UFC 214: Cormier vs Jones 2

[SpursRiot2012]

27 minutes ago, Noah Southworth said:

It wasn't a good night for Rogan because he repeated the myth about 6-to-12 elbows being banned because the commission saw them being used to break bricks and whatnot by karate fighters and thought they were too dangerous to allow in MMA.

Joe Rogan in repeating shit he read online as fact shocker. 

I was all aboard the DC train but his strop post-fight really turned me off him. Though I think allowances can be made because he looked out of it. He certainly seemed like a broken man in his interview. 

[Noah Southworth]

2 minutes ago, SpursRiot2012 said:

Joe Rogan in repeating shit he read online as fact shocker.

Rogan has repeated it before, to the point that, not too long ago, when someone from the NSAC did an interview with one of the main MMA news sites, he made a point of saying that the ban on 6-to-12 elbows had absolutely nothing to do with karate demonstrations. It speaks to Rogan's professionalism or lack thereof that he continues to spout a myth that it would take him all of three minutes to find the truth behind.

[SpursRiot2012]

If you listen to his podcast, that's par for the course for him. This is a guy who reckons Paul Joseph Watson is a "reasonable guy" and is bessie mates with Alex Jones. 

By the way, did Rogan and Cyborg bury the hatchet? Didn't they have a big falling out over him saying something insulting about her on one episode of the JRE?

[wandshogun09]

Thought this was a really fantastic show, apart from one big exception and the sour note it ended on. 

Jones vs DC 2 went worse than I expected. I thought he'd win but as good as Jones is, I never thought he'd finish DC. A combination of Cormier being so granite tough, Jones' layoff and the fact Jones hadn't finished anyone in years. I just couldn't picture DC getting stopped. It was a hell of a fight while it lasted. Exactly what the show needed to end on after Woodley vs Maia as well.

I can't stomach Jones at all and I'm not buying this supposed face turn one bit. He's had moments before where he's come off OK and appeared to be becoming less cunty. It never lasts. He can't help himself. I'll admit it is part of the intrigue with him though. He's not boring is he? There's always something going on with him. 

That was Jones' best performance in years for me, to be fair. Maybe ever, actually. When you consider that he was coming off a spell of inactivity, the loss of his mum, a bunch of stupid decisions outside the cage. Then mix in that he was up against the nailed on next best guy in the weight class who was coming off great wins and riding more momentum than ever. And he goes out, doesn't have it all his own way, takes some good digs, and ends up winning dramatically and scoring his first finish in years. It's up there. It might just be his best overall performance for me. Dickhead. 

Woodley vs Maia was horrible. I called Woodley to shut down Maia's grappling because he'd be so hard to take down but I didn't really envision it being that shite. Shame. Maia isn't a boring fighter IMO, but he's probably going to be remembered as one by a lot of people because it seems like any time he gets a high profile fight or a title fight, it shits the bed massively. Woodley is in a funny position because as awful as it was to watch, his tactics were spot on in terms of being able to render Maia's game completely impotent. Maia got nothing done. And that's a credit to Woodley. He just beat one of the best, trickiest and probably feared guys in the division's history and snapped his winning streak. But he did it in such a way where he's gone and fucked himself out of the biggest payday of his career against a returning GSP. It was one of those weird fights where you knew if Woodley wasn't able to KO Maia, this was his only way to win. I'm cutting Woodley some slack on this one. Yeah, it was the drizzling shits. But it's not an easy thing to beat the Demian Maia we've seen over the last few years. For once, I'm kind of backing Woodley. Until he comes out and finds a way to claim racism on this one again. 

Cyborg looked good. It wasn't the quick demolition everyone expecting but that's a credit to Evinger being so tough for me. Cyborg knew she was durable and experienced and wouldn't be easy to put away. She didn't want to exhaust herself going for the kill right out the gate. Smart. You can't blow everyone away in 3 minutes and I think it's good that she recognises that. Hopefully now she's past all the issues with weight and PEDs because it seems like she's on better terms with the UFC and Dana right now than she's ever been, she seems to be gaining fans more than at any point in the past as well and people generally seem to like her more these days. Or am I making that up? This was a good performance and now she's the UFC featherweight champ. The way it was always meant to be before things went sideways with that De Randamie mess. Normal order is resumed. Shame she's got almost nobody to defend against though. There's like 3 and a half girls in the 145 division currently. Cyborg probably bashes up Megan Anderson next. Then I don't know, maybe they feed a 135er like Zingano or Holm to her. After that? 

