Fight Of The Year? & How Welterweight Should Play Out

Wow! What a fight the main event of UFC 245 was! I got to see it after all. They went for each other and neither backed down. Was that the fight of the year? It's a contender for me anyway. It was Colby's volume, heart, determination and toughness against Kamaru's power and technique. In the end power and technique won out. I'm so glad Kamaru was victorious because I don't like Colby. But Colby did at least earn a bit of respect for fighting through a broken jaw and making such a great fight of it. The first two rounds were too close to call for me. I couldn't see either fighter gain a distinct advantage so I thought 19-19 would be a fair score after two rounds. I now know never to keep your mouth open if you're in an exchange where you're getting punched on the chin. They reckon that's the main reason Colby's jaw broke, but fair dues again to him for fighting on. Kamaru got the upper hand in round three and was dominant for me. 29-28 Kamaru for me after round 3. Many people gave Colby round 4 but I thought it was very close and could have gone either way. Kamaru started to get dominant again as the round went on but he was stopped in his tracks a couple of times by Colby so you can give Colby the benefit of the doubt for that one. So, 38-38 going into 5. I saw it as a good round for Colby until he got caught by Kamaru. For me, two knock downs was enough to give the round to Kamaru if it went the distance. I can see how some thought it was an early stoppage. But perhaps the referee had known about Colby having an issue with his jaw at this stage and thought he didn't need anymore damage. Maybe Colby could've fought on but maybe he could just as easily been knocked down again because Kamaru had the measure of him by then. Great fight though. Two wrestlers knew they were evenly matched in that department so just tried to knock each other out. No take down attempts the whole fight. Kamaru said he saw a couple of opportunities to take Colby down but was determined to punch him in the face. He also said he was waiting to see if Colby would wrestle before engaging in it with him. The eye poke looked nasty and it was a good call to give Kamaru time and call in the doctor. The nut shot didn't look like a nut shot to be honest. It hit the belt area of the shorts so I think Kamaru got away with that one. There was a third time out where the ref called the two fighters together to tell them fight fair and no more time outs but I wasn't paying attention briefly so I don't know why that time out was called.
It looks like Masvidal will get the next shot at Kamaru for the title. That's a money fight because Masvidal is the BMF and breakout star of 2019. I was interested in seeing Leon Edwards getting a go but I found out Kamaru beat him by unanimous decision about five years ago. Edwards has been on a good win streak since then so it's no wonder Kamaru mentioned Leon as a potential next opponent. Geoff Neal needs to be considered in there too because of how he knocked Mike Perry out in round one. Perry hadn't been knocked out in the UFC before and gave Santiago Ponzinibbio some trouble. So that ko was impressive by Neal. Colby and Ponzinibbio are out for the moment so I think the UFC should try and make the Edwards v Woodley fight to see who faces the winner of Usman v Masvidal. You could do a Masvidal v Edwards fight anyway at some stage because of what happened backstage in London. Could Geoff Neal fight Robbie Lawlor, I wonder? That'd be a good test to see where Neal stands in the mix. Rafael Dos Anjos is fighting Michael Chiesa next and if Chiesa wins that it could throw another name into the title mix because RDA is seen as the gatekeeper of the division. But Chiesa, despite his excellent grappling, doesn't look like a major contender to me. I was thinking Vicente Luque is up there as well but Leon Edwards already beat him. The division is so stacked right now. When Ponzinibbio and Covington come back no one will be safe in the division. I think Colby can use Kamaru's pressure wrestling game plan as a blueprint for beating Tyron Woodley. Ponzinibbio has some serious punching power and to me he looks big in that division. On the strength of where things stand at the moment I see Usman, Edwards, Woodley, Neal, Masvidal, (and when they come back) Covington and Ponzinibbio as the main contenders. But you have Wonderboy, Luque and Lawlor in the mix as well. Conor v Cowboy is essentially a lightweight bout without the weight cut. That's why I don't see them needing to be mentioned.
A brief mention for some the other fights that went on at 245. I'm disappointed that Holloway lost his title but I did think it was possible. Volkanovski executed an intelligent game plan and basically stifled Max's momentum and used those powerful leg kicks as a potent weapon. Amanda Nunes said Germaine de Randamie's takedown defence got worse since they first fought. No surprise with the result of that fight. Jose Aldo lost on his bantamweight debut. Split decision. I didn't see the fight but many thought he won. Although the Weasle said Marlon Moraes deserved the win on the criteria that the judges are supposed to be looking for. I thought Jose would be too depleted for the division but he made weight and his chin held up to Moraes' best punches. I'm glad Jose did well.
Note: next Wednesday is Christmas Day so I won't be blogging.

