π¬π§
Good evening fellow hivers, Sport Talk Socialers, or Social Sport Talkers!
I am Ed. I normally don't talk much, my friend @dandays says that I shouldn't even speak, because when i babble all you can hear is my French accent, and then people tend to stop listening to me.
This is why I don't think the video format would work for talking about MMA, it's a pity because it's one of my favourite subject!
Today we will talk about the last weekend event, and what it means for the division, for England, and for the Queen!
Till vs Brunson
So, it's really easy for me to say now, but I knew exactly how this one would go. I don't know if you remember what happened last time Darren Till faced a wrestler, but it didn't look good for him. Yeah, that's my boy T wood on that hyperlink that I nonchalantly (second time I used this word in one week) dropped to make a point.
He secured a "d'Arce" on Darren when the man was still a starving welterweight and has lost 4 ouf his 5 fights ever since.
Does this mean that Darren needs to go back to welterweight as Bisping suggests?
Well, we need to address the elephant in the room: Has Darren given himself the chance to develop a real middleweight body frame?
I couldn't help but notice that he looked somewhat out of shape, and by this I mean that as a middleweight, he should at least be between 205 and 215 lbs of lean muscle, if he want to be able to compete with the rest of the flock, and even be considered a title contender.
But lately, Darren was hanging out a lot in his car ordering MCdonald's, and not exactly improving his ground game. Why am I being so mean?
Well truth is, The Gorilla is an incredible Muay Thai fighter with sharp timing, and a polarizing force for the UFC, if only he could work on his wrestling and grappling intensively, he could very well become a force to be reckon with. Does he have the discipline of an Adesanya, or a Whitaker? Only time will tell, but I hope his coaches give him a hard talk, and make him understand that with the right conditioning, work his anti wrestling, and mindset, he could achieve greatness.
To use Adesanya as an example again, the Last Stylebender has never been afraid to talk about his holes (hahaha), and by this embracing his weaknesses, improving himself greatly in the process.
Scared of losing perspective on life because of his fame? No problem, Israel's answer was to hire a psychiatrist/psychologist to improve on his well being and help him handle "the fame", because nobody really prepare you for it, trust me on this!
Criticized for having no wrestling background? Not an issue, Israel decides to address the problem by working on his anti-wrestling, the art of not being taken down.
And I think that is also the 2 points that Darren needs to fix, with his conditioning and strength. So it's actually 3 points π.
So what's next for him now? I've heard rumour that he could take the winner of Strickland vs Rockhold, and I think it's a terrible idea. It's obvious that Darren needs some time to reshuffle his mindset, and go on a winning streak, fighting lesser opponents and newer prospects, a little bit like Brunson did against Theodorou, Heinisch, and Shahbazyan (bless you!).
Till is such a big draw, I am pretty sure the UFC matchmakers are fully aware that they need to protect their asset, giving him a succession of "buid me up" fights against unranked guys.
What about Derek Brunson? Well, once again he proved that he is "that good", but is he now good enough to beat a top tier fighter like Whitaker or Adesanya? it always seems that he falls short against the "creme of the crop", and I don't think dying his hair blond will help against a top 5 opponent. Has he improved enough since his TKO against the Nigerian in 2018?
The issue isn't if Derek improved, but that Izzy also kept on getting better. The only factor that can play in Brunson's favour in case of a rematch, is that Adesanya lost a fight against BΕachowicz at light heavyweight, and it may have an impact on his aura of invincibility, it's all very hypothetical, knowing that Izzy clearly won against Vettori during their rematch in June 2021, showing that he tends to do better the second time around when facing the same opponent.
It's still was a good call from Brunson to call out for Izzy, and I am eager to see who would dare to stop his winning streak, now that he went super saiyan.
Aspinall vs Spivak
This was an impressive win by the English fighter, at only 28 years old, You can rest assured that he will probably be a title contender in the next 3 years to come.
I don't see many heavyweights moving like he does (except Bon Gamin!), and is certainly very entertaining to watch, a star making moment on Saturday night. Check the finishing combination.
Aspinall π₯ pic.twitter.com/RFpn24w2i0
β MS (@UFC_Obsessed) September 4, 2021
The Brits love these type of combinations, knee/elbow, just really efficient, and so fast!
Let's hope he doesn't rushed against bigger opponents like they did with jairzinho rozenstruik. I say, he is young, let's build his skills, fanbase, it's only his 4th fight in the UFC after all.
Khalil Rountree Jr vs Bukauskas
This one, I am expecting our buddy @sports.guy55 to write about it, because it's the type of fight that makes the passionate talk.
If you haven't seen the fight, it ended in round 2 with an oblique kick that sealed the deal, and maybe Bukauskas's career, only time will tell.
For those not familiar with the oblique kick, it's a technique frowned upon by a lot of fighters, because it doesn't only damage the bone, or the muscle, but deliberately torn the ligaments, or worse (burst it).
The current debate, is that you can tap out to strike, or to a submission, but there is no way to tap out to an oblique kick, as it's so sudden and with no possibility of gradually putting pressure on the bone to force the tap out, it's snappy and can cause irreparable damage.
You might say "it's a damn fight, what's the difference with elbows to the skulls, or an arm bar?". Truth is, from experience, I have never seen anyone attempting it in a gym, there is some sort of general agreement between people, that an oblique kick to the knee, is something that only psychopaths like Jon Jones would do. and you must be in a "life and death" situation to use it.
Someone might argue back saying "yep but these are trained fighters, they should be ready to dodge an oblique kick", and while I can agree with the statement, I think we need to be able to recognize loopholes when we see some, and this is one of these moments.
I heard Mike Heck on mmafightingonsbn saying that fighters should maybe have a special clause in their contracts, specifying if they allow the oblique kick during fights, and as much as it's maybe taking it a little too far, I don't mind having rules put in place, for fighter's safety. Let's see if more fighters use this technique in the next 6 months, and we can then draw conclusion from this.
All in all
A great night of fighting for English MMA, special mention for Paddy Pimblett who cashed in the $50k Performance of the Night Bonus, also a gritty win for "Meatball" Molly Mccann awarding her the $50k "Fight of The Night" bonus, and I leave you with her reaction π when she learnt about it:
