GDT: UFC 201: Lawler vs. Woodley

[Know Your Enemy]

Lol.

*crickets*

 

[Suxnet]

i dont even...

 

[torero]

Robbie looking really calm or really nervous. Cant tell.

Maybe too calm ?

Actually i felt he was not active enough ... He should have scored points ... and lead the figtht ... by doing this, reducing the ability of the other to be fast and bring you to the floor. (or another surprise) ... .

It was pretty fast too !

 

[Know Your Enemy]

The only dominant fighter the UFC has anymore is Mighty Mouse. Hard to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

 

[The Kingslayer]

The only dominant fighter the UFC has anymore is Mighty Mouse. Hard to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

USADA baby.

 

[Live in the Now]

The only dominant fighter the UFC has anymore is Mighty Mouse. Hard to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Cruz.

USADA messed **** up. No way to know who was clean before. Those two are the only top fighters to look the same after or not get caught on something before.

 

[tmurfin]

Why do people keep saying USADA is the reason champs are falling. Makes no sense. Dillashaw: loses very close decision to a game Cruz, Weidman: arguably winning the fight until throwing that stupid kick, Holm winning the fight until she got taken down in a last ditch Hail Mary, Werdum/Aldo: both litteraly ran into knockout punches, Rockhold: got caught while overconfident, RDA got caught by a very heavy hitter and finisher, Tate: meh, not that impressive got caught, Lawler: got caught the exact way most figured Woodley would have to do it. Didn't realize there were drugs to help fighters chins.

I think it's just a change of guard. It IS very hard to be dominant in MMA, and there is tons of parity right now, I mean look at these cards they've put out in the first half of the year, the roster is just getting incredibly stacked. Even with guys dropping like flies to USADA.

 

[Wood Stick]

Not too shocking, just eh though. I think in multiple divisions the best fighter in the division i not the champion.

 

[crazychimp]

So Woodley wants the money fights starting with Nick Diaz at UFC-202. Also wants GSP if he returns.

I'd love to see those but I also feel Thompson deserves the title shot.

 

[torero]

Why do people keep saying USADA is the reason champs are falling. Makes no sense. Dillashaw: loses very close decision to a game Cruz, Weidman: arguably winning the fight until throwing that stupid kick, Holm winning the fight until she got taken down in a last ditch Hail Mary, Werdum/Aldo: both litteraly ran into knockout punches, Rockhold: got caught while overconfident, RDA got caught by a very heavy hitter and finisher, Tate: meh, not that impressive got caught, Lawler: got caught the exact way most figured Woodley would have to do it. Didn't realize there were drugs to help fighters chins.

I think it's just a change of guard. It IS very hard to be dominant in MMA, and there is tons of parity right now, I mean look at these cards they've put out in the first half of the year, the roster is just getting incredibly stacked. Even with guys dropping like flies to USADA.

I agree with you ... in the sense that i do not see USADA being responsible for all that ... like you mention ... some (most) were caught of-guard ... and KO'ed.

I do believe that the level is just improving ... and as such, distances between fighters shrinking.

And with the little protection (hand pads) they have, the margin for error is almost inexistant (i am not even sure that bear nuckles ko's more than these pads! in fact i am convinced that bare nuckles breaks more but ko's less).
So, since we are in a hockey board, the example i will take will make sense. Goalies, often, on the first game they play, they have excellent stats. Then they come down on average to normal levels. So i guess that people defending the title ... do not have this emergency level that makes them always so good ! (A Ronda can say on the scrreen for the UFC promo that the fight against Holly was the most important fight of here life ... i don't have the feeling it was the sharpest Ronda i ever saw !!).

I am convinced that if we had a Woodley-Lawler fight where Woodley is the champ or no belt is at stake ... the fight both make are completely different. Obvisouly changing the probabilities of the outcome.

A Cyborg, A Fedor or a Ronda are just phenomens (maybe Cain ... buth altitude and training style complicated the simple math) that are here at a point in time and less likely to lose their title for obvious reasons.

 

[MD thaivuN]

If there was ever someone Woodley could beat for the title, it was Lawler who's more pocket boxer and who, like Johnny Hendricks, happens to not have a problem fighting at his opponents range or pace

 

[m9]

Was out for the day yesterday, just watched this morning. Some great finishes and lots of upsets.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Why do people keep saying USADA is the reason champs are falling. Makes no sense. Dillashaw: loses very close decision to a game Cruz, Weidman: arguably winning the fight until throwing that stupid kick, Holm winning the fight until she got taken down in a last ditch Hail Mary, Werdum/Aldo: both litteraly ran into knockout punches, Rockhold: got caught while overconfident, RDA got caught by a very heavy hitter and finisher, Tate: meh, not that impressive got caught, Lawler: got caught the exact way most figured Woodley would have to do it. Didn't realize there were drugs to help fighters chins.

