UFC 225 in the books.....
Pre Prelims
Ige came out like a man on a mission and absolutely destroyed Santiago with a flawless victory, great way to start the card.
Sadly Clay got caught with the guillotine 1st round, a true Vet, been in the UFC for forever, hate to see him lose but atleast he got taken out quick with not a lot of damage taken at all.
Pettis vs Benavidez was close, Joe looked a little rusty in there but kept pressing forward, Sergio did a great job of countering and even stumbled ****avidez in the first. I thought it was going to go to Joe but not surprised Pettis got the W either. No complaints on the decision. Although its amazing that one judge can give it 29-28 Benavidez and another gives 30-27 Pettis. MMA scoring needs to be reworked somehow, its unfortunate that in 2018 we still have human error in sports.
Rashad got KOd just like I thought would happen, he looked physically soft and came out with some weird karate stance. Once both were in the cage you could see the size discrepancy as well. Rashad is another legend but he was a star in the Lidell, Griffin, Rampage, Shogun era.....Its time to retire Rashad, youve done enough for the sport and have nothing left to prove.
Prelims
Rocha Coulter fight was sloppy at best but had some moments in the first. Two very low skilled Heavyweights going at it, would of been better if it ended in the first instead of a sort of anti climatic stoppage after Rocha sat on Coulter not even having enough gas to pour on some punches to stop it. It is what it is. Two bottom of the barrel Heavyweights, but its tough finding elite Heavyweight fighters the same way its tough to find elite 125 pounders.
Bektic Lamas fell a little short of what I was expecting, decent fight but nothing to write home about. Not mad at the split for Bektic.
Gadelha vs Esparza, I missed the first two rounds and came back to see a swole face Claudia get the split to a loud roar of boos. Im assuming Esparza should of got the W but who knows.
Blaydes looked great against the Reem. Alistairs style has changed since hes gotten older and off the Barry Bonds diet but he just looked awkward out there. Like he was helping someone move an imaginary couch trying to angle it up a flight of stairs. Blaydes ended the fight with some nice Bos on the ground and Im excited to see how far Curtis can go. A lot of promise in that guy.
CM Punk.......CM Punk.....Where do I begin? It looked like a guy who works on computers and never played a sport in his life was put in the octagon. I really question the amount of time and the training he got for this fight. My expectations were very low and he managed to be even worse that what I was expecting. Jackson is a clown though, he tried to be mr cool and ended up just looking corny beating up on a completely outmatched opponent. Also is no one going to mention the Black Power tattoo?
Tuivasa Arlovski was a solid fight, Andrei took some shots from Tai and kept going. Got to tip my hat to Arlovski, truly one of the grittiest veterans weve ever seen. The guy has gone on some tough losing streaks but always bouncing back, nothing but heart from that guy. Hes fought the whos who of Heavyweights his whole career and still going. I thought the fight was closer than what the judges scored but I think Tai did enough to secure the victory without controversy.
Holm vs Anderson was a one sided beatdown and loved every second of it. Megan is a big girl but was severely outclassed by Holly despite having a good weight/reach advantage. Holly worked the ground game to perfection and got a great W. You could see how much it meant to Holly to get that win and the support from the crowd. Great moment.
Covington and Dos Nachos.....I think it would be false to say Colby didnt get into the mind of RDA. The guy sprinted out to the ring like a guy getting his car towed. Colbys relentless pressure mixed with strikes and takedowns completely stifled anything RDA had to offer. Rafael had a spark in the 4th I believe when he caught a takedown or two but besides that it was Colby pressing forward, throwing shots, keeping RDA on his backfoot and clinching/securing takedowns. Say what you want about Colby but hes shown hes an elite WW. Also wasnt afraid to stand and trade with RDA either. Hes not afraid to take risks.
I cannot wait for the Colby/Twood fight.
Whittaker Romero.....I passed out in the first round unfortunately. Not because of boredom but because I was just tired as shhhh. Sadly from what Ive seen people are praising the fight but also I see a lot of people saying Romero got robbed or it should have been a draw. Anyone that wants to fill me in on that fight, feel free.
Overall a great card, got a couple filler cards with up and comers then UFC 226 is stacked to the brim.
