Yeah I agree his ground game is fantastic and he has good IQ as seen by the set up for this finish, not only catching the arm but the way he used the knee to get his opponent.
His only visible weakness is his defense on the feet (as seen by him being in some trouble in his last 2 fights momentarily) and conveniently enough for the London card he get’s a grappler who visibly isn’t good on the feet.
For me it’s the fact that if you look at her last 3 fights, which where on the same card as Paddy, the level of opponents took a dip from who she was fighting prior, as if once Paddy got signed they saw the benefit of promoting them both heavily and giving easier match ups
Perhaps my feelings stem from seeing them plastered everywhere here.
To be fair to those. I recall Gordan Ryan mentioning once that when the Danaher Death Squad were training for EBI (I think it was EBI), and focused on training for overtime with one person defending from the back, that the person defending from the back 90%+ of the time could not escape. Ofcourse the story ends with Danaher seeing that and the next day them working on escapes resulting in 80% ish escapes the next day
That’s a great story. Plus the idea that Danaher’s first back escape breakthrough came from watching Tim Kennedy successfully fend off Roger Gracie’s back control!
Great main event on Saturday. Tough to see a former champ and veteran like Cruz go out like that, but credit to Vera for timing his power shots - all night long really. Every time he touched him it seems like Cruz was shook. Impressive. Gotta love the bantamweights!
The Costa and Rockhold was entertaining and the main event… well that was shocking to say the least. Slightly feel for Usman (and his daughter crying in the crowd) considering he was so close and just got clipped.
I feel like Edwards next defence will be his last. I can’t see him beating Usman again or beating Covington. Perhaps Masvidal will get the fight like Hendo did against Bisping to ‘settle the score’ despite being undeserving. Would be insane if Masvidal get’s the shot and ends up KO’ing him for the belt in the UK.
Head Kick City! First Vera finishing Cruz by head kick now THIS?!
Major congratulations to Edwards. Just when you think a division is getting a little stale …
Luke Thomas (my boy, I know) made a great point that often the guy who takes out the champion isn’t a newcomer out of the blue (Chimaev), but is sometimes an overlooked contender who has just been biding their time. Great example of that last night.
Looking forward to an Edwards title defense against Chimaev. I don’t see Nate Diaz as much of an obstacle to that eventuality.
I guess we will have to wait and see.
I have no doubts that if Usman won, then Khazmat would get the shot seeing as he cleared out the division and that would be the biggest money making fight.
Now that Edwards won, I don’t think he will get the shot, but we shall see.
I find it amazing that we’ve had two fights this year where the champ almost had a hard fought fight (I didn’t see Usman dominating Edwards at all; looked very close until Edwards seemingly started to feel overwhelmed around the third/fourth round) won until they lose in the last minute.
I am not sure if Usman can beat Edwards reliably because of that stunning KO being in his head forever now. I personally think Covington can beat the shit out of Edwards.
[rant mode] Monday morning all the talk is about giving Usman an immediate rematch if he wants it.
Personally, I hate when this happens. People swear that it is primitive to believe in the old boxing adage “you’ve got to beat the champ to be the champ,” but then insist on immediate rematches when the champ loses the belt.
I can understand it when the fight is close or controversial. But when a fighter is finished - knockout, TKO, submission - the idea of an immediate rematch is an insult to the victor.
What if Usman wins the rematch in a close decision? Why should we value that more than knockout victory that occasioned the rematch in the first place? Einmal ist keinmal? [/rant mode]
Congratulations to the greatest champion the UFC ever had! Could not be happier for Mighty Mouse in his rematch KO victory tonight in ONE Championship, regaining the flyweight title over the guy who knocked him out for the first time!
It’s a damned shame that he didn’t get the recognition he deserved in the UFC.
I get that lighter and smaller people can do crazier stuff than bigger and taller people… but who in the UFC, hell the flyweight division anywhere, right now can do the kind of stuff MM does? He’s on a different level.
Totally agree with you. Over the last 5 years, I have lost a lot of respect for the UFC. It seems to me, they have turned into WWE’s little brother. The word “professional” has been lost on many current fighters. I remember reading about a weight -in several years ago, where the female fighter brought a dildo to the stage. Total class, and then there is this clown show:
This is why DJ didn’t get his recognition - he doesn’t talk trash and he’s respectful. Dana won’t even mention him in a list of the top ten athletes in UFC history when he’s top 3, if not the GOAT.
Clown show it may be, but I think this is the most interesting the welterweight division has been in years. Bring on the chaos.
What a crazy day. When its all said and done, I think we ended up with a better/more interesting card than we had originally. I hope Diaz shook the UFC down for a bunch more cash so he can ride off into the sunset with a big paycheque, and go pick a fight with a Paul brother.
…the fight with Kevin, all the hate for the matchup…I don’t really like conspiracy theories but would it be insane to assume that somebody (cough Dana) told Khamzat to miss weight and switched things up?
Given how things ended up (so far!), I am willing to believe that someone planned everything out. How far out and how directly certain individuals got involved; I dunno.
Nate Diaz vs Tony Ferguson is definitely a more intriguing fight at this point in Ferguson and Diaz’s careers though.
As fun as that is to believe, my guess is no. I am about as far from being a fight promoter as you can get, but from what I can see, dealing with fighters is like trying to herd feral cats. And I would imagine that all those changes mean that the fighters and their managers squeezed the UFC for a few extra bucks.
Also taking into account the athletic commissions. If Chimaev’s camp makes the excuse he has a medical reason for missing weight, it could mean they could just say he can’t fight at all.
I think the UFC got the short end of the stick here. They can no longer use Diaz to establish Chimaev as a contender to the casual fan. Also Chimaev likely would have given Diaz a Grade A shillacking, which reduces his value on his exit from the company and leaves less juice for any competitor that picks him up.