Overeem v Rozenstruik and A Pay Wall Rant

Did you see Alistair Overeem's lip after the fight with Jairzinho Rozenstruik? Not a pretty sight! It looks like Overeem had a smart game plan that was well executed for almost the whole fight. I saw the score cards. Two of the three judges had Overeem winning the first three rounds and one had him winning all four. Or was it two had him winning all four and one the first three? I'm not sure but, either way, all he had to do was survive the final round to take a unanimous decision. It must have been a sickener to have it stopped with seconds remaining. It was a strange stoppage. Rozenstruik walked away thinking it was job done, Overeem got up straight away but turned away from his opponent and then the referee waved it off. TKO. I heard Michael Bisping say he thought Rozenstruik going for the walk away knock out influenced the referee. Maybe the ref saw his lip and thought to wave it off then. But the final bell was about to go so if Overeem was on his feet he could have faced off and waited the few seconds to the bell and then the judges decision would have been a fairer reflection of the whole five rounds.
Rozenstruik called out Francis Ngannou afterwards. That would be an interesting fight. Two fighters known for insane punching power. But then again Derrick Lewis is known for his ko power and look how that went with Francis. Francis has star power and the UFC heavyweights, if not the UFC itself, are wasting that by not giving him fights. The man needs to earn a living and I think it's living off his savings and the cost of a camp without an income are troubling him as much as not getting fights and the title being held up by Daniel Cormier wanting another shot at the title against Stipe. Although, now that I've said that, he was in a recent Fast & Furious movie so maybe it's not the income thing. He says he has other options after his UFC contract is finished but it'd be a shame to lose him. I'd rather see him in the octagon than typecast in an action movie franchise.
I must admit, I didn't see the Overeem v Rozenstruik fight. I don't have access to tv channels that show the fights or subscription on the web. That means I won't see the card at the weekend. In fairness, I'm not going through a pay wall to see Colby Covington even if I could. I don't like him and the persona he puts on. That's the problem with the current system. When I was in a position to actively buy and stream PPV online they had changed to the ESPN system. So you can only buy PPV through ESPN or Eir sports and BT sports in Ireland. I don't have their tv services and cannot access UFC PPV events because of this. It's very unfair. I wish I could just go on the UFC website and buy the PPV I want and stream it from there. I'm not paying for shit I don't need and will never go through a pay wall to watch. I don't know what I'll do the time Khabib v Tony comes around or even how I'll be able to access Conor v Cowboy if I want to go about it.

Bellator Dublin, Conor's Return

I got myself an early Christmas present - a ticket for Bellator Dublin on the 22nd of February. 51 weeks on from the first time I attended a mixed martial arts event, which was also Bellator Dublin on the 28th of  February 2019. The fight that was originally supposed to be the main event in September is rescheduled to be the main event in February: Gallagher v Ellenor. I haven't been paying much attention to who else is on the card but I know Will Fleury is back on. Looking to bounce back from his loss in September. The guy that beat him, Novenyi Jr., is one to watch I'd say. He caught Fleury with an overhand right early, rocked him and Fleury's reaction time wasn't the same for the rest of the fight so he kept getting his brain scrambled by that overhand. But I digress. I hope Will gets back to winning ways next time out. I think Danni Neilan is on the card as well. She made her pro debut in September and dominated her opponent to a unanimous decision victory. What a big stage to make your pro debut on. She's one to watch too if she can maintain that level. I must check out who else is on the card and follow the announcements as it fills up. There were still loads of tickets available when I was buying mine but maybe it's because people are waiting until after Christmas to purchase, when their finances are in order.
The other big announcement, in terms of Irish MMA, is that Conor McGregor will be fighting Donald Cerrone next month. I'm surprised it's at welterweight. Now I know Conor has gone five rounds against Nate Diaz at 170lbs before but it is still surprising because I wonder if Conor has the stamina for it. I think people are underestimating Cowboy. It might be seen as a tune up fight for Conor but it's certainly no "gimme" fight. Cowboy has better wrestling and is bigger than Conor. Although he has stuffed take downs from known wrestler Eddie Alvarez and the much bigger Nate Diaz before. Cowboy has better jiu jitzu although Conor is no slouch in the grappling department. He is supposed to be superior on the feet but Cowboy has dynamic kicking in his arsenal. Also, Conor was supposed to have a clear edge on the feet against Khabib but he got rocked by an overhand right and couldn't stop the relentless pressure from Khabib using his boxing. I hope Conor wins but it's no certainty that he will. Conor says he wants to fight regularly again next year but let's see how the outcome of his first one affects that goal.
One more thing I wanted to mention is I'm starting to lean towards Khabib in his fight with Tony. Tony is driven and I said in the last blog post that it's like the unstoppable force against the immovable object. But I heard Tony reference Khabib's fight with Tibeau in an interview recently and how Tony himself destroyed Tibeau. Well Khabib has improved immensely, not only since then but even in the last three fights. So I don't think referencing a fight that far back is as relevant as Tony might think, which makes me wonder if Tony is too cocky going into the fight. That's why I'm leaning slightly towards Khabib at the moment.
All in all it looks like, the first half at least, 2020 is going to be a good one for MMA.

