jimufctna24 Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 (edited) 19 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: First of all, I fucking loved WEC. Everything about it. The presentation, the blue canvas, the commentary, the smaller cage forcing the action, pre-cosmetic surgery Brittany Palmer. WEC had it all. And the fights themselves werenât bad either. I donât think thereâs ever been a MMA promotion more consistent than WEC in pure fight quality on a card to card basis. Especially those last couple of years. They were just banging out killer shows left and right. I didn't appreciate the WEC as much as I should have. It got lost in the shuffle a bit.  It didn't have the big names that Strikeforce had, let alone the UFC. In fact, the WEC's only real drawing card was Faber. Nonetheless, you could make the argument that the WEC was the best fight promotion out of the three. Their shows almost always delivered inside the cage. For me, the smaller cage was its best contribution to MMA. It enabled the smaller fighters to wallwalk easier, cut the cage off more effectively, and it generally forced the fighters to engage more, which led to more finishes. Sadly, the UFC continues to use a much bigger cage, which makes smaller fighters far less interesting to watch. I recall Jack Slack once writing that John Lineker would be a beast inside a smaller cage, similar to the one the WEC used. 19 hours ago, Carbomb said: I'm sure we all wonder what happened to Pettis. This guy looked like a striking genius, one of the elite players in MMA, then got de-throned by RDA and it all went to shit from there. If you looked at his record since the RDA fight without knowing anything else about him, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was probably age-related decline, but the fucker was what, 28, 29? Another theory is that he fights best from distance where he can use his kicking game, and struggles when that distance is taken away. If you can back him up against the cage, he is vulnerable to takedowns. If you can draw him into close striking exchanges, he's vulnerable in the pocket. Of course, all of this is easier said than done. Pettis dropped and submitted Melendez when pressed against the cage. Nonetheless, the likes of RDA and Guida had success backing him up against the cage, and were able to shut him down completely (especially RDA). So aye, as Wand touched on above, it was probably people becoming wiser to his game and figuring out how to beat him. And of course, the injuries. Edited January 9, 2020 by jimufctna24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 10, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2020 (edited) #15 - Eddie Alvarez vs Justin Gaethje - UFC 218 - Dec 2nd 2017 Right then. Canât go wrong with these two. It was one of those fights where as soon as it was announced you just knew some crazy shit was going down. This was actually kind of a BMF thing before there was any such thing as a BMF Title. They were throwing around in interviews that this was a battle to find out who the âMost Violent Man in MMAâ was or something. If there was a BMF Title back in 2017, this wouldâve been a prime candidate to crown a first champ. It did kind of come at a weird time though. Alvarez was coming into this fight off a rough last two outings. Heâd got bashed up by Conor McGregor in November 2016. Then in May 2017 heâd gone to a No Contest with Dustin Poirier in a hard scrap that he was probably getting the worst of. Being a former Lightweight champion with fairly recent wins over Rafael Dos Anjos, Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis in the UFC, he wasnât exactly in danger of being released, but his back was sort of up against the wall here. On the other hand, Gaethje was undefeated. 18-0, 16 finishes. He was must-see in WSOF, his two slugfests with Luis Palomino in particular. And heâd just won his UFC debut in July, knocking out Michael Johnson in an absolute corker of a fight. He was flying high and everyone was talking about him. But before we could get to see them fight, we had to wait until theyâd finished coaching The Ultimate Fighter. As much as I love Alvarez and Gaethje, I donât think I watched a single second of that TUF. Like not even a trailer. Nowt. By this point I was completely done with TUF and short of a season coached by Nick Diaz or something, I wasnât likely to be dragged back. On top of that, Alvarez and Gaethje just werenât good choices as coaches. Not that they wouldnât be good at it, but as far as making for entertaining reality television, it just wasnât a good fit. Neither have ever been known for their gift of gab. They did all their entertaining in the cage. TUF at this point for me had just become an inconvenience and something that held up titles and made us wait longer to see great fights. Eddie Alvarez vs Justin Gaethje UFC 218: Holloway vs Aldo 2 December 2nd 2017 Detroit, Michigan Anyway, the night finally arrived. And this was just one fight on a pretty stacked PPV. I think everyone knew it would deliver and probably steal the show but still, it was just the second fight on the PPV main card. The Holloway vs Aldo rematch headlined and Francis Ngannou vs Alistair Overeem was co-main. So Alvarez and Gaethje didnât get a whole lot of hype going in. It was just a fight chucked in there as a bonus that would pretty much guarantee bang for your buck. âA lot of hard work, a lot of skill and a little bit of luck. Thatâs why Iâm undefeated. No matter who gets locked in that Octagon with me, theyâre in for the fight of their life. A win over Eddie Alvarez is huge. Iâm a fan of Eddie Alvarez, I love the way he fights. But now heâs my enemy and I have no remorse for taking everything heâs ever worked for in his life. I know heâs scared of me, thatâs why I know heâs gonna come at me with such intensity. He needs to knock me out. In the first two rounds. There will be a time when you see Eddie Alvarezâs face change from trying to kill me to trying to survive.â - Justin Gaethje âââ âA guy like Justin, heâll make me wake up early, heâll make me go to bed late. That little tiny bit of fear goes a long way. I wanna win this fight by way of knockout or by choking his neck. One of the two. And Iâll be crowned the Most Violent Man in the Lightweight division. I wanna dominate Justin Gaethje, in the centre of the Octagon, stand over him and declare myself the winner.