UFC 235: Jones vs Smith - Mar 2 🇺🇸

[AdamTH17]

I think @Egg Shen makes a good point regarding Smith. I think he went into that fight showing Jones way too much respect in terms of his striking ability, and you could see him diminishing round by round after realising Jones wasn't going to give him any openings to take advantage of. At some point, surely you have to bite down and start taking the fight to him, even if all technique and form goes out of the window, especially when nobody is expecting you to win anyway, but nope. Didn't think his corner were helping him out much either. Between every round, it was just "you've seen everything he's got!" which is crazy when you're fighting somebody that strikes in the creative and unpredictable manner that Jones does.

[ColinBollocks]

Hilarious Jones very nearly did it again when, not once, but twice he could have lost by DQ (granted, the first kick barely missed). All that aside, Smith didn't really get anything going at all, which is to Jones' credit obviously. Smith's corner were shite, though, all they kept telling him was "you've seen what he does now, so just attack him". Cool, but how was he supposed to do that? Jones was too fast, big and smooth for him. "Bite down and go for it" is such huckster advice against the level Smith was fighting at last night. His corner may as well have said "look, bugger knows, but best of luck".
I doubt the god-fearing promos from Jones will never not be cringe. He's probably shagging a homeless person right now.

Take a bow Marty from Nebraska. No one saw that coming. I can't remember the last time I've seen a 5 round domination like that. Dom Cruz said a couple of years back Woodley's opponents bugger up because they allow him to sit back and reset, but Marty was just relentless - I mean I was out of breath watching Marty work. Apart from a couple of mistimed punches, I can't really recall Woodley doing anything offensive, which doesn't even seem real. A good grappler with that sort of workrate is terrifying and Woodley just didn't know what to do. It's going to take something special to beat this for Performance of the Year.
I agree that the post-fight promo was absolutely brilliant. Impossible not to smile during it.

Heartbroken for poor Lawler, but Askren showed he's proper hard. Usually Lawler takes his time, but he wasn't pissing about here and against a lesser man definitely would have won that. That slam on the head followed by those punches were awful to look at, but Askren somehow got up and just kept grinding away until he got his takedown. The stoppage is unfortunate, but it did look like Robbie was out. It's a shame Askren didn't get a clean win because a fight next with Marty from Nebraska would be a no brainer if he did. Sadly, it looks like it's the People's Champ v Marty, next.

The fear with Cody is he goes a bit Pettis now. No doubt he's a good fighter, but he may have peaked early. What's for sure is getting battered like he has been over his last three fights isn't conducive with a long fight career. I think folk have caught on to certain defensive weaknesses Cody has in his striking, and unless he sorts it out it could be rough few years for him in that top 5.

Marc Goddard is very lucky Woodley had nothing because I feared the refs were going to come out of this looking like Nick Patrick during an nWo match (Roufusport 4 Life). Not one of his better performances.

[Egg Shen]

3 hours ago, AdamTH17 said:

I think @Egg Shen makes a good point regarding Smith. I think he went into that fight showing Jones way too much respect in terms of his striking ability

the mental thing, pre-fight Smith said that too many of Jones opponents stand back and admire what he's doing and that he wouldn't do the same...then he preceeded to do exactly that, but its because Jones attacks with those leg kicks and front kicks, it doesn't look much but its contantly damaging and he just doesn't allow you to get into the fight.

I like the Walker/Santos fight because Walker's wild enough where he will try something out of the box, and Santos carries serious KO power, its the closest thing we'll get to Jones/Rumble and everyone wanted that.

[ColinBollocks]

Uncle Dana decided to name drop again in the post-fight presser. For no reason other than you know, he decided to mention he turned to Zac Efron and said Jon Jones is really good.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Everyone’s going to focus on Herb’s call during Askren/Lawler, but I’d say the worst bit of refereeing last night was Marc Goddard telling Usman to ‘remember it’s meant to be a fight’.

Unless it was his way of telling Kamaru he should give Woodley a chance as it was beginning to resemble complete torture, it made no sense at all.

If Khabib does ever make it to 170, like he’s threatened, I’d love to see a ‘who’s more terrifying’ fight between him and Usman.

[Egg Shen]

yeh, that was strange from Goddard, what was he thinking?

