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UFC 278: Usman vs. Edwards II (08/20/2022) - Salt Lake City, UT (Vivint Arena)


Elsalvajeloco

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5 minutes ago, jaedmc said:

That was one of the absolute best moments ever. Absolutely incredible. Din Thomas said he was broken. His body language as shameful going into the fifth. And it looked like nothing was going to change. And then it was lightning. Joe Rogan said it best  - It was like it wasn't real. I just stared at it thinking "that's odd. Usman is on the ground. what is happening?"

And after Luke Rockhold gives this brilliant performance as The Broken Man a fight before. And after Leon is coming off the Diaz fight where he almost got KO'ed in the 5th. Fighting for the belt that Serra won with the second-craziest headkick in MMA history. We don't even realize the poetry around this thing yet.

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That's two weeks in a row fighters have been caught trying to duck out of the way. Dominick Cruz was trying to basically maneuver away and circle out. Problem is he left his head right there. Kamaru did the reflexive "let me just lower my head so his leg can fly over me", which a good amount of times gets people absolutely obliterated. He would have been better off just trying to block it with his forearm.  

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1 minute ago, John E. Dynamite said:

And Cormier was on the call! Same thing Jones hit him with in the steroid fight, right??

Basically, but in the case of both tonight and last week, it's southpaw (although Chito fights orthodox as well) vs. orthodox. The orthodox fighter has to be aware of the kick to the body and vice versa. You can catch someone leaning much easier.

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Holy shit.  Everyone here at the US National Sim Center tech control is literally walking around in shock as if we had just been in a car accident.  The Matrix has been broken and we are all questioning reality.  Thank you, Armed Forces Network, for carrying the fight.  I eagerly await the rubber match.

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

Problem is he left his head right there. Kamaru did the reflexive "let me just lower my head so his leg can fly over me", which a good amount of times gets people absolutely obliterated. He would have been better off just trying to block it with his forearm.  

100%. Fighters have to be so careful with how they move their head in both kickboxing and MMA. Ducking and weaving under punches is pretty much out because of knees and kicks. One can slip straight punches, but must keep the movement as small as possible to avoid ducking in to kicks. Usman bought that the straight left was coming and tried to both parry it and slip his head out of the way. Because Leon's kick followed it so closely/was timed just right, Usman didn't have enough time to get his arm back to where it needed to be (looking at the replays, it appeared he was trying to, but it was just too late. Could've just been reflex). 

Just incredible to watch. I mostly caught it on replays; live, I looked down to take a bite of food and Usman was already falling. Truly "blink and you'll miss it." Edwards, for his part, landed that kick and put his foot right back in his stance. Didn't come off balance for a moment throughout the whole movement. Really added to that "what happened" feeling as it barely registered that Leon had left his stance at all!

Edited by Teflon Turtle
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Fucking get in! I can’t believe he pulled it out in the final minute. Watching dejected waiting for the inevitable ‘and still’ then suddenly Usmans horizontal with his right foot twitching. Amazing, and the raw emotion in the post-fight interview. The kid actually did it

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1 hour ago, Teflon Turtle said:

100%. Fighters have to be so careful with how they move their head in both kickboxing and MMA. 

Your reflexes are never as good as you think they are, especially if it is the fifth round of an MMA fight.  By then you are tired and your opponent most likely has your timing down. 

Best to block and absorb the impact rather than depend on dodging, provided that you can even lift your arms thanks to fatigue, soreness from blocking earlier blows, and lactic acid build-up making every muscle in your body feels like it's burning.  It is at this point where the mental game kicks in, especially when it comes to making really good decisions in a matter of split seconds.

Edited by J.T.
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fun night of fights capped off by an all timer of a headkick ko. wow. did not see the finish coming as i had already written edwards out of the fight. incredible.

rockhold gassing in 3 minutes brought the LOLs. no tears were shed for his retirement. never liked the dude.

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The 2022 Knockout of the Year. Leon Edwards head kick to Kamaru Usman for the UFC Welterweight Championship in round five. A fight he was losing against the P4P #1 looking to tie Anderson Silva's consecutive wins record but was KTFO for the first time ever. I can see some still giving Michael Chandler Knockout of the Year for the front kick KO to Tony Ferguson, first time Ferguson was out cold but to me it has to be Edwards'.

Edited by The Natural
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13 hours ago, The Natural said:
Refreshing.

There are merits to the advice given from both corners.  I like Kamaru's guys giving him advice about what works and what doesn't work.  Fresh eyes watching the action from another angle are able to see things that the fighter can't.   When you are in a fight, you sometimes get tunnel vision and can't really get a sense what techniques are having the best effect or where the openings are.  That's where your corner guys come in.

I also admire Leon's corner for giving him the benefit of the doubt of the dude being in the blue corner of a championship fight.  They know Leon has the tools necessary to win, but he's not using them.  What Leon needs is a swift kick in the ass; not technical analysis of Kamaru's tactics.  Leon will find the opportunities to strike, but only if he uses his fucking strikes.  "In order to win a fight, you have to fight," might sound simple, but it isn't.  It might sound cliche, but you can't really appreciate what these two men are going through unless you are in that situation.

Edited by J.T.
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Meltzer:

  • Crazy UFC finish last night with Leon Edwards, likely down 39-37 in the scores, knockout out Kamaru Usman with 56 seconds left in the fight to win the welterweight title. People saying this proves GSP was the better champion seem to forget GSP had his loss to Matt Serra. It looks like they will be rematched and Dana White brought up the idea of trying to run it in England in January. Fans were leaving during the fifth round to beat traffic and the announcers were literally talking about how Edwards was just holding seemingly just trying to last the distance rather than attempt to win, and then he set up and threw a head kick that ended the fight. This will go down as one of the most memorable title match finishes in history,
  • The interest level last night was good as there were 2.25 million searches with UFC 278 being the most searched topic on Google yesterday and besides the main event, Luke Rockhold was No. 7 and Merab Dvalishvili was No. 16. Nothing in pro wrestling, boxing or MMA cracked the top 20 any day this week.

Not just title match finishes, Dave. That's one of the most memorable finishes in the history of the sport.

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So P4P #1, who do you have?

To me, it's between Alexander Volkanovski or Charles Oliveira. Volk's won 12 straight and Oliveira 11. What might seal it for Oliveira is the Lightweight division as it's the deepest and best weight class in MMA for over a decade.

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