I'm a happy man. Tomorrow is my birthday. Oh, wait. It's 12:02 am. Today is my birthday. And I just watched a satisfying evening of fights, thanks to The UFC, and a bunch of great fighters.
Kudos to the main card fighters. They all brought it. ALL of them. Yes, even the ones who lost quickly. Let's start with the first fight. But before I do, let's talk about my fight predictions, shall we? Since I got back into this blogging thing a few weeks ago, I have successfully predicted the winner in every fight but one.
All but one.
If you feel like laying down cash on a fight, I might be someone you'd want to check in with first. With that being said, I still have a long way to go before I will have a genuinely acceptable data base to judge. Though I've been watching combat sports fanatically for almost 30 years (I'm 39 today), I've only been blogging seriously for a few weeks. So you might want to see how I do in the future. But so far, I am batting way over .300. Do with that what you will.
So let's look at each main card fight.
Stephen Thompson vs Robert Whittaker.
Well, I was right that "Wonder Boy's" striking was on another level. I was also right that Whittaker, being the tough-as-nails man that he is, would come straight at Wonder Boy. And Wonder Boy did what I thought he would do.
Win.
But I didn't think he would knockout the Australian Ultimate Fighter. So props to Wonder Boy for performing even better than expected. However, he fought a guy who was happy to play his game. Let's see what happens when Wonder Boy fights a high-level wrestler/submission artist. If he can get past that hurdle, then he may be ready for a main event. Again, though, props for a sensational performance against a solid opponent.
Mike Kyle vs T.J. Waldburger
Well, this was better than I expected. Waldburger came to win. His striking was much better than I anticipated. For the first two rounds, he more than held his own on his feet against the older, and far more experienced, Pyle.
But as I predicted, Pyle was just too crafty. He's been around this game for a long time. He has spent countless hours training against high-level mixed martial artists. Consequently, he was able to nail the younger and more explosive fighter with shots that most guys wouldn't have even thrown.
By the end of the fight, Pyle had Waldburger in a world of trouble. He had him mounted, and was raining down elbows and vicious punches. And Herb Dean let him do it for far too long.
I have always defended Herb when fans got stupid about his calls. After all, being a referee is a thankless job. You're darned if you do, and darned if you don't. I get it. I do.
But Herb screwed up tonight.
Pyle could have killed Waldburger. Seconds matter when someone is getting their brains bounced against their skulls. And Waldburger had his brain rattled way more than Urijah Faber did against Renan Barao. Dean stopped that fight in plenty of time. Some say he stopped it far too early. But this one was too late.
Own that, Herb. Take a break. Get your head on straight. I know the constant criticism must mess with a referee's mind, but the stakes are too high to get it wrong as often as you have lately.
Rory McDonald vs Demian Maia
What a great fight! Demian came out in the first round and showed the world why he is such a scary dude. He took McDonald down, even though McDonald knew he was going to try. McDonald had the lowest stance I've ever seen him use. That was to help him stuff take down attempts. But it didn't stop the take down in round one.
Maia took him down and stayed on top of him for most of it. McDonald was forced to play defense. Though Maia wasn't able to hit a fight-ending submission, it was still a dominant round for the submission master.
Then we had the 2nd round. McDonald came out popping the jab--as I predicted--and landing hard kicks to the body. They paid dividends immediately. Maia looked spent. Almost every clean shot from Rory seemed to hurt him. That 2nd round was a showcase of Rory's striking skills. He beat the heck out of Demian Maia in the 2nd round.
In the 3rd, it looked like we'd see more of the same. Rory popped the jab. He slammed home kicks. But then Demian dug deep, found one last reserve of strength, and then hoisted Rory off his feet and planted him on his back.
It was a turning point. Each fighter had one dominant round in the bank. Maia won the 1st round. McDonald won the 2nd. McDonald had been winning up until Maia got the take down.
So what would Maia do with it? The answer was: not enough.
McDonald weathered the storm, avoided submissions, and hopped to his feet. Then he punished Maia with punches and kicks for the rest of the round. When the judges gave him a unanimous decision, it came as no surprise.
With the win, Rory is back in title contention, and Demian is back to the drawing board. At 36 years of age, Demian should probably spend some serious time reflecting on the loss. Does he have enough left to make a run at the title? If not, should he keep fighting? Most fighters never become world champions. In my opinion, Demian can still beat many guys at 170 pounds. But he took some serious punishment tonight. Who knows how much he has taken in the gym? It may be time for him to consider hanging up the gloves. From what I've heard, he would be a great trainer.
Daniel Cormier vs Patrick Cummins.
Well, this played out the way I expected it would, though Daniel finished things a bit quicker than I predicted. However, in that short time Cummings showed good hand speed and solid take down defense. It was his chin and Daniel's punches that did him in.
Before Daniel landed a nasty inside uppercut, Patrick looked great. His jab was fast and crisp, as were his leg kicks. He also stuffed Daniel's take downs. But I guess he didn't count on Daniel's hands being so fast or so powerful.
Daniel rocked him early and put him away a short time later. The stoppage may have been a tad early, but I doubt the outcome would have been any different if it hadn't been stopped when it was.
So my biggest question is: how good is Cummings' chin? Daniel Cormier hits hard. Maybe Patrick can take the punches from lesser UFC fighters. If so, he has potential. His wrestling, speed, and striking technique was solid. Because of that, I am looking forward to his next fight.
As for Daniel, can we just put him in with the champion, Jon Jones, already? Everyone knows this fight will eventually happen. Let's do it. Daniel looks ready. If Jones defeats Glover Teixeira at UFC 172, let's just do this thing. They have talked smack on Twitter. Everyone considers it a legitimate contest. Let's make it happen.
Ronda Rousey vs Sara McMann
What did we learn from this fight? We learned that Rousey's punching isn't yet as good as it's rumored to be in the gym. We also learned that her knee strikes from the clinch are far better than we knew. Sara landed some good punches on Ronda in the short time they fought. But once Ronda pushed Sara against the cage, it took only a few knee strikes to make Sara wilt.
Ronda drove her left knee into Sara's stomach, and Sara dropped. Herb Dean, having just waited far too long to stop a contest between Mike Pyle and T.J. Waldburger, decided to make up for it by stopping a contest far too early. Almost as soon as Sara hit the canvas, he was waving it off.
Sara wasn't nearly in as much danger as Waldburger was. Waldburger was taking repeated blows to the head. That's something that can kill you. Sara had taken a couple knees to the midsection. That hurts like a son-of-a-gun. I know. I've been there and done that. But while it may knock the air out of you, it isn't likely to kill you.
She deserved more time. That's the long and short of it. Do I think it would have changed anything? No. Rousey it a monstrous finisher. But Sara was fighting for a world championship. It's probably the last she will ever get. And Herb stopped it before she had even finished falling.
He didn't give her a chance to grab Rousey's legs or to tie up Rousey's hands. He just stopped it.
And that sucks.
All the same, Rousey got the job done and deserves some credit for it. We've never seen her throw knees in the clinch with that much power. From the look of things, she is truly becoming a mixed martial artist. And that is a scary prospect.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the fights as much as I did. Take care, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Until next time.
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