Khabib v Tony & Easy Opponents for Page

I read an article the other day about Michael "Venom" Page getting criticised for taking fights with easy opposition in his two most recent bouts inside the Bellator cage and asking if he deserved the latest dose of venom from his critics. The jist of it was his fight in Dublin was a tune up fight after a loss to keep him in the public eye as a big name marketable fighter, his opponent in London at the weekend was who they could get at short notice because bigger names are wary enough not to go against him without a full camp, it was either that or not have him on the card to the detriment of the card and that he shouldn't be criticised for taking the opposition given to him in that situation. He's essentially a gateway for Bellator to the British market that the UFC has deemphasised. Basically a "wait and see" before criticising Page article because he'll eventually come up against more worthy opposition and that's when we'll know how good he really is. It could be a good move by Bellator in order to get a stronghold in Europe in my humble opinion. I don't have a link but the article was on the bloody elbow website.
Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson are set to fight in April. Khabib has signed the contract. Some are saying that April is cursed because they were set to fight in April a couple of times before and it didn't happen. Well let's assume it will happen this time. It'll be the toughest opposition for both of them. I think it comes down to three things: 1) How well does Tony cope with Khabib's ever improving striking, 2) How does Khabib deal with Tony's forward pressure and pace and 3) What can Tony do about Khabib's body positioning, weight distribution and body locking & ground n' pound when it eventually goes to the floor. I'm on the fence. Last year I was saying Tony before Khabib fought Al Iaquinta and Conor McGregor. But he has since fought Dustin Poirier as well and was composed when in a choke against Dustin. Tony, though, has destroyed the faces of all his most recent opposition. They look like casualties of war in the photos. But you never see Khabib bleeding after a fight. Is it the unstoppable force against the immovable object? It's tough to call but so intriguing.

UFC Light Heavyweights and Bellator Dublin

I'll give a quick mention to Jan Blachowicz v Ronaldo Souza. I didn't see the fight but he did a lot better with the move up than Jan's previous opponent Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman. Rockhold put on some size and couldn't utilise his take downs against Jan. Weidman didn't have the strength to take Dominick Reyes down either. So for Jacare to go three rounds without getting completely outclassed and/or ko'd looks good from my perspective. I know Anthony Smith had success moving up but he's the right size for the division and Jacare isn't very big at light heavyweight. That's why it seems impressive to me, even though he ultimately lost by decision.
Bellator Dublin has been announced for February 22nd. I had an idea it'd be that date and was wondering whether I'd go or not. I had planned to book a hotel for that date with the option to cancel or rearrange if it wasn't happening or on a different date. But I kept procrastinating. Now that it's official hotels will be expensive if they weren't already. The cancelled main event from September will be the main in February - Gallagher v Ellenor. Tickets are on sale November 29th. I'd like to go but am in two minds because of the expense.

Reacting To UFC Moscow Main Event

Zabit Magomedsharipov beat Calvin Kattar in the three-round main event at UFC Moscow. A lot of people saying that they'd like to have seen it go five rounds. Many believe Kattar would have won it if it was five because Zabit was already showing signs of tiring at the end of round two. Granted he wasn't at his best and got sloppier in the third but he still came out fighting. Perhaps Kattar would've won a five round fight but you never know. Maybe Zabit would've got a second wind in the fourth and clipped Kattar, got him to the ground (where Zabit is stronger) and submitted Kattar. Maybe Zabit would have had a different training regime for five rounds and had a much more cautious and defensive strategy for the first two rounds and peaked in the third and fourth. you just never know. Zabit is very technical and, from what I saw, has a knack for choosing exactly the right moves. So if he takes on Max Holloway it'll be tricky for Max in the first two but if it's a five round fight Max will get into a rhythm in the later rounds and should have the cardio to overwhelm Zabit with volume and pressure. That's assuming it's a title fight if Max beats Volkanovski. I really don't know which way Max v Volkanovski will go though.
I want to mention Greg Hardy before I go. He went three rounds with Alexander Volkov and only lost by decision. I think that's his first loss inside the octagon. The other due to rule breaking rather than actually fighting. He can go three rounds against a ranked opponent without an inhaler. That's fairly impressive. He's not ready for the big time yet but he's making remarkable progress considering he came from hand egg.

