UFC 210: Cormier vs Rumble 2

[wandshogun09]

Helwani video covering Weidman's final day of weight cutting for this fight;

I love Weidman's mentality. There's a hint of the way Dominick Cruz was talking after the Garbrandt loss there. Just unshakeable self belief and refusal to let a loss define him. If he loses tonight I don't think it'll be a mental thing. It'll be down to whatever Mousasi brings. I still think Weidman can definitely win this fight though. 

Pretty cool that this fight is coming almost ten years to the day since Serra upset GSP too. Didn't even think of that until Helwani mentioned it there. Ten bastard years! Seems like yesterday. 

Oh and I still can't stand Weidman's dad. He was only on camera for a second and I cringed. He's like a walking best man speech. 

[jimufctna24]

 

10 years? Wow

GSP vs Serra was mental in retrospect, but even more mental at the time. The UFC even acknowledged in their countdown show that few thought Serra had a snowball's chance in hell. My memory is sketchy, but I swear there was a scene where Serra confronted Rogan for dismissing his chances. GSP was piping hot coming off his 2 round demolition job of Matt Hughes. Despite continuing to master his craft for years beyond that win, I'm not sure if GSP even shone brighter than he did on that night. He was actually a slight underdog with the bookies, such was the faith people had in Hughes. Yet, he made Hughes look foolish. 

It seemed unfathomable that a fighter who went to the wire against Chris Lytle, and was shut down previously by Karo Parisyan could put a dent in GSP (the crowd booed the decision in the Lytle fight) Serra had developed power in his hands at that time, as shown when he dropped Karo in the opening exchanges of their fight. However, it seemed unlikely he would lay a mitt on GSP, who had taken the best shots from the skillful BJ Penn, yet weathered the storm to win on points. Serra couldn't pursue a wrestling route. If credible wrestlers like Hughes, Trigg, and Sherk couldn't put GSP on his back, then Serra had zero chance on that front. I was a massive GSP fan - and still am today - but even I was chuffed when Serra clipped him in Texas. It was one of those moments where you realised that anything can happen in this crazy sport (or whatever it is)

I love Serra. For that reason amongst others, I hope Weidman comes out on top this evening. Nothing against Mousasi, who I also think a lot of, but I like Weidman's attitude in taking this fight (for the reasons Wand mentioned)

[seanz25]

Been moved to BT Sports 1 tonight. Probably so they can draw some extra eyeballs from those watching BT's first boxing card

[WeeAl]

For fuck sake. I've it recorded on BT Sport 2 and I'm away for the night at the in laws and was hoping to come back and watch it tomorrow. Hopefully I'll catch the replay tomorrow night. 

[seanz25]

25 minutes ago, WeeAl said:

For fuck sake. I've it recorded on BT Sport 2 and I'm away for the night at the in laws and was hoping to come back and watch it tomorrow. Hopefully I'll catch the replay tomorrow night. 

Enjoy the premiership Rugby and Italian football you'll have recorded instead my friend. 

[WeeAl]

7 minutes ago, seanz25 said:

Enjoy the premiership Rugby and Italian football you'll have recorded instead my friend. 

😣 that doesn't sound even half as much fun.

[wandshogun09]

It probably just won't record anything. 

Thanks for the heads up Seanz. I wouldn't have known it'd been moved and I'm not watching live tonight so I'd have found out the hard way tomorrow. 

[seanz25]

Recommendation for anyone with a TIVO Virgin Media is to give UFC programming a green thumb on the thumbs up feature via remote. Records all related UFC content and sticks it in your suggestions folder. 

Edit: Yup, they're doing spots for this during the BT Boxing card tonight. Front and center. Nice bit of promotion. 

[wandshogun09]

They were promoting it over on the Box Nation broadcast of this boxing show as well. I know Box Nation doesn't reach as many eyeballs as Sky or even BT but it can't hurt. 

Watching the weigh in for Weidman vs Mousasi just now. The TV weigh in not the early weigh in. Weidman still looked a bit gaunt in the face to me. And that's after having had hours to rehydrate. Mousasi looked tremendous and, as usual, like he didn't have a care in the world. 

