UFC 298 - Topuria / Volk

[Clav]

It already happened but we never made a thread about it. I've been getting more into MMA lately so this is a retroactive thread ? I guess..


Anyoen catch the fights last weekend ?


My recap

FOTN - Hernandez / Kopylov - I was very impressed with Hernandez' ability to limit and overpower Kopylov who was a pretty attractive underdog to bet on due to his recent performances. Obviously, it was a trap! Hernandez fought really well and submitted the Russian in dominant fashion, it was a great fight.
HM - Whittaker and Costa - lots of dmg inflicted to the legs and a decent standup fight, with big shots thrown, and some great boxing all around. Happy for Bobby Knux

top performance - Topuria's devastating finish to secure the Featherweight belt over Volk. He remains undefeated, and really got Volk with a solid right. If the rematch is the next fight for these two, I'm hoping for a more complete performance for "The Great". Gutted for Volk, dude is a legend, but now dethroned.

silver star - Lemos over Dern. It was a tough fight, Lemos clocked Dern a few good times and the fight probably could've been stopped, but Lemos prevailed in a match she needed to win. Dern needs to improve striking still.

big win - Dvalishvili decision over Cejudo. Big moments, out paced and controlled Cejudo's wrestling for much of the fight. Got clocked a few times and has suspect power to finish, but earns a title shot vs O'Malley/Vera winner likely.

Best KO - Zhang Mingyang R1 combo vs Brendsen Ribeiro. Filthy and powerful three punch KO starting with a left cross, right hook, and left hook to lights out.

Please no more - Fighters with a charade of a "bad guy" schtick, then being inspirational. All fight week, all fight-lead up, Ilia is taking on the "heel" character. He's the bad guy, he's grabbing Volk's UFC belt in the presser and disrespecting people, talking over others with bull. Once he wins, he talks about everyone can be inspirational if they follow their dreams. Yeah, man, whatever.

Please no more part two - Garry's evasion point fighting performance and getting awarded a decision win vs Geoff Neal. If you don't control the octagon and run from engages, the scoring should reflect better the lack of intent. I get that he avoided dmg, and he landed shots, but it was not inspiring at all.

Get better soon - Junior Tafa stepped into fight for his brother who sustained an injury leading up to the fight with Rogerio de Lima. Then in the fight, the replacement brother Tafa got Leg-Kick KO'd and won't be able to walk right for a while, for sure.
Tafa to Tafa, "Brother, you owe me. Big time."