That reminded me of a GSP fight - the challenger is just trying not to lose. They basically get shut down technically so they turtle up and fight five rounds of pure defense.
Been a long time since I've felt this awful at the end of payperview event. What a weird night. Woodley's performance, or lack of, has me seriously shaken...
Woodley at the post fight press conference owning the loss. I guess Usman really did just make him look like shit. Respect to both dudes.
Honestly Woodley’s performance just shocked me. We already knew what Usman could do and what his strategy would be, and Woodley almost played right into it. Trying to land one strike as Usman was coming in was a strange strategy by Tyron to begin with, but the biggest thing that irritates me is his lack of adjustment throughout the fight. He continued to back straight up into the fence over and over and clinch with Usman instead of moving forward like his corner told him to. It was clear after round 2 (if not round 1) that he couldn’t fight him that way, but he acted perfectly content to keep backing up. The lack of adjustments and urgency from a champion (and one that calls themselves the GOAT) is just mind boggling. This one might really hurt his legacy.
Jones vs Santos will be great. Santos doesn't allow for a boring fight to happen, whether it's losing or winning. I'm not disappointed at all in this card. Usman has the big upset, and he's too technical of a wrestler for these strikers to get combinations off. Every time Woodley was trying to place a punch, Usman's timing stayed one second ahead and he had no answers for his grappling. When they did stand on the feet, Usman was tagging him. Really crazy to see. Anthony let Jones get into his rhythm and never recovered. Amazing to see him go five rounds with the champ. It's not the last time we'll see Anthony fight for a title I don't think. Askren vs Lawler was awesome. I think a rematch would be warranted at some point given the divisive call at the end. Zhang was impressive, I look forward to seeing her compete again. Cody, man, Idk what you should do. Fight better or retire.
I've never watched a Covington fight. I assume he's going to get destroyed, but what are the chances he actually fights Usman and doesn't back out? the little bit I know about him makes me think he'll back out
Putting on the show he has regarding fighting for the title makes him not taking a fight with Usman the absolute worst decision he could make for himself and for his few fans. Though I wouldn't put it past him. Covington has really good conditioning and grappling similar to Khabib, Usman, etc etc. Has a few solid wins over big names using the same tactics. However, he's gotten tagged a handful of times and doesn't have the same punching power as someone like Usman or Woodley.
Well, I thought that was the only way Usman could win. I 100% did not think he'd do it, hats off to him. Him and Colby should be interesting. Jones/Santos could be fun. Jones/Walker though, let's do it. Glad Askren survived haha.
The more I thought about it, the more I wondered how much Woodley assumed Usman would avoid trying to employ that strategy. It seems obvious in hindsight, but when you look at their skills on paper, you might initially think that their wrestling cancels out. Woodley might have thought going into the fight that it would turn into a boxing match as it sometimes does between two wrestlers. He just seemed puzzled from the start as if he was surprised Usman was trying to duck his punches and clinch. Then he was pretty hurt and gassed out from the bodywork by round 2 so he kind of just gave up from that point on.
I've been waiting for something to come out about Woodley like an injury or something. How weird. You know what though? He was the same with that one Thompson fight, the biggest difference being Thompson did nothing in that fight either, Usman was in full force the other night.
I’ve gone back and rewatched the Askren-Lawler fight a few times and I have zero issue with that stoppage. I am quite confident that Lawler went out there for a short time. His arm just goes completely limp. He came back to quickly but yeah, I don’t get all the fuss. Even the entire announce crew was screaming he was out.
he definitely seemed like he was out, at least for a second, and if that’s the case then I don’t think it’s a bad stoppage