Really looking forward to this now. I think I'm actually more excited for Weidman vs Mousasi than I am for the main event. Completely forgot Alves vs Cote was on this card as well. That should be fun. As should Brooks vs Oliveira. Should be some good fights tonight. 

Going...

Cormier stoppage in the later rounds 

Weidman on points 

Calvillo by submission 

Alves on points 

Brooks on points 

[seanz25]

So where to begin?

 

Gérard aand Weidman? Diabolical situation that New York regulators managed to get themselves into. Illegal knee or not? Nobody had a clue, it dragged out and was totally bizzare.

I reckon they do the re-match, up until all the issues it'd had been fairly entertaining. I do think though that A) the knee was clearly legal, two flush knees to the head could have been some serious head issues, Chris was clearly in some amount of pain, perhaps it was a blessing of a stoppage in disguise?

 

Then the main event? I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to comprehend AJs game plan of trying to out wrestle Cormier. DC just out classed him really. Then a retirement, why, what? Weird night this. 

[BigJag]

Is there a video explaining how Anthony Johnson generates the insane amount of power that he has in his hands and kicks? Something like the ESPN sports science videos. 

Found this one.

 

[wandshogun09]

Well, I never saw Rumble retiring coming at all. Just further weakens an already shallow division.  Bit of a strange show all round really. 

11 hours ago, seanz25 said:

Then the main event? I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to comprehend AJs game plan of trying to out wrestle Cormier. DC just out classed him really. Then a retirement, why, what? Weird night this. 

That's the thing. He doesn't owe anyone an explanation. Professional fighting isn't a normal job. If you're half in/half out and your head's not in it 100% it's probably not a good idea to be in there. And Rumble alluded to that kind of post-fight. He's looking to do other things. 

As a fan it sucks because he's an exciting fighter to watch in maybe the weakest division in the UFC. Last thing that division needs is to lose someone like Anthony Johnson. But what can you do? If he's calling it a day he's calling it a day. 

Chuffed Cormier won regardless. Ended the same as the first fight but DC managed to get the choke a round sooner this time. Cormier is a beast. It gets overlooked a lot because I guess the Jones feud thing kind of overshadows everything but he's one of the best fighters in the sport right now, no doubt. His only loss is to Jones so hopefully this fucking rematch actually happens now. Twice it was booked in 2016 and twice it fell apart. Third time lucky? Just keep Jones away from cars, coke, too much fizzy pop or whatever else sets the cunt off. 

205's pretty fucked now though. We need DC to beat Jones. At least then they're good for a rubber match. Aside from that you're looking at Manuwa and Shogun in the title picture. I mean, I'm a fan of both (especially Shogun) but it's not ideal and they're just not interesting as challengers. Manuwa is a hitter but he's basically a poor mans Rumble. And Shogun's best days are long gone. Weird times for 205. Hopefully the winner of this Gustafsson vs Glover fight goes on a surge. Something needs to happen. 

The Weidman vs Mousasi thing was a shambles. What a disappointing ending to a good fight. I'm hoping they book a rematch right away. Wouldn't mind seeing them headline a Fight Night over 5 rounds. Are they going back to New York or the Netherlands this year? Would be fitting to do it there. Shame because it was a really competitive fight before all that madness in the second round. Those knees looked nasty and I'm not sure Weidman would've been able to get through it, but I guess we'll never know now. What a balls up of a situation. 

This Cynthia Calvillo looks decent. Two impressive submission wins within a month or so. One on short notice, the other she overcame Pearl Gonzalez and her bionic tits. She looks like a real prospect. She's aggressive, she's got some attitude and personality to her, she has the Diego Sanchez face! Long way to go obviously but worth keeping an eye on. 

Enjoyed the fuck out of Alves vs Cote. Real throwback to 2007 but it was good fun. Thought Alves looked phenomenal but he does this. He'll look tremendous one fight then flat the next. Big fan though.

Cote retiring after the fight was a nice little moment. So many guys hanging the gloves up lately though. Really feels like the end of an era with the UFC sale, Joe Silva and Mike Goldberg leaving, guys like Faber, Rumble, Pickett, Cote etc retiring. Guys like Belfort, Anderson, Shogun etc coming to the end. Nearly all the fighters who were in the UFC when I started watching are done now, or nearly there. 

