UFC on ESPN 13 Post-Fight Analysis
There wasn't name value on tonight's fight night card from Abu Dhabi, but for what it's worth the fights were decent both in terms of action and technical skill. Let's go through them a little before we shift our focus on the weekend's card.
In co-main event Elliot and Benoit scrapped very competitively, hard to say any winner from that but I was leaning towards Benoit myself, seems like he hurt Tim way more than vice versa - cracked him with some hard shots and probably fucked something in his knee up with that leg lock as well. So yeah, I think he is entitled to feel a little hard done by that decision, but either way it was extremely close so I wouldn't exactly call it a robbery.
Jimmie Rivera and Cody Stamann also had a very competitive fight, but the longer the fight went on, Rivera seemed to be able to pull clearer and clearer ahead, just being slightly better everywhere. He definitely is still a major contender in the bantamweight division.
Molly McCann made me feel stupid by being completely physically and technically outmatched against Talia Santos, who took the lessons from her loss against Borella and improved vastly, like you would expect from a fighter that was 15-0 coming to UFC.
Mounir Lazzez on the other hand showed how hard it is to assess the ability of UFC newcomers. Yea, he had looked dominant, but his competition had been weak - but then again, even if you are world class, you can only beat what is in front of you, regardless of whether it is tough opposition or easy opposition. Lazzez took the best shots Alhassan had and still dominated him both in striking and grappling. Immediate contender right there.
Chimaev on the other hand showed up being exactly as dominant as you would expect from a modern MMA athlete against essentially fat Welsh bar brawler. Phillips took a really bad beatdown for 1.5 rounds before Chimaev mercifully subbed him. Another newcomer that can go far.
Modestas Bukauskas got the win against Andreas Michailidis in a bit weird manner, but either way Bukauskas showed decent striking and was not bothered by grappling of Michailidis, punishing him with the elbows that eventually finished the fight.
Jared Gordon was ahead of Chris Fishgold in everything in their matchup, whether it was standing or grappling Gordon just kept outmanuevering Fishgold who got a little predictable in the end and did not really have the kind of power that can crack Gordon's chin.
Diana Belbita showed why picking fighter with low fight IQ is such a risky thing to do. Belbita looked to have the physical advantages and started the fight showing clearly much sharper striking - which made sense, since Jojua had not shown much striking in her debut - but then immediately proceeded to look for the clinch and takedowns. The worst thing for her to happen was that she got the takedown - I think she had advantage everywhere else except on the mat - and Jojua promptly submitted her with a solid armbar that probably broke her arm.
Jack Shore and Aaron Phillips scrapped in the opening bout of the night and Shore really showed he is class above. I hope they keep patiently matching Shore up, he seems like a really legit contender that I would hate to see wasted by rushing him up the rankings, even if he does look like he is ready for sterner tests.
Best pick is harder to say, since I don't think I cashed any underdogs this time around. Guess Chimaev was pretty good catch, even if the odds weren't great, it wasn't even a competitive fight, pretty much printing money.
I still have weekend's event to finally find a winning event, hopefully I recover some of the losses of the week in that one.
Main Card
Main Event went pretty much exactly as it was expected to go. Both guys going at it, but Kattar being the one able to land more damage, which lead to Ige fading towards the end after having been competitive early on. Nothing against him, but am glad Ige's fake win streak is now over.In co-main event Elliot and Benoit scrapped very competitively, hard to say any winner from that but I was leaning towards Benoit myself, seems like he hurt Tim way more than vice versa - cracked him with some hard shots and probably fucked something in his knee up with that leg lock as well. So yeah, I think he is entitled to feel a little hard done by that decision, but either way it was extremely close so I wouldn't exactly call it a robbery.
Jimmie Rivera and Cody Stamann also had a very competitive fight, but the longer the fight went on, Rivera seemed to be able to pull clearer and clearer ahead, just being slightly better everywhere. He definitely is still a major contender in the bantamweight division.
Molly McCann made me feel stupid by being completely physically and technically outmatched against Talia Santos, who took the lessons from her loss against Borella and improved vastly, like you would expect from a fighter that was 15-0 coming to UFC.
Mounir Lazzez on the other hand showed how hard it is to assess the ability of UFC newcomers. Yea, he had looked dominant, but his competition had been weak - but then again, even if you are world class, you can only beat what is in front of you, regardless of whether it is tough opposition or easy opposition. Lazzez took the best shots Alhassan had and still dominated him both in striking and grappling. Immediate contender right there.
Chimaev on the other hand showed up being exactly as dominant as you would expect from a modern MMA athlete against essentially fat Welsh bar brawler. Phillips took a really bad beatdown for 1.5 rounds before Chimaev mercifully subbed him. Another newcomer that can go far.
Prelims
Lerone Murphy was one of the most impressive performers of the night, showing much improved grappling to defeat the highly touted prospect in Ricardo Ramos. It's obvious his stand-up is good enough for UFC, but this time he also avoided takedowns and got some of them himself before putting Ramos out with devastating ground and pound.Modestas Bukauskas got the win against Andreas Michailidis in a bit weird manner, but either way Bukauskas showed decent striking and was not bothered by grappling of Michailidis, punishing him with the elbows that eventually finished the fight.
Jared Gordon was ahead of Chris Fishgold in everything in their matchup, whether it was standing or grappling Gordon just kept outmanuevering Fishgold who got a little predictable in the end and did not really have the kind of power that can crack Gordon's chin.
Diana Belbita showed why picking fighter with low fight IQ is such a risky thing to do. Belbita looked to have the physical advantages and started the fight showing clearly much sharper striking - which made sense, since Jojua had not shown much striking in her debut - but then immediately proceeded to look for the clinch and takedowns. The worst thing for her to happen was that she got the takedown - I think she had advantage everywhere else except on the mat - and Jojua promptly submitted her with a solid armbar that probably broke her arm.
Jack Shore and Aaron Phillips scrapped in the opening bout of the night and Shore really showed he is class above. I hope they keep patiently matching Shore up, he seems like a really legit contender that I would hate to see wasted by rushing him up the rankings, even if he does look like he is ready for sterner tests.
My picks
I took losses now back to back events after getting 6 picks out of 11 right. Sounds okay, but when you are picking mostly low odds favorites, it is not good enough, I took 1.5 bets loss. My worst pick is easy to say, that was Molly McCann - not because she was the biggest loss of the night, but because in hindsight I should have known Santos is technically good and physically superior, and that the 6 inch reach among other physical disadvantages won't be easy to overcome. Close second was Alhassan, who I was so sure would starch Lazzez, but to be fair at least in that case it wasn't clear beforehand that Lazzez would win.Best pick is harder to say, since I don't think I cashed any underdogs this time around. Guess Chimaev was pretty good catch, even if the odds weren't great, it wasn't even a competitive fight, pretty much printing money.
I still have weekend's event to finally find a winning event, hopefully I recover some of the losses of the week in that one.
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