OT: Official MMA discussion thread pt 3 UFC 319: DDP vs Chimaev, Aaron Pico vs Lerone Murphy

[Guano]

I was wrong

[Buttah304]

I was wrong

That right hand was absolute filth. His striking is unbelievably clean, accurate and KO inducing. He’s got this flair about him the way he moves around the cage he seems hard to time/tricky movements

[HarthorneWingo]

We were wrong

Fixed.

[Guano]

I was wrong

That right hand was absolute filth. His striking is unbelievably clean, accurate and KO inducing. He’s got this flair about him the way he moves around the cage he seems hard to time/tricky movements

i'm always in awe of how boxers/fighters can judge the distance of punches then counter. rolling with a punch or letting it end right before your face then to fire back is one of the most impressive skills in sports.

[j4remi]

I was wrong

That right hand was absolute filth. His striking is unbelievably clean, accurate and KO inducing. He’s got this flair about him the way he moves around the cage he seems hard to time/tricky movements

i'm always in awe of how boxers/fighters can judge the distance of punches then counter. rolling with a punch or letting it end right before your face then to fire back is one of the most impressive skills in sports.

That punch was such perfection. Aljo got caught reaching and O'Malley's accuracy took over. Suga's patience and clinch defense in the quick scramble after he tripped are both testaments to how locked in he was. That reminded me of Garbrandt vs Cruz, where a guy has always been good. But for one night, he was completely in the zone.

[Clyde_Style]

That right hand was absolute filth. His striking is unbelievably clean, accurate and KO inducing. He’s got this flair about him the way he moves around the cage he seems hard to time/tricky movements

i'm always in awe of how boxers/fighters can judge the distance of punches then counter. rolling with a punch or letting it end right before your face then to fire back is one of the most impressive skills in sports.

That punch was such perfection. Aljo got caught reaching and O'Malley's accuracy took over. Suga's patience and clinch defense in the quick scramble after he tripped are both testaments to how locked in he was. That reminded me of Garbrandt vs Cruz, where a guy has always been good. But for one night, he was completely in the zone.

Occasionally you get a guy with length and pop who has a good feel for angles. O'Malley has that Tommy Hearns ability to smoke guys when they leave him daylight to sneak in a punch. The other quality is his footwork and upper body leans. What I mean by that is he gets his angles with good footwork and those angles allow Sean to lean away from incoming punches and still have a grounded footing that gives him punching leverage.

That's what happened against Sterling. After a round Sterling felt he had to crowd OMalley (he did), but he did it by throwing longer punches instead of bobbing and weaving and keeping up his hands. He got caught lunging and OMalley is the perfect fighter to make someone pay for that mistake.

BIG PROPS to Brad Katonah and Cody Gibson. That was the fight of the night. I hope Gibson gets a contract too. That was a classic quality confrontation. Katonah has real grit. He went into 5th gear in the 3rd round and willed his way to victory. They're both entertaining fighters. Great fight

[j4remi]

Occasionally you get a guy with length and pop who has a good feel for angles. O'Malley has that Tommy Hearns ability to smoke guys when they leave him daylight to sneak in a punch. The other quality is his footwork and upper body leans. What I mean by that is he gets his angles with good footwork and those angles allow Sean to lean away from incoming punches and still have a grounded footing that gives him punching leverage.

That's what happened against Sterling. After a round Sterling felt he had to crowd OMalley (he did), but he did it by throwing longer punches instead of bobbing and weaving and keeping up his hands. He got caught lunging and OMalley is the perfect fighter to make someone pay for that mistake.

BIG PROPS to Brad Katonah and Cody Gibson. That was the fight of the night. I hope Gibson gets a contract too. That was a classic quality confrontation. Katonah has real grit. He went into 5th gear in the 3rd round and willed his way to victory. They're both entertaining fighters. Great fight

O'Malley's distance management is elite. I'd have to think about it for a while, but I doubt I could come up with 5 active fighters in the UFC that can control the gaps as well or better than Suga (Volk and Adesanya come to mind, prime Wonderboy but not the current version). I'm glad you mentioned angles, because angling out is something even great fighters in pure striking sports don't lock down. Tall guys in particular can get away with moving straight back...until an opponent catches on and starts to double or triple up on their strikes (the double-jab is an easy tool that's incredibly effective).

Aljo is a pretty good example of a long fighter developing some bad habits because he can get away with it. Aljo shoots gaps without so much as a feint, and it's gotten him KO'ed twice now (first with Marlon Moraes). He's gotten away with the habit against some others (Cejudo was a bit to short to land flush but had the counter-knees queued up).

