Evan’s Cooled Down Reactions: Fight Week: Coronavirus Return

I finally had time to cool down and digest the 7 day, 3 event fight week. I had a severe hangover of fights and picks. Admittedly, my Saturday night fight picks sucked. Granted, I was on the wrong end of every shitty judges’ decision. I was curious how the lack of a crowd would affect the judges. They wouldn’t be influenced by people screaming for blood during grappling exchanges. Or gasping at “big shots” that don’t actually land. I didn’t see where the judges were sitting, I don’t know if they were spaced out like the commentators. Seeing different angles could have affected the scoring and could have led to the weird split decisions. The lack of crowd also affected the commentators in interesting ways. They were on separate sides of the octagon, so they noticed different things. I liked it. The lack of crowd noise also made them easier to hear from the fighters, which gave them an advantage because they could hear what was being said. Greg Hardy and Carla Esparza even thanked Cormier for advice during the fight. Kevin Holland said he went for a quick finish because Cormier wasn’t there to give him wrestling advice. Also, the lack of crowd gave us an insight into what corners actually sound like during the fight, and they talk a lot more than we realized. Even to the point that people blamed the lack of crowd noise for Anthony Smith gassing out so quickly because he could hear his corner so well that he threw everything his corner called out. It was an interesting week of fights and the lack of a crowd didn’t bother me at all and I liked the strategic differences and am curious to see how fighters and their camps adjust to these differences in the coming months. Obviously, having a crowd adds an extra layer to the fight and seems to add more excitement, but for this week I was just excited to see some good fights. Now, let me get to my reactions to the actual fights. Since there were 3 cards this will be a long one.

BEST WINNERS

FANS 

Of course we won. Jesus, that was fucking awesome. We had fights Saturday night, then Wednesday night, then again on Saturday night. Dana White delivered. UFC was the first sport back and they delivered in grand fashion.

UFC 249

JUSTIN GAETHJE

Gaethje put on a masterful performance in this Interim lightweight title fight. Wow. It was obvious he was going to win, I only say that because Khabib v. Ferguson is a cursed fight and will never happen. Gaethje seemed to put the final nail in the coffin of that fight, especially if Khabib wants to retire at 30-0. But back to Gaethje, he had one of the best performances I’ve ever seen against one of the best lightweights in UFC history. As of now, Ferguson is one of the best fighters in UFC history to never get a full UFC title shot. Gaethje made him look normal, and Ferguson is far from normal. Gaethje beat Ferguson so badly that referee Herb Dean called the fight by TKO while Ferguson was still standing and Gaethje won the UFC interim lightweight championship title. What made it even better? Gaethje threw the belt aside and said he wanted the real belt. Give the man Khabib. Fuck Conor, Gaethje deserves Khabib and I think Gaethje is a good matchup for Khabib. If Gaethje can somehow beat Khabib, Ferguson v. Khabib is back alive, but somehow it wouldn’t be for a title. That being said, Gaethje had one hell of a fight.

HENRY CEJUDO

Triple C made efficient work of the returning Dominick Cruz. Dominick Cruz said ring rust wasn’t a thing, and Cejudo proved him wrong. Cejudo may have been the smaller fighter, but he did not fight like it, he came out firing off powerful leg kicks that Cruz could not handle. Cejudo was kicking through both of his legs and they immediately paid off. Cruz could never get started. His fancy footwork couldn’t get started. Cruz never really looked comfortable. Cejudo looked very calm, cool, and collected. Towards the end of the second round, he dropped Cruz and finished it off with ground and pound as the second round ended. I thought the ref should have let the round end, but it wasn’t egregious and Cruz hadn’t done much before that point to make me believe he would have taken the fight to Cejudo. Cejudo defended his title to become the second fighter to defend a title in two different weight classes. Then he retired, but I think it was a negotiating tactic.

FRANCIS NGANNOU

What is there to say, you know this fight wouldn’t last long. Ngannou and Rozenstruik are knockout artists and whoever landed first would win. Well, Ngannou came out running and got the 20 second TKO win. It was terrifying, brutal, and vicious. Have to think his next fight will be for the heavyweight title. I guess, now it seems that if it isn’t, it could be a super fight against light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. I want to watch that fight too.

BRYCE MITCHELL

Bryce had the most dominant win of the night. He was going up against a brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and he controlled 13:59 of the fight. He only had 3 takedowns, but that’s because once he got the takedown he transitioned from submission attempt to submission attempt, with some ground and pound mixed in, until the round ended. He tried for some more twisters. It was a masterful display of grappling. Once he got the win, he asked for the camo shorts again, and it’s hard for Dana and Reebok to deny him the camo shorts any longer.

SMITH V. TEIXEIRA

GLOVER TEIXEIRA

A lot of people, myself included, had written Glover off heading into this fight. Even though he was riding a 3 fight win streak. Anthony Smith had been looking great, other than his loss to Jon Jones. But Glover showed his 3 fight win streak wasn’t a fluke and now he is riding a 4 fight win streak. It was an absolutely dominant performance, and it was hard to watch at times. Both Smith’s corner and the referee faced some heat for not calling the fight sooner. Glover landed 202 total strikes, compared to Smith’s 87 total strikes. Smith looked like a mess and at one point picked his teeth up off the mat and handed it to the ref. Glover looked fantastic and this was the best win of his win streak, and it was also the best name of his streak. It’s a shame Jones is chasing a fight with Ngannou and there is a logjam at the top of the division. Glover is on the outside of a title shot, and at 40 years of age, might not get a shot at the belt. 

