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.