Ortega arguably won the third and definitely had some momentum going and Max just obliterated him. Wow.
It was like watching a wild feline slowly break down a tough prey. Max is the greatest featherweight ever in the UFC.
Max's distance control might be the best in the UFC. It's unreal. I feel like the fact that Max has beaten Aldo twice goes underappreciated. All of the focus has always been on Aldo declining instead of Max just being that damn good. Not sure who you even give him at 145 at this point, but I know there are plenty of guys at 155 that would be interesting. Imagine Max vs. Tony. 13-fight win streak vs. 11-fight win streak.
There's always some illusion that a fighter definitely won a round when he starts to make a comeback and has a better showing than in previous rounds. I bet on a rewatch it won't seem like Ortega did as well as we thought, but in the moment it feels like the tide is turning because he did started doing better, at least. We're more emotionally invested in every strike he lands. Like I said when it was happening live, Max dominated the last couple minutes of the round.
Yeah I got that exact feeling after Santos knocked Maniwa like 3 times but Jimmy rallied back strong.
That may be true, but I wouldn't say the judges are impervious against biases as well. On a strictly 3rd round rewatch, I may change my opinion, but the biases argument doesn't sway me now.
I can't stop thinking about that cheap ugly ass belt they showed during the commercial. It's not the same video as the tweet they posted though so I can't find it anywhere. I really hope that's not a new belt.
Lot of people leaning towards it just being a redesign of all the belts. I’d be pretty upset if they changed the design (even though they are a bit dated)
The judges aren’t impervious to biases, but they are at least supposed to judge each round as a fresh start, ignoring the other rounds, the commentary and crowd reactions. Whereas we the audience tend to get emotionally invested as the fight goes on. It doesn’t mean we are playing favorites, but if Ortega doesn’t start landing much until round 3 but Max is still doing the same thing he did in the previous two, we tend to remember Ortega’s output more prominently in our minds (if that makes sense). We aren’t always watching for the purpose of scoring rounds. Either way, I’m just throwing that idea out there because it’s happened before, and not saying that’s what really happened. I would definitely have to watch again to have a firm opinion.
On a re-watch of that round, Ortega controlled the first minute or so. Max came back and while he didn't land as many as other rounds, he still struck Brian more times than vice versa by a significant amount.
How classy of Holloway, after a dominant victory over an undefeated challenger, to refuse to call himself the greatest. Instead he gives that title to the guy he took the title from and beat twice. This guy. I don't believe anyone else really has the ground to get a shot. Maybe if there's a few more wins for Yair Rodriguez, Zabit, or Chad Mendes. But I think it's time for Max to fight at 155 as well. Joe said something last night about how this is the kind of road block fight that changes a fighter. I'll be interested in seeing where Brian is when he returns.
I like how Max is probably the GOAT with only two title defenses. There was so much nonsense with the title and interim belts for so long that Max nearly cleaned out the division while waiting for his shot. Haha. He could fight Chad/Yair/Frankie just for the sake of saying he really beat everyone near the top, but he doesn’t need that by any means. And like you said, none of them are in the position right now to claim a title shot anyway.
If Max were to move to lightweight, there are so many interesting fights there I can't comprehend it. If say he were to rematch and beat both Dustin Poirier and Conor, he is in the running for being, in my eyes, P4P best fighter. Edit: Also, good ole' Chael.
Brock is Canadian, maybe they're finally kicking the tires on that. Doubt Dana is going to do any favors for GSP or Woodley. Max is the man.
I think that's why some are guessing it's exclusively a promo for a fight announcement. The finalized belts I would imagine would either not have flags, or will be more inclusive of other nationalities if they are going that route.