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.