm hungry."

 

I'm too knackered to post much more than that. Err, thought Julianna Pena looked awesome. Was really impressed with Jessamyn Duke as well. Holdsworth vs Grant was fun and I loved arsey Ronda in that awkward-as-fuck interview with Miesha and Jon 'QVC' Anik.

[jimufctna24]

David will be having a nervous breakdown as we speak.

 

I picked Maynard to win, so was a bit surprised. Diaz is inconsistent as anything though, he looked a killer against Maynard and Miller, yet got knocked out by Josh Thomson (who is not known as a world class striker) and got dominated by Bendo (world class fighter, but not much of a general, you would think Nate would be able to find openings at least on occasion)

 

It seems it depends on the night with Nate, he can be very good, or look very mediocre.

 

I would love Pettis vs Nate down the road, could be a classic striking battle, and Nate could test if Pettis could handle a top-level boxer. Pettis would have more weapons, but if Nate could turn it into a boxing match, it could be interesting. I would like Pettis big, but its still a fight I would like to see down the road.

 

I was more interested in the prelims than the Main Card, I did not follow TUF, and women's MMA does not entice me as much as most if I am honest, the men's final featured two guys I have not heard of, and given that previous winners have faded into oblivion, I saw no point in me watching that fight.

 

I am still looking forward to Tate vs Rousey 2 though.

[firstnameunknown]

I think Maynard is pretty much done, he just seems really old all of a sudden, looking really mediocre in his last few. That main event scuppered my accumulator too, shoulda had more faith in Nate but his last few performances have shaken that too...

 

He'd be crazy to move up to 170 though, hopefully he'll stay at lightweight as his interview suggested he would.

 

Pena should become a solid addition to the women's roster shouldn't she? Maybe even a shot against Ronda if she gets a couple of wins under her belt... there'd be a decent built-in storyline there.

[wandshogun09]

I think it was David, after the TJ Grant KO, who said Maynard looked on his last legs. I wasn't so sure at the time, I kind of put that down to a mixture of 1) Grant being underrated, 2) Maynard forgetting he's a wrestler and 3) Maynard coming off a year layoff. It's kind of hard to argue now though. Don't know if I'd say he's done, I mean Nate is still a top fighter, but he's clearly on the decline.

 

Nate looked great though in fairness. And that punch that started it all off was only enhanced by Maynard running into it. The combinations after were brutal. I think the ref could've stepped in sooner to be honest. This reluctance that if the guy is standing you don't jump in is shite, he was fucked. A finish like that is more brutal in a way than a straight one punch KO, because you're taking more punishment. Even Nate said at the presser that he was glad the ref stepped in.

 

EDIT -

 

Oh yeah, Joshua Sampo vs Ryan Benoit got FOTN (didn't see it), and because Benoit missed weight, Sampo got the full

[METAL ON METAL]

Other way around, Wand. Sampo won the fight but he was the one who came in heavy, so Benoit got the 100k.

 

A little unfair imo, Sampo (along with Benoit) took the fight on 8 days notice and had to cut from 150 lbs to Flyweight.

 

 

In other news, the illegal knee that ended the fight also broke Akira's nose in five places.

[David]

I think it was David, after the TJ Grant KO, who said Maynard looked on his last legs. I wasn't so sure at the time, I kind of put that down to a mixture of 1) Grant being underrated, 2) Maynard forgetting he's a wrestler and 3) Maynard coming off a year layoff. It's kind of hard to argue now though. Don't know if I'd say he's done, I mean Nate is still a top fighter, but he's clearly on the decline.

Yeah, Maynard hasn't been the same since he lost to Edgar. There are some fighters who seem to hit the skids overnight, and Maynard is one of them. I gave him virtually no chance of winning this fight, at all. I think I said as much either when the fight was announced or earlier in this thread.

 

He'd do well to hang it up to be honest, because there's nowhere he can go. He hasn't really been impressive since he beat Florian over three years ago. he could never make 145lbs, and there's nothing for him at 155lbs anymore.

 

As for the rest of the card, I decided to score the fights that I watched to see how they matched up with the judging;

 

Dober vs Spencer - 27-30

 

Dober gave it his best, but it was clear from the outset that he's fighting a weight class higher than he should be. Hopefully his performance will earn him another fight.

 

Harris vs Rosholt - 28-29

 

I gave Harris round 1, and Rosholt rounds 2 & 3.