â - Eddie Alvarez Both men sound well up for it in the pre-fight. Christ. And there was me saying these two arenât talkers. Got goosebumps listening to that. Itâs one thing hearing someone talk tough but when itâs two granite hardcases like this that you know can back it up, itâs something else. Anik and Rogan are buzzing for this during the walkouts. Buffer with the intros. Herb Deanâs the ref, touch of gloves and weâre off. Round 1: Gaethje with the hard leg kicks immediately and Roganâs already on the verge of jizzing himself silly. Loves a leg kick, does Smokinâ Joe. Both throwing with serious heat already and the fight isnât even a minute old yet. Fuck, Gaethjeâs leg kicks are brutal. Crowd chanting for Eddie. And Eddie looks sharp with the boxing and combinations here. His leg is getting chewed the fuck up though. Itâs like someone put a hit out on Eddieâs left leg and Gaethje wants paying for it. Heâs murdering that leg. Eddieâs landing constantly though, with some sweet uppercuts and body shots thrown in there. Eddie going to town with the body shots towards the end of the round and even throws a fucking somersault/rolling thunder kick thingy at the buzzer but doesnât really get it. Alvarez 10-9 for me but his legâs in a bad way. Round 2: Beautiful boxing from Alvarez to start this round. Heâs making Gaethje miss and catching him with some nice shots. Gaethje starts to connect more as the round goes on though and heâs throwing with bad intentions. Heâs just eating punches to land back. Trying to Homer Simpson his way through Eddieâs boxing. Itâs not really working but he is starting to land more punches. But Eddie is just killing him to the body now and Gaethje is starting to react to it. Heâs firing back but heâs clearly feeling the effects now of those body attacks. Both teeing off to the head. Gaethje looks knackered but heâs still swinging hell for leather. More leg kicks now from Gaethje. Eddieâs face is swollen up on the cheek. Gaethje actually shoots for a takedown... And pays for it with a foot to the dome. He comes back with a flying knee and the round is over. Alvarez 10-9 again for me but closer. Hell of a round. Round 3: They pick up right where they left off. Man! This is like when you play Tekken against a mate after a few drinks and youâre both just button mashing like fuck. Gaethje with a crushing leg kick and this time Eddie buckles a bit and immediately switches stance. ANOTHER leg kick and Alvarez actually drops to his back and tries to pull guard. That leg is fucked. Gaethje backs off and makes him stand up. One-legged Eddie still throwing but it feels like Gaethje is one good leg kick away from straight up decapitating his leg. I think heâs actually trying to Kerry Von Erich that left leg. Both trading. Gaethje with more leg kicks, Christ almighty, but Alvarez is now refusing to even sell it. He wonât go down. If anyone ever needs evidence of the toughness of Eddie Alvarez, point them to this round. Insane. âEddie Alvarez is an animal. I mean, he just keeps eating those leg kicks. A lesser man wouldâve been down a long time ago from those.â - Joe Rogan 90 seconds left. Alvarez going for a takedown, Gaethje with leg kicks and uppercuts. This is ridiculous. They clinch and Alvarez cracks Gaethje with a huge knee to the chops... Gaethje is done! Eddie Alvarez becomes the first man to hand Gaethje a loss in a true FOTY candidate. Gaethje, all heart, stumbles back to his feet and is saying âPlease Herb. Please Herbâ, begging for the fight to continue. Well, either that or heâs crying out for a spliff. And how mad that Alvarez said before the fight that heâd stand over Gaethje and declare himself the winner... Winner - Eddie Alvarez by knockout. Round 3 - 3:59. Just amazing. For some reason this fight barely gets talked about. I donât know why because itâs bloody brilliant. And to think there are people who try to say that Conor McGregor took Eddie Alvarezâs soul when they fought and left him a shell of himself. Well thatâs more weird McGregor fanboy bullshit because this fight happened over a year after that and Alvarez went into the trenches and stopped an undefeated beast lunatic in Justin Gaethje. In a Justin Gaethje style fight. Loved this from start to finish. So glad it happened before Eddie left the UFC. Edited January 10, 2020 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted January 12, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted January 12, 2020 the fact that McGregor put Alvarez away so clinically when you see fights like that and see what Alvarez can fight through makes that win the most impressive of McGregor's career for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamTH17 Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 I'll echo what Egg Shen mentioned there. Seeing Alvarez come back from the McGregor loss in such an emphatic and impressive manner really helped it to sink in how well Conor fought that night in MSG. His best octagon performance without a doubt for me as well. Mendes was looking dominant in the first round before Conor rallied in the second, the Aldo knockout was sensational of course, but in 13 seconds he was hardly about to provide much of a showcase for his full set of skills. Diaz had him in trouble in their second fight at times, though I did agree Conor deserved to get the nod from the judges. Alvarez looked like a proper shit fight for him on paper coming in. He had the ability to hurt you big time with his hands, as evidenced in his title win from RDA, but demonstrated against Pettis, had absolutely no issues grinding a fight out up against the cage to get the win. This was before Conor had really been tested by a smothering wrestler as well (Mendes aside, but he had 2 weeks notice coming in) which was another big reason a lot of people were selecting Eddie. But come fight night, it was a ridiculous story. Conor never gave Eddie a chance. Battered him everywhere, and dominated from the first punch until the last. Probably up there with one of the best individual performances of the last decade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted January 13, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted January 13, 2020 Loving the posts in the countdown Wand. It's fantastic stuff as usual and miles more entertaining than anything the usual websites are putting out in their year/decade lists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Scott Malbranque Posted January 13, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted January 13, 2020 And ain't that the truth, Portable Alan. I honestly, genuinely - and I've said this for years and years - don't know how Magic hasn't been signed up in some reporting capacity