UFC 173: Barao vs. Dillashaw

Date: Saturday, May 24th
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass): 17:30 LP.net / 3:30pm PST / 6:30pm EST
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1): 19:00 LP.net / 5pm PST / 8pm EST
Main Card Time (PPV): 21:00 LP.net / 7pm PST / 10pm EST
Live Streams: http://www.vipbox.tv (All MMA events are listed under the UFC button. Press the UFC button and you'll see the event in the list.)





Countdown to UFC 173 videos
+ Show Spoiler +

Main Card (PPV)

Renan Barao (32-1) vs. T.J. Dillashaw (9-2) (Bantamweight Championship)
Dan Henderson (30-11) vs. Daniel Cormier (14-0) (Light Heavyweight title eliminator)
Robbie Lawler (22-10) vs. Jake Ellenberger (29-7) (Welterweight)
Takeya Mizugaki (19-7-2) vs. Francisco Rivera (10-2) (Bantamweight)
Jamie Varner (21-9-1) vs. James Krause (20-5) (Lightweight)

Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)

Michael Chiesa (10-1) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (14-3) (Lightweight)
Tony Ferguson (14-3) vs. Katsunori Kikuno (22-5-2) (Lightweight)
Chris Holdsworth (5-0) vs. Chico Camus (14-4) (Bantamweight)
Al Iaquinta (8-2-1) vs. Mitch Clarke (10-2) (Lightweight)

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

Anthony Njokuani (16-7) vs. Vinc Pichel (8-1) (Lightweight)
Sam Sicilia (12-4) vs. Aaron Phillips (5-0) (Featherweight)
David Michaud (7-0) vs. Li JingLiang (8-2) (Welterweight)

Other

- A Middleweight Championship bout between the current champion Chris Weidman and number one contender Vitor Belfort was scheduled to headline this event. However, on February 27, the Nevada State Athletic Commission officially banned testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT) from combat sports. Belfort, who has admitted to using such therapy, was forced to withdraw from the bout and stated, "Given the time constraints involved between now and my proposed next bout in May, I have determined not to apply for a license to fight in Nevada at this time."
- The main event was quickly changed as former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida agreed to step in to face Weidman for the title in the main event. However, on March 24, the UFC announced that Weidman had suffered a knee injury and that a new headline bout would be found. The Weidman title defense against Machida was moved to July's UFC 175.
- After the announcement that Weidman/Machida bout had been moved, a Bantamweight Championship bout between Renan Barao and Raphael Assuncao was targeted as the event headliner. However, Assuncao opted to decline the bout as a rib injury sustained in his last bout at UFC 170 had not healed enough to resume the proper training in advance of the event. Barao will now face T.J. Dillashaw in the main event. As a result, Dillashaw's original opponent at the event, Takeya Mizugaki, will face Francisco Rivera.
- The originally scheduled co-main event was Junior dos Santos against Stipe Miocic. However, that bout was moved and will take place a week later on May 31, 2014 at The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finale. Subsequently, the bout between Dan Henderson and Daniel Cormier, briefly linked to UFC 175 was moved up to this event to bolster the card.
- The coaches bout between The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3 participants Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva was briefly linked to this event. However, the fight was moved twice - first being on May 31, 2014 at The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3 Finale, but now it will be contested on July 5, 2014 at UFC 175.
- A lightweight bout between Yves Edwards and Piotr Hallman was expected to take place at this event. However, the bout was moved to UFC Fight Night 42.
- Chris Holdsworth was expected to face Kyung Ho Kang at the event. However, Kang pulled out of the bout and was replaced by Chico Camus.
- Doo Ho Choi was expected to make his promotional debut at the event against Sam Sicilia. However, Choi was forced out of the bout with an injury, and was replaced by UFC newcomer Aaron Phillips.
- Danny Mitchell was expected to face promotional newcomer Li Jingliang. However, Mitchell pulled out of the bout with an injury. Replacing Mitchell will be The Ultimate Fighter: Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson cast member David Michaud.

