Monday, June 8, 2020

Know Your Ouchigari: calf vs hip, & rotational power




UFC 250 Monday Morning Hangover

A night of not the fights going the way I expected, truth be told.

We all knew Nunes was going to batter her largely outclassed opponent so no surprises there. Nunes never really put on the heat to get the finish. Perhaps she wagered on a decision win on herself and carried Spencer? The betting lines for Nunes by decision were +333 so the money was good if she decided to pull a Jon Jones and carry a fight to decision like he did with Smith when he spent 2 rounds on top of his opponent and literally doing not much more than peppering him with short shots. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but when a fighter as thoroughly outclassed as Spencer was doesn't get put away it seems odd. Minus a single jab that Nunes walked into, Nunes barely took any meaningful strikes at any point in the fight. Who else is there? Nunes seems content to spend time with her wife and their baby and chill whilst a new challenger rises.

Aljamain Sterling: man. Talk about winning in exactly the way you need to so that you're the guy after the vacant belt fight takes place (or to take the place of someone who pulls out due to injury. I'm honestly not wildly excited about Petr Yan vs Aldo, but am excited to watch Aljamain fight anyone in the division.

Sandhagen nearly got put out by that first RNC squeeze, then never seemed to recover the composure to escape the second. It's wild how he'd looked against all previous UFC opposition then blinked and had Aljamain on his back. I'd like to see him face the loser of Aldo vs Yan. Garbrandt will probably say he won't face him coming off of a loss to Aljamain, so Sandhagen is in that odd position of having lost to Aljamain but has a win over Assuncao so facing Assuncao who is coming off the loss to Garbrandt doesn't make sense. Sandhagen hadn't lost in 3 years coming into this fight, so I hope it serves as a retooling stop before he fights for the belt in 2-3 fights.

Magny picked up a win over Martin but as big a Magny fan as I am, it was razor thin. The smaller cage I think definitely had him spend more time clinching against the cage and less time at range than is normally the case, as I've seen Magny blow out guys with better UFC resumes than Martin. Martin now has the all-time welterweight win record in the UFC but isn't in that top 5 range that will get him a title shot, which is wild when you think about it.

O'Malley did what he needed to do to stamp him as certified in the UFC, no longer busting up new UFC signees but rather putting away a dangerous veteran striker. Wineland initially avoided the kicks that I had thought were the bigger threat, but as soon as Wineland froze on the centerline, O'Malley stiff Ko'd him with one shot. I can see that O'Malley wants to utilize the hype to ply his wares for more money, but just as soon as the UFC hype train can spotlight you, it can send you to the nether regions of obscurity. I'm all for guys knowing their worth, but in the realm of fighters having been out of work for months on end, and the backlog of fighters waiting to fight, I question the intelligence of now being the time to hit up the UFC for a deal re-negotiation.

Caceres busted up Hooper who showed his plunge head forward first striking style to increasing inability to tie up his opponent. Caceres is crafty and has taken much more experienced fighters to decision. I hope this fight was a canary in the coal mine for Hooper to realize his striking has to get shored up lest he fall to the wayside like Brian Ortega when he's unable to tie up his opponent and drag them to the mat.

Heinisch looks huge in this weight class. His striking looked much improved from his DWCS fight I saw and the fact that its' backed up by a controlling, aggressive wrestling game when he wants to use it suggests a solid repertoire of skills for the middleweight division.

Perez showed with his 2nd leg kick TKO win the guys really has a tool set. His punches are still a bed wide and his combination structure is unvaried, but with a chopping leg kick game, and solid scrambling ability, he has the skillset to take apart the stick and move striking game of other featherweights as evidenced by his 2 wins via leg kick.

Herbert Burns put away a very tough and skilled veteran Evan Dunham suggesting that while not as BJJ accomlished as Gilbert Burns, Herbert has the versatility of dangerous striking and grappling necessary to be successful in MMA. 