within that industry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 14, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted January 14, 2020 (edited) Thanks chaps. #14 - JosĂŠ Aldo vs Chad Mendes 2 - UFC 179 - Oct 25th 2014 Righty then. When WEC closed its doors, JosĂŠ Aldo was the reigning 145lbs champion. And because there werenât already Featherweight and Bantamweight divisions in the UFC at the time, the WEC champs at both 145 and 135 would be crowned UFC champs when the rosters got merged. Of course, the WEC belt was retired when the company was dissolved. So Aldo gets to keep that bad boy forever. He came into the UFC and successfully defended his title twice against Mark Hominick and Kenny Florian in 2011. His record at this point was 20-1, with the only defeat coming early in his career. In January 2012, Aldo had a new challenger in undefeated powerhouse wrestler Chad Mendes. He was 11-0 and a lot of people thought his wrestling style could maybe give Aldo some problems. They fought at UFC 142, which was also in Rio, and Aldo won by knockout at the end of the first round. It wasnât without some controversy though. Aldo grabbed the fence to stop Mendes from completing takedowns. Not good. But a lot of people, Joe Rogan in particular, made more of it than it was whenever the subject came up over the next year or two. It was against the rules, no question. But I remember Rogan making out like Mendes was winning and Aldo kept cheating and then KOâd him. But when I rewatched it, Aldo was bossing the fight in the standup before any fence grabbing. Regardless, Mendes had to rebuild. He won his next 5 fights, 4 by knockout. But a couple were soft opponents. The Cody McKenzie fight especially was a horrible mismatch which Dana White even said afterwards that he shouldnât have booked. Mendes had earned his way back into contention though. In the meantime, Aldo had continued to rule the Featherweight jungle. He rattled off 3 more defences against Frankie Edgar, Korean Zombie and Ricardo Lamas. Between them, they'd pretty much laid waste to most of the division. So it was time for the rematch. Originally, it was booked for August 2014âs UFC 176 PPV. But Aldo pulled out with a neck injury and the whole card ended up being cancelled. It finally got rescheduled for 179 in October and by this point tempers were flaring and it had become a bit of a grudge match. âHeâs already felt the power of my hands, my legs, so I know heâs scared that he will be on the ground sleeping again. Itâs like teasing a tiger with a twig, Iâm going to catch him. He can say whatever he wants but once weâre in the cage itâs just the two of us. No-one can help him.â - Jose Aldo âââ âThe first time I fought Aldo I was basically a baby still. It was over two years ago, I had two fights in the UFC. I was basically 90%, 95% wrestling. Now, Iâm able to knock people out on my feet. I have the ability to put pressure on with my hands. This is gonna be a whole different fight than he thinks itâs gonna be. Heâs gonna be in for a rough night.â - Chad Mendes OK. Here we go. JosĂŠ Aldo (c) vs Chad Mendes - Featherweight Title UFC 179: Aldo vs Mendes 2 October 25th 2014 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Commentators are Mike Goldberg and Brian Stann. Marc Goddard is reffing. Mendes coming out to some star spangled country boy bollocks song and the Brazilian crowd fucking hate him. Aldo, as usual, is walking out to âRun This Townâ by Jay-Z and Rihanna and the crowd love him. Heâs really flying the flag for Brazil here as Goldberg tells us that heâs the only Brazilian UFC champ at this time. Round 1: Aldo looking sharp and really fired up early on. The crowd and atmosphere is electric. Theyâre loud as fuck cheering every time Aldo does anything and doing that âyouâre gonna dieâ chant at Mendes. Both connecting and Mendes scores a flash knockdown on Aldo! Aldo doesnât look hurt but he mustâve felt it because heâs clearly more wary of Mendesâ power now. Mendes isnât looking to wrestle at all it seems. Every time one lands a nice shot the other answers with their own. Aldo gets poked in the eye and after a brief time-out, he comes at Mendes hard. And now Aldo gets a knockdown! He ground and pounds his way into mount but loses it. Back on the feet and Aldo connects with a big combo right as the round ends that hurts Mendes badly. I remember this being a talking point at the time because the last punch landed after the buzzer. Brian Stann was all over it. I donât think Aldo was being dirty myself. He was in the middle of throwing a 3 punch combination and that last shot was already on the way before the buzzer went. Plus, this crowd is so ridiculously loud I wouldnât be surprised if Aldo, Mendes and Goddard couldnât hear the buzzer properly. Whatever the case, Mendes got fucking nailed. Aldo 10-9. Round 2: Mendes seems to have recovered well. Heâs really piling the pressure on and is landing a lot of kicks. Aldoâs starting to get his jab going but Mendes is getting the best of most of these exchanges. Good round for Mendes there and he takes the round 10-9. Round 3: They touch gloves and Mendes tried to get a sneaky punch in. Prick. Crowd didnât like that. He pokes Aldo in the eye again and they hate that even more. They go after it again and Aldoâs looking fast as fuck. But right when I say that... Mendes with a hard uppercut that seems to stun Aldo for a second. Mendes trying to follow up and gets cracked with a counter right to the swede... Christ. Every time Mendes seems to have a breakthrough, Aldo one-ups him with something better. Aldoâs pouring it on. Mendes wants to wrestle now but Aldoâs a fucker to take down. Aldoâs round 10-9. Onto the championship rounds. Round 4: Mendes back pushing the pace again. Aldoâs face is marked up now and heâs bleeding from the eye. Mendes is spamming that uppercut now but canât find the target. Aldo flying knee barely misses and heâs turning it on in the last minute of the round. Itâs not enough though and Mendes wins the round 10-9. So Iâve got them all tied at 38-38 going into the 5th. Aldoâs had the bigger moments and the heavier knockdowns but round-for-round, theyâre even. Round 5: Mendes with a strong start and landing some nice shots. Mendes finally gets a takedown but canât hold him down and doesnât really inflict any damage. And Aldoâs back up. Beautiful combo from Aldo, followed by a big knee. Theyâre both throwing and both connecting but Aldo always seems to get the last word in the exchanges. Aldo stuffs another takedown attempt as we enter the final