What fights have you watched today?

RDA vs Alvarez

The fight starts off very even, they exchange light shots for a couple of minutes until Alvarez lands a huge counter shot that rocks RDA to the core and he never let him off the hook, he went balls to the wall and credit to RDA he took them well, and the result was a standing stoppage, he was clearly out of it but wouldn't drop, Alvarez is the new UFC champ.

 

Well this journey began January 2017,my next event is now the legendary UFC 200

 

UFC 200

Dillashaw avenged his loss to Assuncao with a dominant performance to keep his place as the top BW not named Cruz.

Gastelum beats a faded Hendricks, he's nearly a great fighter but not quite there yet. 2 razor thin losses and never outclassed, but he can't stick to the WW limit to save his life and he's clearly too small for MW.

Aldo wins a competitive but clear victory over Edgar to claim the interim title in the absence of McGregor, proves he's still a great talent despite being destroyed in 13 seconds.

Given Jones suspension Cormier had to face Silva in a non title fight, but he dominates and outclassed the smaller faded force to take a very clear decision and underline his P4P credentials.

Lesnar wins a razor close victory over Hunt after a very long absence, but later fails a PED test so can't really credit him too much with that.

Performance of the night for me goes to Cain. Despite starting strongly he was outclassed and submitted against Werdum and with his injury problems it's hard knowing how much he has left. But here he destroys a top 10 HW with ease. A very dominant striking display behind a hard jab and even harder leg kicks saw him overwhelm and stop Browne inside the first.

Probably the best card ever.

 

Woodley vs Lawler

A power wrestler with 1 punch ko. I don't care what anyone says, this is an improvement from the man who lost to Macdonald. He's more patient and better trained in his striking. Lawler is a legitimate ATG, Woodley destroyed him.

Great victory.

 

McGregor vs Diaz

McGregor edges out this war by virtue of his crisper striking and faster combinations. Easily could have gone the other way, but Connor exercises his demons here to avenge a damaging loss.

What a great war this was.

 

Werdum vs Browne

Werdum controls him for the 3 rounds to keep his place as a high ranked contender. Werdum has a great mix of quick strikes and deadly BJJ submissions. He's not quite Nog, but he's definitely an ATG.

 

Miocic vs Overeem.

Overeem finally gets his shot at being the best HW on the planet, and he absolutely blows it. Big time.

He hurts Miocic badly with the first solid shot he lands, drops him heavily and surely he does a diving punch and ground and pounds his way to victory, surely right, best striker ever has a chance at victory, but no, instead he goes for a weak guillotine attempt which Miocic escapes.

So the fight returns to its feet, Overeem is known for his poor chin so surely he's worked on defence right, wrong again, his defence is to literally turn his back and sprint. He tires himself out, gets cornered and Miocic peppers him with shots till he falls and then does what Ali should have done and lands a big G&p to defend his title.

 

Weidman vs Romero

2 very close rounds see Romero having a slight edge but having to work for it. Everyone knows this brute is a great talent but he has questionable stamina, but who is able to outlast him?

Not Weidman anyways. He goes for a takedown on the wrong side of Romero and Romero meets it with a flying knee which knocks Weidman out and like that Romero is now well and truly knocking on the door of a title shot.

 

Woodley vs Thompson

The first round sees Woodley edge it by virtue of a takedown, rounds 2 and 3 go to Thompson by virtue of his crisper strikes, round 4 sees Woodley seriously hurt Thompson and earn a 10-8 round. Round 5 goes back to Thompson.

We have quite a clear draw in a very good fight.

Thompson rightly demands a rematch as 1 punch essentially cost him the WW title here.

 

McGregor vs Alvarez

McGregor dominates against ATG Alvarez as his quicker shots consistently land in Alvarez dropping him 4 times in total as he becomes one of the sports few multi divisional champions.

 

Whittaker vs Brunson

Whittaker begins what just might be the best run in MW history as he destroys Brunson in the first.

Such a fluidly dynamic striker, he parried, he blocked, he rolled he slipped and he countered hard. Great performance.

 

N'Gannou vs Hamilton

This who question the ground game of N'Gannou need to see this fight.

Hamilton scores an early takedown which N'Gannou escapes from but Hamilton keeps the clinch going, up against the cage N'Gannou manages to trap the arm, take him down and lock a Kimura in.

Great transition.

 

Holloway vs Pettis

Max really comes to the front of the FW queue here, Aldo has just been promoted to undisputed champion and Holloway is the stand out contender for his belt with a great performance.

 

Dillashaw vs Lineker

Dillashaw dominates Lineker to put his name down as the next title challenger and to some degree he exercises the demons of his earlier loss to Dodson.

Garbrandt vs Cruz. It finally happens, Cruz gets old, the scorecards were a lot closer than they should have been imo as Cody seemed to out-Cruz Cruz by staying one step ahead with dynamic movement, never setting and always being first to the punch.

Cruz is the best ever BW and I think in his prime he takes this fight, but here tonight he doesn't have enough left to do the job.

 

And there we have it, I've come full circle now as the next event was after this thread began.