UFC 185: Pettis vs Dos Anjos

[lambyUK]

I felt the need to bring up something that seems to have gone under the radar, at least in discussion here.

 

Joanna Jedrzejczyk really is awesome. She's doing such a good job promoting this fight and she really doesn't give a fuck. I love her attitude and her stare down yesterday with Esparza was great. She really has done a great job of gaining my interest for the fight and I sincerely hope she wins this weekend.  
 

[Chunk]

I felt the need to bring up something that seems to gone under the radar, at least in discussion here.

 

Joanna Jedrzejczyk really is awesome. She's doing such a good job promoting this fight and she really doesn't give a fuck. I love her attitude and her stare down yesterday with Esparza was great. She really has done a great job of gaining my interest for the fight and I sincerely hope she wins this weekend.

 

Me too. For me, Esparza was one of the dullest fighters on the straw weight season of TUF. Jedrzejczyk speaks English as a second language and doesn't have the benefit of being on my TV for weeks and yet she's still more interesting than Esparza.

[wandshogun09]

I've said somewhere on here before that I've become a bit of a Joanna J fan.

 

She's my kind of fighter. I love the grappling side of MMA but I've always sort of swayed towards the strikers. Wanderlei, Shogun, Cro Cop, Hunt, Manhoef. Most of my favourite fighters were/are primarily strikers. Big Nog and Ronda Rousey being the main exceptions.

 

JJ is from that cloth. And to top it off she comes across about as cool and laid back as anyone in MMA. Fan friendly style, likeable as fuck...now if we can just sort out that fucking name. She needs a nickname more than anyone in the sport.

 

I'm hoping she knocks out Esparza tomorrow night. Then we can get JJ vs Joanne Calderwood on for the title in Scotland in the summer. Perfect. Probably the two best strikers at 115 and the crowd atmosphere would be great. Only problem with the fight is I wouldn't want either to lose.

[Egg Shen]

weigh-in's in the bag, Cruickshank needs more time to make weight, and Cejudo successfully made 125...

 

• Anthony Pettis (155) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (155)
• Carla Esparza (115) vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (115)
• Johny Hendricks (170) vs. Matt Brown (171)
• Roy Nelson (254) vs. Alistair Overeem (247)
• Chris Cariaso (126) vs. Henry Cejudo (125)
• Ross Pearson (156) vs. Sam Stout (156)
• Elias Theodorou (186) vs. Roger Narvaez (186)
• Daron Cruickshank (157.5) vs. Beneil Dariush (156)
• Jared Rosholt (245) vs. Josh Copeland (264)
• Sergio Pettis (126) vs. Ryan Benoit (126)
• Jake Lindsey (156) vs. Joseph Duffy (156)
• Larissa Pacheco (136) vs. Germaine de Randamie (136)

[jimufctna24]

There really is something unlikeable about him.

Yep. The combination of his irritating voice, and the obvious chip on his shoulder is what I think that "something" is.

 

There is just little charm to the man. Plus, Hendricks is a top-line fighter. Forget annoying also-rans like the guy Wand was slagging off the other day, Hendricks is worse due to actually being relevant. 

 

That said, I do really enjoy watching him fight.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, Hendricks is all kinds of fun to watch fight. He's had some absolute corkers over the years and I don't think he really gets the recognition as an exciting fighter that he deserves, like say a Joe Lauzon or Chris Lytle did in the past. There almost seems to be this misconception that he was boring before he knocked out Jon Fitch but that's wrong. He was having belters on the prelims way before that. Check out his prelims with TJ Grant (UFC 113) and Charlie Brenneman (UFC 117) if you can find them. Really fun fights. The Mike Pierce fight was good as well. Then he sparked Fitch, flattened Kampmann and everyone sat up and went 'hang on, who's this beardy cunt walloping people dead?'

 

Since then he's gave GSP (an all-time great of course, but not someone known for being exciting in the cage) a tremendous fight. The controversy around the decision overshadowed what a great fight that was. He had a FOTY contender with Condit as well in a fight I absolutely love. Then of course, the two wars with Lawler. The first one especially was amazing.

 

Johny Hendricks has a habit of being in incredible fights. He's just as exciting as Matt Brown for me. So I've got high expectations for this. Surely two rights can't make a wrong? These two can't have a shit fight, can they? I've probably gone and jinxed it now.