----------

First thoughts:

• Barao > Dillashaw
• Cormier > Henderson
• Lawler > Ellenberger
• Mizugaki > Rivera
• Varner > Krause (sucks cuz I like them both. Varner has the weaker cardio, but he has the wrestling advantage.)
• Trinaldo > Chiesa
• Ferguson > Kikuno
• Holdsworth > Camus
• Iaquinta > Clarke
• Njokuani > Pichel
• Sicilia vs. Phillips (dunno who Phillips is, not gonna research this fight)
• Michaud vs. JingLiang (dunno, not gonna research this fight)

When is BJ Penn fighting? I want him to see him fight again!

On May 19 2014 22:10 YoMeR wrote: When is BJ Penn fighting? I want him to see him fight again!

not vs edgar we dont

On May 19 2014 22:10 YoMeR wrote: When is BJ Penn fighting? I want him to see him fight again!

BJ will fight in a few months from now, after the current season of The Ultimate Fighter is over. Whoever wins the fight will probably get a title shot, more so BJ than Frankie, since BJ's name is still bigger than Frankie's imo, and could sell more PPV's than a rematch between Frankie vs. Aldo.

Bets I am going to make:

- Barao + Holdsworth
- Hendo (+575)

I may add Lawler to my parlay.

$500 free roll: http://www.kountermove.com/join/26432...on-ufc-173-barao-vs-dillashaw-T-free/

$200 free roll: https://www.kountermove.com/join/2643...on-ufc-173-barao-vs-dillashaw-T-free/

hendo's wifey is nice lol

the popeye's chicken gift was so racist lol

On May 21 2014 16:17 PuertoRican wrote: Morency and Black $500 free roll: http://www.kountermove.com/join/26432...on-ufc-173-barao-vs-dillashaw-T-free/ Fury's Fights $200 free roll: https://www.kountermove.com/join/2643...on-ufc-173-barao-vs-dillashaw-T-free/

Bloody Elbow $500 free roll: https://www.kountermove.com/join/2643...on-ufc-173-barao-vs-dillashaw-T-free/

should I hedge this bet ?
not sure if TJ has much chance, but who knows, the price is pretty good on him now and I expect to get better at fight night

On May 22 2014 15:16 drone666 wrote: should I hedge this bet ? not sure if TJ has much chance, but who knows, the price is pretty good on him now and I expect to get better at fight night

You're not really supposed to hedge 3-man parlays. You're wasting money in the long run. That being said, Dillashaw won't win a decision against Barao, so I'd take Dillashaw ITD, which is +1100.

my first plan wasnt to hedge ofc, but dillashaw line went up and that's why I thought about it

Doesn't even look like he's betting that much compared to some super high rollers, he has 1-2x $100k bricks... how does Palms kick him out for winning that much?

lol Hendo weighs-in at 199lb

the lines I like now:

Lawler @ -210 - Ellenberguer is a chicken, and Lawler is a bad motherfucker psychological speaking, good TDD, good chin, better striking and much much better mental game
+ Show Spoiler +

Trinaldo @ +110 - looked way less muscular than he used to be, prob worked on his cardio issues, already thought it was a good bet before the weight ins, so Im pretty confident in this bet now

Cormier -3.5 @ -360 - Hendo without TRT, coming from a close fight vs Shogun and KO vs Victor, and he weight 199 lol 3lb lighter than the Shogun fight, dont think he has much chances to win this tbh, thought about Cormier ITD @ +150 but he might respect Hendo's KO power, so the -3.5 is a really good line to use in a parlay

Hendo is not really good winning rounds, he's not been throwing much punches lately, looks like he just waits for an opportunity to land the H-bomb

Holdsworth either a parlay @ -325 or his ITD line @ -130 ( prob by sub but after rousey finished by TKO and not sub I dont think I will take the risk for 30 points )

Iaquinta @ -370, kinda meh price, but Im pretty confident he will win this, if the line gets a little better ill prob parlay this

On May 21 2014 16:17 PuertoRican wrote: $500 free roll: http://www.kountermove.com/join/26432...on-ufc-173-barao-vs-dillashaw-T-free/ $200 free roll: https://www.kountermove.com/join/2643...on-ufc-173-barao-vs-dillashaw-T-free/

Hey there's something I dont get with how this works (I've never done any fantasy sport stuff before so maybe Im missing something obvious).

Renan Barao is priced at 6000, Dillashaw at 5000... Quick google search says Barao is at least -700 on most betting sites.
Mizugaki is priced at 4100... but he's -150.