minute of the fight. The crowd are buzzing. They go for it as the last 10 seconds tick down and Aldoâs trying flying kicks and all sorts. Itâs over. Aldo 10-9. They hug and Brian Stann channels Adam Smith, saying âAnd thereâs the respectâ. Winner - JosĂŠ Aldo by unanimous decision. Yep. Agree with that. Mendes fought his arse off but Aldo was just that bit better. Fantastic fight. I had it as FOTY in 2014 fairly comfortably. I look at this fight as the beginning of the end for Chad Mendes. He was never quite the same after this. The commentators kept banging on how it was the most damage weâd seen Aldo absorb in a fight but Mendes took the brunt of the abuse in this one. He went 2-3 over his next 5 fights, got stopped by Conor McGregor etc. He also got knocked out in a round by Frankie Edgar whoâs not really known for his punching power. That was a bit of a telling sign. He ended up retiring after the loss to Alexander Volkanovski in December 2018. And of course we know the score with Aldo. From the 13 seconds of misery against McGregor to the Holloway losses to the resurgence to the unexpected cut to 135lbs. Heâs had an eventful few years. I doubt it happens but thereâs not much in MMA that would please me more in 2020 than for Aldo to break Henry Cejudoâs face and take the title. Edited January 14, 2020 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 I forgot how many knockdowns there were in that fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 19, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted January 19, 2020 (edited) #13 - Robbie Lawler vs Carlos Condit - UFC 195 - Jan 2nd 2016 Back on it then. And it was only a matter of time before these two popped up in this countdown. Two men known for being in exciting, blood and guts battles. So when they were pitted against each other, it could only be that way. The ingredients for anything less simply werenât there. Originally, this was supposed to go down at UFC 193 in Australia in November 2015. But Lawler suffered a hand injury so it got pushed back to the new year. It worked out nicely though as 193 got Rousey vs Holm and weâd kick 2016 off with a bang with Lawler vs Condit. Robbie Lawlerâs story has been well documented. He burst onto everyoneâs radar back in 2002, entering the UFC as this wild 20 year old kid. He was part of the Pat Miletich team which was really THE camp at the time with the likes of Matt Hughes, Tim Sylvia and Jens Pulver all being on top of their games. Lawler was unlike any of them though. He was a lunatic just coming to knock heads off. Some things never change, right? He had his ups and downs and ultimately, losses to Nick Diaz and Evan Tanner saw him leave the promotion in 2004. He went about his business in a bunch of promotions after that. Leaving carnage like this in his wake... From those crazy Superbrawl shows in Hawaii to King Of The Cage to a cup of coffee in Pride to EliteXC before eventually settling in Strikeforce in 2009. By this point he was 27 years old with a 16-4-1 record and a reputation as one of the most consistently entertaining scrappers in the game. Win, lose or draw, you knew what you were getting when you saw âRuthlessâ Robâs name on a card. Again though, mixed results and in his 8 fights under the Strikeforce banner, he went a dismal 3-5 as a Middleweight. When Strikeforce shut its doors in late 2012, Lawler was 30 years old, 19-9-1 and coming off a loss to Lorenz Larkin. So when the UFC brought the Strikeforce lot in, and Lawler returned in 2013, expectations were low. Especially when he was matched up with wrestler Josh Koscheck for his first fight back. But Lawler was making changes. Heâd joined American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. Heâd also dropped back to Welterweight. He had another shot at the UFC and having just turned 30 and with a new baby at home, Lawler was leaving no stone unturned. It was now or never. In a pleasant surprise, he bashed Koscheck in a round. He followed that up with wins over Bobby Voelker and Rory MacDonald and earned himself an unexpected UFC title shot against Johny Hendricks in 2014. Hendricks was in top form at the time and I think most expected him to end Lawlerâs little unexpected purple patch of success. But Lawler gave him hell for 5 rounds in a great fight. Lawler there, laughing in the face of a Hendricks flurry. Lawler lost on points but proved he belonged in the title picture. He rallied back to beat Jake Ellenberger and Matt Brown, setting up the rematch with Hendricks. It was another close one but this time, Lawler ended strong and put a real arse kicking on Hendricks in the last round to seal the win. This gif from the end of the fight says it all... Hendricks is done. Lawler is still walking him down like a maniac. It was almost surreal but, after all the ups and downs, Robbie Lawler was somehow the UFC champion. One of my favourite surprise success stories in MMA history that. Of course, he then defended it in an absolute epic rematch with Rory Mac in 2015. I wonât bother going into that because *SPOILER ALERT* thatâs coming up later in the countdown anyway, which really shouldnât be a shock to anyone. Condit started young himself. Made his MMA debut at just 18 years old. He also fought his first Kickboxing bout against Andy Souwer who mustâve been close to 100 fights deep into his career at the time. Condit talked about that on Roganâs podcast a while back. Condit didnât give a fuck. Like Lawler, he bounced around the promotions fighting in Pancrase, Rumble On The Rock etc before eventually winding up in WEC in 2007. He won the vacant WEC Welterweight belt in just his second fight with the organisation and successfully defended it 3 times. His August 2008 fight with Hiromitsu Miura being the highlight. One of my favourite fights from WEC. In 2009 he came into the UFC at 23-4. He immediately had 3 fantastic fights with Martin Kampmann, Jake Ellenberger and Rory MacDonald. The Ellenberger fight especially is a real forgotten gem. He properly got the MMA worldâs attention in 2010 though, when he came to London and sparked Dan Hardy in hostile territory... After that he had some big moments. In 2012 he beat Nick Diaz to win the interim title and almost knocked out GSP with a headkick in a valiant losing effort. He went 2-2 in his next 4. So it was a little bit of a head scratcher that he was granted a crack at Lawlerâs gold. But I think the general consensus at the time was one of âah, sod itâ. Everyone knew this was going to be pure, unfiltered violence. Robbie Lawler (c) vs Carlos Condit - Welterweight Title UFC 195: Lawler vs Condit January 2nd 2016 Las Vegas, Nevada If youâre familiar at all with these two then you wonât be surprised when I say there was very little pre-fight talk from either side and zero bad blood going in. Think they even appeared on a podcast together in the run up to the fight. They knew what they were up against and there was no pretence or fake hype necessary. âCarlos has fought a lot of good fighters. None of them like me. Iâm a knockout artist, power in both hands, I can hurt you in many ways.