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Decent night of fights to be fair, despite the early criticism about it being a weak card with no star power it turned out to feature some good fights, even if the "guaranteed stoppage" we were promised in the main event did not happen.
Anyway, JDS VS Carwin, bit defensive from JDS but you can't knock the guy when their is a title shot on the line, he utilised his jab perfectly at time, and dominated the fight pretty much from start to finish. The fact he was able to get some takedowns in the third round was also impressive, although at this point Carwin was clearly tired. Carwin showed good heart to keep coming forward though, the fact he was bouncing around on his toes at stages in the second and the third round says that he has worked really well on his cardio, and I think this fight as well as his last fight with Brock is a good learning curve in terms of what he needs to focus on. JDS VS Velasquez will be a pick em fight, interesting that the bookmakers have JDS as the early favourite at the moment, it all depends on how Cain will look coming off his long lay off.
Florian looked decent at 145, was still pushing the pace come the third round, and despite being rocked a couple of times by Nunes, still managed to grind out the decision win. I don't think he should get Aldo on the back of one win, i'd have liked him to face atleast one more top contender, maybe someone like Poirer but Florian will obviously get a shot before the end of the year. Nunes showed signs of being impressive to, his hands impressed me, A fight between him and Poirer would be a good fight actually. I can't see Florian offering anything to stop Aldo, although he did say he began his weight cut from 180+ for 145, so if he stays around the 165 mark when making his next weight cut, then who knows.
Munoz VS Maia was a good fight, it was almost as if the roles had been reversed with Maia showing good stand up in the first, and Munoz going for a D'arce choke in the second, which was extremely stupid, I think it was Axe who said on the chat box last night that that is up there with Bisping trying to take Henderson down. Despite getting the win, I wasn't that impressed with Munoz, as this fight was stylistically an easy fight for him, and he didn't look all that impressive. I was much more impressed with Maia, who showed some great improved stand up, and if he continues to work on that he shall be a very scary dude. Still though you can't knock Munoz for getting the win, interesting to see who they will give him next, as it's expected Stann will get Wanderlei if he beats Leben, Belfort maybe for Munoz? One more thing, to quote Dana White on his twitter last night when the 30-27 for Munoz got announced, "The judge that scored that 30- 27 should be BEAT WITH A STICK!!!!!!!!"
Einemo VS Herman was another great fight, Herman was pushing the pace in the first, but when Einemo got that takedown I thought it was it, but Herman did well to get back up, and it turned out to be a missed opportunity for Einemo. Herman was getting nailed in the second, and I think Einemo was drawn into trying to get the KO instead of playing to his strengths and trying for the submission, it was a good come from behind victory for Herman, those knees that he was landing on Eimeno were nasty. I had Einemo in the predictor, and he was looking like he would get the win until Payne said on the chat box "I see no way that Einemo loses this fight" and then 1 minute later he was laid out on the floor, cheers Payne!
Cerrone VS Rocha went as i'd expected it to, although Cerrone had several chances to finish the fight, it's amazing that despite being a former Muay Thai kickboxer, none of his 15 wins have come by knockout. The leg kicks he was nailing on Rocha were nasty, the fact Rocha had to sit down on the floor at the end of the fight shows that. Not much more I can say on this really, I can't see Cerrone doing much in the LW division, they'll probably make the fight with Danzig again that was orignally meant to happen on this card.
the Stout KO was brutal, landed flush on the chin and then Edwards smashing his head on the mat didn't help things, Dana said it was one of the best KO's in UFC history but I wouldn't go that far, Edwards was down for a while afterwards so I hope he's okay. Stout is one of the most underrated guys in the LW division, and packs one hell of a punch and has an iron chin. I'd like to see him face the winner of Pearson VS Barboza, that would be a good stand up fight.
Weidman continues to impress, Bongfeldt is a can lets be honest, but still Weidman managed to get the win. Despite getting hit a few times at the start of the fight, he got his composure together and managed to pull off the submission. Weidman is one of the biggest prospects out there at the moment, like somebody said on the chat box last night, he's riding the same sort of hype as Phil Davis, and that isn't a bad thing at all. When you have Matt Serra as your Jiu-Jitsu coach and Ray Longo as your striking coach you're only destined for good things. Not sure who they'll give him next, be good to see how he would compete with somebody with decent wrestling and a good submission game, so we can see Weidman have to utilise his stand up.
Just going to run through the rest of these prelims quickly, didn't see the Soszynzski fight so can't really comment, but from what I heard I didn't miss much. Ring provided us with some more dry humping, but he got the submission win so suppose I can't really knock him, I thought Head would offer more seeing how he beat Gerald Harris, he had Ring hurt in the first but didn't really do much after that. Poirer VS Young was a good fight, Young showed good potential, be interesting to see where he goes from here. Beltran VS Rosa was a good fight, very sloppy, but a good fight nontheless. Good to see Beltran get back to winning ways, he always seems to be in exciting fights. And finally, Omigawa put on a good performance to beat Darren Elkins, oh no wait, I forgot that the judges are fucking clueless and despite now having monitors infront of them, still seem to not have a fucking clue, and somehow Elkins got the decision, even a 30-27 to Elkins from one judge! Madness, good to see Dana say that he will give Omigawa his win bonus, that was up there with the Phan and Garcia decision.
All in all, a decent card, would have been better to see more stoppages on the main card, but thats just MMA for you. After us all thinking the JDS-Carwin fight would end in a stoppage, lets hope that the Overeem VS Werdum fight next week doesn't also go down this route!
