GDT: UFC 275: Teixeira vs. Prochazka

[Neutrinos]

Move aside Jones/Gus 1. Best LHW title fight ever.

Queue up the rematch right away imo. Provided Glover wants to keep fighting.

Gus vs Jones 1 wasn't actually that close of a fight

Jones was clearly the better fighter, but Gus did better than expected, so it seemed closer than it actually was

I feel like Shogun vs Machida may have been the best LHW title fight I've seen in the UFC

 

[I am not exposed]

Only saw the headlining fight. And what a fight! As others are saying, candidate for fight of the year!

 

[torero]

The modern rules for scoring prioritize effective striking, effective grappling (looking for subs), and damage over control time and octagon control. Santos had a lot of control time and did go for subs here and there and that’s why she won a couple of rounds imo but Shevchenko clearly had superior striking in rounds where Santos had control time but didn’t really present much of a sub threat, and thus I personally have it 48-47 Valentina and would sort of understand 49-46. It’s certainly not a robbery

OK. i saw that santos did nothing with here domination time .... Valentina did nothing neither. therefore the take down and control would have value.

but i see you are open and intelligent, you are also in a bit of interpretation.
and you would agree with 3 outomces, the one that was given and the 2 around.

It is true that it was not a "clear win".
thank you.

 

[CDJ]

OK. i saw that santos did nothing with here domination time .... Valentina did nothing neither. therefore the take down and control would have value.

but i see you are open and intelligent, you are also in a bit of interpretation.
and you would agree with 3 outomces, the one that was given and the 2 around.

It is true that it was not a "clear win".
thank you.

and thank you


I still can’t get over that main event. What a blessing it was to be able to watch that

UFC has announced the bonuses:

FOTN: obvious
POTN- all of the finishes

 

[CDJ]

Jiri is the crazy wild champ we wanted Ferguson and Gaethje to be

Luke Thomas had the same take on the Valentina 49-46 as I did so I’m glad I’m not alone. Ppl may not like it but grappling just does not count in the scoring like it used to. Doesn’t mean I had it 49-46, but it was within the realm of possibility

 

[chicagoskycam]

Great night of fights, with the only one on the main card going to the scorecards being Valentina's win. Santos really gave her a ton of problems and Valentina was in real trouble with Santos on her back. The incidental headbutts really changed that fight around IMO - they need to run it back.

Jiri is fun to watch but I don't think he has a long title run unless he calms down a bit.

 

[pistolpete11]

Still can't get over what a wild fight that was. Literally every round had a guy dominating only to see the other guy take some back towards the end if not take the round completely. Jiri answered some questions. Not only survived on the ground with Glover, but ended up submitting him. Went nearly the full 5 and they were hard rounds. I think we knew he already had a chin. I still think he's too wild to consistently win against top end guys and let's be honest...he probably should have lost this fight. He was down on 2 of the cards, tied on the other, and Glover was winning that 5th round until the last 30seconds. All the props in the world for pulling it out, but can't count on that happening very often.

Not sure what to make of the co-main. I thought Valentina was going to win, but I expected Santos to make it a fight. That's exactly what happened and I thought Valentina was the rightful winner, but it was just kind of a weird fight. I think we kind of forget that Valentina is starting to get up there. She's 34 and been doing this a long damn time. Could be Santos is just really good, but it could be the younger fighters in the division are just closing the gap.

Like I said last night, I think JJ was too willing to make this another classic fight. Getting into a firefight with Weili was a mistake for her, but it sure was fun to watch. Weili is going to be a problem for Carla IMO. She's not going to play it safe and let Carla squeak out a close decision and I think she's too physically strong for Carla to control.

Matthews looked fantastic and the opening fight was also wild. Overall a great night of fights. Good to have a full, high level MMA card back.

 

[CDJ]

enjoy Jiri while he’s still at his peak, he’s likely going to be a shooting star because as ppl mention he’s so god damn reckless and willing to put himself in danger

He’s must-watch

 

[CDJ]

That transition in the first fight from an anaconda by emeev (fairly certain it was an anaconda and not a d’arce, but I didn’t get a great look at it) to the body shot KO by Maddelena was sick. Hell of a way to kick things off

I won a lot of money on Jake Matthews and lost a lot of money because Choi ruined my parlay. Came out with -$3, it’s been much worse lol

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

what a PPV, absolutely incredible from top to bottom

I watch most of the PPV's VERY few deliver like UFC 275 did

 

[m9]

Morning Kombat does a bunch of stuff that I don't really care about (boxing, fan submissions, interviews, etc) but they really shine on post-fight breakdowns which is why I enjoy watching it. I thought their breakdown of the main event both in terms of what happened and long-term relevance was just spot on.

After taking a breathe here, I do wonder where this fight stacks up all-time for me. One thing I'll say that this fight was missing was having a compelling result. What I mean by that is that this wasn't some long-standing champion making a comeback or even a long-standing champion getting upset. It was just two competitive guys in a close fight that will probably need to run it to get some resolution. From that point it feels less like a title fight and more just like a really big fight, kind of like when Yair beat Zombie late in the fight.

