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2016 Non-Event General MMA Talk Thread


Elsalvajeloco

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5 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

 

To be fair to VileOne, I did see similar things on my Twitter timeline and other discussion forums following the Vancouver show.

People are expecting Anthony Pettis who gets people out of there in the first round, and that's basically unrealistic.

If you fight top competition at Featherweight, Lightweight, or Welterweight, I can't hold it against you if you don't your opponent in the first round.  Those divisions are full of tough, highly skilled, well rounded fighters.  There aren't a lot of guys in the top 20 of those divisions who are going to get their doors blown off.  Jose Aldo is one of the 5 best mixed martial artists of all time and hasn't had a first round knockout since 2012.  Pettis' has struggled over the last couple of years, but he's been fighting the best of the best at the best weight.  He lost to the former champion, the current champion, and a guy who is probably the worst possible match up for his striking style.  He isn't losing to bums.

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36 minutes ago, supremebve said:

If you fight top competition at Featherweight, Lightweight, or Welterweight, I can't hold it against you if you don't your opponent in the first round.  Those divisions are full of tough, highly skilled, well rounded fighters.  There aren't a lot of guys in the top 20 of those divisions who are going to get their doors blown off.  Jose Aldo is one of the 5 best mixed martial artists of all time and hasn't had a first round knockout since 2012.  Pettis' has struggled over the last couple of years, but he's been fighting the best of the best at the best weight.  He lost to the former champion, the current champion, and a guy who is probably the worst possible match up for his striking style.  He isn't losing to bums.

If you look at what I said in the Vancouver thread, you'll see you're preaching to the choir on this one.

People look at Pettis' run to the title and what happened in the Melendez fight and think that should happen in every fight. Also, people were expecting him to Dim Mak death touch RdA. When that didn't happen and based on how he looked in the Alvarez fight, people were already putting the coffin nails in as far as the end of his career. I mean I called Barboza giving him a really tough time because the change of camps helped Barboza greatly (specifically Mark Henry) and his striking is just otherworldly when he's on. I am not saying people shouldn't be skeptical because he has had a ton of inconsistent moments in his career and the injuries did pile up for quite awhile. However, the dude is still only 29. That may be a little old for the lower weight divisions, but that's still ample time to put together some good wins. Plus, I think he is talented enough to still do that. He's also competing in a more top heavy division. Is he going to beat Jose Aldo? Probably not, but other than a straight left hand right to the chinpiece, what is? Also, you have a lot less dudes playing spoiler at featherweight. Someone like Bektic and obviously Holloway are coming up fast, but there isn't too many dudes like that yet. The ones who might be are still at least 1-2 years away. I mean someone like Yair Rodriguez has gotten really good really fast, but he still needs a ton of seasoning. However, down the line, Pettis-Rodriguez could be some straight up Mortal Kombat shit if it ever got booked. Pettis-Ortega would be as well. Shit, I'll take Pettis trying to avenge his brother's loss to Caceres.

Just because you can't win the title doesn't mean you can't break into the upper crust of the division, especially if it's less deeper than the division you just came from. So I am all for another name joining that division and being available for a bunch of compelling matchups.

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Two-time judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison is going into MMA.  I think she'll be successful as she has also boxed and done jiu-jitsu, but the issue is that she competed in the Olympics at 172 lbs. Her opportunities will be limited by lack of quality competition.  

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Pettis has been looking way too laid back lately, and he was hardly in control of Charles Oliveira that entire fight.  In fact, Oliveira was more than holding his own and had evened the fight up before Pettis caught him in a choke.  

It's hard for me to believe those injuries and long layoffs did not take their toll on Pettis.  In the last year, he's not only looked slower, but way more timid.  He has trouble pulling the trigger.  He's constantly waiting for his moment to let something go, and it never happens.  Look at the Barboza fight where Barboza completely took him off his game and had him constantly missing and behind everywhere.

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14 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

Pettis has been looking way too laid back lately, and he was hardly in control of Charles Oliveira that entire fight.  In fact, Oliveira was more than holding his own and had evened the fight up before Pettis caught him in a choke.  