I don't get it? I thought the value was determined based on how big of a favorite someone was, but Barao is a massive favorite and yet the difference in cost between Mizugaki and Rivera is bigger, and in the opposite direction.

On May 24 2014 01:57 TianYuan wrote: Show nested quote + On May 21 2014 16:17 PuertoRican wrote: $500 free roll: http://www.kountermove.com/join/26432...on-ufc-173-barao-vs-dillashaw-T-free/ $200 free roll: https://www.kountermove.com/join/2643...on-ufc-173-barao-vs-dillashaw-T-free/ Hey there's something I dont get with how this works (I've never done any fantasy sport stuff before so maybe Im missing something obvious). Renan Barao is priced at 6000, Dillashaw at 5000... Quick google search says Barao is at least -700 on most betting sites. Mizugaki is priced at 4100... but he's -150. I don't get it? I thought the value was determined based on how big of a favorite someone was, but Barao is a massive favorite and yet the difference in cost between Mizugaki and Rivera is bigger, and in the opposite direction.

Kountermove is different from other fantasy betting websites. Basically, you want to pick fighters who are most likely to finish a fight, go for submissions, throw a lot of strikes, etc. For example, you wouldn't want to pick fighters who are most likely to win by decision; Jon Fitch would be a bad pick.

Mizugaki is most likely gonna win by decision if he does win. People who finish fights a lot are more expensive on Kountermove. I can pick 5 fighters who win their fight but, I can still end up not cashing in the top 5 if my fighters LnP to win.

Ah ic, so straight up odds aren't as useful a metric to compare to then.

I don't get the getting kicked from the Palms. If he's a long term losing player he would have to be playing for unimaginably big amounts for them to ask him not to come. The fuck are they shunning him for?

It's only his word right (on why they banned him)? He probably said something dumb to the wrong person... seems more likely than a casino declining money.

On May 24 2014 10:15 Nazgul wrote: I don't get the getting kicked from the Palms. If he's a long term losing player he would have to be playing for unimaginably big amounts for them to ask him not to come. The fuck are they shunning him for?

It might have something to do with him running the company and betting on fights he "puts together", I guess they think that he is winning big, he is knowledgeable on the sport, has insider info and plus he runs the whole thing... so fuck it, cut him loose.

On May 24 2014 14:08 Baalim wrote: Show nested quote + On May 24 2014 10:15 Nazgul wrote: I don't get the getting kicked from the Palms. If he's a long term losing player he would have to be playing for unimaginably big amounts for them to ask him not to come. The fuck are they shunning him for? It might have something to do with him running the company and betting on fights he "puts together", I guess they think that he is winning big, he is knowledgeable on the sport, has insider info and plus he runs the whole thing... so fuck it, cut him loose.

Dana's winnings have come from playing cards in the casino, not betting on sports.

In "Embedded 3," he mentions that he took a year off from playing and since December 21st (2013), he has been playing cards and winning every time he goes to the casino. So basically, he's on a 5-month hot streak.

On May 24 2014 10:15 Nazgul wrote: I don't get the getting kicked from the Palms. If he's a long term losing player he would have to be playing for unimaginably big amounts for them to ask him not to come. The fuck are they shunning him for?

They show him cashing out twice and it isn't that much. Looks like 100-150k. So yea I don't really get it either. In the same Vlog it's remarked he's banned from 2 other casinos. Very strange.

On May 24 2014 14:08 Baalim wrote: Show nested quote + On May 24 2014 10:15 Nazgul wrote: I don't get the getting kicked from the Palms. If he's a long term losing player he would have to be playing for unimaginably big amounts for them to ask him not to come. The fuck are they shunning him for? It might have something to do with him running the company and betting on fights he "puts together", I guess they think that he is winning big, he is knowledgeable on the sport, has insider info and plus he runs the whole thing... so fuck it, cut him loose.

He is very adamant about never betting on UFC fights and rightfully so.

