UFC 122 Thoughts

So, thoughts on last night?

First off, the UFC should be ashamed of themselves for putting on such a horrendous card. Okami vs Nate The Average is a co-main event fight at best. That two average fighters, Sakara and Rivera, were scheduled to compete in the co-main event showed exactly how weak this card was. That's a prelim fight and nothing more. As were the rest of the fights on the main card. BY FAR the weakest card I can remember.

And it turned out as expected in turns of excitement.

Okami made Nate the Average look just that. Without his magic grease Nate could do nothing. Okami controlled the fight, easily winning the stand-up and was always in control when it went to the floor regardless of who was on top. Okami gets the winner of Silva-Vitor and Nate gets some steroids, some grease and hopefully a beating from Palhares.

Siver beat Winner in an entertaining scrap but it wasn't a fight that should have been on the main card. Nice to see Siver looking good in front of his fans.

Sadollah's pitter-patter striking is going to lead to him getting KO'd a lot during his career. He can't put people away and when he faces decent competition he's going to be in trouble. What was this fight doing on the main-card??

I expected more from Reljic-Soszynski, Joe Rogan raved about the fight afterwards, I thought it was nothing special. Two average under-card calibre guys going at it but not exactly going balls out.

Slick Nick against Bang Ludwig was some poor judging. Nick won the first round easily, could have even been a 10-8. I thought he won the second round quite clearly as well. Another fight which belonged on an under-card.


On the undercard Krauss vs Scanlon was allegedly the fight of the night but they decided not to show it which seemed very strange. McKray and Petruzelli will both most likely find themselves cut in the coming days. The Janitor looked impressive against a can.

Really poor night of fights. Coupled with the Haye-Harrison farce it was hugely disappointing. Luckily Pacquiao was brilliant which partially made up for the UFC and The Best of Buddies disasters.

Dissapointed that Sakara-Rivera was called off, while it wasnt a big fight, it was the fight i was most looking forward too....


Start with the 3 Prelims that they showed us. They were very entertaining, cheered me right up after the poor main event. Vermola has made the right choice going into LHW. He is soo incredibly strong for his weight, he is going rag doll alot of his opponents. I see him doing well at 205, wont be a contender but with the right match making could perhaps be top-10. He would give Forrest alot of problems for instance..... Matyushenko did well as everyone expected, and Rocha made a hell of a debut with a very beatiful knee-bar that should have been sub of the night.


Main card:

Ludwig-Nick fight was great i thought, especially the first 2 rounds it was back and forth and Ludwig did great to recover from the 1st. 3rd round was poor as Nick basically stopped fighting, Duane really should have put him away. Round 2 could have gone either way i thought, so not suprised to see 29-28 split decision.

Reljic is going to get cut, 3 losses in a row.... he's no Tito Ortiz! It wasnt a bad fight, but from a technique point of view it wasnt great. Agree that Rogan was over-rating it. It was a decent fight. I think Kristoff should fight Hamill next.

Sadollah dominated but never came close to finishing the fight. Dissapointed. I think he should fight Rumble next. That would be great.

Siver-Winner fight i really enjoyed. Im glad Siver won. Winner was looking very sharp and comfortable up until he got dropped. Nice finish from Siver aswell. I would like to see Siver fight with Cerrone next !

Nate-Okami was terrible, neither deserve a title shot. I hope Dana gives the next title shot to Sonnen instead. Nate did nothing. Again we see the bullshit Greg Jackson pussy tactic. At the end of round 1 you see his corner tell Nate to stop going for Guillotine to stop the riskof Okami escaping and getting on top. Im so glad Dana blasted Greg Jackson's gym at post-fight press conference.

It was so funny watching Nate get upset when he found out he lost. It would have been a tragedy if Okami lost that. The takedown in the 3rd did not deserve to win him the round for sure.

I hope they give Nate to Palhares next but dont think they will, he will probably fight Wanderlei or Sakara next. I hear Rivera is fighting Bisping also....

yeah I have to agree,it was not a good card

Nate looked out of ideas in that fight,it looked like the only weapon he had,was to slip a punch and land the over hand right,very poor performance from both fighters really,with okami only putting on a slightly better showing for himself.
I don't see how that one judge scored it 30-27 though,I thought Nate definitely took the second rd.

