Re: UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem (Dec. 30th) Overeem is straight up jacked. I think he has more muscle than Lesnar.
Results Diego Nunes d. Manny Gamburyan, unanimous decision Jacob Volkmann d. Efrain Escudero, unanimous decision Dong Hyun Kim d. Sean Pierson, unanimous decision Danny Castillo d. Anthony Njoukuani, split decision Ross Pearson d. Junior Assuncao, unanimous decision Jim Hettes d. Nam Phan, unanimous decision Alexander Gustafsson d. Vladimir Matyushenko, knockout, 2.13/R1 Johny Hendricks d. Jon Fitch, knockout, 0.12/R1 Nate Diaz d. Donald Cerrone, unanimous decision Alistair Overeem d. Brock Lesnar, TKO (strikes), 2.26/R1
Another good night of fights. I remember being at the MGM a couple of years back for the NYE show and it was a long, long night. Lots of decisions but an exciting main card. Looks similar to tonight's results. I thought Jim Hettes' performance vs. Nam Phan was fantastic. He was able to keep pressure on the veteran late into the fight despite a frantic effort to finish in the first round and demonstrated that he has the makings of a future contender. No easy feat to dominate Phan. Gustafsson and Hendricks also looked great. Gustafsson is a major prospect at 205 and did what was expected of him tonight. Hendricks, on the other hand, blasting Jon Fitch out with one punch? Crazy. Reminiscent of the Korean Zombie knockout of Mark Hominick earlier this month. Dunno if anyone called that fight. Cerrone got off to a very slow start and I guess we've seen this before from him, most recently in his second fight with Ben Henderson. Nate Diaz looked great and boxed him up. I thought Cerrone would be able to work his distance better with kicks and maybe a few trip takedowns but he just got shut down tonight. The main event was a bit of a letdown in a way since we were all hoping for a big showdown and we got a fairly routine win for Overeem instead. Lesnar's heart has been questioned before but to come back twice from a serious disease and fight only the top fighters is pretty impressive. That being said he was totally outclassed and gunshy from the beginning. I don't know how much we can take away from Reem's performance--we knew he hits hard. JDS/Overeem should be great. Dunno if this was the best year for MMA ever, considering we used to have PRIDE and UFC at once, but this was the best year for the UFC alone hands-down. And I think the last maybe three or four months has been the strongest run of shows they've ever had. Some great, great cards.
$75,000 post-fight bonuses went to Nate Diaz & Donald Cerrone (fight of the night) and Johny Hendricks (knockout of the night). No submission of the night bonus was given.
I thought Diaz/Cerrone was a great fight to watch but too one-sided to be considered for Fight of the Year. Hendo/Shogun seems the safe choice for that one now but I guess DREAM starts now so there are still going to be some last-minute entries.
For anyone watching the presser, Dana is sick and sounds exactly like he did in the mid-00s. The bass is out of his voice. He's revved up and ready to go!
Nate Diaz apologized to Donald Cerrone for knocking off his hat and offered him his own hat after the fight to make up for it. Cerrone was amused.
Jacob Volkmann said some right-wing shit, don't know yet what. Same guy that said he wanted to fight Obama last year.
Here it is (not so bad): "Obama needs a glassectomy. Ask me what a glassectomy is Joe," said Volkmann. Rogan obliged. "It's where they remove the belly button and put a piece of glass in there so you can see what you're doing while your head's up your [expletive]," said Volkmann. Rogan gave the fighter a strange look and the quip went over like a lead balloon with the crowd in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. In a postfight interview, Volkmann explained why he took on the President again. "The whole thing is a joke. He's a joke of a President and I'm just trying to get the point across that his decisions are based on ... it's not based on facts, it's based on who pays him the most money ... it seems like. He's not thinking things through enough," said Volkmann.
He's still under UFC contract so he'd need their green light I think. Some confusion regarding that right now.
Wow so unexpected. Supposedly he was planning on winning this fight then fighting for the title and retiring with it.
Lesnar thinks he has a broken rib. Overeem thinks he just hit him in the liver. Lesnar's delayed reaction suggests a bad liver shot.
I kind of feel bad for taking so much satisfaction in a Fitch KO, but at least I don't have to worry about him boring the sh*t out of me while he crawls toward another title shot. Props to Hendricks though, you don't see guys do that to Fitch. Cerrone came out angry and withered to the Diaz tempo quickly. Can't explain the complete and utter lack of head movement from him but I don't know if it would have saved him. Nice to see Nate string a few impressive performances together, he might coming into his own and that sharp boxing with his great length will be difficult for any lightweight. What is there to say about Brock. Hes been embarrassed 3 fights in a row, got lucky that Carwin's body stopped working in the second round. He was very influential and its impressive that he (pretty much) always fought top 5 fighters in his class. He could probably rack up a lot more wins against middling heavyweights if his health permitted.
Jacob Volkmann joked that he wants to punch Joe Rogan in the nuts for not laughing at Volkmann's post-fight Obama "glassectomy" joke, which he thinks made the crowd not react to it as well. In fairness it's not a bad joke but he just kind of threw it out there. Context is crucial. In my experience in the Southern US, especially Nevada, anti-Obama and anti-Dem jokes go over pretty big. He just didn't deliver it well enough. Came off as weird.