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Some of My Thoughts on the Night That Was in MMA...April 9th, 2011


Let me preface this by saying I am NOT trying to rip off Sergio's ALN post. That's a great post, and I encourage all of you guys to go read his newest installment on Diaz vs. Daley - it's up right now. This isnt going to be an annual post either for every night of fights, I was just very opinionated last night and this is honestly just some of my thoughts while watching both Bellator and Strikeforce last night...

- Michael Chandler is a pretty impressive wrestler. Very strong, reminds me a lot of Joe Warren stylistically. Looking forward to watching him against Patricky. Don't know how to call that one yet; leaning towards Chandler, though the Pitbull brothers have looked mighty impressive thus far.

- The heavyweight fight they showed was kinda fun to watch actually. Both very big boys, just having fun punching each other in the face. They were genuine friends and it was nice to see that they could put that aside to try to make a fight entertaining. It almost got in the way, as the one guy, Prindle, wasn't really throwing inside leg kicks after he caught his boy in the cup a couple times, but he ended up winning anyway via a valid doctor's stoppage.

- I like Jay Hieron, and the only other time I've seen Brent Weedman fight was in the first round of this tournament. That being said, Weedman won that fight. This fight was a clear example of a fighter winning a close round due to name recognition, and not by what actually happened. Either way, I picked Hawn to win the whole thing and I'm sticking to that.

- I hate Ben Askren. So frustrating to watch, much worse than Jon Fitch. Some examples of what the announcers said about him during that fight. Keep in mind that they were saying this in a complimentary manner..."He doesn't really do much once he gets you down; he does just enough to not get stood up." "He's like a blanket."

- Speaking of Bellator announcers, their play-by-play guy is terrible. It makes me appreciate Goldie so much. One piece of advice for him that I took from last night - every time a fighter has his arms near the neck of his opponent, HE'S NOT NECESSARILY GOING FOR A D'ARCE CHOKE!!! I mean good God, I honestly think he used it right once and then just thought it had a funny name so he kept saying it. Ben Askren was in North/South at one point, "He's trying to lock in that D'arce choke!" No, no he's not.

- If it wasn't just Frank Shamrock blowing him up, I'm actually kinda impressed to hear that Gus Johnson is taking BJJ now. He still has no business commentating MMA, but it's nice to see that he's actually taking somewhat of an interest in the sport.

- Spotted: Dana going back on his word again. During his whole "business as usual" week and a half, he said that you'd never see him at a Strikeforce show. Cut to the VERY NEXT ONE - Dana front row in a SF t-shirt. Unbelievable.

- I found it HILARIOUS that every single joke or funny metaphor that Mauro Ranallo tried to make last night fell on deaf ears. Never any laughter, usually no acknowledgment at all.

- I'm not a big Shinya Aoki fan and I do like Fancy Pants, but I'll admit, it was kinda nice to see a Japanese fighter pick up a win. Their home country needs it. I honestly think it had alot to do with what they were saying during his entrance; he was the one Japanese fighter to put the earthquake on the back burner and focus on his fight. And it showed. Very impressive win.

- Another fantastic display of judging from last night. Any way you slice it, Gegard Mousasi won that fight. Not denying the heart that Jardine showed, and he did come in with a pretty good game plan, especially on short notice, but even with the point deduction by the Z-Z-Top member officiating that fight, Mousasi wins 29-27. Sure, Jardine got him down, but he did NOTHING with those takedowns. Nothing at all. More than anything I feel bad for Gegard; he deserved a win there and didn't get what he deserved.

- First of all, Cecil Peoples is a ref?!?!? Had no idea. Anyway, Gilbert Melendez is a motherfucking monster. And not that I'm the be all and end all of rating fighters, but that's high praise from me; the last person I said that about is Jon Jones. Gilbert dominated Crusher in every aspect last night. I was so impressed, and he stated his case that he's the number 1 lightweight in the world. I'm not going to lie, right now, I'm inclined to agree. And by the way, good stoppage by Big Cecil. Maybe he should spend more time inside the cage than on the outside. I'll always be a little wary if he's a judge, but strictly going based off last night, I think he's a capable ref.

- Nick Diaz and Paul Daley both impressed me last night. Nick Diaz has a great chin, and Daley put him on the mat with his patented left hand twice. What impressed me more, though, is that Diaz put him on the mat...for good. I'm not going to lie, I thought that Nick would stand and trade with Daley and take the worst of it. He got the best of a lot of their exchanges and finished a striker on his feet. His striking is better than I ever thought, and I'm not a fan, but I don't think he's as dumb as I used to. As far as the stoppage goes, everyone who thinks it was too soon needs to stop crying. It was perfectly legitimate. Daley had his hands down at his sides and Nick landed 4 or 5 right on his face. This coming after all Daley did was shove Nick away, and the brute physical exertion of that act caused him to fall FLAT ON HIS FACE. When Diaz was down he was covering up, Daley wasn't, good stoppage cut and dry.

Overall it was a great night of fights and I'm more than glad that I ordered Showtime for this lol. Hope everybody else enjoyed the fights as well. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend guys. Take care.

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