UFC Fight Night 102: Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov (12/9/2016) - Albany, NY (Times Union Center)

[Elsalvajeloco]

10 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

It's easy to have performances like that when you are fighting someone like Sean O'Connell who was lucky to have a spot on the roster at all.  

205 isn't that deep so I mean as long O'Connell doesn't drop too many, he will be on roster. He's a competent and tough fighter, and the Bosse fight was fucking bananas. He will beat certain fighters, but against physical specimens like Anderson, he ain't got no shot. Anderson needed to get him out of there, and he did just that. He showed aggression that's been missing in several of his fights. He can't be just a top position first fighter. He had elbows and punches there, and he took advantage of that unlike some of his other performances. It was a good showcase performance in a showcase bout.

[TheVileOne]

O'Connell just dropped 0-3 and he's 2-5 in his last seven.  So I mean, WME-IMG might just send him a pink slip on Monday.

[Elsalvajeloco]

13 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

O'Connell just dropped 0-3 and he's 2-5 in his last seven.  So I mean, WME-IMG might just send him a pink slip on Monday.

There ain't a ton of above level replacements or a ton of LHW bouts in a given period. Your average lower level LHW is probably worse than O'Connell. They will give him a soft touch, and he will win that probably.

[TheVileOne]

Ugly fight, but at least Lewis got the win and finish.  I think Lewis is good at generally rallying back if he's down a couple rounds, but his takedown defense and grappling are absolutely terrible. 

[Jiji]

That was some bullshit. Oh well. That Villante vs. Safarov sloppy brawl more than made up for it. So much fun. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

13 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

Ugly fight, but at least Lewis got the win and finish.  I think Lewis is good at generally rallying back if he's down a couple rounds, but his takedown defense and grappling are absolutely terrible. 

Probably not good sign about his next opponent because they might put him against Ngannou. If he doesn't stop Ngannou early, that might be truly ugly. If he would have stopped Shamil inside of three rounds, they would given him a top 5 or 7 opponent. 

His strategy tonight was not very good because he could have separated in a lot of those clinches, some of them which he initiated. He was crossing his legs (as Stann pointed out) as he was following him around the cage. A better opponent is going to just keep tagging him because he has no volume. He didn't even try to cut him off when was gliding around the cage, which would've been pretty easy because Shamil wasn't circling out to get away and resetting.

Derrick is never going to be the most polished fighter, but his gym isn't making him better. He's still making all the mistakes he was making early in his UFC career. His raw athleticism and brutal power isn't going to guide him to wins everytime out. Even someone like Ngannou looked more sharpened, and he has only been training in the states briefly. Ngannou was able to show something past sheer brute strength.

[DreamBroken]

Loved the Kish/Yoder fight. Great exchanges throughout, really thought Yoder would pull it off in the end. Good debut for her anyways.

[Hail Sabin]

Yeah Yoder/Kish was my favorite fight on the prelims and I thought Yoder won the fight.

[Jiji]

She was getting excellent positions but wasn't able to do anything while she had them because Kish refused to stay mounted. I think the judges got this one right but both fighters showed a lot. It was the opposite of the main event where both fighters came out of the fight looking worse. Yoder needs to put a lot of time in on her stand up. Her push kick will only work for so long and it became incredibly predictable. Her hands weren't smooth, so that's what I'll be looking for next time out. More technical punches and a varied attack. Kish looked like a top 5 fighter in the division and I'd be pretty surprised if she isn't challenging for the belt in 2017.