Re: The Official MMA Thread
Posted: Mon March 07, 2016 7:42 pm
**It was a night of big surprises at UFC 196 with a large number of underdogs coming through, the two biggest being Nate Diaz and Miesha Tate in the top two fights of the night. The results of each fight of the main fights provides a lot of interesting directions over a number of weight divisions and how the matchmaking will be affected when laying out UFC 200.
In the main event, Nate Diaz submitted Conor McGregor in the second round, in a fight that McGregor was winning before tiring in the second and Diaz swarming him with strikes and McGregor describing it as going “into panic mode”. McGregor went for the takedown and led to him being mounted by Diaz and then securing the back and fight-ending submission. There are many questions for McGregor and his plans after this loss, with McGregor indicating that going back to featherweight and defending his title is the likely scenario for his next fight, against either Jose Aldo or Frankie Edgar at UFC 200. McGregor had the easiest weight cut of his career, looked healthy all week and weighed in at 168 pounds, while Diaz was 169 pounds on short notice. McGregor was dealing with a larger opponent than he is used to fighting, but Diaz is not a traditional welterweight by any stretch and is a career lightweight, who simply couldn’t make that weight on the short notice.
There are welterweights that McGregor would match up better with, although the question becomes how much he is sacrificing in power when dealing with the larger weight class and his stamina was an issue on Saturday night by carrying the extra weight into the cage. McGregor at 145 pounds is not perfect because he cuts an extreme amount and looks awful come weigh-in day and lightweight is probably the best weight class from both a health and performance perspective. The upside being he hits very hard and accurate and a lot of the featherweights struggle with his power, whereas a larger fighter like Diaz was able to eat a lot of strikes and wait out McGregor’s cardio. McGregor did leave the idea of fighting again at welterweight open and stated he would hope to earn a lightweight title shot again in the future.
In the women’s bantamweight picture, Miesha Tate winning the title is hardly a problem as many fear this corrupts all the hopes for the rematch between Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey. Based on Dana White’s interview on FS 1 after the card, Rousey seems interested in fighting Tate for a third time. The combination of Rousey’s return from her first loss, going after the title as the challenger, the grudge element with Tate and her rival holding the title makes that third fight huge. It all depends on Rousey’s timetable and when she is willing to fight again and if Tate winning the title speeds up a return. Rousey was wise not to rush the rematch with Holm because that fight requires a sustained period of rebuilding for Rousey, whereas the Tate fight is one Rousey has the knowledge that she has beaten her twice, although Tate is significantly improved in her striking since the second fight.
**The announced crowd was 14,898 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and a live gate of $8.1 million. The live attendance and gate were down from the UFC 194 card in December, which did a gate of $10.1 million. This show will still register as the second largest MMA gate in the history of Nevada, with McGregor responsible for the top-three MMA gates in the history of the state. Below are the results from last night’s show:
*Teruto Ishihara def. Julian Erosa by KO at 0:34 of Round 2
*Jason Saggo def. Justin Salas by TKO at 4:31 of Round 1
*Diego Sanchez def. Jim Miller by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Darren Elkins def. Chas Skelly by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-27, 30-26) – The first round was close but Elkins took over from the mid-way point of the first and dominated Skelly throughout the fight
*Vitor Miranda def. Marcelo Guimaraes by TKO at 1:09 of Round 2 – Miranda landed a head kick and followed with strikes for the finish
*Nordine Taleb def. Erick Silva by KO at 1:34 of Round 2 – Silva used a dirty tactic by trying to bump fists with Taleb in the middle of the fight, faked and went to punch Taleb and catch him off guard. Taleb going his rhythm in the second with a leg kick-right hand combination that was working, caught a kick and drilled him with a right to the forehead and put Silva down and finished him
*Siyar Bahadurzada def. Brandon Thatch by arm-triangle choke at 4:11 of Round 3 – Not a great performance from Thatch, who was very tired as the fight wore on and was easily taken down throughout the fight and then submitted in the third. Bahadurzada had not fought since December 2013
*Amanda Nunes def. Valentina Shevchenko by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27) – It was a close first round and then Shevchenko had her only success in the third and took that round. Nunes is a title contender but won’t get the fight if Rousey is ready or they opt for a Holm rematch
*Corey Anderson def. Tom Lawlor by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – Lawlor won the first round and rocked Anderson with a flurry so the 30-27 scores didn’t make a lot of sense. The second round was super close and then Anderson won the third round.
