MMA's 3R's 06.22.09: The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale Reviewed!
Posted by Matt McEwen on 06.22.2009
The 3R's makes its MMA debut and covers one of the best free MMA shows ever. Can't really ask more than that can you?
Welcome...
I disappear for a few weeks, my VERY wittily named Hit The Mat dies an inglorious death, but I rise from the ashes to bring you the newest incarnation of 411's most popular creation - The 3 R's. Not a bad gig at all, if you ask me. And, to top it all off, for my first article/show to cover, I get the TUF Finale and a three headed monster of great fights. Seriously, life is good.
The Column Concept:
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the column, here it is. The column will look at events and or happenings in the world of MMA. They will be broken down into the three categories, the Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right will be the good and great fights or positive news items of the week. Perhaps even big fight announcements. The wRong will be bad fights, bad booking decisions and the like. Finally, the Ridiculous are the things that were just the worst of the world of MMA. They get grouped in their categories, and for a show, they will get a score from 1-10, based on the 411 ratings scale.
By: Matt McEwen
The Ultimate Finale 9 06/20/2009:
QUICK RESULTS:
Prelims:
- Jason Dent def. Cameron Dollar via submission (anaconda choke) - Round 1, 4:46
- Nick Osiczak def. Frank Lester via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 3:40
- Tomasz Drwal def. Mike Ciesnolevicz via TKO (strikes), Round 1 - 4:48
- Brad Blackburn def. Edgar Garcia via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) Said to be a bad decision.
- Melvin Guillard def. Gleison Tibau via split decision. No scores were read. Shocking decision.
Main Card
- Joe Stevenson def. Nate Diaz via unanimous decision (29-28,29-28,29-28)
- Ross Pearson def. Andre Winner via unanimous decision (29-28,29-28,29-28)
- Chris Lytle def. Kevin Burns via unanimous decision (29-28,29-28,29-28)
- James Wilks def. DeMarques Johnson via submission (rear naked choke) - Round 1, 4:54
- Diego Sanchez def. Clay Guida via split decision (28-29,29-27,29-28).
THE RIGHT:
STEVENSON VS. DIAZ: I was pleased when I saw this would be the opener, and I was even more pleased as the fight went on. If you're a fan of high level grappling, then you just had to love this fight. As much as I enjoy a good stand up war - and I'll get to one of those in a minute - I think watching two guys struggle for dominance on the ground is so much more exciting.
Stevenson followed the blueprint that Clay Guida unveiled on how to handle and contain Diaz by closing the distance, negating his reach advantage, taking the fight down and then worrying more about strong positioning and control before trying to do damage. Stevenson has always been a personal favourite of mine, so I'm glad he won and gets to keep his job for at least a while longer. The work and strategy that he put together with Greg Jackson's camp certainly looked good, and if he keeps working there and evolving his game, there's no reason Stevenson couldn't get himself back into title contention.
And in spite of his second loss in a row, there's no reason to think that the 24 year old Diaz doesn't still have a bright UFC future. He certainly needs to get a win in his next fight, but it's clear now that he needs to work on his Greco game in order to control the clinch a bit better. He was dangerous from his back throughout the fight, and his striking actually looked to have a bit more power behind it than usual (not KO power, but not pitter pat either). And this might sound odd given that he's been controlled by stronger wreslters in his last two fights, but Diaz's future might be at 170lbs. His frame is really starting to fill out, and it could be a case of cutting and depleting his strength to get down to 155 is now becoming a big deficit in his game. Some added muscle at 170 might make a difference, though I'd imagine he'd be eaten alive by the GSP's, Koscheck's and Fitch's of the world. Of course, I see Sherk, Griffin and Maynard doing the same right now.
CHRIS LYTLE VS. KEVIN BURNS: I've complained before about MMA bouts becoming bad kickboxing matches, and both these guys have good submission games that were ignored here, but damn if that wasn't a fun fight to sit through. They went out into the cage, fought HARD for 15 minutes and each did everything they could do to finish the other. In the end, the fireman from Indiana was able to put out "The Fire" (sorry, couldn't resist). Neither guy is ever going to be a factor at the top of this division, but as long as they put on fights like this, you know they'll have jobs in the UFC.
DIEGO SANCHEZ VS. CLAY GUIDA Damn. Best free fight ever? Best UFC fight ever? I love my hyperbole, but those two questions aren't outlandish. What a fight. From the insane opening 30 seconds, to the brutal head kick, to the nasty elbows to the scrambles at the end of the fight, these two little beasts went out there gave everything they had for 15 minutes. Again, what more could you ask for?