â - Robbie Lawler The chilling words of the champ as the show opens. Condit, as always, coming out with the mean mug to Rage Against The Machine. Goes together like chips and gravy. Round 1: Lawler pressuring right off the bat. Controlling the centre of the Octagon as Condit tries to counter on the backfoot. Then all of a sudden, Condit drops him! It was hard to see what caused it at first but it was a short lead left straight to the chin. Robbie doesnât look massively hurt by it but it stunned him enough to put him down. Lawler got up smiling the mad cunt. Condit looking good early. Lots of kicking and keeping Robbie guessing mixing up his attacks. Very nice opening round for the âNatural Born Killerâ. Condit 10-9. Round 2: Lawler is like a coiled spring. Heâs just looking for his chance to let loose. Condit moving and kicking again. Lawler fucking CRACKS Condit coming in with a hard right hook that puts him on the deck. Absolutely clobbered him. That was heavy knockdown. And Lawler is raining down bombs on the ground. Condit weathers the storm and recovers well. Robbie again bringing the pain with big punches. Heâs finding a home for his shots now but Condit lands a couple of nice strikes as the round ends. Lawler 10-9. Maybe a 10-8 under the new scoring. Round 3: Condit keeping Lawler at bay with his kicks early doors here. But Lawler is turning up the heat again and goes on the attack. Both connecting with hard shots in close. Good kicks by Condit and some knees. Hard body kick from Condit. Mike Goldberg with the stats, telling us that Condit is leading the numbers 3-to-1 in output of strikes. Problem with that is a lot of those strikes are hitting thin air. Lawler is throwing less but when they land they land with fucking venom. Close one. Condit ended the round stronger but I had Lawler just about edging it. Tough one though. And we enter the championship rounds. Round 4: Goldberg is banging on about the stats again as Rogan falls in love with Conditâs movement and talks about him having a âmovement coachâ which was all the rage and a real buzzword at the time thanks to TJ âMr EPOâ Dillashawâs success and McGregor âplaying touch-butt in the park with the ponytailâ as Nate Diaz called it. Meanwhile, Lawler is focused on one movement. Moving his knuckles upside Conditâs dome. Condit landing a lot towards the end of the round though and Robbie isnât finding many opportunities to pull the trigger. Condit hurts him and swarms all over him in the last 30 seconds and itâs Condit 10-9. So Iâve got them even going into the last round. Rogan and Goldy are talking like Lawler is way behind though. Theyâre acting like he needs the KO to win. Round 5: Real sense of urgency now and Lawler is bringing it. Heâs connecting with some big shots but Condit fires back with a sweet combo of uppercuts and elbows in close range. This is awesome. Condit seems to be starting to pull ahead. Heâs piling up the points and well on his way to taking Robbieâs belt. âCarlos bloodied up but far from beaten. Total strikes...the statistics are SO lopsided. Nearly 400 strikes thrown by the Natural Born Killerâ - Mike Goldberg Carol Vorderman over here again with the fucking numbers. More combinations from Condit. Heâs looking great here late in the fight. Iâm pretty sure Goldy and Rogan are wanking over the stats and the movement at this point. Then it happens. Lawler gets through with a big right hand. And the floodgates open. The Robbie Lawler Beast Mode is upon us. He unleashes an all-out assault for the last 90 seconds of the fight that renders Conditâs âmovement coachâ about as useful as a knitted condom. Conditâs game as always and trying his best to throw back but heâs in a whirlwind of haymakers, spit, snot and blood. The type of shit Robbie Lawler lives for. That point in the fight where he bites down on the mouthpiece and just goes full-on savage. And I donât mean Lily. Heâs smashing Condit all about the place. Conditâs hanging on for dear life. All that work he put in early in the round. All for nowt. Lawler is paying him back with attempted murder. Condit lands a few digs but Lawler gives it back worse and slams his shin into Conditâs face as we get to the final 10 seconds. The fight ends just in time before Rogan has a heart attack. Lawlerâs round, obviously. I wouldnât give it 10-8 because Condit was bossing it for about 3 minutes. But Lawler snatched it from him big time. As soon as the buzzer goes, both men just slump against the fence totally exhausted. âWhat a fight! With nothing left, look at these guys. Literally nothing left. Emptied out. Unbelievable! Unbelievable! That mightâve been one of the best rounds in the history of the Welterweight division.â - Joe Rogan Definitely one of the best rounds ever for me, regardless of weight class. So Iâve got it for Lawler 48-47. I wouldnât argue against someone having it for Condit though. Very close and that third round really couldâve swung it either way. Winner - Robbie Lawler by split decision. I remember quite a few cries of robbery in the days after the fight. I disagreed then, I still disagree now. Like I said, if you had it for Condit I can definitely see why. But either man winning it 3-2 is a perfectly fair and justifiable scorecard. And right enough, all the judges had it 48-47 one way or the other. No controversy here. Great, great, bloody great fight. It built and built and that last round was a hell of a climax. There was some talk of an immediate rematch at the time but it wasnât to be. Lawler lost the strap to Tyron Woodley in his next defence. And Condit was never the same again. For all the wars both men have been in, in hindsight this one mightâve been the final nail for both. In the 4 years since this fight took place, Lawler has gone 1-4 and as I type this heâs lost his last 3 in a row. And Condit hasnât won a fight since. Heâs gone 0-4 since the Lawler fight and been submitted in 3 of them. Heâs been flirting with retirement since shortly after the Lawler fight. So as amazing as these fights are, they come at a cost. Which is why we should really appreciate them even more. Edited January 19, 2020 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 22 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: âCarlos bloodied up but far from beaten. Total strikes...the statistics are SO lopsided. Nearly 400 strikes thrown by the Natural Born Killerâ - Mike Goldberg Carol Vorderman over here again with the fucking numbers. All this brings up an interesting question about Mike Goldberg. Did he start to phone it in as time went on? Or was he always crap?  