Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 26, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 26, 2019 (edited) I thought that was fucking great myself. Crap for Askren but as a spectator sitting on my arse on a Saturday afternoon, I enjoyed the shit out of that. Went almost exactly as I’d predicted but it was a better fight to watch than I thought it would be. Shame to see Askren’s run fizzling out but I love Maia so this was top stuff. Edited October 26, 2019 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 26, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 26, 2019 Bloody hell, Randa Markos continuing her alternating record. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pier Six Brawler Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Demian Maia is the greatest UFC fighter never to win a championship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted October 27, 2019 Share Posted October 27, 2019 I find it very hard to determine the greatest UFC fighter to never win a championship with the promotion. In addition to Maia, you could make a case for Hendo, Jon Fitch, Tony Ferguson and literally dozens of others. Obviously, fighters like Gomi and Kid Yamamoto are excluded, because while they were great fighters in Japan, they did feck all in the UFC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted October 27, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 27, 2019 I didn't want either of these guys to lose. Askren brought a heap of fun to the UFC when he arrived, but it's all went up the left for him this past while. Maia is one of the nicest guys in the sport so I'll always be happy seeing him get a win, but the top of the division would have been much more interesting with Askren trying to put a run together. I'm not sure where he goes from here really, but I can't see him ever working his way into a title shot, unless it's as a late notice replacement some time and nobody else wants it. It was clear from the first time they hit the ground though, that Askren should have avoided going down there at all costs. He was absolutely going to get submitted if he gave Maia long enough to work. With hindsight, taking his chances on getting the decision following a stand up fight might have been Askren's best way to victory, and even then, it would have been extremely close.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 27, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 27, 2019 That’s why I ended up picking Maia to win. Maia always had the BJJ game to potentially give Askren fits plus, although Maia is no crisp striker, he’s a better striker than Askren. When the fight was first announced I think most saw it as a 50/50 thing. But it seems obvious in hindsight that it was always kind of a dodgy match style-wise for Askren. His only real option was to wrestle and you don’t want to be solely doing that against a Demian Maia who has 25 minutes to work with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2019 Askren/Maia was probably the welterweight Velasquez/Werdum, when you think about it. When a guy's overwhelming speciality is wrestling, and his striking is inferior to his opponent's, he's really at a disadvantage if said opponent's submission game is elite, because unless he's planning to do lots of throws, suplexes and slams, wrestling only puts the wrestler in the submission artist's wheelhouse, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 28, 2019 Share Posted October 28, 2019 Meh, I don't think Askren looked bad at all, he just got caught by a guy who's known to catch a lot of guys. Is funky Ben going to be a legit, long-term contender in the division at 35 years old? Probably not, but there's still decent fights there if he picks carefully. Going up against someone who literally wants you to grapple with them was always a risk, especially over 5 rounds. The only shame is that it took so long for the UFC to sign him. He'd already "retired" by the time he got the call, and was in his mid 30's. He can still do some interesting things, but I guess it depends if he still has the hunger to maybe drop down a bit on the card and work back up. We've seen guys drop a few and bounce back, but it depends on what the guy himself wants to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 28, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2019 Yeah, I don’t think Askren looked bad. It was a really good fight. He was just in with a BJJ wizard. The way some twats are talking like this shows Askren is a bum is silly. He grappled with one of, if not the best grappler in the sport, was competitive but got caught. I’ve also seen some comments that this proves Askren could never have cut it in the UFC. Bollocks. Like David says, Askren got to the UFC late and came out of retirement to do so. I think it’s fair to say he isn’t in his physical prime these days. I don’t think he’d have ever dominated the whole division if he’d signed say 5 years ago but coming in at 34/35 after a lengthy layoff isn’t like we’re exactly getting peak Ben Askren either. The amount of times since Saturday that I’ve seen divs tweet ‘so the UFC swapped Mighty Mouse for this?’ Yet I bet 85% of them haven’t watched a single fight DJ’s had in ONE. It’s all bollocks. Just like how nobody gave a shite about Jorge Masvidal this time last year but now they’re all riding his length and claiming they became Masvidal fans so long ago that Jorge’s parents hadn’t even met yet. Bunch of Floyd Fairweathers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2019 4 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said: Floyd Fairweathers. That, along with @Keith Houchen's "Two-Can Van Dammes", is now one of my favourite terms for shitty MMA fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2019 Quite surprised at people believing Askren looked pretty good, for a fight that played out on the feet for the most part i thought he looked pretty poor, despite having some success probably down his unorthodox approach, neither guy were lighting the world on fire with that striking. God knows how the fight would have looked if it had gone to 4 & 5 because both men looked spent. But having said that, Askrens never been pretty to watch, even his grappling style is slow and lethargic looking, Askren will reach in and eat shots to get a body lock, its sloppy as hell but once he gets a hold of you hes super effective. Askren is a lot like Jake Shields in that to the viewer hes not doing anything special looking, nothing is flashy or explosive but Askren, like Shields just has an uncanny knack of dragging their opponents into their kind of fight. He did that here but Maia was just too crafty on the ground, Askren was in danger as soon as the fight hit the deck. I dont think the UFC has been a total bust though, perhaps in-cage but Askrens brought a persona with him thats been one of the highlights of the year, even in defeat. It'll always be shame that he didnt enter the UFC during his physical prime which was back 7 years ago when he was handling Bellators 170lb division. I think most people looked past the age though just because he finally made it to the promotion. I haven't looked yet, but i imagine the MMA trolls have been giving him hell on social media. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 28, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2019 Yeah Askren’s been getting some shit. He’s taken it well though, as usual. He responded to this with ‘lol savage’... 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2019 brilliant 😄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 28, 2019 Share Posted October 28, 2019 6 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: I don’t think he’d have ever dominated the whole division if he’d signed say 5 years ago but coming in at 34/35 after a lengthy layoff isn’t like we’re exactly getting peak Ben Askren either. Yeah, he's admitted in some interviews before he signed for the UFC that he was finding it harder physically after a lifetime of hard grind on the wrestling mat. I honestly think he'd reached the point where he was happy to walk away a few years back, but was drawn back in with the UFC offer. I don't see him hanging around too much longer though, especially if he slides further down the card. He doesn't really need it at this stage of his life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2019 away from the main event, Cyril Gane looked handy as fuck at heavyweight. This guy is gonna chew up a lot of the lumbering heavyweights that usually make up the division, Glory level kickboxing and seemingly a submission game to back it up, keep an eye on him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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