Wow - BJ Penn loses his belt and no thread yet. Man that Tiger Woods dude is popular.
So BJ loses the fight by decision and Frankie Edgar is the new lightweight champion! Gotta say that BJ looked pretty disinterested the whole fight and fought 1 dimensionally. Maybe losing his title will fire him up again. I imagine Stevenson is thinking 'Really?'
Other fights - for the first 2.5 rounds Silva v Maia was great for comedy purposes. Pure Harlem Globetrotters v Washington Generals stuff. Looked more choreographed than anything Vince McMahon has put out. But the 2nd half was Silva at his worst. Just bouncing around not getting hit but not attacking either and had Rogan wishing for a yellow card. I mean if you're that much better than the other guy that you can just clown him from the get go, surely you're good enough to put him down whenever you feel the urge. Just letting a 5 round fight peter out like that does not make for exciting viewing. Maybe Dana needs to invoke the old Andre rule and put 2 blokes in there with him.
Hughes v Gracie was also pretty boring with neither wanting any part of each others ground game. Matt's leg kicks were the difference with him eventually doing enough damage for Gracie to fall over allowing Matt to finish him at the end of the 3rd.
Kendell Grove v Munoz was the best fight of the night with Munoz getting pwned early but coming back to pound out Grove for the 2nd round stoppage.
Etim was game but dos Anjos showed his BJJ cred in a fun technical bout, getting an arm bar late in the second.
Gustafsson was also game but lost to Phil Davis via anaconda choke at the end of the very first round.
So in summary, for mine the under card was quite entertaining but I found the 3 feature fights to be pretty boring. You?
Originally posted by Big GWow - BJ Penn loses his belt and no thread yet. Man that Tiger Woods dude is popular.
Ah, you beat me to it by a couple hours. I was wondering if the lack of thread was down to the early start time meaning nobody watched or people just not liking what they saw.
As much as BJ looked like he'd rather be anywhere else after round 2, I still thought he won the fight. Not the worst decision in the world - and I can see how you could make a case for Edgar winning - but I'd dearly love to know what the chuff inspired one judge to give it 50-45 to Frankie. Still, good for him.
Silva? Ah geez, he makes himself hard to love at times. He's awesome and all, but he acted like a bit of a dick out there and the fight was pretty farcical. I'm afraid I was with Rogan in longing for the days of the old yellow card. If you're that fucking good, maybe try and not throw a hissy fit any time someone has the audacity to not fight on your terms.
As nostalgia fights go, Hughes v Gracie wasn't awful but it wasn't great either and it's not like either guy's going to do anything against any of the young bucks out there.
The undercard was where the money was at though. Grove v Munoz was good stuff. I thought Munoz was done after the first, so kudos to him for coming back in the second. Etim didn't disgrace himself against dos Anjos, but I never got the feeling he was going to win either.
Originally posted by Big GSo in summary, for mine the under card was quite entertaining but I found the 3 feature fights to be pretty boring. You?
Pretty much. Not nearly as bad as you'd think given some of the furore out there. Fun undercard and a major upset in the BJ fight, just a shame about the main event really.
Usual disclaimer - we Brits don't have to pay for this stuff. I might well be a bit pissier if I'd forked out $40-50 to watch Silva run laps.
I caught this at a bar. I thought I was just drunk when I saw Anderson Silva's behavior. On Sunday morning I went to Sherdog and saw it was all real. Ridiculous. I hope he moves up to 205 permanently. Nobody at 185 is going to touch him, and I don't want to see more of these lame "fights".
I thought BJ won the first three rounds and Edgar won the last two, though I could see how the 3rd round could have gone either way. The judge who scored it 50-45 for Edgar ought to have to explain their reasons, because I can't come up with anything. I'm glad BJ lost, because there weren't very many interesting fights left for him. I don't think Edgar will make it out of his first title defense, so this opens up the title to plenty of new people. I'll be at UFC's Boston event this summer, and I'm hoping for Edgar/Florian there.
Grove/Munoz was flat out fantastic.
Lloyd: When I met Mary, I got that old fashioned romantic feeling, where I'd do anything to bone her. Harry: That's a special feeling.
Originally posted by samoflangeI caught this at a bar. I thought I was just drunk when I saw Anderson Silva's behavior. On Sunday morning I went to Sherdog and saw it was all real. Ridiculous. I hope he moves up to 205 permanently. Nobody at 185 is going to touch him, and I don't want to see more of these lame "fights".
Dana White is less than happy with Silva at the moment.
Originally posted by dMrNot the worst decision in the world - and I can see how you could make a case for Edgar winning - but I'd dearly love to know what the chuff inspired one judge to give it 50-45 to Frankie.
Originally posted by samoflangeThe judge who scored it 50-45 for Edgar ought to have to explain their reasons, because I can't come up with anything.
I had the odd internet opportunity to communicate with Doug Crosby (along with a bunch of other folks on the UG), said judge, and his justification for the Edgar shutout was that given the official judging criteria of striking plus octagon control he felt BJ's "I am standing in mid-ring and only countering" plan was indicative of Edgar controlling the pace of the fight and implementing a strategy--which is, at least, interestingly debatable. Personally, I think Edgar won the fight 48-47, but it was such a close fight that it wouldn't have been a robbery either way.
Renzo looked old as hell, and that makes me kind of sad. When Matt "If I Didn't Hate Gay Marriage I Would Marry a Double-Leg Takedown" Hughes out-kicks and out-boxes you, it's indicative of some problems with the skill level at which you are fighting. Even before the fight Renzo was talking about dropping to 155, and I gotta be honest, that seems like a terrible, terrible idea--the guys at 155 are only going to be sharper, faster, and better-conditioned, as a general rule. Let Renzo go back to the drawing board, and let Hughes fight some of the newer, less-established guys who could really benefit from his name power and help figure out where he is in the division.
As or Anderson, shit is just ridiculous. Everything there is to say about him has already been said--at this point I'm just waiting for his defense against Sonnen, who at least makes his assholery constantly entertaining as opposed to half-entertaining, half-infuriating. Aside from that, I don't know what to say. Dude needs to get his head straight.
Extra bonus points to Mostapha al-Turk, who with his loss on the undercard is now 6-6 and 0-3 in the UFC. This coming from an ADCC European Champion, it's pretty hilarious to see. Still, the UFC will probably bring him around now and then when they travel to Britain--al-Turk's a Cage Rage name and probably still worth some money there.
Originally posted by CarlCXI had the odd internet opportunity to communicate with Doug Crosby (along with a bunch of other folks on the UG), said judge, and his justification for the Edgar shutout was that given the official judging criteria of striking plus octagon control he felt BJ's "I am standing in mid-ring and only countering" plan was indicative of Edgar controlling the pace of the fight and implementing a strategy--which is, at least, interestingly debatable.
Aye, I figured 'octagon control' was about the only defence for a 50-45 score. I don't agree with it because there's other criteria and I don't think Edgar was controlling the fight at all in the first two rounds. Like you say though, close fight and I could easy be persuaded either way as far as a winner goes, so I'm not going to lose sleep over it or anything.
If nothing else the winner of Melendez v Aoki this weekend can now have a less unreasonable claim to the #1 LW ranking, although for the record I still think a motivated BJ beats anything at 155.
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