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

UFC 250 Picks & Predictions: Nunes vs Spencer, Garbrandt vs Assuncao et al

A lot to unpack here. This is the best offering by the UFC overall since they resumed putting on events. Yes, they did a 2 title fight card, but this card has meaningful fights on every portion:

Nunes vs Spencer
The most dominating female MMA fighter of all time puts her belt on the line against an actual kinda 145'er. Nunes much like Cyborg has been padding her FW belt against non 145'ers, and TBH, 135 has done the same with fluffed up fighters not cutting weight to fight in various weight classes. It's hard to see someone dethroning Nunes. Spencer did survive against Cyborg in a fight she lost by decision. It wasn't particularly one sided and it suggests that she won't get blown out by Nunes. Spencer has won her fights primarily by finish but without the true wrestling I suspect someone needs to dethrone Nunes, I don't see her winning 3 out of 5 rounds to take a decision home. Nor do I see her KO'ing and stopping Nunes as we've get to see Nunes really hurt in a fight beyond a few stunning shots. When you're at the top, there's always gonna be the fight where you look human for the first time, but Nunes hasn't showed any of those clues as of late. Nunes by unanimous decision.

Garbrandt vs Assuncao
Coming off of 3 stoppage losses is a tough way to approach Assuncao who has the wrestling and varied striking to tag you and jump on the finish. Assuncao has fought everyone and has ONLY fought quality guys almost his entire UFC career (and notables in the WEC). He got tagged and submitted by Marlon Moraes and dropped a decision to surging Sandhagen but is Garbrandt's punching centric style going to be enough to clip Assuncao? Assuncao has fought everyone from Faber to Dillashaw to Joe Lauzon. I can't trust Garbrandt's chin coming off of 3 stoppage losses and so Assuncao is the pick by submission in round 2.

Sterling vs Sandhagen
I deeply appreciate when the UFC books a couple of the top guys in a division in the same event so we naturally emerge with some future fights to book rather than the vague "it might be for a title shot or maybe not" programming we normally get leading up to fights. Randomly a year or two ago I rolled with Sterling at Renzo's in the city. His grip strength and pressure on top are deceptively strong for his lean build. It's super interesting as Sterling can pull of things like Suloev stretch wins for the submission. Sandhagen hasn't lost since he reached the UFC and doesn't have a loss in the past 3 years. His wins over Alcantara, Assuncao, and Lineker all stand out as a real ability to shine against big names and experienced/dangerous opponents. Sterling has faced bigger names over the stretch of his UFC career and has dropped 2 decision losses  (Assuncao & Caraway) and a KO loss to Moraes. The pick is Sandhagen by split decision.

Magny vs Martin
Magny by submission or TKO on the ground. I've actually rolled with Magny at Renzo's in the city (super nice guy).

Wineland vs O'Malley
Wineland coming back from ACL surgery is always a tough call. O'Malley has all the confidence in the world that comes from the hype train and HL reel wins. A crafty veteran with a punch centric style is a good test for O'Malley but also a stylistically predictable one to prepare for. The UFC is tossing O'Malley a fight tailor made for his crowd pleasing style with a known veteran name as a possible stepping stone.
I dont' like betting on fights with someone returning from knee injury in particular. Having come back from 2 ACL surgeries there's a lot of inability to anticipate if they are actually capable of coming back first fight in recognizable as to who they were previously.
O'Malley by decision.

That main card alone is a dynamite watch.

Caceres by decision
Meerschaert by submission

Perez vs Formiga: Formiga by decision

Burns little brother vs Dunham - I love Dunham but any time a guy is vascillating between retirement and not, I have a hard time betting on them. Dunham is a guy I've always loved fighting as he like Bocek and others really put together striking, wrestling, and submission attempts in their approach to MMA. My heart goes with Dunham by craftiness but my brain says Burns little brother by wrestling and athleticism. 

Sunday, May 31, 2020

UFC on ESPN 9 Woodley vs Burns Aftermath: Burns Usman's Woodley, Favorites take L's

Tough night of beats for my picks. Elliott and Smolka both dropped submissions to relatively unknown guys with much shorter UFC resumes.

Roosevelt Roberts vs Brok Weaver:
Roosevelt showed some danger in his straight right hand which gave Weaver trouble early on at points in the fight, and Roosevelt displayed a real linear precisision in his use of punches and back control to get the finish. His tall frame combined with punching (both jab and cross) at length + grappling acumen makes him a tough nut to crack for guys at lightweight.

Ivanov edged out the first round against Augusto, but Sakai started chopping with the kicks and more effective forward pressure in the 2nd round, but Ivanov scored a takedown into half-guard with about 30 seconds left and ended the round on top. Debatable as to how to score the round pending your preference for takedowns vs forward pressure and overall strike variety (Sakai landed a heavy body kick and leg kicks throughout). A super obvious fence grab was observed but not penalized in the 3rd round, which was a close round overall with Ivanov looking the more weary of the two, in an overall close fight both in terms of strike count by round and with Ivanov doing more of the stalking forward in the 3rd round. I thought Ivanov deserved the nod, but neither fighter was egregiously treated by the awarding of a split decision for Augusto.