We had lots of Jiri talk in here pre-fight and I think all the parts of him were on display on Saturday. You saw the striking.. but you also saw the holes in his game. I compared Jiri to Anderson Silva pre-fight and this had enough elements of Silva/Sonnen 1 to make me still feel that same way. Now, that fight came way later in Silva's career so it's not a perfect parallel but that was the fight that bumped Silva up a notch when discussing "stars". I think the same can be said here for Prochazka. I do think that if they do Prochazka/Glover 2 next, you will see a more dominant win from Prochazka like we saw from Silva over Sonnen the second time around.

Hard not to be impressed by how Santos battled vs Shevchenko. This is actually kind of how I thought the fight would go originally when it was announced, but slowly I fell back into trusting Shevchenko a bit too much. I think if Tate beats Murphy she gets the next title shot.. and I'm fine with that. Santos will probably beat whoever they throw in there vs her, so she'll get another crack soon enough.

I didn't think she would get the finish (especially like that, obviously) but Weili beating Joanna seemed like a foregone conclusion. Joanna had one foot out while Weili had been training and fighting in big fights the last two years. They were so close in their first fight and other than "she's rested!" there was really no reason that Joanna would pull that one off.

Hearing lots about where Joanna ranks all-time for WMMA. She had a great 2-3 year run, but lets not glamourize it too much. She's 2-5 in the last 5 years.. and that wasn't like a 35-40 age range finishing her career. She lost most of her big fights in her prime years once the division was established. Ultimately she'll be more of a divison pioneer to me than a WMMA great.

 

[pistolpete11]

Morning Kombat does a bunch of stuff that I don't really care about (boxing, fan submissions, interviews, etc) but they really shine on post-fight breakdowns which is why I enjoy watching it. I thought their breakdown of the main event both in terms of what happened and long-term relevance was just spot on.

One of the best things they've done is add the chapters to their videos. Skip the intro, skip the boxing, skip the time filler stuff, etc. Get a nice little 30min fix of MMA talk 3 times a week. Perfect.

Also like that their interviews are entirely separated from the core show.

After taking a breathe here, I do wonder where this fight stacks up all-time for me. One thing I'll say that this fight was missing was having a compelling result. What I mean by that is that this wasn't some long-standing champion making a comeback or even a long-standing champion getting upset. It was just two competitive guys in a close fight that will probably need to run it to get some resolution. From that point it feels less like a title fight and more just like a really big fight, kind of like when Yair beat Zombie late in the fight.

I think where it ranks all time will depend on how Jiri's career goes. If he's one and done and his only title fight win is against 42 year old Glover, it will slide down quickly. If he goes on a run here, I think it will be up there and get looked back on kind of like "the championship reign that almost wasn't".

I think it'll stay behind Jones-Gus 1 and Anderson-Chael 1 regardless because like you mentioned, they were bigger stars at the time and it just felt more consequential at the time. But FOTY contender, constant momentum swings, nearly 5 rounds, surprising,, dramatic, last minute stoppage. It's in the conversation IMO.

Hearing lots about where Joanna ranks all-time for WMMA. She had a great 2-3 year run, but lets not glamourize it too much. She's 2-5 in the last 5 years.. and that wasn't like a 35-40 age range finishing her career. She lost most of her big fights in her prime years once the division was established. Ultimately she'll be more of a divison pioneer to me than a WMMA great.

My initial reaction was, yeah, she's the Ronda of SW (just with much less crossover appeal). She dominated, beat some big names, but got passed quickly.

But thinking about it more, who are the best WMMA fighters? Nunes and Valentina are in another stratosphere, but who's 3rd?

I'd take out Cyborg because the competition was just so piss poor. Maybe Ronda? Probably Rose, but Rose did lose to Carla twice, Andrade, Torres, and Karolina, all of whom JJ beat (granted Rose avenged Torres and Andrade). I think Weili will probably pass her eventually, but I don't know if you can say that yet. I'd probably say:

1. Nunes
2. Valentina
3. Ronda
4. Rose
5. JJ

With Weili likely passing JJ as she picks up some more wins.

 

[m9]

One of the best things they've done is add the chapters to their videos. Skip the intro, skip the boxing, skip the time filler stuff, etc. Get a nice little 30min fix of MMA talk 3 times a week. Perfect.

Also like that their interviews are entirely separated from the core show.

Yeah, it's great when I can watch it on YouTube. I don't know what it is but I've never really been interested in "pre-fight" coverage for MMA but the post-fight breakdowns have always been my favorite MMA content.

I think where it ranks all time will depend on how Jiri's career goes. If he's one and done and his only title fight win is against 42 year old Glover, it will slide down quickly. If he goes on a run here, I think it will be up there and get looked back on kind of like "the championship reign that almost wasn't".