UFC244 - A Casual's Perspective

So UFC244 happened at Madison Square Garden at the weekend. Not a single title fight on the line yet it was one of the biggest events of the year. Two prize fighters in the main event who aren't the biggest so-called "stars" in the organisation in terms of mainstream attention the likes of Conor McGregor or Brock Lesnar could generate, although they have been around a long time and were definitely getting the attention they deserve in recent times. But if anyone was to garner enough mainstream attention to have someone like the president in attendance you'd expect it to be a title holder and no. 1 contender, or the biggest name in the sport. But it was Nate Diaz who instigated getting a BMF belt made. I personally wasn't a fan of the Rock presenting the belt, especially since a slip of the tongue in his press conference speech made it obvious he was favouring Jorge Masvidal. He didn't try hard enough to be impartial. It should've been someone like Mike Tyson presenting it, as Nate suggested. But anyway it's just another example of how this was the biggest step into the mainstream for the UFC.
Nate Diaz is one of the most influential people in the sport now. Because of the USADA flagging in the lead up to 244, they have now come out with a list (according to an Ariel Helwani report) of supplements that they are not going to flag people for elevated levels of certain performance enhancers. They probably have levels to which you will still be flagged if you go beyond even after taking these substances but I hope this isn't going to be an excuse that athletes will hide behind in order to get away with cheating. I'm sure common sense will prevail for the most part.
I suspected Jorge would win the main event but I was hoping Nate could do it. If they eventually do run it back I hope Nate makes the necessary changes to give himself a better chance. I was angry at the doctor stoppage but I took a moment and after I had time to think I realised he's doing his job and obviously knows a lot more than me. The impulsive anger and abuse directed towards him was uncalled for. He could be treating or even saving the life of a member of the public who took their anger out on him or someone close to them some day. Jorge was clearly winning the fight to that point and whether or not Nate could've done something different to turn the tide, we'll never know. Jorge could just as easily have seen out the last 2 rounds for a unanimous decision victory.
Darren Till is back on the win column. He dealt with Gastelum better than Adesanya did. I even heard Adesanya say that it looked like Till had watched how Adesanya adapted to how Gastelum was closing the gap on him in the later rounds and Till started to do that early on in their fight. It was interesting to hear Darren talk about not wanting to go out there and thinking about faking an injury at the last minute. That anxiousness has plagued me all my life in different situations but Darren is a fighter and got through it and the win brought his confidence back. It's uplifting to know how positive getting through it can be.
I was also impressed with Wonderboy Stephen Thompson. I thought after his loss to Pettis and what Luque did to Mike Perry's face that Luque was going to get a late ko. But I'm happy I was proven wrong. He had a nasty hand break where his knuckle was completely where it shouldn't have been from hitting Vicente Luque so hard. He claimed Vicente was the toughest guy he ever fought because other fighters would have been knocked out by some of the shots. I like how he said he'd like the BMF winner in the press conference after. That would be an interesting fight - the "nicest guy" against the "BMF" - especially since Wonderboy beat Jorge before as far as I'm aware.
Another big talking point for me is Kevin Lee's head kick knock out. Gregor Gillespie was undefeated going into the fight and he gets knocked out in the first round. A great place for Kevin Lee to do it. He gets noticed on the biggest card of the year. He moved to Canada to a new gym and it seems to have been the right move. As I understand it he caught Gregor with a jab and kicked with the leg on the same side because when the jab hits the opponent is reacting to that so doesn't see the leg coming behind it until it's too late. Although how I heard Kevin explain it was he saw the way Gregor was reacting to jabs and chose his moment to follow with the kick.
I must admit I was definitely on the Johnny Walker hype train. He had a series of quick knockouts and he spent some time training in SBG Ireland over the summer which led to John Kavanagh tweeting how Johnny had an uncanny ability to generate power punches without a tell. He went to Russia after that to train in wrestling. Corey Anderson is a wrestler but I thought Walker would have the athletic prowess to stuff it out with the right training. I suspected Corey had the power to get a surprise ko but I didn't believe it would happen. Surprisingly Walker looked all over the place defensively and had no answer for Anderson on the feet. Experience is a wonderful thing and you could tell who had the most in this. Walker seemed to be prepared for Anderson to use his jab to get in and change levels for the take down so kept his hands low and when Anderson saw his chin exposed as a result he took the opportunity to strike. Maybe I'm jumping from a derailed hype train to a new one but, judging by his attitude and the significance of the victory, he can potentially be good competition for Jones.
I'm delighted Derrick Lewis won. They say it was a controversial decision but i'm no expert and would need to see something like a breakdown of the fight from The Weasle to form a better opinion. This brings me to the other talking point about the event - the judges. Apparently the NYSAC uses boxing judges for MMA and it was said that they don't know everything to look for in these fights. So they tended to favour guys going forward with punches. Also clinches don't count and are usually broken up in boxing whereas they're an integral part of MMA. But this still doesn't explain the 30-27 one judge gave in favour of Gastelum against Till when he definitely didn't win every round. Two solutions here imo: 1) give the judges more MMA training and experience in what they're supposed to be judging. 2) Get in judges who are specific to the requirements of MMA.