Sanchez comes out the winner, and has proven himself a worthy title contender at 155. Not that he wasn't one before (I've never understood why a guy who was Top 5 at welterweight needs to start from scratch to get a title shot at 155), but now he has two big main event wins at 155 and pretty much can't be denied the winner of Florian/Penn. His striking looks fantastic and aggressive, his wrestling looked good, not great, against a strong wrestler and the only part of his game that looks to need a bit of work are his submissions from the guard. Of course, not too many 155lbers are likely to be putting him on his back, but still.
As for Guida, I'd put money on him to win the lightweight title if he ever gets a title shot. No one is going to put a beating on him any worse than what Sanchez did in the first round, and if that didn't finish him, nothing will. The little bugger just keeps coming through whatever gets thrown at him and I have little doubt that if it went into a fourth or fifth round, he was winning this fight. I can't think of anyone who could finish Guida or manage to keep up with him into championship rounds, save for MAYBE Gray Maynard and his stronger wrestling. Now, if Guida could just get that one big three round win to get himself that title shot, he'd be set.
THREE FIGHT OF THE NIGHT BONUSES AWARDED Giving all six of the fighters listed above the bonus for fight of the night was certainly deserved. I was particularly pleased that they recognized Stevenson and Diaz as well since, as I mentioned, grappling matches often aren't thought to be as exciting as slugfests.
THE TUF TOURNAMENT WINNERS: I'll admit to being very pleasantly surprised by James WIlks in his win, but other than the "Comeback" season, I can't remember being this unenthused about the prospects of TUF winners than I am this season.
Ross Pearson and Andre Winner had a hard fought bout, but three rounds of clinch and dirty boxing is short of exciting and if they were that even with each other, do you see either guy having a shot in hell against the better lightweights in the division? What would Guida, Stevenson, Diaz or Sachez do to these guys? I know that question isn't immediately fair as TUF winners often improve a lot post-show - and I see the irony that I just compared them to three former winners - but I just do not see the raw ability in Pearson that I would ever expect him to be a big factor in the division.
As for WIlks, he looked FANTASTIC in the finale. Seeing as he was the underdog who supposedly had no striking, he really looked great. Crisp punches, outstanding jiu jitsu....just a great win for him. But I was left wondering this question: Is Wilks that good, or was Johnson that overrated? Time will tell, but again, even if Wilks is as good as he looked in that fight, what do you see him doing against the upper level welterweights?
Exactly. Not a perfect night, but good enough.
THE wRong
:
COMPLAINTS ABOUT SCORING IN THE MAIN EVENT: As for the judging in this fight, at WORST it was 29-28 Sanchez. He won the first round easily (though not 10-8, I mean Guida had a takedown and top control, so how was that a 10-8 round), I gave him the second with the damage he did off his back with the elbows, and the third was close. MMA judging has to move past the idea that top control=win.
Watching the second round with my wife, when I said Guida would win it on the score cards, she almost started throwing Sanchez worthy elbows at me, before I was able to explain that judges always score rounds for the man on top, pretty much no matter what. It's sad that I was able to call that.
As I saw mentioned in the comments of a few blog sites - Positional Control < What You Do In Your Position.
Sanchez did the most damage in the round, he threatened submission, took little damage on the ground and had Guida moving to avoid his offense more than the reverse was happening. So, essentially, Guida was given a round on all three score cards for scoring a takedown and not getting swept.
BROCK LESNAR INTERVIEW: I don't know if it was the obvious and weird editing job they did, or that weird growth on his chin, but that Lesnar interview was just odd. I don't have much else to say about it, other than that I never needed to hear that diaper joke.
THE RIDICULOUS:
MELVIN GUILLARD WINNING: Not that Guillard doesn't have the skills to win, or that it's a shocking upset that he beat Gleison Tibeau, but rather that he won THAT fight.
First, a disclaimer - I have not seen the fight, so I'm talking out my back, if not my ass on this one.
However, all reports have Guillard winning the first round, then being pretty soundly dominated in the next two by Tibeau's wrestling. Multiple takedowns and general smothering are the descriptions I've heard, along with "WORST DECISION EVER", and Joe Rogan even mentioned some "horrible" earlier decisions on the main show. I'm also really, really curious as to why the scores weren't read out as the decision was announced, as that is also odd. Should be interesting to see what, if any, fallout or explanation there is of this in the coming days.
The 411
Notice how this article is top heavy with the "RIGHT" stuff? So was this show. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a better show the UFC has put on in a long time. When you have five fights aired and three of them split fight of the night bonuses, and the other two are the finals of the TUF tournaments, what more can you ask for? And the main event is going to be ranked as one of the best fights ever. Seriously. GREAT SHOW.
That Sanchez fight was awesome. i didn't see much of the other stuff but boy i was not disappointed in that fight. I bet you anyone who watched that fight probably thought Guida had no chance of getting out of Round 1 but he survived. I totally agree with you on the whole top equals winning a round. Guida did nothing with his position while Sanchez was throwing elbows and trying to get a submission.
