When I was first exposed to Usman I recall many, many rounds of holding guys against the cage and stepping on their feet. Now he's knocking dudes out. Bravo.

Lysteria

France2280 Posts

April 25 2021 18:45 GMT

#2663

On April 26 2021 01:57 JimmiC wrote:
I don't think so, Usman is a pressure fighter, Woodly is a guy who avoids everything and waits for one big punch. I don't see any woodly and Usman comparisons.

I agree with this, the common ground is the power to knock people out in one shot, but that's about it. And even then, for Usman, 2 years ago everyone was telling he had pillow hands. Trevor Wittman sure did bring a lot to Usman's arsenal, by refining his stand up game, that also makes his ground game so much scarier - and he didn't seem like he even needed it in his most recent fights.

For Rose, I'd guess the next in line is probably the winner of Esparza vs Xiaonan? They are 4 and 3 respectively and fighting next month, so it works out both for their ranking and the timing. I'd love to see Dern against Marina Rodriguez first if she's indeed soon in line for the title.

Whittaker will wait 100%, Dana White said he was proposed the next title fight but it was only 50ish days after his last fight, so no wonder he turned it down. Really like the Adesanya vs Vettori 2 though, they progressed so much since their last time.

On April 26 2021 01:40 SynC[gm] wrote:
I thought Andrade would have more success with the stand-up but wow, this just shows Shevchenko is just another tier. It really feels like she's the Jon Jones/GSP/Anderson Silva of the division, they keep lining her up with contenders & she just keeps knocking them out of the park. The finish, especially, reminded me of pre-champion Jon Jones with the crucifix & disgusting elbows.

I had no doubt Shevchenko would deal with Andrade, it's the how that is the most impressive. It's hilarious how she likes to fight her opponents on their own strengths. Against Holm in a boxing match for the most part, against Jedrzejczyk with muai thai, Andrade in the clinch and on the ground... Even her second Nunes fight was a masterclass - who has a pretty decent chance of being judged differently if it was fought under the new unified rules of MMA.

And never found Usman boring either. He had boring fights but it was mostly due to specific match-ups. With his new found style it's gonna be extremely hard for him to have another boring fight though.

Also totally agree with the person saying it will not hurt Zhang's stock. Pretty sure down the line we will have a second Namajunas vs Zhang, kinda like we had two Namajunas vs Jedrzejczyk, the second one being an absolute banger of a fight.

JimmiC

Canada22817 Posts

April 25 2021 18:49 GMT

#2664

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Lysteria

France2280 Posts

April 25 2021 18:57 GMT

#2665

He was a bit stunned against Burns once, and took two or three big shots by Covington, but other than that he seems like a bulldozer. And even then he recovered incredibly quickly each time. The dude is a monster. (Almost) no one is shielded from a possible boring fight, it happens sometimes, his fight against Maia was the last one I can remember, mostly because both were terrible in the stand up game back then, and the guy with the wrestling didn't really want to go on the ground with the BJJ legend. Masvidal 1 was short notice, I don't really count that one.

SynC[gm]

United States3127 Posts

April 26 2021 02:56 GMT

#2666

I should've worded it better & now that I think about it, I'm definitely wrong, but I meant more so how the fight would play out, with Thompson being the outside fighter & Usman waiting for that one punch. Though now that you mention it, I doubt Usman would be as tentative as Woodley was, despite the 2 knockdowns. No doubt it's going to be an interesting matchup.

I was also on the same boat as Usman being a "boring" fighter. Not that I didn't enjoy watching him, just that I wasn't necessarily jumping up & down for his fights but I was always going to tune in. But he has definitely put on amazing fights since he became champ, save for the Masvidal 1 fight.

JimmiC

Canada22817 Posts

April 26 2021 12:28 GMT

#2667

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JimmyJRaynor

Canada16954 Posts

May 01 2021 19:35 GMT

#2668

I think Woodley has either a FOTN or POTN in 40% of his UFC fights. He is not nearly as exciting as McG or Rose or Nunes.. however, he is not extremely boring either.

On April 25 2021 23:28 JimmiC wrote:
She actually is, she was the champion. And had one of the greatest, or the greatest female championship fight of all time.

yep, she was a champ. crowds boo-ing her was not her problem. Crowds boo-ing her were a non-factor. Her problem is that her opponent totally outclassed her. Her opponents' striking was brilliant.

JimmiC

Canada22817 Posts

May 01 2021 19:52 GMT

#2669

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Lysteria

France2280 Posts

May 02 2021 07:00 GMT

#2670

I just checked and yeah some of those bonuses are hilarious. His loss against Vincente Luque was horrible, I have no idea why it wasn't a Performance of the Night for Luque instead of Fight of the Night. For his fight against Darren Till, why not, he was on the defensive for 9 minutes and then landed one punch and pummeled Till. His Stephen Thompson draw is the same story, didn't do anything for 23~ minutes, landed one or two takedowns, mauled Wonderboy a bit and that was already a joke that he won those fights. Old rules somehow.

