UFC on Fox 12 (7/26): Lawler/Brown

[Jasen777]

Jake Shields vs damp towels.

Shields by split decision.

[NZB2323]

What fight were they supposed to give Little Nog after beating Rashad?

Rashad was going to fight Anderson Silva if he won that fight. It's not ridiculous that they gave Little Nog a guy who isn't top 3 after beating a guy who was going to fight for the belt.

[lilfishi22]

They were definitely low on options but Little Nog was without a doubt outmatched by a younger, faster, stronger fighter in his prime.

[REDDzone]

I thought it was a mismatch, though I though Little Nog would last at least one round. But the fact was he did beat Evans, even if Evans thought it was the ultimate hand holding championship. To be a real sport you have to honor wins like, imo, they had to give Little Nog a good opponent. You just can't be like - we know you beat a yop guy last fight but we still think you suck so go fight a low level opponent.

In general I agree but that was a year and a half ago and prior to that he hadn't fought since end of 2011. If you are inactive you move out of rankings, you sometimes vacate your belt, etc. I don't see why you have to be guaranteed a huge fight upon return from decently long absence after winning another fight, especially when the fight you won was one of the worst fights ever (is that even hyperbole? I just remember that fight being unbelievably bad).

[Jasen777]

In general I agree but that was a year and a half ago and prior to that he hadn't fought since end of 2011. If you are inactive you move out of rankings, you sometimes vacate your belt, etc. I don't see why you have to be guaranteed a huge fight upon return from decently long absence after winning another fight, especially when the fight you won was one of the worst fights ever (is that even hyperbole? I just remember that fight being unbelievably bad).

Yes, his record was even worse than I remembered. He never should have gotten the Evans fight in the first place, which would have avoided this issue.

[skflives]

I thought it was a mismatch, though I though Little Nog would last at least one round. But the fact was he did beat Evans, even if Evans thought it was the ultimate hand holding championship. To be a real sport you have to honor wins like, imo, they had to give Little Nog a good opponent. You just can't be like - we know you beat a yop guy last fight but we still think you suck so go fight a low level opponent.

While I thought Lil Nog's toughness might carry him a bit but I wasn't surprised to see him taken out as quickly as he was. The Nog brother's boxing was always highly overrated. While they may be technically good for Mixed Martial Artists they move slow, stand too upright and have piss poor head movement. Its ok when they are fighting guys who wrestling focused but that's not Johnson. He's a quick, explosive and powerful striker with a killer instinct. Horrible horrible matchup for Lil Nog.

Guys like Lil Nog, Shogun and Dan Henderson should only fight each other or lower level guys at this point in their careers. Keep them the hell away from relevant fighters.

[CPT]

I don't remember the same kind of criticism for Rumble/Lil Nog as there was for Cormier/Hendo or certain other fights where we are/were legitimately concerned for one of the fighters' health and safety.

I think we might be unconsciously assigning some of the damage taken by Big Nog to Lil Nog in this case. Lil Nog really hasn't had the same kind of career, has fought less frequently, and been finished less frequently, especially recently.

I don't particularly care if I ever see him fight again, and this was a rematch to some extent, but a lot of it seems to be in hindsight. I mean people were high on Anthony Johnson, but he's still Anthony **** Johnson. Of the options available, it made sense.

[REDDzone]

I don't remember the same kind of criticism for Rumble/Lil Nog as there was for Cormier/Hendo or certain other fights where we are/were legitimately concerned for one of the fighters' health and safety.

I think we might be unconsciously assigning some of the damage taken by Big Nog to Lil Nog in this case. Lil Nog really hasn't had the same kind of career, has fought less frequently, and been finished less frequently, especially recently.

You may be right in that some of this is coming after the fact. I do remember some criticism of the fight on this board (I know I had a post or two myself), but I couldn't find it in this thread or on the last few pages of the nonthreadworthy thread so..

[NZB2323]

I thought it was a mismatch, though I though Little Nog would last at least one round. But the fact was he did beat Evans, even if Evans thought it was the ultimate hand holding championship. To be a real sport you have to honor wins like, imo, they had to give Little Nog a good opponent. You just can't be like - we know you beat a yop guy last fight but we still think you suck so go fight a low level opponent.