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane O' Mac Version 2 Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 17 hours ago, jimufctna24 said: All this brings up an interesting question about Mike Goldberg. Did he start to phone it in as time went on? Or was he always crap?  I feel like he's always been pretty crap. Joe Rogan did a decent job over the years keeping him in check. He's had some shockers though. One that sticks out for me is the Rousey/Holm fight, Holly is destroying Ronda, and Goldberg says something like "It takes a lot of energy being a rockstar", and Rogan shoots him down with "It's nothing to do with being a rockstar, she's getting punched in the face!" Not the exact quotes but it's along those lines. This is a great thread, Wand, some fights I remembered, others I didn't, but I'm using them all in my Favourites list on Fight Pass so I can have one hell of a binging session. Keep it up man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 21, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted January 21, 2020 #12 - Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard 2 - UFC 125 - Jan 1st 2011 Onto the next one. And I think this is a fairly obvious choice. As the â2â tells you there, theyâd met before. Back in 2008, they faced off on a Fight Night card. Neither man was all that well known at the time but they were both on the rise and undefeated. Edgar was 9-0, Maynard was 4-0-1. I havenât seen the fight since the night it happened but my memories of it arenât exactly fond ones. Flicking through the Countdown for the rematch here though, it doesnât look that bad in the highlights. But Maynard broke his right hand in the first round and just outwrestled Frankie for the rest of the fight to a lopsided decision. It was Edgarâs first loss, obviously. Yeah, not the best of fights from what I recall. Just a case of two wrestlers squaring off and the bigger, stronger one won. Maynard went on a bit of a tear after that win. Winning his next 5 bouts over the likes of Rich Clementi, Jim Miller, Roger Huerta, Nate Diaz and Kenny Florian. But in the meantime, Frankie had bounced back big time himself. He racked up wins over Hermes Franca, Sean Sherk and Matt Veach, bagging himself a title shot in 2010. Problem was, BJ Penn had the gold. And Penn was on the scariest form of his career. Heâd spent the bulk of 2009 training under Marv Marinovic and put in two of his best career performances against Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez. On paper, there was nothing Frankie Edgar brought to the table that should derail the great BJ Penn on this kind of form. But BJ had sacked off the Marinovic training methods in favour of his usual more laid back approach to training for this one. And Frankie was coming to prove a point. They went 5 close rounds in a hot Abu Dhabi arena and in the end... Frankie had done it. He surprised the MMA world by taking Pennâs belt. It was a bit of a highly debated decision though and many felt Penn shouldâve got the nod from the judges. So the immediate rematch was booked for 4 months later in August 2010. This time thereâd be no debate. Frankie trounced him for the whole 5 rounds in a total shutout. So with Edgar firmly established as the top dog at 155, and Maynard still unbeaten and on a strong run of wins, it was a bit of a no brainer. Plus there was the added story of Edgar trying to avenge his only loss. Itâs been forgotten now though, but there was a collective groan when this fight was announced. BJ Penn had been such a popular champion that it would take something special to follow his reign. And two wrestlers with dry personalities, having a rematch of a fight that wasnât all that exciting...it just wasnât it. As I recall, most were predicting a bit of a snoozer. âHeâs coming in with a perfect record and I have that one blemish. And itâs him. Iâm 13-and-Gray Maynard. I wanna do what I can do to erase that and forget about it and move on.â - Frankie Edgar â â â â â âA guy who I beat, and HE has the belt? Itâs MY revenge now. He has everything that I should have. That I want. I just gotta go get it now.â - Gray Maynard Here we go. Frankie Edgar (c) vs Gray Maynard - Lightweight Title UFC 125: Resolution January 1st 2011 Las Vegas, Nevada RESOLUTION! Remember when they used to give the PPVs these cheesy names? Anyway, the stage was set. New Years Day 2011. Despite the lukewarm response to the main event, there was some buzz surrounding this one. But mostly because it was announced that the winner would defend against WEC champ Anthony Pettis who was just a few weeks removed from landing that âShowtime Kickâ on Benson Henderson to take the title. That kick went viral at the time so people were buzzing to see Pettis in the UFC. There was definitely a general feeling of people looking beyond this fight to what was next. I was guilty of that myself. Round 1: Circling early and Frankie, as always, is moving really well. Despite being wrestlers, both are content to box in the early going. Then a little over a minute in... Bang! A left hook from Maynard sends Frankie flying arse-over-tit and Maynard is all over him. Frankie is getting fucking battered. The once disinterested crowd has suddenly woke right the fuck up. Edgarâs nose has been popped and heâs wobbly on the feet but he seems to have weathered the worst of the storm. But then... Fuck me. Maynard continues the assault. Everything he throws seems to be connecting and everything that connects is hurting Frankie. âIf Frankie Edgar gets out of this round it will be incredible!