[wandshogun09]

Jones vs Smith was depressingly one-sided. It felt like Jones really did just play with him the whole time. Made it frustrating to watch. I was expecting Jones to really go out there and make an example of Smith, and I think style-wise it was Jones’ perfect chance to do so. This could’ve been a total showcase for Jones, an ideal chance to really show off and just dismantle Smith like it was a early 90s WCW Sid squash match or something. He never seemed to push into that gear though. Not that he needed to but that’s twice now we’ve seen this when Jones has fought severely outmatched opponents. This reminded me of the OSP fight where you felt like if Jones really upped the attack at any point he could’ve ended it whenever he wanted. Maybe he just wanted to get rounds in? Smith’s corner were woeful though. Bloody rotten corner advice. It was a glaring contrast hearing the Jackson-Wink lot in the Jones corner then panning over to the Chuckle Brothers ‘advising’ Smith. They were so out of their depth. I’m seeing a fair amount of criticism towards Smith today but like Eggy said, it’s one thing saying you’re going to take the fight to Jones but when you’re in there and he’s kicking your kneecaps backwards and elbowing you and you can’t get near the cunt because he’s a master at controlling the range...then the realisation sets in that you’ve got a potential 4 more rounds of this and you’re going to gas out hitting thin air. It’s easy to go into your shell a bit. Fair play to Smith. He’ll be disappointed that he was unable to make more of a fight of it but he got in there and went 5 rounds. That’s more than I expected out of him. 

So next for Jones is surely either Thiago Santos, Johnny Walker or they reheat that Daniel Cormier feud one last time. I guess there’s Corey Anderson too but come on. He’s not getting a sniff of a shot when you’ve got those other 3 options, is he? 

I got Woodley vs Usman all wrong. Fuck me. Usman went all big brother on him. Never pictured it to look like this. We’ve never seen Woodley get shut down like this before. I was mega slow getting on board with Usman but over his last couple of fights he’s really shown that he’s a terrifying force to reckon with. I really thought he’d struggle here against another wrestler who, on paper, had him beat in power, speed, striking etc. But he just put it on him start to finish and never gave Woodley chance to get anything happening. I’ve never seen Woodley look so flustered in this kind of fight. Last time I saw him look so lost was against Rory but that was Rory tooling him at range in the striking. This was different though. Marty gave him nothing anywhere really. So impressive. I really want to see Usman vs Askren now. It’s one of those fights that you know could end up as a grinding stalemate but it’s a fight where it would be so intriguing to see who comes out on top. Probably a fight you’d never rewatch but would be edge of the seat on the night. If not I’d be more than down for Marty shutting down Trollby Covington first. 

Usman came off as a real star last night for me. From his cool as cucumber entrance, dancing his way to the cage, to his stellar and dominant performance in the cage, to that post-fight promo. I wouldn’t have said I was particularly a fan of Usman before, but he’s won me around. 

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

I hope they book Usman/Askren and just keep Colby in the cold.

👍

Askren vs Lawler turned out to be about as perfect a debut as you could’ve hoped for if you’re a Ben Askren fan. Like I think Daz said, it kind of played out ideally for everyone involved. Askren gets the W, Lawler loses but looks a beast and doesn’t really lose any stock, and there’s some controversy and stuff to talk about off the back of it. I think everyone thought if Askren was going to win this it would be with a grinding and fairly uneventful decision. Instead it was 3 minutes of chaos where he weathers an almighty storm, survives a fucking Death Valley Driver of all things and a load of hammers on the ground, and gets the first round finish. Post-fight interview was good as well. Loved his unapologetic ‘fuck you’ vibe to the booing and it keeps the Askren vs Dana thing going. 

And as referee cock-ups go, this one from Herb Dean was pretty understandable. It’s hard not to feel bad for Lawler as he was clearly fine and conscious and all that, but that’s knowing what we know now with the benefit of hindsight. In the moment, from the angle we were getting, I’ve got to admit when Lawler’s arm dropped I thought ‘Shit, he’s out!’ Easy to be outraged now when you know he was just trying to wait it out but at the time it looked bad. I think even Robbie realised that. He was all class as well. Didn’t go on like a dickhead or come off bitter with excuses. Guys like Dillashaw and Cain take note. 

Can’t wait for Askren’s next fight now. I wouldn’t be at all against just throwing him straight in there with Marty but Dana’s probably not going to give him the title shot just like that. If not Usman, maybe the Till vs Masvidal winner. Askren was on about attending the London show and targeting those guys recently. Fuck knows. Maybe they do just pull the trigger on Usman vs Askren. It’s not like Usman vs Woodley was the type of fight that warrants an immediate rematch. It wasn’t a controversial decision and it seems your name has to be Conor McGregor if you want to get an immediate title rematch after getting spanked these days. 

