Marshmallo Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Took a while but I've caught up with the main cards of these shows. Thought the Smashes main card was brilliant. Already covered my joy at Hector winning. Both the finales were enjoyable I felt, two very different fights but both good to watch. Parke and Freakshow was really good as a grappling contest, Parke was very efficient but unfortunately I don't see that as a style which will be enough to advance in the UFC. The MW final was a slugfest, I felt the Aussie boy showed better technique though so I'm glad he won. Really enjoyed the main event as well, Pearson is the man whilst Sot is a tit. Pearson looks a lot better at 155 than at 145, I thought he should've taken the decision against Barboza but last Friday was as good as he's ever looked. I had already read the results for the other TUF by the time I watched it, so I'm guessing that's why the very positive thoughts I've read elsewhere didn't translate over for me. Might also be because Nelson won and I can't stick him. Good to see Pat Barry win, he's a top guy. Colton Smith is a fud. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I'll be staying up tonight and watching from start to finish, I think it's a cracker of a card from top to bottom and there should be a lot to get excited about. Stand outs in the prelims for me are Varner-Guillard which should be a war (hopefully ending in Varner getting twatted with a big KO) and Pickett-Wineland which can't really fail to be excellent. In the main event I'm really not sure what to expect, Cain looked like a beast against Bigfoot in his last outing but Dos Santos is obviously a completely different animal to Silva. I think JDS's defensive wrestling will prove the difference and I've picked him by KO, but I think it'll certainly be a much longer fight than their first meeting and a Velasquez win by GnP late on wouldn't surprise me too much. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophe Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Had a weird dream last night where they switched this at the last minute from the MGM Grand Garden to some tiny bar elsewhere in the MGM Grand.... put Dos Santos/Velasquez on first and then cancelled the rest of the card through lack of ticket sales...... dunno what it all means! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophe Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Anyway besides that.... looking forward to seeing Erik Perez again, he's on an excellent little run. And Pickett vs. Wineland will be a war. Good night in store. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gudderman Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 My preference is for a Dos Santos win. Purely because I like the idea of him and Overeem better than Velazquez and Overeem. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophe Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 (edited) Heads up for the Facebook prelims starting at 11.30 tonight folk. FX prelims showing on ESPN again from 1, good job ESPN. Edited December 29, 2012 by Christophe 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 My preference is for a Dos Santos win. Purely because I like the idea of him and Overeem better than Velazquez and Overeem. I prefer Dos Santos (although I like both guys as people and fighters) so I'm hoping he wins, but a Cain win would probably be better for the division. If Cain loses this I can't see him getting another title shot while JDS has the belt, although the division is getting deeper at the moment so there could be a few options out there moving forward. Heads up for the Facebook prelims starting at 11.30 tonight folk. FX prelims showing on ESPN again from 1, good job ESPN. The three Facebook fights look good, I'm expecting fireworks in the Duffee-De Fries fight and the flyweights always deliver as well. Leonard Garcia, limited as he is, is never in a boring fight either, so Holloway smacking him about for three rounds should also be enjoyable. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I had that one a round each although both were close, great submission from Moraga in the third to end it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophe Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Yeah, that one might have been running away from Moraga, done well to take it out of the judges hands there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Garcia's going to win another fucking split decision here, I can see it coming. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophe Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Holloway might have to finish this one too 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 The last couple of minutes of that were like something you'd see in a kebab shop at 3.15am. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophe Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 The last couple of minutes of that were like something you'd see in a kebab shop at 3.15am. That's what the end of a third should be.....two guys exhausted who still really, really want it. THAT DECISION IS HORSESHIT! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Holloway won all three for me, the second could possibly have gone either way though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophe Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Only gave Holloway the first myself. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Decent competitive fight between Varner and Guillard there with three awful scorecards. Had it 29-28 with Varner taking 1 and 3 personally. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieStevenson Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 JDS offered almost nothing in that fight, he was lucky to get through the first round. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banana Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Amazing that Dos Santos still had the energy to throw the odd power punch in the 4th and 5th rounds. Wasn't nearly as in-the-bag as Rogan and the other guy was saying from the 2nd round on. Still, insane workrate, gameplan and execution from Velasquez, if not finishing power. Complete anal domination. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shuggie_Murray7 Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 The rubber match is a guarantee now...Dana is probably furious that the guy he hoped to build the HW division around was so easily destroyed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 The rubber match is a guarantee now...Dana is probably furious that the guy he hoped to build the HW division around was so easily destroyed. Don't get this at all. Cain is a big draw with the Hispanic market, and they can now do a rubber match which will do big business. The only negative is that Velasquez probably wouldn't fight Cormier since they train together. I think when you consider how great a fighter JDS is that is one of the most impressive performances of all time from Cain. Complete and utter destruction on the feet and in terms of grappling as well. The injury from the first fight for Cain must've had a big effect as it was obvious right from the off last night that he was much quicker and explosive. JDS is exceptionally fast for a HW but Cain made him look like Bob Sapp. Scored it 50-43 with the first two rounds as 10-8s, and I wouldn't really have blamed JDS if he hadn't come out for the third round. I think next up it has to be Velasquez and Overeem for the title. Dos Santos is already talking about a rematch but I think he needs a couple of wins before that could happen. Miller-Lauzon was great and saved a pretty dreadful card up to that point. I really thought this was fantastic, I want to make that clear - but, and I may be alone in this opinion, the immediate reaction I read overrated this, possibly because of all the blood. There's a huge amount of people saying this was Fight of the Year. It wasn't that good, clear FOTN though. Jim Miller looked brilliant, probably his best outing that I've seen actually, the first round was definitely a 10-8 and possibly even a 10-7. Lauzon is great though, showed so much heart as always and I thought he took the third round. I scored it 29-27 for Miller. Boetsch-Phillippou was awful. I'm glad Boetsch lost and it was to someone who wasn't a name as I think he was in a false position in the division, he got schooled against Okami then turned it on for a minute with Okami gassed, and then he was in one of the worst fights of the year with Lombard which he lost despite picking up the decision (although neither guy should've been given a win for that). Philippou didn't look great but the win will no doubt give him a big fight now (I saw a mention of Weidman somewhere ). Okami-Belcher wasn't much in terms of excitement but I was very impressed with the ease with which Okami controlled a real quality opponent in Belcher. More madness in the judging with someone giving Belcher a round. I ended up laughing watching Leben-Brunson, two guys gassing so badly after one fairly pedesetrian round and offering nothing in the next two in terms of excitement, pace or technique. Leben looked like a decrepit 80 year old man in the third round, I think after a performance as bad as that he needs to pack it in. Brunson has told the rest of the division to "watch out" Aye nae bother mate. Pickett-Wineland didn't live up to expectations but Wineland was very impressive. Pickett looked poor but I thought the gameplan from Wineland was very well executed and to some extent he picked Pickett apart in the first two. Wineland's had a tough run of fights in the UFC, Faber and Benavidez couldn't finish him and that's him now beaten Jorgensen and Pickett in succession. One of the more underrated fighters in the division and probably the whole of the UFC, although I'm not sure where he goes from here with McDonald and Barao tied up (and probably above his level anyway) and with already having fought and lost to Faber. I think this is the fight that confirms what everyone really knew, that Brad Pickett is never going to be a real title contender and this is his level. Kind of covered the rest elsewhere but I was impressed with Perez (Perez-Wineland could be a shout actually, although maybe a bit soon for Perez). I thought it was worth staying up for but there was a hell of a lot of shit there. Just as well the main and co-main more than delivered, they were both great fights. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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