Elsalvajeloco
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Everything posted by Elsalvajeloco
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The thing is...what was he going to do to change Barboza's direction? It's not like Barboza started to really ramp it up in round 2. He was getting at Pettis from the very beginning. This dude is throwing lightning fast leg kicks. I don't think anyone wants to get hit with those. So if anything, Pettis had to be more aggressive so the judges wouldn't swayed by that even though Barboza was also busting him up with left hooks. TBH I think Felder played more into Barboza's hands than Pettis and still ended up representing himself way better than Pettis. Pettis was looking for one big punch and/or high kick and was just shell-shocked. -
I think that fact that Jon has Greg Jackson (and Izzy Martinez) in his corner makes me believe that they don't even fool around with Rumble on the feet. I see Jon putting Anthony against the fence and wearing him out. I am not ruling out that Jon might take a couple punches from Rumble, but I see Rumble overreaching on some of his strikes. Jon can still reach him from halfway across the cage and that's what will make much of what Rumble is trying to do obsolete. Once Jon gets him down, there is nothing much good for Rumble that could happen from there. With that said, Rumble has a better shot than almost anyone at HW. I think the bricked up Jon Jones people were expecting to show up last night would be the one you see at heavyweight.
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I think part of that may play into it, but I believe it's mostly Pettis buying into his own hype. When you're fighting in the most talent laden division, you better fight every round hard. I think most of us can tell when someone isn't able to pull the trigger. Pettis just looked like a man looking for one big move to end Barboza's night. Barboza was just eating him up. He made both of his legs look two different shades of another color. I think Anthony's road to the title and what he did after capturing the title tells the story of his career. I don't think Pettis is a frontrunner or anything, but he is looking to make everything into a showcase for his talents. When you get to a certain level (especially at lightweight), those showcases are going to be few and far between. I think there are a number of fighters at 155 who Pettis would utterly destroy, but what's the likelihood of Pettis regularly fighting those fighters unless he is in a situation where he is 0-3 in his last three. He wins an easy rebound fight, but what next? Is he going to learn from those three fights or does he believe he is "back"?
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Much of OSP's strategy was "Jon isn't trying to dislocate my kneecap with oblique kicks right now so I guess I should try to punch him". OSP landed one good right hand square on the chin, and Jon just ate that shit and kept pushing forward. As I said in the UFC 182 event thread, you're going to need more than 3 or 4 good strikes to beat Jon Jones. You need to win rounds. Right now, I don't see anyone being able to do that.
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No way he wouldn't have. That version of Jon still beats DC no worse than 49-46 on the scorecards. This narrative needs to stop now. Daniel Cormier's game relies solely on slamming and suplexing dudes he is much stronger than. Did OSP do that last night? Nope. Actually, the inverse happened as Jon almost slammed him through the cage in the fifth round. We also know that Jon is much stronger than DC and is able to soundly shut down his takedowns. This was BEFORE he did decide to become Mr. Olympia. DC also uses the cage to dirty box the shit out of people. Did OSP do that last night? Nope, he actually didn't have anything remotely for Jon except trying to not get elbowed in the face from 15 different angles. If DC is a better striker than you and can crack your chin, he will do that. What did OSP do last night? He landed like 5 body kicks and 3 1-2s. This was all the offense he had in a 25 minute fight. Over five 5 minute rounds, he had that much offense. On top of that, he got his arm broken midway through the fight and decided to go into "don't get killed" mode. If this was football, OSP's strategy would be to have 3 guys on the LOS (just because you have to have 3) and have 8 defensive backs on his own twenty yard line. He wasn't trying to do anything to force Jon's hand. Lack of entertainment value (which I put mostly on OSP) does not mean that 80% Jon Jones would not kick everyone's ass from 185 to heavyweight. That's enough to beat everyone. This is still Jon Jones.
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Think about it though...what was Daniel Cormier going to do differently than he did at UFC 182? Jon Jones lifted up OSP in the 5th round like he was a tiny child.
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Brett Okamoto @bokamotoESPN 1m1 minute ago Dana White tells me if Jon Jones is healthy and Daniel Cormier is cleared on an MRI on Monday, they will headline 200.
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FWIW, Sergio and Anthony have the same number of UFC wins (5).
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Looks like if DC gets cleared on Monday, the rematch with Jon Jones will be at UFC 200.
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I don't think it was any worse than the Rashad fight. Rashad basically spent the back half of that fight just trying to stay upright.
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OSP's strategy was not to die so I mean.
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I don't even think Barboza's wrestling is bad. It's just that he gets caught sometimes, which ultimately leads to probably getting submitted. He fights in a "kill or get killed" type of way.
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Jackson, M. Schultz, and Cejudo?
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Anthony got tuned up something fierce.
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Whittaker is a good fighter, but he needs to learn how to stay back sometimes. He leaves too many opportunities open. That makes it way easier to get caught in exchanges.
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So yeah, you can just pass Pantera the check for $50k as soon as he gets backstage.
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Very good fight between Dominique Steele and Danny Roberts. Steele surprised me. He managed to keep Roberts off balance for most of the fight and probably should've got the decision.
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Three losses in a row for Hester. That's a shame because he showed a ton of promise on TUF. The problems are still the same though. He's a good athlete with good power, but none of the instincts you would want a fighter to have. For example, tonight, Pezao got Hester on the ground and Hester's first thought is to survive. He didn't do anything to try to get up or stop Pezao to from obtaining mount. Just not a good sign. Anyway, a solid win for Pezao.
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Decent win for Kevin Lee. Hard to revert back to his wrestling to get it done.
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Cormier legitimately doesn't like Jon Jones and vice versa.
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Really looking forward to El Pantera vs. Fili. Could be a breakout performance for either fighter. It's interesting that Fili is one of the last remaining Alpha Male fighters now that Buchholz is the head coach. I wonder if that plays a tremendous role in Fili's performance. Definitely looking forward to Pettis vs. Barboza. If there was any fight where Pettis can go all out, this would be the one. However, he shouldn't underestimate Barboza at all. When you're up against another fighter who throws exotic techniques, the last place you want to find yourself is on the wrong end of a counter. Glad to see James Vick back. He can enter the fold at lightweight if he stays healthy. I expect Whittaker and Danny Roberts to shine tonight. Steele had a badass slam finish against the "other" Dong Hyun Kim, but Roberts is the better, more polished fighter overall. Sapo is tough and underrated, but I think Whittaker runs through him. Probably gets a convincing (T)KO stoppage. Lee should bounce back against Escudero. Should be a solid 30-27 decision. Marcos Pezao vs. Hester shouldn't last long. Hester is slowly becoming another OSP, but with a smaller gas tank. This fight could go one of two ways in my opinion. Hester puts heavy activity on Pezao early and causes him to cave. The second way being Pezao knocking him out within 3 or 4 minutes. Any thoughts on the main event? My head says Jones feels him out for a few minutes and subs him inside of a round and a half.
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He's fighting Fernando Gonzalez on the London show. That would be his first halfway decent opponent since Nah-shon Burrell awhile back.
