I see we're back on - what was everyone's feeling about the UFC?

[Domingo]

I thought the show was pretty good overall. Rizzo came out with a knockout in mind, but what was the deal with Severn? His approach was weird and that kick looked hard, but nothing he hasn't seen before.
The Dantas/Kondo fight was terrific. Once again, It amazes me how often people simply get the mount and try to unload only to be reversed. I'm beginning to think that guys like Vitor and the wrestlers have the right idea. You're slightly more at risk and can't land as well in guard, but the odds of a reversal are pretty slim. In mount, people are escaping left and right. Taking someone's back has also seemingly become a thing of the past against elite fighters. This applies for BJJers as well. People are giving their back up briefly (but keeping some degree of limb control) to escape all the time these days. The rear choke finish is become rarer by the day. With that said, Dantas had some sweet takedowns and nice guard passing skill, but Kondo never seemed to feel threatened at all.
Bobby Hoffman got off easy be facing Smith. This guy is like Mark Coleman only without the world class wrestling skills. Smith ate him alive the final round and much of the 2nd as well. He's lucky they didn't feed him to Randleman, or he'd be in the morgue right now. Smith again showed excellent escape technique and as usual (except against the before mentioned Randleman) never really got hit.
Iha rebounded with a nice armbar, but I think it was Clark more than anything else. He tried the same thing to Menne and it didn't work.
Jeremy Horn looked solid as always. His armbar was a little sloppy (compared to usually technically excellent submissions), but was well timed.
Tedd Williams seemed way too gassed in his fight. I don't know why, though. Freeman looked pretty solid, but nothing special.

[Hawk]

I really enjoyed it. I think Fabiano is starting to get the idea of NHB. If he keeps improving, he could do well. Rizzo looked to back to his old self. I'd like to see him and Randleman one more time. Horn keeps getting better.
Good Show!!
Hawk

________________________________________________
You can't run away from a weakness;
Sometimes you must fight it or perish;
And if that be so;
Why not now & where you stand.

[Edited by Hawk on 09-26-2000 at 01:31 PM]

[-ratobranco-]

Interesting point about the guard as being an overall better place to drop punches from. This is only true with idiots who try to play guard but don't know anything about it (lions den fighters for example). If someone takes you down in NHB, open guard is the best place to go, as opposed to trying a closed guard and getting the sh-t pounded out of you. Just kick them off you, buttscoot intelligently (attacking the opponents legs and taking any chance to get back to your feet), if they pass you then your guard sucks... This is what a lot of strikers do (Silva, Mo Smith), and it seems to work well...

Cafe f-cked up by going nutz when he had the guy mounted. If he had relaxed, and thrown shots more conservatively, he would have been able to take secure back control over Kondo, and from there who knows (armbar, choke--if he secures back control with hooks Kondo will be in trouble). Instead, he was going haywire and was easily off balanced and reversed. Look at how Royce used to do it... he was very calm and careful, and his shots were very directed (he wasn't trying to KO anyone, he was trying to lure the opponent into panic and into turning). Cafe looked like he was trying to finish it with strikes from there (very risky).

[Edited by -ratobranco- on 09-26-2000 at 02:14 PM]

[Martial Artist]

Im glad to see Fabio beat that running ass-hole Lavern Clark.In there 1st fight Iha was ready to finish it or at least keep it on the ground.I've heard that Clark has been running from the re-match for some time.Rizzo's knock-out wasnt anything big, Beating up on a Senior Citizin shouldnt be prasied!

[StrongerThanDeath]

well IMO this UFC was great....

Kondo x Dantas was the fight of the night. Both guys did a great job but Kondo's stamina and crosstraining paid off. But that back spinning kick at the end was a joke....looked like he was trying to be Sakuraba out there

Severn x Rizzo.....not really a big suprise IMO......Severn is definately good but he just isnt young enough to hang with guys like Vov, Rizzo, Kerr, etc.....although he did WOOP Conan's arse, so we all know the beast has some fight left in him....just not against the very elite heavyweights

Hoffman x Mo....pretty good fight....I think if Mo had 1 more rd or maybe even just 2 more minutes he would dropped Hoffman for the TKO/KO.....Hoffman is good though....maybe if he had some more exp against tougher opponents....I'd like to see Hoffman x Monsen or Severn

Iha x Clark, I was suprised cuz I thought Clark was take this one but NHB is unpredictable like that....Iha's submissions are SO quick and his movement is slick as f**k....Clark is a good fighter too, so I'd love to see them BOTH back in UFC......

Horn x Jackson, Horn looked like a real pro out there IMO....nothing sloppy about it.....that armbar was great and he rolled right with it and made sure to keep Jackson's head controlled with his right leg......slick win IMO......you coild see whne Horn was in knee-on-stomach that he was baiting Jackson's right arm....and then BOOM....he falls back into the left armbar

[cello]

I thought it was pretty good.

especially the horne and iha fights.

Domingo, whats going on with your site? From time to time I always checked into it.

c

[fil]

This was a entertaining UFC, definatly a good UFC with competitive matches.

