Tag Archive for: UFC. MMA

5 Takeaways from UFC Vegas 31

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All eyes were on the prodigy from Dagestan, Islam Makhachev. With Khabib retiring sooner than expected, expectations for Islam quickly rose. Coming in at 19-1, his record was evident of how good he was as a fighter, but we haven’t been able to see him get tested yet. Taking this fight against Thiago Moises wasn’t the test that we wanted, but we were still able to see how he would fare in the environment of a 5 round fight. And what we saw was the dominance that we would expect from a student and brother of Khabib. He was able to dominate the ground game for almost all 3 rounds and in the 4th, he was able to slip in a beautiful rear naked choke. Many other great wins came from this card including the return of Meisha Tate. Let’s take a look at the top takeaways from this weekend’s card. 

 

  1. Islam Makhachev needs a real opponent 

 

This is no disrespect to Drew Dober and Thiago Moises who are both great fighters. But the time for Islam to take that next step is now. No longer can this man be ducked or denied from anyone not in the top 3. He absolutely dominated his last two fights winning every round of both of them until he finished them with a submission. Islam has shown that he has the talent to be able to beat who you put in front of him handily. Dan Hooker, Tony Ferguson, or Michael Chandler need to be next for him. If Conor wasn’t out for a year I would put him in that list too but Islam deserves someone way sooner. With Islam facing one of these guys, we can now see a true test of what this man is really about. At 20-1 his record is nearly flawless and once he gets a real test in a top contender, we can truly see how ready he is to fill the shoes of Khabib. 

 

2. Meisha Tate is back, but for how long?

 

After taking a hiatus in her career, Meisha Tate returned to get a TKO win in the 3rd over the retiring Marion Reneau. The first two rounds were slow but Tate was able to get control and use her wrestling that we’ve known to come from her. She won this fight, but now we have talks of her facing off against Holly Holm. While she was able to beat Holly the first time, Holly has developed into one of the most well rounded fighters there is, and if Amanda Nunez wasn’t reigning terror over the flyweight and bantamweight division, we could very likely be talking about Holly Holm being one of the greatest female athletes in UFC history. Tate can very much focus on utilizing her wrestling and trying to take Holly down, but it will be much harder with the gap on the feet being that large. We will see if Tate is able to come back and make a solid run here in the UFC for her second stint. 

 

3. Amanda Lemos is the next rising star in the Women’s Strawweight division

 

With her 35 second win, Amanda Lemos secured the second fastest knockout in the Strawweight division. Somehow, this didn’t earn her a performance bonus but it definitely did earn her some respect in the eyes of fans and matchmakers. With two straight knockout wins in the first round, she’s becoming one of very few women who can put your lights out with one shot. That kind of power in this division makes you stand out immensely and having Wallid Ismail cut your promos makes you stand out even that much more. 

 

4. Rodolfo Viera seems to have figured things out 

 

In his last fight, Viera was able to get the back of his opponent, and in one of the most strange occurrences in UFC history, completely gassed out 3 minutes into the fight. It almost seemed like an adrenaline dump which could have been what it was. This cost him the fight and also his undefeated record. Viera hired a sports psychologist to work on breaking through that mental barrier. In this fight, Viera came out much more patient and seemed to have understood how to flow in the octagon much better. For someone who’s touted “ The Blackbelt Hunter” he decided to use his jab beautifully for the first two rounds before taking Dustin Stoltzfus down and winning via Rear Naked Choke. After his win emotions clearly poured out from this guy who seemed to have battle through a lot mentally to be able to make it through this fight. For someone who’s as talented as Viera, I hope this is a sign that we’re turning the page on him and he’s able to take that next step to get closer to competing at the top of the division. 

 

5. The least talked about UFC Cards are the best

 

Although there’s nothing like star power on an UFC card, last Saturday’s fight card showed that even without the big names, the promotion can still put on banger cards. There were only 2 decisions on the whole card, none of them being on the main card. A main card with finish after finish absolutely delivered and for sure left fans very happy. 5 KO/TKO’s, 2 Rear Naked Chokes, 1 Kimura and a partridge in a pear tree was the formula for an amazing UFC Card. Dana White agreed, handing out 4 Performance of the Night awards AND a Fight of the Night award which means 6 people walked out $50,000 richer and potentially their life changed. Hopefully we can continue to see the great UFC cards in the future but one with an 80% finish rate will certainly be tough to beat. 

