Huwebes, Nobyembre 28, 2013

Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks

www.mmaweekly.com

WINNER: St-Pierre
CONTROL: Hendricks (5:30)
TOTAL STRIKES: Hendricks (142-125)
SIGNIFICANT STRIKES: St. Pierre (101-85)
TAKE DOWNS: St. Pierre (3-2)
SUBMISSION ATTEMPTS: St. Pierre (1-0)
source: http://www.ufc.com/event/UFC167

Yet again, St. Pierre has retained the UFC welterweight belt on his waist, but there has been a lot of discussion whether or not St. Pierre did deserve his victory against Johny Hendricks. If one were to look at the faces of both of these competitors after the fight, then your obvious bet would be that Hendricks won the fight. After the fight, Hendricks had his face barely scratched, while St. Pierre had several scars and bruises on his face, and even claimed that he had lost memory after the fight.

Based on the stats above, St Pierre did win most of the criteria by a slight margin. But again, that's not what most people think. Most people were not convinced that St. Pierre won his title defense. As a fan of the UFC I've been watching most of Hendrick's fight before GSP, and I have to say that I am a big fan of his fighting style. That's why i rooted for him to win against St. Pierre. But frankly, I was dissappointed in Hendricks. There were some instances during the fight that he could've dominated St. Pierre, but he just didnt. He was too complacent and he kept his "cool" way too much.

The way Hendricks fought highlights the statement that as a challenger, you are down 1 point against a champion. On equal footing, yes, Hendricks would have won the fight. But on a belt fight, challengers should fight like they have nothing to loose because the scoring favors the champ even before the fighters enter the octagon.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Miyerkules, Nobyembre 27, 2013

What lead these fighters to their defeat?

 

Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson

WINNER: Jones
CONTROL: Jones (1:05)
TOTAL STRIKES: Gustafsson (191-120)
SIGNIFICANT STRIKES: Gustafsson (191-120)
TAKE DOWNS: Tied
SUBMISSION ATTEMPTS: None
source: http://www.ufc.com/event/UFC165

Indeed, Jones won the fight and once again retained his title as the undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion. But if you were someone who had no idea about what the UFC is, and you'd look at the stats above, you'd think otherwise right? I am a fan of the UFC and i was able to watch this fight, and in all honesty I think Gustaffson won the fight.

Just by looking at the total strikes landed, Gustafsson had Jones' number. Another thing to point is that the amount of damage that Jones did on Gustafsson was nothing compared to what Gustaffson did to him. Indeed, stats don't lie, but this is all just a spectators point of view, and what we see may differ from those of the judges. Jones did win the battle for control and from the fight, I did see that he was the one dictating the tempo of the fight, and maybe that matters most for the judges.

Still, how Jones performed could not fully convince everybody that he in fact, won the fight. Everyone might have their own opinion on how Jones won the fight, may be because of the money or something else. But for me, Jones won the fight because of the prominence of being the champion in that fight. 

People don't realize it but when you are sitting beside the ring and judging the fight, your mentality would be to favor the champion just  because of the whole idea that he is the champion so when a challenger steps into the ring, he is actually down by one point just by being a challenger. So for Gustafsson, he could have won the fight if he were more aggressive. Convince the judges by taking him down, and constantly applying pressure on Jones.