Official MMA discussion thread pt 2: UFC 268 in MSG Usman vs Colby 2, Rose vs Zhang 2

[Jkam31]

Also judges scoring that usman/covington as a unanimous decision is embarrassing

[HarthorneWingo]

Another UFC PPV, one week after the last! I'm not sure I'll have time to talk about the fights in detail but quick picks.

Usman over Colby
Zhang over Rose
Gaehje over Chandler
Vera over Frankie
Burgos over Billy Q (do not sleep on how fire this has potential to be)

Prelim standouts:
Wingo's boy Pereira to debut with a win
Al outpoints Green
Shahbazyan gets some of his hype back
Ian Garry becomes the talk of the early prelims.

I hope you didn't bet on Zhang/Rose. You should've PM'd me first if you did. That was a very bad decision by Zhang's camp to take the rematch with Rose after that KO. She should've fought, maybe, Marina Rodriguez first. Carla Esparza deserved this fight with Rose for starters so I'm happy that she'll get her shot next. Moreover, this wasn't fair to throw Zhang back into the ring with Rose coming off that KO and it was evident in her approach in this second fight. She clearly wasn't as aggressive as she was in her prior UFC fights. I also think that Zhang felt a lot of pressure as a representative of her country China to redeem herself from her first loss to Rose. I don't pretend to know much of what it's like to be in her position but I sure don't envy it. Perhaps you or others her can educate us on that point of view.

Our boy Periera is going to be a monster once he gets his wrestling defense down. Glover will be a great instructor for him. How many fights before you give him Izzy? What about Alex vs. Khamzat? OMG!

Finally, I gotta say that I really respect that fight that Colby fought. I hope he doesn't feel the need to play that dumb Trump-loving Ric Flair character anymore and "go face." I thought he fought an inspiring fight against physically superior Usman. Colby fought with a lot of heart to go along with his skills.

[HarthorneWingo]

Also judges scoring that usman/covington as a unanimous decision is embarrassing

I thought Colby fought a great fight especially given the fact that he didn't get off to a great start. Do you think he won the fight? Do the striking stats back that up? I thought Colby made it a very competitive fight in the later rounds but I don't know that I can argue much with the result. Maybe I need to watch it again.

[HarthorneWingo]

Page 99!

[HighRyzer83]

Also judges scoring that usman/covington as a unanimous decision is embarrassing

I thought Colby fought a great fight especially given the fact that he didn't get off to a great start. Do you think he won the fight? Do the striking stats back that up? I thought Colby made it a very competitive fight in the later rounds but I don't know that I can argue much with the result. Maybe I need to watch it again.

I thought he won the last 3 rounds and lost the first 2. But I think the 2nd round should have been a 10-8 so I had it as a draw. He loves Trump. So what? Usman and the majority of the fighters are right wings. Fighting fosters that kind mentality. Doesn't matter to me, this is a sport and the dude can scrap. His over the top personality keeps it interesting. They hate it but they low key love it.

[HighRyzer83]

Another UFC PPV, one week after the last! I'm not sure I'll have time to talk about the fights in detail but quick picks.

Usman over Colby
Zhang over Rose
Gaehje over Chandler
Vera over Frankie
Burgos over Billy Q (do not sleep on how fire this has potential to be)

Prelim standouts:
Wingo's boy Pereira to debut with a win
Al outpoints Green
Shahbazyan gets some of his hype back
Ian Garry becomes the talk of the early prelims.

I hope you didn't bet on Zhang/Rose. You should've PM'd me first if you did. That was a very bad decision by Zhang's camp to take the rematch with Rose after that KO. She should've fought, maybe, Marina Rodriguez first. Carla Esparza deserved this fight with Rose for starters so I'm happy that she'll get her shot next. Moreover, this wasn't fair to throw Zhang back into the ring with Rose coming off that KO and it was evident in her approach in this second fight. She clearly wasn't as aggressive as she was in her prior UFC fights. I also think that Zhang felt a lot of pressure as a representative of her country China to redeem herself from her first loss to Rose. I don't pretend to know much of what it's like to be in her position but I sure don't envy it. Perhaps you or others her can educate us on that point of view.

Our boy Periera is going to be a monster once he gets his wrestling defense down. Glover will be a great instructor for him. How many fights before you give him Izzy? What about Alex vs. Khamzat? OMG!

Finally, I gotta say that I really respect that fight that Colby fought. I hope he doesn't feel the need to play that dumb Trump-loving Ric Flair character anymore and "go face." I thought he fought an inspiring fight against physically superior Usman. Colby fought with a lot of heart to go along with his skills.

Periera vs Khamzat is a tough one. Different divisions and you never want to derail a prospect with another prospect. If Khamzat knocks off Usman and Alex beats Izzy, maybe then I can see a super fight at middle weight. But that's a whole lotta steps in between that gotta go right.