Anyway, JDS VS Carwin, bit defensive from JDS but you can't knock the guy when their is a title shot on the line, he utilised his jab perfectly at time, and dominated the fight pretty much from start to finish. The fact he was able to get some takedowns in the third round was also impressive, although at this point Carwin was clearly tired. Carwin showed good heart to keep coming forward though, the fact he was bouncing around on his toes at stages in the second and the third round says that he has worked really well on his cardio, and I think this fight as well as his last fight with Brock is a good learning curve in terms of what he needs to focus on. JDS VS Velasquez will be a pick em fight, interesting that the bookmakers have JDS as the early favourite at the moment, it all depends on how Cain will look coming off his long lay off.
Florian looked decent at 145, was still pushing the pace come the third round, and despite being rocked a couple of times by Nunes, still managed to grind out the decision win. I don't think he should get Aldo on the back of one win, i'd have liked him to face atleast one more top contender, maybe someone like Poirer but Florian will obviously get a shot before the end of the year. Nunes showed signs of being impressive to, his hands impressed me, A fight between him and Poirer would be a good fight actually. I can't see Florian offering anything to stop Aldo, although he did say he began his weight cut from 180+ for 145, so if he stays around the 165 mark when making his next weight cut, then who knows.
Munoz VS Maia was a good fight, it was almost as if the roles had been reversed with Maia showing good stand up in the first, and Munoz going for a D'arce choke in the second, which was extremely stupid, I think it was Axe who said on the chat box last night that that is up there with Bisping trying to take Henderson down. Despite getting the win, I wasn't that impressed with Munoz, as this fight was stylistically an easy fight for him, and he didn't look all that impressive. I was much more impressed with Maia, who showed some great improved stand up, and if he continues to work on that he shall be a very scary dude. Still though you can't knock Munoz for getting the win, interesting to see who they will give him next, as it's expected Stann will get Wanderlei if he beats Leben, Belfort maybe for Munoz? One more thing, to quote Dana White on his twitter last night when the 30-27 for Munoz got announced, "The judge that scored that 30- 27 should be BEAT WITH A STICK!!!!!!!!"
Einemo VS Herman was another great fight, Herman was pushing the pace in the first, but when Einemo got that takedown I thought it was it, but Herman did well to get back up, and it turned out to be a missed opportunity for Einemo. Herman was getting nailed in the second, and I think Einemo was drawn into trying to get the KO instead of playing to his strengths and trying for the submission, it was a good come from behind victory for Herman, those knees that he was landing on Eimeno were nasty. I had Einemo in the predictor, and he was looking like he would get the win until Payne said on the chat box "I see no way that Einemo loses this fight" and then 1 minute later he was laid out on the floor, cheers Payne!
Cerrone VS Rocha went as i'd expected it to, although Cerrone had several chances to finish the fight, it's amazing that despite being a former Muay Thai kickboxer, none of his 15 wins have come by knockout. The leg kicks he was nailing on Rocha were nasty, the fact Rocha had to sit down on the floor at the end of the fight shows that. Not much more I can say on this really, I can't see Cerrone doing much in the LW division, they'll probably make the fight with Danzig again that was orignally meant to happen on this card.
the Stout KO was brutal, landed flush on the chin and then Edwards smashing his head on the mat didn't help things, Dana said it was one of the best KO's in UFC history but I wouldn't go that far, Edwards was down for a while afterwards so I hope he's okay. Stout is one of the most underrated guys in the LW division, and packs one hell of a punch and has an iron chin. I'd like to see him face the winner of Pearson VS Barboza, that would be a good stand up fight.
Weidman continues to impress, Bongfeldt is a can lets be honest, but still Weidman managed to get the win. Despite getting hit a few times at the start of the fight, he got his composure together and managed to pull off the submission. Weidman is one of the biggest prospects out there at the moment, like somebody said on the chat box last night, he's riding the same sort of hype as Phil Davis, and that isn't a bad thing at all. When you have Matt Serra as your Jiu-Jitsu coach and Ray Longo as your striking coach you're only destined for good things. Not sure who they'll give him next, be good to see how he would compete with somebody with decent wrestling and a good submission game, so we can see Weidman have to utilise his stand up.
Just going to run through the rest of these prelims quickly, didn't see the Soszynzski fight so can't really comment, but from what I heard I didn't miss much. Ring provided us with some more dry humping, but he got the submission win so suppose I can't really knock him, I thought Head would offer more seeing how he beat Gerald Harris, he had Ring hurt in the first but didn't really do much after that. Poirer VS Young was a good fight, Young showed good potential, be interesting to see where he goes from here. Beltran VS Rosa was a good fight, very sloppy, but a good fight nontheless. Good to see Beltran get back to winning ways, he always seems to be in exciting fights. And finally, Omigawa put on a good performance to beat Darren Elkins, oh no wait, I forgot that the judges are fucking clueless and despite now having monitors infront of them, still seem to not have a fucking clue, and somehow Elkins got the decision, even a 30-27 to Elkins from one judge! Madness, good to see Dana say that he will give Omigawa his win bonus, that was up there with the Phan and Garcia decision.
All in all, a decent card, would have been better to see more stoppages on the main card, but thats just MMA for you. After us all thinking the JDS-Carwin fight would end in a stoppage, lets hope that the Overeem VS Werdum fight next week doesn't also go down this route!
This fight was the best on the card and the finish was incredible. The 2nd round is probably one of my favourite rounds in MMA history! Einemo just clubbing PeeWee around the cage, PeeWee smiling all the time as if he knew the outcome, and just when you though Einemo was gonna do him in, PeeWee drops him and then never lets up. Great finish with the knees and for the record it wasn't an early finish IMO, Einemo was fucked.
