GDT: UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Gutierrez

[MMC]

 

[Taytro]

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Sal D'Amato giving the 5th round a 10-8 but not the 4th round is silly. They were virtually identical rounds. Over 4 mins of control time and around 50 strikes landed for Song. Nothing differentiated those two rounds from each other.

 

[m9]

Sal D'Amato giving the 5th round a 10-8 but not the 4th round is silly. They were virtually identical rounds. Over 4 mins of control time and around 50 strikes landed for Song. Nothing differentiated those two rounds from each other.

He was probably starting to fall asleep like everyone else

 

[pistolpete11]

I can't believe Rountree has made it this far honestly. I think it's fair to question how much Smith has left and how good he actually was in the first place, but he'll be ranked top 10 now. I watched his season of TUF. Reminded me of a poor man's Rumble. The power and athleticism was always evident, but he seemed like more of an athlete than a fighter. Then the 'retirement' and I thought that was a wrap.

Can't believe the main event sucked. I thought that was going to be a banger. Song did what he had to do, but what a snoozefest.

 

[Taytro]

I can't believe Rountree has made it this far honestly. I think it's fair to question how much Smith has left and how good he actually was in the first place, but he'll be ranked top 10 now. I watched his season of TUF. Reminded me of a poor man's Rumble. The power and athleticism was always evident, but he seemed like more of an athlete than a fighter. Then the 'retirement' and I thought that was a wrap.

Can't believe the main event sucked. I thought that was going to be a banger. Song did what he had to do, but what a snoozefest.

Smith has turned into the definition of a gatekeeper after a short surge. In one year (June 2018-2019) he beat Rashad Evans, Shogun Rua, Volkan Oezdemir, lost to Jones for the title, and then came back to beat Alex Gustafsson. Hard to question a guys skillset when you beat those type of fighters. Unfortunately 55/56 fights and 11 knockout losses catches up to you, especially when you're more of a technician and not an athlete and especially when you take these short notice fights against powerful guys. I think he had a better shot with a full camp becuase he was clearly unprepared for what Khalil brought to the table.

 

[pistolpete11]

Smith has turned into the definition of a gatekeeper after a short surge. In one year (June 2018-2019) he beat Rashad Evans, Shogun Rua, Volkan Oezdemir, lost to Jones for the title, and then came back to beat Alex Gustafsson. Hard to question a guys skillset when you beat those type of fighters. Unfortunately 55/56 fights and 11 knockout losses catches up to you, especially when you're more of a technician and not an athlete and especially when you take these short notice fights against powerful guys. I think he had a better shot with a full camp becuase he was clearly unprepared for what Khalil brought to the table.

I like Smith a lot. He's very thoughtful, articulate, and honest on the podcast with Bisping and dude's obviously a tough SOB. But that stretch wasn't as good in retrospect. Rashad, Shogun, and Gus were all washed by that point. Volkan at the time was coming off a title shot against DC, which no shame in losing to that guy, but he's been a .500 since the Smith fight. He wasn't as good as we, or at least I, thought at the time.

I think his level has always been more or less a gatekeeper but he got some favorable matchups and they were desperate for title challengers for Jones.

 

[Taytro]

I like Smith a lot. He's very thoughtful, articulate, and honest on the podcast with Bisping and dude's obviously a tough SOB. But that stretch wasn't as good in retrospect. Rashad, Shogun, and Gus were all washed by that point. Volkan at the time was coming off a title shot against DC, which no shame in losing to that guy, but he's been a .500 since the Smith fight. He wasn't as good as we, or at least I, thought at the time.

I think his level has always been more or less a gatekeeper but he got some favorable matchups and they were desperate for title challengers for Jones.

Gus was in his prime coming off the Jon Jones fight (31), Volkan was in his prime coming off the DC fight (29), and he's still a top 10 ranked fighter, sure Shogun and Rashad were later 30s but that's still good quality of competition. Smith has always been a journeyman type guy who climbed the rankings by stringing a few wins together and getting out classes by the best of the best. That being said he's still a top 15 fighter in the world and is still capable of beating some of the other top 15 ranked guys so like... He's no slouch. I agree with the gatekeeper, but in the fight game it sometimes just takes 2 or 3 wins to get you there.

 

[pistolpete11]

Gus was in his prime coming off the Jon Jones fight (31), Volkan was in his prime coming off the DC fight (29), and he's still a top 10 ranked fighter, sure Shogun and Rashad were later 30s but that's still good quality of competition. Smith has always been a journeyman type guy who climbed the rankings by stringing a few wins together and getting out classes by the best of the best. That being said he's still a top 15 fighter in the world and is still capable of beating some of the other top 15 ranked guys so like... He's no slouch. I agree with the gatekeeper, but in the fight game it sometimes just takes 2 or 3 wins to get you there.

Gus' prime was the couple of years where he pushed Jones and DC to their limit, not the second Jones fight. Volkan was in his prime, but my point with him is that Volkan wasn't that good...even in his prime.

I'm not saying Smith sucks. If you would have told me 5 years ago that Rountree would ever beat a guy in the Top 10, I would have been surprised. It's a credible win, but I'm not tabbing him as a potential champion because he beat Smith either because although Smith is technically a former title challenger, I think he's only ever really been a gatekeeper. He just picked up a few wins when LHW was at a real low point.