Zhang vs Torres wasn’t the most exciting fight but I wasn’t expecting it to be. I don’t think I’ve really enjoyed a Tecia Torres fight since her war with Thug Rose back in their Invicta days. She’s kind of like the strawweight division’s version of John Dodson, only much less annoying obviously. Just difficult to look good against. With all that in mind, I really liked Zhang’s performance here. It’s not often you see someone match or beat Torres in the strength department but Zhang did at crucial times last night in the clinch and grappling exchanges. I think there’s loads of potential there and like Adam says she’s got a real likeabilty about her too. She could be a proper darkhorse at 115. Be interesting to see who they match her up with next. 

Munhoz vs Garbrandt was mental. Turned into a full on button mash bombfest. I get people criticising Cody’s recklessness but I don’t think that’s altogether fair on Munhoz. Many, many men wouldn’t have got through that barrage from Cody. Munhoz is a rare breed of guy who’s both tough enough and brave/nuts enough to stand there in the pocket and roll the dice. It could’ve just as easily been him that got decked and, if anything, I thought Cody was tagging Munhoz more in those crazy exchanges. If Cody would’ve connected clean and wiped Munhoz out everyone would be on his dick today and his ‘recklessness’ would be being applauded as his ‘beast mode’. Rogan would’ve been screaming ‘CODY GARBRANDT IS BACK!’ instead of ‘Cody’s decision to just stand and trade was crazy’. There are questions on Cody’s chin, undoubtedly, but while that gameplan he used against Cruz was genius, it isn’t going to work on everyone. I don’t even think it would work on Cruz again actually. I think a massive part of why Cody’s tactics worked so well that night were because of the element of surprise. Cruz was expecting the bull but he got the matador. Nobody expected that kind of fight out of Garbrandt. People talk about him to go back to that style but that’s easier said than done and Munhoz is no dummy. He wouldn’t have been easy to do that against. I think too many people were overlooking Munhoz going into this one myself. 

Ultimately what it comes down to is Cody has the worst kind of fighter’s curse - he’s a big puncher with a dodgy chin. So he’ll always want to trade because he knows he has the power to end it quickly. But because of his suspect chin that willingness to throw in the pocket will always leave him vulnerable. It’s a coin flip. 

4 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

Imagine if he did end up fighting Lineker though like people wanted? that would be the end of Cody Garbrandt.

Why do you think I wanted that fight so much? 😉

Chuffed with how Zabit vs Stephens went. Thought Zabit played pretty close to the perfect game. Made Stephens look plodding and uncoordinated for much of the opening 10 minutes. Thought he took his foot off the gas a little bit in the third but handily won 1 and 2. Stephens moaning about the decision - fuck off. Stephens pushing Zabit at the end of the second (I think) round - double fuck off. 

They have to rebook that Zabit vs Yair fight now. Aren’t they going back to Russia soon? Do it there. Or failing that, stick it on UFC 237 in Brazil in May. Or anywhere. Just give us Zabit vs Yair. 

Johnny Walker is my favourite MMA lunatic since Yoel Romero. They should be a tag team. Managed by Ray The Translator, obvs. This was incredible. So he’s now 3-0 in the UFC, with the 3 fights lasting just 2:48 combined and they were all highlight reel knockouts. Him dislocating his own shoulder trying to do The Worm post-fight is the only damage he’s taken so far in the UFC. Love the mad bastard. You get the feeling he’s going to come unstuck as his opposition improves but you can’t knock what he’s done so far. And if he keeps this up he’s got all the potential to be a real breakout star. He’s only been around 5 months and he’s already genuinely a highlight of the roster for me. He’s got that personality as well that just draws you to him. He’s like an overexcited kid in there. Impossible to not like him. I hope he goes all the way to the gold. I wouldn’t fancy him to beat Jones of course, but of the current crop I’d honestly say I’d give him a better shot than the rest. 

Great to see Diego Sanchez turn back the clock and roll over Mickey Gall like it was 2006 again. This looked like that post-TUF Diego where he would trade with anyone but he hadn’t yet forgotten that he was a bit of a beast grappler. Gall is clearly still green and there are obvious flaws in his game but Diego himself looked better than he has in some time. It’s still not going to end well though. 

[ColinBollocks]

@wandshogun09 Dana said in the post-fight press conference he wants Jones v Thiago and Askren v Lawler 2. Askren said he wants the winner of Till v Masvidal, but Dana wasn't having it.