 

He's still a twat though, yeah. When people defend him they always go 'why do people dislike Hendricks for moaning about the GSP decision? He was right'. For me it's nothing to do with that. I disliked him long before the GSP fight. Not like I dislike Frank Mir or someone, but I just never warmed to Hendricks. And I don't even think the GSP decision was a robbery. I think I had Hendricks winning but fucking barely. People act like it was like Cain vs JDS 2, with Hendricks in the Cain role. It wasn't. Hendricks did more damage over the course of the whole fight but MMA is scored round by round. And you can make a solid case to give GSP three rounds.

 

Like Jim, Hendricks' voice grates on me something fierce. I know he can't help it but it really does. And there's just something about him, when he's talking, when he's in there fighting, whatever...that makes me just want to see someone fuck him up.

 

One of my favourite moments last year was Lawler beating him for the title. Partly because I don't like Hendricks, mostly because I love Lawler. That last minute of the fight where Lawler just goes into murder mode and rains down a shitstorm on Hendricks like he never knew existed, was just beautiful to watch.

 

And this was scary as fuck...

 

 

Fifth round over. Lawler walking him down with a crazed look on his face, wanting a round 6. Hendricks is fucking DONE! Hobbles away and just slumps to the canvas.

 

Lovely.

 

I'm picking;

 

Pettis by KO/TKO

Esparza by submission

Hendricks by KO/TKO

Overeem by decision

Cejudo by decision

[TildeGuy~!]

Looking forward to this card, predictions are...

 

Anthony Pettis by KO

Carla Esparza by Submission

Johny Hendricks by KO

Alistair Overeem by Decision

Henry Cejudo by Decision

Ross Pearson by Decision

Elias Theodorou by Decision

Daron Cruickshank by Decision

Jared Rosholt by KO

Sergio Pettis by Decision

Joseph Duffy by Submission

Larissa Pacheco by Decision

[Noah Southworth]

Don’t forget that with the change to daylight savings time in the US, the prelims start at midnight and the main card starts at 2am.

[wandshogun09]

Nice. Cheers for that.

 

Just watched Pettis vs Bendo 1 for the first time in ages. What a fight. Even better than I remembered. That fight has actually kind of been underrated IMO. At the time it wasn't, I remember everyone raving about it on here anyway. But over the years it's seemingly become remembered pretty much solely for the Showtime Kick. Understandable really but it's a brilliant fight aside from that.

 

Completely forgot about this bit...

 

 

He dropped Bendo without even touching him.

[Polish Dad]

Just dropped a tenner on the outside chance of a Dos Anjos victory. Would love Pettis to smash him, so this way I'm happy no matter what happens.

[Ron&Hermione]

I stayed up to watch this card, as on paper it looked bloody fun! Turned out to be ok, with the pre-lims being absolutely brilliant. But decisions really bore me these days. Especially the types we saw.

 

The Hendricks vs Brown fight was everything that puts me off ufc. And there was nothing wrong with it! It's just that in my head I thought they would keep it standing, yet Hendricks had such an advantage in the ground, I can't blame him for keeping it on the ground the whole fight. Just makes sense to get an easy win and get back into the title fight, doesn't make it any less frustrating.

 

Overeem vs Nelson, I've never seen the love for 'Reem. Every time I've seen him he has looked like he has a jaw made of glass and almost no stamina. Not sure why Rogan was cumming at his performance, all Nelson does is stand there and go for his overhand right so it's not that hard for you to get your strikes off. For a fighter who apparently has a great mma mind, Nelson has the dumbest strategies a fighter could have. I used to love the guy but now I just want him to piss off. Taking beatings isn't something we should admire, especially when you have the skill to not take such beatings. Then again he clearly is happy picking up the paycheck, so I can't hate the guy for that.

 

Why do people keep fooling themselves into think Overeem is any good? Actually that's not totally fair he is ok, just nowhere near what people tend to see him as. I don't see how this performance enhances his profile at all. I think he is starting to enter the Wanderlei part of his career where you can knock him out rather easily, it does seem like once you're susceptible to being knocked out it gets exponentially worse with every fight you have. Maybe I'm being harsh on Overeem I just don't think he is that good, and a win over a guy who just stands there isn't really that impressive.

 

That all being said, I loved the female fight. That was fun, probably because how ridiculous it looked (especially Carla Esparza in that suit). Joanna just beautifully shut down Carla's take downs and destroyed her in the stand up. Poor Esparza, that was pretty horrific. The Joanna girl is brilliant and I'm gonna enjoy her Rouseying her division.

