UFC FN: Rafael dos Anjos vs. Eddie Alvarez

[REDDzone]

It's easy to say now, but as good as he's looked, I could never buy into RDA as a guy who was going to reign over the division. LW is too tough, and he's Rafael Dos Anjos. Maybe the USADA factor is real.

One of the announcers said last night that RDA had one of the best runs in LW history. I was like come on that's just promotion. Then I heard the resume - Benson to Nate to Pettis to Cerrone and was like, well I guess he did then.

[CPT]

Ha, well if you put it that way.

LW is kind of the bizarro HW in that so many guys can beat each other on any given night, except at LW it's usually because they are better in that match up or at least had a better performance that night instead of just who hit the other guy harder first. Long win streaks against relevant guys are rare, and that 4 fight run by RDA really is one of the most impressive ever.

[cowboyronnie]

Cos Alvarez was clean as a whistle before USADA. :whistle:

Two infamously suspicious fighters.

[REDDzone]

Cos Alvarez was clean as a whistle before USADA. :whistle:

Two infamously suspicious fighters.

Alvarez has one of the most ridiculous physiques in mma. That, in addition to the south florida connection is fishy to me.

Not going to lie, I'm suspicious of every single fighter who does or has trained out of south florida (except for my boy Cole Miller).

[cowboyronnie]

Alvarez could not be a more deserving fighter, I have to say. From those insane fights in Bushido with Hansen and Aoki, to Chandler, he's now UFC champ a decade later? Nuts. Still with the same woman - childhood sweetheart, always thanks her after every fight. Always mentions his coaches and training partners.

[RalphWiggum]

First thing he says is its not about me. That was all class.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[REDDzone]

I'm listening to this fight companion at work right now. Rogan is so high, that he watches the entirety of the Duffy fight. Then they show a replay 3-4 minutes later and he thinks he was watching it for the first time. "Duffy lands a right hand!!!". It was literally a replay of what he had JUST watched.

[cowboyronnie]

I'm listening to this fight companion at work right now. Rogan is so high, that he watches the entirety of the Duffy fight. Then they show a replay 3-4 minutes later and he thinks he was watching it for the first time. "Duffy lands a right hand!!!". It was literally a replay of what he had JUST watched.

I noticed that too. Hahaha. Like 10 minutes into the podcast total.

[cowboyronnie]

Also on that podcast they mentioned that EA sparred 150 rounds for this fight. Eesh. Phillie boxing.

[REDDzone]

Also on that podcast they mentioned that EA sparred 150 rounds for this fight. Eesh. Phillie boxing.

Said overtraining isn't a thing, that's just an excuse people use to not train hard. Or some such.

[cowboyronnie]

The wildest thing is that this proves RDA is beatable, that he (like everyone else) can be caught, and it makes you imagine what would have happened if Conor had gotten a chance to get in there with him. Conor would have been as likely as anyone to throw that punch that connects and, if he had been the one, holy eff would he be on top of the world right now. RDA seemed a **** destroyer.

[cowboyronnie]

Also on that podcast they mentioned that EA sparred 150 rounds for this fight. Eesh. Phillie boxing.

Said overtraining isn't a thing, that's just an excuse people use to not train hard. Or some such.

A thousand drooling boxers from Penn to Pueblo agree.

[Jasen777]

Think they got the Nelson decision correct. If you get out struck on the feet that badly you need to spend the majority of the fight in control on the ground, and he didn't. Lewis is a strong dude, literally stiffed armed the moon off of him.

[Jasen777]

Starting to think bet the underdog in every title fight. Also Alvarez vs. Brooks for the Bellator title please.

[Bernman]

Think they got the Nelson decision correct. If you get out struck on the feet that badly you need to spend the majority of the fight in control on the ground, and he didn't. Lewis is a strong dude, literally stiffed armed the moon off of him.

Agreed. Nelson didn't get him to the ground quite enough and wasn't effective enough after he got there to overcome being sent to the moon, Alice, in the 1st and 3rd rounds.

Derrick Lewis' Buster Douglas-esque run to a shock title is coming off his freakish power and desire. This is HW MMA in 2016 after all. That guy doesn't need performance enhancers. He's just genetically super-strong.

[CPT]

Hadn't really thought about it until they talked about it on the Sherdog post-event podcast, but...is Eddie Alvarez now a top 5 LW of all time?

I think you have Penn and Gomi, wrightly or wrongly, as all-timers kind of ahead of the pack since they didn't have to deal with this kind of division in their prime. After that it's kind of a mess, with the next group being Bendo, Alvarez, Pettis, Edgar, Melendez in some order. I'm probably forgetting someone.

I could see having Edgar and Bendo ahead (more wins in that group, more title defenses), but Alvarez has the Japan stuff, being Bellator champ, and now UFC champ. The head to head wins and lack of losses against this group also helps.

[REDDzone]

He may be when you look at pure resume. For me personally though IDK. He has 4-5 huge wins on his resume including Chandler/Pettis/Melendez/RDA. I thought he lost two of those for sure (Pettis and Chandler) and Melendez was razor thin. Obviously RDA was a great win for him.

Speaking of, I wonder if Alvarez winning the title gives Cerrone motivation to come back to LW? Wasn't so long ago when Donald gave Eddie a kickboxing lesson.

[CPT]

He may be when you look at pure resume. For me personally though IDK. He has 4-5 huge wins on his resume including Chandler/Pettis/Melendez/RDA. I thought he lost two of those for sure (Pettis and Chandler) and Melendez was razor thin. Obviously RDA was a great win for him.

Speaking of, I wonder if Alvarez winning the title gives Cerrone motivation to come back to LW? Wasn't so long ago when Donald gave Eddie a kickboxing lesson.

There are a lot of those when you start looking at the actual fights and not just the records.

If Edgar is 1-1 against BJ instead of 2-0, that's a big hit to his resume. Actually, if Edgar loses the first fight to Penn, he doesn't get the second one, so what is his career like?

Bendo's wins over Edgar and Gil (at least) were very close, and arguably went the wrong way in a few cases. Those three wins really push him towards the top of this group when without them he'd be at the bottom or out of it completely.

I'll give Pettis a lot of credit for having finishes in many of his key wins.

[REDDzone]

Yea that's a good point. I for sure thought Edgar won Bendo II for example.