UFC 169: Barao vs Faber 2

[wandshogun09]

Finally watched the Countdown. Really enjoyed it. It's about time they gave the Countdowns a face-lift. Long overdue. The old graphics and voiceover bloke and stuff was the same since about 2007 or something. This one looked much more swish and I really liked the addition of the MMA journalists on there. Added a lot to it for me. Hopefully now Helwani's back in the fold (I assume. I watched the back of his head for 20 minutes the other day during Dana's scrum) he'll be included on future ones as well. I know he gets stick but I missed Rogan's input though. He's great on stuff like this, he has a way of hyping fights that makes them feel must-see.

 

The stuff about Faber's rib in the first fight is a bit silly. It's not Faber using it as an excuse but it always comes up when the first fight gets talked about. And like I've said before, Faber's ribs were fucked because Barao fucked them. It wasn't an accident and Faber didn't come in with the injury. It's no different than one guy rocking the other early and the guy never recovers and gets put away later. It was an advantage Barao created so anyone using that as an excuse is talking with a mouth full of bollocks.

 

The stuff about Faber's sister though, I completely forgot that was around that time. That could've been a factor I suppose. Taking a short notice fight against Barao with something like that playing on your mind would be a huge obstacle.

 

I liked the Aldo and Lamas bit. They really did justice to what a beast Aldo is. And they did a good job telling Lamas story and making a pretty uninteresting guy semi interesting. I don't see him winning tonight though, and I really hope he doesn't. I'm hoping Aldo wins in spectacular fashion and goes up to 155. In beating Lamas he'd near enough have cleaned out the division. It'd be pretty much rematch city from there on. Nothing left to do at 145 for Aldo, McGregor could be a big fight down the line but it's a way off and Aldo can't wait around forever. There's big fights for him at 155 and with Grant out, Thomson losing, Bendo out of contention for now, Diaz and Melendez coming off one win each - the timing might be perfect for Aldo vs Pettis at 155. IF he beats Lamas tonight.

 

Who's everyone picking tonight? I'm going with;

 

Barao on points

Aldo by KO/TKO

Overeem by murder

Bagautinov by submission

Varner on points (really tough call though)

[Egg Shen]

i'll have:

 

Faber via Decision

Aldo via TKO

Overeem via murder (round 1)

Bagautinov via decision

Trujillo via TKO

[wandshogun09]

The Varner vs Trujillo one is splitting me like Cyborg splits David's arse. On the one hand Varner is tough as fuck and has form for coming in on short notice and upsetting younger killer strikers. On the other hand, he is taking it on short notice and Trujillo looks lethal when he gets going. There's Varner's wrestling which should be an advantage. Khabib showed a strong wrestler can outwork Trujillo, but can Varner pull that type of gameplan off effectively with a limited training camp. Really interesting fight. I wouldn't be surprised and any ending either way really.

[Carbomb]

Following DarloKid's post, I looked up accumulators online - Paddy Power are offering

[Egg Shen]

haha its a tough one.

[Carbomb]

Well, that didn't go according to plan at all. My accumulator was as mentioned above, and not a single hit on any of them. Fucking hell.

 

Fun event, though. FOTN has to be Varner/Trujillo, as would be KOOTN.

 

More detailed thoughts later. Going to sleep now.

[Guy Bifkin]

Premature stoppage, wouldn't have minded seeing Barao put a hurting on Faber for a few more rounds there.

 

Goodnight..or good morning!

[wandshogun09]

Definitely a premature stoppage. Faber was rocked but he clearly still had the presence of mind to defend himself. A rare bad call from Herb there. I feel bad for Urijah. He's 0-2 to the champ now and I think he knows he's out of the picture after that, hence his bigging up Dillashaw post fight. Barao looked great though. When you consider the form Faber was in coming into this fight, for Barao to have him in deep shit like that in round 1 shows what an animal he is. He's really upped his game even more the last year or so. He's a really likeable guy as well I think. Who's next for Barao after that? Maybe it is Dillashaw. Off the top of my head no-one else jumps out.

 

Aldo looked excellent. Aside from that last few minutes it was complete one way traffic. Fuck it, let's get him at 155 now and get this Pettis fight on. Why not? Pettis tweeted tonight rooting for Aldo and saying "let's get this superfight on". I'm all for it. Lamas fought bravely but it was clear he was outgunned in pretty much all areas.

