GDT: UFC 207: Nunes vs Rousey

[Say Hey Kid]

In many ways, Rousey had outgrown a fighter's life years ago. She talked openly of wanting to get married, have children and start a new life for herself outside of the spotlight. She had movie roles waiting for her. She was signing on for executive producing positions in various other projects. She had made tens of millions of dollars from the UFC, endorsements and other projects. She'd written a bestselling autobiography. She'd become a feminist hero with her message of fierce strength and ambition.

http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/18379890/in-quest-revenge-pride-ronda-rousey-lost-own-way

It was obvious and well known to some that Ronda lost the fire, didn't want to fight anymore, struggled for a year to find reasons to fight, and ended up falling back on cliches such as pride and revenge. If you don't want to fight, have the guts and integrity to walk away. Oh wait, then the 2 movies that fell through after you lost, would have been cancelled. I like Judo as a martial art and a sport, but Ronda's the only one to have success with it in the UFC and I don't think we'll see it succeeding again.

 

[Wood Stick]

http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/18379890/in-quest-revenge-pride-ronda-rousey-lost-own-way

It was obvious and well known to some that Ronda lost the fire, didn't want to fight anymore, struggled for a year to find reasons to fight, and ended up falling back on cliches such as pride and revenge. If you don't want to fight, have the guts and integrity to walk away. Oh wait, then the 2 movies that fell through after you lost, would have been cancelled. I like Judo as a martial art and a sport, but Ronda's the only one to have success with it in the UFC and I don't think we'll see it succeeding again.

Dong Hyun Kim says hello.

 

[tmurfin]

http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/18379890/in-quest-revenge-pride-ronda-rousey-lost-own-way

It was obvious and well known to some that Ronda lost the fire, didn't want to fight anymore, struggled for a year to find reasons to fight, and ended up falling back on cliches such as pride and revenge. If you don't want to fight, have the guts and integrity to walk away. Oh wait, then the 2 movies that fell through after you lost, would have been cancelled. I like Judo as a martial art and a sport, but Ronda's the only one to have success with it in the UFC and I don't think we'll see it succeeding again.

That's why I think her 3m purse played a huge part, hard to turn down that much guaranteed money, not including the millions of dollars worth of PPV points.

 

[Vagrant]

I'd prefer a rematch. Cruz is a long reigning champion who deserves another crack. **** Dillashaw, that dude is a petulant baby.

I hate to say it, but I wouldn't give Cruz a rematch with as bad as he looked. If he lost a close fight or just got clipped, that's another matter all together. He was systematically picked apart by Garbrandt. He literally couldn't hit him. I know it's going to anger a lot of Cruz supporters, but the UFC in 2011 vs. the UFC in 2016 are incredibly different. These fighters are challenging each other and growing so fast that it's almost impossible to miss a considerable amount of time to injury and come back just as dominant. Literally every day while Cruz was rehabbing and doing UFC shows, guys like Cody were in the gym thinking about how CMG lives and six figure paydays. And when you look at Dom's fight card, you see a lot of mediocre. He cleaned out the division when the division wasn't the strongest and now the rising tide has raised all ships. The fight game will always demand your full dedication. Because there are guys out there like Cody who don't have the media obligations or the endorsements or the media scrums that take away from their training schedule. If guys like Cruz rest back on their laurels and start thinking about post-fight career options, that's a recipe to get starched. It's a pivotal moment for Cruz. He can be the best in the world again if he gets back in there and drops all this extra stuff, but will he? That's part of the reason why I see such a fall coming for Conor. Khabib doesn't give a damn about sitting ringside at big fights or instagram. He just wants to rip Conor's limbs off.

Cruz needs to get back in the gym, forget about his announcing career for a bit, and get a grudge match with Dillashaw booked. I wish Dana had the stones to make those two fight before T.J. got his title shot with his whole "rigged" statement.

 

[Avs_19]

The main event was one of the least competitive title fights I've seen. You obviously have to give credit to Nunes for getting it done but she didn't even do anything special. That was some pretty basically looking stuff and all she needed was 48 seconds. Still, it's impressive how easily she took out both Tate and Rousey in a span of a few months.

I think everyone has already covered Rousey so there's not much to say there. It's hard to say exactly what the gameplan was since she was basically done after she ate the first punch but she didn't really look prepared. If someone like King Mo can breakdown the fight beforehand, like he did here, then how can her coaches not see that coming? Again, maybe they did but it was over as soon as she got hit once but all indications are Edmond is terrible and this fight certainly didn't do anything to change that. Rousey's probably done for good now but who knows.

