MMA/UFC Discussion Thread MMA • Page 615

Fuck off, Cruz

 

and I was actually kind of starting to like him

 

Wow did not know he was that brand of fucking moron. Fuck him big time then.

 

Lol his “they’re trying to keep us separated” line last night made me wonder… guess I was right!

 

Damn I didn't even think of that, I was just assuming social justice or something. I just gotta go back to being completely cynical again.

 

After watching the replay, I don't think the glove pull was that bad, congrats to Olivera what a fantastic fight!

 

I thought it was bad as well, but Dustin never really indicated that a foul was happening so I assumed it wasn’t as bad as it appeared. He didn’t protest like he did with McGregor.

Man I still can’t believe how that fight went. Like I knew Oliveira winning was a good possibility, but I can’t believe he absolutely overwhelmed him with an onslaught like that. The guy was 100% offense the whole time. You have to respect that from a champion.

 

That roll attempt to escape just totally fucked him, I didn't rewatch the fight but I remember that roll escape attempt looking really low effort, Poirier looked like he was just unsure what to do and made a snap decision but didn't give it his all?

 

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised by something like this coming from the guy who thinks he’s the smartest person in every room

 

Man Dustin losses are just heartbreaking...it felt like he was the underdog hero of the year through that Conor shit and then for it to end this way really sucks.

I do think Gaethje beats Oliveira though, as much as I hate to keep doubting Oliveira because I think he's awesome and I'm super happy he's had this success. Gaethje's submission defense is bad but he's a phenomenal scrambler and counter-wrestler so I think he avoids getting put in the positions Dustin was in. Dustin seems to overthink things in the grappling exchanges or something and always puts himself in some awful spots (even in fights he wins).

It's simultaneously hard to pick against Oliveira at this point, and hard to imagine he continues winning fights where he spends the early going getting absolutely nuked by heavy-handed contenders.

Also yikes that was a tough look for Nunes. The absurdly bad fight IQ was one thing but she quit pretty hard there....I know it's always shitty to say a fighter quit but when have we ever seen a fighter on that level tap super quickly to a choke that wasn't really in, with no hooks in. It was like she hated being gassed so badly that she needed it to just be over. Once the adrenaline shock of the upset wore off I was just kinda like "wow that shit was so weird" lol.

 

I’d be curious to know what truly went wrong there. Obviously, her gas tank was the main issue and her bad technique, bad IQ, “quitting”, etc. was all a result of that. But I really don’t understand how it went downhill that quickly and what caused it. I thought maybe those jabs just accumulated really quickly and snuck up on her, but she seemed to be winded while defending that kimura at the end of the first. It’s not like there was much in that first round that looked that much more taxing than anything else she’s been through in other fights. It was more bizarre than anything the more I thought about it.

 

I’ve heard people mention Nunes possibly still struggling from having Covid causing her to have cardio issues. That might be it otherwise I’m kind of at a loss for why she gassed so quickly.

 

I believe it’s a mixture of pride, disbelief that someone would stand in the pocket with her, and JP’s ability to eat a hard punch that had Amanda eating more shots than she expected to. By the time she tapped she was wide-eyed and disoriented while completely exhausted. I think she knew if Peña put the choke in deep she was gonna pass out quick.

 

She is in rarefied air when it comes to UFC history and being a dominant champ, maybe the most dominant of all time?

I think it's really hard to put yourself into the shoes of someone who keeps winning without much challenge. Like naturally it gets harder to keep a competitive edge like Pena had last night. Almost like it can become impossible to have the edge you first had. Training and fighting become secondary to other things in her life she focused on. The hunger isn't there anymore.

 

She took that loss so well it's like she was excited to move on from this champion belt lifestyle.

 

I definitely think that’s part of it, but it was still odd considering her last couple of fights before that. She had to wrestle GDR while avoiding standing with her for five rounds and then also put a beating on Felicia Spencer who kept eating her best shots for five whole rounds. She did all of that seemingly without much issue, like she had fixed that hole in her game where she gassed after a couple rounds.

Then here she is looking completely out of it before the end of round 1 where she faced hardly any adversity. Just strange, to be honest. It makes me wonder if she got hit with one or two shots that rocked her much more than she wanted to show.

 

Not that it explains it any further, but sometimes you just don't have it for whatever reason. We saw it with Jan against Glover too. Nothing goes right and you get wiped out with ease.

 

Yeah, what's unfortunate about this sport is that you can have a bad night for no apparent reason, maybe feeling just off like Miranda Maverick did on Saturday. Then if your opponent is on top of their game like Julianna was, you're going to pay for it even if you're leagues better than they are.

 

Nunes said she’s gonna get her rematch

 

It’s all the above really. No doubt getting tagged that much also takes more wind out of you. She went from smiley to serious after about 6 punches in a row. Then she started missing and that’s when I started screaming cause I knew Peña had her.

Such a good fight I can’t wait to rewatch.

 

Stole this thought from Ariel, but wow, we end the year with Glover, Oliveira, Moreno and Pena as champs… That is crazy. Basically all people you probably thought would either never touch a title shot at all or were well beyond their primes. Yet they all got the belt via stoppage.

 

Also happy that Shevchenko is at her rightful place as number 1 on the women's pound for pound list.

 

Should be some pretty entertaining fights this Saturday night

 

I assumed the covidiots where the ones who denied vaccine and didn’t mask etc
Or do we call each other it

 

are we ending the year with no american champions?? has that happened before lol