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Originally Posted by HUSH
So yeah, Mamba was dominating the stand-up, but Crusher wasn't doing much on the ground when he passed Mamba's guard.
I think Mamba was robbed of a decision, and Crusher knew it. You could see it in his eyes.
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Mamba should have won the decision IMO. In the UFC he might have lost due to judges there scoring points per round and regularly giving rounds to people who get the takedown and LNP on top, and granted in Pride we saw the same thing when Ishida fought Melendez.
But come on Mamba clearly did more damage to Kawajiri, stuffed most of his takedowns, landed strikes while standing AND on the ground on his back while Kawajiri was in sidemount, AND nullified all of Kawajiri's offense from the top.
It was not unlike when Maurice Smith won the decision over Coleman back in the early UFCs.
Here is a repost of what I said earlier after I watched the event:
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Originally Posted by Mochan
Black Mamba vs. Kawajiri - this was a big surprise. Many people held Kawajiri to be one of the favorites in the tournament, a powerful wrestler who used his skills to inflict brutal ground and pound on his opponents. Mamba on the other hand is well-known for a great standup but a weak ground game. In this fight however, Gil truly brought the fight to Kawajiri. In a performance similar to the one Maurice Smith gave against Mark Coleman that earned him the unanimous decision and the UFC HW Belt, the Mamba upped his game with an impressive sprawl and an even more impressive, tight and deadly guard. For whilst Kawajiri did manage to nullify the Mamba’s standup for most of the fight and take the Canadian Indian fighter down multiple times, Kawajiri never managed to take advantage of his top position, whether in the guard or the multiple times that he passed to side mount and north south, and to back mount. Instead of going for ground and pound, he had to settle for sporadic submission attempts like a side choke and rear naked choke. All of which the Mamba deftly evaded.
In fact, Kultar totally nullified any offense Kawajiri had, and was even doing more damage from the bottom position with numerous small punches and even a well-timed knee to Kawajiri’s head while he was in sidemount. By the end of the fight Kultar Gill looked as fresh as when he started, whereas Kawajiri was noticeably tired, bloodied up and otherwise exhausted. So it came to me as a huge surprise when Dream’s judges gave the unanimous decision to Kawajiri. Judging from the look on his face, The Crusher knew that he didn’t won that fight, and even bowed deeply to his opponent and gave an apologetic consolation to the opposing corner. Whilst it was true that Kawajiri did manage to control the entire fight, Gill did more damage and nullfied every offensive move Kawajiri had to offer. In a way, he controlled the fight as well, except from the bottom position.
I can’t agree with the judge scoring, however the rules criteria do have aggression and ring control as primary criteria, so you could judge the fight in that manner. However, the rules also give weight to damage and Gill had the nod there. But in retrospect the judges would have given that to Kawajiri, as they have done in the past in the Melendez vs. Ishida fight under Yarrenoka (similar to this one, although Ishida too less damage than Kawajiri and was not as exhausted) or the Minowa Baroni fight (pretty similar to this one).
All in all we can say that the LW division needs to watch out, the Black Mamba is now a legitimate top contender and will terrorize this division from now onwards.
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