Cruz/Garbrandt was a good one. I imagined the fight playing out in a similar way but for Cruz. Instead, it was Garbrandt using great footwork, making Cruz miss, and landing accurate punches. He didn't even seem to get tired either and easily went 5 rounds. Very impressive. UFC could have a star on their hands in that division.

I hate this rematch talk. IMO, Garbrandt/Dillashaw is the only fight that makes sense. You have to do that next.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Cruz/Cody was a lot closer than people think. Cruz was missing because Cruz was the aggressor for once in his career. He actually landed more shots in each round as well. Cody won 3 and 4 decisively (20 vs 17). Cruz won 5. 1 and 2 are up in the air so in an alternate universe, this could've been a draw. Cody's antics definitely made him look better in the fight.

 

[Vagrant]

Cruz/Cody was a lot closer than people think. Cruz was missing because Cruz was the aggressor for once in his career. He actually landed more shots in each round as well. Cody won 3 and 4 decisively (20 vs 17). Cruz won 5. 1 and 2 are up in the air so in an alternate universe, this could've been a draw. Cody's antics definitely made him look better in the fight.

I don't believe it was. I think a lot of what Cruz was hitting Cody with were numbers for numbers. At one point he comically had Cody against the fence in the clinch and rapid fired about fifty pitter-patter jabs into his midsection that clearly didn't move the needle. Cruz is no dummy. He knew that fight might go to decision.

 

[Cruor]

Ronda might be one of the most embarassing hype jobs in recent memory. She was feasting on a weak division, clinching sub-par strikers and then submitting them. As soon as she faced competent strikers she completely disintegrated.

Her coaching staff should be fired, they might aswell have sent her out to get murdered. It's one thing to be coaching bad habits (such as not hitting her with the mitts when she refuses to move her head), it's another entirely to blow smoke up her ass and lead her to belive she can hang with proper boxers. (Not to mention all of that 'once in a ever athlete' nonsense, or that she could beat half of the men or even Floyd braggadocio.)

 

[m9]

Cruz/Cody was a lot closer than people think. Cruz was missing because Cruz was the aggressor for once in his career. He actually landed more shots in each round as well. Cody won 3 and 4 decisively (20 vs 17). Cruz won 5. 1 and 2 are up in the air so in an alternate universe, this could've been a draw. Cody's antics definitely made him look better in the fight.

It was a 48-46 fight, so it was close in that if Cruz took another round it would have been a draw.

Often in upsets people get confused between the underdog doing better than expected vs actually winning the fight. I do think this was a clear win, though.

 

[m9]

Also, Cruz was the aggressor becsuse he was losing. It's easier for him to run his usual style when he's up a couple rounds.

 

[Vagrant]

It was a 48-46 fight, so it was close in that if Cruz took another round it would have been a draw.

Often in upsets people get confused between the underdog doing better than expected vs actually winning the fight. I do think this was a clear win, though.

Gabrandt was so comfortably ahead that he didn't even have to come out of his corner for the 5th round and still took a decision away from the champion. Let the gravity of that statement sink in. People often talk about "in order to become the champion, you have to finish the champion" in terms of how fights are scored. Cody spotted him the most important round and still took it. He beat the brakes off him.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

I think there was a clear winner (especially beginning round 3) but I juts don't think it was that lopsided. Rounds 1 and 2 were close in my eyes, you could easily give one to Cruz for a 48-47 loss.

 

[m9]

Gabrandt was so comfortably ahead that he didn't even have to come out of his corner for the 5th round and still took a decision away from the champion. Let the gravity of that statement sink in. People often talk about "in order to become the champion, you have to finish the champion" in terms of how fights are scored. Cody spotted him the most important round and still took it. He beat the brakes off him.

Oddly enough, the judge that had it 48-47 scored the 5th round for Garbrandt. So according to one judge, we had an even fight going into that final round.

 

[m9]

I think there was a clear winner (especially beginning round 3) but I juts don't think it was that lopsided. Rounds 1 and 2 were close in my eyes, you could easily give one to Cruz for a 48-47 loss.

First two rounds and the fifth round were all close. Round 3 and 4 were Garbrandt. I do think that 10-8 was a very obvious one, which is why I think Garbrandt should have gotten draw at worst.

 

[Virtanen18]

I hate this rematch talk. IMO, Garbrandt/Dillashaw is the only fight that makes sense. You have to do that next.

**** a rematch. If anyone should have gotten a rematch, it should have been TJ after that questionable loss that gave Cruz the title. TJ would have picked him apart in a rematch. Would be completely illogical for the next fight to not be Garbrandt/Dillashaw, unless they want to give Cody some easier ones to build him up.

TJ looked great against Lineker btw.

