Sunday, September 6, 2015

UFC 191: Business As Usual For Mighty Mouse

UFC wasn't the exciting "lopsided beatdown" gauntlet that I expected, but it was alright.  Here are my thoughts on each match of the PPV:

VanZant vs. Alex Chambers: As expected, "12 Gauge" manhandled the much older "Astro Girl" for the entire match.  This was mostly with knees in the clinch to show off her Muay Thai training, but she also did a neat headlock takedown in the first round.  Chambers looked horrific, falling backwards after a takedown attempt in Round 1 and simply getting shoved to the ground in Round 2.  VanZant capped off the most exciting fight of the main card in Round 3 by hitting Chambers with an overhand right, dropping her with a knee, going for a rear naked choke, transitioning to mount, and using ground-and-pound before finishing with an armbar.  Needless to say, she deserves a big step up in competition after this easy payday, preferably against my favorite strawweight, Joanne Calderwood.

Winner: Paige "12 Gauge" VanZant (submission)

Blachowicz vs. Anderson:  Jon Jones deserved to be stripped of his title and suspended by the UFC due to his behavior outside of the cage.  At the same time, without him, the light heavyweight division (with the exception of Cormier, Rumble, Gustafsson and Teixiera) sucks.  More proof of that is this fight, where Anderson won by basically lying in either Blachowicz's guard or half-guard for two out of three rounds.  If Jones ever does come back, he should just leave this wasteland behind and move on to heavyweight. 

Winner: Corey Anderson (unanimous decision).

Johnson vs. Manuwa:  Manuwa managed to avoid getting knocked out by "Rumble" until Round 2.  That is an accomplishment in and of itself.  Meanwhile, "Rumble" should cash the check from this easy payday and celebrate, especially after winning "Knockout of the Night" with that left body kick and overhand right.

Winner: Anthony "Rumble" Johnson (KO)

Arlovski vs. Mir:  I actually thought Mir did enough to edge out Arlovski with his takedowns and top control, since the striking was equally awful.  But this fight was so terrible that one of these men bragging about winning it is like a turtle bragging about beating another turtle in the 50-yard dash.  Neither man was trying to go for a finish: there were points during the fight where Mir would just stand with his arms down and taunt Arlovski and Arlovski would just stare back.  Suffice it to say that if Arlovski gets a title shot and fights like this, he's doomed.

Winner: Andrei "Pitbull" Arlovski (unanimous decision)

Johnson vs. Dodson: There was a moment of humor where at the end of Round 3, "Mighty Mouse" caught Dodson with a flying knee, fell on his back, and, as soon as the bell rang, he scurried away through Herb Dean's legs.  He also took down "The Magician" with a couple of WWE-style slams (Dodson used his hands to soften the first one) in Round 5.  Other than that, this was just another day in the office for "Mighty Mouse": superior technical striking and speed en route to a dominant decision.  After he beats Silva's record, I hope he goes back to bantamweight so that he can fight opponents who will actually challenge him.

Winner (and still UFC flyweight champion): Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson (unanimous decision) 

  

                    

Saturday, September 5, 2015

UFC 191: My Predictions

The only thing shorter than this post will be tonight's PPV, because it's full of squash matches.  On the bright side, it should be exciting and will be a nice break after the horrendously long UFC 190 PPV.  Here are my predictions for tonight's card:

VanZant vs. Chambers: "Astro Girl" may rival "12 Gauge" in the looks department, but after VanZant's thrashing of Herrig in her last fight, I see a lopsided beating by the newcomer en route to a decision.

Winner: Paige VanZant

Blachowicz vs. Anderson: My gut tells me Blachowicz will get the KO in Round 2.

Winner: Jan Blachowicz

Johnson vs. Manuwa:  This is a clear tuneup fight for "Rumble."  Manuwa should be proud of himself if he gets out of Round 1 without getting KO'd.

Winner: Anthony Johnson

Arlovski vs. Mir: "Pitbull" has been on a tear, most recently knocking out Travis Browne within one round.  As much respect as I have for Mir, there's no way his chin is going to hold up in this fight.  I see another KO for Arlovski on his way to a title shot.

Winner:  Andrei Arlovski

Johnson vs. Dodson: Like Ronda Rousey, "Mighty Mouse" is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of his division.  In contrast, "The Magician" hasn't looked any different from his last title fight, especially after he was gifted a decision over Zach Makovsky in his last match (which I thought the latter won).  I see a clear decision win for Johnson en route to his quest to break Anderson Silva's record of title defenses.   

Winner (and still UFC flyweight champion): Demetrious Johnson.