Fight Pass: http://www.vipboxus.co/boxing/229023/...-pass-prelims-live-stream-online.html

I'm not betting this card but, here are my Kountermove picks:

KM1: Al Iaquinta, Robbie Lawler, Renan Barao, Francisco Trinaldo, Chris Holdsworth
KM2: Al Iaquinta, Robbie Lawler, Renan Barao, Francisco Trinaldo, Chris Holdsworth
KM3: Al Iaquinta, Jamie Varner, Robbie Lawler, Tony Ferguson, Francisco Trinaldo

Wow, that sub by Mitch Clark, twas' nice

yea gonna be hard to beat that for sub of the night :D

A lot of parlays got busted when Mitch Clarke snagged that submission.

Is it just me or is Kikuno standing even straighter than normal lol?

I dont think you can fight someone this much taller than you without moving your head....

Kikuno was a punching bag once Ferguson found his rhythm.

anyone have a good link for PPV?

edit - nvm got one

Damn, that sucks... Varner broke his ankle during the first half of the first round, and kept fighting till the end of the round. He had to quit before round 2 started.

Late TKO win by Robbie Lawler!

Awwwww Lyoto

Supreme rape by Daniel Cormier...

Only Barao left for my 5 man parlay.

On May 24 2014 15:04 Nazgul wrote: Show nested quote + On May 24 2014 14:08 Baalim wrote:   On May 24 2014 10:15 Nazgul wrote: I don't get the getting kicked from the Palms. If he's a long term losing player he would have to be playing for unimaginably big amounts for them to ask him not to come. The fuck are they shunning him for? It might have something to do with him running the company and betting on fights he "puts together", I guess they think that he is winning big, he is knowledgeable on the sport, has insider info and plus he runs the whole thing... so fuck it, cut him loose. He is very adamant about never betting on UFC fights and rightfully so.

Oh lol then its absolutely bullshit, no way a casino would kick him

WTFFFF

shiiiiiiiiiieht :D

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Keep it up white boy!

The speed difference is insane wtf

can't believe dillashaw is going to win by decision....oh god

+ Show Spoiler +

Haha :D You should have held off on posting that.

omg, I dont even care I lost my 5 man parley. BEAST TJ

TJ dominated soooooooooo hard lol

fucking stud

Dillashaw with the best performance of 2014 thus far, and, it was for a title against one of the top 3 best fighters!

fuuuaaarkk what a beast!

damn anyone know whats the biggest underdog to ever win an mma title?

also what does faber do now? haha

Anyone notice Buffer introducing Dillashaw as a "monkey style" fighter? Where can I learn?

Faber is either:

• Focusing real hard on trying to squeeze out a silent fart.
• Upset that someone who he's trained was able to take the belt from the guy who beat him twice.
• Thinking about how many fights he'll need before he can fight TJ for the belt.

If Faber ends up fighting TJ for the belt, TJ will go train with Duane Ludwig for the fight, which will eventually lead TJ to split from Team Alpha Male, win or lose.

Well that punch pretty much ended the fight. It was like JDS vs. Cain.
Barao couldn't recover from it and was just on auto pilot from there.

since it started, I had the impression that barao was so much slower than TJ and the way he looked fast in other fights. the same thing happened to aldo, they got stronger and slower.
I could obviously be wrong, but i think their diet gone wrong lol

and TJ fought so well, he looked so confortable and confident, it was amazing

i expected DC to win, but wow, that was ownage.

just watched. that was incredible by dillashaw. i almost want to go back and watch his old fights because from what i remember, he never looked like he had the potential to do something like this. sure he was a great athlete with great wrestling and solid power that would sometimes land a big shot and finish someone, but he seemed to struggle against much worse fighters. basically the key to figuring this out was the improvement of mighty mouse. they are actually really similar. when you have a ridiculous athlete with great cardio and great wrestling that works really hard and is still young he can make massive improvements in small amounts of time when skills start reaching a critical mass. he seriously looked like tyron woodley + mighty mouse combined. that was just insane.

i read the result last night but didnt read play by play and i expected barao to have looked bad. he looked great. dillashaw was just that good.

can anyone provide me with a link to the dillashaw vs barao fight?

Yep. Some people are saying that while Dillashaw was amazing, Barao looked a little off.

The strategy for Dillashaw was already mentioned during the fight, which was to drag Barao past the 2nd round cuz he isn't used to fighting at 100% for that long. Also, Dillashaw' speed and Dominick Cruz style of movement with constantly switching angles made Barao fight differently than he's used to; Barao was the one reacting to his opponent and was never able to be the aggressor, especially after he got dropped in the first round.