Katona vs Gibson was EPIC! Heading into that fight, I though Cody had the better performances, but Katona was all heart. I hope both guys can make some waves, they have the talent and sometimes it takes adversity for fighters to take another step (ie: Brandon Moreno's entire career).

[j4remi]

I was out for the weekend and fights played at the crack of dawn, so I missed this weekend's card...except for Max Holloway. Yall know Max is my favorite fighter to watch, so I made sure to check him out KO'ing The Korean Zombie (TKZ) and then TKZ's retirement. I'm glad I got watch that, because TKZ is pretty much universally loved in this sport. He has always been the type to refuse to backdown; he'd get hit with everything and keep coming forward.

Unfortunately, he went out on his shield in that same fashion. After two rounds taking a beating, TKZ came out in the third and literally never took a step backward. So, speaking of distance management, check out Max here. He leads the dance, deciding when to plant and exchange, and then he angles out to reset. After a couple of these exchanges, Max lines up a homerun haymaker.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

So TKZ hung 'em up having done everything but win the championship. He fought all the top dogs and hung with a lot of 'em. Meanwhile, Max has put together an absolutely ridiculous resume at just 31 years old.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Max (31) is actually a couple of months YOUNGER than Islam Makhachev (31). For perspective, Volkanovski's 34; Yair Rodriguez is 30; Arnold Allen is 29; Brian Ortega is 32...that's the top-5 other than Max, who's just been around way longer and fought top competition for much longer. I've told yall about longevity, it comes with every opponent having more and more film to work with against you. So to last that long at the peak of the sport is all-timer stuff.

Other key results:
- Erin Blanchfield won again...she needs a title shot asap.

- Anthony Smith beat Ryan Spann, I caught the tail end of this and Spann looked like he was ahead from everything I watched. But I only saw one round.

- Giga Chikadze made his return and beat Alex Caceres aka Bruce Leroy. Caceres broke his arm blocking a kick in the first round.

So...I've got some replays to watch, and Max is the best second-best fighter in a division ever.

[HarthorneWingo]

Max looked great against Zombie. But, to me, the best moment in that fight was when Max had Zombie on the mat with some kind of chokehold on him and it was tight. Zombie looked like he was done ... AND THEN slowly was able to stand up, get out of the hold (Max released bc his arms were getting tired), stood up and unleashed a short barrage of punches before the end of the round. One last Zombie moment.

[HarthorneWingo]

Sean Strickland

Watch on YouTube

[Clyde_Style]

Occasionally you get a guy with length and pop who has a good feel for angles. O'Malley has that Tommy Hearns ability to smoke guys when they leave him daylight to sneak in a punch. The other quality is his footwork and upper body leans. What I mean by that is he gets his angles with good footwork and those angles allow Sean to lean away from incoming punches and still have a grounded footing that gives him punching leverage.

That's what happened against Sterling. After a round Sterling felt he had to crowd OMalley (he did), but he did it by throwing longer punches instead of bobbing and weaving and keeping up his hands. He got caught lunging and OMalley is the perfect fighter to make someone pay for that mistake.

BIG PROPS to Brad Katonah and Cody Gibson. That was the fight of the night. I hope Gibson gets a contract too. That was a classic quality confrontation. Katonah has real grit. He went into 5th gear in the 3rd round and willed his way to victory. They're both entertaining fighters. Great fight

O'Malley's distance management is elite. I'd have to think about it for a while, but I doubt I could come up with 5 active fighters in the UFC that can control the gaps as well or better than Suga (Volk and Adesanya come to mind, prime Wonderboy but not the current version). I'm glad you mentioned angles, because angling out is something even great fighters in pure striking sports don't lock down. Tall guys in particular can get away with moving straight back...until an opponent catches on and starts to double or triple up on their strikes (the double-jab is an easy tool that's incredibly effective).

Aljo is a pretty good example of a long fighter developing some bad habits because he can get away with it. Aljo shoots gaps without so much as a feint, and it's gotten him KO'ed twice now (first with Marlon Moraes). He's gotten away with the habit against some others (Cejudo was a bit to short to land flush but had the counter-knees queued up).

Katona vs Gibson was EPIC! Heading into that fight, I though Cody had the better performances, but Katona was all heart. I hope both guys can make some waves, they have the talent and sometimes it takes adversity for fighters to take another step (ie: Brandon Moreno's entire career).

Yeah, that skill set is very rare. I don't know MMA like you do, but I couldn't think of anyone else. It's a good thing he's working on his other skills, especially his take down defense.

