UFC 241 Post-Fight Analysis
What a crazy event! Good scraps from top to bottom and towards the end the fights were really intense and keeping you at the edge of your seat.
As always, my prediction accuracy was quite low, with only one of the winner picks going right. Let's start to break down the fights from the main event.
Stipe started very timidly. I was fully expecting him to come out strong and dominate the early exchanges, but it seemed like DC knocking him out the first time around had him second-guessing a bit. Whatever the reason, DC dominated the first round. His striking was looking sharp and he got the takedown to solidify the round.
In the second something changed. DC wanted to get reckless for god knows why. He kept walking Stipe down with his hands down, moving his head only a little, willingly eating shots. Still, it seemed like he was getting the better of the exchanges, even if eating needless damage and not really having the varied attack of the first round.
Instead of Stipe fading in DC's pace, it was DC that started to fade in his own pace. Still, when fourth round advanced, it seemed he was still doing well enough that he would be able to see out whatever remained and win a decision.
Stipe adjusted his game seeing DC slow down and at the end of the 4th, it paid dividends. He was winning the round anyway, but the body shots landing repeatedly opened up DC's defence for the final combination that completely melted DC. Stipe had been pieced up for 3 rounds, but walked away with the finish.
DC did not lose so much for old age but for having pushed higher pace than he could push, and inexplicably abandoning the solid game plan he had in the first. Or maybe the pace was already too high in the first for him to keep up for more rounds. Stipe on the other hand showed strong chin, but overall it is a worrying sign that DC at such significant reach advantage managed to outstrike him for so long.
Still, DC is one of the best to ever do it so the match was always gonna be a close one. They both took each other's best shots and kept standing into the championship rounds. It just shows the randomness of fights sometimes - first time around Stipe had the better of the match, then got dropped and knocked out. Here Daniel seemed to have three rounds in the bag, but just could not sustain the grueling pace and got finished.
The co-main on the other hand went almost exactly as I predicted it. Well, except Pettis did not really get the better of Diaz in any of the rounds. I was expecting extremely close fight, but Pettis to some extent disappointed. On the other hand he always struggled with guys that crowd him and push relentless pace.
I figured leg kicks would play a big part, but Diaz had obviously spent the 3 years to learn to deal with them better. The check in the third clearly hurt Pettis' leg, but even without it Pettis never had the kind of volume that would have bothered Diaz. Easy 30-27 win for Diaz.
Romero v Costa was crazy violence as advertised, and ended up being an extremely close fight. Romero's age did not end up being a major factor, even if he did get dropped his chin held up to the younger monster's shots and eventually wore him out. He took everything Costa dished out and pushed his tongue out at him.
I personally would have scored the fight a draw, but it was surprising to see everyone unanimously agree Costa won it. I can agree him getting the first two rounds, but they were extremely close rounds, whereas in the third round Costa's pace faded clearly and Romero pieced him up pretty badly.
In the end the guy showing more damage had his hand raised. Regardless of who you think should have won it, both guys showed incredible durability and Costa showed he can go three hard rounds even with elite fighters. He will probably get the next title shot if he is healthy, and I do think he has good chance against either Adesanya or Whittaker, but he won't win a decision against either of them on the basis of this - he is just too hittable and his pace slows down considerably after two rounds.. Still, he is strong as hell and almost impossible to put away, so he will have a good chance in that fight.
As for me, the main event pick curse continues, hope next time around I do better.
As always, my prediction accuracy was quite low, with only one of the winner picks going right. Let's start to break down the fights from the main event.
Stipe started very timidly. I was fully expecting him to come out strong and dominate the early exchanges, but it seemed like DC knocking him out the first time around had him second-guessing a bit. Whatever the reason, DC dominated the first round. His striking was looking sharp and he got the takedown to solidify the round.
In the second something changed. DC wanted to get reckless for god knows why. He kept walking Stipe down with his hands down, moving his head only a little, willingly eating shots. Still, it seemed like he was getting the better of the exchanges, even if eating needless damage and not really having the varied attack of the first round.
Instead of Stipe fading in DC's pace, it was DC that started to fade in his own pace. Still, when fourth round advanced, it seemed he was still doing well enough that he would be able to see out whatever remained and win a decision.
Stipe adjusted his game seeing DC slow down and at the end of the 4th, it paid dividends. He was winning the round anyway, but the body shots landing repeatedly opened up DC's defence for the final combination that completely melted DC. Stipe had been pieced up for 3 rounds, but walked away with the finish.
DC did not lose so much for old age but for having pushed higher pace than he could push, and inexplicably abandoning the solid game plan he had in the first. Or maybe the pace was already too high in the first for him to keep up for more rounds. Stipe on the other hand showed strong chin, but overall it is a worrying sign that DC at such significant reach advantage managed to outstrike him for so long.
Still, DC is one of the best to ever do it so the match was always gonna be a close one. They both took each other's best shots and kept standing into the championship rounds. It just shows the randomness of fights sometimes - first time around Stipe had the better of the match, then got dropped and knocked out. Here Daniel seemed to have three rounds in the bag, but just could not sustain the grueling pace and got finished.
The co-main on the other hand went almost exactly as I predicted it. Well, except Pettis did not really get the better of Diaz in any of the rounds. I was expecting extremely close fight, but Pettis to some extent disappointed. On the other hand he always struggled with guys that crowd him and push relentless pace.
I figured leg kicks would play a big part, but Diaz had obviously spent the 3 years to learn to deal with them better. The check in the third clearly hurt Pettis' leg, but even without it Pettis never had the kind of volume that would have bothered Diaz. Easy 30-27 win for Diaz.
Romero v Costa was crazy violence as advertised, and ended up being an extremely close fight. Romero's age did not end up being a major factor, even if he did get dropped his chin held up to the younger monster's shots and eventually wore him out. He took everything Costa dished out and pushed his tongue out at him.
I personally would have scored the fight a draw, but it was surprising to see everyone unanimously agree Costa won it. I can agree him getting the first two rounds, but they were extremely close rounds, whereas in the third round Costa's pace faded clearly and Romero pieced him up pretty badly.
In the end the guy showing more damage had his hand raised. Regardless of who you think should have won it, both guys showed incredible durability and Costa showed he can go three hard rounds even with elite fighters. He will probably get the next title shot if he is healthy, and I do think he has good chance against either Adesanya or Whittaker, but he won't win a decision against either of them on the basis of this - he is just too hittable and his pace slows down considerably after two rounds.. Still, he is strong as hell and almost impossible to put away, so he will have a good chance in that fight.
As for me, the main event pick curse continues, hope next time around I do better.
Kommentit
Lähetä kommentti