I was hoping the siver - winner fight would of gone on a bit longer as it was shaping up to be a good fight,but fair play to Siver,it was a good left hook that dropped Winner,then he took his back nicely and finished well.

I enjoyed the sadollah fight,I thought it was a good workman like performance,he was constantly on the front foot putting pressure on Sobatta and fucking that lead leg up.I thought Sadollah's movement and Muay Thai skills looked good,he mixed his striking from head,body and legs up well.
I agree sadollah lack of power might be a problem for him in future fights,but i think he has alot of good skills to build off,that I think will serve him well in his career,I thought Sobatta showed alot of heart to stay in this fight to be honest.

Krystof is never going to be anymore than a middle of the rd UFC LHW,but he always gives his all,which is always good to watch.
I don't think Rejic will be around for much longer,which is a shame as i had high hopes for him before he was out with that long injury.
Overall though,I can't complain about this fight,it wasn't amazing in anyway but it was still an enjoyable 3 rds of fighting,I just wish Krystoff could of got Rejic out of there in the last rd,when it was obvious that Rejic was bolloxed and was just a few clean punches away from getting stopped.

Vemola looked like an animal,which was fun to watch but i don't think his power and aggression,with his very raw skills will get him past many skilled fighters yet,he has alot to work on and learn in the sport yet IMO because I think against most fighters at the next level,he would of been subbed with the amount of opportunities he gave up,but still it was a good win and reasonable performance for his LHW debut,he definitely belongs at this weight.

I thought Nick won the fight,I had him winning rd 1 and rd 2,but i don't know what to say about that last rd,what happened?
he just kept covering up and running for the whole rd,without throwing anything,it was very weird and spoiled the fight for me.

Nice debut and sub from Rocha,felt for Kray when you could see the pain on his face,Rocha really cranked and hyper extended his knee,those are nasty subs they are.

looked like a broken rib maybe?
reminded me a bit of Hughes/BJ, but worse.

I think Nick has possibly been unlucky with the judging in 2 of his losses, and even the other one he did not get hurt whatsoever, it was basically a non-fight.

....so i thought Nick won based on the criteria THEY were using, but for my money Duane won the fight. he dominated the last round, which IMO should be the most important.

shame about Winner dropping 2 in a row, good win for Siver, i actually prefer this version of the choke better, the one Fedor uses. hurts much more

Reljic vs Krystoff was alot closer than the cards suggested, thats all i have to say realy.


Im a big Carlos (Karlos?) Vermola fan!!
he is a wrecking ball for sure, and i was skeptical about him being able to do it above the domestic can-level, but he did. had a tough first fight with Madsen, being technically a better wrestler than him.
what weight was this fight at?

Rocha looked good. but from what i remember of McCray all of his fights were boring and he did not look anything above mediocre in any area.

I dont really like Sadollah as a fighter, he should have gone for the KO with a clera striking advantage.
it would have probably been better for Sobotta to pull guard in this fight.



as for the main event. I was surprised Nate wasnt totally dominated in grappling by Okami...but i think Nate has sort of been found out as an average striker.
he has good powerful punches and kicks, and is flashy. but movement is really not very good at all, not really any footwork.

i was also willing okami to stay on him after he backed him up with a good punch a couple of times, but maybe he was smart because Nate counters hard.
glad to see yushin okami win.


Overall i got the feeling that people really could not care less about this card, there was like 4 people at the press conference...they put NO big names on it.
none of the fights were really spectacular at all.

It was at LHW Chesty,both Vermola and Petruzelli weighed in at 205lb

Probably doesnt matter in the slightest, but is it Vermola or Vemola?

I always thought it was Vermola but they had him down as Vemola this weekend.

Unfortunately Maurqardt needs to change his nick name to Nate "The Gate-Keeper" after last night. I am a fan but now its pretty clear he can't compete with the top MWs in the world. Back to square one and I will be shocked if he ever gets another title shot.

Siver and Vemola put on exciting performances. Nothing else is really mentioning except I don't know whats wrong with Sadollah. He subbed CB Dollaway twice, he should be able to finish his opponents more easily. Nothing more than an averased on that performanxe

Awful card, I forgot to add.

Yeah Nate can't compete with top grapplers, Sonnen destroyed him, Okami beat him comfortably and his record against BJJ speaks for itself.

