“ This is the battle of the cool names: Cheick Kongo vs Mustapha Al-Turk ” – Joe Rogan
Upsets Galore!
Cheick Kongo vs Mustapa Al-Turk
Kongo pulverized Turk at the end! And that was some powerful ground and pound that Kongo dished out, with an even more vicious elbows that busted open Al-Turk. That’s some crazy nasty pain there!
I think that Al-Turk wasn’t able to beat Kongo as he couldn’t impose even his own game.
Looking at his attempts in bringing down Kongo but always unsuccessful, that probably frustrated Al-Turk (which one has to commend on Kongo not able to be taken down). There was also that mistake of a kick that Turk that threw early on in which he was the one who got dropped. Besides, both of them accidentally kicked each other on the balls, that broke some of the fight momentum that was going on.
Whether or not the second time the ref temporarily held the fight when Kongo kicked Turk’s nuts, and whether or not that kicked took away Turk’s own momentum, but what was sure was that the moment Kongo really hit him, it was total domination onwards from the Frenchman. He had Turk pinned down against the cage, no escape, and the ground and pound that came afterwards was just inevitable timing before the ref stopped the fight before Turk can hold to any more beatings. I thought that at some moment when he was getting beat by a barrage of powerful strikes from Kongo, Turk tried to hold on, but the continuation of pounding made it seem just waiting to be stopped (and the moment blood came out, that was definitely the end). Even though as I wrote above, when the fight had to be temporarily stopped due to low strikes to the groin and it sort of pulled down the momentum and pace of the fight, but Kongo’s domination adds up my rating for this bout.
And Kongo’s win was the most brutal out of the 5 fights on the event’s main card.
Besides that, his first round win also brought out the Silva-Jackson fight quicker.
My Fight Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Quinton Jackson vs Wanderlei Silva
“They don’t want to touch gloves…” – Mike Goldberg
I cannot believe that this fight just ended in just 1 round! And Silva got dropped before both fighters even had any serious beating on them!But this is MMA, things like this are what can be expected. Nevertheless a great knockout from Jackson, that’s one powerful left hook!
I think that both fighters adopted a cautious strategy from the start, and even throughout the fight it was a real stand and bang from both men. Both seemed eager to hit and kept their distance from a safer spot before engaging again in a closer distance. Silva threw more leg kicks though (probably using the same strategy Griffin used on Rampage), perhaps to unsettle Jackson. But then I think that Rampage bidded his time, and when that shot came, he evaded’s Silva’s punches then BOOM that left hook came out and hit Silva, knocking the Brazilian down, quick end to the fight.
It was still a shock though, to see such a fight ended so quickly, and definitely not a good night for Wanderlei’s fans seeing that he’s now on the receiving end of many knockouts in last fights now (CroCop’s left high kick, Dan Henderson’s fist, and now Rampage’s hook).
I still find it hard to still accept that hook from Jackson knocked down Silva, but then again Jackson is a powerful hitter himself.
Now everybody can expect him to claim back that LHW title, and chasing down Rashad.
(And what was with Chuck Liddell shaking his fight after the fight ended?
Probably knows what it feels like to get hit by Rampage.
Or maybe, I think that he was shaking ‘cause now there could arise the possibility of a rematch between him and Wanderlei Silva, again. With both fighters now coming off a knockout loss, the UFC could pair them up on a future card, since they’re still among the top draws.)
Another quick fight, another knockout, adds to the fight rating.
My Fight Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
CB Dolloway vs Mike Massenzio
Well, another quick fight! What a roll the main card of UFC 92 was going through man, fast suspense and exhiliration all the way through (as it would be to the following after fight!).
Anyway, I think that Massenzio was doing good in attempting submissions when Dolloway was in his guard, but then things gone bad when they didn’t go his way, especially when Dolloway got on his back, and started punching Massenzio’s head. Dolloway gets another win, and improves his record, record and perhaps in getting a fight with another top fighter. I thought that he didn’t look as if he was in much danger when Massenzio was trying to sub him.
Just like the first fight between Kongo and Al-Turk brought out quicker the expected clash between Jackson and Silva, Dolloway’s quick win paved the way for a quicker beginning of the other highlt anticipated bout, Nogueira vs Mir (the biggest shock of the event, and perhaps the major upset).
My Fight Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Frank Mir
Noguiera’s loss, not only is it the main card’s biggest upset, and also being the event’s biggest upset as well, it could perhaps be the biggest upset of not only in the UFC this year but also for MMA in general.
Mir just dominated Nogueira all the way through. He attacked more (especially with boxing) and his boxing was better, they were more punches thrown and Mir showed he had not gassed out. Another thing to note was that Mir kept the fight standing, whenever Nog was on the ground Mir did not want any part of the ground game.
Noguiera on the other hand was really really bad.
Every aspect of his performance was poor. He couldn’t strike or counterstrike or even withstood against Mir’s boxing, And he didn’t seem o have the strength to carry on. Nog himself got knocked and dropped several times throughout the two rounds. Even though with Nog you keep thinking that he would be able to pull through in some ways, but in this fight that fact was dispelled to the ashes by Mir’s dominance.
This has to be Nogueira’s worst performance in his MMA career. There could be the evident and most probable cause that Big Nog has passed his prime now (evidently from the fight) and that time is now over him (many wars, many beatings).
" ..... it just shows… I'm proof you can do things. I didn't think I could beat Nogueira. If I was a betting man, I wasn't on Mir's side tonight. I came through this with the love of my family, my children, my wife, everybody.” - Frank Mir
My Fight Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Forrest Griffin vs Rashad Evans
Griffin kept the fight at his distance, utilizing leg kicks on Rashad throughout the first two rounds, and Rashad was unable to close the distance and hit Griffin.
But Rashad landed that punch during the third round that dropped Griffin, and the ensuing ground and pound from Rashad would go on and win him the fight. Though Griffin managed to survive the initial onslaught and seemed to controlled himself against the strikes, but it Rashad’s persistence of coming out and lashing out more strikes it ended up too much for Griffin and the ref stopped the fight in favor for Rashad.
Griffin was winning based on the performances from the 1st and 2nd round, but Rashad came up big in the third.
Thus a new champ for the LHW division.
My Fight Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Linked Chapter:
- Chapter 2: Predicting UFC 92
No comments:
Post a Comment