UFC on ESPN 14 Post-Fight Analysis
Final fight card from fight island before return to Vegas featured 15 fights and plenty of good action.
The co-main had seemed like an afterthought in my mind, but Minotauro actually fought very well and made it a tight affair, taking some shots well to the chin and also hurting Shogun. In the end Shogun did just about enough to edge a decision (once again).
Alexander Gustafsson's heavyweight return was a big disappointment. Some people said Werdum was a terrible style matchup for him, but I don't really buy it, it's not like even DC was taking Gus down at will during his prime. Werdum did look vastly improved over his recent fight, showing that he is not as completely spent as I thought. Lesson for me once again is not to put too much emphasis on one poor performance - you can't draw too strong conclusions off of just one instance.
Carla Esparza got another split decision where she laid on her opponent for couple of rounds while getting beat up while the fight was standing. She stays high in the rankings, but she is still far away from title contention in my mind.
Paul Craig welcomed Antigulov's takedown attempts and promptly snatched up tight triangle choke to submit him. Craig is gathering some momentum these recent months, he has been fighting well and improving all the time.
Alex Oliveira was in cruise control through the three rounds of the fight with Sobotta and got a clear decision. Sobotta failed to make the fight uncomfortable for Cowboy, being hesitant to pull the trigger most of the time cause Oliveira was tagging him from the outside.
Khamzat Chimaev made an UFC record with the fastest turnaround of wins and even managed to improve over his previous performance, getting the finish already in the 1st and absorbing no strikes at all. Now we need to see him fight someone with a takedown defence, another good wrestler maybe? They say they are gonna put him on UFC 252 so hope they find him a proper step up in competition. Love seeing guys staying active regardless.
On a night dominated by favorites, Jesse Ronson cashed as the first underdog and he was quite sizable one at that, fighting a division up against Dalby. It was no lucky win either, Ronson was getting the better of striking exchanges and his takedown defence had held up. In the end Ronson had Dalby hurt and snapped up a tight RNC for the win.
Jake Collier used to be a ripped UFC fighter in the middleweight, but showed up into this fight weighing about 260 pounds and looking like Butterbean. Tom Aspinall made quick work of him. Only in this sport you can have guys who don't even remotely look like pro athletes...
Movsar Evloev did not really get the wrestling game going against Mike Grundy, but he did not need it, for he was dominant on the feet, sharp, technical and fast. Grundy was actually the guy getting the better of the wrestling, taking Evloev down multiple times, but Evloev showed some world class scrambling ability to get out of submissions and to get back on his feet time and time again.
Tanner Boser was dominant against Raphael Pessoa, being the much faster man and thus hitting him without getting hit, until in second round Boser landed a punch flush on Pessoa's eyeball, making him wilt and give up. Another strong finish from Boser has his stock on the rise, definitely a fun heavyweight to watch.
Bethe Correia was the only blemish of my prelims. For some reason whenever I bet for her, she looks like herself, but whenever I bet against her she grinds out a victory with her sheer will. It's a shame cause she actually probably could have won this fight too. Obviously Kianzad was the better, more physical and technical fighter, but fight was more decided on Bethe's poor fight IQ. She could have easily rode out the second round with top control, put some damage in the bank and make Kianzad tire out, but she just stood up and let her get up for free. I feel like fight was there for the taking if she just stayed on top and then just repeated it in 3rd round. Oh well.
Emeev and Stolze had unremarkable fight, Emeev as expected took the decision. Castaneda came willing to scrap but was ultimately outmatched by Nathaniel Wood, just as was expected.
My worst pick was Correia like I mentioned, though like I said, I felt the fight was there for the taking. Best pick was snapping up Ronson as the big underdog, but it was just a small punt anyway.
Next weekend we have much smaller, 11-fight card with the main event looking much clearer than this time around.
Main Card
Robert Whittaker and Darren Till engaged in a very tense, tactical battle peppered with explosions of action. Whittaker getting dropped in the first seemed like it was gonna prove me right about his durability, but really getting hit with an elbow like that springing forward would put anyone down. If anything the fact that he went on to find a win in the fight shows Whittaker is still very much fit to fight for title in the future.The co-main had seemed like an afterthought in my mind, but Minotauro actually fought very well and made it a tight affair, taking some shots well to the chin and also hurting Shogun. In the end Shogun did just about enough to edge a decision (once again).