UFC Moscow Competitors and Bellator Welterweights

  Right, my own rankings are going to take a lot more time and effort than I'm willing to put into them at the moment so any rankings I talk about after today's blog post will be official rankings until I actually make real progress with the task of coming up with my own system. I did read bleacher report's take on the latest rankings and it seems to me that it's done on the whim of the voting panel. Daniel Cormier has dropped down one place in the pound for pound rankings despite not fighting since his loss to Stipe Miocic. Michelle Waterson has dropped a place after the weekend's Boston card even though she wasn't on it. Her position was static immediately after losing to Joanna. It's things like this that prompted me to try and come up with my own system.
  Junior dos Santos v Alexander Volkov at Moscow has been cancelled and Zabit Magomedsharipov has been bumped up to a three round main event. Greg Hardy has been lined up to fight Volkov. I don't know why they didn't choose Francis Ngannou to replace Dos Santos and keep the fight as a five round main event. I can only theorize that the UFC have seen Francis filming for the Fast & Furious film franchise and assume he isn't as committed to fighting as he should be. I also think that after losing to Stipe and a terrible contest (you could hardly call it a fight) with Derrick Lewis, the UFC aren't as willing to promote and market him in a title fight so don't want to invest in him. They probably see Hardy as either a potential big name if he beats Volkov or, if he loses, an excuse to phase him out of the promotion because of the controversy he generates. I assume Francis would have taken the short notice fight given his tweet with the thinking emoji and stating in interviews of his frustration with the UFC tying up the title with a third Stipe v Daniel fight. Francis is anxious to get back on a run at the title. This would have provided him the opportunity.
  I'm a bit of a Weasle fanboy. I watched his video on his thoughts on the Volkov v Hardy fight and that's what inspired this segment. I knew Volkov had to be good to be ranked in the UFC and that Hardy doesn't have much MMA experience but I didn't realise how much more experienced Volkov is. Hardy is learning as fast as Francis Ngannou did (albeit with less experience than Francis had coming in) and is naturally athletic given that he's coming from American football, but is he ready for a former world champion? Volkov was a Bellator world champ. He has years of experience of fight camps, sparring, game planning etc. Anything can Happen in MMA and Hardy hasn't been beaten inside the octagon, but they were all unranked opponents, so there is a high probability that it's a "gimme" win for Volkov to please the Russian crowd.
  The mention of Bellator reminded me that the welterweight tournament final between Rory McDonald and Douglas Lima is coming up. That should be an interesting rematch. Rory has looked, to the untrained eye like myself at least, that he hasn't been firing on all cylinders since his loss to Gegard Mousasi even though he's been grinding out wins, but I think he has come out and said that he is very motivated for this fight. Lima has looked very driven and trying to make a statement of intent in his run to the final. I think Rory's experience will grind out a victory but it wouldn't shock me if Lima wins given how the first fight went.

MMA's Next Big Star, Context, Karate Hottie and Rankings

Isreael Adesanya is the new undisputed middleweight UFC champion. That walkout was next level. An amazing showman and the next big star in MMA. What was it? Over fifty thousand at UFC 243 in Melbourne? I didn't think it was his time yet for two reasons. First Robert Whittaker went ten rounds with Yoel Romero and got injured during one of the fights but fought on and still won. Second I underestimated how good Kelvin Gastellum is. Although Whittaker didn't use everything in his arsenal against Adesanya. But still, I'm glad the last stylebender proved me wrong. I'm a fan and have been following him on twitter for some time now. Whittaker was saved by the bell in the first round but didn't last another full round. Adesanya didn't look like he'd been in a fight at all afterwards compared to how he looked after Gastellum.