[HarthorneWingo]

Another UFC PPV, one week after the last! I'm not sure I'll have time to talk about the fights in detail but quick picks.

Usman over Colby
Zhang over Rose
Gaehje over Chandler
Vera over Frankie
Burgos over Billy Q (do not sleep on how fire this has potential to be)

Prelim standouts:
Wingo's boy Pereira to debut with a win
Al outpoints Green
Shahbazyan gets some of his hype back
Ian Garry becomes the talk of the early prelims.

I hope you didn't bet on Zhang/Rose. You should've PM'd me first if you did. That was a very bad decision by Zhang's camp to take the rematch with Rose after that KO. She should've fought, maybe, Marina Rodriguez first. Carla Esparza deserved this fight with Rose for starters so I'm happy that she'll get her shot next. Moreover, this wasn't fair to throw Zhang back into the ring with Rose coming off that KO and it was evident in her approach in this second fight. She clearly wasn't as aggressive as she was in her prior UFC fights. I also think that Zhang felt a lot of pressure as a representative of her country China to redeem herself from her first loss to Rose. I don't pretend to know much of what it's like to be in her position but I sure don't envy it. Perhaps you or others her can educate us on that point of view.

Our boy Periera is going to be a monster once he gets his wrestling defense down. Glover will be a great instructor for him. How many fights before you give him Izzy? What about Alex vs. Khamzat? OMG!

Finally, I gotta say that I really respect that fight that Colby fought. I hope he doesn't feel the need to play that dumb Trump-loving Ric Flair character anymore and "go face." I thought he fought an inspiring fight against physically superior Usman. Colby fought with a lot of heart to go along with his skills.

Periera vs Khamzat is a tough one. Different divisions and you never want to derail a prospect with another prospect. If Khamzat knocks off Usman and Alex beats Izzy, maybe then I can see a super fight at middle weight. But that's a whole lotta steps in between that gotta go right.

Oh right. What was I thinking?

So who do you have each of these two very interesting new fighters matched up against next? I think their next fights should be carefully chosen and by that I mean that they shouldn't be thrown into a championship ship fight right away. I believe that it's important for each fight to work his way up through the rankings before they get their shot.

[Jkam31]

Also judges scoring that usman/covington as a unanimous decision is embarrassing

I thought Colby fought a great fight especially given the fact that he didn't get off to a great start. Do you think he won the fight? Do the striking stats back that up? I thought Colby made it a very competitive fight in the later rounds but I don't know that I can argue much with the result. Maybe I need to watch it again.

I think it was a split decision to draw no way was that fight unanimous. Colby started off slow easily lost the fist two rounds but I’d say he won 3 and 4 and 5 was so close but I’d have gave him 5. To say unanimous is absurd

[Jkam31]

Also judges scoring that usman/covington as a unanimous decision is embarrassing

I thought Colby fought a great fight especially given the fact that he didn't get off to a great start. Do you think he won the fight? Do the striking stats back that up? I thought Colby made it a very competitive fight in the later rounds but I don't know that I can argue much with the result. Maybe I need to watch it again.

I thought he won the last 3 rounds and lost the first 2. But I think the 2nd round should have been a 10-8 so I had it as a draw. He loves Trump. So what? Usman and the majority of the fighters are right wings. Fighting fosters that kind mentality. Doesn't matter to me, this is a sport and the dude can scrap. His over the top personality keeps it interesting. They hate it but they low key love it.

Had the same thing had him winning the last 3 rounds probably finishes Usman in the 4th if he didn’t go for the takedown.

Also he broke character after the fight when he and Usman talked it out. It was really nice to see I still don’t get fools he can see he’s acting when he was gonna lose his job by being quite and nice

[j4remi]

I had Usman winning 1,2, and 3 with a clear 10-8 second. The third round was the debatable but it would have forced a draw. Colby found something by biting down and throwing hard. Usman really loses some of his precision in a firefight. That makes an Edwards match-up interesting if Leon can keep a fight standing.

I also have zero problem with Zhang taking the Rose fight. She forced the champ to take the championship rounds with wrestling and still made it a split-decision. Her only mistake was committing to the choke instead of maintaining position in the fourth. If she played position over finish the way Rose did in the 5th, then Zhang wins the decision on 2 scorecards (and idk how one judge gave Rose 4 rounds at all, that's sketchy to me).

Gaethje vs Chandler was fight of the year. Let Gaethje get the title shot because he's gonna have another FOTY candidate whether the champ is Dustin in a rematch or DoBronx.

Pereira looks good, but needs to take his time. I want no parts of him against ranked competition yet, let him work the ladder a bit to keep building the skillset out for when he faces that top-10 that has a lot of guys that can get fights to the ground competently.