I bloody loved Lawler vs Cerrone so much! What a fuck of a fight that was. I didn't want it to end and my main thought when the final buzzer went was 'fuck, I wish this was 5 rounds'. It felt like there was more mayhem to come and two more rounds would've put it up with those Condit and Rory classics. But what we got was tremendous all the same. Good to have Lawler back. The absolute madman. Nice to see him shout out to Hughes post-fight too. 

Fucking Volkan Oezdemir! Talk about an unlikely contender quietly sneaking up on everyone. He looks so unassuming as well. Proper wolf in sheep's clothing. Manuwa wasn't ever someone I rated too highly. I like him but I thought him getting a shot at the title against DC or Jones and getting destroyed would be as high as he'd ever go. And even then he'd only be getting the shot because of the lack of depth of the 205 division. But still, fuck me. You don't expect him to get wiped out in seconds like that, do you? And certainly not in a stand up exchange because that's Manuwa's bread and butter. Oezdemir has been a revelation this year. And he's emerged just when the division is crying out for new blood in the ranks. 

I could see him getting the title shot next off this. Dana was saying Manuwa would get the next crack if he won. He was the guy and Oezdemir just crushed him. Guess it depends what happens next with Jones though. If they somehow get this Jones vs Lesnar fight on then I wouldn't be at all opposed to a Oezdemir vs Gustafsson #1 contenders fight. I don't like that it would eliminate a contender in a division that's so shallow but at the same time, Oezdemir vs Gus is a fight I fucking love the sound of on paper. I'd also do Cormier vs Manuwa. If DC even carries on after this. Who knows, maybe he sticks around and returns to heavyweight? 

If Ricardo Lamas fought like that every time I honestly think he'd have given Aldo problems when they fought and possibly beaten Mendes. I know they're different styles to Knight but I think Lamas is also just one of those guys who's very hit and miss. He looked great last night. And I rate Knight. Lamas just looked like he was possessed and everything clicked for him. He got off to a killer start and just never let up. 

Really really good fight though. One of the better one round fights I've seen in a long time. Knight was always giving 100%. Even when he was comletely out on his feet there wasn't even a hint of a hint of quit in him. It was admirable, exciting but also scary to watch all at the same time. 

I liked Lamas' post-fight interview as well. I usually find his attempts at humour die on their arse but I did like his line on Knight's toughness - "Might have to start calling him 'The Hillbilly Zombie' instead of 'Hick Diaz', I don't know." Fucking Hick Diaz  

Sterling vs Barao went almost exactly as I thought it would. Close fight with Sterling pulling it out. I've always liked Barao and there were flashes of the better days from him in this fight but he just has the feel of a fighter who's peaked already and it's all downhill from here. Sterling being the younger, fresher fighter with less miles on the clock and improving fight to fight, I felt like he'd be able to pull ahead as the fight wore on and that's what ended up happening. Big win for Sterling despite Barao's dip in form. 

And as I keep saying, I've become a big fan of Brian Ortega and fights like this are why. I agree with whoever said they had him down on points at the time of the sub. I did too. But that's what I love about Ortega. He can pull a finish out of the bag, from seemingly nowhere, at any point in the fight. And he can do it in seconds. His submission over Diego Brandao was similarly sudden and awesome. It makes him so much fun to watch. I like him. Not seeing him as a world beater or anything but could see him at least making it to title contention down the line. 

[the_mole]

His interview with Jamie Foxx was quite good but that's because they weren't talking conspiracy theories etc.

 

I just watched the main event on youtube and the interviews with some annoying guy talking over the commentators, would have watched the whole show if my streets electricity didn't turn off from midnight to around 10 this morning.

[ColinBollocks]

FYI, Luke Thomas said that DC was planning on going to HW, should this Jones business not work out. Of course, he didn't expect it to end that badly.

