With no UFC this past weekend, and none this upcoming weekend, it’s a nice relaxing break for a lot of fans. Once the UFC comes back on the 11th with a Fight Pass card, though, it’s heavy and hard as there are a ton of MMA events coming up. Throw in Bellator, Glory and AXS TV’s MMA cards and even the most ardent of MMA fans could have their fill and then some. Because there wasn’t a ton to write about, long form, and there were plenty of things in the shorter version it’s time for a weekend version of What We Learned.
Eddie Bravo’s ADCC Win Wasn’t a Fluke – He may have gotten a draw with Royler on Saturday at Metamoris 3 but he won that fight. He nearly won it a couple of times and an incredible BJJ battle needed a winner but didn’t get one. I think he gets the moral victory, then, in that a decade later he went 20 minutes with a multi-time world champion and nearly got the win.
Bravo’s kind of a goof, spouting 9/11 Truther Conspiracy talk among other things, but he pulled off the performance of a lifetime.
Rousimar Palhares Is Still The Dirtiest Fighter In MMA Right Now – This wasn’t a blatant crank after the tap, of course, and I can’t say as I blame him for holding it until the ref breaks it up. Plenty of guys do the “Brazilian tap” to get a hold released …. So I can see why he held it. That is until the replay, and the ref needing to begin to physically separate his hands, showed that it was a bit too long of a hold. This wasn’t quite the Pierce fight and normally I’d be ok with something like this. The problem is that Palhares has a history of cranking submissions and anything that’s on the borderline has to be treated differently because of his past history.
I think that’s why there was some controversy coming out of it when normally there wouldn’t be. Palhares has a bad history with cranking submissions and we have to treat him like the refs treated Dennis Rodman and his antics in the 90s with the Bulls. He doesn’t get that benefit of the doubt because he’s shown that he does not deserve it.
Yushin Okami should be given a pass back to the UFC … today – If Okami had gotten blown out of the water against a relative no name in his first fight after an unjust cut I could see the case for him being cut. Look at the last two Top 10 fighters to get cut: Jon Fitch got brutally finished in his first post UFC fight and Miguel Torres needed to fight a hand-picked opponent in his hometown to get back in the win column. Okami was dominant and seemingly bored Saturday night. He looked like a Top 10 fighter getting thrown a guy who had no right to be in the cage with him and disposing of him in the exact same manner he should’ve.
The WSOF will be on his waist sooner than later; he still looks like the same “Thunder” in the UFC and if there was justice in the world Okami would be signing a new UFC contract today alongside Ben Askren.
Alexander Shlemenko’s ceiling is in sight – I like Shlemenko but in the UFC he’d be a fringe gatekeeper to the Top 20 or so. He’s never dull and a fight with Okami is the best possible matchup for him right now (that won’t happen) but his ceiling is now in clear view. He’ll never challenge for a title outside of the UFC and Bellator is a near perfect place for him right now.
He’s a good gauge for how good a fighter should be; you beat Shlemenko and you’re arguably a UFC caliber fighter for some time. His only loss since 2010 has been to Hector Lombard; that tells you a lot.
Cris Cyborg’s MMA Future Didn’t Change With a Muay Thai Loss – Anyone who thinks that Cris Cyborg’s MMA future somehow was changed for the worse because she lost a Muay Thai fight is an idiot. If she’d lost at MMA it’d be one thing, and her credibility as the baddest woman in any combat sport takes a slight hit, but losing a kickboxing bout to someone who kickboxes full time isn’t the end of the world. It just shows that Cyborg’s kickboxing skills are elite in MMA but may not be elite in … well … you know …KICKBOXING! It’s insanely idiotic to read people discussing whether or not this changes anything about her MMA career.
This is just Cyborg losing in another discipline, like Fedor losing at Combat Sambo after Pride. Yeah it’s a loss but it’s not like it was in MMA. She’s still the most intriguing fighter for Ronda Rousey, hands down.
Fitch/Palhares is an intriguing fight – It’s happening at WSOF 11 and it’s a really good gauge of Palhares as a welterweight. So far he’s looked terrific and seems to have the weight cut down. If Fitch is going to want to get his career back on track, and make one more run back to the UFC, it starts with a dominant win.