I got Barnett's spinning wheel kick as the KO of the night, but there were a bunch of candidates. Chito's KO on Frankie was a Silva flashback and Curtis' come from behind KO was nuts too.

Best UFC card in MSG history by a mile. That was epic. The title fights were super-competitive and exciting. The mid-card was tough and positioned two good strikers to fight higher competition. The opener was a FOTY candidate. And the prelims are full of highlight-reel moments.

[bringbackhoffa]

I had Usman winning 1,2, and 3 with a clear 10-8 second. The third round was the debatable but it would have forced a draw. Colby found something by biting down and throwing hard. Usman really loses some of his precision in a firefight. That makes an Edwards match-up interesting if Leon can keep a fight standing.

I also have zero problem with Zhang taking the Rose fight. She forced the champ to take the championship rounds with wrestling and still made it a split-decision. Her only mistake was committing to the choke instead of maintaining position in the fourth. If she played position over finish the way Rose did in the 5th, then Zhang wins the decision on 2 scorecards (and idk how one judge gave Rose 4 rounds at all, that's sketchy to me).

Gaethje vs Chandler was fight of the year. Let Gaethje get the title shot because he's gonna have another FOTY candidate whether the champ is Dustin in a rematch or DoBronx.

Pereira looks good, but needs to take his time. I want no parts of him against ranked competition yet, let him work the ladder a bit to keep building the skillset out for when he faces that top-10 that has a lot of guys that can get fights to the ground competently.

I got Barnett's spinning wheel kick as the KO of the night, but there were a bunch of candidates. Chito's KO on Frankie was a Silva flashback and Curtis' come from behind KO was nuts too.

Best UFC card in MSG history by a mile. That was epic. The title fights were super-competitive and exciting. The mid-card was tough and positioned two good strikers to fight higher competition. The opener was a FOTY candidate. And the prelims are full of highlight-reel moments.

What do you see as the ceiling for Ian Garry?

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

[Fury]

Also judges scoring that usman/covington as a unanimous decision is embarrassing

What do you mean? Judges can only score their own card and two judges had it for Usman by 1 round. What more do you want? Usman clearly won at least 1 more round.

[Fury]

Also judges scoring that usman/covington as a unanimous decision is embarrassing

I thought Colby fought a great fight especially given the fact that he didn't get off to a great start. Do you think he won the fight? Do the striking stats back that up? I thought Colby made it a very competitive fight in the later rounds but I don't know that I can argue much with the result. Maybe I need to watch it again.

I think it was a split decision to draw no way was that fight unanimous. Colby started off slow easily lost the fist two rounds but I’d say he won 3 and 4 and 5 was so close but I’d have gave him 5. To say unanimous is absurd

I don’t understand your logic. Unanimous doesn’t mean the fight wasn’t close, it just means 3 guys had Usman winning.

[Fury]

Another UFC PPV, one week after the last! I'm not sure I'll have time to talk about the fights in detail but quick picks.

Usman over Colby
Zhang over Rose
Gaehje over Chandler
Vera over Frankie
Burgos over Billy Q (do not sleep on how fire this has potential to be)

Prelim standouts:
Wingo's boy Pereira to debut with a win
Al outpoints Green
Shahbazyan gets some of his hype back
Ian Garry becomes the talk of the early prelims.

Thug Rose going to disappoint you..

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

So will Marty fake newsman

Lol oh now I see. Colby is crazy good but Usman is just better.

[j4remi]

I had Usman winning 1,2, and 3 with a clear 10-8 second. The third round was the debatable but it would have forced a draw. Colby found something by biting down and throwing hard. Usman really loses some of his precision in a firefight. That makes an Edwards match-up interesting if Leon can keep a fight standing.

I also have zero problem with Zhang taking the Rose fight. She forced the champ to take the championship rounds with wrestling and still made it a split-decision. Her only mistake was committing to the choke instead of maintaining position in the fourth. If she played position over finish the way Rose did in the 5th, then Zhang wins the decision on 2 scorecards (and idk how one judge gave Rose 4 rounds at all, that's sketchy to me).

Gaethje vs Chandler was fight of the year. Let Gaethje get the title shot because he's gonna have another FOTY candidate whether the champ is Dustin in a rematch or DoBronx.

Pereira looks good, but needs to take his time. I want no parts of him against ranked competition yet, let him work the ladder a bit to keep building the skillset out for when he faces that top-10 that has a lot of guys that can get fights to the ground competently.

I got Barnett's spinning wheel kick as the KO of the night, but there were a bunch of candidates. Chito's KO on Frankie was a Silva flashback and Curtis' come from behind KO was nuts too.

Best UFC card in MSG history by a mile. That was epic. The title fights were super-competitive and exciting. The mid-card was tough and positioned two good strikers to fight higher competition. The opener was a FOTY candidate. And the prelims are full of highlight-reel moments.