 

Yahya vs Niinimaki - 28-29

Despite Yahya being more active off his back than Niinimaki was on top, it was always going to be a win for the Fin. This is an example of what I don't like about current MMA scoring. I did score this fight in a way that I personally would like to see MMA scored, and it broke down something like this;

 

round 1 - Niinimaki scored the only clear takedown in the round, but he didn't really do anything with it, which should count. Yahya was constantly working for submissions, which won him the round for me - 10-9 Yahya

round 2 - Much like the 1st, Niinimaki scored a solid takedown, but was so inactive that he was stood up by the official despite him having top position. Again, Yahya was throwing up submission attempts throughout the round - 10-9 Yahya

round 3 - Again, Niinimaki with the takedown, and again he was so inactive that he got stood up. Yahya was again the better worker on the ground, and was dominating towards the end on the ground - 10-9 Yahya

 

I would have scored the fight 30-27 for Yahya, which is the exact opposite of what one judge actually scored the fight. It's simply a case of "score a takedown, get credit for it" regardless of what you actually do with it. Niinimaki didn't even look to post much offence outwith a few half-hearted dunts to Yahya's head.

 

He was stood up for inactivity in both rounds 2 & 3, which tells you all you need to know about how offensive he was. He's one of the new breed of fighters though, who knows how to fights for points, and he knows that ground control from the top will always count more than working for submissions from the bottom.

 

Until the UFC bring in judges who actually know what the fuck is going on during a grappling match an average wrestlers with decent submission defence will always outpoint a BJJ player who is active from the bottom.

 

Corrasani vs Blanco

 

An unfortunate end to the fight, especially for Blanco as he looked to have a bit too much for Corrasani from what I saw. He committed a stupid foul though and deserved to pay the price.

 

Chris Holdsworth vs Davey Grant

 

I scored round one for Holdsworth, and after a few minutes it was obvious that Grant was fighting above his level. I hoped grant would win, but he really had nothing for someone at the level of Holdsworth.

 

Nate Diaz vs Gray Maynard

 

What can I say about this fight? Maynard is one of my favourite fighters, but he's long past his best now. He's lost by KO in 3 of his last 4 fights, and obviously doesn't have what it takes to compete at the top level any more. I hope for his own safety that he quietly retires. He's had a good run.

[wandshogun09]

I had Yahya winning as well, but yeah, I wasn't surprised Niinimaki got the nod from the judges either given how most judges put more importance on the takedown. It reminded me a lot of the Mighty Mouse vs Miguel Torres fight from a couple of years ago, where I thought the guy on bottom outworked the guy on top quite clearly but the decision still went against him.

[JNLister]

Not sure if the Tate-Rousey interview was better or worse than when the two people give each other death glares. It almost came across as Rousey being concerned that if she looked at Tate, she might lose control and do something silly.

[David]

It almost came across as Rousey being concerned that if she looked at Tate, she might lose control and do something silly.

It came across as Rousey being a cross between a spoiled child and a complete twat in my opinion.

[lambyUK]

I've been catching up with some of the post fight stuff from the finale.

 

A few things come to mind.

 

1) Julianna Pena really could be something special.

 

 

Here she's interviewed by Helwani, Florian and Anik in the FS1 post fight show. She really does come across as a star. She has the look and I like how she's already picking a fight with Ronda. She even basically said she'd fight Miesha too by simply saying she will fight anyone Dana and Fertitta's put in front of her.

 

2) Ronda is still in a pain in the arse, but it certainly is helping in the hype for this fight. Stil though, spoiled brat type behaviour

 

[dopper]

I was very impressed with how improved Pennington & Duke looked in their fights.

 

Jessamyn Duke doesn't look like she has huge power, but she opened a huge gash on Rocky's eyebrow in their fight during TUF and then she made a right mess of Peggy Morgan on Saturday.

 

Then Pennington showed again what I liked about her fight with Duke in that she is willing to take a few shots if it means she can land a big one in reply. I'd only watched her semi-final fight a few hours before the live show on Saturday so the difference was massive from how she seemed to freeze in that fight.

 

I hate to say it, but Roxanne hasn't impressed at all inside the cage.

For someone supposedly much more experienced than all of the over girls (except Shayla) she looks awkward and clumsy to me in each of her fights. The spinning back fist is embarrassing.

The worst part of her getting beaten convincingly again - and her facial expressions after the fight seemed to back this up - is the thought of her screaming and crying whilst curled up in a ball again, as per the morning after her fight during TUF.

 

Is Chris Holdsworth the least charismatic, void of personality fighter in the UFC?

If there are more, I'd love to see some Youtube clips of them talking. Even when he screams "Wooo!" it's monotonous and irritating.

[Rey_Piste]

I've barely watched any of this season so I just watched the finale for the fights, not knowing who any of them are. All of the ultimate fighter fights seemed very one sided, even the Diaz Maynard fight was incredibly one sided. Maynard was totally overwhelmed. Penna was a fucking beast in her fight and if she continues like that in the UFC, then she could easily be a dominant player in the women's division.