Mixed Martial Arts Thread (UFC and others)

[EagleFan]

Didn't see many of the prelims but this has fight of the night written all over it.

[EagleFan]

Diaz is seriously bloodied. Looks like he's been in a slaughterhouse.

[cartman]

So there will be a 5th round

[EagleFan]

No clue how this ends up on the scorecards.

[jbergey22]

Close one I think Diaz won but they will give it to Connor to set up fight 3

[cartman]

Diaz might have snuck out with the win with the last takedown. It could go 3-2 either way

[jbergey22]

That was funny. Diaz controlled the final 3.5 rounds.

[bhlloy]

That was the best card I've seen in a while. I honestly couldn't call the McGregor fight either way.

[EagleFan]

Not making any excuses... but I had injuries... what a punk.

[jbergey22]

Diaz will win #3. Diaz was able to win that fight with one eye. Connor really only chance is winning on a first round KO.

Connor had the bigger punches early on but Diaz was in control and more aggressive. I guess I dont know what the judges are looking for but the final 3 rounds to me went easily in Diaz's favor.

[Calis]

Really entertaining fights tonight. One of the better cards recently for sure, and the main event definitely didn't disappoint.

I had Connor winning 1, 2, and 4. I think if Diaz turns it on 30 seconds earlier in the second he wins the fight, but it wasn't quite enough to win the 2nd.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Calis

Really entertaining fights tonight. One of the better cards recently for sure, and the main event definitely didn't disappoint.

I had Connor winning 3 rounds to 2 but it was razor thin for sure.

Did you give Connor round 4? Probably the round I most overlooked but at that point Connors punches just had very little on them so I just kind of ignored most of them. It was almost as if at that point Diaz was willing to take punches just to wear Connor down more. I agree it was a fabulous fight. Diaz showed tremendous heart and courage and McGregor showed his explosive power early on.

[SirFozzie]

Most folks I talk to are agreeing with the 48-47 score, Giving Conor 1,2,4

[jbergey22]

Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor 2 scorecard at UFC 202 - MMA Fighting

All 3 judges gave round 4 to McGregor. Maybe I was watching a different fight, lol.

[CrescentMoonie]

1, 2, 4 to Conor. Sherdog, MMA Fighting, MMA Torch, etc all agree.

[bhlloy]

The questionable one for me was 2. I thought he took 1 and 4 easily and overall I agree with the decision.

[Calis]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Did you give Connor round 4? Probably the round I most overlooked but at that point Connors punches just had very little on them so I just kind of ignored most of them. It was almost as if at that point Diaz was willing to take punches just to wear Connor down more. I agree it was a fabulous fight. Diaz showed tremendous heart and courage and McGregor showed his explosive power early on.

Yes imo 4 was easily Connor's. It shocked me because he looked completely finished in Round 3, but came back out and landed some nice shots and Nate spent a good portion of the round trying to get blood out of his eyes.

[CU Tiger]

One of those fights where I can't argue with the decision , but simultaneously feel of this went old school rules and had to fight to a finish. No way McGregor wins. But the rubber match at 155 would be a must watch

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

The questionable one for me was 2. I thought he took 1 and 4 easily and overall I agree with the decision.

For three minutes in round 2 McGregor owned him and knocked him down. Diaz had a strong final minute of the round but you can't overlook three minutes of dominance because of one good minute.

[molson]

I really like both McGregor and Diaz. But I'd like McGregor more if we saw more of his post-fight personna - still cocky, but also insightful and respectful. Diaz' wackiness comes across as more legit, but McGregor comes off as really phony to me when he crosses a certain line of obnoxiousness. I guess we have to do the third fight now, but I'd much rather see McGregor fight for titles and take on challengers.