 

You can follow Johnathan on Twitter @ThreePieceCombo

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Winners and Losers from UFC Vegas 10

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No matter what the expectations anyone might’ve had going into this card, UFC Vegas 10 exceeded all of them. From top to bottom this card delivered anything one could’ve asked for. It had submissions, knockouts, underdogs, comebacks, and capped it off with Fight of the Night Main Event.

Let’s take a deeper look at who the winners and losers are coming out of this weekend.

 

Winners:

 

  1. Kevin Croom: Our biggest winner of the night has to be the man who came in on short notice of 2 days. He checked in as the biggest underdog of the night and was making his UFC debut. Even with all that riding on his back, Croom delivered the performance of a lifetime. He secured the fastest win for a debuting lightweight in UFC history. And on top of all that he ends up taking home a $50,000 performance bonus. With his name now on the minds of Dana White and UFC fans, Croom has the opportunity to make his journey to the UFC, which took 11 years, one that has significant impact.
  2. Michelle Waterson: After taking two straight losses in the UFC, Waterson was in jeopardy of falling down the ufc rankings and getting further and further away from a shot at the coveted strawweight championship. With this win tonight, she propels herself forward in the category of “2 fights away” from a shot at the belt. She would need to beat someone ranked 4-7 and then someone top 3 for her to secure that title shot. Getting this win was one that was key for the championship aspirations of the Karate Hottie.
  3. Bobby Green: For as long as a career that Bobby Green has had, it seems like its all coming together for him now. After last nights win, Green is currently on a 3 fight win streak, the longest of his career since 2014. Primarily known as a striker, he showed total domination in the wrestling department. He scored 4 takedowns which was a personal best while also stuffing 5 of 6 from Alan Patrick, a BJJ Black belt. For Bobby Green, winning this fight means getting himself close to the top 20 in the lightweight rankings. His potential seems to be hitting stride and with this streak we could see Green in the top 15 rankings with another 2 wins. 

 

Losers

  1. Mike Rodriguez: The biggest loser of the night was Slow Mike Rodriguez. He gets the biggest loser title because he was ROBBED from a win by the Referee and Ed Herman. Here’s the scene. Rodriguez has Herman in a muy thai clinch with his own back towards the referee. Rodriguez hits Herman with a knee straight to the solar plexus below the ribs, knocking the wind out of herman. After a few more punches to the face the ref comes and says the knee was to the groin which Sherman was pleased to abide by. He sells the groin strike and gets his 5:00 to recover from his near TKO. In the next round, after Rodriguez almost knocks Herman out, the referee doesn’t stop the fight and Herman gets a kimura lock to win. Huge mistake made by the referee and even Dana White said that it was a horrible job done by the ref. Fortunately for Mike even though he took the L, Dana was reluctant enough to give him his win money. 
  2. Angela Hill: Losing decisions are tough. Losing split decisions are even worse. For Angela Hill, she’s just lost her second split decision… in a row. Knowing that one judge had it scored where you won the fight is something that eats away in a fighters mental. With this loss, she’s in jeopardy of falling out of the top 15 rankings. And even though she seems to be improving in every fight, it seems that her skillset wont line up with her rankings. If she wants to get into the title picture, she seemingly would have to win 4 in a row at this point. Her striking is on point, it seemed like the ability to mix it up with the takedowns was the hole in her game. Her defense was on point when it came to the takedowns but she never threatened one herself. If she’s able to get a takedown game into her repertoire, she could definitely work her way back up the rankings. 
  3. Roosevelt Roberts: After winning 10 of his first 11, Roberts was looked at as a rising prospect in the UFC. Now losing two in a row, he sits at a record of 10-3. These last two losses for him were especially painful because it was two times in a row where he was caught in a submission quickly. As a brown belt in BJJ, he should’ve came in with much more awareness with defending the submissions. Now losing two in a row, he needs to do something to show out before he puts himself on the cutting board of the UFC. 

 

Other Winners and Losers:


Waterson def. Hill by split decision

Azaitar def. Worthy by TKO (punches) R1 1:33

Modafferi def. Lee by unanimous decision 

Herman def. Rodriguez by submission (kimura) R3 4:01 

Green def. Patrick by unanimous decision

Quarantillo def. Nelson by KO (punches) R3 0:07 

Eubanks def. Avila by unanimous decision

Croom def. Roberts by submission (guillotine choke) R1 0:31 

Romanov def. Martinez by submission (arm triangle choke) R2 4:22 

Turner def. Weaver by submission (rear naked choke) R2 4:20 

Barberena def. Ivy by unanimous decision 

Mazo def. Kish by submission (rear naked choke) R3 3:57 

 

You can follow Johnathan Ramlakhan on Twitter @ThreePieceCombo