Fell asleep watching this last night and picked up the rest this morning. Ishida, Omigawa, and JZ looked good in their winning performances. Props to Aoki for becoming the undisputed best native LW in Japan by making quick work of Kawajiri. I'd like to see him fight Josh Thompson next. Also props to Mousasi and Mizuno for doing what they needed to do but this LHW tournament is proving to be a joke.
Aoki-Thompson sounds good. Why is the tournament a joke? It had all legitimate talents, and styles have proven to be very important.
You can't deny this tournament wasn't thrown together just to give Mousasi a belt; Melvin Manhoef, Tatsuya Mizuno, and Jake O'brien aren't even top 25 LHWs let alone legitimate title contenders. What kind of GP only has 4 people in it anyway? Add to the list O'brien missing weight by 20 pounds and the combined win/loss record at 205 for all the participants being something like 7-5, and you got yourself a joke tournament.
Well, alright, but it's still holding my interest. Both fights were entertaining and the final promises to be as well. Mizuno is developing nicely since he was getting knocked out by Cro Cop and Thiago Silva, he could well turn out to be a top 20 LHW. Or top 10 is he upsets Mousasi.
It happens. :nod How do you think Aoki does in the rematch with Melendez? Was that a **** night for him the first time, or his number just had?
Hard to take anything from the Mousasi fight. O'brien looked an amateur. Props to Aoki for rebounding, and it just goes to show how good Melendez really is. Manhoef..well not much to say there.
Bad styles for Aoki. Melendez is in a damn fine BJJ camp and he can wrestle for 5 rounds np. Aoki needs better stand up and needs to work on his wrestling. If memory serves me right his cardio didn't look top shelf in that either.