Paid Members WeeAl Posted June 12, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 12, 2018 I'm a bit late to the party after only getting watching this last night, but some quick thoughts on what I felt was a very enjoyable card. Santiago got absolutely blitzed by Ige in the opener. Another promising Hawaiian fighter. Chris De La Rocha Vs Rashad Coulter was full of Heavyweight lunacy. Watch this if you haven't already. Clay Guida's run came to an unfortunate end, but Oliveira looked very good here, and it wasn't that surprising of a result. He wants to go back to 145 though, which I thought was a struggle for him to make. Fighters are going to do stupid shit, just as the grass is green. Rashad Evans getting completely emptied was no surprise either. After losing to Alvey and Kelly, both of who aren't as dangerous as Smith, I didn't see good things in Evans future when this fight was announced. Smith could do ok at LHW I feel. Gadelha didn't look good against Esparza, and was fortunate to get the nod. It could have went either way really. I wouldn't be giving her a title shot after that though. Blaydes fought a professional fight against Overeem. He did what he needed to in order to control the fight and win rounds. When the opening came to end it, he took it and probably shut the door on 'Reem's chances of making it back to the top contenders. Nice finish by Curtis. The less said about the Punk fight, the better. One of the worst fights I've watched in quite a while. Holm did brilliantly handling Anderson's size advantage, and using her experience to completely school her. I'd like to see Holly fight the winner of Cyborg Vs Nunes. I want to see the two killers fight first. Tuivasa and Arlovski had a really entertaining fight, and I thought it was super close. I would have had no complaints either way no matter who won that decision. Tuivasa winning is better for the division though and more exciting going forward. Plus, it's nice to not see some of these old vets end up getting blasted out of there some of the time, and still being extremely competitive. I would manage Tuivasa's ascent from here though. This was a struggle for him, and I think UFC should be cautious and let him mature by not throwing him straight to more sharks next. He could have 15-17 years in him as a HW, providing his growth doesn't get stunted by throwing him straight to a top 2/3 guy right now. I was so disappointed to see Covington completely smother RDA. I think he surprised a lot of it. I had Colby getting blitzed in this but he really seemed to break Dos Anjos. Fuck it, I'm still going to say Woodley wrecks him. Romero Vs Whittaker was an absolute doozy. Even better than their first fight, particularly that third round. I had no complaints about the decision as I felt it could have been 48-47 Whittaker, 47-47, 48-47 Romero or even 48-46 Romero. It all came down to whether or not you thought round 3 or 5 was a 10-8, as well as was what Romero did in the last thirty seconds of round 4, more important than what Whittaker did in the 4 and a half minutes before it. Both men are hard as fucking nails that's for fucking sure. Give me Gastelum Vs Whittaker next, and let Yoel wreck some tools at LHW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 12, 2018 Share Posted June 12, 2018 25 minutes ago, WeeAl said: Give me Gastelum Vs Whittaker next, and let Yoel wreck some tools at LHW. Agreed. I also wouldn't mind seeing Weidman vs Whittaker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Fox Piss Posted June 12, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 12, 2018 1 hour ago, jimufctna24 said: Agreed. I also wouldn't mind seeing Weidman vs Whittaker. Gastelum doesn't seem in Dana good books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted June 12, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 12, 2018 Weidman vs Whittaker would be a heck of a fight, and I'd be happy with that too. It's strange because I think Gastelum should be the next guy up, but his most recent loss is to Weidman, who is 1-3 in his last four with the only win being over Gastelum. Weidman is out injured, which you would think would benefit Kelvin, but now Whittaker is likely to be out again for a prolonged period so it'll be interesting to see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 13, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 13, 2018 On 6/10/2018 at 3:20 PM, RancidPunx said: ive not seen the fight but I guess my point is shouldnt he be better at this stage ? Punk's biggest problem was that after 5 minutes he was completely gassed. For a round i thought he actually looked alright, technique was sloppy but that's to be expected, but he was competitive. After that opener in just became brutal to watch because Punk was in a world of shit. People are complaining about his lack of ground game and the lousy submission attempt on the feet but the guy simply had nothing left in the tank, it just highlighted his lack of technique even further because he didnt have the energy to do the stuff he did know. If Jackson has stopped early in that round (and he could have) i think people would be giving Punk a fair pat on the back for his effort. It was an experiment that failed badly, but i give him credit for trying, you cant say he didnt give it his all in there, he just wasnt up to it physically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted June 13, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 13, 2018 The one positive you can type about the Punk deal is it at least refreshes our mind on how hard the fight game is. Watching Punk flap about while someone as rubbish as Jackson had a one-way tickle fight is never leaving me. You can sort of understand why Dana was livid at Jackson, because the longer the fight went on the more it exposed his decision to let someone as outgunned as Punk fight again. There is a seedy, huckster element to this. I agree that you would expect a little more given he's trained quite a while at a top camp, but Egg is spot on there. Rogan was talking about it on his podcast last night, and he was a bit miffed by Punk's lack of progress, which he puts