â - Joe Rogan Maynard is just walking him down and smashing him to bits. Amazingly, Edgar seems to have his legs back under him and actually lands a couple of shots as the round comes to an end. Maynard 10-8 but honestly, if there was ever a case for a 10-7 round, this was it. Round 2: Edgar looks like heâs back with it and lands a nice right hand that momentarily stops Gray in his tracks early in the round. Maynard is stalking him with that right hand cocked. Not so much output from him now though. Mightâve punched himself out in that opening round. Crazy how good Frankie looks here after that disaster of a first round. Huge slam from Frankie! Totally forgot about that and nearly lost my shit all over again like it was the first time Iâd seen it. More punches land for Edgar and he stuffs a Maynard takedown attempt. Another couple of flush right hands for Frankie as the round ends. Unbelievable turnaround! Edgar 10-9. Maynardâs corner are fuming between rounds. âHey, youâre trying to knock his ass out. Just beat him up, alright? You donât need to knock him out. Thatâll come. You gave him that round now. You understand me? Itâs a round apiece.â - Randy Couture Round 3: The stern talking to from Randy seems to have lit a fire under Maynardâs arse and heâs looking better this round. Both land some good stuff but Maynard is finding the mark more often and with the heavier shots. He also secures a takedown in the last minute. Frankie tries for a guillotine at the end but runs out of time. Maynard 10-9. Round 4: Frankie comes out blazing with a takedown right away and locks in a standing guillotine as Maynard gets up. Maynard escapes and Frankie gets another takedown. Back up and Frankie is looking great this round. Heâs mixing things up and keeping Maynard guessing. Another half takedown against the fence and heâs really putting it on Gray here. The fact he not only survived that first round but came back to put a pace like this on in the championship rounds is utterly insane. Edgar 10-9. Miraculous comeback from Edgar. From looking like a walking corpse in the first round to 2-2 going into the last round is nuts. Round 5: Edgar looking good again here. Maynard does land some hard shots and still looks dangerous but Frankie is just too slick and fast for him. In some ways that big first round mightâve been the worst thing that couldâve happened for Maynard because ever since then heâs almost exclusively been headhunting. He finally shoots for another takedown but Edgar easily stops it. Final minute and theyâre both going for broke. Frankie landing some sweet combos and defends another takedown. Both swinging punches as the fight ends. Awesome. Edgar 10-9 again. Result - Split Draw. I also had it a draw. That 10-8 first round made all the difference in the end. Ridiculous fight. Of course, the draw verdict killed that Pettis fight stone dead. Edgar vs Maynard 3 was a must after this. And somehow, for me, they had an even better fight. That oneâs still to come in the countdown. Side note - more than once while typing this post, the autocorrect on my phone changed âFrankieâ to âgraniteâ. How fitting is that? Especially when talking about this fight specifically. Guess theyâre called smart phones for good reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 (edited) On 1/21/2020 at 8:56 AM, wandshogun09 said: Itâs been forgotten now though, but there was a collective groan when this fight was announced. BJ Penn had been such a popular champion that it would take something special to follow his reign. And two wrestlers with dry personalities, having a rematch of a fight that wasnât all that exciting...it just wasnât it. As I recall, most were predicting a bit of a snoozer. It was also a bit of a dark period for MMA in some regards. The initial boom period was coming to an end. Lesnar had just lost to Cain, Liddell has retired over the summer, and the Kimbo experiment had run its course. It also didn't help that this card was initially going to be headlined by the hotly-anticipated Sonnen vs Silva rematch, which was cancelled because Sonnen got busted for PEDs. The rematch would have been received a lot better had it served as support for Silva vs Sonnen. But at a time where things where trending downwards, and genuine attractions were dropping like flies, it didn't really fit as a PPV headliner. Luckily, the fight over-delivered on the night. Edited January 22, 2020 by jimufctna24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted January 24, 2020 Author Paid Members Share Posted January 24, 2020 (edited) #11 - Dustin Poirier vs Justin Gaethje - UFC Fight Night - Apr 18th 2018 This one is still fairly fresh in the memory but, fuck it, Iâll happily watch it again. This was another fight with no backstory to speak of. Just a fun fight for the sake of a fun fight. Fine by me. It was just one of those matchups where you can chuck them on as a Fight Night headliner and you know itâs going to be at worst entertaining and at best a FOTY candidate. Poirier at this time was on a hot streak. Heâd been through some rough patches at Featherweight earlier in his career. He lost a fantastic fight against Korean Zombie in 2012 (that one just narrowly missed this countdown) and, of course, he got slept by Conor McGregor in 2014. He moved up to Lightweight after the McGregor loss and put some nice wins together. But when Michael Johnson sparked him in a round in 2016, I think everyone kind of wrote Poirier off as far as being a player in the division went. He came back strong though and in 2017 he beat Jim Miller, had a great fight with Eddie Alvarez that ended in a No Contest but most felt Poirier was winning, then he beat Anthony Pettis. All really good fights as well. He was back on track heading into 2018. For Gaethje, this was his first fight since suffering his first loss against Eddie Alvarez in that slobberknocker I covered above. Heâd gone 18-0 before that, 16 finishes, WSOF champ etc. And despite being 1-1 in the UFC at this point, he was 2-for-2 for legit FOTY contenders in 2017. Heâd made quite an impression. This was his chance to redeem himself against another top contender. Dustin Poirier vs Justin Gaethje UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs Gaethje April 18th 2018 Glendale, Arizona Tyron Woodley and Michael Bisping are both predicting a Poirier win during the pre-fight analysis. Anik, Cormier and Cruz are commentating. âIâm coming to beat his ass and heâs coming to do the same. The fans are in for a treat. Buckle up, enjoy the ride.