More on UFC 59
On the undercard, Thiago Alves-Derrick Noble was a good action standup fight. It actually looked a lot like Sylvia-Arlovski, only it went a little longer. Noble was doing better standing overall from the clinch and with the muay thai, and clearly thought he had Alves in trouble. He was throwing punches rapidly looking to finish the fight, but from my perspective it looked like Alves wasn't in as much trouble as Noble thought he was. He was covering up and blocking the onslaught, and then caught Noble with a straight right that floored him and finished with punches before the ref stopped it.
Terry Martin once again looked good, but his biggest question mark is clearly his conditioning. Just like last time in UFC, he controlled round 1 only to lose decisively in round 2. His boxing was shockingly good, as his hands looked really fast and he was beating Jason Lambert on his feet. He scored a takedown but from there looked to get tired, and he didn't really do anything from the top while Lambert worked for submissions from the bottom. In the second round Martin just looked exhausted, and Lambert ended up on top of him with his hooks sunk in, and he fired punches to the back of the head rather than applying the RNC for the TKO.
David Terrell-Scott Smith was the controversy of the night. The ref called for a break, and then quickly ordered action again before they were separated, and that gave Terrell the chance to take him down and sink in the rear naked choke. Smith was complaining about the situation before he was even on the ground, but the crowd didn't seem to understand what had happened, and cheered on the big screen when they showed him tapping, clearly thinking he was complaining that he didn't tap out, which was pretty dumb.
As for what everyone else saw, I was really impressed with Karo Parisyan. He is so much fun to watch. Monson-Cruz was a bore, and I once again wasn't really impressed with Cruz. Evan Tanner looked good against an overmatched opponent, but there isn't really much for him to do from here. He looked really good on the ground. Griffin-Ortiz was of course amazing. The crowd was so unbelievably hot for it. I really think the crowd made the fight, although Griffin's spirit also was a big reason it got over so well. I really don't think the crowd turned on Tito. I think different people were cheering for Tito and Forrest throughout, and the Tito people stayed with him. The overall reaction to Tito after the fight may have been boos, but there were tons of people cheering around me. I think it's just when you mix boos with cheers the boos tend to be easier to hear and it creates a booing like roar. A lot of fun. I'm done evaluating Nick Diaz fights. I think he's a really fun fighter to watch. Other people tend to think he's a bore. I thought he won most of the fights he lost decisions in. Other people obviously strongly disagreed. So whatever. If the Diaz-Sherk fight had come at a different point in the show, it wouldn't be getting anywhere near the heat it did from some circles. And as far as Arlovski-Sylvia goes, wow. Props to Sylvia. He shocked the world. Arlovski really shouldn't have shaved that chest hair.
Terry Martin once again looked good, but his biggest question mark is clearly his conditioning. Just like last time in UFC, he controlled round 1 only to lose decisively in round 2. His boxing was shockingly good, as his hands looked really fast and he was beating Jason Lambert on his feet. He scored a takedown but from there looked to get tired, and he didn't really do anything from the top while Lambert worked for submissions from the bottom. In the second round Martin just looked exhausted, and Lambert ended up on top of him with his hooks sunk in, and he fired punches to the back of the head rather than applying the RNC for the TKO.
David Terrell-Scott Smith was the controversy of the night. The ref called for a break, and then quickly ordered action again before they were separated, and that gave Terrell the chance to take him down and sink in the rear naked choke. Smith was complaining about the situation before he was even on the ground, but the crowd didn't seem to understand what had happened, and cheered on the big screen when they showed him tapping, clearly thinking he was complaining that he didn't tap out, which was pretty dumb.
As for what everyone else saw, I was really impressed with Karo Parisyan. He is so much fun to watch. Monson-Cruz was a bore, and I once again wasn't really impressed with Cruz. Evan Tanner looked good against an overmatched opponent, but there isn't really much for him to do from here. He looked really good on the ground. Griffin-Ortiz was of course amazing. The crowd was so unbelievably hot for it. I really think the crowd made the fight, although Griffin's spirit also was a big reason it got over so well. I really don't think the crowd turned on Tito. I think different people were cheering for Tito and Forrest throughout, and the Tito people stayed with him. The overall reaction to Tito after the fight may have been boos, but there were tons of people cheering around me. I think it's just when you mix boos with cheers the boos tend to be easier to hear and it creates a booing like roar. A lot of fun. I'm done evaluating Nick Diaz fights. I think he's a really fun fighter to watch. Other people tend to think he's a bore. I thought he won most of the fights he lost decisions in. Other people obviously strongly disagreed. So whatever. If the Diaz-Sherk fight had come at a different point in the show, it wouldn't be getting anywhere near the heat it did from some circles. And as far as Arlovski-Sylvia goes, wow. Props to Sylvia. He shocked the world. Arlovski really shouldn't have shaved that chest hair.
posted by Todd Martin at 12:35 PM
1 Comments:
I also thought the placement of the Diaz fight was unfortunate. The fight was pretty good, but the crowd was still pumped/angry/confused/insert emotion here after the Ortiz/Griffin fight and weren't looking to emotionally invest in a lesser fight. If they had put Arlovski/Silvia in the Ortiz/Griffin spot (with the same result) I think the crowd may have gotten into the Diaz fight more. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.
My problem with Diaz is that he comes across as a jerk. From the Diego fight on, Diaz hasn't really endeared himself to anyone. At least not me. It's not that cool jerk attitude, its that self-righteous pompous jerk attitude. I just get tired of seeing and hearing him.
And what was the deal with 'emails' before the Diego Sanchez fight?
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