Mike Brown vs. Jose Aldo

I've got butterflies, honestly. As decent as Garcia-Gamburyan is looking, it can't end quickly enough!

 

Good chunks of these first two rounds have been absolutely dominated by both...tough to split.

Gambo's a damn ox. He just took the 2nd with his utter denial of Leo's attempts to get out of that corner of the cage for the last minute.

 

WOW!

Brown was just stifled in every aspect of his game, and manhandled. :shock:

 

He's solid all-around, you have to admit. Not spectacular in any single area (except maybe power).

The fact that Aldo's never shown chin issues the very few times his victims have lasted long enough to land made me all the more confident in my pick tonight. Speed kills. I had no idea he could kill a TD like that, though...and from someone so strong and skilled, no less. :scaredas:

 

Who's even on the horizon? At least when Brown became champ you could say "Well we have Brown vs. Aldo to look forward to (and Brown vs. Faber II before that)". Now ???

Honestly Jose would walk through Gamburyan in a round. And Faber.

Bibiano? Hioki?

Someone like a Mizu or Bowles moving up would be dynamite...literally. Fire in the hole.

 

Don't sweat it man, every time someone loses they're suddenly "the most overhyped fighter in MMA" to some dickhead.

Torres was "the most overhyped fighter" a couple of months back. Then Machida (in a win!).

Dicks are part of the package. Every sport's got 'em.

 

Having just watched the replay...absolutely ridiculous. Aldo did brilliant work for all six and a half minutes. He had Mike made after the first lap, where he was virtually flawless. In addition to being physically nasty, what we learned is that he's an incredibly intelligent fighter.

The first minute saw four clean strikes land - all Aldo's. Slowly forward, then quickly back out seems a simple enough pattern but Mike was totally nonplussed. He kept waiting for mistakes and they didn't come (well, two by my count: one combination that left him wide open on the inside with his arms twisted up, and one point where he pulled straight back and took a grazing jab...but Jose was both physically and mentally quick enough to recover both times before being made to pay). Then the stiff leg kicks to keep Brown honest while leaning back out of range of his stubbier arms...coupled with blazing counterpunches if the distance closed. And the strength in his legs - not to mention the anticipation and awareness - to maintain those stuffs...wow.

He basically just stuck a flag in Brown at the end; even before he got his back you could tell from body language - it was just possessive, that's the only way you can describe it. Like "I've got you, you belong to me now". Crazy.

Brown almost got KTFO about 2 minutes in (knee followed by several punches, clearly hurt; this was the point where he decided the hell with trading and held on for dear life, committed to bringing it to the mat the rest of the way). He may have just simply never recovered from that.