Sak vs. Renzo

[Anaconda]

I finally watched the fight and here are my thoughts:

1. Sak is bigger than Renzo. Not much but enough to make a difference. Sak is stronger.

2. Renzo did well in the 1st part of the 1srt round. All standup. Renzo showed good movement. He thai kicked Sak's left leg. He was faster than Sak, and hurt Sak somewhat with the 3-4 thai kicks.

3. Then Renzo got tired. You could see it in his face and in his less movement. At this point, Sak began to attack more, confusing Renzo with an attack, then a miniscule feint of the same attack and a different real attack, etc. Renzo was more defensive at this point.

4. When Sak kicks, he kicks hard and fast every time. This makes his opponent's take his body position very seriously.

That's it for now. All in all, a good fight. A close fight for the 2 rounds. Credit to Sak for stopping and calling the ref when he dislocated Renzo's elbow. Other fighters might have really cranked, and ruined Renzo's elbow for life.

Renzo and Sak have a genuine respect for each other.

[Hookah Smokin Caterpillar]

This match was hard to really judge and I'm glad it didn't go the distance because...

While Renzo may have won the stand up and the ground game in the fight traditionally, did he exactly win the whole fight? Sak confused the hell out of Renzo and did some damage. It was a strange bout and I'm glad it ended w/o a Judge's Decision.

Better fight then the Royce one, but not more dramatic...

[Anaconda]

This was such a good fight. You're right, it was real close up 'til the end.

Sak is amazing. Often a fighter gets one or 2 chances to finish his opponent. Look at Ken/Fujita--Ken had his chance and let Fuijita off the hook.

When Sak gets his chance, he finishes his opponent. He knows how to finish, which is difficult.

Sperry need a lot of work in this area. Time and time again he gets the dominant position but does not finish his oppoent. Look at his Coloiseum fight. He totally dominated position, but did not finish. He did the same against Vernon Tiger White in Australian Cage Combat. And v.s Igor Zinovien, Sperry's failure to finisg caused him the match.

Sak is an excellent finisher.

[Hookah Smokin Caterpillar]

Thats an excellent point, but I think he had quite a few opportunities to finish Royce and he didn't. Do you think he was toying with him or am I just seeing things?

[Anaconda]

I have only watched through round 3 or 4 of their fight.

Round 1: Sak went for the arm bar outside the ropes. A sneaky tactic; surprised the refs let it happen. Royce spent energy uselessly, hitting Sak unremarkably.

Sak had the knee bar. He was trying to finish. Royce said in a recent interview that Sak had it for a couple seconds but then Royce got out of it.

I need to watch the fight again to remember. From recollection, I don't think Sak was toying with Royce--except for the comical theatrics of trying to pull Royce's gi over his head, or trying to pull Royce's pants down to show his underwear.

I need to watch that fight again, in its entirety. Good points.

[Rommel]

<< Sak had the knee bar. He was trying to finish. Royce said in a recent interview that Sak had it for a couple seconds but then Royce got out of it. >>

I don't seem to recall seeing royce got out of the knee bar. As a matter of fact, I thought he was saved by the bell.

[Hookah Smokin Caterpillar]

He wasn't saved by the bell, it was obvious that he releaved the pain. He didn't per se, get his leg out of the hold, but it wasn't put on. If you have any experience doing leg locks on people, stuff like that happens all the time. While I never defend Royce and I think that fight was more of a blow out then most people think, I have to give him props for that one at least

[Anaconda]

I looked at that attempted knee bar quite a bit. Royce did not have an expression of pain on his face. The explanation I came up with is that Sak must not of had the right angle and leverage at that point.

Maybe if the round continued, Sak would have readjusted or changed techniques, but most likely at that point Royce would have been able to pull his leg free. (In fact, maybe he did before the bell. I don't remember the timing.)

What I got from watching Sak vs. Royce, was that Sak has an excellent feel for the leverage needed to correctly apply a technique. In the past when Royce fought, Royce has been the one better at feeling the technique. It was interesting to watch Sak go to the ground and keep good leverage on Royce. I think Sak did this right before the attempted knee bar; Sak pretty much sits on Royce's stomach as Royce is on his back. Up until then, we hadn't seen anyone in NHB beat Royce at position.

Bustamache said in an interview he thinks Royce needs to get into the gym and lift weights to get his body stronger. I agree with that. Royce has good wiry kind of strength; he needs additional muscle strength or weight.

[pigpen]

Sak vs. Renzo

The Sak/Renzo fight was pretty much dead even up until the end. It probably would've gone to overtime if Sak didn't pull off that beautiful move. Props to both.

Sak vs. Royce

I think in a time limits situation Sak would've played the game totally different. I haven't seen the entire fight(just US PPV) but I plan to get the entire fight soon.