Yuki Kondo x Dantas
Great fight, but this match seems to confirm my belief that Kondo would fair poorly against the larger wrestlers.... Kondo doesnt really belong in the middlewight division at 190 pounds he is too light for most of the middleweights that cut weight and he is too big to cut down to the lightweight division. A argument could be made that a division should be made for 185-190 pounders but then again Frank Shamrock had plenty of success at 190-195 in the middlewight division. Is Pride ever going to ge weight divisions? They should at least have a middlewight and heavyweight title belt.

Dan Severn x Rizzo
I expected Rizzo to win but in a boring manner like Rizzo vs Coleman, thank god he finaly faught a wrestler in an agresive manner but it looked like Severn had mentaly given up as soon as Rizzo easily threw him off like a rag doll after the takedown attempt which was IMPRESSIVE! Severn is old but he is still usefull for promoters because he can be used as a litmus test in the heavyweight division if you can beat him your a A quality fighter if not you need to go back to the drawing board and rework your skills and training.

Bobby Hoffman x Maurice Smith
This fight threw me off a bit because I expected Smith to be defensive and pretty much lose another judges decision ala Randleman/Couture and it seemed to be going that way in the 1rst round. Hoffman obviously got tired, I have never heard of him having bad cardio so I didnt expect him to gas out like he did and to Maurice Smith's credit he took full advantage of the oportunity. As for Maurice Koing Hoffman if he had an extra round I dont think so since Hoffman is incredible tuff and is very hard to hurt. Hoffman just started training with Miletich and hopefully he can improve his skills and cardio so he can move up another level.

Fabiano Iha x Lavern Clark
Well I thought Clark would take this match and I was wrong. Note though it is plain obvious Clark needs to improve his training. It is known that he rarely goes to train at the Miletich camp despite he is oficialy on their team and he has been submited several times in nhb (Brian Dunn, Dave Menne twice). Though one thing Horn said when mentioning Clark "he picks things up fast, and retains the knowledge", so if he commits himself to training for nhb he has great potential. His boxing career is going nowhere but down... in fact he looked horrible when I saw him against a veteran boxer but he is great for nhb because he really tries to KO his oponents rather then fighting in a defensive cautious manner that alot of strikers usualy fight as in nhb.

Jeremy Horn x Eugene Jackson
This result doesnt suprise me or alot of people, in fact I was suprised how few people gave Jackson any chance at all. The problem with Eugene Jackson is that training with Tim Laijcik and a few other unknowns after work is just not enough against a veteran fighter like Horn. In fact Horn did not have hardly any trouble at all it almost seemed too easy, he has had harder fights in Extreme Challenge.

Ian Freeman x Tedd Williams
Another large fighter that gas's out. What's with these guys? Everyone knows that conditioning plays a huge role in the outcome of a nhb match. Freeman had great conditionng and Williams did not. Note though that Freeman was fighting injured since he had been in a car acindent that hampered his performance, he mentioned that it hurt him when he kneed Williams but it didnt change the outcome of the fight.
untelevised matches:
Jeff Monson vs Tim Laijcik
Decision for Monson. Monson has had inconsistant performance in competition before but from what I hear he really hammered away at Laijcik in the second round.

CJ Fernandez vs Brad Gumm
Draw, two rounds Cj wins first, Gumm wins second round resulting in a draw. Supposedly both had a good showing so a DRAW isnt to bad result since no one is a loser.

[EJ]

hell yeah

-ratobranco- said:

"Cafe f-cked up by going nutz when he had the guy mounted. If he had relaxed, and thrown shots more conservatively, he would have been able to take secure back control over Kondo, and from there who knows (armbar, choke--if he secures back control with hooks Kondo will be in trouble). Instead, he was going haywire and was easily off balanced and reversed. Look at how Royce used to do it... he was very calm and careful, and his shots were very directed (he wasn't trying to KO anyone, he was trying to lure the opponent into panic and into turning). Cafe looked like he was trying to finish it with strikes from there (very risky)."


-rato-

You are absolutely right.... While watchen the fight we compared Dantas' attacks from the mount to Rickson's mount attack vs. Funaki. Controlled damage is the key for the mount against someone with skills.

A fighter like Rickson (or even J. Horn) would have reemed a hole thru Kondo's forehead if he had that position.

Chalk that one up to Cafe's lack of experience.

Great fight.....

[fil]

to the top for Mcleod

[McLeod]

Thanks fil.

Domingo brings up a major point in modern NHB. It may in fact be MUCH MUCH safer to attack someone from the guard, especially if that person is not a GREAT guard fighter.
The problem arises from this very fact. while it may be easier to not be reversed from inside someone's guard, it is NOT NEARLY as easy to actually end a fight from there.
SO fighters today, especially wrestlers, must decide whether to play it safe and win a decision based on attacks, or to actually go for a win, submission or KO from a position such as the back or the mount while risking positional disadvantage.
It is when fighters go for the risk, to go for the immediate victory rather than waiting out a decision, that fights become exciting. so, although it may be safer NOt to be reversed and attack from inside the guard, it is also the easy and less exciting way out.
I actually heard Mark kerr on a KOK tape descuss this. He spoke about how hard it was to pass the guard of a Good BJJ guy, and how one mistake lands you right back in it and that much more gassed. therefore, he prefers to pound from inside the guard and hope the opponent opens up and lets him pass.
I'd like to see more wrestlers try to pass and build newskills.