That was a great fight, but I hope McGregor is done at Welterweight. He is not an elite fighter there. His power isn't the same. At Featherweight he was just killing everyone. But he did look a little emaciated and sickly there - maybe Lightweight is the right compromise, with the occasional catch-weight super-fight as they came up. McGregor can beat Eddie Alvarez, and then you'd have the pick of challengers between Featherweight and Welterweight competing for a McGregor payday. McGregor is too big a star to be chasing guys around to different weight classes, he should camp out at Lightweight and let others chase him there.

Rumble Johnson is so awesome. The last Cormier fight was really entertaining and that's one rematch I definitely want to see. My fear is that Jon Jones gets some bullshit reduced tainted supplement suspension and they'll put the division on hold waiting for him. I'd much rather see Rumble/Cormier, maybe at MSG, and then Jones can take his turn after that if his lawyers are good enough to get him back. If they wait for Jones, Cormier might end up going 1.5+ years without defending his title. (Edit: To Cormier's credit, he tweeted that he's fighting Rumble next no matter what, even if Jones is cleared. It might not be 100% up to him though.).

This was the first show under the new UFC ownership. I guess we're not going to see any noticeable changes, at least at first. I did like how on this show they mixed up the colors of the shorts. They did blue v. white instead of the white with some black v. black with some white they've been doing since Reebok came on.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by molson

This was the first show under the new UFC ownership. I guess we're not going to see any noticeable changes, at least at first. I did like how on this show they mixed up the colors of the shorts. They did blue v. white instead of the white with some black v. black with some white they've been doing since Reebok came on.

That started at UFC 200. The new addition last night was the green shorts.

[EagleFan]

Paige VanZant!!!

[bhlloy]

Holy shit. That is the best kick I've seen in a long time

[EagleFan]

May be the first time I saw the losing fighter kiss the winner on the cheek after the fight.

[bhlloy]

Awesome from Pettis, but really really disappointing outing from Condit. He had to know that would be what Maia would try to do from the outset, he didn't look at all prepared and didn't even seem to be fighting it

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Awesome from Pettis, but really really disappointing outing from Condit. He had to know that would be what Maia would try to do from the outset, he didn't look at all prepared and didn't even seem to be fighting it

Stann's commentary was telling even before the submission. He said something to the effect of, "Condit's camp told me their plan if he's on his back, and it's interesting." Seems like he was diplomatically saying it was stupid and wouldn't work.

[EagleFan]

The plan was pray the bell sounds before he goes to sleep?

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

The plan was pray the bell sounds before he goes to sleep?

His plan was actually even more moronic than that. He wanted to stay on his back and punish Maia with elbows.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by dubb93

His plan was actually even more moronic than that. He wanted to stay on his back and punish Maia with elbows.

They need to fire whomever came up with that plan.

[booradley]

I don't know that there is a great plan for dealing with Maia, other than hoping you can knock him out before he clamps on to you - then the round's over. I've seen maybe 4 of his fights and they all played out that way - he completely neutralizes his opponent on the ground and then works for a submission. Usually gets it, or a UD based on total control of the action.

[molson]

This is a better angle of the PVZ kick than they showed on TV.

Spoiler

[CrescentMoonie]

202 broke the PPV record with 1.65 million buys. Conor is going to be able to do whatever he wants, including not doing promo events, if he keeps bringing numbers like that.

UFC 202 Breaks PPV Record

[molson]

And I thought Conor/Diaz II was kind of a lame rematch that people didn't want to see. The more buys he gets, the more volatile Conor's relationship with the UFC could get. Though they did make nice after the UFC 200 debacle.

This weekend's show should do really well for a non-Conor show. The heavyweight championship, Travis Browne's punchable face coming back for more, and CM Punk.

[bhlloy]

Some seriously awful refereeing in this one. First Browne just decides he wantsa timeout and then the ref lets Miocic take three shots at a completely unconscious Overeem.

Not sure where the regular guys were, but that was bad.

