by 50% of the fights went to the cards as 6 of 12 went the distance.
We need more finishes moving forward. If you start the main card at 10pm, and then it backs up to a first fight not even starting until 10:30pm you’re looking at a long night, mix that in with 6 fights on the main card and you are looking at a REALLY LONG night.
The judges were wrong a few times on my scorecard.
I had Miesha Tate winning rounds 2 and 3 of her fight, and the judges had it 29-28 across the board. I also feel they dropped the ball big time on the Daniel Marcos vs Montel Jackson fight. I had it 29-28 Marcos with him taking rounds 2 and 3. Meanwhile, the geniuses at ringside had it 30-27 across the board for Jackson. The fight stunk, but did they even bother watching it?
The Montel Jackson vs Daniel Marcos fight STUNK!
I was so excited for this fight and truly thought it would steal the show. Instead, it was a 15 fight snoozefest that even put the judges to sleep who missed the decision badly. ( see above note ) The fact that they didn’t even bother interviewing Jackson afterwards tells you everything you needed to know about this clunker.
Did Marina Rodriguez and Cameron Smotherman even want to be there?
Rodriguez got herself knocked out in the second by Gillian Robertson before retiring shortly after. Meanwhile Cameron Smotherman had a chance at the biggest win of his career against Serhiy Sidney. Instead, he stood still and got punched for 3 straight rounds, offering little in return. The fact that two of the three judges actually gave him a round in that lopsided affair stunned me.
Mason Jones vs Jeremy Stephens was the fight of the night.
On a night that was very much hit or miss, this fight easily stole the show. It got the main card started red hot before the next three fights slowed it to a crawl. These two spent three rounds pounding each other on their feet before Jones took the final minutes of the bout to ground Stephens and secure the win. Jones won 30-27 across the board and I had it that way too, but quite frankly, it was much closer than how the cards had it. A great fight!
The hype train for Bo Nickal needs to slow down drastically.
Nickal started his career 6-0 with 6 finishes and 5 of those coming in the first round. He was brought back down to Earth in November by Paul Craig, despite winning the decision. He was completely exposed last night as Reiner de Ridder dominated him in the first and then put him away for good with a shot to the liver, early into the second. Bo Nickal is not the next big thing as the shine is now long gone.
What in the world was Deiveson Figueiredo thinking?
Figueiredo spent the entire first round trying to sink in an ankle lock and couldn’t do it. Meanwhile he took a pounding from Cory Sandhagen. Remarkably he took the exact same approach to start the second round before the fight was stopped due to his injury. Ironically enough, to his knee. He has now lost two straight fights at Bantamweight and it appears that he should have stayed at flyweight.
We’ll be back at it later this week with a preview and predictions for UFC 315