down to Punk not being much of an athlete. Some people just aren't cut out for it, no matter how many times they visualise Batman Begins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 13, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 13, 2018 (edited) Yeh Jackson was acting like he was some kind of elite level pro toying with his prey, he should have just put everyone watching and Punk out of his misery. I dont mind a bit of showboating, but i dont think Jackson was in a position where he should and Punk certainly didnt deserve that kind of treatment. Edited June 13, 2018 by Egg Shen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted June 13, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 13, 2018 One thing strikes me: it's not like pro-wrestlers are slouches when it comes to fitness. You have to have excellent cardio just to pretend to be fighting, especially the spotty style of RoH. Punk must have really hit the brakes when he left wrestling, and only really resumed when he joined the UFC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 13, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 13, 2018 I just think its a different type of fitness. Fear, nervousness and that dreaded adrenaline dump from being in a legit fight will quickly sap you of your resources if you aren't used to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Also, getting hit is exhausting. It's what the Diaz brothers base their whole fighting style on; relentless volume of strikes, causing you to tense up and gas out. I'd also say that in wrestling you need to be really fit to get ahead, but in the UFC (particularly at the lighter weight classes) you really need to be an elite athlete. Punk has never been on that level in terms of athleticism, where you can just look at his physical make-up and go 'OH, he's one of those guys'. He's just a fit dude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted June 13, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 13, 2018 Yeah it's a different type of conditioning. While you'd need to have good cardio and conditioning to wrestle, it's got to be maintained all year round. Whereas in MMA you're trying to peak for one particular night. I'd say in that sense training for MMA is more intense but for a shorter period of time. But over the long haul, wrestling must be more punishing on the body. Just because you don't get much off time. Also, like the others said, being in an MMA fight and going from getting hit to grappling back to getting hit, that shit would take it out of you in a different way. I remember David Haye commenting years ago that he did a bit of MMA training and was shocked by how tired he got so fast by the grappling and having to switch between striking and grappling. And that was Haye in his prime before all the injuries. You're using a different type of conditioning and different muscles for both. Unless you've taught your body how to cope with that, over years, you're going to struggle. Punk was trying to teach himself that in his late 30s with no specific martial arts base to build off. It was always going to be a mammoth task. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted June 13, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 13, 2018 (edited) It very much comes down to efficiency. If you take two people from different sports, who are regarded as extremely well conditioned in their chosen sport, and have them test run a 100m, a mile or a 5k race, they could both very well come out similar. If you then take those two people and place them in each others sport, more often than not they are going to look out of shape. Your energy systems and nervous system can cope with what it knows and through doing the same movements regularly, gets much more efficient over time, and like anything else, takes time to adapt to what is new. Two sports may seemingly be similar to everyone else, but even the most minor of changes would result in the body needing a varying amount of time to adapt, the length of which depends very much on the individual. A simple analogy would be swapping an indoor footballer with a full pitch footballer, after doing those running tests on them. If the two players had both never played the other version, they'll likely both get tired an quicker than in their own game at first. You have to change direction quicker indoors, but you are likely to have to run for shorter distances. The surfaces are different, your reaction times have to change etc. Edited June 13, 2018 by WeeAl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Luke Thomas has retweeted an LA Times article saying UFC 225 did less than 150,000 buys. If that’s true, that’s not just a bad number... that’s a crisis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzExile Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Fuck me, poor old Robert Whittaker doesn't sell does he. His first fight with Romero flopped on ppv too (I think it was supposed to be the co-main with Amanda Nunes, who withdrew). I feel for him because the run he's been on has been brilliant to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 That's a shame in a way. The Main Event deserved more viewers than that. Not just the fight itself, but who was involved. Romero in particular is a truly unique fighter. I can't think of anyone else quite like him in MMA. I get the impression that he would have been a much bigger star had he competed in the Spike/TUF era. The buyrate proves that the Punk experiment died a death the second Gall mauled him. I get why the UFC brought Punk back for another go, but I also get why it ended up being a complete waste of time. There was no reason for people to pay to see him fight a second time. Everyone knew that he was out of his depth and that the fight would likely be a shambles. Not that I can fault Punk's effort. It also proves that while Covington is a superb fighter, he's an absolute failure as a personality and an attraction. I have a horrible feeling that Covington is going to be on top for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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