 

Who expected Overeem vs Mir to go the distance? I wouldn't have called it. They're both such finisher you'd never predict it to go to the cards. Overeem won handily. He grappled way more than I thought he needed to but he was in control the whole time. He looked good, fought smart and got back in the win column. Mir lost decisively and despite his insistence otherwise I find it hard to see him fighting on much longer. Have to give him credit for his toughness to hang in though. That knee in round 1 was brutal. He toughed it out tonight when I never thought he could.

 

What was with Overeem calling out Brock though? Calling out a guy you beat easily? Fuck that. Let's have that JDS fight. It's the fight to make.

 

Varner vs Trujillo was fucking awesome! I know we're only a month in so FOTY talk is way early but that's the 2014 FOTY a month in for sure. Proper edge of the seat stuff and an incredible comeback KO from Trujillo. Should get KO and FOTN bonuses IMO.

 

Can't be arsed with the rest right now. I'm fucked.

[lambyUK]

That really was a terrible stoppage. Also a god awful dance from Barao whilst celebrating. Twat.

 

The stoppage was dreadful though. This is fighting for Christ's sake. Urijah was clocked early but ironically it was throughout that final flurry where he was actually recovering. He was clearly defending himself as those fists weren't even getting through. Furthermore Barao wasn't even concentrating on the strikes, he was looking at Herb Dean and Dean fell for it.

 

Thought Overeem looked superb. He was clearly holding back, but it was great seeing him pace himself and simply punish Mir without really breaking a sweat. Him calling out Lesnar at the end was bizarre.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Mike Goldberg was actually right on point for once, right at the end of the broadcast there he mentions that Renan Barao is separated from the rest because he's willing to take chances. Obviously there's a line, but mix aggression, a lack of fear and world class skill, and you have what every UFC fighter should be. You have Renan Barao.

 

Decent event, I'd say I had higher hopes for it going in, but I almost always do. On paper, every fight on the main card looked like a FOTN contender.

 

The prelims could be summed up in two different stories. All went to decision, but the first half of those fights were competitve, entertaining, back and forth fights, where fighters would go for finishes, whether standing or on the ground. I particularly enjoyed the Rashid Magomedov vs. Tony Martin fight, that was everything you want as far as skill and fighter mentality, to a lesser extent, Al Iaquinta vs. Kevin Lee. Hester vs. Enz was great fun, but lacked the refined technique. Still enjoyed the hell out of it.

 

After that, the prelims slowed right down, no chances taken, major lack of aggression from most fighters, and the prominent return of useless takedowns negating much more significant striking activity, leading to bullshit decisions like Catone vs. Watson. Rogan and Goldberg praised Ricardo Almeida being a judge on this card, but he was a part of this and the even more ridiculous Patrick vs. Makdessi decision.

 

The main card picked up tremendously with Varner vs. Trujillo, that was a bit like Wandy vs. Stann on a smaller scale. Loved it. And there was still plenty of technique, Trujillo intelligently defended and unleashed the counter right hook with perfect timing and placement. Very impressive. As for Varner, I wonder how he'd go at 145? He's on the smaller side, carries around a slight amount of body fat and was at a significant power disadvantage in this one. He was outsized by Tibau as well, and if he picks himself back up with some good wins, I think he'd struggled with the likes of Henderson and Grant size-wise.

 

Lineker lost in a fairly uneventful fight. Combine this with his massive weight issues, and does he get cut, or is flyweight shallow enough to give him another chance?

 

I liked Reem's performance. Can't complain too much about seeing Mir get his arse kicked for 3 rounds. I get the impression that Overeem didn't want a repeat of the Browne fight, but I really don't think Mir has that durability. I think he would have definitely crumpled if Reem had turned it up a notch.

 

Also, of all the submissions in his arsenal, Mir goes for the one technique that Reem specialises in? Kind of stupid, even with Mir's pedigree.

 

Jose Aldo was leagues above Lamas. Lamas hit one good technique in the 5th round, but there's no reason for the fight to have gone that long. With how slow Lamas looked compared to Aldo, and the battering Aldo was giving him on offense, especially the kicks, he could have turned it up and stopped it in the second frame, probably.

 

Barao turned Faber into a human pinball. Maybe the timing of the stoppage was a bit off, but Faber had absolutely no answer for Barao's attack, and I say this as someone who would have loved to see a Faber victory. With that domination over the 2014 version of Urijah Faber, the man who cut through bantamweight like a human buzzsaw, I don't know how Barao can't be the #1 P4P fighter right now. That was really a shocking outcome, and really highlighted how much better Barao has gotten, comparing both Faber fights and seeing how far Faber has come.

