Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

UFC 207: Nunes vs. Rousey (12/30/2016) - Las Vegas, NV (T-Mobile Arena)


Elsalvajeloco

Recommended Posts

It's not a matter of determining who wins the fight from a short vlog (I made no comment on who'd win the fight) -- but perception-wise, sure it's important should the result go against him. These segments often define the fighters' exposure to the regular fan: if he wins, it'll be forgotten, but if he loses those segments & behaviour like in that interview will reflect roughly on him. UFC craft a narrative in these videos, and in this narrative they've clearly placed them either side of a line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What does everyone expect from Rousey?  I'm asking, because I have absolutely no clue what we are going to see from here come fight time.  I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she gets her skull crushed again or if she comes in takes Nunes down and armbars her within a minute.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me neither -- though like you mention I'm sort of expecting it to be one extreme or another. Nunes has a lot of first round wins in her pocket, so Ronda may come out tentatively. Given the subsequent poor performance vs Pennington, do we think Miesha possibly made Nunes look better than she is in their fight? Rousey odds on fave with bookmakers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw your post just before the Countdown was on here so decided to withhold a response til then...and I got nothing. I am really intrigued in Rhonda's strategy for the fight though. The aura of invincibility is over and I can't imagine her coming out straight forward this time given the humbling last time. My heart says Rhonda but my gut says Nunes. Or vice-versa. Or I don't know but I'll be watching and will be hyped.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, A_K said:

It's not a matter of determining who wins the fight from a short vlog (I made no comment on who'd win the fight) -- but perception-wise, sure it's important should the result go against him. These segments often define the fighters' exposure to the regular fan: if he wins, it'll be forgotten, but if he loses those segments & behaviour like in that interview will reflect roughly on him. UFC craft a narrative in these videos, and in this narrative they've clearly placed them either side of a line.

I was more talking about the guy who specifically made that comment. Either way, I don't think anything should be that influential in terms of perception. I mean these vlogs are shot starting the Friday or Saturday the week before the fight. How much do people really think is going to be done when training is essentially over? How much work is going to done the Sunday (on Christmas Day) before you fly to Vegas on that Monday? Most people are packing and doing menial tasks/running errands then. The dude is spending time with his girlfriend on Christmas Day, which I'm pretty sure is common especially if you want to maintain having a girlfriend. He isn't freebasing cocaine or anything like that. Fucking Donald Cerrone is doing something that could end his life during every Embedded, and people just say that's Cerrone being Cerrone. The whole Luke Rockhold "I don't have a family so that's more time to be about fighting" logic only works to a small degree and with specific factors. It works when we're talking fighters who are mentally/physically checked out of fighting or the fighters who have notoriously bad time management. We can rule out the latter because most of those dudes never make it higher than fringe contendership status anyway. Otherwise, it's about how good that person is as a fighter. I don't care if Tim Boetsch had zero family members to care about or had the greatest training camp possible, he isn't beating Luke Rockhold outside of a great punch that Rockhold didn't see coming. By Rockhold's own logic, since he is now dating Demi Lovato last I checked, he should take an extended sabbatical until they breakup because she is more famous than him. That would be a bigger distraction than having a square life w/ wife and kids.

Moreover, how we do we account the rest of the Embedded footage? Because we saw Garbrandt work out and hit pads with his uncle. He definitely didn't look like a dude who didn't train. He looked like a dude getting his final reps in and just working on a few extra things. Hell, we only saw Nunes walk around with Nina Ansaroff, buying gifts, buy Dolphins merchandise, and do laundry on Christmas day. There was only a brief clip of her doing training related stuff. I don't think that means she is doomed against Ronda Rousey because she had to do her laundry. We have seen virtually zero of Ronda training in these Embedded. Hasn't effected my perception one bit, and it should not because that's absolutely absurd that it would. There are 24 hours in a day. If you're training for more than 1/8 of that 24 hours (especially this close to a fight), you're doing it wrong. 

3 hours ago, supremebve said:

What does everyone expect from Rousey?  I'm asking, because I have absolutely no clue what we are going to see from here come fight time.  I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she gets her skull crushed again or if she comes in takes Nunes down and armbars her within a minute.  

