Gomi/Griffin: Man that was one hell of a punch. Griffin can protest all he wants, but he was face down and had his arms flat ... no chance of recovery what so ever. Gomi will always be a threat with that balls out power. Griffin has lost two in a row so he needs to get back on track if he wants to stay relevant in the division. Kurt Pellegrino or Joe Stevenson would be good fights. Gomi vs. Stevenson is something I want to see too.
Ellenberger/Howard: Great performance by Ellenberger. I really thought Howard might pull out the win out of nowhere when he had Ellenberger rocked a couple times, but Jake really used his strong wrestling base to get Howard on his back, keep him there, and get his shots in when he could. Howard's eye was just gross, that was a legit stoppage. I think Ellenberger vs Rory MacDonald makes A LOT of sense and Howard could use a come back fight against a newcomer.
Munoz/Okami: I had Okami winning the first and third rounds, so I'm not sure where Cecil Peoples pulled out his scores. Okami's stand up looks really good, but Munoz was able to answer back with his wild, go for broke hay makers. Is it just me, or does Munoz's set ups and shots look super ugly despite his wrestling pedigree? Okami could be one win away from a title shot, and with Alan Belcher out of his fight with Maia, if Okami is healthy he could step up. Munoz is back to the drawing board so a fight with Brian Stann could be a good way to go.
Jones/Janitor: Wow, enough dicking around, just give Jones some tougher competition. Jones vs Forrest would make a lot of sense and would give Jones that upper level push without putting him in there with someone like Rashad, Rampage, or Little Nog. Tough break for Vlad, but he should be able to bounce back nicely and settle in as a gatekeeper.
HAYDUKEN!!!!! Big win for Gomi. Jon Jones takes care of business and instead of working on his stand up against someone he had a major reach advantage on and a lot more tools, he gets the take down and puts The Janitor away. I think the stoppage was a little premature but luckily Vlad did not complain. I mean, would it really have mattered if Herb Dean would have let Jones thrown 10 more elbows? 3 things in those 5 seconds most likely would have happened: The Jantor taps out, same as Vera did. He gets knocked out and Herb Dean can rightly stop it. Vlad escapes, rolls out, or just stalls Jones. All of these scenarios should be allowed to happen. The ref's job is not to decide the outcome of the fight, it is to keep the fighters sae and make sure they follow the rules. Sure Jones was hurting Vlad bad but no one was going to die. Why stop it? Let the fighters fight. If he is unconscious then it is Dean's job to protect that fighter. If this was the end of the 3rd round and Jones had landed a hundred solid strikes in 12+ minutes then I would worry about the crucifix and the barrage of punches accumulating. Early stoppages, standing up fighters, and breaking up clinches is nothing more than a ref affecting the outcome of a fight in ways they are not entitled to. Sure 2 heavyweights leaning on each other against the cage for 15 minutes is boring but have you ever watched baseball? If the White Sox and Orioles are both hitless after 6 innings and it is a boring game does the umpire let the batters hit off tea? Or not let the pitchers throw breaking balls? It takes to fighters to make a boring fight and if someone is holding you against the cage, find a way to get up. I digress though, Jones needs to fight again in the next 3 months and I do not care who it is again at this point. The boy is ready for a top 10 fighter but at23 does not need to sit on the shelf for 6+ months to wait for that fight.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Matt Riddel is HUGEEEEE. I heard in an interview he got up to 225 between fights and had to stop lifting during this camp to fall just above 200. Nutso.
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