Best Matches Seen November 2020 |
UFC 255 11/21/20
Sasha Palatnikov vs. Louis Cosce R3 2:27. Cosce nearly finished Palatnikov with an endless flurry of punches after Cosce did an ill advised forward roll when Palatnikov caught his kick. Palatnikov fired back with big shots once he regained some semblance of where he was, and they were exchanging bombs. Cosce was already gassed from failing to finish the fight, now his punches were too slow, and his takedowns were failing. Cosce has almost finished in the first round, and was dragging in the second, while Palatnikov continued to apply the pressure. Cosce looked a little better after a break from low blowing Palatnikov, but Palatnikov clearly won the 2nd round, which was nowhere near as and fantastic as the first. Palatnikov had good success with spinning strikes, particularly the elbow. Cosce got another low blow breather midway through the third, but Palatnikov landed a huge right on the restart, and finished him with a flurry on the ground. Good match.
Alan Jouban vs. Jared Gooden 3R. Jouban was landing with massive power, despite loading up a lot less than Gooden. Jouban's right eye was initially swollen from an accidental headbutt, but Gooden was beating up as well with the jab. Gooden was doing a good job of keeping Jouban on the defensive, and hurt him early in the second with a right hand lead followed by the left. Jouban quickly came back, stunning Gooden with a left hook. Though Jouban band was looking tired, he was finally coming forward for the first time in the fight, and landed some big shots, even if they were slower. Jouban continued to waid forward with his hands down for the rest of the round, but Gooden was always on his back foot now, and was too hurt to really take advantage. It seemed like Jouban was way up in the fight now, a Gooden did slightly outstrike him in the first. Again, Gooden started the third round better, but Jouban came on midway through. Gooden appeared to have a lot more left in the tank, though either fighter seemed capable of scoring a knockdown at any time. Jared was arguably winning the third before he got a takedown with 45 seconds left, but Jouban sunk in guillotine on the way down, and nearly forced the submission, with Gooden being saved by the bell. Jouban won a unanimous decision 30–27. Good match.
UFC Fight Night 183 11/14/20: Alex Morono vs. Rhys McKee. Mckee has a 78 inch reach at welterweight, but unfortunately doesn't really utilize it. While Mckee does throw a number of straight shots, he wants to be aggressive and close the distance, so most of them come after he's already closed the distance and is inside Morono's range. Even when Mckee isn't intentionally closing the distance, his hips are drifting toward Morono when he strikes. While this all made for an entertaining slugfest, Morono was the one who benefited more from being able to throw hooks, overhand rights, and elbows at range. Morono showed his experience by taking what was there, while Mckee was always trying to make something happen. Mckee's problem was when he waited, Morono picked him apart with the jab, so it wasn't that he needed to be more patient, but rather that he needs a stop over committing. Morono had a ton of volume, but Mckee wasn't going anywhere, so his corner told him to just keep touching him rather than get reckless trying to finish him. McKee hurt Morono with a body hook midway through the third, but Morono immediately took him down. Morono got it 30-27 on every card. Good match.
Bellator 252 11/12/20: Daniel Weichel vs. Emmanuel Sanchez. The pace and intensity were pretty awesome here. It felt like they forgot it was a five round Bellator tournament fight, and instead thought it was a one round Invicta tournament fight. While the level was very high, the downside was that Weichel, who won their first fight, never quite found his way into this one. This is not to say Weichel didn't have his moments, but Sanchez applied so much pressure that Weichel was always on his back foot. Sanchez nearly finished Weichel with a series of brutal body hooks early in the second. Round two was an example of why the new scoring system is rarely interpretted properly for ten-eight rounds. Had Sanchez just laid on Weichel for 4 1/2 minutes, everyone would have bent over backwards to give him a dominant round even though control alone is supposed to be less important. However, since he actually beat the crop of him, knocking him down and nearly taken him out to the point Goldberg questioned the possibility of a 10-7 round, only one judge thought this was worth any extra. Regardless of the scoring, the body shots really changed fight going forward because Weichel was very conscious of protecting the body. Weichel shifted to trying for the takedown in the fourth round, but was only able to control with the clinch. Still, this is the only around so he might have won, but I still gave it to Sanchez because he still out landed him considerably. Sanchez had the speed advantage at the outset, and it only grew as to fight progressed because his cardio advantage allowed him to maintain his massive pressure. Good match.
UFC Fight Night 182 11/7/20: Raoni Barcelos vs. Khalid Taha 3R. What I love about the smaller weight classes is you get very technical fights with a lot of great reads and adjustments that are also perpetual motion and quite action packed & exciting. They also have the staying power to keep going at more or less the same rate for the entire fight. Though Taha was half crippled by the end, the final minute was arguably the best action of the fight as Barcelos really wanted the finish rather than the decision, but Taha was still trying to somehow pull out the comeback KO, so they were just exchanging big punches. What stood out right away was how much better the footwork was in this bout, but Barcelos was destroying Taha's left leg with brutal calf kicks that were upending him from the start, and gradually reducing both his mobility as well as his striking power. Taha was doing his best to come forward, and both were staying disciplined and landing their shots, though Barcelos was doing a better job of actually connecting while Taha was often coming up just short. I was impressed by Barcelos' use of the jumping knee to counter Taha's forward push out of the southpaw stance. While both countered effectively, Taha started to do better in the 2nd when he began leading to the body. Overall, Barcelos just had more tactics at his disposal, both with the threat of wrestling, as well as a wider variety of strikes, including leading with several front kicks in place of the jab to start his combo. Taha was a good boxer, probably the better of the two when strictly speaking of that discipline, but Barcelos was able to use his variety to set his boxing up better whereas Taha was mostly just boxing. Barcelos hurt Taha at the end of the 2nd when Taha didn't come in behind anything and just walked into a left knee. Barcelos was on Taha quickly to start the 3rd, partially because of the damage from last round, but probably more because the low kicks were really starting to take their toll. Taha was going to go down on his shield though, and even when Barcelos upended him again with a low kick in the final seconds, Taha was up, stumbled, then managed to almost get a takedown. Though Barcelos got it 30-27 on every card, this was one of the more exciting "one-sided" fights you'll see. Very good match.
