UFC 178: Johnson vs Cariaso

[herbie747]

I fucking loved those DDTs by Cat!

 

It's funny hearing all the Sherdoggers still hating on McGregor. Back of the head is only illegal if intentional - Poirier ducked a hook & got clipped - nothing to discuss. How scared did Poirier look walking out? A defeated man - Holloway & Brandao had the same bewildered/distracted look. 

[Noah Southworth]

I know I shouldn't look but I did look, at the comments section of certain MMA-centric sites, and dear god it's agony. There are people who quite seriously believe that Porier and Brandao took dives.

[herbie747]

I know I shouldn't look but I did look, at the comments section of certain MMA-centric sites, and dear god it's agony. There are people who quite seriously believe that Porier and Brandao took dives.

 

Mongs gonna mong. It doesn't get any simpler - they are actually retarded or stupid people. Imagine any UFC business decisions were left up to these morons? We never would have gotten any of the top 5 or 6 UFC PPV events of all time. Brock/Couture, Brock/Mir II, GSP/Diaz, Chael/Anderson II. But I guess they're the "hardcore" fans.... lol - spastics.

[ColinBollocks]

I chuckled like a pirate when McGregor rattled off the "You can call me Mystic Mac..." line. Rogan summed it up when he said McGregor made it look easy. I was expecting a tougher fight, but McGregor rolled right over Poirier. The fella has so much momentum and confidence, the UFC will be mad not to go with a title fight early next year. Highlight of the night was McGregor doing the "Just Bring It" taunt pre-fight. What a top man.

 

Romero is such a bawbag. Belting fight, but it's forever tainted with the stalling. Romero's comedy "I love USA" arse-licking promo was also great.

 

Last night was the first time I've watched Alvarez and after such a big hype by the media and UFC, he seemed like another bloke. Granted, good fighter, but not the monster some were on about.

[Egg Shen]

 

Last night was the first time I've watched Alvarez and after such a big hype by the media and UFC, he seemed like another bloke. Granted, good fighter, but not the monster some were on about.

i don't think Alvarez was ever touted as a monster, the skinny on Alvarez really is that he's always involved in great fights. Cerrone simply chopped him down.

[herbie747]

Last night was the first time I've watched Alvarez and after such a big hype by the media and UFC, he seemed like another bloke. Granted, good fighter, but not the monster some were on about.

 

I saw his 2 Chandler fights in Bellator, and had bigger expectations here. Disappointed. I also didn't realise he was so small. It was like when Taz came to WWE. It was almost comical - after all the hype, he gets in the ring with Angle and I was thinking; "WTF - he's a midget!"

[Supremo]

It's amazing that you don't even have to look at the hardcore forums to know how they'll react to things. It's so backwards that I can't even fathom the mindset. I hope Aldo fails to make weight and McGregor takes his spot. Imagine the uproar.

 

When asked at the press conference, Dana said he'd be willing to take a title fight to Dublin. It's mental how quickly this football stadium concept is becoming a genuine possibility. I'd buy flights tomorrow if they announced it. UFC in Dublin was so amazing, a true once in a lifetime moment, it honestly felt like something they'd never be able to replicate. The idea that they could do one even bigger? I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

[ColinBollocks]

Anybody see McGregor's post-fight suit? Very 80s Ric Flair. Beautiful.

[wandshogun09]

Watched it live as well but I was in no state to type last night.

 

That was was the best UFC, no, MMA show I've seen in years. Fucking amazing. After Howard vs Ebersole which I thought was pretty cack, then Cote vs Thompson which wasn't bad but was real letdown for what I was expecting, everything else was great. Masvidal vs Krause was really good, I thought.

 

Show was so good that I've watched most of the main card again already today. Couldn't hear much of the commentary and stuff last night with people round mine, so wanted to give it another quick look.

 

Everything from Cruz vs Mizugaki on was fucking brilliant. Brilliant. What a feel-good moment for Cruz. I couldn't believe how good he looked. Yeah it was only a minute but who saw that coming. Mizugaki is no walkover either. You don't just walk through Takeya Mizugaki in a minute. Especially after three years out.

 

It really did seem like they were saying. That Cruz took three years of frustration and setbacks out on Mizugaki and that was the result. I mean before the fight we were all saying stuff like 'if Cruz wins and looks close to his old self...', this and that. No-one, I never saw one person mention the possibility of him actually looking better.

 

Actually felt a bit sorry for Mizugaki. Everyone wanted him to lose this fight and everyone was overjoyed when he lost. And it wasn't even anything he'd done. Just impossible to not root for Cruz last night.

 

Loved the 'Alpha Fails' line as well

 

Cerrone vs Alvarez was tremendous. I thought it pretty much delivered on expectations. It wasn't a FOTY classic or anything but still a hell of a fight.

 

Rogan pissed me off though. How much was he up Cerrone's arse? It reminded me of when Pride guys came over and Mike Goldberg was practically cheerleading for them to fail with shit like 'this isn't Japan, welcome to the UFC'. Rogan wasn't as bad as that but he still annoyed me.

 

Cerrone definitely won, I'm not disputing that at all. He looked great and I had him 29-28, taking rounds 1 and 3. But Rogan was acting like it was a domination and it really wasn't. Alvarez lit him up in round one. Cerrone definitely took round two. And I had Alvarez winning up until the second half of round three when Cerrone turned it up and finished strong. It was competitive throughout but Cerrone just had that bit more.