When I watched Al Iaquinta's fight against Donald Cerrone in the run up to his fight with Dan Hooker I suspected Al would be at the wrong end of another beating in Melbourne. I was right. Izzy and Dan are intelligent with intelligent coaches. There was plenty they could learn from the Cerrone fight. Not many made much of a deal about Hooker's comment after he heard Dustin Poirier turned down his call out. I thought, being Irish, Hooker's "chasing leprechauns" was insensitive, a bit ignorant and uncalled for. Maybe I took it out of context.

Speaking of out of context, I want to mention Ben Askren. I heard that Ben was talking about Israel Adesanya in a complimentary fashion and was becoming a fan of his. Ben talked about him being well spoken and some people, including online media personnel who cover MMA, took this to be a racial slur. I think it says a lot more about what goes on in other people's minds that they're actively looking to criticize and so easily triggered, than it does about someone giving compliments where they are deserved. 

I'm looking forward to "The Karate Hottie" Michelle Waterson fighting Joanna Jerdz... nope! I can't spell her last name... at the weekend. Her fight against Karolina Kowalkievic was the best performance I'd seen from her. Many are predicting Joanna to outclass her but I'm hoping Michelle can do it. The downside is we have to listen to Joanna's moaning excuses on MMA media if she loses.

I have to print out the newest UFC rankings in research for my own planned ranking system that I talked about in a previous post. I haven't researched the records of the old rankings because I haven't made the time to do so. I might not blog next week to make time to research the latest rankings instead. I keep talking about coming up with my own system to see how it compares with the real rankings and it's about time I did something to make it happen.