Posted By: Kyle (Guest) on June 21, 2009 at 11:03 PM
Agreed on pretty much all accounts. A Great show indeed.
I've gotta admit, I was pretty damn worried that Guida was going to win that fight when considering the way judges seem to score MMA fights. It should have been clear to anyone who watched the fight that Diego beat the hell out of him in the second round even though he was on his back the whole time. Thank God the judges got the decision right (even if the decision was split).
Posted By: donbummini (Guest) on June 21, 2009 at 11:21 PM
The scoring in the main event was wRong, wRong, wRong. Sure it was an exciting fight, but there's no way Diego won that fight. None.
He wins the first round, but as you said, with the takedown and some effective offense of his own from Clay, how do you score it 10-8? So after one round, 10-9, Diego.
Second round isn't even up for debate. After two rounds, 19-19.
Third round was close, but given the takedowns and the fact that Guida got the better of the striking in the first half of the round, I say 29-28 for Clay Guida.
If somebody wants to score the first round 10-8, then it's still a draw.
Here's my BIG issue, though.
One of the cards was 29-27 for Diego. How? That means one of the rounds was 9-9 on somebody's scorecard, which HAS to be wrong, right? Isn't it a 10 point must system for MMA now? Any explanation for that scoring?
Posted By: Boo (Guest) on June 21, 2009 at 11:43 PM
that's how the judge got 29-27?
10+9+10= 29
10+8+9= 27
Posted By: official manhugger (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 12:05 AM
I totally disagree that the second round isn't up for debate. You must be one of these guys if a guy just lays on someone for 5 minutes that wins the round. Diego was striking from the bottom and trying more stuff than Guida just held onto him. Besdies it's not like Guida did anything special for that takedown in Round 3. Diego was trying for an arm triangle and fell off then was trying for a kimura and other things. Guida was too content to just hold onto Sanchez. Like Matt McEwen said at worst 29-28 Sanchez and I could have seen 30-27. Sanchez won the fight to me. I scored it 29-28 Sanchez.
The Judge who scored the fight 29-27 scored the first round 10-8 in favor of Sanchez. Then scored Round 2 most likely a 10-9 Guida round and then 10-9 Sanchez Round 3 which if we add up 10+9+8 we get 27.
10-8
9-10
10-9
Posted By: Kyle (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 12:08 AM
The only judge I really didn't agree with in the main event was the one who scored 29-28 Guida. I would've had no problems with a draw but right guy won in the end. Those elbows were savage.
Posted By: Conk (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 02:11 AM
did you dipshits that are giving rnd 2 to guida actually see the fight? sanchez split his skull like a melon. so from you lay and pray nutlickers they should ban submissions from the bottom because hes on top and auto wins the roundlololo
you guida butt buddies grow out your hair andstart squating to piss like your hero
Posted By: Guest#1838 (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 03:20 AM
"He won the first round easily (though not 10-8, I mean Guida had a takedown and top control, so how was that a 10-8 round)"
Diego also got a takedown only different was Clay was fighting off a Kimura. Count that in with Diego killing him on his feet and you have a 10-8. Then I had Rd. 2 for Clay 10-9 but after watching the fight again I believe it was 10-9 Diego. Then Diego took Rd. 3 10-9, had Clay on the defense 80% of the round. So 29-27 or 30-26.
Posted By: zwarrior2 (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 04:41 AM
Sanchez vs Guida? Are you guys kidding me? I scored it 30-24, for the winner, by SUPER UNANIMOUS DECISION.....THE VIEWERS WATCHING AT HOME!!! You didn't have to pay shit to watch this fight, and the whole televised card was AWESOME (except the for finals fights which were pointless; they should've just done rock, paper, scissors to determine who gets it)
Posted By: GeeSpotter (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 06:47 AM
Oh, and it's true, Melvin should've lost that fight. His striking is, as always, explosive; his wrestling? not so much. He was, however, able to keep his back off the mat and on the fence for the majority of the takedowns.
I'm always kind of curious as to why we find it so irresistible to debate judges' decisions when it doesn't change anything. We could argue all day and night, but it's not like they're gonna read the fan forums or 411mania/mma comments section and say, "You know what? They're right. Let's go overturn that fight and then get a beer."
Posted By: GeeSpotter (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 06:51 AM
The scoring in the main event was wRong, wRong, wRong. Sure it was an exciting fight, but there's no way Diego won that fight. None.
He wins the first round, but as you said, with the takedown and some effective offense of his own from Clay, how do you score it 10-8? So after one round, 10-9, Diego.
Second round isn't even up for debate. After two rounds, 19-19.