Right now, I would have to favor Rousey just based on the style matchup. Nunes is a good striker, but she is way more deliberate than someone like Holly Holm. Holm is predictable in many cases, but she comes from different angles and everything looks crisp and sharp. She looks like a Winkeljohn trained fighter. Nunes' style is more awkward but in a way where you can see where she is going. At her best, Rousey is like a well oiled machine who has impeccable timing with certain grappling techniques. That armbar on Zingano was ridiculous. It comes down to reaction time. If Ronda struggles to get her bearings due to rust and just allows it to stay standing, It's going to be a bit tough until Nunes slows down. On the other hand, Amanda Nunes got snap suplexed in a fight. Ronda Rousey is more than capable of tossing Nunes in the air. Rousey looks to be in awesome shape, and she isn't carry extra muscle around for no reason. Personally, I feel it's Rousey's fight to lose.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the most intriguing thing about the fight is that both fighters are elite at their specific strengths, but both would be inept if they ended up playing their opponent's game.  I honestly think Ronda's grappling is a WMD that ends every woman on the planet if she is able to take the fight to the ground.  Nunes on the other hand is the most devastating female striker in the division.  Holm and Shevchenko are arguably better strikers, but they don't have the stopping power that Nunes has.  I think Rousey is a little tougher than Nunes, which is a gift and a curse, but her striking looked absurdly bad in her last fight.  If she can't figure out a way to close distance without getting her face caved in she's going to lose and lose badly.  But, she's been out for a year, I imagine she's been training extensively on how to improve her striking defense.  She doesn't need to be an Anderson Silva level striker to win this fight, she just needs to be Demian Maia, who strikes just well enough to take his opponent down and grapple.  I can't think of another fight with fighters of this caliber where I went into the fight without any idea what to expect.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, supremebve said:

I think the most intriguing thing about the fight is that both fighters are elite at their specific strengths, but both would be inept if they ended up playing their opponent's game.  I honestly think Ronda's grappling is a WMD that ends every woman on the planet if she is able to take the fight to the ground.  Nunes on the other hand is the most devastating female striker in the division.  Holm and Shevchenko are arguably better strikers, but they don't have the stopping power that Nunes has.  I think Rousey is a little tougher than Nunes, which is a gift and a curse, but her striking looked absurdly bad in her last fight.  If she can't figure out a way to close distance without getting her face caved in she's going to lose and lose badly.  But, she's been out for a year, I imagine she's been training extensively on how to improve her striking defense.  She doesn't need to be an Anderson Silva level striker to win this fight, she just needs to be Demian Maia, who strikes just well enough to take his opponent down and grapple.  I can't think of another fight with fighters of this caliber where I went into the fight without any idea what to expect.  

Even though she recently moved to 145, I still would say Germaine de Randamie is the more devastating or best striker at women's bantamweight. We only have a small sample size. However, if she fought more consistently, I think she would smoke so many girls easily. 

Anyway, I would say Nunes is the most effective striker at 135 in using her power and noticing when people are on the ropes. I mean Tate looked like a deer in headlights on the way out to the cage at UFC 200. All Nunes had to do is hit her with two or three strikes and that would be a done deal. Tate wasn't going to put up any resistance. I think with Rousey/Holm, that was the easiest no one gets back on defense layup Holly Holm ever had outside facing someone like Juliana Werner or that other chick she headkicked on AXS TV. At least there was a risk of Rousey scrambling and ending up on Holm's back even half dazed. Those two girls just looked out of sorts and had very little technique at all. Holm is great at exploiting lack of technique. Nunes is more or less able to exploit desperation, which I believe is her only shot against Rousey. If Rousey is shooting takedowns from way outside ala Sean Sherk 10 or 15 years ago, then yeah, we got a problem. However, the reason I'm a bit more certain picking Rousey is that's not her game. Nunes is very strong especially early in a fight, but she is able to be taken down. Holm has always been more stalwart at her takedown defense because of natural strength. Even in like the Jackson Fight Series, she looked very capable at stopping takedowns. Nunes is basically all upper body, and even then her upper body is more extended without a ton of muscle. She isn't gangly, but you can tell her functional strength may not be all there (meaning she can be strong in certain cases but a TD defense might struggle). You can tell she comes from a capoeira/BJJ type background whereas Rousey has that judoka build. I mean Cat Zingano basically had that Vera De Milo from In Living Color thing (not to diss Cat since Julia Budd and others have that same build) going on and look how Rousey treated her. Outside Cyborg and maybe Holm, that's clearly the strongest woman above 115 not named Ronda Rousey, If Nunes doesn't keep Ronda away from her by creating distance, her title reign is going to come to an abrupt end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you think he can catch Dillashaw with one of his bombs? I'm not hopeful, as TJ's movement is just a step below Cruz's. He's definitely hittable but John can be so plodding. 