â - Dustin Poirier Arizona born Gaethje is getting the big hometown boy reaction during his walkout. Round 1: Well there were questions going in about how Gaethje would look coming off his first loss. Would it make him less aggressive at all? Within seconds thatâs answered and itâs a resounding ânoâ. Heâs coming right at Poirier from the off and landing those horrible Tong Po leg kicks. Poirier is moving around and landing the cleaner punches though. Heâs still eating the leg kicks but heâs making Gaethje pay with combinations every time. Heâs clearly the better striker technically but Gaethje makes up for that by being a bloody nutcase. Sweet combo from Poirier and heâs starting to pick Gaethje apart now. But Gaethje is firing back. Poirier is looking sharp as fuck but Gaethje keeps whipping in those inside leg kicks and you just know theyâre money in the bank if the fight goes long. âThis is what we expected. These guys are fighting in a phone booth. Poirierâs gonna have to get some respect and get Justin moving back a little bit.â - Daniel Cormier Hard shots from Poirier late in the round. Gaethje is stupid tough but Poirier is landing a LOT here. Poirier 10-9. Gaethje is asking his corner who won that round and Trevor Wittman screeches âYOU DID!â In his own little annoying Trevor Wittman way. He didnât win the round though. Wittman is a big filthy high pitched voice having fibber. Round 2: Picking up right where they left off. Poirier busting him up with his boxing and his body kicks and Gaethje is just walking through it and blasting kicks at his legs. And itâs starting to pay off now. Poirier is visibly feeling it now. He canât mask it like he did earlier. Iâm wincing myself at some of them. And to piss in his wounds, Gaethje pokes him in the eye. Both landing punches. And Gaethje is getting through more now than he was earlier. Probably because all those leg kicks have hindered Poirierâs movement. Theyâre both fucking going for it! Poirier has actually starting going for takedowns. His leg must be trashed. Gaethje keeps it standing, lands a few hard shots and busts out a rolling thunder kick thingy at the buzzer... Maniac. Close round. Both landed a lot. I felt like Gaethje took it 10-9 though. Poirier looks in agony as they await the start of the third round. And Gaethje is on the opposite side grinning from ear to ear and trying to amp the crowd up more. Heâs loving life. Must be fucking demoralising fighting someone like that. You can barely stand and youâve dished out about a zillion punches in 10 minutes. You get off the stool, look across the cage and the mad twatâs having the time of his life. Round 3: Gaethje bringing it again. He just refuses to fuck off for even a second. Poirier actually gets a takedown finally but Gaethje pops right back up. The pressure from Gaethje is insane. He lands a hard right that makes Poirier stumble... He definitely looks troubled by it and Gaethje follows up with a hard elbow in close against the fence. Gaethje has him against the cage and is landing uppercuts and kneeing the already smashed up legs. God this is turning into a right miserable fight for Poirier. More leg kicks. Do you reckon Gaethje watched Karate Kid 3 much growing up? âIf a man canât stand he canât fight.â - Terry The Bastard Silver Gaethjeâs butchering Poirierâs legs. Iâm actually starting to feel sorry for Poirier. And weâre still only at the halfway point of the fight. Heâs now making feeble attempts to grab Gaethjeâs legs for some kind of weak takedown. He wants no more of them leg kicks and I donât blame him one bit. Poirier gets poked in the eye again. Christ almighty. This is a living hell for poor Dustin. Herb Dean docks a point from Gaethje but I donât think thatâs much consolation at this point. Poirier is suffering. The doctor checks him and Poirier says heâs OK. They fight on and now Poirier pokes Gaethje in the eye as the round ends. 9-9 with the point deduction. Maybe 9-8 Gaethje though, to be honest. Both look worse for wear in between rounds. Round 4: They both seem to have an urgency about them here and almost right away Poirier fucking stuns him with a straight left! Gaethjeâs legs are all over the place and Poirier follows up with a flurry of punches and finally puts Gaethje down... Mental. Herb Dean has seen enough and waves it off. Gaethje didnât go out but I thought it was a good stoppage. He looked fucked and it was most likely only going to get worse. Herb saved him. Incredible comeback from Poirier. Winner - Dustin Poirier by TKO. Round 4 - 0:33. Nutty fight. Poirier showed a lot about what kind of fighter and how tough of a man he really is here. It felt like he was heading to getting stopped all through those 2nd and 3rd rounds. His leg was done, his vision was impaired from the eye pokes, heâd been hurt with punches. And he had the perfect chance at the end of the 3rd to get out of the fight when the doctor was checking on him. All he had to do was keep squinting the eye and not responding to his questions. If he wanted a way out, he was handed it. But he went beyond that mental barrier and came out and blitzed Gaethje at the start of the next round. This was a real turning point for Poirier, in my opinion. Heâd kind of choked in the big fights before this. This win felt like heâd turned a corner as a fighter and it ultimately set him up for those big Holloway and Khabib fights in 2019. Iâve seen a few suggestions online that these two rematch while the whole Khabib, Ferguson, McGregor, Masvidal, Diaz saga plays out this year. Wouldnât be against that at all. I think McGregor vs Gaethje would be the better fight to make but Iâd certainly not turn my nose up at Poirier vs Gaethje 2. Edited January 24, 2020 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted January 24, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted January 24, 2020 I'd love to see a rematch between the pair of them. What an incredible fight it was. I can't remember if Poirier said anything to the effect or not, but at the time it felt like he came out for that 4th round with the idea he was going to be toast if he took anymore damage at all and set about throwing a Hail Mary of an assault at Justin at the beginning of the round in search of the stoppage so that he wouldn't have to stand on that leg any longer. Poirier's leg was totally minced. Both men are in the position where a rematch looks like their best option at the moment. I'm sure Gaethje is ready to go. I'm not so sure what Dustin's timetable is with having had hip surgery sometime following the Khabib fight. I don't think either man is likely to be fighting McGregor, Ferguson or Khabib next. They could be in the frame for a fight with Nate though, which would probably be more appealing to both of it were on the table. We'll probably get Poirier/Gaethje II at some point though, and it's going to have a hell of a time living up to the first one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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