 

[Wood Stick]

**** a rematch. If anyone should have gotten a rematch, it should have been TJ after that questionable loss that gave Cruz the title. TJ would have picked him apart in a rematch. Would be completely illogical for the next fight to not be Garbrandt/Dillashaw, unless they want to give Cody some easier ones to build him up.

TJ looked great against Lineker btw.

I'm so sick of rematches being such an option.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

The first two rounds were close due to the feeling out factor, neither of the two fighters was really committing to an aggressive offense at that point. 3 and 4 were clearly Cody. The 5th seemed like Cody thought he had it in the bag and was just coasting. I think the only logical fight is Cody against TJ, there's gym drama there that will help to build the fight, and both are exceptional fighters. A rematch is ridiculous, Cruz was thoroughly outclassed and didn't do much damage at all after 5 rounds. An Aldo fight would be interesting, but that's just because I want to see Aldo fight again.

 

[BGDDYKWL]

Sure glad I wasn't in Vegas to bet on this, would've taken quite the hit. Lol.

Can't believe how good Cody looked. I thought Cruz would put on a clinic. I've seen some talk about this fight conceivably being a draw, I didn't see it that way. This was a very clear win for Cody IMO, especially just scoring the fight as a whole. No need for an immediate rematch, the fight just wasn't close enough to warrant it. Cody's already looking for big money fights with Conor and Aldo, but I feel like TJ has to be next.

We all knew Ronda would be in big trouble standing if she wasn't able to get the fight to the ground, but I'm amazed at her inability to even attempt to. I know she can't close distance quickly with a shot like a wrestler does, but there has to be some type of gameplan/strategy to close distance. Nunes hit the nail on the head in the post-fight presser. People have been telling Ronda she's a great boxer, and it has ultimately done her a tremendous disservice. I still think she could be a real force in the division but she HAS to get a new coach/team. I'd be very surprised if this wasn't the last time we ever see her fight.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Has Ronda ever shot for a double leg during a fight? She always go for a clinch => judo throw which she tried unsuccessfully multiple times against Nunes.

 

[pistolpete11]

Sure glad I wasn't in Vegas to bet on this, would've taken quite the hit. Lol.

Can't believe how good Cody looked. I thought Cruz would put on a clinic. I've seen some talk about this fight conceivably being a draw, I didn't see it that way. This was a very clear win for Cody IMO, especially just scoring the fight as a whole. No need for an immediate rematch, the fight just wasn't close enough to warrant it. Cody's already looking for big money fights with Conor and Aldo, but I feel like TJ has to be next.

We all knew Ronda would be in big trouble standing if she wasn't able to get the fight to the ground, but I'm amazed at her inability to even attempt to. I know she can't close distance quickly with a shot like a wrestler does, but there has to be some type of gameplan/strategy to close distance. Nunes hit the nail on the head in the post-fight presser. People have been telling Ronda she's a great boxer, and it has ultimately done her a tremendous disservice. I still think she could be a real force in the division but she HAS to get a new coach/team. I'd be very surprised if this wasn't the last time we ever see her fight.

I wish I was. I saw Nunes vs. Rousey from a mile away. Nunes, like Holm, is a good striker and Rosuey's stand up is laughably bad. Listening to Miesha talk about how hard Nunes hits (coming from someone who fought Holm and Nunes), I knew Nunes would land 1 clean punch early and Rousey would be in a world of hurt if not KOed. Talking about retiring before a fight with the champ is usually not a good thing either. I think Rousey is done too, but I like the idea of Rousey vs. Tate. There's something in it for both of them and it would be an easy fight to sell and it would sell BIG.

I would have also bet on Cruz, but not nearly as much because I would have been afraid of Cody's KO power. I'm as surprised as anyone on HOW Cody won, but it was not that surprising that he won IMO. Agreed TJ needs to be the next title shot.

 

[Moncherry]

No alteration in training or gameplan will help her anymore, she is mentally finished. I don't think she even wanted to fight again, she did it more so out of obligation and for one last big payday.

 

[Know Your Enemy]

What is up with Fight Metric? They say that Ronda landed 7 out 14 "significant" strikes in the fight. That's absurd. If i'm being extremely generous on what counts as an actual thrown strike I counted 10. In terms of how many she landed clean there was maybe 4. They also say that Cruz out-landed Gabrandt in every round. I just don't buy that.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Significant strike is any strike that is thrown from a distance. It's a moronic metric that means nothing.

 

[Jasper]

Cody - TJ seems like the obvious followup. The UFC loves its rematches, or at least has in the past, but that would be a really entertaining fight. Cruz just isn't the funnest guy to watch fight so hopefully TJ gets his shot next.

 

[m9]

Looks like this one came in at 1.1million buys. Great number for the UFC.

I was wrong on this one, I thought it would be around 850k because it was on a Friday.