Odds and ends
The live prelims on Facebook sucked. Not the fights themselves, but trying to watch the damn fights. The video froze several time until it finally quit completely. Frustrating.- The prelims on ION were fine, but, man, I am an HD junkie nowadays it was tough to watch those fights in standard def. My eyes! Standard definition--barbaric!
- The audience: gotta love the Aussies!
- Definitely a different type of audience down there in the down under. They seemed pretty knowledgeable but had some odd chants going on and really not quite as boisterous as the U.S crowds. So I liked 'em!
- Aussie Aussie Auusie! Oi! Oi! Oi!
- "Let's rock this cage!" is the dumbest referee catchphrase I have ever heard, although I'll be using it frequenntly over the next few weeks. As a matter of fact, I plan to go to work at my network manager job in the morning and telll my associate first thing: "let's rock this cage!"
Penn vs Fitch
First of all, let me say this: I didn't use to like B.J. Penn, I thought he was a jerk and I don't root for jerks no matter how talented they are. But I think B.J. has changed. He seems more humble and classy nowadays and I like that. So I found myself cheering for him in this fight.
B.J. came out strong and aggressive in the first round and his strategy was pure genius! No one, including me, expected him to play for the ground game. He goes for the takedown right off the bat and actually gets Fitch, the superb wrestler, down a couple of times. Very effective.
Second round was back and forth, early on it seemed to be going in Penn's favor but towards the end of the round it shifted to Fitch. I gave Fitch the edge initially but looking again, I think Penn might have done enough to take the round. That was a beautiful little elbow he fired up the middle from in-close while up against the cage that bloodied Fitch's nose.
Third round--all Fitch. He was mostly on top and beat on Penn for the entire round. At the end of the round, he looked like he could have continued at that pace easily for another two rounds if it was a championship match. Penn, not so much.
It came down to a majority draw. And I'm okay with that. Penn was very classy and honest at the post fight interview when he pretty much said that he thought he lost the fight.
A rematch? I would have to give Fitch the edge there. He was taken off guard by Penn's ground game strategy. He would be ready next time.
That being said, Penn is one the the most gifted and well-rounded fighters in the history of the game, a sure-fire future hall-of-famer and always entertaining to watch. Fitch, as much as I like the guy and admire his work ethic, his fighting style tends to bore me--take 'em down and grind out a victory--effective, but not a stellar watching experience for me.
Bisping vs. Rivera
Bisping is an ass. Bisping is a no-class punk ass. Bisping is a cheating bitch douchebag. (I hope search engines can pick up on those phrases). I don't care if he wins or loses. I don't even want to talk about him. Dickhead.
George Sotiropoulos vs Dennis Siver
I enjoyed this fight. I really thought Sotiropoulos (jeez, as hard to type as it is to say!) would win this one, although my sentimental favorite was Siver (I will almost always root for the guy with the more traditional martial arts background 'cause that where I came from). But Siver surprised me with his takedown defense, although those certainly weren't the best takedown attempts I've ever seen.
So, good fight, but Siver's superior punching and kicking skills won the day. I love Siver's spinning back kicks! It's a technique few MMA guys ever attempt, and when they do it's pathetic. Here's how I do a spinning back kick.
Chris Lytle vs. Brian Ebersole
I had never heard of Ebersole and I knew he was a replacement for Carlos Condit and Lytle is on my list of favorite fighters. Because of all that, I thought this one had "blow out" written all over it, especially after Ebersole came out with his crazy "cartwheel kick".
Looking awkward as hell, Ebersole drew nothing but laughs from me for most of the first round. But in the next two rounds it became clear that this guy was an experienced and--dare I say it-- a very good fighter. I mean, some of his stuff is some pretty weird sh*t but he was very effective and he grew on me as the fight progressed. This was, by far, the most entertaining fight of the night for me. A clear winner over a top fighter, I'll be watching for Ebersole and his weird sh*t in the future.
Kyle Noke vs Chris Camozzi
Nothing spectacular here. A very good workman like stoppage with Noke transitioning from a takedown to a rear naked choke. Nice.
Prelims
No great standouts here for me except for the Zhang Tie Quan fight. The Chinese MMA fighter looked pretty impressive with his quick guillotine submission over Jason Reinhardt.
Oh, and the Mark Hunt vs. Chris Tuscherer match looked like a sloppy blubber hunt. Save this kind of crap for some other fight show. I don't really want to see it on the UFC.
Oeverall, not a bad fight night for me. I'll give it a middle B grade.
Next month: Shogun Rua vs. Ben Jones
Wow. A good time shall be had by all!
Later.
No comments:
Post a Comment