Alexander Gustafsson's heavyweight return was a big disappointment. Some people said Werdum was a terrible style matchup for him, but I don't really buy it, it's not like even DC was taking Gus down at will during his prime. Werdum did look vastly improved over his recent fight, showing that he is not as completely spent as I thought. Lesson for me once again is not to put too much emphasis on one poor performance - you can't draw too strong conclusions off of just one instance.
Carla Esparza got another split decision where she laid on her opponent for couple of rounds while getting beat up while the fight was standing. She stays high in the rankings, but she is still far away from title contention in my mind.
Paul Craig welcomed Antigulov's takedown attempts and promptly snatched up tight triangle choke to submit him. Craig is gathering some momentum these recent months, he has been fighting well and improving all the time.
Alex Oliveira was in cruise control through the three rounds of the fight with Sobotta and got a clear decision. Sobotta failed to make the fight uncomfortable for Cowboy, being hesitant to pull the trigger most of the time cause Oliveira was tagging him from the outside.
Khamzat Chimaev made an UFC record with the fastest turnaround of wins and even managed to improve over his previous performance, getting the finish already in the 1st and absorbing no strikes at all. Now we need to see him fight someone with a takedown defence, another good wrestler maybe? They say they are gonna put him on UFC 252 so hope they find him a proper step up in competition. Love seeing guys staying active regardless.
Prelims
Trinaldo was having really tough time in the final prelim against the newcomer Jai Herbert, until he uncorked a punch from hell and put Herbert stiff. Unfortunately Herb Dean transformed into Dean of Herbs and did not stop the fight even though Trinaldo was completely unwilling to hit the barely conscious Herbert who was not defending himself. Whole bunch of unnecessary shots later Herb, who usually does better than this, finally stepped in.On a night dominated by favorites, Jesse Ronson cashed as the first underdog and he was quite sizable one at that, fighting a division up against Dalby. It was no lucky win either, Ronson was getting the better of striking exchanges and his takedown defence had held up. In the end Ronson had Dalby hurt and snapped up a tight RNC for the win.
Jake Collier used to be a ripped UFC fighter in the middleweight, but showed up into this fight weighing about 260 pounds and looking like Butterbean. Tom Aspinall made quick work of him. Only in this sport you can have guys who don't even remotely look like pro athletes...
Movsar Evloev did not really get the wrestling game going against Mike Grundy, but he did not need it, for he was dominant on the feet, sharp, technical and fast. Grundy was actually the guy getting the better of the wrestling, taking Evloev down multiple times, but Evloev showed some world class scrambling ability to get out of submissions and to get back on his feet time and time again.
Tanner Boser was dominant against Raphael Pessoa, being the much faster man and thus hitting him without getting hit, until in second round Boser landed a punch flush on Pessoa's eyeball, making him wilt and give up. Another strong finish from Boser has his stock on the rise, definitely a fun heavyweight to watch.
Bethe Correia was the only blemish of my prelims. For some reason whenever I bet for her, she looks like herself, but whenever I bet against her she grinds out a victory with her sheer will. It's a shame cause she actually probably could have won this fight too. Obviously Kianzad was the better, more physical and technical fighter, but fight was more decided on Bethe's poor fight IQ. She could have easily rode out the second round with top control, put some damage in the bank and make Kianzad tire out, but she just stood up and let her get up for free. I feel like fight was there for the taking if she just stayed on top and then just repeated it in 3rd round. Oh well.
Emeev and Stolze had unremarkable fight, Emeev as expected took the decision. Castaneda came willing to scrap but was ultimately outmatched by Nathaniel Wood, just as was expected.
My picks
The night was going beautifully up until the final fights of the card, think I was 10 out 11 at best. Unfortunately I only got one fight right after that and finished the card with a respectable 11 out of 15. It wasn't a hard card to predict though, with most favorites winning, thus even getting over two thirds right only gets me about two bets up. Still, after taking back-to-back losses, I am now on a two event winning streak.My worst pick was Correia like I mentioned, though like I said, I felt the fight was there for the taking. Best pick was snapping up Ronson as the big underdog, but it was just a small punt anyway.
Next weekend we have much smaller, 11-fight card with the main event looking much clearer than this time around.
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