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TheNextStep

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Over the weekend, one of the most stacked UFC cards I’ve ever seen was put on. Looking at those scheduled fights, even the prelims were something to get excited about. Honestly, the prelim card could have been a UFC Fight Night card by itself, headlined by Anthony Pettis and Cowboy Cerrone.

  1. Spann over Alvey was actually a relatively boring fight.
  2. Bryce Mitchell versus Charles Rosa was a display of incredible grappling and jiu jitsu dominance. Even though the fight was pretty one-sided, it was one of the most enjoyable fights to watch on the entire card. Mitchell was absolutely brilliant. I will again, too, that the UFC really benefits from having a guy like Joe Rogan there to call fights like that. He really does a fantastic job breaking down the techniques that you’re watching in real time. He reminds me, even, of John Madden, insofar as John has the ability to explain in laymen’s terms what an offensive lineman is doing in an informative and entertaining manner.
  3. Luque over Price. What a brawl! Great performance that will be overshadowed by some of the later fight but, damn! Those two got after it! Fun fight to watch.
  4. Esparza over Waterson. For as much as I’ve defended women’s MMA, saying “the women always bring the heat,” this was probably my least favorite fight on the card. It was amusing that, afterwards, Esparza commented that she heard Cormier’s commentary and adjusted mid-fight. She eventually won the fight but it wasn’t a particularly entertaining tilt.
  5. Oleinik over Werdum. Oleinik is low-key one of my favorite heavyweights.... but “the Boa Constrictor” clearly wanted no part of 3 time jiu jitsu world champion Werdum on the ground. So he just waded in and threw bombs. Werdum looked washed, to be honest. It was kind of fun to watch, just because heavyweights throwing leather at each of is always fun and, in a weird way, even more entertaining when they go deeper rounds and get sloppy. Weird, I know.
  6. Pettis over Cerrone. Look, no way in hell did Pettis win that fight. He had some shots and it was a good scrap... but nobody can tell me that he beat Cowboy on that night. Showtime fought well enough that I can’t call it highway robbery but it was damned sure shoplifting.
  7. Greg Hardy over De Castro. Hardy, the former star defensive end of the Panthers and Cowboys (which makes this whole post kind of football related) was getting his lead leg chopped to smithereens in the first round. Like Esparza, he hears Cormier’s critique and adjusts. He hadn’t been checking the leg kicks at all, which Cormier noted. When he hears it, he checks the next kick...causing De Castro to injure his foot. After that, De Castro’s only remaining game plan seemed to be “don’t get knocked out” as he mounted no offense whatsoever.
  8. Kattar over Stephens. Man, lil Heathen was winning that fight. He was winning it pretty convincingly.... until Kattar stepped in with gorgeous elbow that shut Jeremy down. Great strike.
  9. Ngannou over Rosenstruik. First off, Ngannou is a walking nightmare. He doesn’t even have to hit you flush to knock you out. And, 20 seconds into the first round, he showed off that power. Holy shit that guy is a killer! Props to Rosenstruik though. That entire division is scared to say Ngannou’s name but Rosenstruik actually called for this fight. He said “I know if I beat Ngannou, that’s my fastest path to a title shot.” It did not work....but props for the mentality and the balls it took.
  10. Cejudo over Cruz. Dominick Cruz is one of my favorite fighters... but coming off a four year layoff, he had nothing for Cejudo. Henry was killing him with those leg kicks. After he landed that knee, Cruz was over. Some people have said “early stoppage” but I disagree. After that knee, Cruz got hit by 13 unanswered, undefended shots. Good stoppage. Also, I don’t believe at all that Cejudo wants to retire. He is absolutely leveraging Dana. Doubt it works.
  11. Gaethje over Ferguson. Early favorite for fight of the year! I was, of course, pulling for Raider fan and most exciting fighter in years, Justin Gaethje... but Ferguson hadn’t lost in nearly 8 years and was riding a 12 fight winning streak. Ferguson is tough as nails and I have no idea how he withstood the bombs that Gaethje was hitting him with. For real, no idea. At the end of the second round, I though Ferguson ended the fight when he clobbered Gaethje with an uppercut... but Gaethje was saved by the bell. After that, though, it was all Gaethje. Great fucking fight!
 
Over the weekend, one of the most stacked UFC cards I’ve ever seen was put on. Looking at those scheduled fights, even the prelims were something to get excited about. Honestly, the prelim card could have been a UFC Fight Night card by itself, headlined by Anthony Pettis and Cowboy Cerrone.