DREW DOBER

Drew Dober wasn’t fighting on the same card as teammate and training partner Justin Gaethje, but he felt like he had to follow up Gaethje’s strong performance, and he did just that with his 2nd round TKO of Alexander Hernandez to extend his winning streak to 3. All 3 of those wins came by way of KO/TKO. Elevation Fight Team is doing something right as they are on fire, and Dober looked great against Hernandez. His striking was precise and Hernandez couldn’t get in a groove. Hernandez got a couple of takedowns and landed some shots, but Dober didn’t seem to be in much danger. Then late in the 2nd round, Dober landed some shots that stunned Hernandez, and Dober pounced for the finish. 

BRIAN KELLEHER

The first round was a feeling out process with both guys throwing a decent amount of strikes. They were active but kill strikes weren’t really landing. Kelleher was definitely trying to finish Hunter Azure. In the second round, his wish was granted as a big hook landed and Azure was dropped and Kelleher got the KO win for his 2nd straight win. Kelleher had a great call out of Suga Sean O’Malley. I’d like to see that fight. Suga says he has a fight booked for June 6, and Kelleher didn’t take much damage, but it still might be too soon for Kelleher to make a return to the octagon. Either way, another solid performance from Boom Kelleher.

OVEREEM V. HARRIS

ALISTAIR OVEREEM

This was a tough fight to watch. They really played up the emotional story of Walt Harris, which made it hard to root against him. But Overeem was the much better fighter, and he proved it. Wow, did he prove it. He looked fantastic. He showed how good he could be. He got dropped early, and the fight could have been stopped and people wouldn’t have been upset, but he weathered the storm. Then it was obvious that Harris gassed himself out trying to get that finish and Overeem dominated from there until he got the finish in the 2nd round. It was hard to watch as you felt bad for Harris, but Overeem was the better fighter and it was a good rebound for him after that tough loss to Rozenstruik in December.

MIGUEL BAEZA

This was similar to the Overeem fight, in that Baeza was stunned early by Matt Brown, but Baeza survived and Brown was gassed and Baeza put a beating on Brown until he got the finish in the 2nd round. Baeza landed a beautiful hook 18 seconds into the 2nd round and Brown dropped like a sack of potatoes. It was a big win for Baeza.

KEVIN HOLLAND

Kevin Holland noticed Daniel Cormier wasn’t commentating so he wouldn’t get any wrestling advice from the commentators, so he bum rushed Anthony Hernandez and got a 39 second TKO win. It was Holland’s best performance in the UFC and it was a big win for him. He then made a weird decision to call out Mickey Gall, who is a welterweight, that isn’t even in his division. But this was a nice win for Holland and he did it in quick and decisive fashion. He could see a quick turn around.

BEST LOSERS

UFC 249

COWBOY CERRONE

Man, I think Cowboy got screwed in this fight. I thought he should have gotten the nod in the decision. I thought Cowboy had rounds 1 and 2. Then Cowboy got screwed in round 3 with that eye poke that the ref missed. Then the judges thought it was a punch so Pettis got the round because they thought Cowboy was rocked. But he was poked in the eye and should have gotten time to recover. I still had him winning the fight 29-28 with that bullshit. But the judges somehow gave the fight to Pettis. It was bullshit.

Honorable mention: Michelle Waterson should have gotten decision over Carla Esparza

SMITH V. TEIXEIRA

MICHAEL JOHNSON

I totally shat on Michael Johnson in my predictions. I watched the fights with Jake, and I told him I felt semi guilty about it. Especially during that first round. I felt really stupid about shitting on Johnson during that first round. Johnson looked great during that first round. That had to be a 10-8 round. Moises landed 1 strike in the first round. Johnson completely dominated. Then the 2nd round opens and Moises runs out and shoots and grabs Johnson’s leg and gets a heel hook for an insanely quick 2nd round finish. Sad to see Michael Johnson lose like that, but I felt justified in my opinion of Johnson. It’s what he does, he chokes.

OVEREEM V. HARRIS

ANGELA HILL / EDSON BARBOZA / MARLON VERA / DARREN ELKINS

I don’t think all of these bad decisions were equal, but these were all bad decisions. The judges totally botched these fights. I don’t know what they were watching, but holy shit they were wrong. It was disappointing to see. I hope their compensation isn’t affected because of the loss. They all performed well but they were screwed by the judges.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHTS

UFC 249

JEREMY STEPHENS V. CALVIN KATTAR

Fun brawl between fun brawlers that ended in a nasty elbow that saw Kattar get his biggest win in his career. He is a featherweight to watch.

VICENTE LUQUE V. NIKO PRICE

This fight promised violence and entertainment and it delivered that. Luque won the rematch when Niko couldn’t see out of his eye in the third round. It was fun as hell. 

SMITH V. TEIXEIRA

DREW DOBER V. ALEXANDER HERNANDEZ

RICKY SIMON V. RAY BORG

Ricky Simon dominated the smaller Ray Borg for most of this fight. Borg is a “natural” flyweight that can’t make flyweight so he has to fight at bantamweight. Simon is a true bantamweight and he was able to control Borg and it showed with the dominant win.

OVEREEM V. HARRIS

DARREN ELKINS V. NATE LANDWEHR

Bad decision aside, this fight was exactly as advertised. Bloody and violent. Before this fight started, the mat was clean and nearly spotless. By the time the fight ended, there were splotches of blood all over the mat. This fight was very entertaining and I recommend you watch it if you missed it.