Cody started going for it after he clearly got rocked. Cody was probably still not all there so just instinctively went swinging for the knockout while in panic mode. The better chin won in the end.

[jimufctna24]

Just a few brief thoughts as many have already accurately summarised most of last night's events.

- We avoided a bit needless of drama in the main event. Smith could have milked Jones' illegal knee and tried to get the DQ win. I am glad he didn't. It would have created a need for a rematch that no one would want to see. But what was Jones thinking in that round? He had almost committed a similar foul earlier in the round. Was he just bored? It was nonetheless a dominant performance. The only significant offence I recall Smith landing was the head kick in round 1. 

- I had been convinced by Breen's pre-fight breakdown that Usman had little to offer Woodley. As it stood, the complete opposite was true. Usman looked the absolute business. The officiating and scorecards for this fight were poor. Goddard's performance has been covered above. The two 50-45 scorecards also had me scratching my head. Rounds 2 and 4 were clearly 10-8 rounds in Usman's favour. 

- Askren vs Lawler was insane. I knew Askren was tough and durable; but I haven't a clue how he recovered from Lawler's opening onslaught. I have seen a new camera angle where its clear that Lawler gave Dean the thumbs up as he checked his arm. The question then becomes would Askren have eventually finished Lawler anyway? Askren's post-fight conference was certainly a fun-watch. 

- Walker is a deadly div. 

- Zabit looked top-draw in the opening two rounds. He wavered in the third round and I had him losing it. It was still a strong performance overall. He looks a lot like the great Alain Prost.

Overall, it was worth staying up for. 

[wandshogun09]

Ah right, hadn’t bothered with the press conference, cheers Colin. 

I’m happy with Jones vs Santos. Askren vs Lawler 2 is fine too but I was looking forward to seeing Askren mix it up with someone else. Still, with how the fight played out a rematch will be interesting. 

Guessing we’ll get Usman vs Colby for the belt next. Where does that leave Woodley if Usman, Colby, Lawler etc are booked? He’s not going to fight Askren anyway, he’s already beat Till and Wonderboy. Does he go up to 185 now or try to get another shot at 170? I can see him facing a Ponzinibbio or Dos Anjos next while the title picture works itself out. 

And if it’s Jones vs Santos now, what’s next for Johnny Walker, do we reckon? Do they give him Corey Anderson in a title eliminator? A fight with Jimi Manuwa? Feed Shogun to him? So many possibilities. 

Can’t go wrong with this either. Askren, Bisping AND Sonnen? Instant win;

 

[ColinBollocks]

Helwani said that Usman was in a walking boot on Monday and was fighting with a fractured foot. What a beast. Genuinely, Usman is one of the most terrifying fighters inn the sport.

[neil]

Some assorted thoughts:

I didn't think the cornering for Smith was that bad. It was pretty clear he was timid in fighting Jones, giving him a ton of respect and being not being first in the attacks, and they were trying to convince him that he can just let it go. Unfortunately that wasn't sinking in for Smith, I don't think them giving him any other type of advice was going to help as Smith was clearly not fighting with the right attitude. Full respect for Smith not taking the easy DQ.

I think you saw a similar thing with Woodley and Gall as well. Woodley just seemed totally flat and, similar to Smith, just too timid to be on the attack against Usman - who was phenomenal.

The prelims were a ton of fun. I still don't know how Walker managed to dislocate his shoulder though.

[wandshogun09]

@ColinBollocks Yeah just seen a bit of Usman’s post-fight presser and he was on about that. Said he’d been fighting pretty much one-legged since TUF which is crazy. 

I still can’t believe how one-sided it was. Even if you fancied Marty to get the win, you’d never envision that kind of domination. He beat Woodley every minute of every round and in every area. 

Fuck, Usman’s mum might even have upstaged Woodley’s mum. 

[David]

2 hours ago, ColinBollocks said:

All that aside, Smith didn't really get anything going at all, which is to Jones' credit obviously. Smith's corner were shite, though, all they kept telling him was "you've seen what he does now, so just attack him". Cool, but how was he supposed to do that? Jones was too fast, big and smooth for him. "Bite down and go for it" is such huckster advice against the level Smith was fighting at last night. His corner may as well have said "look, bugger knows, but best of luck".

To be honest though, what exactly could they tell him? The only thing that anyone can say about Jones is that he's reasonably hittable. Smith managed to catch him a few times, even busting him open a little I think, but outside of that there's not much you can tell your fighter, is there?

2 hours ago, ColinBollocks said:

It's a shame Askren didn't get a clean win because a fight next with Marty from Nebraska would be a no brainer if he did. Sadly, it looks like it's the People's Champ v Marty, next.