I think it'll stay behind Jones-Gus 1 and Anderson-Chael 1 regardless because like you mentioned, they were bigger stars at the time and it just felt more consequential at the time. But FOTY contender, constant momentum swings, nearly 5 rounds, surprising,, dramatic, last minute stoppage. It's in the conversation IMO.

Yeah, the thing that's tough for in terms of comparing it to other fights is that it really was more like a lower-weight fight. I mentioned Yair/Zombie above but there are a bunch of back-and-forth action fights at 155lbs & lower that you don't normally get at heavier weights. The difference is that many of those lower-weight fights don't have the finish. Edgar/Maynard 2 is a fantastic championship fight that also had a finish that it was probably similar to in terms of fun.

My initial reaction was, yeah, she's the Ronda of SW (just with much less crossover appeal). She dominated, beat some big names, but got passed quickly.

But thinking about it more, who are the best WMMA fighters? Nunes and Valentina are in another stratosphere, but who's 3rd?

I'd take out Cyborg because the competition was just so piss poor. Maybe Ronda? Probably Rose, but Rose did lose to Carla twice, Andrade, Torres, and Karolina, all of whom JJ beat (granted Rose avenged Torres and Andrade). I think Weili will probably pass her eventually, but I don't know if you can say that yet. I'd probably say:

1. Nunes
2. Valentina
3. Ronda
4. Rose
5. JJ

With Weili likely passing JJ as she picks up some more wins.

Cyborg is firmly in the top 3 for me. She's beaten a bunch of good WMMA fighters on the way like Holm, Coenen, etc. There's no shame in her losing to Nunes who is also in that top 3 with Valentina. Those 3 have all had runs of 4+ years where they fought consistently and beat everyone in front of them.

Rousey would slide in there as well. I would be shocked if Weili isn't ahead of JJ for me within a couple of years. Rose is arguable already and a couple more wins will lock it in.

But it's true that there aren't a ton of other options, as she's ahead of the Holm/Tate/Andrade/Esparza tier. It's just kind of crazy to me that someone can have a 2-1/2 year run like Ronda/JJ and they are both basically locked in as top5 WMMA fighters of all-time. Those runs happen all the time in men's MMA with guys and you don't even really think about it.

I didn't realize until looking it up that Esparza has kind of built a sneaky good resume.. albeit based off really close decision wins. Namajunas x2, Rodriguez, Waterson, Grasso, etc. If she beat Weili and then had another title defense or two then her resume rounds out really nicely.

 

[pistolpete11]

Cyborg is firmly in the top 3 for me. She's beaten a bunch of good WMMA fighters on the way like Holm, Coenen, etc. There's no shame in her losing to Nunes who is also in that top 3 with Valentina. Those 3 have all had runs of 4+ years where they fought consistently and beat everyone in front of them.

I can't say Cyborg is worse, but it's just kind of a question mark. She's struggled to make 145 in the past and she's made a career of beating up women that haven't had an issue making 135. What's her best win against a natural WFW? Spencer?

 

[m9]

I can't say Cyborg is worse, but it's just kind of a question mark. She's struggled to make 145 in the past and she's made a career of beating up women that haven't had an issue making 135. What's her best win against a natural WFW? Spencer?

I get what you're saying, but I do think that she has beaten enough talented fighters (even if they are naturally 135ers) that she's still up there based on volume and longevity. There is so much fluidity with the girls at 145/135, then 135/125, then 125/115 that I wouldn't even know where to start in figuring it all out.

Even with the men, you've had guys bouncing between 185/205 or 155/170 forever and those wins are still worth something regardless of the weight class.

But yeah, what you mentioned is a good reason for having Nunes & Shevchenko definitely ahead of Cyborg.

 

[chicagoskycam]

That transition in the first fight from an anaconda by emeev (fairly certain it was an anaconda and not a d’arce, but I didn’t get a great look at it) to the body shot KO by Maddelena was sick. Hell of a way to kick things off

I won a lot of money on Jake Matthews and lost a lot of money because Choi ruined my parlay. Came out with -$3, it’s been much worse lol

Yeah, I took the 10-1 odds on Matthews for the KO. Welli on the KO as well and hit my parlay. One of my best nights overall in a while.

Santos had a broken orbital per ESPN after the clash of heads, she's a tough cookie.

 

[pistolpete11]

I get what you're saying, but I do think that she has beaten enough talented fighters (even if they are naturally 135ers) that she's still up there based on volume and longevity. There is so much fluidity with the girls at 145/135, then 135/125, then 125/115 that I wouldn't even know where to start in figuring it all out.

Even with the men, you've had guys bouncing between 185/205 or 155/170 forever and those wins are still worth something regardless of the weight class.

But yeah, what you mentioned is a good reason for having Nunes & Shevchenko definitely ahead of Cyborg.

There's always some fluidity between the divisions, but there is typically a core division, some smaller fighters moving up, and some bigger fighters cutting down. Cyborg almost exclusively fought smaller fighters moving up.

She's a good fighter, but we've seen how a couple of losses really drops you down rankings like this. Would she have a few more if she was fighting fighters her own size? I'd wager yes, but we'll never know.