[Jimmy Boy]

Definitely a premature stoppage. Faber was rocked but he clearly still had the presence of mind to defend himself. A rare bad call from Herb there. I feel bad for Urijah. He's 0-2 to the champ now and I think he knows he's out of the picture after that, hence his bigging up Dillashaw post fight. Barao looked great though. When you consider the form Faber was in coming into this fight, for Barao to have him in deep shit like that in round 1 shows what an animal he is. He's really upped his game even more the last year or so. He's a really likeable guy as well I think. Who's next for Barao after that? Maybe it is Dillashaw. Off the top of my head no-one else jumps out.

 

Aldo looked excellent. Aside from that last few minutes it was complete one way traffic. Fuck it, let's get him at 155 now and get this Pettis fight on. Why not? Pettis tweeted tonight rooting for Aldo and saying "let's get this superfight on". I'm all for it. Lamas fought bravely but it was clear he was outgunned in pretty much all areas.

 

Who expected Overeem vs Mir to go the distance? I wouldn't have called it. They're both such finisher you'd never predict it to go to the cards. Overeem won handily. He grappled way more than I thought he needed to but he was in control the whole time. He looked good, fought smart and got back in the win column. Mir lost decisively and despite his insistence otherwise I find it hard to see him fighting on much longer. Have to give him credit for his toughness to hang in though. That knee in round 1 was brutal. He toughed it out tonight when I never thought he could.

 

What was with Overeem calling out Brock though? Calling out a guy you beat easily? Fuck that. Let's have that JDS fight. It's the fight to make.

 

Varner vs Trujillo was fucking awesome! I know we're only a month in so FOTY talk is way early but that's the 2014 FOTY a month in for sure. Proper edge of the seat stuff and an incredible comeback KO from Trujillo. Should get KO and FOTN bonuses IMO.

 

Can't be arsed with the rest right now. I'm fucked.

 

Regarding overeem/Brock - it's called getting a ppv percentage, which overeem's current contract and surely if Brock was to fight again the same (as per his old contract). Whom wouldn't wanna pay to see if Brock 'is back to his old?' - overeem earned over $1 million from his last Brock fight due to percentages. He's not a stupid businessman....

[niff]

The finish in the main event was premature, but not by much. Barao was soon to do more damage that's for sure. Overeem looked great dont blame him calling out Brock, would be a fascinating match up this time round. Overall a slightly lacklustre PPV glad they're free for us lot.

[ColinBollocks]

Out of interest, is there a recent-ish example of a bloke taking two top fights in quick succession and winning both? Rogan always makes a point of saying how advantages it can be for a fighter to fight again quickly, if the first went well, but in my mind the bloke always hits a wall come the second fight.

 

Anyway, I enjoyed this show. It had a bit of everything for everybody.

 

No idea if Mir is just that bad now that Overeem dominated, or Overeem is regaining some form. To Overeem's credit he didn't have to crank up the workrate or performance to completely out class Mir. Nice touch calling out Lesnar, too.

 

While the main event finish was premature, it was maybe a great call for Faber as he was doing a great impersonation of a punch bag, as he was looking outclassed. As I stated, two top fights in quick succession always sounded mental to me and maybe it caught up with Faber here.

[Carbomb]

I missed a lot of the prelims because I had some stuff to do, so I only caught them from Catone/Watson onwards.

 

Speaking of which, I'm glad to see I'm not alone in thinking that decision was a blatant piece of hometown bullshit. Catone was getting smashed, and was doing fuck-all with those takedowns. I suppose they didn't want to risk bad will from the fans with the hometown boy losing by decision, but it was laughable, and the commentators just sounded like dicks for praising it. But I'm guessing this is one of those things that's just part of the fighting culture that fighters know they just have to deal with and work past, and a veteran like Watson probably knew he would've had no alternative but to finish Catone; whilst he was landing some good shots, it became gradually clearer he couldn't put him away.

 

Patrick/Makdessi - that was an odd one. They started off looking good, and it seemed like it would turn into a good match, but it just ended up petering out and losing momentum. And I agree with Shane O'Mac - the decision was off, IMO, although less so than the previous. I found myself wanting Patrick to win (I seem to have found myself liking Brazilians outside of women's underwear), as he had something of an aura about him, a focus and energy that came across well, but outside of a couple pretty takedowns that didn't really go anywhere, I didn't think I could score him over Makdessi.