 

The main event was really weird. Dos Anjos was a beast and just overwhelmed Pettis, it actually looked like everything Pettis threw had no power and could be eaten with no effect. Also Dos Anjos looked so much bigger, he has such a thick build, I do wonder what the weight difference was on the night. That first round was a killer for Pettis, he just looked completely lost out there. It was a fun fight though, mainly because seeing a champion lose is always interesting. I just mentally was not prepared at all for that beating, i started to feel quite bad for Pettis by the end of it. Poor guy may lose the Beats sponsorship after that.

 

 

Performance of the night for me (besides from Dos Anjos) was Beneil Dariush. That guy looked freaking amazing. I loved every second of that fight, just took Cruickshank apart with those awesome kicks. There is something so cool about seeing a really good rear naked choke being set up and sunk in.

 

UFC keeps suckering me back in with these cards, that's impressive in its own right.

 

Oh and congratulations to David on his bet! And anyone else who won, I just remember him having a nice treble on. So well done, and you do indeed look brilliant today.

 

I just want to thank Jesus for you reading this, he told me you would before you did. Thank you jesus!

[wandshogun09]

Jesus Christ! Welcome To The Show was the PPV's tagline. Rafael Dos Anjos and Joanna Jedrzejczyk stole the motherfucker.

 

I can't recall another card where there were two fights that people were so sure of going in, that went the complete opposite on the night.

 

Few fancied Jedrzejczyk to win. And no fucker would've called Dos Anjos to just take Pettis' soul like that. Mind blown.

 

What a fucking card that was.

 

Dos Anjos was unbelievable. A lot is made of the career comebacks of Robbie Lawler and Mark Hunt, rightly so, but Dos Anjos' rise might be even more impressive. As much as they were in career slumps before rising from the ashes, Hunt was a K-1 legend and Lawler was once the young prospect being touted as the UFC's future Mike Tyson. None of that wit Dos Anjos. He was best known, for fucking years, for being the guy on the shit end of a Jeremy Stephens KO uppercut. He was the definition of MMA journeyman for ages after that but never stopped grafting and plugging away. To go from where he was to beating Cerrone to battering Bendo to schooling Diaz to fucking crushing Anthony Pettis to a shutout...it may just be the best MMA rags to riches story ever.

 

Bittersweet for me because I didn't want either to lose, but I'm chuffed for Dos Anjos.

 

Double J beating Esparza was less of a shock, but the manner in which she did it was a pleasant surprise. She utterly destroyed her. It was beautiful. We should've at least entertained the possibility really. She had shown good takedown defence against Claudia Gadelha as well. It wasn't like she had no defensive grappling and she was always going to boss the standup. Tremendous stuff though.

 

First European UFC champion since Arlovski and Rutten.

 

Got to be Double J vs Joanne Calderwood next, hasn't it? Providing Calderwood wins her fight next month of course. Works out perfect as well because Calderwood is fighting on the Poland card. No doubt JJ will be in attendance. So if Calderwood wins, in expecting an announcement pretty much right after the fight.

 

Hendricks looked good. Both in terms of performance and physique. Brown fought well but I never fancied his chances if Hendricks came to wrestle. Good fight.

 

Overeem had his best showing since the Lesnar fight for me. Nelson had his chance in the last 30 seconds after that knockdown and he squandered it by going for a pointless takedown. Baffled the fuck out of me, that one. You're losing the fight, there's less than a minute to go and you finally drop Overeem. You need a finish to win the fight. Why would you go for a takedown at that point? Even if you get it you've got fuck all time to do anything with it. Pointless. He should've been swinging for the fences. Then again, when the scores were being read out, Nelson actually seemed to think he'd won. That is even more odd than the pointless takedown attempt to me.

 

Can we get that Overeem vs JDS fight booked (again) now, for fuck's sake?

 

Cejudo made a statement over a tough opponent. Hopefully his weight issues will be a thing of the past from here on in. I like his style, I like his backstory, the gold shorts are a nice nod to his Olympic medal. Apparently he's already pushing hard to get on the Mexico card in June.

 

Prelims weren't bad. Pearson vs Stout was the highlight as expected. What a beast of a left hook! I was immediately reminded of the Condit vs Hardy finish, then Rogan said my thoughts out loud. Just what Pearson needed coming off the Iaquinta loss. Dariush vs Cruickshank was fun as well.

 

Cracking card. Full of finishes, fighters looking improved (Hendricks/Overeem), rebounding in style (Pearson) and the two breathtaking performances from Jedrzejczyk and Dos Anjos just topped it off. Incredible.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Johny Hendricks has a habit of being in incredible fights. He's just as exciting as Matt Brown for me. So I've got high expectations for this. Surely two rights can't make a wrong? These two can't have a shit fight, can they? I've probably gone and jinxed it now.