That video of Hendricks is pretty depressing and I'm not even a fan of his. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Do you think he can catch Dillashaw with one of his bombs? I'm not hopeful, as TJ's movement is just a step below Cruz's. He's definitely hittable but John can be so plodding. 

That video of Hendricks is pretty depressing and I'm not even a fan of his. 

Lineker's power (and chin) gives him a chance about nearly everyone. I think Dillashaw's technique and strategy is what might pay dividends against Lineker. Besides the Alp Ozkilic fight, Lineker has never been the guy to just box wisely throughout the entire fight. It's crazy that he was so discipline in that one fight, and then go ape shit in a fight with Francisco Rivera and just about every other fight. I don't like that he chooses to stalk everyone in a fight. Against someone like Rob Font, who is a good striker himself but knew he was outgunned, it makes sense because Font was only there find a punch or kick here or there. Against another dude with a sturdy chin in John Dodson, there were points in that fight where a more technically proficient fighter would find a way to be creative, make adjustments, and put Dodson away despite all of Dodson's own toughness and resolve to survive. He figured out a way to do that against Ozkilic and managed to get him out of there with 8 or 9 seconds left in the fight despite Ozkilic withstanding all of his offense before then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Johny Hendricks said after the Lawler rematch if he had another bad weight cut he'd retire or move  up to 185 pounds.  He's now missed weight three times.

It's hard to believe USADA has not had anything to do with Hendricks' decline.  He clearly looks smaller than he used to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

It's hard to believe USADA has not had anything to do with Hendricks' decline.  He clearly looks smaller than he used to be.

Isn't Hendricks the dude who notoriously didn't really give a fuck about his diet when he wasn't cutting weight?  It could also be years of bad eating habits coming back to bite him in the ass.  He's 33 years old, which isn't old in the least bit, but it is about the age when the vices of your youth start to catch up with you.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, supremebve said:

Isn't Hendricks the dude who notoriously didn't really give a fuck about his diet when he wasn't cutting weight?  It could also be years of bad eating habits coming back to bite him in the ass.  He's 33 years old, which isn't old in the least bit, but it is about the age when the vices of your youth start to catch up with you.  

So...are you saying eating Baconators isn't exactly the best meal for someone who has to get down to 170 pounds from 210?

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Going with Rousey in Round 1, with an armbar so nasty looking it goes beyond normal armbar status and has to be added as Hold #1005 on Jericho's old list. why? Because I don't see Nunes tapping unless something goes out of socket or is broken.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, FWIW, the last good weight cut that Johny had was when he had Dolce dictating what he could and couldn't eat. At least I think it was Dolce and that was for the Wonderboy fight. Johny seemingly abandoned that plan afterward. His diet for some of his fights before that Wonderboy fight were just...yeah...not great. Johny has spoken of eating a lot of venison, but he also admitted to eating a whole lot of shit, like the aforementioned Baconators from Wendys. I'm sure that for a long period of time he was probably not affected much by his diet, but as you get older, that shit just catches up to you, even if you're an athlete.

For Johny, he should make the move to 185. It's not like he was lightning fast before, but he still hits hard as hell and his wrestling game, if he gets back to it, is top notch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...