Are you serious? A no-brainer? You honestly think Dana White is going to hand Ben fucking Askren a title shot unless he absolutely, positively has to? His post-fight interview he could literally not wait to start talking about "running it back" and calling it a "bad decision" as though Lawler had been cheated or something.

His arm went limp, Herb grabbed said arm and shook it to no avail. I like Lawler, but he's talking about giving a thumbs up as though it was clear as day. It wasn't. He looked like he was out.

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

Jones vs Smith was depressingly one-sided. It felt like Jones really did just play with him the whole time. Made it frustrating to watch. I was expecting Jones to really go out there and make an example of Smith, and I think style-wise it was Jones’ perfect chance to do so. This could’ve been a total showcase for Jones, an ideal chance to really show off and just dismantle Smith like it was a early 90s WCW Sid squash match or something. He never seemed to push into that gear though. Not that he needed to but that’s twice now we’ve seen this when Jones has fought severely outmatched opponents. This reminded me of the OSP fight where you felt like if Jones really upped the attack at any point he could’ve ended it whenever he wanted. Maybe he just wanted to get rounds in? Smith’s corner were woeful though. Bloody rotten corner advice. It was a glaring contrast hearing the Jackson-Wink lot in the Jones corner then panning over to the Chuckle Brothers ‘advising’ Smith. They were so out of their depth. I’m seeing a fair amount of criticism towards Smith today but like Eggy said, it’s one thing saying you’re going to take the fight to Jones but when you’re in there and he’s kicking your kneecaps backwards and elbowing you and you can’t get near the cunt because he’s a master at controlling the range...then the realisation sets in that you’ve got a potential 4 more rounds of this and you’re going to gas out hitting thin air. It’s easy to go into your shell a bit. Fair play to Smith. He’ll be disappointed that he was unable to make more of a fight of it but he got in there and went 5 rounds. That’s more than I expected out of him. 

I don't think it was quite as easy a fight as some seem to think. Smith, while not doing a whole lot offensively, put on probably the best showing defensively that I've seen against Jones in a long time.

Jones was being Jones, he was throwing his kicks to the legs, his head kicks, his elbows and as usual he had his fingers out every time Smith looked like advancing on him, but he just couldn't get the opening to finish the fight. He didn't even have much success in the takedown either, with Smith defending very well.

The way he fought was the same way he fought Gusty, with the difference that he managed to make his offence work for him, and eventually get the fight to the floor in the Gusty fight. Smith showed more resilience than Gusty did, and was more defensively sound than DC was as well, which sounds mental to say because it's Anthony Smith.

If the UFC signed a fight next between Smith and Gusty, I'd be picking Smith to win that one based on his showing at 205lbs to this point.

The only guy who's challenging Jones at 205lbs I think is Walker. He's got the height, he's closer in reach, and he's unpredictable. On top of that, he's shown that he's a quality fighter. What would be the point in putting him in there with a Gustafsson, OSP etc? There are hardly any real contenders in the division as it is, so just put him in there and lets see what he can do.

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

Where does that leave Woodley if Usman, Colby, Lawler etc are booked?

It leaves him in the same place as any other fighter after a loss who Dana White doesn't like. Shit out of luck, basically.

[ColinBollocks]

18 minutes ago, David said:

To be honest though, what exactly could they tell him? The only thing that anyone can say about Jones is that he's reasonably hittable. Smith managed to catch him a few times, even busting him open a little I think, but outside of that there's not much you can tell your fighter, is there?

They just repeated the same nothing advice after every round that changed nothing, which maybe exposes his coaches - it's fairly common knowledge there are a lot of coaches out there that shout out that stuff because they're frauds. At least offering something technical or change it up when it's clear nowt is happening. "Get after it" x 4 is such bollocks, it's no wonder someone as switched on as Jones made it through so easy. 

18 minutes ago, David said:

Are you serious? A no-brainer? You honestly think Dana White is going to hand Ben fucking Askren a title shot unless he absolutely, positively has to? His post-fight interview he could literally not wait to start talking about "running it back" and calling it a "bad decision" as though Lawler had been cheated or something.

Huh? That wasn't necessarily my point. I'm purely on about a good fight with some buzz, which makes it a no-brainer. I typed that knowing what Dana is about Davo, doesn't mean it's not a good match up despite Dana being a cock. The Marty from Nebraska stuff is some of Askern's best stuff. As I mentioned, Colby is next, sadly.