Outside Source
While Jon Jones called it better than the UFC, the card failed to impress fellow UFC veterans Daniel Cormier and Ben Askren. Askren found the card full of lopsided matchups. While Askren understands the importance of highlight reels, the former Bellator MMA and ONE Championship champion believes competitive fights are what matchmakers should aim for.
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“Incredibly one-sided is the biggest thing that comes to mind,” Askren said on a podcast with Cormier. “You know, there wasn’t a singular fight that was moderately competitive on the card. And, you know, we need the highlights, we need the knockouts, we need these spectacular things, but the best thing we can get is a back-and-forth fight.”
No Star Building
Cormier noted that one-sided matchups don’t work for MMA unlike boxing, where stars are built by letting them walk through a plethora of underskilled opponents. Cormier also noted there was essentially no star-building on the card.
“It’s not boxing, right? In boxing you build athletes by crushing people that aren’t on their level necessarily,” Cormier said. “So many of the fighters on that card were already established fighters. They were on the backend of their careers. So there was no star-building.”
Only the first three of the 10 total matchups on the MVP card went to the judges’ scorecards. While Phumi Nkuta vs. Adriano Moraes was probably the most competitive matchup, the fight ended in a controversial submission loss for Nkuta, with Moraes holding on to the choke after the bell. Meanwhile, the three main fights featuring massive stars were completely lopsided. Francis Ngannou knocked out Philipe Lins in the first round; Mike Perry turned Nate Diaz into a bloody mess, forcing his corner to throw in the towel after the second round. Meanwhile, Ronda Rousey made Gina Carano tap with an armbar just 17 seconds into the main event.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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