UFC 185 (3/14): Pettis vs. RDA, Esparza vs. Jed (Dallas)

[REDDzone]

Dana's at it again...

"Alistair looked better than he's ever looked, I just wish he had more killer instinct," White said. "He had Roy hurt at one point. He doesn't like to take risks, but he looked good tonight."

and

"How tough is Roy Nelson?" White said. "Roy Nelson is not human. The shots that guy took tonight. The kicks to the body were unbelievable."

Ok, so you want Reem to take risks to hit a guy who has an inhuman ability to take shots and who has exactly one way to win - landing a bomb when you get careless (or are too slow which Reem wasn't). Why exactly?

Also he said he didn't love Hendrick's performance. Well don't buy the PPV then

Dana just wants to watch some bros bangin. That's it.

[REDDzone]

RDA was ripped as hell and looked bigger than Pettis. I don't understand how his abs are even possible. I thought Pettis legs looked smaller than usual for some reason.

Another thing I don't understand...RDA's pressure was unbelievable and all the credit in the world to him. There were a couple of instances though when Pettis landed a few counters, and RDA started backing up and Pettis didn't follow him to the center of the cage but backed back up to the fence. With hos straight and hard RDA was throwing, IDK why he didn't take the opportunity to get his back off the cage, unless it had something to do with his impaired vision or whatever.

[CPT]

Good matchups, but a lot of loser vs. winner type stuff, so I'm not sure how likely they are. LW is deep and just crowned a new champ, so there should be less concern about picking off contenders, but I'm still not sure something like Pettis vs. Johnson makes sense.

For the women, I wouldn't be surprised to see them go right back to JJ vs. Gadelha, since there was some controversy, and nobody else in the division has much momentum. If I'm not mistaken, Gadelha's next fight is in Poland, so that could help with hype. Face off in the cage, etc.

I'm down with Overeem vs. JDS, even though it makes me a little bit sick to think about it. I'd still like to see those two for a season of TUF. I think they have the personalities to carry it, and it would give them some time without getting hit in the head. Would also take care of a season of TUF without tying up champions and belts, or even contenders in a good division. Win-win-win.

I like the matchups coming out of Cejudo/Cariaso. Those should happen.

Anything below that I'm not too concerned about.

[CPT]

I forgot to write about this last night because I was distraught about Pettis, but does anyone else feel like the pacing of these events has worsened the last few months?

Man its like, we already bought your stupid ppv/ we don't need a 10 minute hype video for everyyyy single fight. Especially when every fight is going to decision and we have two championship 5 rounders on the card.

Yeah, I don't know why there has been such a big change, but it feels different from a few years ago.

They seem a lot more reluctant to show fights from the prelims during dead spots on the main card. I used to like that. I could put in my 3 hours, see the main card, and hopefully everything relevant/exciting from the prelims. Though these days with a lot of hardcore fans watching prelims anyway, that might not be the best way to fill time. Could even be a way to drive people to watch the prelims live.

[Jasen777]

They seem a lot more reluctant to show fights from the prelims during dead spots on the main card.

I've noticed that too, did that start with the move to Fox Sports? In any case the timing has seemed worse lately (this year)?

[REDDzone]

I forgot to write about this last night because I was distraught about Pettis, but does anyone else feel like the pacing of these events has worsened the last few months?

Man its like, we already bought your stupid ppv/ we don't need a 10 minute hype video for everyyyy single fight. Especially when every fight is going to decision and we have two championship 5 rounders on the card.

Yeah, I don't know why there has been such a big change, but it feels different from a few years ago.

They seem a lot more reluctant to show fights from the prelims during dead spots on the main card. I used to like that. I could put in my 3 hours, see the main card, and hopefully everything relevant/exciting from the prelims. Though these days with a lot of hardcore fans watching prelims anyway, that might not be the best way to fill time. Could even be a way to drive people to watch the prelims live.

Yea it makes you wonder if they want to make usre people buy fightpass for the prelims or maybe its a fox sports thing? IDK but I do know the pace has gotten a lot worse and there is more dead time between fights. I always liked it when they would just plow through.

[lilfishi22]

RDA was ripped as hell and looked bigger than Pettis. I don't understand how his abs are even possible. I thought Pettis legs looked smaller than usual for some reason.

Another thing I don't understand...RDA's pressure was unbelievable and all the credit in the world to him. There were a couple of instances though when Pettis landed a few counters, and RDA started backing up and Pettis didn't follow him to the center of the cage but backed back up to the fence. With hos straight and hard RDA was throwing, IDK why he didn't take the opportunity to get his back off the cage, unless it had something to do with his impaired vision or whatever.

Pettis did say he was rocked in the first round and his eye was messed up. I assume he was hurt more than we were led to believe.

I'm hoping no one gets popped

[REDDzone]

RDA was ripped as hell and looked bigger than Pettis. I don't understand how his abs are even possible. I thought Pettis legs looked smaller than usual for some reason.

Another thing I don't understand...RDA's pressure was unbelievable and all the credit in the world to him. There were a couple of instances though when Pettis landed a few counters, and RDA started backing up and Pettis didn't follow him to the center of the cage but backed back up to the fence. With hos straight and hard RDA was throwing, IDK why he didn't take the opportunity to get his back off the cage, unless it had something to do with his impaired vision or whatever.

Pettis did say he was rocked in the first round and his eye was messed up. I assume he was hurt more than we were led to believe.

I'm hoping no one gets popped

I can't hear perfectly in the bar but I believe he was telling Duke in the corner between rounds that he couldn't see.