In general I agree but that was a year and a half ago and prior to that he hadn't fought since end of 2011. If you are inactive you move out of rankings, you sometimes vacate your belt, etc. I don't see why you have to be guaranteed a huge fight upon return from decently long absence after winning another fight, especially when the fight you won was one of the worst fights ever (is that even hyperbole? I just remember that fight being unbelievably bad).

Anthony Pettis hadn't fought in a year and a half when they gave him a title fight and prior to that he hadn't fought since end of 2012. Obviously Anthony had more impressive wins, but I don't like it when fighters lose what they accomplish because of injury. IMHO they should have the option of getting a tune up fight upon return or picking up where they left off.

[REDDzone]

Anthony Pettis hadn't fought in a year and a half when they gave him a title fight and prior to that he hadn't fought since end of 2012. Obviously Anthony had more impressive wins, but I don't like it when fighters lose what they accomplish because of injury. IMHO they should have the option of getting a tune up fight upon return or picking up where they left off.

Well first off Pettis had fought and defeated Cerrone ~6 months before his title fight. Secondly, Pettis isn't like 38 with ~30 fights.

Do you feel like Cruz should still be the 135 champ?

[Shaazzam]

regardless if the fight made sense in regards to the division, lil nog isn't that good, as i can't recall the last impressive showing he's had
i'd be shocked if anyone didn't think he'd get smashed by rumble

[REDDzone]

He beat up Tito once like 3 years ago, and back in like 2009 he put a hurtin' on Luiz Cane back when people thought Cane was good.

[Cammo101]

I thought it was a mismatch, though I though Little Nog would last at least one round. But the fact was he did beat Evans, even if Evans thought it was the ultimate hand holding championship. To be a real sport you have to honor wins like, imo, they had to give Little Nog a good opponent. You just can't be like - we know you beat a yop guy last fight but we still think you suck so go fight a low level opponent.

Guys like Lil Nog, Shogun and Dan Henderson should only fight each other or lower level guys at this point in their careers. Keep them the hell away from relevant fighters.

The way to get younger, more unknown fighters over with the public is to put them in fights with guys like this. Gus got his hype train rolling by beating Shogun. Cormier's went into another gear by crushed Hendo, and now to a lesser extent this Nog fight has legitimized Rumble as a title contender.

The UFC needs fights like this, it is how you get the new guys over. If the older guys with name value only fought each other, the UFC would have a very hard time building up young guns, because they would just keep knocking each other off. Fights like this are a necessary evil to building the next generation of top guys.

[SDM]

I thought it was a mismatch, though I though Little Nog would last at least one round. But the fact was he did beat Evans, even if Evans thought it was the ultimate hand holding championship. To be a real sport you have to honor wins like, imo, they had to give Little Nog a good opponent. You just can't be like - we know you beat a yop guy last fight but we still think you suck so go fight a low level opponent.

Guys like Lil Nog, Shogun and Dan Henderson should only fight each other or lower level guys at this point in their careers. Keep them the hell away from relevant fighters.

The way to get younger, more unknown fighters over with the public is to put them in fights with guys like this. Gus got his hype train rolling by beating Shogun. Cormier's went into another gear by crushed Hendo, and now to a lesser extent this Nog fight has legitimized Rumble as a title contender.

The UFC needs fights like this, it is how you get the new guys over. If the older guys with name value only fought each other, the UFC would have a very hard time building up young guns, because they would just keep knocking each other off. Fights like this are a necessary evil to building the next generation of top guys.

It's like pro wrestling... use the established names to get the new stars over. 100% agree... the PRIDE guys especially at LHW have been perfect in this role for several years. And now look at the top of the division.

[Cammo101]

It's like pro wrestling... use the established names to get the new stars over. 100% agree... the PRIDE guys especially at LHW have been perfect in this role for several years. And now look at the top of the division.

Exactly. Because of these so called squash matches people are complaining about, we now have the top of the LHW division as deep as it has ever been with some many deserving title contenders we can't even get to them all. And all at the expense of guys with no upside and a big name.