Rogan said it was the greatest fight he ever saw. He should have said it was one of the greatest performances he's ever saw, since Dillashaw was the master of that fight and Barao was his puppet.

I think barão was running a little hot in the past fights
I think he started fighting "strange" after the KD on the first round, he was fighting semi knocked out basically

past fights he was already struggling in the first round of fights until he caught them with his super KO power, ( Wineland and Macdonald fights comes to mind ) so it could've happened before

Once barao got dropped in the first round, that probably killed his confidence and started to doubt himself.

I mean anyone with that type of winning streak will feel invincible and most of the time under estimate their opponent, until something unexpected happens like in the first round.

On May 25 2014 19:31 jvilla777 wrote: Once barao got dropped in the first round, that probably killed his confidence and started to doubt himself. I mean anyone with that type of winning streak will feel invincible and most of the time under estimate their opponent, until something unexpected happens like in the first round.

What happened to Silva 1st fight, Jones vs Gustafson, Pettis vs Henderson ( well tbh I feel like Henderson was just dumb to be overconfident, but w/e ) , all title fights, all people that were overconfident, only Jones managed to snap out of it and there could still be a discussion about his win...

yea, he was just lost and very nervous after 2nd or 3rd round
I remember when he stop to complain about an eye poke and while he was looking at the judge Dillashaw punched his face

when the round finished, he said to Pederneiras "he put his hand in my eyes" and Dedé tried to calm him down "it's ok, it's ok calm down"

This list is from BloodyElbow. This list is prior to the Dillashaw/Barao fight. Dillashaw is now at #3 on that list of upsets, as they listed Barao as being a -910 favorite.

that list is off. eddie wineland was a bigger favorite than most of those 2 weeks ago as was chandler over brooks.

barao clearly wasnt 100% after almost getting finished. but dillashaw was doing well before that and was unbelievable after that. barao is still a monster clearly, but dillashaw, just wow. that was the best performance start to finish that ive seen since jones vs shogun. probably even better though

On May 25 2014 16:08 Daut wrote: just watched. that was incredible by dillashaw. i almost want to go back and watch his old fights because from what i remember, he never looked like he had the potential to do something like this. sure he was a great athlete with great wrestling and solid power that would sometimes land a big shot and finish someone, but he seemed to struggle against much worse fighters. basically the key to figuring this out was the improvement of mighty mouse. they are actually really similar. when you have a ridiculous athlete with great cardio and great wrestling that works really hard and is still young he can make massive improvements in small amounts of time when skills start reaching a critical mass. he seriously looked like tyron woodley + mighty mouse combined. that was just insane. i read the result last night but didnt read play by play and i expected barao to have looked bad. he looked great. dillashaw was just that good.

That's exactly what i was going to say!
Amazing i was wathching the fight with open mouth unable to believe what is happening.He made Barao look 55 years old.Mighty Mouse style!!My new favourite fighter OMG

Off topic:

Dominick Cruz will fight again someday but, by the time he comes back, he'll probably be in a similar situation to Brian Bowles, in that Bowles career has been plagued with injuries and, despite being a WEC champion, he was never the same fighter once he started fighting a lot again. Most importantly, all of the other top 5 people in Bowles' division got much better in his absence and eventually passed him by and kicked his ass, not to mention Bowles still gets injured; he got failed some UFC drug test, and his chin and gas tank are weak these days which is why he got knocked out by George Roop.

Regarding Bowles' failed drug test: "The NSAC allows a T/E Ratio of 6:1 and Bowles was over 20:1.[13] Bowles did not appeal the result and was subsequently suspended for nine months and fined $5,700."
Bownles hasn't fought since May 25th, 2013.

Anyway, Cruz hasn't fought since October 1st, 2011, and he's had multiple injuries during that time, mostly to his knees. His style of fighting as well all know is the quick movement + cutting angles while picking apart his opponent, but he has no KO power whatsoever. The last guy who finished via strikes was Brian Bowles in 2010. Dillashaw showed a way better version of Cruz this past Saturday, so I'm interested to see where his career goes from here.

