GDT: UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal

[m9]

Funny note to end the year on after last week's discussion @pistolpete11 - only 3 finishes, so Thompson gets a bonus too. First time in a long time for a non-finish.

 

[CDJ]

Wonderboy and Aldo looked stellar tonight. Chito is a tough out

 

[bov]

What a performance by Thompson. Outside of Burns/Usman/Covington I'd probably favor him over everyone else at WW right now looking like that. I'd love to see how he handles one of those guys.

 

[N o o d l e s]

Would love Thompson be Usman

 

[MD thaivuN]

What a performance by Thompson. Outside of Burns/Usman/Covington I'd probably favor him over everyone else at WW right now looking like that. I'd love to see how he handles one of those guys.

i'd favor him over Colby. Wonderboy's problems are mostly chin related. Wonderboy would probably outmaneuver him without the fear of getting hurt.

I'd probably favor the other 2 though.

 

[pistolpete11]

Wonderboy looked great. He was in the zone sticking and moving. Neal just isn't technically advanced enough to break that up. Wonderboy's not a power puncher, but Neal ate all those shots well and it didn't seem to effect him much even into the later rounds. I hope they scrap Edwards-Chimaev and do Edwards-Wonderboy. It was a thorough loss, but I hope it doesn't effect Neal's ranking too much. He was off for a while and Wonderboy's a helluva return fight. #10-15 (Luque, Pettis Muhammad, Chimaev) would be good fights expect for Lawler. I think Lawler is toast and don't want to see him get KO'ed by Neal.

Aldo did what Romero should have been doing. Drop back in the rankings a little bit, pick up a win, remind us he's still got it, and then it sets him up for a guy higher in the rankings. Aldo vs. Cody or maybe Font after his big win would make sense now.

What happened with Hardy exactly? Looked like he got taken down and then just quit. I mean, he ate some shots, but nothing that should have put him out. I don't want to read too much into it, but if that's his fighting spirit...he should get out now.

Font-Moraes was a good fight and big win for Font. Glad Pettis won, but I don't really know where he goes from here.

Overall, meh, not a bad night of fights, but nothing great. No Fight of the Night and a lot of decisions. Now some welcomed time off from fights, but I'm sure I'll be itching by the second weekend of January.

Hope everyone has happy holidays.

 

[pistolpete11]

i'd favor him over Colby. Wonderboy's problems are mostly chin related. Wonderboy would probably outmaneuver him without the fear of getting hurt.

I'd probably favor the other 2 though.

Wonderboy has only been KO'ed once in his career (and I believe that includes his kickboxing career, too). I don't think chin is his problem.

I think I'd favor Colby. Colby has a chin and a gas tank. I think he'd find a way to push Wonderboy against the cage like Neal did, take him down, and then just outwork him on the ground. It would probably be a pretty boring fight unless Wonderboy kicked him in the head.

 

[m9]

Wonderboy looked great. He was in the zone sticking and moving. Neal just isn't technically advanced enough to break that up. Wonderboy's not a power puncher, but Neal ate all those shots well and it didn't seem to effect him much even into the later rounds. I hope they scrap Edwards-Chimaev and do Edwards-Wonderboy. It was a thorough loss, but I hope it doesn't effect Neal's ranking too much. He was off for a while and Wonderboy's a helluva return fight. #10-15 (Luque, Pettis Muhammad, Chimaev) would be good fights expect for Lawler. I think Lawler is toast and don't want to see him get KO'ed by Neal.

Aldo did what Romero should have been doing. Drop back in the rankings a little bit, pick up a win, remind us he's still got it, and then it sets him up for a guy higher in the rankings. Aldo vs. Cody or maybe Font after his big win would make sense now.

What happened with Hardy exactly? Looked like he got taken down and then just quit. I mean, he ate some shots, but nothing that should have put him out. I don't want to read too much into it, but if that's his fighting spirit...he should get out now.

Font-Moraes was a good fight and big win for Font. Glad Pettis won, but I don't really know where he goes from here.

Overall, meh, not a bad night of fights, but nothing great. No Fight of the Night and a lot of decisions. Now some welcomed time off from fights, but I'm sure I'll be itching by the second weekend of January.

Hope everyone has happy holidays.

Agreed that Thompson/Edwards is still the fight to make. Always has been. Chimaev vs someone a bit lower like Magny is appropriate. I guess we'll find out soon what the plan is.

 

[CDJ]

Wonderboy has only been KO'ed once in his career (and I believe that includes his kickboxing career, too). I don't think chin is his problem.

I think I'd favor Colby. Colby has a chin and a gas tank. I think he'd find a way to push Wonderboy against the cage like Neal did, take him down, and then just outwork him on the ground. It would probably be a pretty boring fight unless Wonderboy kicked him in the head.

He had a recent run where he got knocked down 4 times in 5 fights after not really ever being knocked down in his entire career. I think that was more of a function of quality of competition than a reflection of his chin though.

 

[MD thaivuN]

Wonderboy has only been KO'ed once in his career (and I believe that includes his kickboxing career, too). I don't think chin is his problem.

I think I'd favor Colby. Colby has a chin and a gas tank. I think he'd find a way to push Wonderboy against the cage like Neal did, take him down, and then just outwork him on the ground. It would probably be a pretty boring fight unless Wonderboy kicked him in the head.

it's not really about getting KO'd. It's mostly when he gets hit cleanly to the chin, the rate at which he gets hurt or oversell the punch is pretty high. My theory he's actually so good at avoiding strikes that he might not be the most comfortable to getting hit. Plus he does have the karate stance that leads to him being square at moments, which isn't actually optimized to bracing for punches. It didn't show here last night even though Neal landed a lot, since not a lot of them were clean.

 

[16Skippy]

Complete opposite rounds there. Hardy looked the best he ever has in the 1st and then just awful in the 2nd. Fatigue likely played a role but it's hard to look worse than Hardy just did on the ground.

It made me think of CM Punk's second fight. I don't remember exactly what Punk did but there was a part on the ground where he tried something that was obviously never going to work from that position but at least he tried something.

But Hardy just laid and covered up. How gassed do you have to be to not even try something like no under hook, no making space with his knee like DC was saying

 

[CDJ]

My whole logic in picking Tybura was that if he got out of the first round it would be an almost no-brainer win for him. Didn’t expect it to display itself in such an extreme way though lol

I mean the difference from round 1 to round 2 was incredible. Loved seeing him get beaten down like that

 

[I am not exposed]

I know Wonderboy called out Masvidal, but I think he should get the winner of Edwards vs. Chimaev. And then if he wins that, he gets a title shot.

 

[chicagoskycam]

it's not really about getting KO'd. It's mostly when he gets hit cleanly to the chin, the rate at which he gets hurt or oversell the punch is pretty high. My theory he's actually so good at avoiding strikes that he might not be the most comfortable to getting hit. Plus he does have the karate stance that leads to him being square at moments, which isn't actually optimized to bracing for punches. It didn't show here last night even though Neal landed a lot, since not a lot of them were clean.

When I watch Wonderboy it's like he's point fighting in a Karate Tourney, and he's really good at it but not trying to do significant damage. He always has his hands down, sooner or later he's going to get caught with a clean shot.