*Ilir Latifi def. Gian Villante by unanimous decision (30-27 all) – Latifi won all three rounds, threw Villante around with slams but this wasn’t the kind of fight that left you excited for whatever is next for Latifi
*Miesha Tate def. Holly Holm by technical submission due to a rear-naked choke at 3:30 of Round 5 – A great fight, Holm was ahead on the cards going into the fifth round and all three judges gave Tate a 10-8 for Round 2, so had Tate not finished her in the fifth it would have been a draw
*Nate Diaz def. Conor McGregor by rear-naked choke at 4:12 of Round 2 – Another great fight, McGregor won the first and did a lot of damage to Diaz’s face. Diaz absorbed a lot of damage in the second before McGregor slowed down and allowed Diaz to land his big shots and McGregor said he went into panic mode while Diaz was in “auto pilot” with his strikes coming at a high volume
**The Fight of the Night bonus went to Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor and the Performance of the Night bonuses went to Nate Diaz and Miesha Tate. They all received $50,000 for their respective bonuses and a whole lot more when all is said and done.
**The UFC doesn’t have another card until Saturday March 19th when they run Brisbane, Australia for a Fight Night with Frank Mir taking on Mark Hunt in the heavyweight main event. The show will air Sunday morning in Australia and Saturday night in North America.
**There was a preview of a sit down interview with Joe Rogan speaking to Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones to build up UFC 197. The full sit down will be running on Fight Pass in the near future. The clip they aired on the pay-per-view featured Cormier stating that he is “willing to die” in order to beat Jones. Jones acknowledged that he did lose his title (he was stripped) but that Cormier is not the real champion, which will be the main storyline of the rematch.
In the main event, Nate Diaz submitted Conor McGregor in the second round, in a fight that McGregor was winning before tiring in the second and Diaz swarming him with strikes and McGregor describing it as going “into panic mode”. McGregor went for the takedown and led to him being mounted by Diaz and then securing the back and fight-ending submission. There are many questions for McGregor and his plans after this loss, with McGregor indicating that going back to featherweight and defending his title is the likely scenario for his next fight, against either Jose Aldo or Frankie Edgar at UFC 200. McGregor had the easiest weight cut of his career, looked healthy all week and weighed in at 168 pounds, while Diaz was 169 pounds on short notice. McGregor was dealing with a larger opponent than he is used to fighting, but Diaz is not a traditional welterweight by any stretch and is a career lightweight, who simply couldn’t make that weight on the short notice.
There are welterweights that McGregor would match up better with, although the question becomes how much he is sacrificing in power when dealing with the larger weight class and his stamina was an issue on Saturday night by carrying the extra weight into the cage. McGregor at 145 pounds is not perfect because he cuts an extreme amount and looks awful come weigh-in day and lightweight is probably the best weight class from both a health and performance perspective. The upside being he hits very hard and accurate and a lot of the featherweights struggle with his power, whereas a larger fighter like Diaz was able to eat a lot of strikes and wait out McGregor’s cardio. McGregor did leave the idea of fighting again at welterweight open and stated he would hope to earn a lightweight title shot again in the future.