----------

There will be 2 UFC events this coming Saturday, one in Germany and one in Brazil. The first one is strictly on UFC Fight Pass, and the next one will be shown on Fox Sports 1. The events don't overlap, you'll basically be able to watch both events back-to-back.

PR how is fightpass these days? when i watch live i stream the first few fights that are on fightpass so i see the small issues during fights. but how is the fight library, layout, etc?

On May 25 2014 13:01 PuertoRican wrote:

how is it possible that 2nd judge actually gave him that rd.

On May 26 2014 02:39 Daut wrote: PR how is fightpass these days? when i watch live i stream the first few fights that are on fightpass so i see the small issues during fights. but how is the fight library, layout, etc?

I don't use Fight Pass. I used the free trial up until February 26th or so. I've been using streams since then. Fight Pass has benefits but, streamers have stepped it up with streaming the FP fights and I don't have the time to watch many replay/vods right now, so it's not worth it for me.

I think they're offering another 7-day free trial but, like I mentioned above, I can just watch a stream. If you have the money to spend, I'd say watching FP in HD with the rewind and different camera angle capabilities is worth it.

I mean its 10 bucks a month, its definitely worth it.

On May 25 2014 17:22 TimDawg wrote: can anyone provide me with a link to the dillashaw vs barao fight?

http://www.sockshare.com/file/AEA140235545FE67

Also www.mmashare.cc shows full replays of the fights

Andre Pederneiras: Let’s see if TJ Dillashaw is man enough to fight Renan Barao in Brazil

"We're asking for an immediate rematch. It's fair, and we're looking a way to do it," Pederneiras said in an interview to radio show No Mundo da Luta. "It can't happen in less than five or six months, but I think that's how long T.J. is going to be out. Everybody wants to see another fight between them, since it was the fight of the night."

"The ideal would be bringing this fight to Brazil," he said. "There's going to be a big event here in Brazil, apparently in October in Rio de Janeiro. Let's see if these guys are man enough to fight Barao in his house."

"After the first knockdown, Renan couldn't get into the fight anymore and he went dizzy with every blow," he said. "Even between the rounds, when we were talking to him, he wasn't even looking at us."

http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/5/26/...-renan-barao-ufc-173-rematch-mma-news

andre is somewhat right.

read an opinion piece today that i 100% agreed with. suppose that barao was finished in the first round after being knocked down by the big shot. it seems to be the opinion of most people that had that happened he would have been more deserving of an immediate rematch than he is now after being dominated for 5 full rounds while he was concussed. kinda nonsensical. give the man an immediate rematch, its not like anyone else deserves it.

On May 27 2014 01:53 Daut wrote: andre is somewhat right. read an opinion piece today that i 100% agreed with. suppose that barao was finished in the first round after being knocked down by the big shot. it seems to be the opinion of most people that had that happened he would have been more deserving of an immediate rematch than he is now after being dominated for 5 full rounds while he was concussed. kinda nonsensical. give the man an immediate rematch, its not like anyone else deserves it.

Andre is a fucking idiot.

- He says a rematch is fair. How so? Your fighter got his ass handed to him for 4.5 rounds and then finished in the 5th. The UFC could sell a rematch, however, an immediate rematch would sell less than Barao's past PPV's due to the fact that he got owned and hasn't shown that he is worthy of a rematch yet.

- He says that everyone wants to see another fight between these two since it was the FOTN. The only reason it was FOTN is because of Dillashaw, it was clear that Barao wasn't doing anything offensively to make it FOTN, he was just getting outworked 90% of the time.

- He says the ideal fight would be a rematch in Brazil. How so? Aside from there being an event in Brazil later this year, the only plus side to them fighting in Brazil is that Barao will be closer to home, which gives him multiple minor advantages. Saying, "Let's see if these guys are man enough to fight Barao in his house," is just laughable. He might as well say, "look, we can't beat you outside of our home country, so fight us in Brazil so we can get any and every advantage possible."

- He makes it sound as if the only reason Barao lost was because he was concussed in round 1 and was never able to recover. Well, how the fuck do you think that happened? Barao didn't slip on a banana peel. If you know your fighter isn't properly responding to you in between rounds, especially after he was knocked down and almost finished in round 1, you might want to rethink how you corner your fighters.