  1. Spann over Alvey was actually a relatively boring fight.
  2. Bryce Mitchell versus Charles Rosa was a display of incredible grappling and jiu jitsu dominance. Even though the fight was pretty one-sided, it was one of the most enjoyable fights to watch on the entire card. Mitchell was absolutely brilliant. I will again, too, that the UFC really benefits from having a guy like Joe Rogan there to call fights like that. He really does a fantastic job breaking down the techniques that you’re watching in real time. He reminds me, even, of John Madden, insofar as John has the ability to explain in laymen’s terms what an offensive lineman is doing in an informative and entertaining manner.
  3. Luque over Price. What a brawl! Great performance that will be overshadowed by some of the later fight but, damn! Those two got after it! Fun fight to watch.
  4. Esparza over Waterson. For as much as I’ve defended women’s MMA, saying “the women always bring the heat,” this was probably my least favorite fight on the card. It was amusing that, afterwards, Esparza commented that she heard Cormier’s commentary and adjusted mid-fight. She eventually won the fight but it wasn’t a particularly entertaining tilt.
  5. Oleinik over Werdum. Oleinik is low-key one of my favorite heavyweights.... but “the Boa Constrictor” clearly wanted no part of 3 time jiu jitsu world champion Werdum on the ground. So he just waded in and threw bombs. Werdum looked washed, to be honest. It was kind of fun to watch, just because heavyweights throwing leather at each of is always fun and, in a weird way, even more entertaining when they go deeper rounds and get sloppy. Weird, I know.
  6. Pettis over Cerrone. Look, no way in hell did Pettis win that fight. He had some shots and it was a good scrap... but nobody can tell me that he beat Cowboy on that night. Showtime fought well enough that I can’t call it highway robbery but it was damned sure shoplifting.
  7. Greg Hardy over De Castro. Hardy, the former star defensive end of the Panthers and Cowboys (which makes this whole post kind of football related) was getting his lead leg chopped to smithereens in the first round. Like Esparza, he hears Cormier’s critique and adjusts. He hadn’t been checking the leg kicks at all, which Cormier noted. When he hears it, he checks the next kick...causing De Castro to injure his foot. After that, De Castro’s only remaining game plan seemed to be “don’t get knocked out” as he mounted no offense whatsoever.
  8. Kattar over Stephens. Man, lil Heathen was winning that fight. He was winning it pretty convincingly.... until Kattar stepped in with gorgeous elbow that shut Jeremy down. Great strike.
  9. Ngannou over Rosenstruik. First off, Ngannou is a walking nightmare. He doesn’t even have to hit you flush to knock you out. And, 20 seconds into the first round, he showed off that power. Holy shit that guy is a killer! Props to Rosenstruik though. That entire division is scared to say Ngannou’s name but Rosenstruik actually called for this fight. He said “I know if I beat Ngannou, that’s my fastest path to a title shot.” It did not work....but props for the mentality and the balls it took.
  10. Cejudo over Cruz. Dominick Cruz is one of my favorite fighters... but coming off a four year layoff, he had nothing for Cejudo. Henry was killing him with those leg kicks. After he landed that knee, Cruz was over. Some people have said “early stoppage” but I disagree. After that knee, Cruz got hit by 13 unanswered, undefended shots. Good stoppage. Also, I don’t believe at all that Cejudo wants to retire. He is absolutely leveraging Dana. Doubt it works.
  11. Gaethje over Ferguson. Early favorite for fight of the year! I was, of course, pulling for Raider fan and most exciting fighter in years, Justin Gaethje... but Ferguson hadn’t lost in nearly 8 years and was riding a 12 fight winning streak. Ferguson is tough as nails and I have no idea how he withstood the bombs that Gaethje was hitting him with. For real, no idea. At the end of the second round, I though Ferguson ended the fight when he clobbered Gaethje with an uppercut... but Gaethje was saved by the bell. After that, though, it was all Gaethje. Great fucking fight!

I only saw a few of the bouts but my thoughts are as follows:

Esparza vs.Waterson - I actually enjoyed this fight. One of my biggest gripes about women’s MMA is the lack of defense and overall tactics so I appreciated the chess match between the two. They both fought what I guess I’d call a cautiously aggressive fight and I appreciated it coming off like a legitimate MMA match and not a sideshow.

Oleinik vs. Werdum - Meh. These dudes looked washed.

Pettis vs. Cerrone - Hard fight to call. I thought it was comparable to the Esparza/Waterson in that there were spurts of aggression and a lot of circling. Cowboy seems on the verge of going full Forest Griffin IMO.

Cejudo vs. Cruz - Cruz looked sloppy physically and technically but I still wonder if he would have found his range had the fight not been stopped. The stoppage itself was so borderline. Half of Cedujo’s punches were missing and the rest really didn’t have anything behind them. The ref made it tough by waiting for him to recover from the knee but still stopping it. Not a terrible stoppage but I can see the argument either way. Dominic is such a whiner though I’m not losing any sleep. Also, I don’t recall Cedujo being such a heel.