[wandshogun09]

I'd be cool with DC back at heavyweight. 

Although he'll be massively undersized there's more fresh fights there for him. Plus if he stays at 205, what can he do now he's 0-2 to Jones? He'd be beating contenders without ever being able to become one again himself as long as Jones is champ. 

And at least at heavyweight, his days of making that weight cut are over. You can tell 205 is a bastard of a cut for him and he's closing in on 40 now. After a long wrestling and now MMA career, how many more weight cuts can he have in him? Probably best all round for him to go up to heavyweight. Go for a second division's title before calling it a career. 

[Adam Turner]

1 hour ago, D@mm said:

Everyone needs to watch Dana talk on the post show press conference, he rips in Woodley and rightly so.

I still disagree. Fighting defensively and intelligently shouldn't be something somebody is shamed for. If Dana thinks he is boring and doesn't want to promote him, then do it on the quiet.

[Keith Houchen]

6 hours ago, Noah Southworth said:

Cristiane Justino (145lbs, 17-1, 1 NC

Oh piss off, it's CYBORG!

 

Beautiful picture

That made my day.

Absolutely loved the event, avoided any form of communication until I watched the whole thing.  Started feeling nervous before the main event, the kind of nerves teenage Houch used to get when watching Tyson fights.  

Thought Cowboy had won it to be honest, but I'm not a judge so will have to go by their verdict.  Maia didn't have a plan B at all did he? He got totally schooled and had no answer.  Jones is the man, a totally repulsive prick who was fake as fuck at the end there, I loved it!

 

EDIT - Cyborg.  At first I thought Evinger had no right being in there after turning her back when she first got hit.  The commentators slagging off the previous champ for bottling it was beautiful.

[the_mole]

34 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said:

FYI, Luke Thomas said that DC was planning on going to HW, should this Jones business not work out. Of course, he didn't expect it to end that badly.

He said he would ask Cain but Cain is out so much that I doubt they would ever have to fight. Jones said he would fight a HW if it was a smaller HW champ or a big draw like Brock, he said Stipe miocic isn't well known and he would want a bigger drawing fight.

Stipe is in a mood apparently because his last two opponent's made more money than him and so does Mark Hunt but those guys have been top guys for about a decade, I didn't see Bisping moaning when Hendo made $800,000 because he knew he had been near the top of the game for 15 years or something. 

Jones is a far bigger draw and only made $500,000, Stipe made $600,000 on the CM Punk card and Jones has never made more than that on official payouts, Cormier made $1 million plus I guess both had a PPV cut along with Woodley.

[Fox Piss]

What next for Woodley if no GSP?

Looking at the ranked 15 the welterweight division is in shit state. Woodley should get 1 more fight in this year, guys barley been touched in years. 

 

[ColinBollocks]

Dana said Lawler makes sense.

[wandshogun09]

I've got a feeling Woodley vs Lawler 2 is coming. Seems way too soon and I don't really want to see it but I can't think what else could be next off the top of my head. 

And I love when Houchen edits a post just for the random stuff you get.

[Keith Houchen]

Get in, Wand!

[WeeAl]

Gutted for D.C after that. Until that head kick I thought it was shaping up to be a great, five round, back and forth, edgy encounter. Then the kick landed and Cormier was in dreamland. I think he either retires or moves to HW after this, his time at LHW is done. 

Jones said all the right things that he needed to say, yet I don't buy it for a second. Very smart on his part though. 

Glad to see Lawler get the win, though it could easily have gone either way.

Woodley did exactly what he needed to do and did it brilliantly. Maia had no answer for it either. I'm not sure where the divisio goes from here as I don't know if Lawler/Woodley is the right step yet. It's a shark tank, but most of the top guys are either coming off a loss or else only one step removed from it. I'd still go with the GSP fight for Woodley and book Bisping v Whittaker. Or Bisping v Rockhold if Luke gets past Branch and Whittaker isn't fit.

Great job by big Volkan. He and Gusty are both in title contention now, but I feel what they are going to get is each other, for an interim belt, while Jones goes up to HW. It canabalises a contender at LHW in the meantime, but both will have to fight before Jones will be ready again following the likely encounter with Brock (in January?).