Brazilian fighters and their team are often described as being crybabies and make a ton of excuses after losses. Well, this is one of those moments.

As for the next person in line at Bantamweight, that is most likely going to be Raphael Assuncao. Assuncao won a split-decision in Brazil against Dillashaw, a fight where many people, including myself, thought Dillashaw won. Dillashaw/Assuncao #2 won't be held in Brazil, that's for sure.

andre was right about barao being rocked after the first and not the same fighter. of course hes a moron for demanding a rematch in brazil and trying to goad TJ into it.

from @mmaphilosophy on twitter

An explanation of why people are sometimes (apparently very!) confused about the significance and meaning of flash-KOs. Consider the following two scenarios: Scenario (I) It's Round 1 of an important fight. Fighter A (challenger) and Fighter B (title holder) are circling. Fighter B, the champion, is expected to win the fight. Suddenly, Fighter A steps in with a looping overhand right that connects with horrifying force on Fighter B's chin. Fighter B collapses to the ground, rolls onto his knees, weakly grabs Fighter A's ankle, and gets smashed twice in the ear. The referee steps in and stops the fight. Fighter B -- who is badly concussed -- loses his belt. Scenario (II) It's Round 1 of an important fight. Fighter A (challenger) and Fighter B (title holder) are circling. Fighter B, the champion, is expected to win the fight. Suddenly, Fighter A steps in with a looping overhand right that connects with horrifying force on Fighter B's chin. Fighter B collapses to the ground, rolls onto his knees, weakly grabs Fighter A's ankle, and gets smashed twice in the ear. (*Note that to this point, everything is absolutely identical.*) Just as Fighter B gets smashed for the second time in the ear, he manages to roll onto his back and secure an extremely loose half guard. Fighter B is badly concussed and operating on auto-pilot. He survives the round, but barely. His corner allows him to continue fighting on pure instinct for four more rounds, with badly impaired reaction times and no intelligible gameplan, due to his concussion. At no point in the fight was Fighter B a legitimate threat to Fighter A. At the end of the fight, Fighter B loses a lopsided decision. Some people would have you believe that the version of Fighter B in Scenario (I) would be *more* deserving of an immediately title rematch than the version of Fighter B in Scenario (II). They would claim that Fighter A proved his superiority in Scenario (II), but not in Scenario (I). That's fucking absurd. The crucial difference between the two scenarios is that in the first scenario Fighter B succumbs to the beating, while in the second scenario Fighter B summons the strength to carry his concussed, barely-present, totally useless husk of flesh around the ring for 20 extra minutes. It would be crazy of us to think less of Fighter B in Scenario (II) than in Scenario (I). My point in all of this isn't that Scenario (II) doesn't strongly count in favor of Fighter A's dominance. Instead, I'm making the opposite point: I'm saying that it's stupid to undervalue Fighter A's performance (or overvalue Fighter B's performance) in Scenario (I). Flash KOs are KOs, and unless they're controversial, they must be regarded as legitimate, meaningful wins. And, indeed, I think that (blatant controversy aside), they should often be judged as *more* meaningful than five-round shellackings. Of course, in real life it is never easy to tell whether a case falls neatly into one of the above categories. And I'm certainly not claiming that there are *no* cases in which a five-round pummelling proves more than a quick KO. (There are early stoppages and bad stoppages. There are five-round beatings where the losing fighter rather obviously isn't concussed to the point of proto-consciousness. And so on.) But none of that speaks against my point, since I'm not making an absolute claim.

given that there is nobody else that deserving of a title shot and barao is coming off 33 straight wins, i think he has earned it. getting rocked and almost finished in the first but surviving and then dominated for 4.5 rounds is NOT worse than getting dropped and finished in the first. assuncao getting the nod over dillashaw was BS. not to mention assuncao is boring as fuck.