 

Yet there were points where Eddie was landing flush shots and Rogan was just ignoring them to talk about Cowboy's kicks and that he was "walking Eddie down". He didn't want to give Alvarez credit for anything. Even the first round. He kept banging on about Cerrone 'letting Alvarez tee off on him in the clinch' and shit. And repeated it again at the close of the show. Goldberg was trying to give Eddie some praise saying he looked great in round one and Rogan just said something like "Donald Cerrone said himself he has a hard time warming up, he tends to stand in front of guys sometimes". He even asked Cerrone in the cage;

 

Rogan: The first round when you were clinching and he was punching you, what was going on there? You just wanted to prove a point there?

 

What's this shit that he let Alvarez blast him in the face repeatedly to prove some point? Even Cerrone sort of shrugged that off and gave Alvarez a lot of credit for how he fought.

 

Still, great fight. I think there's much better to come for Alvarez. Might've been a bit of octagon jitters. Also he'd been inactive since last November. Plus I feared he might struggle with Cerrone's reach and I think that was a key factor last night. Still, I'm so glad he's finally in the UFC.

 

McGregor vs Poirier was nuts. I can't really add anything to what's been said already. He looked like a massive big deal last night. The fight, the post-fight interview. The 'Mystic Mac' bit that would've went over nearly everyone's head in the crowd, the atmosphere and crowd was electric too.

 

The back of the head thing, I'm not even sure it fully hit there. On the one replay it looked bad but there was another angle where it looked to have landed right on the ear and then slid round the back of the head/neck. I don't think the actual connection point was the back of the head but could be wrong.

 

I really could see McGregor ending up getting the title shot now. Edgar vs Swanson isn't until December. Two whole months after Aldo vs Mendes. They could potentially stick Aldo/Mendes vs McGregor on as co-main to Jones vs Cormier in January. Imagine that shit?! Massive event. Plus if Dana wants to have an excuse to give him the shot all he's got to say is Aldo has already beat Edgar and Swanson so they're going with a fresh challenger in McGregor. Easy. Some will moan but you can't please everyone.

 

Romero vs Kennedy was bonkers. Such a fun fight and the controversy just added to it. Romero's Iron Sheik-like interview was hilarious as well.

 

Zingano vs Nunes was great as well. I knew that fight would deliver. They're both just too aggressive and dangerous to produce a boring fight together. Cat's DDTs were awesome. The whole comeback was incredible. She was getting fucked up pretty bad in round one.

 

As predicted i saw the expected i saw the expected 'i'll be impressed when he beats Edgar or Mendes' posts on twitter

I still think the question on his wrestling is valid and we haven't seen him deal with getting roughed up much yet. But yeah, I'm sick of people acting like he's all talk. He's a lot of talk, sure. But he's undeniably a really talented fighter as well. Some people will never be impressed whatever he does. Every time he wins they raise the bar. When he battered Brandao people were going 'yeah well wait until he fights someone like Poirier or Swanson'. He wrecks Poirier and now they'll say 'well wait until he fights Edgar or Swanson'. At this point when the only guys you can hope to stop him are Aldo, Edgar and Swanson...that's the very top of the division. It's time to admit he's legit. No-one has done that to Poirier, ever.

 

Yoel Romero unwillingly turned heel last night.

Not in my eyes. Fuck Kennedy.

 

Someone over on twitter mentioned Alvarez/Gomi next, yes.

I'd love to see that. It depends how quick a turnaround Alvarez wants, I suppose. Ideally I'd like to see them wait for Pettis vs Melendez to play out. If Pettis wins that I want Alvarez vs Melendez. Eddie will probably want to get back in there quick though. He's had enough time in his career wasted.

 

Conor fucking McGregor.

 

...

 

He even did the Rock's "Just Bring It," hand gesture before the fight! Just amazing.

That was such a great visual. Fucking loved that.

[Egg Shen]

dont you mean Cerrone won rounds 2 & 3 wand?

[Supremo]

 

McGregor's Ric Flair suit.

 

And another mural has popped up;

 

[wandshogun09]

Yeah that's what I meant Alvarez had round one and the first couple of minutes of round three for me. Then Cerrone started to run away with it and took the round.

[Supremo]

[Dead Mike]

Amazing show from top to bottom...

 

Cruz looked like a beast, perfect comeback fight & not against a total can, Mizugaki is no joke but Cruz made short work of him.

 

Zingano vs Nunes was ace too, I echo the appreciation for the DDT takedowns, thought Nunes had her early on but Zingano stayed busy & once she'd weathered the early storm it seemed like Nunes was out if ideas.

 

Romero vs Kennedy had everything. I legit thought Big John was going to call it when Romero wouldn't stand up. It was the fight that cost me my accumulator but no complaints as Kennedy is a bell.

 

McGregor looked terrifying. Any questions about his legitimacy in the ring were answered without question. His power is truly scary! There should be no complaint over the 'back of the head' thing. It wasn't like he threw trucker elbows to a downed opponent or anything. I still think he's a knob but I thought it was classy giving Poirier props & I agree with what he said in the post fight about this being a new era/fighters widely adopting a muay thai stance, it's a very interesting time in the sport & it feels like we're in a transitional period stylistically. Guida next?

 

I could've watched Cowboy/Alverez for 5 rounds. I hope Cerrone gets the props he deserves for this but I fear a lot of people wont know how good Eddie A really is. Cowboy's looking awesome at the moment & another fight where he comes out relatively unscathed! He'll be back in there a the start of next year.

 

Johnson is just a next level fighter, he made such easy work of Cariaso it wasn't even close. As mentioned, Dodson would be my next pick too. Althought I reckon DJ takes that handily.

His weightclass might affect opinion or judgement but how long before he's considered the P4P best in the world?

[d-d-d-dAz]

Fuck it. I'm signing up to Team McGregor.

 

I had a mate round who's not arsed about the UFC, and my missus who despises MMA was watching, and they were glued to McGregor. They hung on every word he said, and loved the way he fought.

 

Star.