And nobody is getting popped this event regardless, they announced a month beforehand that there would be no out of comp testing for this event lol.

[Jasen777]

I can't hear perfectly in the bar but I believe he was telling Duke in the corner between rounds that he couldn't see.

You think his corner should have stopped it? Or the ref/doctor? I mean they normally don't let you fight if you can't see out of an eye.

[Jasen777]

Yea it makes you wonder if they want to make usre people buy fightpass for the prelims or maybe its a fox sports thing? IDK but I do know the pace has gotten a lot worse and there is more dead time between fights. I always liked it when they would just plow through.

What they should do is have 2 events at the same time in different cities. City B can get their fight ready when city A's fight is going on and start immediately after the decision announcement. The broadcast can bounce back and forth the cities and have no dead time. (Not sure if I'm serious).

[REDDzone]

Yea it makes you wonder if they want to make usre people buy fightpass for the prelims or maybe its a fox sports thing? IDK but I do know the pace has gotten a lot worse and there is more dead time between fights. I always liked it when they would just plow through.

What they should do is have 2 events at the same time in different cities. City B can get their fight ready when city A's fight is going on and start immediately after the decision announcement. The broadcast can bounce back and forth the cities and have no dead time. (Not sure if I'm serious).

Or they could just not play their generic and boring 12 minute long hype videos before every fight.

[REDDzone]

I can't hear perfectly in the bar but I believe he was telling Duke in the corner between rounds that he couldn't see.

You think his corner should have stopped it? Or the ref/doctor? I mean they normally don't let you fight if you can't see out of an eye.

That's a hard question for me to answer. I am happy that Anthony didn't get finished, but he took more damage in that fight that he has taken in every other fight combined. If I were in his corner I would have wanted to stop it, but then again I work in an office and am not a former fighter. You?

[Jasen777]

Or they could just not play their generic and boring 12 minute long hype videos before every fight.

Conor McGregor interview before every fight or GTFO.

That's a hard question for me to answer. I am happy that Anthony didn't get finished, but he took more damage in that fight that he has taken in every other fight combined. If I were in his corner I would have wanted to stop it, but then again I work in an office and am not a former fighter. You?

Well I don't how bad the eye was exactly. I do think corner stoppages should be more of a thing - although I think technicality they can;t stop it the fighter has to? Props to Leben for taking himself out his last fight (though perhaps he should have been in that fight in the first place). If I was Struve's corner I'd throw the towel in now before he gets a fight scheduled.

[lilfishi22]

RDA was ripped as hell and looked bigger than Pettis. I don't understand how his abs are even possible. I thought Pettis legs looked smaller than usual for some reason.

Another thing I don't understand...RDA's pressure was unbelievable and all the credit in the world to him. There were a couple of instances though when Pettis landed a few counters, and RDA started backing up and Pettis didn't follow him to the center of the cage but backed back up to the fence. With hos straight and hard RDA was throwing, IDK why he didn't take the opportunity to get his back off the cage, unless it had something to do with his impaired vision or whatever.

Pettis did say he was rocked in the first round and his eye was messed up. I assume he was hurt more than we were led to believe.

I'm hoping no one gets popped

I can't hear perfectly in the bar but I believe he was telling Duke in the corner between rounds that he couldn't see.

And nobody is getting popped this event regardless, they announced a month beforehand that there would be no out of comp testing for this event lol.

Didn't Anderson get done by the in-competition test?

[REDDzone]

Pettis did say he was rocked in the first round and his eye was messed up. I assume he was hurt more than we were led to believe.

I'm hoping no one gets popped

I can't hear perfectly in the bar but I believe he was telling Duke in the corner between rounds that he couldn't see.

And nobody is getting popped this event regardless, they announced a month beforehand that there would be no out of comp testing for this event lol.

Didn't Anderson get done by the in-competition test?

I'm kind of unclear on that, actually. Did he? Or was the post fight test just for the anti anxiety meds?

[lilfishi22]

I can't hear perfectly in the bar but I believe he was telling Duke in the corner between rounds that he couldn't see.

And nobody is getting popped this event regardless, they announced a month beforehand that there would be no out of comp testing for this event lol.

Didn't Anderson get done by the in-competition test?

I'm kind of unclear on that, actually. Did he? Or was the post fight test just for the anti anxiety meds?

Yeah I'm not sure either. He tested positive for a bunch of things, some were illegal but weren't PED's and then he got done for some actual PED's I think. It's all very confusing. But I'm sure the test he got done for was an in-competition test.

[Jasen777]

He tested positive for drostanolone out of competition, then passed a test, then failed for drostanolone and anti-anxiety drugs for the in comp test.

[NZB2323]

The pacing is absolutely horrible. I know that most people don't work on Sundays, but some of us do. Do they really need to start the event at 10 pm ET and have really long hype videos in between every fight?

[Mehar]

Also, it's too big a drop for Brown, but I'd like to see a Sadollah rematch.

Too big of a drop off for my liking. Sadollah is not even ranked in the top 15. I would like Brown to face a guy like Rick Story next or Tarec Saffiedine, the original opponent Brown was booked with last month.

[cowboyronnie]

agree with the Pettis -> Lytle comparison. bang on. or maybe a Jorge Gurgel. fan friendly w/ tremendous goatee/eyebrow-scaping but limited.

RDA was ripped as hell and looked bigger than Pettis. I don't understand how his abs are even possible. I thought Pettis legs looked smaller than usual for some reason.

ripped? he had no traps/delts/arms at all. just a six pack, a function of bf% / genetics.

in all honesty, both dudes' conditioning was crazy. wow.