[CrescentMoonie]

Big Country knocks out Bigfoot and then kicks Big John for not stopping the fight quickly enough. Things are weird in Brazil.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

Big Country knocks out Bigfoot and then kicks Big John for not stopping the fight quickly enough. Things are weird in Brazil.

What happened? Did it become WWE?

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

What happened? Did it become WWE?

Not quite. After the knock down, Nelson landed 4-5 punches and it was clear Silva was out by the second one but McCarthy was just standing there watching it. After the fight, while Big John was still checking on Silva on the ground, Roy walked over and pushed kicked him from behind.

[molson]

It seems like the UFC went a little overboard with the MSG show. The top 8 fights all include fighters ranked in the top 5 of their division. Three title fights. The prelims have more star power than some PPVs. Of course, it could all be blown up by drug test failures and injuries before then.

[Suicane75]

It's MSG. They want this to be huge.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

Not quite. After the knock down, Nelson landed 4-5 punches and it was clear Silva was out by the second one but McCarthy was just standing there watching it. After the fight, while Big John was still checking on Silva on the ground, Roy walked over and pushed kicked him from behind.

They asked him about it in the post fight and he said that he and Silva were friends, and that John should have known it was over. He said I hate having to keep hitting my friend like that, he should have known better.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

It's MSG. They want this to be YUGE!

Fixed that for you.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by molson

It seems like the UFC went a little overboard with the MSG show. The top 8 fights all include fighters ranked in the top 5 of their division. Three title fights. The prelims have more star power than some PPVs. Of course, it could all be blown up by drug test failures and injuries before then.

200 was nearly as loaded before Jones screwed it all up. They're getting to the point where there are 3-4 gigantic cards every year.

[bhlloy]

You mean planned cards every year, before all the inevitable withdrawals and screw ups?

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

You mean planned cards every year, before all the inevitable withdrawals and screw ups?

Sadly, yes.

[molson]

I think this card is bigger than the original UFC 200 card. I know the UFC in-house rankings aren't gospel or anything, but UFC 205, at the moment, has the #1 Lightweight contender, #2 Featherweight, #1 Women's Bantamweight, and Rashad Evans on the prelims.

My guess is that they weren't sure whether they could come to a deal with Connor for this show, so they wanted to make sure it was loaded otherwise. And the didn't want to risk a mediocre show like 200 became. But if the show goes off anywhere close to its present form, it might a little counter-productive and drains the surrounding shows - when you look at the main events and co-mains for the 4-5 shows before and after 205, it's very weak. And it's not like you're going to get more PPV buys with big names on the prelims. You're already going to sell out. I'm sure the anticipation will be fun and I'll watch the shit out of it the whole day, but I don't think you're getting any more media or attention because of Evans and Nurmagomedov and Tate on the prelims.

[CrescentMoonie]

I'm still trying to figure out how 200 was mediocre. A couple of the main card fights didn't deliver what was expected, but the card was still potentially excellent. It was disappointing, with McGregor and Jones both not making the card, but the undercard there was stacked and the main card still had a ton of hype behind it with Cain, Brock, Aldo vs Edgar, the spectacle of Cormier vs Silva, and a devastating win in the main event. Since I've been back stateside, 200 and 202 had huge crowds at the local BWW, with 200 still pulling 1.2 million PPV sales.

[PilotMan]

200 was a good show, but I don't think it ended up as big as the UFC wanted. I think this is the makeup show. It celebrates the NY deal and it's the kind of card that the UFC would have loved at 200. It's made for hardcore fans.

[murrayyyyy]

207 has to be Ronda-Cyborg or Ronda-Nunez with it being on New Years weekend @ T-Mobile. If not it would be at the grand of T-Mack.

[CrescentMoonie]

Josh Samman reportedly in coma

[CrescentMoonie]

Not sure what's most surprising, this fight going 5, Bisping surviving two H bombs, Bisping probably still winning, or Hundo landing a legit takedown in the 5th.

Pretty fun card tonight. Can't believe these nutjobs were fighting at 5am.