UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs Lee - Apr 21

[wandshogun09]

Yeah overall I think it's something they have to do now. I certainly think it does more good than harm.

And also seeing as they hate headlining PPVs with non-title fights these days, more titles gives them more champions and more options in that regard. They're going to do it, it's inevitable. Just a question of when not if. 

[DJM]

Not sure if it has been posted, but the Aspen Ladd vs. Leslie Smith fight is off now, after Smith would not agree to fight even after being offered an additional $5,000 along with the 20% purse.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Leslie Smith is a straight gangster. She’s negotiated her full purse and a win bonus and is now riding off into the sunset.

Think both sides will be glad she’s gone, to be honest.

[wandshogun09]

I'll be a bit sad to see Smith go. Shit record and she was never going to reach championship or even contender level but she was usually always in exciting fights and she always came across cool as fuck in interviews I saw. She was the first one to step up, with no hesitation, to welcome Cyborg to the UFC. She had half her ear ripped off against Jessica Eye and wanted to fight on. She had a cracking forgotten undercard fight against Irene Aldana on a show last year (I think?) that I loved. Bashed up Jessamyn Duke. Had a stupidly fun wild brawl with Sarah Kaufman in Invicta as well. I think I made the comparison on here before but I always thought she was like a bit of a female Diego Sanchez. 

Seems like she wanted out soon anyway though. This was the last fight on her contract and she's been vocal about fighter unions and stuff like that. 

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Such a weird situation with Leslie Smith. Looked up the fight card on Wiki and came across the news. She'll fight Cyborg, no worries, but won't fight Aspen Ladd when she's off by a pound. After going through the links, she refused the fight and wanted a new contract. Unless I'm reading it wrong, shouldn't it have been that she would accept the fight if given a new contract?

https://mmajunkie.com/2018/04/ufc-atlantic-city-leslie-smith-released-criticizes-aspen-ladd-missing-weight

She wanted $50,000 per fight. She's 35, near a .500 record and isn't going to be a title contender. UFC may have not wanted her around, but it looks like a case where she was overestimating her worth to the organisation. Just based on how UFC pay fighters (and I agree with the general principle that they should be paid more), she was never going to get that. That's around top contender money, I believe. 

I dunno, I feel like Smith would have had a better case for staying in the UFC if she had gone out there tomorrow and fought her heart out. Admirable that she stuck to her guns, and at least she got some cash out of it, but where does she go from here? Isn't Invicta owned by the UFC? Seems like she tried to take a stand and it's cost her her career. She tried to leverage a deal but didn't have the leverage. Shame, she was a warrior and I enjoyed her fights.

[wandshogun09]

27 minutes ago, Shane O' Mac Version 2 said:

I feel like Smith would have had a better case for staying in the UFC if she had gone out there tomorrow and fought her heart out.

Maybe she didn't really want to stay in the UFC. From everything I've seen of Smith, she doesn't seem like the type who puts the UFC on a pedestal like a lot of fighters do. I'm with you that you'd think she'd just think, fuck it, and just do the last fight and either negotiate a new deal or leave. But the way it's happened, there must be something more to it that we're not getting in these articles. Smith has shown that she'll fight anyone. It's definitely not a case of her being scared. You don't fight Cyborg if you sweat Aspen Ladd. 

I'm thinking she's just done. Maybe she'd decided she was leaving anyway after this fight so she just threw them a silly figure. Then on the almost non-existent chance they agree to that figure, sweet. And if they tell her to piss off, she wanted out anyway. She was talking unions and stuff a while back so I don't think she's been happy for a while. But the way this whole thing has gone down it seems like something has happened where she's just decided she's done. 

[David]

As harsh as this may sound, and it's no slight on either of the competitors in the bout, but I didn't even know who Lesley Smith was before she fought Cyborg, and I didn't really register that she was even on this card to begin with. 

Out of all the fights we could lose over the next few events, I'll take this one!

[wandshogun09]

Definitely. I like Leslie Smith but it's not like I was counting the days to the Smith vs Ladd tussle. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

Woof.

That was an ugly main event.

Poor Edson. Khabib took his soul, which is bad, but he lay down the blueprint on how to exhaust, torture and beat Edson. I think whenever he walks into the Octagon now he needs to blast his opponent to the moon early, else he’s going to look as miserable and knackered as last night every time.