I think I agree with JimmyC for the most part, he was rewarded bonuses for his KOs, not for his performances. To me the most impressive part is how long it took his opponents to figure him out, he's one of the most one dimensional fighters in the game in modern MMA.

Lysteria

France2280 Posts

May 02 2021 17:17 GMT

#2671

Yesterday's card wasn't the most exciting but pretty technical - between Dvalishvili unlimited stamina and Strickland precise boxing. And then the final two fights, wow. Especially Procházka who fights like a video game character where you press all the buttons at the same time. This dude has a granite chin too.

JimmiC

Canada22817 Posts

May 02 2021 18:49 GMT

#2672

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Bub

United States3518 Posts

May 07 2021 01:35 GMT

#2673

Jiri had a sick recovery, getting knocked and just happened to land on him and recovered in an excellent position to maintain control.

SynC[gm]

United States3127 Posts

May 14 2021 19:39 GMT

#2674

It's hard to see Jiri maintaing his style though as he'll start to fight more fighters with more respect for his brawling style, but I'm definitely hoping we can see him & methodical Jan fight soon. I think Jan will be too strong for Glover & he will probably be able to keep the fight standing to get a KO or decision win. While Jan obviously isn't unbeatable, he seems to have this awkward boxing style & can remain unfazed as he did against Adesanya.

I'm super pumped for tomorrow's event with Chandler/Oliveira + Ferguson/Dariush. Omg, & Shane Burgos is fighting?! Super pumped!

As much as it'd be awesome to see Oliveira finally get his title after many years, I see Chandler being too strong with his wrestling & threatening the KO. I'm sure the slight height different will look big for Oliveira but Chandler's hand speed against Hooker was crazy & I'll be expecting a KO similar to that. Ferguson is probs the favorite but it would also be nice to see Dariush get a win too. I remember I jumped up & down during his fights with Barboza & Klose. If I'm remebering correctly, he was actually beating Barboza with his pressure for a lot of the fight until the flying knee KO & his fight with Klose shows that dude can definitely keep up, maybe as much as Ferguson. If Ferguson loses though, it's hard to warrant him fighting a top 8 fighter or anyone around that level since it'd be his 3rd straight...

Lysteria

France2280 Posts

May 14 2021 20:50 GMT

#2675

Burgos vs Barboza is going to be the fight of the night, I'm not sure those two guys know how to defend at this point. And how the hell can Barboza make it to 145, he's so huge.

For Oliveira/Chandler I have no idea. Oliveira is a much more complete fighter, but Chandler refined his craft and I feel like he can take Oliveira's head in a single shot. If it goes into a brawl, night's over for Oliveira, but Chandler seems to slow down in the championship rounds. Not to the point where he can't fight anymore, but he's getting less precise and more overextended.

And I agree it's do or die for Ferguson, Dariush is a step down in competition for him, so if he loses here, all he'll have left is a few fun fights and probably retire. If that would happened, that'd be one of the quickest downfall I've ever witnessed in MMA.

JimmiC

Canada22817 Posts

May 15 2021 01:01 GMT

#2676

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Lysteria

France2280 Posts

May 15 2021 08:08 GMT

#2677

On May 15 2021 10:01 JimmiC wrote:
On the undercard I always like a vannata fight!

Vannata is so fun to watch, even if he's more orthodox than he used to be. I don't think his cardio holds up well however he fights, so I'd like for him to go back to his weird antics!

JimmiC

Canada22817 Posts

May 15 2021 12:47 GMT

#2678

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JimmiC

Canada22817 Posts

May 16 2021 03:01 GMT

#2679

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UsedEgg3

126 Posts

May 16 2021 05:20 GMT

#2680

Every fight was great except Ferguson getting dominated. I feel like he's a victim of his own toughness, if he could have lost to Gaethje without taking so much damage maybe we don't see him on a 3 fight losing streak. Again tonight, impressive that he didn't tap, but at what cost?

Going back to some previous points, Usman literally stepped on Woodley's toes for 5 rounds. That was boring as hell. Anyway, he's improving dramatically in his standup and is now not only an monster, but an exciting to watch monster.

I don't see how Zhang having been champ makes her some emotionless automaton. You see fighters cry in the cage all the time. That adrenaline gets you juiced up. To me, she looked shocked and demoralized at the negative reception she got. I think that played a factor in her loss, and that's not taking anything away from the greatness of Rose.