Dern hit a pull through/armpit grip kneebar which is a favorite submission of mine against Cifers. Cifers actually was picking Dern apart similar to Dern's last fight where she lost a fight on the feet when she wasn't able to drag her opponent to the mat. Cifers laneded some heavy shots against the catch but came forward to eagerly in the clinch and got uchimata'd but in doing so actually got top position and didn't have to stay on the ground with Dern, but took the bait and the proceeded to defend a leg entry which she had plenty of time and space to counter and clear.

Main event: Woodley vs Burns
I came into this fight thinking Woodley due to either champ burnout or not preparing to retain the belt caused his performance against Usman, but Burns showed that Woodley's reflexes and ability to narrowly evade punches then counter with his monster right hand has faded. Much like a Roy Jones Jr. there's an intelligible delay in his ability to clip guys and play the margins just enough to evade and counter. Woodley isn't one to lead and so he's forced to let Burns use a full variety of strikes (both punch combinations and kicks). 53 seconds into the first round Burns was mounted on Woodley and that was as telling as inidicator for the fight as there was going to be. I don't doubt that Woodley can still beat other welterweights but the blue print for beating him has been revealed by Burns and Usman.

Elliott vs Royval
I love watching Tim Elliott fight, man. He comes forward, throws kicks and punches at odd angles, he was working a crucifix style merkle to great effect, then throw in a half nelson style turnover to almost take the back and/or pass the guard from attacking his opponent's turtle defense. Sadly, he got caught in the second round by a head-arm triangle. Elliott got to a crucifix then switched to a palm to palm grip arm in guillotine but lost it and gave up mount in the process then while defending the back gave up the head-arm triangle.

Smolka vs Kenney
Kenney is that guy who gets paired up with a more known UFC fighter and if you haven't done your homework you find yourself on the wrong end of the pick. Smolka has some good kick catches but his looping punches missed (he did some good body work punching) and one he was tagged, Kenney latched on a high elbow guillotine from which he finished without even solidifying mount. Impressive finishing instincts.

Roosevelt Roberts vs Brok Weaver

Saturday, May 30, 2020

UFC on ESPN 9: Woodley vs Burns Predictions

UFC on ESPN 9: Woodley vs Burns Predictions:

Woodley vs Burns: It's easy to forget Woodley's dominance after that smashing he got from Usman. Different theories have been floated such as burnout from being champ or dividing his time between other opportunities and actually just training to remain champ. Burns however has only looked better since no longer cutting an insane amount of weight. Does Burns have the heat in his hands to face down the bazooka one punch one shot Woodley power? I don't see Burns taking Woodley down as Woodley fights diligently backing up to line you up for that one shot punch to wobble of KO you. Woodley will also fight as boring a fight as possible to minimize risk taking.
Woodley by split decision.

Ivanov vs Sakai - Ivanov debuted in the UFC with a 5 round fight with Cigano. If that doesn't tell you he's top tier HW then I don't know what to tell you. He used more of his takedowns and grappling in Bellator to batter lesser skilled fighters but as of his UFC career has spent more time in kickboxing battles. Would love to see him go back to that wheelhouse but we may just get him looking to win the majority of 3 rounds standing up in this one. Sakai is no walkover prospect (in the eyes of UFC fans who don't know him). His only loss is a split decision to Kongo. He's 3-0 in the UFC with 2 stoppages. That being said, Ivanov is a slick veteran who has fought all over the world after a hiatus due to being stabbed nearly to death by gangsters. Ivanov has wone the PFL and WSOF belt. He was runner up in the Bellator HW tournament. Ivanov picks this one via split decision in a close fight. His best path to winning is using his comparable grappling to drag Sakai to the mat and not test the striking acumen of Sakai that recently put away Tybura.

Cifers vs Dern - Dern will drag this one to the mat and win by armbar.

Chookagian vs Schevchenko - Chookagian by decision in a mirror of her losing title fight effort.

Tim Elliott vs someone - I'd really like to see Elliott get back on track as I've always been a fan of his style and wild man skillset. Elliott by submission.

Louis Smolka vs someone - Also a big fan of Smolka and his submission wins. Hopefully he resists the urge to scrap on the feet and gets it to the mat and slaps on a submission