UFC / MMA

Duluth

I watched the open workouts yesterday

The pad work with Felder and Duke Roufus was the highlight. These workouts are generally a bit of fluff to build hype, but Felder dialled up the intensity
Seeing the speed of his elbows and spinning back fists up close was really impressive

Good to see Crute wrestle with Dan Kelly too

Crazy Horse

Hooker gets the win. This is the first time I have ever really watched UFC so I am not quite an expert yet, but was this a hometown decision? Felder looked like he was landing more decent strikes than Hooker. Hooker's takedowns at the end worth more than strikes?

Duluth

@Crazy-Horse

I scored it 3-2 Hooker at the event. Felder had a big 4th round

Duluth

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Only one judge gave Hooker the last (which ended with the Hooker takedown)

Personally I scored it the same as the blue judge. 2 & 5 very close rounds so the fight could've gone either way.

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raznomore

I thought Hooker lost. I felt the takedown was probably the determining factor for the judges as well as home town love. I don't think you can quite call it a robbery. Hooker started well with the kicks he placed but as it went on Felder's superior kickboxing showed out.

Kara-France was accurate but not spectacular.

Riddell was lucky those takedowns didn't count against him. If the Russian had been busier on top it wouldn't have been close enough to get a split decision. But Riddell probably sold himself better than any other fighter on the card, who didn't ko thier opponent.

Duluth

@raznomore said in UFC:

I thought Hooker lost. I felt the takedown was probably the determining factor for the judges as well as home town love. I don't think you can quite call it a robbery. Hooker started well with the kicks he placed but as it went on Felder's superior kickboxing showed out.

The judges voting is all over the place on this one. Which is not a surprise as there were so many close rounds
They only agree that the 4th goes to Felder and that the 1st goes to Hooker.

Personally I thought 3 was a clear Hooker round. So that leaves two toss up rounds that Felder needed to get both of

Toss a coin

It was a very good fight. That's getting over shadowed a bit

Duluth

@raznomore said in UFC:

Kara-France was accurate but not spectacular.

Riddell was lucky those takedowns didn't count against him. If the Russian had been busier on top it wouldn't have been close enough to get a split decision. But Riddell probably sold himself better than any other fighter on the card, who didn't ko thier opponent.

KKF had a speed advantage and just slowly pulled away. Nam has similar power and was still catching him often enough to be dangerous. I was worried he was going to get a late KO

Riddell was a strange fight.. if you were judging the whole fight at once he was the clear winner. He lost the first, won the 3rd easily.. 2 was razor thin

Duluth

Karolina - I hope that her was last fight. For whatever reason she isn't competitive with the top fighters anymore and she took a beating

I was only a few rows back plus the fighters all exited right past where I was sitting. Her face was a mess.
It was obvious in the first round the damage was serious. I thought the doctor might have stopped it, but her corner should have.

A broken orbital bone. She's stuck in NZ until surgery is done

Jake Matthews - because of these regional cards I've seen him fight 4 times now. Sometimes it appears he's all boxing or all wrestling. This is the first time he appeared to comfortably flow from one to the other

Jimmy Crute - that chain wrestling was spectacular.. particularly for someone from this part of the world. Hiring Dan Kelly full time was a great move

raznomore

@Duluth said in UFC:

Karolina - I hope that her was last fight. For whatever reason she isn't competitive with the top fighters anymore and she took a beating

I was only a few rows back plus the fighters all exited right past where I was sitting. Her face was a mess.
It was obvious in the first round the damage was serious. I thought the doctor might have stopped it, but her corner should have.

A broken orbital bone. She's stuck in NZ until surgery is done

My wife has suddenly gotten into this stuff which is good for me. But she thought Karolina was fighting her first fight. I said she was once a championship contender and my wife didn’t believe me. She look led that bad it’s hard to disagree.

She came out to the ring in tears. Something is very wrong.

mofitzy_

Would like to see the striking stats for Hooker v Felder. Many are saying it's a hometown decision but I've also heard Hooker actually landed more in the 5th. Felder certainly looks more damaged post fight.

Duluth

@mofitzy_

Stats | UFC

mofitzy_

@Duluth
Cheers, so if the stats are accurate then Hooker deserved his victory.

Duluth

Adesanya defends his title this weekend

I'm confident he'll win.. too fast and too elusive for Romero. Romero's crazy bursts of energy are always a threat though
I actually hope there is some wrestling in this match. We haven't seen Israel have to defend that yet, but his camp is very confident they can cope with it

Anyone picking Romero?

Also does anyone think Joanna has a chance vs Zhang? I'll be cheering for Jedrzejczyk but can't see her competing

Hooroo

@Duluth said in UFC:

Adesanya defends his title this weekend

I'm confident he'll win.. too fast and too elusive for Romero. Romero's crazy bursts of energy are always a threat though
I actually hope there is some wrestling in this match. We haven't seen Israel have to defend that yet, but his camp is very confident they can cope with it

Anyone picking Romero?

Also does anyone think Joanna has a chance vs Zhang? I'll be cheering for Jedrzejczyk but can't see her competing

Genuine question? Does he come out to the Lion King intro? AHHH DEN SAAANYA!!!!!

Feels like a missed opportunity if not.

Duluth

@Hooroo said in UFC:

Genuine question? Does he come out to the Lion King intro? AHHH DEN SAAANYA!!!!!

Feels like a missed opportunity if not.

Well that would be tougher than his dance routine.. this was his last fight entrance:

raznomore

I love Yoel. When he was called for cheating I was gutted. Happy when he was cleared obviously. He is a monster. He's a gargoyle carved out of granite. Olympic silver medal wrestler, flying knees, power punches. He's got a lot in the tank too. But Israel is too quick and too pinpoint.

I'm on team Joanna. It's more interesting with characters in the women's divisions. She is one few girls that gets cerebral on the mic. She speaks perfect English and says cool things. Sometimes it comes off sometimes it doesn't. But she has a personality when not a lot of the other girls do. I see she got bolt-ons recently. Not sure why any girl fighter would want that while they are active.

MiketheSnow

Romero and Zhang for me

MajorRage

@raznomore Wow, you are right. Why on earth would a UFC fighter want them? Surely they are a hinderance in the ring.

Duluth

@raznomore said in UFC:

I see she got bolt-ons recently. Not sure why any girl fighter would want that while they are active.

Yeah it seems counter productive

Pure speculation, but I would assume it's related to her ex-fiance cheating on her (she claims that's why she lost her belt)
Other fighters calling her gollum probably didn't help

raznomore

@Duluth they call her Gollum?? That’s rough.

She has the best coloured eyes I’ve seen in a while but when you’re walking around with A Brent Tate chin I’d imagine self esteem may be an issue.

The Silver Fern

UFC / MMA