What do you see as the ceiling for Ian Garry?

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

It's super early, so I don't want to get too amped on it, but his potential is really high. He's tough as nails and his counter game is stronger thanks to the fact that he's not afraid to get into a scrap. For now, I'm still watching to see how he does when the competition increases, but he looks like the real deal on the early returns. Tall as hell too.

[j4remi]

I had Usman winning 1,2, and 3 with a clear 10-8 second. The third round was the debatable but it would have forced a draw. Colby found something by biting down and throwing hard. Usman really loses some of his precision in a firefight. That makes an Edwards match-up interesting if Leon can keep a fight standing.

I also have zero problem with Zhang taking the Rose fight. She forced the champ to take the championship rounds with wrestling and still made it a split-decision. Her only mistake was committing to the choke instead of maintaining position in the fourth. If she played position over finish the way Rose did in the 5th, then Zhang wins the decision on 2 scorecards (and idk how one judge gave Rose 4 rounds at all, that's sketchy to me).

Gaethje vs Chandler was fight of the year. Let Gaethje get the title shot because he's gonna have another FOTY candidate whether the champ is Dustin in a rematch or DoBronx.

Pereira looks good, but needs to take his time. I want no parts of him against ranked competition yet, let him work the ladder a bit to keep building the skillset out for when he faces that top-10 that has a lot of guys that can get fights to the ground competently.

I got Barnett's spinning wheel kick as the KO of the night, but there were a bunch of candidates. Chito's KO on Frankie was a Silva flashback and Curtis' come from behind KO was nuts too.

Best UFC card in MSG history by a mile. That was epic. The title fights were super-competitive and exciting. The mid-card was tough and positioned two good strikers to fight higher competition. The opener was a FOTY candidate. And the prelims are full of highlight-reel moments.

What do you see as the ceiling for Ian Garry?

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

It's super early, so I don't want to get too amped on it, but his potential is really high. He's tough as nails and his counter game is stronger thanks to the fact that he's not afraid to get into a scrap. For now, I'm still watching to see how he does when the competition increases, but he looks like the real deal on the early returns. Tall as hell too.

[HighRyzer83]

I thought Colby fought a great fight especially given the fact that he didn't get off to a great start. Do you think he won the fight? Do the striking stats back that up? I thought Colby made it a very competitive fight in the later rounds but I don't know that I can argue much with the result. Maybe I need to watch it again.

I thought he won the last 3 rounds and lost the first 2. But I think the 2nd round should have been a 10-8 so I had it as a draw. He loves Trump. So what? Usman and the majority of the fighters are right wings. Fighting fosters that kind mentality. Doesn't matter to me, this is a sport and the dude can scrap. His over the top personality keeps it interesting. They hate it but they low key love it.

Had the same thing had him winning the last 3 rounds probably finishes Usman in the 4th if he didn’t go for the takedown.

Also he broke character after the fight when he and Usman talked it out. It was really nice to see I still don’t get fools he can see he’s acting when he was gonna lose his job by being quite and nice

There are rumors that conversation wasn't as sweet as we thought initially. Something along the lines of "good fight but I know you're using steroids/epo".

[HarthorneWingo]

I thought he won the last 3 rounds and lost the first 2. But I think the 2nd round should have been a 10-8 so I had it as a draw. He loves Trump. So what? Usman and the majority of the fighters are right wings. Fighting fosters that kind mentality. Doesn't matter to me, this is a sport and the dude can scrap. His over the top personality keeps it interesting. They hate it but they low key love it.

Had the same thing had him winning the last 3 rounds probably finishes Usman in the 4th if he didn’t go for the takedown.

Also he broke character after the fight when he and Usman talked it out. It was really nice to see I still don’t get fools he can see he’s acting when he was gonna lose his job by being quite and nice

There are rumors that conversation wasn't as sweet as we thought initially. Something along the lines of "good fight but I don't you're using steroids/epo".

Sounds like Colby sincerely believes it and it's not him just trying to get under Usman's skin. But I don't know. Kamara has passed all of these drug tests but that doesn't mean that he's not on it.

[Jkam31]

Had the same thing had him winning the last 3 rounds probably finishes Usman in the 4th if he didn’t go for the takedown.

Also he broke character after the fight when he and Usman talked it out. It was really nice to see I still don’t get fools he can see he’s acting when he was gonna lose his job by being quite and nice

There are rumors that conversation wasn't as sweet as we thought initially. Something along the lines of "good fight but I don't you're using steroids/epo".

Sounds like Colby sincerely believes it and it's not him just trying to get under Usman's skin. But I don't know. Kamara has passed all of these drug tests but that doesn't mean that he's not on it.

Passing drug tests doesn’t mean anything

[bringbackhoffa]

Chito and Garry will be live in studio on the MMA Hour today, Chito interview should be fun, he has no filter lol