OT: General UFC/MMA/Boxing discussion VII

[Pompeius Magnus]

Usman is real strong, Maia is having a hard time holding on to him with his takedown attemps. A single leg won't do the trick.

 

[Habs100]

Nah, was a close fight. Will be a rematch for sure.

But Stevenson is done as a top fighter anyways. He's 40 years old. How many fighters besides Bernard Hopkins, are still good in their 40's? He wasted the last two years. Should have fought Kovalev or Ward as soon as possible after he beat Chad Dawson.

 

[MD thaivuN]

Maia is arguably the best technical takedown artist in the division. Shows how good of a wrestler Usman is

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

This is the Woodley fight all over again. Except Usman is actually throwing strikes when he's not stopping takedowns.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

Maia going nowhere.

 

[MD thaivuN]

This is the Woodley fight all over again. Except Usman is actually throwing strikes when he's not stopping takedowns.

Throwing, but still managing to land less than Woodley tho. Striking is still work-in-progress. Now im starting to think Woodley is a bad matchup for Usman.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

This one looks over, Maia knows he hasn't even come close.

 

[MD thaivuN]

Striking is work in progress, but Usman is truly great on the grappling. He's playing it smart on the ground, but he's not fearing Maia's ground game either. Maia can't get anything going.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

This is getting kinda sad, almost like late career Sakuraba when you knew the guy just couldn't do it anymore and he was just eating punishment for no reason.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

If Usman ever wins the belt he'd go for decisions more than Woodley.

Maia will lose based on his failed attempts, Usman didn't even try to take him down or have any significant striking advantage by my eyes.

 

[MD thaivuN]

Maia makes it super hard for anyone to look good against. He's welterweight version of Phil Davis. Dangerous grappler, excellent at being safe on the feet. Makes for a boring fight when he's losing

 

[LyricalLyricist]

Usman is annoying. Every fight he's got an excuse why he wasn't as good as he should be.

Last time he was at 30%, now he broke BOTH his hands??

 

[TRG]

Maia is arguably the best technical takedown artist in the division. Shows how good of a wrestler Usman is

Is he? All he does is single legs.

 

[MD thaivuN]

Is he? All he does is single legs.

And he's darn good at it. At his best, he out-fitched Jon Fitch. Chain wrestlers usually have an ugly first takedown attempt and look to transition to a better position. Up until Woodley, Maia was taking everyone down to the ground at 170lbs. From a pure technique view, he's a wizard. The problem lies in that he's getting old, he's not a great athlete and can't power through take-downs. Athleticism matters a lot in this sport and guys like Woodley & Usman are A+ athletes with legit wrestling.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

I think the main thing with Maia is that he's simply lost a step. Explosiveness is a major component of a take-down and guys see him coming from a mile away now . That and both Woodley and Usman are muscled up freak athletes who could just brush him off almost at will. Finesse and technique oriented fighters tend to go downhill hard when they lose that step, I've seen it happen quite often in the past.

 

[MD thaivuN]

just realized Maia is 40. It's a testament to his skill level the man is still competing at a high level and isn't getting hurt too badly.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

With last night's win, Gegard Mousasi is now a 5 time champion, with belts in 4 different organizations. The dude gets kinda overlooked because of his complete lack of personality but he's had quite the career. 44 wins including 36 finishes, several big names over the years. Take away that fluke lost against Uriah Hall and his stint in the UFC is actually quite good too. If he were able to cut an halfway decent promo he could have been a much bigger deal in north america.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

Was gonna ask for predictions on Thompson and till but till missed weight. Recent history suggests he wins now.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Was gonna ask for predictions on Thompson and till but till missed weight. Recent history suggests he wins now.

If the Till that dominated Cowboy Cerrone shows up in the octagon I'd be hard pressed to bet against him. Wonderboy hasn't looked on top of his game in his last few fights.

 

[MD thaivuN]

With last night's win, Gegard Mousasi is now a 5 time champion, with belts in 4 different organizations. The dude gets kinda overlooked because of his complete lack of personality but he's had quite the career. 44 wins including 36 finishes, several big names over the years. Take away that fluke lost against Uriah Hall and his stint in the UFC is actually quite good too. If he were able to cut an halfway decent promo he could have been a much bigger deal in north america.

Wouldn't say he lacks personality. It just the man is really subtle in a Andrei Markov kind of way about it. The guy is extremely snarky and low key savage off the cage. His brand of personality just doesn't fit the murica market's need for Over The Top personality.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Wouldn't say he lacks personality. It just the man is really subtle in a Andrei Markov kind of way about it. The guy is extremely snarky and low key savage off the cage. His brand of personality just doesn't fit the murica market's need for Over The Top personality.

That's fair, I guess I was a bit harsh by saying he just doesn't have any personality. He's just not '' TV marketable'' .

 

[MD thaivuN]

That's fair, I guess I was a bit harsh by saying he just doesn't have any personality. He's just not '' TV marketable'' .

Oh absolutely not TV Marketable for sure. He's the hipster that'll make fun of the trend of the mass populac rather than pander to what people wants. Man has been quoted for calling people idiots before lol.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Video: Darren Till weighs 187.3 pounds at special fight-day weigh-in, UFC Liverpool headliner official
Till managed to make 188 this morning so the main event is still on. Good luck to him having any energy past the first couple rounds though, if that. The whole situation is ridiculous.

 

[MD thaivuN]

Darren Stewart losing the striking battle to Spicely... the dude should just go back to regional level.

Edit: And of course, Stewart finds a way to finish Spicely. Good athlete with poor skill level manage to athlete his way to victory

 

[MD thaivuN]

I like Nordine Taleb. He's like a less talented version of Rory Macdonald.

Edit: Damn, Silva really made Taleb pay for committing on that leg lock.