Charles Oliveira looked fantastic. But like with Alves, he'll shine one fight and fold the next. When he's on though he's a fucking handful and joy to watch. Made Brooks look like a jobber and he's anything but. Brooks UFC run has been a bit of a disaster so far. 

Prelims weren't much to write home about. Burgos vs Rosa was really good but the rest was stuff you could've skipped over and not missed out on anything really. 

Not a bad show, not a great show. Definitely an odd one. 

[ColinBollocks]

Well, who knew this would turn into such a newsworthy show? First off, I thought for the 2nd PPV in a row Cruz's words at the end were perfect. Fighters half in half out always get found out and if Rumble's found another way to make a living, then all the best to him. No doubt some fans will moan about it, but those people don't seem to grasp what a hard living being a fighter is. As Cruz pointed out, even in his prime, he's better off leaving if he's not passionate about it anymore. I hope it works out for him and he isn't forced back into doing MMA.

Anyway, the main event itself was weird. I expected Rumble to be a bit more successful with his grappling, as DC was always going to take it there, but never did I expect Rumble to be the one to instigate most of it. Watching it, it felt like Rumble was just poking the bear and it was only a matter of time before it ripped his face off. Rumble did a decent job first round, like, and I thought he was clinching early doors to get in he head of DC, but he kept going to it.
DC is super tough, though. People don't say it enough because of his personality, but he's about as hard as anyone in the sport and without question one of the greatest of all time. He's only a win or two away from solidifying his legacy as the greatest Light Heavyweight ever, IMO. That's him schooled a monster like Rumble two times now.

Weidman/Mousasi was brutal to watch. I felt bad for both fighters, because while officially it's a W for Mousasi, no one is giving that any validity - essentially, a lot of effort, money etc for nothing in the end. A shame too, because it was turning into a really good fight. Weidman clearly felt those knees, but we'll never know. Shambles.
I thought Rogan was pretty hard on the ref. Granted, he made a mistake, but it was one that was very easy to make.

Pleased Alves looked like a good fighter again.

That's Cruz 2-0 on these PPV's. His insight and "fight IQ" add so much to these shows now, I'd argue he's borderline indispensable now.

"When he gets his academics in order, he can come back to the class room".

Dana played down the idea of Jones getting a title shot any time soon. He's already ruled out International Fight Week.

[wandshogun09]

Oh Cormier's post fight interview was great. I mean fuck the haters but I love that he's finally starting to embrace the boos. 

"Boo me! I'm getting money and championship belts. What's up?" 

And to Manuwa...

"You can't beat me Jimi. You know it. Don't lie to yourself. I like Corey Anderson but you just beat Corey Anderson. Sit down, young man. Sit down."

Have it. 

[Noah Southworth]

You’ve got to start with the complete fiasco that was the Weidman vs. Mousasi legal/illegal knee situation. As if the NSAC didn’t do enough to look incompetent with “knockersgate”, they actually top themselves with not understanding the rules of the sport they are overseeing. To be fair, Dan Miragliotta did think it was an illegal knee, but once it was seen to be a legal knee, they should have restarted the fight with Weidman and Mousasi in the same positions they were when the fight was halted. At the very least, they should have made their decision to stop the fight once it was found to be a legal knee, because the knee being legal meant that Weidman doesn’t get five minutes to recover. The NSAC were already looking bad but they managed to find a way to look even worse.

I was very disappointed in how Anthony Johnson fought in the main event, and I clearly wasn’t the only one. But once he announced his retirement, the way Johnson fought made sense because we were clearly watching a fighter who had mentally checked out. I wanted Johnson to win because Johnson against Jones is a fight I really wanted to see, and I have no interest in the Cormier vs. Jones rematch. I didn’t think much of the first fight and don’t see any reason to expect the rematch to be any different in terms of quality or outcome.

The women’s fight was good as was the Alves and Cote fight. Will Brooks is probably going to hate the name ‘Oliveira’ for the rest of his life. Myles Jury looked really good. Usman fought the methodical fight I expected. Burgos and Rosa had a pretty good brawl. I don’t like Patrick Cummins but he did well to survive Błachowicz lighting him up and take the second and third rounds.

Take away the disappointing climax to the night, and I really enjoyed this UFC.