UFC 246 - A Casual's View

I'll get to Conor McGregor v Cowboy but I want to talk about some of the other fights on the card first. Carlos Diego Ferriera looks to be a good prospect at lightweight. He submitted Anthony Pettis. Pettis has excellent grappling and is not easily submitted, as demonstrated in the Nate Diaz fight, but Ferriera got it done early in Round 2 - impressive! The Weasle was saying he and Cowboy should fight next as they're both coming off losses. It could be fought at 170 too. I was disappointed for Maycee Barber but I had an inkling that Roxanne Modafferi's experience would cause problems for Barber. She did the right thing by being ruthless and capitalising on Barber's torn ACL. Still though, Barber hung on for a decision which shows her toughness. But, as I see it, Modafferi was dominant before the injury. Barber will learn from this and come back stronger. Conor McGregor came back from a cruciate injury and look where he is now. She needs to allow it to heal. She's young and early in her career so she has time on her hands. I was wondering why Holly Holm got co-main in last week's post and it seems my doubts about it deserving to be there were justified, judging by the poor fight.
It was classic misdirection by Conor McGregor. All the focus was on him going back to Crumlin boxing club and bringing his former coach into the camp to see what punches could and could not work in MMA. There were photos and video clips online of him grappling and Dillon Danis saying how skilled Conor is at Jiu Jitsu. There was the talk that Cowboy wanted to stand and bang to give the fans a show. The talk of if it ends inside the first 2 that it'd be Conor winning and Cowboy would have the opportunity after that. Conor, confident as ever, hoping Cowboy would be able to challenge him for a few rounds so that he could get a competitive start to his season and get rounds in before his next fight. So we all had our ideas of what to expect from the fight. But I'm sure nobody outside of Conor's training camp saw those shoulders coming! He launched at Cerrone immediately with a huge left, which Cerrone ducked under and went to change levels. Conor probably going for Masvidal's fastest ko record. Cerrone tried to grab Conor's midsection and Conor's momentum meant he effectively struck Cerrone with his hip causing him to get back up and clinch. Then Conor stunned him with shoulder strikes, breaking his nose. Cerrone was coming off two bad knockouts by Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje, thus tenderising his face and it seemed Conor knew the shoulders would take advantage of this. I think other fighters will be drilling this from now on. Cerrone missed with a high kick and Conor landed with one of his own, knocking cowboy to the ground. Conor said he was going in, in a rush but he heard a shout from his corner to pick his shots. Conor duly did once he had control of cowboy's hips on the ground. Referee Herb Dean gave cowboy every chance to fight back but there was nothing cowboy could do. All this in 40 seconds!
Conor said that was him not at his best and that he needs to make a few adjustments. Well, with a bit more activity in the octagon, those adjustments made and the right game plan, I believe he can beat Jorge Masvidal. But I want to see Masvidal v Usman next. That's a story for a different day. I think that the UFC 246 main event showed the gap between the top level fighters and the elite in the UFC.
Just one more thing I want to mention briefly. There's an event coming up in Raleigh North Carolina featuring Curtis Blaydes v Junior Dos Santos. I'm more looking forward to the fight below the Main Event - Rafael Dos Anjos v Michael Chiesa - to be honest, although I like the main. Two excellent grapplers, RDA and Chiesa. I hope it is a good battle on the ground. I expect RDA to win though because of his striking and muay thai style kicking.