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UFC Fight Night on ESPN 5: Covington vs. Lawler (8/3/2019) - Newark, NJ (Prudential Center)


Elsalvajeloco

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Colby coming out to Kurt Angle's theme was the greatest. Great heel. Loved Guida's entrance, then Colby has my favorite entrance of the night. Robbie's one of my top favorites but I've been digging this streak that Colby has been on. Thought this was a low key awesome show after not expecting much, with finishes all over the place. I like both Lauren & Mara so I was sad for Mara in defeat but glad to see Lauren so happy in victory. Antonina looked excellent coming back from the cut with the crazy near armbar and ending up with the choke.

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1 hour ago, hammerva said:

By the way there is nothing more USA in 2019 then Covington talking to Trump and his half witted sons ON THE DAY of a mass shooting

Something about your math seems off as I'm fairly certain that the four parties that you mention don't quite add up to a half-wit.

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Just finishing watching the entire card on DVR.

Matt Schnell's triangle choke early in the prelims was slick. He came in ranked and on a four fight win streak so he's going to get a name opponent next most likely.

Antonina's performance against Pudilova was really encouraging because she looked more like a MMA fighter than a kickboxer who probably waited too long to transition full time to MMA. Hopefully, she gets back in their soon. Murphy had a good finish over Mara Borella so that's the next logical fight for Antonina IMO.

Mickey Gall looked somewhat improved. Still needs ALOT of work though. He got cracked hard once, but he recovered nicely.

Apparently, math is not something that's pushed hard in Serbia because I dunno how Darko Stosic thought he was going to win after losing two points for flagrant low blows in a fight that was relatively close to say the least. Anyway, Kennedy Nzechukwu doesn't do a ton for me. In two fights after getting a contract on the Contender Series, he looks so average. When he wasn't having his balls assaulted by Stosic, he was just following Stosic around the cage.  Stosic would do a little bit and Nzechukwu would do a little bit. No one really got the upper hand. Stosic would flurry once during a round but it was nothing that would steal a round or impress the judges.

Scott Holtzman probably won't ever been a top 15 lightweight, but he is pretty fun to watch. That punch that dropped Dong Hyun Kim aka Maestro aka Dong Hyun Ma was nasty.

I have no idea why Trevin Giles was so comfortable just rolling on the ground and giving up position to Gerald Meerschaert. He gave Meerschaert every chance to choke him out.

I'm starting to like Nasrat Haqparast as a prospect. Joaquim Silva is no slouch, and Haqparast got him out of there impressively. Add another name to the prospects you need to pay attention to.

Miller-Guida was damn exciting for the 58 seconds it lasted, and the hometown guy prevailed triumphantly. 

I don't think Lawler looked old at all. He just got thoroughly outworked. He was waiting for an opening, and Covington gave him very little. Colby did a pretty good job keeping his punches short and moving constantly so Robbie wouldn't have a steady target. Also, those ankle picks he using on Robbie were very effective. He had Robbie's leg damn near his own neck once he completed those takedowns. It was just way too much for Lawler to deal with. Then, Colby was controlling the distance when they were on the feet. Lawler had some decent shots, but he wasn't going to be able to build off of that. You saw that in the fifth round when he got Colby good with a combination, but then Colby wasn't close enough for Robbie to continue chaining more punches together. Covington's game plan was sound to stifle someone like Robbie Lawler.

Usman-Covington is extremely intriguing for me. Both have great wrestling, but at the same time, neither are head and shoulders above each other in the striking department. Usman is more willing to control position once he gets you on the ground whereas Covington will try to improve position. I'm going to pick Usman to win, but I don't see it being one sided like the Woodley fight. Covington has had to use his wrestling in a variety of ways, and had success dealing with other good grapplers.

 

Edited by Elsalvajeloco
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9 minutes ago, J.T. said:

What?  #1 isn't Robbie's near decapitation of Ninja Hua in Strikeforce / Elite XC?

If any none UFC one is in there, it would be the Manhoef one.

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So it's Covington vs Usman next (assuming Colby doesn't duck it) and presumably Masvidal vs Leon Edwards for the next shot after that. Should be an easy one to market.

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9 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I don't think Lawler looked old at all. He just got thoroughly outworked. He was waiting for an opening, and Covington gave him very little. Colby did a pretty good job keeping his punches short and moving constantly so Robbie wouldn't have a steady target. Also, those ankle picks he using on Robbie were very effective. He had Robbie's leg damn near his own neck once he completed those takedowns. It was just way too much for Lawler to deal with. Then, Colby was controlling the distance when they were on the feet. Lawler had some decent shots, but he wasn't going to be able to build off of that. You saw that in the fifth round when he got Colby good with a combination, but then Colby wasn't close enough for Robbie to continue chaining more punches together. Covington's game plan was sound to stifle someone like Robbie Lawler.

Usman-Covington is extremely intriguing for me. Both have great wrestling, but at the same time, neither are head and shoulders above each other in the striking department. Usman is more willing to control position once he gets you on the ground whereas Covington will try to improve position. I'm going to pick Usman to win, but I don't see it being one sided like the Woodley fight. Covington has had to use his wrestling in a variety of ways, and had success dealing with other good grapplers.

 

I'll have to re-watch it. I could be wrong and it could well be a case of being thoroughly out-worked, but it seemed to me that Robbie has slowed perhaps a half-step, just enough for Colby to nail all those takedowns. Usman/Covington is quite intriguing for the reasons you cite, I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that the difference will be who has improved their striking the most. That said, I think it will be Usman in a close decision. I'd love to see Colby get KTFO, but I don't realistically think that's going to happen.

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I don't think striking will matter that much. It hasn't so far for Usman and he's improved a lot. Colby's technique is cleaner but he throws everything out there and can be caught. I foresee Usman controlling and grinding out Covington with power and technique. In my mind the strength gap between the two is the Grand Canyon and I do foresee a dominant win like the Woodley fight. Who has been able to stifle Usman's smothering? 

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2 hours ago, OSJ said:

I'll have to re-watch it. I could be wrong and it could well be a case of being thoroughly out-worked, but it seemed to me that Robbie has slowed perhaps a half-step, just enough for Colby to nail all those takedowns. Usman/Covington is quite intriguing for the reasons you cite, I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that the difference will be who has improved their striking the most. That said, I think it will be Usman in a close decision. I'd love to see Colby get KTFO, but I don't realistically think that's going to happen.

Robbie was just boxing anytime they were on the feet. What would have been thought of as a strategic advantage for Lawler was actually an advantage for Covington. All he had to worry about was a straight left hand. Lawler was landing his jab, but it wasn't a really authoritative jab. I think Dom called it out later in the fight, but they were in a phone booth and Colby looked the much better striker. Why? He could roll with the punches because he knew exactly what Robbie was trying to do. Dom was wondering why Robbie couldn't open up and was waiting, but it was plain as day. Robbie probably wasn't going to throw a whole bunch of low kicks and kicks to the body for fear of getting taken down. Those are weapons Robbie would have used to open up his offense. You can't completely stop Robbie Lawler, but you can do the next best thing which is severely limit him to just one offensive option. I think people look at the beginning of Lawler/Askren and think that's Robbie Lawler in a nutshell. Lawler doesn't have a whole bunch of sub 1 minute fights in the UFC for a reason. He usually works himself into a fight before he starts landing hard, effective offense. Covington didn't allow him to do that.

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It's like Herb Dean was super conscious of stopping Lawler vs Askren early, that he decided he'd never make that mistake again. So he made the opposite mistake and stopped all the choke finishes late instead.

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