Gaethje vs. Ferguson - Damn, this fight probably should have been stopped sooner. That’s the type of beating that has long term effects. I don’t follow MMA as much these days but I’m an instant Gaethje fan. I don’t know if he has the ground game to beat Nurmagomedov but him and McGregor would be epic.

I’m bummed I missed Ngannou... that kid is an animal.
 
Hopefully Gilbert Burns gets back to action soon.

Must be devastating for him.
 
Usman over Masvidal - Jorge is a true OG of the game and he’s both charismatic and unlikeable at the same time. It would be interesting to see him as the Champ. But it won’t happen. Usman showed against Covington that his stand up is improving but he will absolutely take this to the ground. Once there, it’s ground and pound until one of the most boring UFC champions retains his title.

Holloway over Volkanovski - Because Max Holloway is one of the true “good guys” in the sport and I’m voting with my heart on this one.

Yan over Aldo - lets be real, Aldo doesn’t even deserve to be in this fight. Aljamain Sterling should be in this fight. If not him, Marlon Moraes. Aldo is still, to me, the GOAT at 145... but that was a long time ago. This is them feeding a name to a young lion to lend legitimacy to resume as he claims the title that the previous champ vacated. This fight is hollow.

Namajunas over Andrade - in the first fight, Thug Rose was picking Andrade apart until she fucked up and got slammed. Rose is seemingly better every time she fights and I expect this to be no different.

Ribas over VanZant - Paige is on her last fight of her contract and has openly stated that she’s going the free agent route... so, again, the UFC is feeding a minor celebrity to an up and coming killer.
 
Would have had a clean sweep if Max hadn’t been robbed. And make no mistake, he was robbed.
 
Forgot until the last two rounds of the Calloway fight. Boring overall. Missed seeing Aldo get beat down. Never liked him.
 
The Usman/ Masvidal fight was a tough one to watch. Usman was undeniably dominant... and boring as fuck to watch. He’s that GSP kind of guy - gets and keeps dominant position, stays busy enough to not get separated. Wins fights, bores fans. Bet we don’t see him headlining any PPVs soon.

Holloway absolutely got robbed. Sucks for him because, robbery or not, that’s two consecutive losses to the current champ. No way they run that back any time soon.

The rest went as I expected. Thug Rose is back though!
 
The Usman/ Masvidal fight was a tough one to watch. Usman was undeniably dominant... and boring as fuck to watch. He’s that GSP kind of guy - gets and keeps dominant position, stays busy enough to not get separated. Wins fights, bores fans. Bet we don’t see him headlining any PPVs soon.

Holloway absolutely got robbed. Sucks for him because, robbery or not, that’s two consecutive losses to the current champ. No way they run that back any time soon.

The rest went as I expected. Thug Rose is back though!

First time I've seen him fight tbh. GSP comp is pretty accurate. Seems like a pretty crap decision tbh but I"m not really up to date with the UFC like I used to be.
 
You ever heard of this kid Aaron Pico that fights for Bellator?

My buddies kids was one of the top ranked wrestlers in the county a few years back and I got to watch Pico kid at a few events... absolute animal. Signed with Bellator without ever fighting professionally iirc and had a bunch of endorsements right off the bat. His career hasn't really taken off like we expected but I think he'll end up putting it all together.
 
I remember that there was a lot of hype surrounding Pico and that it was major news that Bellator signed him, like it was a coup to get him before the UFC could. Beyond that, I can’t say that I’ve followed his career. While I would say that I am an MMA fan, it’s probably more accurate to call myself a UFC fan because I don’t really follow the other promotions or their fighters. If something pops up in my newsfeed, I’ll read it. If there is a fight that got some hype, I watch clips on YouTube. But I can’t say that I’ve ever watched a full card of Bellator or PFL or ONE.
 
I remember that there was a lot of hype surrounding Pico and that it was major news that Bellator signed him, like it was a coup to get him before the UFC could. Beyond that, I can’t say that I’ve followed his career. While I would say that I am an MMA fan, it’s probably more accurate to call myself a UFC fan because I don’t really follow the other promotions or their fighters. If something pops up in my newsfeed, I’ll read it. If there is a fight that got some hype, I watch clips on YouTube. But I can’t say that I’ve ever watched a full card of Bellator or PFL or ONE.

I only know him because of his amateur wrestling and how hyped he was even in those circles. Him skipping out on the Olympics was a big story at the time too. I'm not sure he has the chin though.
 
Mounir Lazzez has a bright future. He just needs to work on his ground game and he'll be deadly.
 
just whipped my son’s ass playing UFC on Xbox. He mad.
 
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