Sunday, July 30, 2017

UFC 214 Review


It has been one day since UFC 214 and the shock and awes are in full effect this morning. Welcome to GET THE KO and I am excited to provide you my feed back on the main fight card with other fights that I loved to watch. A lot of questions were answered and it was an amazing night. Sure there was a dud fight and I will touch on that later on in the night. Let's get started:

MAIN EVENT CARD

JIMI MANUWA VS VOLKAN OEZDEMIR



This was the quickest fight of the night and we expected some big bombs to be dropped. What we did not expect was how quick the fight would be. On the podcast last Sunday night Anthony and I both predicted Volkan would come out swinging and finish this fight, and he did. In 22 seconds we saw Volkan finish Jimi. Once they were in the clinch and against the fence Volkan landed two big bombs in which Jimi could not recover on and was finished. It was a great win for Volkan, and he ultimately called out the winner of the DC vs Bones Jones fight, with a win last night I think he deserved it.

Robbie Lawler vs Donald Cerrone



On the podcast Anthony and I were sure Donald would be able to control the fight with his length, but when the bell rang all that went out the window. In the first few seconds the bell rang, Lawler came out swinging immediately and threw Donald off his game instantly. Donald does have a tendency of starting off a fight slowly and then gaining momentum. Lawler in the first round never gave Donald the chance to start off. He began to tee off and Cowboy failed to implement his game plan. However in the second round Lawler felt he had the fight won and began to ease off the throttle, however Donald began to get in his groove and land shots. Robbie knew the third round was going to be his and took over immediately, implemented the first round game plan. Donald could not get his game plan back, and it showed. Robbie deserved the win and it was great to see, now I want to see if he gets a title shot against the winner of Woodley vs Maia.

Cris Cyborg vs Tonya Evinger



This is one of my three surprise fights of the night. It was more than obvious this weight class for Cyborg, she was meant to be the champ for the UFC and we did not expect anything less from Cyborg. After two different women turned the fight, with one of the being a champion, Tonya Evinger wanted to step up to the plate and fight. For three rounds Tonya stood toe-to-toe with Cyborg and did not back down, sure when she was getting hit she needed to back away and recoup. However when Cyborg would commit, Tonya did everything she could to turn the fight into a dirty match up to favor her. However Cyborg is a veteran of the sport and refused to fall into the trap. She is a truly an artist in her style of fighting and made it a great fight. It ended in the third round but, give props to Tonya for taking a fight on short notice. Tonya was amazing and I am sure she will be ready for her next fight in the future. As for Cyborg, I would love to see Holly Holm get her shot at Cyborg at the next title defense.

Tyron Woodley vs Damian Maia



This was a bore fest of a fight. Woodley and Maia refused to throw punches and made the fight longer than it needed to be. Woodley did defend 21 take downs from Maia. Five rounds of little punches and many take downs defended. Now I want to see someone like Woodley vs Lawler fight again.

Jon "Bones" Jones vs Daniel "DC" Cormier



This was a fight two years in the making and needed to finally happen. DC had a lot of animosity towards Jones especially when he had only lost to Jones. Jones needed to win this fight to show he has never lost a step. With his two brothers in the crowd, Jones seemed motivated to win the fight. It is not like he needed extra motivation to fight. DC came out of the gates and wanted to initiate his game plan however, Jones needed to use his size to win the fight. Jones picked his shots and took full advantage of them. He beat up DC from top to bottom, head to shin, and never let up on the fight. Both fighters did great in defending each others take downs (0-6 between the two). Eventually in the third round it was a head kick that DC never saw coming, that lead to his downfall, because Jones was mixing his shots so well. DC thought a low kick was coming predicted wrong and was hit with a vicious head shot in the third round that ended his night.

Let us not take anything away from DC, I had the fight scored 1-1 going into the third round. DC was a great champion and utilized his game plan every time. He was not afraid to face anyone and took the fight to everyone. Whether you were Rumble or Alexander, he took on the best and it was great to see him do it.

Let's move to the more interesting call out in UFC history. Jon "Bones" Jones after both interviews were done grabbed the mic and said "Brock Lesnar, if you want to know what it feels like to get your ass kicked by a guy who weighs 40 pounds less than you meet me in the octagon". My jaw dropped to the ground when this call out happened. It was reported earlier this week that Jones wants to fight Brock, in which Brock responded saying "Anytime, Anywhere." As of today and the infamous mic drop moment Brock has said "Be careful what you wish for, young man." Now Brock has to go through six months of testing before he can be fully clear to compete, but he has been reinstated in the USADA since then. He began testing back in early July and putting blood samples back in. This is a fight that could take off and be planned for November (if the UFC by passes two months of testing) but more than likely will take place after March. Brock is still currently under contract with the WWE and it will end and Brock will be a free agent.

Surprise fights for the night:

 Aljamain Sterling vs Renan Barao

This was the second of three surprising fights for me of the night. Barao I thought would want to the fight as he battles to get back in to title contention. He has currently lost 5 of his last six fights and does not seem to get his bearing straight at all. Though he did score two take downs in the fight, he also ate a lot of strikes during the fight. Sterling worked his game plan and did an amazing job so congrats to him. During the podcast I said this would be a fight to watch and unfortunately Barao did not show up to it and it was disappointing.

Kailin Curran vs Alexandra Albu

Let's be honest I have not shied away from the fact I love Hawaiian fighters and Kailin Curran is no exception to it. Though her time in the UFC has not been well to her, she is a brawler and loves to make fights dirty. She is willing to take a punch and deliver them as well. However, I would not be lying if I did not say Alexandra did not catch my eye. She was great on her striking and her take down game, she was not worried too much about what Kailin knew. Alexandra was looking at her fight and was happy with her game plan and she did well.

Fight of the Night:

Brian Ortega vs Renato Moicano

This was the fight of the night and Dana picked this correctly. Ortega ate a lot of punches but what made this fight even better was two guys standing in the pocket and trading blows. It literally felt like one guy who throw and then tag the other guy and let him throw his punches. Just like Joe Rogan I was very surprised to see Moicano look for the take down in the third round against a person like Ortega (who is a deadly black belt). Moicano took the fight to the ground on a great shot but, Ortega was ready for the take down and got the guillotine choke and ended the night. The crowd loved this fight, I am sure people at home loved this fight, and Dana loved this fight. I can not wait to see if there is a part 2 to this fight next year.

With the UFC heading toward Madison Square Garden in November 2017, it will be interesting to see what they bring next. I look forward to seeing all of the fights to be announced but for now it sounds like GSP vs Bisping will be the headliner for that fight.

Also with Jones vs DC in the books, we all know what fight to look forward to in August and the anticipation is killing most of us. Mayweather vs McGregor is going to be massive and exciting to see.

Let me know what you are excited about. Also do not forget the podcast will be on later today www.anchor.fm/gettheko. You guys can now subscribe to the podcast on your android and apple devices just go to the Google Play Store or Itunes search for GET THE KO and you will find it there. Thank you for those who have subscribed already, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

No comments:

Post a Comment