Grappling in the WEC 31/UFN (spoilers)

wOg · 12-12-2007, 11:31 PM

1. WEC 31: What did you see? What did you like?

Doug Marshall's armlock? Nice smooth transition from the triangle to the armlock. I remember seeing Marshall moving the guy's elbow in and thinking, here we go ...

Jens Pulver's choke? Personally, I've never been happier to see a submission win. Great for Jens! He looked sharp in finishing that choke.

Paulo Filho's armlock? No problems with the refs call. The ref is there to protect the fighter. If a ref sees the arm extended and hears the fighter screaming, then you can't blame him for stopping the fight. That said, the WEC should give Sonnen some good fights. He looked good.

2. What did you think of Faber's defense against Curran's back control and RNC attack? How much glove-grabbing was going on? And didn't that fight resemble Faber's fight against Bibiano, who also got Faber's back early but then lost due to a cut he sustained while Faber was in his guard?

3. UFC Fight Night: I loved War Machine's crossover sweep/hip heist against J-Rock. My absolute favorite/best sweep from the guard ever since I saw Carlos Newton catch Matt Hughes with it twice in their first contest.

DaRuckus337 · 12-12-2007, 11:59 PM

I was blow away by Faber. He was unquestionably the better grappler out there. His aggressiveness gave up mount and back control in the first minute of the fight, but he navigated himself out of it calmly and without ever being in serious jeopardy. He controlled and confused Curran for the 60 seconds he had him in guard with his bizarre leg-cradle, and he eventually finished the fight by pulling off a great guillotine. The fact of the matter is that Faber DOMINATED a gracie black belt on the ground, and did so in exciting and dramatic fashion.

I personally didn't like the Filho call, by the way. Nine seconds left in the round with the fight up 2 rounds to 0 asking the ref to let him continue, and he jumps in and stops it. I would leave the decision up to the athlete in such a situation - it's just an elbow, worst comes to worst he sustains and orthopedic injury and sits out for a couple of months. It's not like head trauma from a GnP beating or something.

dar185 · 12-13-2007, 12:06 AM

Horrible stoppage in the Filho fight.

Magooglie · 12-13-2007, 12:16 AM

I have no idea why they put an unknown ref in for a title fight. Someone call Steve Mazzagatti if Chael and Filho have a rematch.
And I remember those Newton sweeps. Very smooth and powerful, like he lifted Hughes with his hips.

Intalo · 12-13-2007, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaRuckus337

I was blow away by Faber. He was unquestionably the better grappler out there. His aggressiveness gave up mount and back control in the first minute of the fight, but he navigated himself out of it calmly and without ever being in serious jeopardy. He controlled and confused Curran for the 60 seconds he had him in guard with his bizarre leg-cradle, and he eventually finished the fight by pulling off a great guillotine. The fact of the matter is that Faber DOMINATED a gracie black belt on the ground, and did so in exciting and dramatic fashion.
.

LOL. OH WOW. I guess Eddie Bravo dominated Royler just b/c he caught him with a triangle after having his guard passed 7237587236 times. Just wow at everyone praising Faber's performance. WOW.

ryouboard · 12-13-2007, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Intalo

LOL. OH WOW. I guess Eddie Bravo dominated Royler just b/c he caught him with a triangle after having his guard passed 7237587236 times. Just wow at everyone praising Faber's performance. WOW.

A win's a win. And I didn't think the ref stoppage of the Filho fight was that bad. Filho was going to snap that thing in another two seconds. Ref's there to protect the fighters. And refs have stopped fights before even when there's no verbal tap, like Renzo/Sakuraba. Still justified.

kaboom187 · 12-13-2007, 01:41 AM

you can't grimace and shout and expect the fight to not be stopped.

Mithra · 12-13-2007, 02:22 AM

I was really impressed by Faber, not sure how much was his technique and how much was his sheer speed and explosiveness.

He looked unreal, I'm not a big fan of his(he has the "arrogant jock" attitude going on) but he definitely has some unreal ability

Regalius · 12-13-2007, 04:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magooglie

I have no idea why they put an unknown ref in for a title fight. Someone call Steve Mazzagatti if Chael and Filho have a rematch.
And I remember those Newton sweeps. Very smooth and powerful, like he lifted Hughes with his hips.

Sonnen is a good fighter. He has a lot of fights at 205. He is predominantly a ground and pounder from the guard. He often gets caught for being to wild with his punches while on top as we saw against Filho. By no means is he a nobody?

Magooglie · 12-13-2007, 05:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regalius

Sonnen is a good fighter. He has a lot of fights at 205. He is predominantly a ground and pounder from the guard. He often gets caught for being to wild with his punches while on top as we saw against Filho. By no means is he a nobody?

Reread my post. And ask questions such as "Why is Steve Mazzagatti being mentioned?"