That is where Conor kind of fell apart and so far Sean seems better at it. Conor was a truly great striker, but kind of crap at everything else. It was enough for him to run the table for a while, but not enough to have any longevity.

OMalley will meet his version of Khabib and we'll find out if he can transcend. I'm not sure, because MMA is not boxing and chit happens in this sport. I doubt Sean will hold the title for a long time unless he can stop every great wrestler down the pike. Until then, he could keep smoking guys because his combination of length, angles, range and leverage with good vision are pretty lethal.

Overall, I truly enjoy fighters like Omalley because there is a purity to their execution. My other sports idol besides Clyde was Ali and that man was gifted. Omalley has gifts. I hope he uses them well.

Also, I was sure Gibson was going to win it after 2 rounds. He was so good. They both were, but he was so crisp and locked in. That's what made Katonah's victory so impressive. He really had to dominate that third to pull it out and he did. One of the best fights I've seen in a while

[Clyde_Style]

Sean Strickland

Watch on YouTube

Take a shot of tequila every time he looks at her boobs and you'll be drunk by the time the video is over (and I only watched 40 seconds)

[Clyde_Style]

Max looked great against Zombie. But, to me, the best moment in that fight was when Max had Zombie on the mat with some kind of chokehold on him and it was tight. Zombie looked like he was done ... AND THEN slowly was able to stand up, get out of the hold (Max released bc his arms were getting tired), stood up and unleashed a short barrage of punches before the end of the round. One last Zombie moment.

Max was several hammer fists away from a stoppage and in an act of mercy he stepped away expecting the ref to stop it

I thought he was done as a fighter, but he's looking pretty solid lately. He had some pop to his punches too

[Clyde_Style]

I was out for the weekend and fights played at the crack of dawn, so I missed this weekend's card...except for Max Holloway. Yall know Max is my favorite fighter to watch, so I made sure to check him out KO'ing The Korean Zombie (TKZ) and then TKZ's retirement. I'm glad I got watch that, because TKZ is pretty much universally loved in this sport. He has always been the type to refuse to backdown; he'd get hit with everything and keep coming forward.

Unfortunately, he went out on his shield in that same fashion. After two rounds taking a beating, TKZ came out in the third and literally never took a step backward. So, speaking of distance management, check out Max here. He leads the dance, deciding when to plant and exchange, and then he angles out to reset. After a couple of these exchanges, Max lines up a homerun haymaker.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

So TKZ hung 'em up having done everything but win the championship. He fought all the top dogs and hung with a lot of 'em. Meanwhile, Max has put together an absolutely ridiculous resume at just 31 years old.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Max (31) is actually a couple of months YOUNGER than Islam Makhachev (31). For perspective, Volkanovski's 34; Yair Rodriguez is 30; Arnold Allen is 29; Brian Ortega is 32...that's the top-5 other than Max, who's just been around way longer and fought top competition for much longer. I've told yall about longevity, it comes with every opponent having more and more film to work with against you. So to last that long at the peak of the sport is all-timer stuff.

Other key results:
- Erin Blanchfield won again...she needs a title shot asap.

- Anthony Smith beat Ryan Spann, I caught the tail end of this and Spann looked like he was ahead from everything I watched. But I only saw one round.

- Giga Chikadze made his return and beat Alex Caceres aka Bruce Leroy. Caceres broke his arm blocking a kick in the first round.

So...I've got some replays to watch, and Max is the best second-best fighter in a division ever.

Max's KO was superb, pretty much textbook boxing in terms of duck and counter.

The Smith-Spann fight was badly judged. Spann won. That said, Smith was brilliant in the first round, but he was hurt after that and compromised and Spann def won the rest of the fight. It's a shame though, because from a skill POV Smith was superior, but Spann did win due to circumstances.

[HarthorneWingo]

Max looked great against Zombie. But, to me, the best moment in that fight was when Max had Zombie on the mat with some kind of chokehold on him and it was tight. Zombie looked like he was done ... AND THEN slowly was able to stand up, get out of the hold (Max released bc his arms were getting tired), stood up and unleashed a short barrage of punches before the end of the round. One last Zombie moment.

Max was several hammer fists away from a stoppage and in an act of mercy he stepped away expecting the ref to stop it

I thought he was done as a fighter, but he's looking pretty solid lately. He had some pop to his punches too

He clearly has a lot of love and respect for Zombie.

[Clyde_Style]

Max looked great against Zombie. But, to me, the best moment in that fight was when Max had Zombie on the mat with some kind of chokehold on him and it was tight. Zombie looked like he was done ... AND THEN slowly was able to stand up, get out of the hold (Max released bc his arms were getting tired), stood up and unleashed a short barrage of punches before the end of the round. One last Zombie moment.