Posted By: Boo (Guest
did you watch the fight? how is rnd1 not 10-8 the total domination in those 5 minutes was amazing. if it wasnt 10-8 there has/will never be one.
rnd 2 was 10-9 sanchez. laying on top of someone while they are splitting your skull is another lost round. if not ban submissions from the bottom since the one on top has end-all be-all 100% win of round.
rnd 3 10-9 sanchez repeat of rnd 2
30-26 ass whipping
Posted By: Guest#6758 (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 09:39 AM
I've always loved this column format - welcome to MMA.
They got the Diego-Guida decision right, but have to change the way bouts are scored. I could see someone giving Clay rounds 2 and 3, which would have seemed wrong to me because Sanchez obviously did more damage in the fight. No more 10 point must system - just call a winner and a loser of the fight. the only problem with that is the potential for more draws.
I also was not enthused about anyone in the Ultimate Fighter house, until i saw Wilks performance on Saturday night. He was on fire. He really may have a chance to do something in the UFC.
Posted By: MJH (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 10:03 AM
I think they should add damage done as one of the factors in determining who wins the round. If we were to go by the current judging system it’s very possible that Guida won that fight. If we were going by playground rules, ain’t no chance in hell Guida won. This is the same thing that pissed me off about the Jardine/Bonnar fight I saw a while ago.
Watching James Wilks beat up Damarques reminded me of high school when some “accomplished” brawler would beat up a kid who obviously has no chance in hell. It was utter domination. Picture Bruce Willis vs. Screech. That’s the image I’m going for. Or better yet, just watch the fight. That does a better job of putting it in perspective than I ever could with my words.
Posted By: the dude (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 11:25 AM
I figured out the scoring while I was at work today. The possibility of Diego winning that third round was so far from my brain that it didn't process.
As for a 10-8 round in the first? Hard for me to buy that. Guida was throwing back, recovered from getting rocked to score a takedown, and even though he got rocked again, used instincts and his clinch to survive the round. We always hear about how "ring generalship" should count. Well, Guida survived and got in some offense of his own. Thus, no 10-8.
As for the second round, if you can convince yourself that Diego Sanchez won that round while laying belly up on the mat, then congratulations - you've officially been brainwashed by Dana White to believe that all TUF winners are the greatest fighters of all time.
Clay controlled Diego, got him out of his gameplan, survived any half-hearted sub attempts, and was delivering damage of his own.
As for the third round, Diego was swinging and missing for half the round while Guida landed shots. Big shots? No. But he was landing when Diego wasn't.
This was at worst a draw for Guida. Unfortunately, you don't beat certain guys in the UFC by decision. Diego is one of those guys.
Posted By: Boo (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 06:15 PM
If you think Guida took the fight by laying on top of Sanchez you are dumb. Guida didn't do anything in the second round to really take the fight he laid on top while Sanchez busted his ass open. He won the fight by being on top not because of anything he did. Guida took Sanchez down but did nothing with position. Guida laid on top of Sanchez the whole fight and I am glad two judges had enough sense to see it. In MMA top means winning it doesn't matter what you do if you lay on top of a guy for 5 minutes that constitutes winning a round. Guida also tried to shoot on Sanchez a bunch of times in the third and wasn't able to do anything with it.Sanchez landed the better strikes while continuing to be active on the ground. Guida got takedowns but did nothing; Sanchez did even see bothered by Guida's striking. Guida only offense was laying on top of a someone hoping for a win.
Posted By: Kyle (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 08:46 PM
Shouldn't you watch the Melvin fight before you judge? Tibau had no answer for Melvin's jab or footwork, when he did get a takedown Melvin made sure to have seated position against the cage and bounced right back up, and dealt far more damage than he took.
Posted By: Patrick Mullin (Guest) on June 22, 2009 at 10:59 PM
"As for the second round, if you can convince yourself that Diego Sanchez won that round while laying belly up on the mat, then congratulations - you've officially been brainwashed by Dana White to believe that all TUF winners are the greatest fighters of all time.
Clay controlled Diego, got him out of his gameplan, survived any half-hearted sub attempts, and was delivering damage of his own."
_____________________________________
Funny. Sure, Diego was laying belly up on the mat, but after they got up at the end of the second round, BOTH fighters were completely covered in blood due to the damages dished out on the ground... the only thing is- none of it was from Diego.
Clay may have been able to hold Diego down and get out of his submission attempts, but he didn't attempt any submissions of his own or do any damage.
On the scoring, Sanchez easily took effective striking and aggression since he was the only one actually trying to do damage/ submit.
Posted By: cyks (Guest) on June 23, 2009 at 04:18 PM
Copyright � 2011 411mania.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
Click here for our privacy policy. Please help us serve you better, fill out our survey.
Use of this site signifies your agreement to our terms of use.