Bellator Dublin

I attended the Bellator Dublin event at the 3 Arena on Friday the 27th of September 2019. It was the second live mixed martial arts event I attended and my second Bellator event. I didn't take my seat until the second round of the first prelim and was still getting my bearings so didn't pay too much attention to the first fight. I looked through the photos I took at the event and most weren't very good. I was too interested in the fights to take the time to get any decent action shots so I took photos between rounds and between fights. Most had very little subject matter and some were blurry so I won't bother sharing them. I have a video to give an idea of the crowd there though. One thing I remember about the night was that there were about three or four fights paused for nut shots.
Like I said, I didn't pay much attention to the first fight. It was at welterweight. Gnusariov beat Coughlan by unanimous decision. The second fight was at featherweight where Logan Submitted Gustab in the second round by triangle. Next up were the flyweights O'Driscoll and Hadley. In my view O'Driscoll had the upper hand early in the fight but maybe this was a feeling out process for Hadley. Hadley locked in a rear naked choke in the third round though and got the submission victory. Hadley is undefeated so far in his career. Mulpeter v McCabe at welterweight was a fairly even contest. I remember that Mulpeter seemed to have the bigger support but there was definitely good vocal support for McCabe. Mulpeter got a split decision victory from the judges. Mulpeter came up to a group of people  near where I sat during a later fight to meet some friends and have a brief discussion before leaving. I remember him saying to them how McCabe was a tough opponent. There was another split decision in the following fight between Moore and Chadwick. Chadwick tried to pressure Moore against the cage early but Moore was able to use his length and reach as the fight progressed. I don't fully remember how many takedowns there were and how much of the fight took place on the ground because I didn't take note of it. In the end Moore was victorious. Bulaid and Maiboroda were both making their professional debut at featherweight in the next fight. Bulaid outclassed Maiboroda and won by knockout in the first round. Roddy v Pietila at lightweight was an intriguing contest. I thought Pietila was getting the better of the exchanges in rounds one and two. Roddy dominated Pietila in the third. I'm not a judge but if I was scoring it I would've called it a draw. I thought the first two were 10-9 to Pietila and Roddy, looking for a finish, dominated the third enough to get a 10-8. That would've made it 28-28 in my scores. But when they were announcing the result all three judges gave the unanimous decision victory to Roddy. Next up was Richie Smullen against Tobin. Smullen got a rear naked choke in the first round and when the referee checked Tobin he wasn't able to tap because he was unconscious.
The next two prelims were postponed due to time constraints as they were closing in on the Paramount tv start time in the USA.
Franz Mlambo against the Englishman Wooding opened the main card. It was a good contest and Mlambo used his height and reach advantage to good effect and got a unanimous decision victory. He was one of the fighters I was looking forward to seeing so I'm glad he got the victory. Leah McCourt faced Hughes in the women's featherweight division next. McCourt looked to clearly be the more skilled fighter of the two from what I remember. It showed in the result. McCourt won by technical submission in the first round via rear naked choke.
The next fight was memorable for the wrong reasons if you were hoping, as I was, that Will Fleury would win. Novenyi Junior got pressured early on but then he hurt Fleury with an overhand right sending Fleury against the cage and on his bum and the momentum completely changed in his favour. Fleury didn't give up and probably could have been tko'd a couple of times when he was caught with that overhand right several times. He managed to take down Novenyi Jr at one stage and even found the strength to stand up after being taken down and pressured on the ground at one stage. Once Novenyi rocked Fleury in the first he looked a different class after that. I was wondering why Fleury had no answer to the overhand right but it's hard to break from a gameplan and try something different once your brain has been scrambled from bombs to the head. Novenyi essentially took round three off. Even showboating at one stage, much to the annoyance of the crowd. But he still looked fresh, knew he had done enough and just had to avoid Fleury doing any damage to him to secure victory at that stage. Unanimous decision in the end but fair play to Fleury for fighting on and never giving up. Novenyi Jr looks like a hot prospect after his performance against the best middleweight in Ireland.
Keifer Crosby faced Pereira next. Crosby looked very good and took a unanimous decision victory. Then came the Paramount tv main event. Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson faced Myles Jury. I was looking forward to seeing a former UFC champion live. To be honest, I thought it was the most boring fight of the night. A lot of shadow boxing in my opinion. Occasionally there was a kick from Henderson and a kick or a combination of punches from one of them that'd produce a roar from the crowd but there was nothing to create an atmosphere. I didn't know, or care, how the judges would score it. Well both are excellent jiu jitsu artists so I can kind of understand why they were so tentative about takedowns and going to ground. But what we got on the feet didn't excite me. Henderson got the victory by unanimous decision.
Up next was the main Virgin media & Channel 5 tv card. I knew Peter Queally would have the entrance of the night. The whole crowd singing along to The cranberries' "Zombie" and still singing it when Scope, his opponent, walked on. Scope's walk on song was drowned out by the noise of the crowd singing Zombie. Once the hostilities got underway Queally took the upper hand and was dominant in the first round. He never looked to me like finishing Scope but it looked a comfortable 10-9 round for Queally. Scope took the fight to Queally in the second round. I forget how it got to ground but I think it was a kick from scope that knocked Queally. Things were looking ominous for the home town favourite. But Queally kept his composure and it seemed that Scope got tired. There was a huge roar from the crowd when Queally found his feet and it didn't take him long to rock Scope with punches that sent him against the cage and sliding to the canvas. Queally quickly got in with ground and pound causing the referee to step in and stop the contest. Queally by tko in round two. Fight of the night! Then came another big name on the international stage that I was looking forward to in the co-main. Michael "Venom" Page took on Richard Kiely. I was hoping against hope that Kiely would find a way to win. Dan Miragliotta reffed and deducted a point from Page in the opening round. No one knew why. It turns out it was for showboating. Kiely got knocked down once there was an exchange after a tentative start by both fighters. When he went to ground again Page showboated for a second time and that was when the point was deducted. After that Page waited for Kiely to attempt another strike and went in with a flying knee. The referee had seen enough at that stage and stopped the fight. Easy victory for Page who said in his cage interview that he "hardly trained for the guy". A massive gulf in class. It turns out there was a bit of beef between Miragliotta and Page so they will most likely never share a cage again. More here: https://themaclife.com/featured-posts/dan-miragliotta-confirms-called-michael-venom-page-fcking-piece-st-following-bellator-dublin-bout/ . Kiely was fined for flipping the bird at Page. There was almost a bit of afters between Miragliotta and Page and Kiely took an interest in getting something out of it as well but it was all handbags in the end.
Camila Rivarola faced Danni Neilan in one of the postponed prelims next, before the main event. Danni Neilan was making her professional debut but she looked like a seasoned professional compared to Rivarola. Neilan dominated and outclassed her relatively more experienced opponent and got a unanimous decision victory. Rivarola had her moments early in the first but the result never looked in doubt to me after that. If this is an indication of what's to come Neilan looks like a hot prospect.
After that it was time for the main event of the night. James "Strabanimal" Gallagher facing Roman Salazar. A catch weight bout at 140lbs on short notice after Gallagher's original opponent pulled out due to injury. The walk on and the post fight celebrations lasted far longer than the fight itself. Salazar quickly closed the distance. Once it went to ground Gallagher had a hold of Salazar's neck. Salazar pushed against Gallagher's face with his hand but the ref swept the hand away. I'm not sure why but perhaps to prevent eye scratching. The roar of the crowd increased as it looked like Salazar was tapping soon after because his attempt to get out of the choke failed. The ref had a good view of it and Gallagher shouted at the ref that Salazar was tapping. Eventually the ref stopped it. But it was a very quick fight. Gallagher with a guillotine choke technical submission after a mere thirty five seconds.
When Gallagher left the arena and most people were making their way out there was an announcement that there was one more fight. The other postponed prelim took place between Courtney and Clarke. It was a good contest but most of the crowd had actually left at that stage so it had the feel and atmosphere of a prelim. I don't remember the details but it seemed fairly back and forth. Towards the end of the fight Clarke got the victory by third round submission. A rear naked choke. It was Clarke's professional debut too.
All in all it was a great event and a great atmosphere. I think I'll go again if there's another one happening. I think there could be another one in the works for next February.

