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2020 Non-Event General MMA Talk Thread


Elsalvajeloco

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7 hours ago, The Natural said:

I think Luke Rockhold should stick to modelling. All his losses by KO in the UFC were bad KTFO ones, particularly at the hands of Michael Bisping and Yoel Romero. His move up to Light Heavyweight in his latest fight saw him get KTFO as well by Jan Blachowicz.

I think it's OK if he takes at least one more fight. He may have already peaked his prime years, but if he wants to give it another go, now is the time at 35 years old. His last three losses were to top contenders. He wasn't incredibly active after the Bisping loss. He lost a lot of time to injuries and negotiating with UFC. 

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I'm not saying necessarily Rockhold is a frontrunner, but it seems to me that he can't win fights where he isn't head and shoulders above his opponent. Let me explain.

So much of what made Rockhold 1b to Weidman's 1a for a year and some change was he was clearly the best athlete the middleweight division had to offer, and he was dominating people with ease that you rarely saw up to that point from someone who wasn't champion. His most impressive performance to me is still the Machida fight from that one Fox show. However, I think that's what also may have been a detriment to him. In the post fight interview and the like, he's talking about how easy that fight was and he didn't think Machida would be that easy to beat. I mean that's fine. Cocky, but it's fine if you can back it up. The problem is not everything is going to come that easy to you even if you feel you climbed some insurmountable mountain people said you couldn't climb. Rockhold has always had that chip on his shoulder going back to Strikeforce because he was that underachieving underdog who couldn't quite live up to expectations. Then, he started reaching some expectations. He got in the UFC, the Belfort fight happened, and he had to deal with another chip on his already broad shoulders. Just like in Strikeforce, he was able to use that chip to become better and became a real live contender fairly quickly. The actual championship match with Weidman was perhaps the most nip and tuck fight he had since Strikeforce, and wasn't really decided until Weidman made a bad miscalculation. Just like with Machida, he shot plenty of holes into the mystique of Chris Weidman and shattered it for good. Now, after winning UFC gold for real, there was absolutely no reason for him to have a chip on his shoulders. What doubts were people going to have about him? He was a made man. That lined up perfectly with getting upset in the rematch with Bisping. Not just because Bisping had a puncher's chance, but because there was no goal to fulfill for him. I know every person has that excuse when they lose their championship to someone people feel he or she shouldn't lose to. With Rockhold, it's completely valid because we've seen how he has responded and fought in the time since. He has had one foot outside the sport and one foot straddling the line to fight again. So he doesn't even have one whole foot in MMA. That has eventually allowed the field to catch up to him and some cases lap him. What the fuck is a Luke Rockhold, who depends on supreme athleticism but has to be pushed to care, when the rest of the field catches up to him? The answer is just a very good fighter who likely won't ever return to what we were use to seeing from him.

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3 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

FWIW Ray Borg as of like last week is also gone along with the guy who had the foul fest with Leo Santos and poor Max Rohskopf who was doomed anyway.

Gonna miss Bethe

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I'll miss Bethe and Dunham. I can see why UFC let Borg go with the missed weights/fight pullouts even with his circumstances at home and the guy who repeatedly fouled his opponent in his one and only UFC fight.

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3 hours ago, Jiji said:

I think you may be the only person to miss Evan Dunham. 

 

2 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

I liked Dunham. I'm still pissed the judges scored that fight for Sean Sherk.

Yeah, still remember that bad decision.

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I like how the picture of Stipe makes it look like he's incredulous Dana ain't said anything about him. Dude was kinda done dirty by those preview videos. They were going hard in for DC and I totally get why but I'm sure Stipe must've felt a little slighted though he's probably used to it by now. Tough night for the people UFC was probably hoping to win between DC, O'Malley, maybe JDS, and Herbert Burns. Them's the breaks.

I wonder how much of Chandler could be like Gaethje in that he fights to his opponent's level and because LW is such a batshit insane division that would actually be a good thing for him. Gaethje has also improved tre-fucking-mendously mind you and Chandler is 34 already.

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