To be honest, I was shouting how awesome griffin was from truly escaping that slam. Anyone who saw what jackson did to Arona knows that Griffin did an EXCELLENT job escaping a truly devastating slam.
I thought Rampage won 1,3 and 4. Forrest made a great account of himself, but rampage landed a lot of hard punches in the rounds he deserved to win.
I've been watching MMA for years, and have seen hundreds of events and thousands of fights, so cut the patronising bull****. Round 1 we should all be able to agree was Rampage's. Round 2 was clearly Forrest's. Round 5 I'm happy to admit was also Forrest's and 2 of the 3 judges gave round 4 to Rampage. The contentious round is the 3rd, in which there were no takedowns, there were no sub attempts, and very few kicks or knees were landed. 95% of the round consisted of the 2 men trading punches, and in my opinion Rampage got the better of nearly every boxing exchange. Forrest walking Rampage down and landing 1 or 2 pitty pat punches shouldn't count for more than him getting rocked by a hard shot from Rampage, which is what happened for most of the 3rd (and 4th) round.
Because a significant portion of the fight involved the 2 men swinging their arms at each other with fists clenched, in an act often referred to as "boxing". It's actually quite a common occurrence in MMA.
Its pretty simple, Juanito thought it was even going into 5th, Rampage seemed pretty certain he lost, both announcers, all 3 judges, both corners. Rampage backed up too much, didn't throw enough, got hit too much, and got outworked, it was pretty clear. 3 or 4 punches doesn't outweigh the entirety of the rest of the round of Forrest landing good shots. There was nothing pitty pat about the punches or kicks Forrest was landing, he back Rampage off and continued to really **** up his leg. This won't be an issue anywhere but forums with people with axes to grind.
Griffin won round 5 easily. Rampage came forward only a small number of times, and Griffin evaded pretty well when Rampage tried to flurry him. Griffin kept him at bay with the kicks and landed a few cleans shots of his own that round (including a beautiful straight right hand). One and three were close rounds that I wouldn't argue with scoring to either fighter. In this case, it seems that all three judges went with Griffin in those rounds.
I have no axe to grind. I picked Forrest to win before the fight and would have been happy to see him do so, but in my opinion he lost 3 of the 5 rounds. Nearly every play by play I've seen agrees with that and gives Rampage rounds 1, 3 and 4, and Rampage himself seems convinced he won those rounds in his interview on UFC.com.
I don't see how people think that Forrest outlanded Rampage. Thats ridiculous. Rampage landed pretty much every combo he threw. Forrest was landing on gloves with FEW exceptions and not a single combo. And most of those leg kicks WERE pittiful and only served to either keep the distance in check or score lame points(which he did).
Man, I just logged on about 15 minutes ago and I'm pretty shocked at the amount of bitching about this decision. Everyone I watched the fight with thought Griffin won. I'd say it's hardly a controversial decision. Good on Forrest, the man came in with a plan, fought smart, and beat one of the best fighters in the world.
Rampage didn't land all that often cleanly. Forrest was protecting himself very well in the exchanges.
The decision was legit. I know Rampage got the KD in the 1st but Forrest dominated that round and damn near blew out Rampages leg it could easily be a even round. 2 obviously Forrest,3rd probablly Rampage even though his takedown did nothing Forrest had him pretty deep with the Triangle,the 4th was incredibly close and the 5th Forrest outworked him. Fare decision and Forrest won it for a guy that was supposed to get destroyed he took beat Rampages ass whenever they clinched,outworked him with the hands,****ed up Rampages left leg,nearly submitted him,mounted him.