If he hadn't cheated against Palhares he'd have a 3 fight losing streak behind him and would probably be facing the cut.

Lads a bit harsh on Amir, Its great to see decent Muay Thai in MMA, its such a rare thing. Even the likes of Shogun arent throwing 3 strike combos. MMA fighers circle and throw a punch every 30 seconds at times, Amir is wailing in rattling off crisp Combos and theres no love for him?

Ben Saunders was one of my favorite fighers to watch because his MT was so good in MMA, Amirs the same, Not a tonne of power but he could have got a stoppage I think with a punch or leg kick more....

Great showing from Siver, another one of the best fighters in UFC to watch.

Nate got outstruck by Okami Outwrestled, out struck and tapped by top level guys, I say give him Palhares or Wanderlei and see if he sinks or swins.

yeah this was the first time in ages i wasnt excited by the card and during it just knew it was going to be terrible, i bet my money they will promote okami v silva as the last man who beat him. obviously providing silva gets past belfort.

Worst UFC card in a long time.

Yeah Nate can't compete with top grapplers, Sonnen destroyed him, Okami beat him comfortably and his record against BJJ speaks for itself.

If he hadn't cheated against Palhares he'd have a 3 fight losing streak behind him and would probably be facing the cut.
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I don't haven't seen this before but he is a very average striker with a lot of power. Kind of like the MW version of Shane Carwin. The power is there, the technique isn't. Losing to top grapples is nothing to be ashamed of IMO, a lot of top fighters do, Sonnen for example. But any above average striker should be able to beat him, and when you put him against a world class striker like say Anderson Silva, well- we all know how that went.

ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:Yeah Nate can't compete with top grapplers, Sonnen destroyed him, Okami beat him comfortably and his record against BJJ speaks for itself.

If he hadn't cheated against Palhares he'd have a 3 fight losing streak behind him and would probably be facing the cut.
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I don't haven't seen this before but he is a very average striker with a lot of power. Kind of like the MW version of Shane Carwin. The power is there, the technique isn't. Losing to top grapples is nothing to be ashamed of IMO, a lot of top fighters do, Sonnen for example. But any above average striker should be able to beat him, and when you put him against a world class striker like say Anderson Silva, well- we all know how that went.

there are quite a few fighters in the ufc who are better than the average but cannot compete with the elite.

Nate should go back to being the fighter he used to be. A wrestler with vicious GnP. He needs to go to his nearest D1 university and spend 6 months training with the wrestling team. Work on his takedowns and his control and re-invent himself. He could become a Sonnen type, not as good at takedowns but more dangerous from top position. With his GnP he could TKO people or wear them down enough that he can catch an arm or a choke.

Michael_Bisping_Is_A_Cunt wrote:Nate should go back to being the fighter he used to be. A wrestler with vicious GnP. He needs to go to his nearest D1 university and spend 6 months training with the wrestling team. Work on his takedowns and his control and re-invent himself. He could become a Sonnen type, not as good at takedowns but more dangerous from top position. With his GnP he could TKO people or wear them down enough that he can catch an arm or a choke.

thats what i was telling people at mine just after 122.

Nate needs to go to a different camp. He's friends with Sonnen, I don't understand why he doesn't go train with him for a while. Sonnen's style of fighting is incredibly effective and Sonnen only has 2 weak spots.

1) His BJJ is poor
2) He doesn't have power in his hands.

Nate has decent BJJ and has above average power. His wrestling and control aren't as good as Sonnen's but GSP's wrestling and control aren't as good as Hughes, Fitch or Kos. But he still dryhumps the shit out of people because he works hard at it. If Nate but the work in he could really utilize the skills he does have.

After Sonnen fought Nate, didn't Sonnen say they had a wrestling match once before? I can't remember who he said won, but apparently Nate gave him a tough time.

They trained together before, and Sonnen said that Nate was a tough guy to takedown, and control.

Who's GnP does this remind you of?

Amirite?

The_Axe_Emperor wrote:


Amirite?

Shit just noticed that aint the right gif, Fedor- Nog though yea?


It's funny cos i was actually thinking exactly that whilst watching it live. Vemola looked fantastic.

Yeah Fedor is what i was thinking of...