Best Matches Seen June 2020 |
UFC on ESPN 12 6/27/20
Julian Erosa vs. Sean Woodson R3 2:44. Woodson is one of the best technical boxers MMA has seen. He's got the length, hand speed accentuated by not loading up, & footwork to just keep you at the end of his jab all night. He's also rather deceptive in that he switches stances rather subtly, and is able to throw the left jab out of the orthodox stance then hide his switch to southpaw & land the left as a power punch. Erosa, got back into the UFC when he accepted this fight Wednesday night, could have just wilted because he couldn't get in close enough to get the takedown, but instead he just beared down & decided he was going to keep coming forward no matter how many jabs he had to eat, and force a shorter distance fight where he had a chance. In the 2nd round, Erosa was able to score regularly mixing straights & front kicks to the body, and Woodson really began to fade from being walked down & put on his back foot consistently. Though Woodson's connect percentage was much higher, Erosa had only thrown 1 less strike, 177-176, after 2. Woodson was able to drop Erosa early in the 3rd with a hook getting seperation when Erosa charged in trying to clinch, but Erosa still didn't slow down. He finally got the takedown, and while Woodson was up quickly, Erosa locked a D'Arce choke while Woodson was standing then dragged him back down for the submission. Good match.
Dustin Poirier vs. Dan Hooker 5R. Massive slugfest. These guys weren't fighting for the decision, that's for sure. They stayed in the pocket & just exchanged bombs, round after round. By the middle of the 2nd, they were already spent because the entire fight was either throwing or eating full power shots, but they somehow managed to keep going at more or less the same pace anyway, until Hooker gave out late. Hooker definitely had the advantage working the body, which opened up his uppercuts. He also worked the calf kick, but Poirier soon had enough of that & began to check it & fire back with the straight. Poirier did a nice job of countering in general, and was the more accurate of the two, though Hooker was the one pressuring and getting off 1st. Hooker tried to switch to takedowns in the 3rd as he began to wear out, so Poirier began trying to finish with his guillotine. Even though Poirier had the catch a few times, they were so slippery Hooker was able to pop his head out. Poirier had a good run of ground & pound in the 4th, and was the one who was actually going for things on the ground in both the 3rd & 4th, but while this was certainly a fight that was up for grabs in the 5th, it was anyone's guess how almost any of the prior rounds were being scored. Hooker doing a better job of mixing quadrants on his feet could have hurt him with the typical headhunter judges, especially when Poirier was almost all to the head and so accurate, while Poirier putting himself on his back on the ground trying to finish could have hurt him with judges who just look who is on top. The biggest difference here was probably stamina, with Poirier gaining traction in each of the last 3 rounds. The less Hooker was able to pressure in standup, the more Poirier could score with his jab. Hooker had 4 takedowns, but Poirier was able to use submission attempts to both threaten & get back to his feet, being credited with 4 submission attempts against only 7 ground strikes. Hooker won a unanimous decision 48-47, 48-47, 48-46. Excellent match.
UFC on ESPN 11 6/20/20: 3R. First of all, let me say that this small octagon is ruining these shows. It's really unbelievable that you'd pour all sorts of money into a facility specifically designed to host live events & not make it big enough for an actual regulation octagon. It feels like every fight now is either a quick KO because it's so easy to cut the opponent off & trap them against the cage, you can't really utilize movement or reach advantages, or just a total grind where someone holds/lays on the opponent for 15 (or 25) minutes because again, it's just too hard to keep someone away if they don't want you to. What were left with is the rare fight such as Emmett vs. Burgos where both guys just bang, and their bodies are remarkably able to hold up to the impact for long enough that we get a real fight. It looked like a mismatch early with Burgos, who could fight up 2 weight classes, just being so much bigger, longer, & stronger than Emmett that he could land without taking much in return if that was actually his strategy. Burgos showed a great jab at times, which was keeping Emmett out of range to land his massive haymaker hooks, but Burgos mostly helped Emmett out by instead constantly coming forward behind the jab & fighting in the pocket trying to land last. Emmett hurt his left knee almost immediately, and Burgos was doing major damage with the calf kicks, so he seemed overconfident he could knock out an opponent who was increasingly having trouble putting weight on both legs. Burgos did a good job of landing both the first shot & the last shot, making sure to follow Emmett's hooks with his own, but even if not 100%, Emmett still closes the distance deceptively quickly and has really fast hands. Even early on, you felt that Burgos could get a finish from the culmination of shots, but if there was going to be a single shot KO, it would be one of Emmett's hooks. Burgos won the 1st round, cut Emmett with a jab at the start of the 2nd, and saw Emmett was still moving poorly, but still gave Emmett ample opportunity to be in range to throw his huge hooks. Burgos was using the jab effectively in the 2nd, in terms of coming in and throwing a combo. His main adjustment was switching to the inside leg kick to try to take away the power of Emmett's right hand, which made some sense, though kicking the thigh kind of let Emmett off the hook in terms of the knee injury, as did getting away from the highly effective calf kicks, which were rarely seen after the 1st. While Emmett did land the harder blows in this round, Burgos was dictating the fight, and for me continued to have too much volume. Emmett was certainly dangerous, more dangerous than he should have been given he was hobbling around, but Burgos was totally controlling the action, for better and worse, and this seemed another routine 10-9 Burgos. Emmett surprised Burgos with a left straight when he was circling left, Burgos was expecting the usual right hook and was dropped early in the 3rd. Emmett pursued to the ground, but Burgos was quickly recovered, and you could here Burgos' corner telling him, "you got the 1st 2, so be calm here" as Burgos waiting in open guard for an opportunity to get back to his feet, which quickly came. After Emmett suffered a low blow, he again surprised Burgos, circling right, but throwing a lead overhand left for the 2nd knockdown of the round. Burgos weathered some more ground & pound & responded by turning up the heat in standup, but while he closed the gap in the strike totals, Emmett landed another huge overhand right that I'm surprised wasn't a 3rd knockdown. I gave Emmett a 10-8 round for the two knockdowns, making it a draw on my card. You could see Burgos was confident he won the fight 2 rounds to 1 through the 1st two judges scoring it 29-28, but then began talking to himself when he heard the 3rd judge was 29-27 knowing he didn't get a 10-8 round so all the judges must have somehow given Emmett one of the first 2 rounds. In any case, this was a hell of a war. Very good match.