I think it's just a change of guard. It IS very hard to be dominant in MMA, and there is tons of parity right now, I mean look at these cards they've put out in the first half of the year, the roster is just getting incredibly stacked. Even with guys dropping like flies to USADA.

I actually prefer this over dominant champs. Right now you have two people trying to tear their heads off as opposed playing safe and padding up their wins.

To me, the WW is a lot more fun now than it was during the GSP reign. The only dominant champ that I actually enjoyed watching was Silva. Everyone else got soft after becoming champs.

 

[tmurfin]

I actually prefer this over dominant champs. Right now you have two people trying to tear their heads off as opposed playing safe and padding up their wins.

To me, the WW is a lot more fun now than it was during the GSP reign. The only dominant champ that I actually enjoyed watching was Silva. Everyone else got soft after becoming champs.

As a hardcore fan, I definitely agree. It just opens up tons of different match ups. I can however, see how it's hard on the UFC as a brand, hard to sell a champ if he goes out and gets ko'd his next fight. I think Robbie and Weidman were finally starting to catch on when they lost.

And for the most part, that's how it's always been, there's never been a time where every single weight class had hands down dominant champs.

And this is all beside the fact that belts are less important than they've ever been. The biggest fight this year won't be for a title, hell its not even going to have ranking implications.

 

[Avs_19]

Ended up being a solid card.

I'm not a big Woodley fan but have to give him props for getting it done. That was a perfect shot.

Karolina is very good. I don't know if she can beat Joanna but that should be a good fight.

Impressive performance for Ellenberger. I didn't see that fight going that way at all. Is this the third fight Brown has been dropped by body shots now?

 

[Wood Stick]

Ended up being a solid card.

I'm not a big Woodley fan but have to give him props for getting it done. That was a perfect shot.

Karolina is very good. I don't know if she can beat Joanna but that should be a good fight.

Impressive performance for Ellenberger. I didn't see that fight going that way at all. Is this the third fight Brown has been dropped by body shots now?

Matt Brown's always had trouble with body shots. I remember Jordan Mein just killing his liver. Donald Cerrone is the same way. Didn't think Ellenberger would be able to land a good bodyshot though, especially with the way he's looked.

 

[IamJust0ne]

Sighhhh, let's get this Woodley fight over with. I don't really get how two wins in a row over 2 opponents who were barely top 10 at the time warrants a title shot.

Now watch Robbie get flash KOd in the 1st

Dammit lol

 

[MD thaivuN]

Dammit lol

I think that's been the prediction of a lot of people including me

 

[jw2]

Woodley should employ a GSP game plan. Stay to the outside, land some jabs, takedown and ride. Can't see him winning any other way.

Right on, bro

 

[V13]

Woodley is probably one of the hardest puncher in the division. Not technically the bets striker but the guy has some serious power so i'm not really surprised that he was able to KO Lawler with that clean shot.

That said i'm hoping that Wonderboy will starch him. Not really a fan of him. I also really want to see Condit vs Thompson for the belt at some point.

 

[tmurfin]

Woodley is probably one of the hardest puncher in the division. Not technically the bets striker but the guy has some serious power so i'm not really surprised that he was able to KO Lawler with that clean shot.

That said i'm hoping that Wonderboy will starch him. Not really a fan of him. I also really want to see Condit vs Thompson for the belt at some point.

Anyone who can back Woodley up, can slaughter him. Rory walked him down and beat the brakes off him, that should've been Lawler's plan as well, T-Wood can't fight backing up.

 

[m9]

I have two underdog bets - Rivera (around +150) and Sandoval (+250)

Also Ed Herman is like +200.

It's a weird card, I could see a handful of upsets tonight. I kind of like KK in the co-main as another +200 or so fight.

There are a bunch of fights that are pick-ems but the odds are way off.

Is this the part of the thread where we quote our bad predictions?

Lost big on Rivera, the rest kind of cancelled itself out. At least there were lots of upsets.

 

[BGDDYKWL]

I don't wanna play Captain Hindsight here but Lawler has been in nothing but wars lately and taken a TON of damage. And IMO he lost to Hendricks and Condit. I didn't get a chance to post it In here but I told all my buddies at the bar that Woodley would KO him early. Should've bet. Lol.

I like Lawler, but you could tell he was getting this overconfidence when It came to eating shot after shot and winning these fights on toughness. That punishment takes a toll, and Woodley is a freak athlete with a ton of power. All things considered it really wasn't a very surprising result.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

What's surprising is that Woodley still hasn't been popped for PEDs.