UFC Fight Night: Pettis vs Moreno - Aug 5

[wandshogun09]

It's a cruel sport, isn't it? This is a guy who knocked Chuck Liddell out cold, dominated Rampage and beat Hendo, Forrest Griffin, Tito Ortiz, Chael Sonnen etc. Now he's coming off back-to-back losses to Dan Kelly and Sam Alvey. That's Rashad Evans in 2017. Gutting.

I hope he stops now. It's not like he's getting fucked up but the fact he's losing against this level of opposition is worrying. Imagine what the top 185ers would do to this Rashad? Bisping, Rockhold, Whittaker, Yoel Romero? Jeez. And if he's never getting to that level then what are we doing here? 

[Bus Surfer]

It's mad how he's regressed so much, when you consider what someone like Bisping has been able to do in his later years. 

Doesn't help that he's always looks the part, like hes made out of granite, and then you get such a flat performance. Flattering to deceive.

[wandshogun09]

It's a real shame. When you look back though, he's had a ton of time on the shelf with injuries throughout his career. Long spells on the shelf in some cases. He's late 30s now and he's had a good old long run. I mean, it's nearly 12 years since he won TUF! That's a lot of hard training, a whole lot of shots absorbed in fights and in the gym, and just a lot of physical and mental wear and tear that comes with fighting. Time catches up to everyone. If he retires but wants to stay involved in the sport then it's not like he doesn't have options to do that. He's great at the analyst stuff, I think he'd be really good as a colour commentator and from what we've seen of him on TUF I think he'd be a good coach as well if he wanted to go that route. He'll probably fight on though. 

The sad thing is everyone seems to recognise it's over except him. 

[OzExile]

7 hours ago, Silky Kisser said:

It's mad how he's regressed so much, when you consider what someone like Bisping has been able to do in his later years. 

Doesn't help that he's always looks the part, like hes made out of granite, and then you get such a flat performance. Flattering to deceive.

His conditioning for the Dan Kelly fight was insane.  Not as sculpted this time around I suppose.  He's an also ran and needs to bow out of the UFC. 

[ColinBollocks]

Finally got round to watching this.

I like Sam Alvey, but it's sad seeing Rashad clearly work his arse off, only for age to nullify all the hard work he does. I thought his wrestling game plan was well off, particularly when you consider the success others have found kicking the leg out the leg of Alvey, but maybe Rashad has zero faith in his chin.

Few things in MMA make me happier than when a heavily favoured and hyped fighter gets butchered by his opponent, and Bandenay's knee/leg kick was as brutal and quick as it ever gets. It always, always highlights why MMA is such a unpredictable thrill.

[wandshogun09]

Bandenay's win was the highlight of the card for me. Had no idea who he was going in but that knockout. And it wasn't just the KO, Grisham said Bandenay's dad had recently died and he was dedicating the win to him. That's why he broke down at the end of his interview with Brian Stann. You could see the emotion in him when he was screaming after the KO as well. 

[wandshogun09]

Oh for fuck's sake...

[Keith Houchen]

Well, Mark Henry did announce his retirement and put himself in the title frame a few minutes later. Rashad just needs to rock the salmon blazer and it's all systems go.

[wandshogun09]

Haha. He does need to sit Rashad down and have a word before Suga gets his wig split. 

[herbie747]

Why did I think that Moreno was the George Costanza looking guy that came over from WSOF? I think he was a champ there - didn't he debut & lose recently?

This guy - assumed it was him fighting Pettis.

[Noah Southworth]

3 minutes ago, herbie747 said:

I think he was a champ there - didn't he debut & lose recently?

Marlon Moraes, the former WSOF Bantamweight Champion. He debuted at UFC 212 and lost by split-decision to Raphael Assunção. Moraes is probably going to end being a gatekeeper, the guy who faces fighters on the rise to see if they're ready to make it to the next level.

[herbie747]

Cool, thanks. That really was a no-name show at the weekend.

Amazing how all these guys come into UFC with such hype and then lose their first fight: Alvarez, Moraes, Lombard, etc. And Will Books looked shite against Ross Pearson and then lost his next 2.

[Egg Shen]

Rashad's loss lost me a 5 fight acca for £75 off £2, what a bastard! Incredibly poor showing though, it's one of saddest downfalls in some time, just unable to pull the trigger and suffering badly in the Mexican altitude, it's like BJ Penn but minus the brutal beatdown's. Alvey himself looked poor, just a horrible fight. They were the only 2 from who i saw that really seemed to suffer from the altitude.

Pettis looked solid in the main event after a shakey start, i've never overly impressed by Sergio but he looked good hear against a real awkward opponent, would't be surprised if the UFC go with with him next for Mighty Mouse if he gets past Borg.

[jimufctna24]

I've always been a Penn fan, but he is prone to being delusional. I can therefore understand why he carries on, even though he'll never be close to what he once was. 

Rashad is a bit harder to figure out. He strikes me as quite a clever guy, and not someone who would get caught up in his own hype. Also, unlike Penn, he isn't an underachiever. Rashad didn't waste some of his prime by under-training, or being at odds with Dana White. The only real regret he might have is that he didn't move down to middleweight sooner. If Rashad had done that, I think there is an excellent chance he would have been the one to dethrone Anderson. 

Maybe he just really loves fighting. Maybe he wants/needs the cash. Who knows? But as a fan, I would really like to see him retire. 

 

[wandshogun09]

It's weird because I remember Rashad kind of flirting with the idea of retiring after that awful fight he had with Little Nog. That was over 4 years ago now in 2013! I recall Dana at the time trotting out his old 'if a fighter even says that word, I think it's time to step away and do something else.' Wasn't like Rashad was talking in depth about hanging the gloves up or anything, but him mentioning it, combined with his can't be arsed showing vs Nogueira, combined with him doing more and more analyst stuff for FOX...it did feel like he was thinking about an exit strategy. 

Now here we are 4 years later and he's still going. Losing to journeymen and curtain jerkers. Maybe Rashad is just hanging around for the money. Sure, there's other avenues for him to make coin, even within the sport, but I read the other day that he got $20k just in Reebok sponsorship money for this event (because of how many fights he's had in the UFC). I don't know what his normal pay per fight is but I could see why an extra chunk of change like that, on top of your fight purse, would motivate you to stick with it. Even if your heart isn't in it anymore and your body can't keep up. You can see why it's hard to walk away but I wish he would.

I can't even think who they can put Rashad in there with next time. Who's lower on the ladder at middleweight than Sam Alvey and Dan Kelly who's also not likely to badly hurt him? It's got to that point now where it's hard to matchmake for him, and even harder to watch when you do.