If you haven’t seen it yet, just go watch Nate Diaz get KTFO. On loop. For about 2 hours.
It really is the best part. Can’t say I cared a whole lot about the rest of the card. Seeing Mir, he’s probably 1-2 fights from retirement if he’s smart, or 4-5 from permanent injury if he’s not. A UFC newbie dictated the terms of the fight, and that weight class is not forgiving when you start to slip. Cain Velazquez would have put him in the hospital.
Henderson - Melendez: Meh. It’s frustrating to see two guys make that much contact to that little effect. The whole time I was just thinking “if these guys were LHW, maybe even middleweight, this fight would be over.”
It was free, and I got to see Diaz’s corner throw in the towel while he was crosseyed on the mat, so no complaints.
I was picking Thompson to win vs Diaz, but was surprised that it was a TKO/corner stoppage.
Mir fought a stupid fight against Cormier and that’s the primary reason he lost that fight IMO. But, like you said Jim, he should consider retirement and perhaps a job commentating or coaching. He has held the belt twice, beat some big names, and been in the HW title mix for quite a while now. There would be no shame in calling it a career IMO.
On a related note, watching that fight actually makes me even more confident that if Cormier drops down to LHW, that Jones will beat him. By that I mean that, even though Mir didn’t do it nearly enough, pretty much every time he tried to kick Cormier in the legs or front knee, he was successful and Cormier had no answer. The only reason Cormier was able to do what he did was because Mir didn’t listen to his corner’s advice to “fight tall”. I see Jones keeping Cormier at a distance with lead leg side kicks to Dan’s front knee and long jabs to his face, much like he did to Rampage and Vitor. Cormier has shown me nothing in any of his fights to suggest that he is truly skilled or knowledgeable enough yet to be able to successfully close that gap on Jones.
Also, Matt Brown is an animal. Looking forward to seeing him fight some of the guys at the top of the WW division to see how he does. Don’t think he is ready for a title shot by any means, but still would like to see those fights.
I’m no expert at scoring rounds, but the Bendo-Melendez fight looked reeeeally close, though it seemed to me to lean slightly in Melendez’s favor. I’m surprised they gave it to Ben. Maybe I need to watch it again, but I thought Gil had at least 3 rounds in his favor there.
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
Mir fought a stupid fight against Cormier and that’s the primary reason he lost that fight IMO. But, like you said Jim, he should consider retirement and perhaps a job commentating or coaching. He has held the belt twice, beat some big names, and been in the HW title mix for quite a while now. There would be no shame in calling it a career IMO.[/quote]
Mir is at the point that the only fights he gets are with the guys they are bringing in brand new to the UFC. Mir still has the brand name to be a good draw against these new guys but that is slowly slipping away with each new L. I see him taking a few more fights but honestly, his chances of getting another shot at the title are probably gone and that is sad. He is one of my favorite fighters in the UFC but it seems like he lets his opponents dictate the outcome way too much. I know he trained at Jackson’s for this fight and he seems to be in ptetty good shape still but he needs to reevaluate his career with this loss.
[quote]Damici wrote:
I’m no expert at scoring rounds, but the Bendo-Melendez fight looked reeeeally close, though it seemed to me to lean slightly in Melendez’s favor. I’m surprised they gave it to Ben. Maybe I need to watch it again, but I thought Gil had at least 3 rounds in his favor there.[/quote]
I scored it 1,2, and 5 for Gil.
2 and 5 were close though, easy swing rounds. 3 and 4 clearly went to Benson.
Bendo DID consistently outstrike Gil every round if you go by FightMetric (which I presume counted those caught leg kicks).
In any case, hope Gil rebounds from this. He basically fought toe to toe with the champ and is no. 2 in the division right now.
[quote]Damici wrote:
I’m no expert at scoring rounds, but the Bendo-Melendez fight looked reeeeally close, though it seemed to me to lean slightly in Melendez’s favor. I’m surprised they gave it to Ben. Maybe I need to watch it again, but I thought Gil had at least 3 rounds in his favor there.[/quote]
I scored it 1,2, and 5 for Gil.
2 and 5 were close though, easy swing rounds. 3 and 4 clearly went to Benson.
Bendo DID consistently outstrike Gil every round if you go by FightMetric (which I presume counted those caught leg kicks).
In any case, hope Gil rebounds from this. He basically fought toe to toe with the champ and is no. 2 in the division right now.[/quote]
I had it scored 1 and 5 for Gil, 4 for Henderson and 2 and 3 as my toss up rounds. I thought Henderson won, could have seen it if Gil did. I don’t understand all the people screaming it was stolen from Melendez though. That fight was way too close to be called a robbery for either person.
Second the Matt Brown sentiments. I was actually pretty impressed with Mein against Dan Miller and was as excited about this fight as any on the card. I don’t really know if Brown will ever make that jump to contender though but he seems to be headed in the right direction. I also still think Mein will be a pretty solid fighter with a huge upside in the UFC.
I am still really confused as to how Judge Wade Vierra scored round 4 for Melendez though. That round for Henderson, and Round 1 for Melendez I thought would have been unanimous.
[quote]bpick86 wrote:
I am still really confused as to how Judge Wade Vierra scored round 4 for Melendez though. That round for Henderson, and Round 1 for Melendez I thought would have been unanimous. [/quote]
[quote]bpick86 wrote:
I am still really confused as to how Judge Wade Vierra scored round 4 for Melendez though. That round for Henderson, and Round 1 for Melendez I thought would have been unanimous. [/quote]
This might have played a part:
[/quote]
oooh boy. He picked a bad round to do that.
x2 on the Matt Brown thing. That was a great display of violence. Loved how he cut off the cage and smothered Jordan.
I really feel like the biggest surprise was that one ref’s facial hair.
I missed the last 3 rounds of the main event, so I can’t comment.
I think Mir is stuck outside of top 5, but he could stay top 10 for a while. Cain or Reem could murder him. JDS and Carwin have his number. Past that, I am not sure. I would like to see him fight Bigfoot or Werdum.