#ufc283

[theanticool]

I’m not a religious guy, but I feel like superimposing a ufc title onto the shoulder of the 100ft Jesus statue in Rio is in poor taste.

[theanticool]

Glover Teixeira retires. What a crazy career.

Man was late to start MMA. He was late to get to the UFC. He managed to get a title shot and lose. Stuck around and got beat badly by a few other great 205ers. Managed to somehow outlast any of them and actually win the title by being a functional fighter well into his late 30s/early 40s. Managed to build a reputation for other worldly toughness at a point where all his peers had faded to shells of their former selves. Happy to have been here for the journey. Props to Glover. May retirement treat you well.

[theanticool]

Jamahal Hill dominates Glover Teixeira. Takes UD and LHW title.

Wack. Can’t stand Hill.

He did good though, fighting off Glover’s attempts to wrestle for the most part and getting up when he did get taken down. He picked the shorter, slower fighter apart from range. While I stand by Hill’s game being paper thin, what he does well is pick guys off with his range tools from distance. 1s and 2 mixed with front kicks and the occasional head kick to keep guys honest. A head kick that rocked Glover multiple times throughout the fight. Plus knees in the clinch breaks to give Glover pause for repeated shot entries. He also demonstrated he could keep a pace with an aggressive fighter like Glover for 25 minutes, though a large part of that was Glover being very obviously hurt. Another fight where there was next to no reason to send out the guy in the last round and they did anyway. 

Again, fuck Hill. Dude is wack but this was a good performance.

[theanticool]

Jessica Andrade vs Lauren Murphy is a hoss fight.

[theanticool]

It is wild to me that of the last 4 guys to fight for the title, Paul Craig has submitted 2 of them and snapped one of their arms (hill)

[theanticool]

Ihor Potieria stops Shogun Rua in the 1st round

Potieria hurts Shogun with a clipping right hook and puts him on skates. Shogun never recovered as Potieria swarmed.

Again, why a young guy? UFC could have got a lot of old-timers to come in and be Shogun’s retirement fight but instead we got a young dude who does not benefit from this win.

Anyway, hats off to Shogun. 21 years of fighting. He won titles. He won wars. He was in some of the greatest, wildest fights the sport has ever seen. He’s an all time great. I hope retirement is good to him.

[theanticool]

That is a very empty arena for a UFC card in Rio. Years of Brazilian UFC fighters being forced to fight in the US because of the pandemic probably didn’t help. That and Do Bronx not fighting on the card.

[theanticool]

The Doctor stops the fight after 3rd! Deiveson Figueiredo right eye is shut. Brandon Moreno is the UFC Flyweight champion, again!

A somewhat anti-climatic finish to a brilliant fight and a brilliant series.

Brandon Moreno was in control from start to finish in this one. Instead of getting into firefights and trying to push Figs into long exchanges, he was content fighting off the backfoot. But he still controlled initiative as Figueiredo looked to load up on single strike counters. Moreno’s wrestling really came into play here as he got Figs down almost immediately and let the man wear his arms out locking up a half hearted guillotine. Figs got back up but was really struggling to find a range to throw from. Moreno took advantage, piling up points on the feet with variety and short combos. Liked seeing the switch stance body kick back again! He also kept up the wrestling attack. The thing that stopped the fight was a wide sweeping left hook that caught Figueiredo in the third. It appears to have been Moreno’s knuckle that caught him. Regardless, his eye shut close and the doc called the fight off.

Figueiredo says he’s moving up to 135lbs. Thank god. I think we’ll see him extend his career with the move. Dude is only going to be faster and hit harder without the cut.

Bring on Pantoja-Moreno 3!