UFC Rankings, Lightweight Divsion and Bellator Dublin

Today I had a look at the UFC rankings as part of a plan to come up with my own ranking system to see how it compares with the official rankings. It's going to take quite a bit of research but it will increase my knowledge of the fighters. I hope to also do it for the two other major promotions, Bellator and One, over time. I might not blog next week to give myself more time for research. We'll see.
Justin Gaethje is on a bit of a tare in the lightweight division at the moment. Two knockouts of guys who had never been knocked out previously in their careers - Edson Barboza and Donald Cerrone. I didn't expect Cowboy to lose against Gaethje after seeing his dominant win over Al Iaquinta. But I've been underestimating Justin's improvement since his fights with Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier. I thought maybe Cowboy could pose a few problems for Khabib until I saw how he fared against Tony Ferguson and now Gaethje. Tony Ferguson is the guy we want to see fighting Khabib next. Tony hasn't lost since he fought Michael Johnson early in his UFC career and he has inflicted some major damage to his opponents after his interim title win against Kevin Lee. If Khabib beats Tony he is the lightweight GOAT. If Khabib beats Tony I don't think Justin Gaethje will beat him even if Justin can pose a few problems. It's true for Matt Sera. When people see Khabib have a moment against an opponent they think they've found the solution to beating him. But it's a different story when they get in the octagon with him.
I'm going to Bellator Dublin on the 27th. Getting ready for that is another reason not to blog next week if it takes too much time. I'm disappointed Brian "Pikeman" Moore pulled out because I was looking forward to watching him fight more than the main event to be honest. It should be a good event anyway judging by the last one I was at in February. We have a big name internationally in the co-main event as well. I would like to do a video blog if I was able but I don't have any video editing software or experience in it. I might take some videos anyway and experiment in my spare time if I'm up to it. But I won't give anyone any expectations of a vlog.

Introduction Post

Hello and welcome to my new mixed martial arts blog. When I first saw the sport of mixed martial arts more than a decade ago my reaction was that it was inhumane and borderline homoerotic. Inhumane in the sense that it looked as bad as illegal dog fighting and homoerotic in the sense that when a fighter was on his back on the ground he had his legs wrapped around his opponent. Two near naked, sweaty men rolling around, sometimes in a bloody mess, and clenching each other tightly. I didn't see the appeal.
Fast forward to a number of years later and a man called Conor McGregor appeared on the Irish talk show The Late Late Show full of charm,charisma and wit. I thought "I like this guy even though I normally would be put off by his cockiness". I watched a documentary on the Irish MMA scene on tv not long after as a result of Conor's interview and soon he became a regular fixture on tv and I started to take an interest in the sport. I became a fan of Conor and of the sport as a result.
When deciding to set up this blog I wanted to use casual in the title. It's usually used as a derogatory term on MMA forums for people who only got into the sport because of people like Conor, usually used by people who believe they know a lot more about MMA but actually don't know that much more. An attempt to take the stigma away from being called a casual fan, I suppose. I'm certainly not a hardcore fan. I've never fought in competition in martial arts even at an amateur level. I don't know many names outside of the top 15s in each division of the UFC, only know a handful in Bellator, can't name any in One FC who hasn't been in the UFC and almost none in other MMA promotions. But I am getting into the intricacies of fighting & fighting styles from a fan's perspective and have attended a Bellator event and will be attending another later this month. I'm not the complete casual I was five years ago and would say I'm growing into being a moderate fan.
I hope to use this blog to express myself and my opinions and discuss the important news stories of the MMA world. I plan on coming up with my own ranking system to see how it compares with the real rankings and trying to make it reflect consistency, activity and win streaks of fighters. I hope anyone who discovers this blog will help me use it as a forum for discussing the ins & outs of fighting, fights, fighting styles, game plans and the big MMA news stories of the day.

Just one more thing before signing off. If you're looking for a specific post in the future, there is a blog archive of posts on the right.