It's hard for me to believe those injuries and long layoffs did not take their toll on Pettis.  In the last year, he's not only looked slower, but way more timid.  He has trouble pulling the trigger.  He's constantly waiting for his moment to let something go, and it never happens.  Look at the Barboza fight where Barboza completely took him off his game and had him constantly missing and behind everywhere.

Pettis vs.. Oliveira was competitive, but Pettis was winning the fight handily.  He won the striking exchanges and the grappling exchanges.  Oliveira wasn't a punching bag, but Pettis was better than him in every aspect of the fight.  Oliveira is a quality fighter who has the ability to hold his own with anyone in the division.  Pettis was very comfortable and taking risks that he wouldn't normally take, because he was clearly the better fighter in every single position.  

Barboza battered Pettis, but Barboza is pretty much custom made to give Pettis trouble.  Pettis is a really good striker because of his power and creativity.  Barboza is a great striker because he has perfect technique.  Barboza's understanding of timing and movement while striking keeps him out of harms way when it comes to Pettis' power and his leg kicking kept him focused on protecting himself to try any of his more risky techniques.  Pettis is a guy who can compete with the top 5 at featherweight and lightweight, which are two of the three best divisions in the sport.  He isn't going to win all of those fights, but he isn't going to lose all of them either.  

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42 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

Pettis has been looking way too laid back lately, and he was hardly in control of Charles Oliveira that entire fight.  In fact, Oliveira was more than holding his own and had evened the fight up before Pettis caught him in a choke.  

It's hard for me to believe those injuries and long layoffs did not take their toll on Pettis.  In the last year, he's not only looked slower, but way more timid.  He has trouble pulling the trigger.  He's constantly waiting for his moment to let something go, and it never happens.  Look at the Barboza fight where Barboza completely took him off his game and had him constantly missing and behind everywhere.

I think the Barboza fight is a bad example because people underrate how easy it is to look bad against Barboza. Paul Felder is someone who has never really had a problem pulling the trigger, and he was always a step behind Barboza. Felder would land one good strike and then Barboza would come back w/ 3 to 4 good ones. And Felder is way more of a volume striker than Pettis. Compared to who Pettis faced in his career, he had never seen anything like that. Cerrone would probably be the closest but Pettis wasn't even in the cage with Cerrone long enough to determine that.

What I would compare it to is Holm vs. Shevchenko. There was no question in my mind that Shevchenko was a better striker than Holm. The thing I would interchange size with is the fact that Pettis does have that ability to stun his opponent and follow up or grab a quick submission. However, unless it's a Canelo/Khan type thing, consistent skill will most likely always win out over just one attribute or some random intangible thing. With Holm/Shevchenko, that one flash knockdown Holm got early on paled in comparison to the fact Valentina was skilled enough to land the same one or two combos over and over again. That's the way I saw Barboza's bout with Pettis turning out. Pettis probably could dinged Barboza early on, but that fight was going to get progressively tougher to win as Barboza got more into his groove. You could just watch the first 6-8 minutes and say, "Yeah, Anthony ain't winning this one short of Barboza's closing his eyes as a Pettis counter is coming."

If someone like Barboza is standing out of range, what was Pettis going to do exactly? He tried to bring him in range and got absolutely tattooed. That's a fight I could've saw Pettis losing at any point of his career because there ain't many solutions to winning that kinda fight except for a bunch of Hail Mary strategies.

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13 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I think the Barboza fight is a bad example because people underrate how easy it is to look bad against Barboza. Paul Felder is someone who has never really had a problem pulling the trigger, and he was always a step behind Barboza. Felder would land one good strike and then Barboza would come back w/ 3 to 4 good ones. And Felder is way more of a volume striker than Pettis. Compared to who Pettis faced in his career, he had never seen anything like that. Cerrone would probably be the closest but Pettis wasn't even in the cage with Cerrone long enough to determine that.