 

Dammit Wand, you did jinx it, I hated that fight, and it was maybe the most anticipated fight for me on the card going in. You gave a nice breakdown rebutting why Hendricks wasn't a boring fighter before the KOs of Fitch and Kampmann, and thinking about those fights, I agree with you. But I feel like Hendricks has regressed quite a bit in how dynamic a fighter he is since hitting the championship level. I haven't watched it back for a while, but in the GSP fight, I recall it being close, competitive and by far GSP's most exciting fight for a fair while, where he took a fair amount of damage. But then in the later rounds, Hendricks tried to "solidify" the win by switching from a high striking output to a wrestling-based attack- trying to "GSP" GSP. But due to the lack of tangible offense, the scorecards were muddied and GSP scraped by with the win. Then, Hendricks had a belter with Condit, but it was due to him not being able to hold Condit in place. In the first Lawler fight, we had a great battle, but Hendricks nabbed the victory with a takedown where he held Lawler down for a minute. The rematch saw Hendricks trying to grapple the whole fight, spending 3 rounds in between Lawler's legs while Robbie was trying to cause damage. And today, the worst offender, Johny abandoned all pretence and blanketed Brown for 3 rounds. Even his hometown crowd started booing him a little.

 

I know all that sounds like I'm spouting the anti-wrestling "Just Bleed" mentality, but my issue isn't with the use of wrestling. I thoroughly enjoyed Dos Anjos' attack in the main event. I enjoy grappling when there is intent to cause damage, whether it be with ground and pound or advancing position to work for submissions, which RDA did beautifully. What Hendricks did in the Brown fight, and what he's shown several flashes of doing since becoming a contender, was hold Brown in place, throw the occasional strike to prevent a stand up and wait for the clock to expire. It's the equivalent of circling the Octagon and doing little feints or pitter patter strikes to give the illusion that you're fulfilling the Unified Rules requirement of "aggression" when striking.

 

Even go back in time to the likes of Mark Coleman and Tito Ortiz. They'd wrestle the fuck out of you, but once they had you down, they'd put your skull through the mat.

 

Anyway, I think I'm just mad because I had minimal sleep, and I never expected to be yawning during a Matt Brown fight.

 

Other thoughts on the show:

 

Glad to see Ross Pearson get the win. Arrived at the pub just in time to see the big KO. We've adopted him as an honorary Aussie, really, and I was concerned about him having one win in 5 fights if he had lost here, could have been a bad thing for his UFC career.

 

Was highly impressed with Henry Cejudo. He talked about being fatigued due to the weight cut, but he certainly didn't seem it. Kept a great pace and is another perfect example of using wrestling correctly (IMO) in MMA.

 

I really enjoyed Overeem's performance, probably the most confident and versatile I've seen him fight in the UFC. I've found that I really can't dislike The Reem, he's a dirty cheater but I really enjoy his fighting style, plus he seems like a pretty sound guy in interviews etc. I'm a Big Country fan, but it really seems like he's close to done. He had the late knockdown, but other than that, he was just a really durable punching bag. I was really wincing at some of those kicks and knees he took. Also, it's funny hearing Rogan and Goldberg talk about Reem's weight loss without being able to say the reason. Overeem used to cut to 265, so he's probably lost around 40 pounds!

 

I'll never be able to spell the name of the new strawweight champion, so I'm just going to call her Joanna J. That was a straight up ass kicking. With that level of grappling defense to complement her advanced striking game, it's difficult to see who could stop her in this fledgling division. Interesting that one womens division is dominated by a world class grappler and the other now by a world class striker. The speed and accuracy in that finishing combo was scary and beautiful.

 

RDA was just fantastic, as a Pettis fan I'm disappointed, but the story of the veteran battling his way to the top of the division and taking out the flashy phenom champion through pure pressure and persistence is heart warming. Also, a little extra cherry on the sundae, it was said that Bendo would have to wait a long time to get a shot at the belt while Pettis was champion- you have to think that sentiment is only amplified with RDA on top.

[jimufctna24]

David is going to be chuffed.

 

Bloody MMA. I am done with it until Aldo vs McGregor/Kimbo vs Shammers 

[Carbomb]

I fucking should have known. The moment I decide NOT to put a bet down on a long shot, that long shot actually fucking comes through. Mind you, if I had put the bet down, Pettis would've probably destroyed Recommended Daily Allowance, so it probably doesn't matter either way.