In the women’s bantamweight picture, Miesha Tate winning the title is hardly a problem as many fear this corrupts all the hopes for the rematch between Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey. Based on Dana White’s interview on FS 1 after the card, Rousey seems interested in fighting Tate for a third time. The combination of Rousey’s return from her first loss, going after the title as the challenger, the grudge element with Tate and her rival holding the title makes that third fight huge. It all depends on Rousey’s timetable and when she is willing to fight again and if Tate winning the title speeds up a return. Rousey was wise not to rush the rematch with Holm because that fight requires a sustained period of rebuilding for Rousey, whereas the Tate fight is one Rousey has the knowledge that she has beaten her twice, although Tate is significantly improved in her striking since the second fight.
**The announced crowd was 14,898 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and a live gate of $8.1 million. The live attendance and gate were down from the UFC 194 card in December, which did a gate of $10.1 million. This show will still register as the second largest MMA gate in the history of Nevada, with McGregor responsible for the top-three MMA gates in the history of the state. Below are the results from last night’s show:
*Teruto Ishihara def. Julian Erosa by KO at 0:34 of Round 2
*Jason Saggo def. Justin Salas by TKO at 4:31 of Round 1
*Diego Sanchez def. Jim Miller by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Darren Elkins def. Chas Skelly by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-27, 30-26) – The first round was close but Elkins took over from the mid-way point of the first and dominated Skelly throughout the fight
*Vitor Miranda def. Marcelo Guimaraes by TKO at 1:09 of Round 2 – Miranda landed a head kick and followed with strikes for the finish
*Nordine Taleb def. Erick Silva by KO at 1:34 of Round 2 – Silva used a dirty tactic by trying to bump fists with Taleb in the middle of the fight, faked and went to punch Taleb and catch him off guard. Taleb going his rhythm in the second with a leg kick-right hand combination that was working, caught a kick and drilled him with a right to the forehead and put Silva down and finished him
*Siyar Bahadurzada def. Brandon Thatch by arm-triangle choke at 4:11 of Round 3 – Not a great performance from Thatch, who was very tired as the fight wore on and was easily taken down throughout the fight and then submitted in the third. Bahadurzada had not fought since December 2013
*Amanda Nunes def. Valentina Shevchenko by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27) – It was a close first round and then Shevchenko had her only success in the third and took that round. Nunes is a title contender but won’t get the fight if Rousey is ready or they opt for a Holm rematch
*Corey Anderson def. Tom Lawlor by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – Lawlor won the first round and rocked Anderson with a flurry so the 30-27 scores didn’t make a lot of sense. The second round was super close and then Anderson won the third round.
*Ilir Latifi def. Gian Villante by unanimous decision (30-27 all) – Latifi won all three rounds, threw Villante around with slams but this wasn’t the kind of fight that left you excited for whatever is next for Latifi
*Miesha Tate def. Holly Holm by technical submission due to a rear-naked choke at 3:30 of Round 5 – A great fight, Holm was ahead on the cards going into the fifth round and all three judges gave Tate a 10-8 for Round 2, so had Tate not finished her in the fifth it would have been a draw
*Nate Diaz def. Conor McGregor by rear-naked choke at 4:12 of Round 2 – Another great fight, McGregor won the first and did a lot of damage to Diaz’s face. Diaz absorbed a lot of damage in the second before McGregor slowed down and allowed Diaz to land his big shots and McGregor said he went into panic mode while Diaz was in “auto pilot” with his strikes coming at a high volume
**The Fight of the Night bonus went to Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor and the Performance of the Night bonuses went to Nate Diaz and Miesha Tate. They all received $50,000 for their respective bonuses and a whole lot more when all is said and done.
**The UFC doesn’t have another card until Saturday March 19th when they run Brisbane, Australia for a Fight Night with Frank Mir taking on Mark Hunt in the heavyweight main event. The show will air Sunday morning in Australia and Saturday night in North America.
**There was a preview of a sit down interview with Joe Rogan speaking to Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones to build up UFC 197. The full sit down will be running on Fight Pass in the near future. The clip they aired on the pay-per-view featured Cormier stating that he is “willing to die” in order to beat Jones. Jones acknowledged that he did lose his title (he was stripped) but that Cormier is not the real champion, which will be the main storyline of the rematch.