On May 27 2014 02:47 Daut wrote: andre was right about barao being rocked after the first and not the same fighter. of course hes a moron for demanding a rematch in brazil and trying to goad TJ into it. + Show Spoiler + from @mmaphilosophy on twitter Show nested quote + An explanation of why people are sometimes (apparently very!) confused about the significance and meaning of flash-KOs. Consider the following two scenarios: Scenario (I) It's Round 1 of an important fight. Fighter A (challenger) and Fighter B (title holder) are circling. Fighter B, the champion, is expected to win the fight. Suddenly, Fighter A steps in with a looping overhand right that connects with horrifying force on Fighter B's chin. Fighter B collapses to the ground, rolls onto his knees, weakly grabs Fighter A's ankle, and gets smashed twice in the ear. The referee steps in and stops the fight. Fighter B -- who is badly concussed -- loses his belt. Scenario (II) It's Round 1 of an important fight. Fighter A (challenger) and Fighter B (title holder) are circling. Fighter B, the champion, is expected to win the fight. Suddenly, Fighter A steps in with a looping overhand right that connects with horrifying force on Fighter B's chin. Fighter B collapses to the ground, rolls onto his knees, weakly grabs Fighter A's ankle, and gets smashed twice in the ear. (*Note that to this point, everything is absolutely identical.*) Just as Fighter B gets smashed for the second time in the ear, he manages to roll onto his back and secure an extremely loose half guard. Fighter B is badly concussed and operating on auto-pilot. He survives the round, but barely. His corner allows him to continue fighting on pure instinct for four more rounds, with badly impaired reaction times and no intelligible gameplan, due to his concussion. At no point in the fight was Fighter B a legitimate threat to Fighter A. At the end of the fight, Fighter B loses a lopsided decision. Some people would have you believe that the version of Fighter B in Scenario (I) would be *more* deserving of an immediately title rematch than the version of Fighter B in Scenario (II). They would claim that Fighter A proved his superiority in Scenario (II), but not in Scenario (I). That's fucking absurd. The crucial difference between the two scenarios is that in the first scenario Fighter B succumbs to the beating, while in the second scenario Fighter B summons the strength to carry his concussed, barely-present, totally useless husk of flesh around the ring for 20 extra minutes. It would be crazy of us to think less of Fighter B in Scenario (II) than in Scenario (I). My point in all of this isn't that Scenario (II) doesn't strongly count in favor of Fighter A's dominance. Instead, I'm making the opposite point: I'm saying that it's stupid to undervalue Fighter A's performance (or overvalue Fighter B's performance) in Scenario (I). Flash KOs are KOs, and unless they're controversial, they must be regarded as legitimate, meaningful wins. And, indeed, I think that (blatant controversy aside), they should often be judged as *more* meaningful than five-round shellackings. Of course, in real life it is never easy to tell whether a case falls neatly into one of the above categories. And I'm certainly not claiming that there are *no* cases in which a five-round pummelling proves more than a quick KO. (There are early stoppages and bad stoppages. There are five-round beatings where the losing fighter rather obviously isn't concussed to the point of proto-consciousness. And so on.) But none of that speaks against my point, since I'm not making an absolute claim. given that there is nobody else that deserving of a title shot and barao is coming off 33 straight wins, i think he has earned it. getting rocked and almost finished in the first but surviving and then dominated for 4.5 rounds is NOT worse than getting dropped and finished in the first. assuncao getting the nod over dillashaw was BS. not to mention assuncao is boring as fuck.

Regarding an immediate rematch: There's 3 types of people.

- Those who say Barao shouldn't get a rematch because he was clearly dominated, and that Cain Velasquez had to fight once before getting a rematch versus JDS.

- The people who compare Barao to Anderson Silva and say that if Anderson got two immediate rematches, Barao should too.

- Then there's the people who say that Barao is nothing like Anderson, in that Barao's win-record consists of a bunch of random Brazilian fighters that he beat to pad his record, similar to what professional boxers do.

In my opinion, Raphael Assuncao should be next in line for Dillashaw. Dillashaw said he's okay fighting either Assuncao or Barao next. Also, Barao only defended his title 3 times in the UFC, so it's not like he was the longtime reigning champ that had stopped everybody in the UFC for many years. If Barao entered the UFC with a 10-0 record and then beat the same guys that he did, his record wouldn't be used as a tool for him getting an immediate rematch.

Hopefully Chad Mendes can beat Aldo; I'd expect to see an immediate rematch for that fight if Mendes won.

If Gus didn't get an immediate rematch after that controversial decision there is no way Barao should get one imo

barao vs cruz
dillashaw vs assuncao

FTW