Kevin Lee’s chicken dance was a nice moment of humour.

Biggest winner of the Edgar fight was Ortega. Was a bit of a snoozer, but showed that Ortega didn’t beat a diminished Frankie.

Couple of good knockouts on the show so a fun show.

Think the UFC have a real problem with a lot of their fans, and Dana’s rhetoric is pretty much exclusively to blame. Every show now, the crowd seems to go after any hint of wrestling or jiu-jitsu. If 2/3 of the game becomes properly unfashionable, they’re fucked.

[Bus Surfer]

2 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

 

Think the UFC have a real problem with a lot of their fans, and Dana’s rhetoric is pretty much exclusively to blame. Every show now, the crowd seems to go after any hint of wrestling or jiu-jitsu. If 2/3 of the game becomes properly unfashionable, they’re fucked.

 I dunno. Whilst there still are plenty of the just bleed types who think grappling is all kinds of gay, I felt like the crowd reacted negatively to Lee's wrestling because Barboza had just landed that spinning kick which knocked Lee loopy for a second and they wanted to see if he could capitalise as he'd had a pasting for the majority of the fight. 

Outside of that moment, I can't really recall negative reactions to wrestling recently. Or maybe I've just missed all that. 

 

[Cheapheat]

I didn't feel it was a reaction against grappling, just when Lee was on top the fight was predictable and one sided. For me that's part of the game, but for the live crowd, I think they wanted stand up because in this fight, it was more dramatic and competitive.  I think the booing was for no more spinny shit and Kevin Lee doing the stanky leg. It's ignorant, but if the wrestling would have been competitive, I don't feel there would have been boos. 

[WeeAl]

I thought Lee looked great in this fight, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a kick out of seeing Barboza nearly kick his head into the 8th row and the jig all around the Octagon that Kevin Lee did afterwards. Fair play to Lee on gathering his senses so quickly to get the takedown, a well deserved win. 

I thought this was an exciting show overall. 

Dvalisvili and Ricky Simon had a really exciting scrap, with a peculiar ending. 

Corey Anderson wasn't actually boring, and completely dominated Patrick Cummins. 

Aljamain Sterling got back on the horse with a much needed win after that scary KO loss to Moraes. He looked very good here. 

David Branch with a great KO of Thiago Santos, put an end to that hype train with one very well timed right hand. Santos is no joke and Branch took him out so this was a great win for Branch at this point to not stretch to two losses in a row. 

Willis Vs Sherman was a fucking barn burner for the first two rounds and I have no idea how Sherman lasted until the third round in order to actually start taking control of the fight. Willis landed some huge shots but Sherman must have the head of an elephant on top of his shoulders. 

Delighted to see Frankie Edgar manage to get the win after the Ortega loss. I really didn't want to see it turn sad for Edgar when he hadn't really shown any signs that he was slowing down before the uppercut from Ortega. How he managed to do what he did last night after losing his dad and grandad in the one week leading up to the fight I'll never know. I guess he's Frankie fucking Edgar and that's why. He just keeps on keepin' on. 

I hope Jim Miller has a talk with Joe Lauzon and the pair of them decide to put the slippers on after their last fights. That was a really well timed knee from Hooker. I don't want to see Miller take anymore damage.

[Egg Shen]

Same here with regards to Miller. When you've had that many fights/wars and have clearly peaked i think its time to think about doing something else. Dan Hooker is quality though.

 

 

[David]

Just caught up on the fights, and I have to say that it looked to me as though Swanson went into that fight knowing he wasn't going to win. He spent the entire three rounds simply trying not to get taken down, and when the result was read out he didn't look angry or as if he gave a fuck.

[Egg Shen]

it was a strange fight, nothing really wrong with it but it just felt inevitable from the opening bell of how it was gonna play out.

Thats it for Swanson as a title challenger, they need to use him as a gatekeeper to that top 5 now, feed him some of the younger guys to see if they break through, still an exciting fighter.

Id actually like to see Edgar get that 145lb title shot too. I could see the UFC letting him wait it out and challenge the winner of Ortega/Holloway. Hes been soundly beaten by both but theres not a clear cut challenger at 145 outside or perhaps Jeremy Stephens, id like to see him fight Aldo though.