 

Varner/Trujillo - good lord, what a fight. Both guys were really going for it, and I felt bad for Varner - to have come so close, only to lose out of the blue like that. But then I think I would've felt bad for Trujillo if he'd lost too. This must seem like the ravings of a super-noob to you lot, but it really did bring home to me just how unpredictable MMA is: I honestly thought Varner was on course to take it when he kept landing those bombs, so I was staring in literally open-mouthed awe at that counter KO. Trujillo must have a recovery factor like Wolverine in addition to a granite chin, because to go from clearly staggering to get it back together to land a picture-perfect shot like that is just astounding.

 

Lineker/Bagautinov was a disappointment, and not just because it fucked my bet. I really, really wanted Bagautinov to put Lineker away; mainly because it had been all decisions until Varner/Trujillo, and the way that ended just put me in the mood for a submission. Plus, I wanted Bagautinov to keep his undefeated streak, so we can see a USA vs. Russia championship fight. And while the method of victory was financially disappointing, I really couldn't fault the Russian - posing like a fucking dude and making Lineker's sub attempt look like shit just made me like him even more. The commentators kept talking about Lineker's stopping power, and it did seem like Bagautinov's strategy respected it and took it into account, but we never really saw it - I think the general feeling about the weight-cut drainage must have been bang-on. Lineker didn't look or move like he was drained, but he looked like a man with a gun who didn't know how to take the safety off.

 

Overeem/Mir - I'm annoyed at Reem. He finally learns to start pacing things the moment I've got money on the line? Bastard. But anyway, fair play to the guy - clearly, he's wary about losing in disappointing ways again, and he wants to make sure he keeps himself in the frame. Mir gave a relatively good account of himself, and, as I'm new to all this, his guillotine attempt was a flashpoint for me, rather than the "lol really?" moment it was for you guys - I honestly didn't know Overeem specialises in that sub. He showed a lot of heart, but outside that moment, it was evident right from the start that it couldn't have gone any other way in terms of win/loss; Mir just didn't have the club in the bag for Reem. Not being familiar with Mir in terms of personality meant that I (laughably to you guys, I suppose) felt a little bad for Mir that he was so outclassed.

 

Side note - maybe this sounds stupid, but I have very little interest in the HW division, partly because the division is shallow, but also because I find lower-weight matches just much more interesting in general; there's usually more mobility and more fight intelligence I find. I don't think I've really enjoyed any HW combat since the boxing golden age, TBH - growing up with an Ali-obsessed dad has most likely ruined me.

 

Aldo/Lamas - I like Aldo's style, and I do love those leg kick combos, but there was something a bit disappointing about this fight; probably because I expected him to finish, and because I expected Lamas to capitulate. It's odd - Lamas should be commended, as he put in a good showing, showing toughness and a lack of fear, but part of me just thought "Why can't you just lie down and take this steam-rollering like you know you're supposed to?" Ultimately, though, he just didn't trouble Aldo anywhere. I suspect (and am probably wrong) that he had just a little too much respect for Aldo on the night, because again, like Lineker, he seemed unwilling or incapable of taking the safety off. Aldo's boxing was excellent: fast, compact, explosive - not as smooth and aesthetically-pleasing as Mark Hominick's but still a joy to watch. Right result, but I don't think that was ever in dispute.

 

Barao/Faber - YES, definitely early stoppage, and this was very disappointing. I don't think Faber had enough to beat Barao, but I would really have liked the guy to have the chance to try. He seemed really up for it, mentally in a good place, and it would've been a fun scrap. However, Barao demonstrated why he's just on another level; it's a grade of talent that's clear even to unseasoned fans like me. It was basically the classic match-up between the genius and the workhorse (which is another reason why I wanted Faber to go longer). Still, at least we didn't get another fucking decision.

 

 

A good show, with a FOTY contender in Varner/Trujillo, but way too many decisions for my liking, and I didn't even catch the first few prelims. I'm glad I didn't, as I think I would've ended up just getting more annoyed. And yes, I'm well aware this makes me sound like one of those "Just Bleed" MMA-smark types, but please bear with me - I hope to get past this stage very soon.

[jimufctna24]

I think after last night, Overeem vs Barnett would be good to make. Edit: I forgot about JDS, still a lot of good fights for Reem out there.

 

According to this Lesnar is not back anytime soon - http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/UFC-Boss-...o-Octagon-63077

 

Pettis vs Aldo is going to be mega! I still think Pettis will win, Aldo's striking defense is not strong enough. Whilst Lamas was not landing many meaningful blows he was still landing often against Aldo, showing there are plenty of windows for Pettis to gain from. At one stage the striking stats were around 61-37 in favor of Also in strikes landed.