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UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ 43: Blaydes vs. Lewis (2/20/2021) - Las Vegas, NV (UFC APEX)


Elsalvajeloco

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1 minute ago, jaedmc said:

Jesus, with how Jairzinho got KO'd by Ngannou... there's now a very clear road back to Lewis/Ngannou 2. 

Can you imagine them hyping that rematch while showing clips of the first time? All those intense highlights like Derrick staring at Francis...and Francis...staring back at Derrick. 

Thing is...if Ngannou wins on 3/6, that fight is going to Jon Jones. If Stipe wins, it's likely still Jon Jones. Derrick would need at least one more fight unless he decided to sit out while that resolves itself. I believe this fight was the last on his current deal so I imagine he's gonna wanna get paid more after another highlight reel KO.

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Lewis is so popular he could probably sit until after Jones, no?

He beat the clear #2. That's his spot now. And unlike Blaydes he's got enough popularity to make a main event interesting story wise regardless of the combination.

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36 minutes ago, jaedmc said:

Lewis is so popular he could probably sit until after Jones, no?

He beat the clear #2. That's his spot now. And unlike Blaydes he's got enough popularity to make a main event interesting story wise regardless of the combination.

The issue is we're having like one UFC HW title match per year it feels like. 

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12 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Jairzinho is actually fighting Cyril Gane next week. I'm guessing Derrick fights the winner of that.

yeah, my thought process was if they both won this month, we'd be looking at them matched up next. doesn't even matter now anyway.

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On the late shots by Lewis - one of the "problems" of having true insane-o punching power is that you can knock people out in ways referees/fans/other fighters aren't conditioned to seeing. Guys don't often get pineboxed by uppercuts on sloppy takedowns. Unlike, say, the Edgar KO, there's probably a second and a half after Blaydes is actually KO'ed where you're thinking - oh, is he hurt? Is he turtling up? Is he trying to pull guard? No, his brain was just in a truck accident. But because it was a short shot that he ate in a non-boxing, non-GnP position, you don't realize he's out until Lewis is already making like a plate compactor.

I'd blame Herb but even commentary realized it late.

Edited by John E. Dynamite
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48 minutes ago, John E. Dynamite said:

On the late shots by Lewis - one of the "problems" of having true insane-o punching power is that you can knock people out in ways referees/fans/other fighters aren't conditioned to seeing. Guys don't often get pineboxed by uppercuts on sloppy takedowns. Unlike, say, the Edgar KO, there's probably a second and a half after Blaydes is actually KO'ed where you're thinking - oh, is he hurt? Is he turtling up? Is he trying to pull guard? No, his brain was just in a truck accident. But because it was a short shot that he ate in a non-boxing, non-GnP position, you don't realize he's out until Lewis is already making like a plate compactor.

I'd blame Herb but even commentary realized it late.

I don't think it's the uniqueness of it that made it late because guess who was the ref for the Lavar Johnson vs. Carl Seumanutafa? You guessed it! Herb Dean. And that happened less than twenty seconds into the fight. Based on Herb refereeing two or three days out of every week all over the place in the last twelve years since that fight, I'm pretty sure he has seen just about everything. 

The issue here is referees are taught not to be in the way especially if it's two huge heavyweights. However, at the same time, they're taught to be not caught out of position just in case such an issue arises. The conundrum Herb faces is he's not a small man himself. The same goes for a Dan Miragliotta or Marc Goddard or Leon Roberts. Those guys are usually going to get assigned to the heavyweight fights on the card if they happen to be there. Those are the only folks big enough to pull Derrick Lewis or Francis Ngannou or Jairzinho Rozenstruik off somebody. They are also experienced enough to not be in the way.

I think Herb runs into the problem of not being as nimble as he thinks he might be. A great recent example of this is the Amanda Ribas vs. Marina Rodriguez fight two PPVs ago. He's trying to get a good look at the eyes of Ribas to see if the lights are still on and she can defend herself, but he's just a LITTLE BIT too close so it looks like he's about to stop it. He tries to stand back and almost falls into Marina Rodriguez to the point where Marina does think it's a ref stoppage. So here we have an example of two fighters on the opposite end of the size spectrum and a case where he is just too close to the action. However, the common thread is when the fight is close to the end or at its end.

So I don't necessarily blame Herb as much I think the way he and probably most of the top referees are taught and routinely put their skills into action doesn't necessarily jive with what could happen in a fight. There are instances where shit could pop off and you need to be right there just in case. There are also instances where if you aren't going to stop it but you know a stoppage could be soon that you give the fighters proper space to operate with a cautious eye just in case. I think Herb does have that sixth sense to deal with most of those instances, but sometimes your mind doesn't line up with your body in reaction time. Smaller refs like Keith Peterson and Jason Herzog would have been there quicker, but again, those assignments usually aren't theirs to begin with.

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On 2/20/2021 at 11:36 PM, twiztor said:

brutal KO uppercut by Lewis.  i don't fault him for the 2 followup shots. Hit until the referee stops it. i also don't fault Herb Dean. shit happens in a fight. glad Blaydes is OK.

Dean got there as fast as he could to call the stoppage and Lewis gave Blaydes no time to recover.  The parties involved acted in the manner in which they were trained.

Glad that Blaydes is okay, but I cannot fault Dean or Lewis for doing what they did.

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