Max was several hammer fists away from a stoppage and in an act of mercy he stepped away expecting the ref to stop it

I thought he was done as a fighter, but he's looking pretty solid lately. He had some pop to his punches too

He clearly has a lot of love and respect for Zombie.

Yeah, it was a love thang

[j4remi]

Sean Strickland

Watch on YouTube

I used to get annoyed by Strickland because I thought he was a try-hard (my least favorite people). But after a LOT of cringiness with some hilarious moments mixed in, I think that's really just how Sean is. He's a goofy dude, and ignorant as all hell, but he actually seems like he'll embrace anyone that can roll with the punches.

Sean's like the character Ian Garry keeps trying to play. But Sean's sincere about it.

That said, I think Izzy takes Strickland's head off. Sean's hands are always too low for my liking and it got him murked by Pereira and Izzy will set something up if he has time to calibrate.

Max looked great against Zombie. But, to me, the best moment in that fight was when Max had Zombie on the mat with some kind of chokehold on him and it was tight. Zombie looked like he was done ... AND THEN slowly was able to stand up, get out of the hold (Max released bc his arms were getting tired), stood up and unleashed a short barrage of punches before the end of the round. One last Zombie moment.

Max was several hammer fists away from a stoppage and in an act of mercy he stepped away expecting the ref to stop it

I thought he was done as a fighter, but he's looking pretty solid lately. He had some pop to his punches too

He clearly has a lot of love and respect for Zombie.

Yeah, there aren't many fighters as beloved as Zombie in this sport. Usually guys have some fans and some haters, but TKZ is the rare universally liked fighter. He also lost a chunk of his best years to military service, so there's a bit of "what it" involved to his career arcs.

[j4remi]

Yeah, that skill set is very rare. I don't know MMA like you do, but I couldn't think of anyone else. It's a good thing he's working on his other skills, especially his take down defense.

That is where Conor kind of fell apart and so far Sean seems better at it. Conor was a truly great striker, but kind of crap at everything else. It was enough for him to run the table for a while, but not enough to have any longevity.

OMalley will meet his version of Khabib and we'll find out if he can transcend. I'm not sure, because MMA is not boxing and chit happens in this sport. I doubt Sean will hold the title for a long time unless he can stop every great wrestler down the pike. Until then, he could keep smoking guys because his combination of length, angles, range and leverage with good vision are pretty lethal.

Overall, I truly enjoy fighters like Omalley because there is a purity to their execution. My other sports idol besides Clyde was Ali and that man was gifted. Omalley has gifts. I hope he uses them well.

Absolutely on the gifts and will to develop from Suga. When Sean entered the UFC, his ground game was AWFUL. He was easy to takedown, and his grappling looked shoddy. Within a couple of years he was competing in grappling competitions and at this stage, his takedown defense has improved by light years. The kid has put in a TON of work and it shows.

O'Malley's Khabib could be Merab Dvallishvili, who has basically been waiting for Aljo to drop the belt before he steps in. Merab's not the submission grappler that Aljo is, but he's a much more disciplined wrestler. Merab'll accept a clinch against the cage and just stall an opponent out for cheap points and he's RELENTLESS. But we're not far from the implementation of new rules against stalling and I can't think of a fighter that could lose more value than Merab.

Ironically, Conor didn't meet his match until he moved up a division. That might be the case for O'Malley too. Volk is a TERRIBLE match-up for Sean and Ilia Topuria isn't much better. That's not to mention that Sean vs Max would be poetry in motion. I could picture a world where Max and Volk have declined while Suga, Topuria, and Arnold Allen are lording over the 145 lbs division.

Also, I was sure Gibson was going to win it after 2 rounds. He was so good. They both were, but he was so crisp and locked in. That's what made Katonah's victory so impressive. He really had to dominate that third to pull it out and he did. One of the best fights I've seen in a while

It reminded me of the value of TUF. TUF always got ratings boosts out of the popular coaches and drama; but it was watching the dudes fighting to take their careers to another level that made it worthwhile. Littered throughout any good season of TUF is a handful of performances where guys truly stepped up and shined. Forest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar will always be the example of this, but there were more (Pantoja vs Moreno on their season of TUF...you could see that those two were built different and that was in the quarter-finals).

[HarthorneWingo]

What’s going on with Khamzat?

[j4remi]

What’s going on with Khamzat?

Scheduled to fight Paulo Costa in October. It's a great fight IF both guys make it. Neither guy has made it to the octagon this calendar year