What I would compare it to is Holm vs. Shevchenko. There was no question in my mind that Shevchenko was a better striker than Holm. The thing I would interchange size with is the fact that Pettis does have that ability to stun his opponent and follow up or grab a quick submission. However, unless it's a Canelo/Khan type thing, consistent skill will most likely always win out over just one attribute or some random intangible thing. With Holm/Shevchenko, that one flash knockdown Holm got early on paled in comparison to the fact Valentina was skilled enough to land the same one or two combos over and over again. That's the way I saw Barboza's bout with Pettis turning out. Pettis probably could dinged Barboza early on, but that fight was going to get progressively tougher to win as Barboza got more into his groove. You could just watch the first 6-8 minutes and say, "Yeah, Anthony ain't winning this one short of Barboza's closing his eyes as a Pettis counter is coming."

If someone like Barboza is standing out of range, what was Pettis going to do exactly? He tried to bring him in range and got absolutely tattooed. That's a fight I could've saw Pettis losing at any point of his career because there ain't many solutions to winning that kinda fight except for a bunch of Hail Mary strategies.

Bingo.  Pettis' strength as a striker is that he can knock you stupid with one shot and that shot can come from anywhere.  If you put him in a position where he has to rely on technique to outstrike his opponent he's going to be in trouble.  As far as clean striking technique goes Barboza is near the top of the class in all of MMA.  Other than Aldo, who has that kind of technique with the addition of bone crushing power, Pettis isn't going to ever run into someone that is going to put him in that position.  Pettis vs. Holloway is an interesting fight because Holloway is the kind of fighter who is going to stand and bang with Pettis.  Holloway, who is a great fighter, doesn't present the same problems.  He's loves to rely on his toughness, and overwhelm his opponents with volume.  Pettis should have plenty of openings to land a big shot.  I think the only guy at featherweight that blows Pettis' doors off is Aldo, but Aldo is also in the conversation of best mixed martial artist ever. I think every other fight at the top of the division is highly competitive.   

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4 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

Holloway is going to destroy Pettis.  It's a horrible match-up for him.

He very well may, I said in my first post about the fight that it could be Holloway's star making fight.  I'd pick Holloway, but I wouldn't be surprised if Pettis brains him with a big strike.  Pettis is the bigger, stronger, fighter who has a clear advantage in stopping power and grappling. 

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18 hours ago, supremebve said:

If you fight top competition at Featherweight, Lightweight, or Welterweight, I can't hold it against you if you don't your opponent in the first round.  Those divisions are full of tough, highly skilled, well rounded fighters.  There aren't a lot of guys in the top 20 of those divisions who are going to get their doors blown off.  Jose Aldo is one of the 5 best mixed martial artists of all time and hasn't had a first round knockout since 2012.  Pettis' has struggled over the last couple of years, but he's been fighting the best of the best at the best weight.  He lost to the former champion, the current champion, and a guy who is probably the worst possible match up for his striking style.  He isn't losing to bums.

Deep divisions, especially Lightweight and Welterweight. I've felt Lightweight's the toughest/depth in numbers weight class in MMA for a while.

16 hours ago, supremebve said:

Two-time judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison is going into MMA.  I think she'll be successful as she has also boxed and done jiu-jitsu, but the issue is that she competed in the Olympics at 172 lbs. Her opportunities will be limited by lack of quality competition.

Intresting announcement. Unreal what Kayla Harrison has done. I was naturally hoping Gemma Gibbons would beat Kayla in the gold medal fight at London 2012 but if a Team GB member was going to lose, fine to Kayla. Mentioning Gemma. I got choked up when she said "I love you Mum" and pointed to the sky when she won her semi-final and do now.

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Man, I'm so looking forward to Weidman vs. Romero out of all the non-title bouts.

A few news notes:

- Some lunatic or lunatics set fire to three of Anthony Pettis' vehicles while they were in his driveway. Luckily, no one was injured or harmed. 

- It appears Rafael dos Anjos has left Kings MMA and is training in and around Southern California with Babalu and Eduardo Pachu (basically anyone connected with Gracie Barra) in preparation for next week's fight.

- While Bisping vs. GSP seems to be off the table, GSP might be trying to hammer out a new deal with the UFC. Also, Bisping has called out Nick Diaz as expected.

 

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23 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

$14 million from Fight Pass doesn't seem like much. Hopefully the new overlords don't butcher it in more cost cutting measures.

From what I've heard, they're pretty satisfied with Fight Pass. I doubt that gets touched.  

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