That was straight out of Woodley’s ‘don’t fight to win, fight to not lose’ playbook. What a dud of a fight. Weird fight from Yan.
Great card. Not sure about the judging in some instances, but there were a lot of close fights there so it’s bound to happen. I was surprised not one judge gave Aljo a 10-8 in there but two of them gave him round 1… I thought a draw was the way to go there, but it was just weird overall. Khamzat vs Burns was incredible. I thought Burns won but not mad at the decision. I feel like now we have a good grasp on how good Khamzat is at only 11 fights in.
An immediate rematch no one really was asking for, 9 months after the first fight. A tournament wrapping up a year after it started. I like Bellator, but they have no momentum. Whether that's a Viacom or Scott Coker issue, I don't know, but they desperately need an overhaul of the whole product.
What's weird is that they're clearly second best and have the second best roster for MMA in the United States, but when I'm watching it, I feel like I'm in no man's land. Almost no buzz about it on Reddit, Twitter, the usual places I go to see people talking about MMA. I have no idea what they should do differently for more momentum, but like I've said before, the tournament thing isn't it. They generate a ton of excitement when they are announced, but they always fizzle out due to injuries, delays, substitutions, etc. It also kills some of the hype for future contenders just as much as it creates excitement for the finals. If Phil Davis loses in the first round of the tournament, it's hard to build up excitement for a future title shot for him once the tourney is over.
Hard to see Moraes hang it up at 33, though I guess it’s not entirely unexpected. Truly one of the best bantamweights to never hold a title. Man racked up wins against some of the best, was a champ and has the best win over the current champ. Also gave Cejudo some of his toughest rounds in the UFC. Will miss seeing the guy fight, but also don’t want to watch him continue to take such tough losses against top guys.
Dude was such a hammer in World Series of Fighting, he might have been undefeated in that stretch. They did him so bogus when they gave Aldo that title shot. Glad he's getting out now instead of hanging on.
Found a torrent online a while ago with the entire Pride collection; some incredible fights they had over the years. With the limited number of fighters they had though, you'd see a lot of the same fights several times over a couple of years, more so than what you'd see in the UFC now. But yeah, awesome stuff. Wish the UFC would bring in exhibition fights, hahaha. Butterbean vs Charles Oliveira anyone?
That is a fitting ending. God the pacing of this card is abysmal. So much talking and video packages. Why is this decision taking so long?
Josh Thompson is so bad. I honestly feel bad for Mauro being stuck with this garbage announcing crew.