#ufcraleigh

[rtfproductions]

543. NSFW MMA Show: Stephen A. Smith and #UFCRaleigh

[theanticool]

Curtis Blaydes stops Junior Dos Santos in the 2nd round! Standing!

JDS did a fantastic job of fighting off the takedowns but he wasn’t able to get his offense going. He was so preoccupied fighting off the takedown he forgot to establish range with his jab. Blaydes was able to continuously  touch JDS, landing the bigger shots of consequence. JDS also had the hands low to guard from the takedown. Blaydes dipped, JDS loaded up for the uppercut expecting either a takedown or to catch Blaydes short. Instead, Blaydes steps in and comes over the top with the overhand and rocks the crap out of him. Kind of reminded me of how he got knocked down against Velasquez in their 2nd fight. From there Blaydes swarms him until the ref stops the fight.

I’m not sure if that was a sign that Blaydes’ striking is improving or if it was more a Randleman-Cro Cop moment where the wrestling opened up this possibility but that’s got to be a huge confidence boost for Blaydes. That makes three straight wins.

[theanticool]

When the fuck did JDS learn to move left and right?

[theanticool]

Michael Chiesa outwrestles RDA to take UD

That was easily the worst performance of RDA’s recent run since maybe fighting Gleison Tibau. Everything about his game seemed off from his balance, to his ability to change directions, to his ability to do anything with his grappling. Chiesa had a good gameplan to shoot when RDA marched forward or when he could get RDA along the fence but a lot of those situations arose cause RDA just looked listless at points. He looked tired in that third despite having fought in five consecutive five round fights. Big win for Chiesa who is now a ranked WW.

[theanticool]

Alex Perez chokes out  Jordan Espinosa in the 1st!

Perez locks down an arm triangle from inside of Espinosa’s half guard. Quick night for Perez who continues to look great against everybody not named Joseph Benavidez. He’s now 5-1 in the UFC with 3 finishes to his credit.

[theanticool]

Angela Hill stops Hannah Cifers in round 2.

Hill showed some of the old muay thai skills here, using a foot sweep from the double collar tie to take Cifers down in the 2nd before climbing to mount and pouring out the elbows and GnP on Cifers until the ref stopped the fight. That makes 2 in a row for Hill, both by stoppage.

[theanticool]

Sara McMann dominates Lina Lansberg to UD

30-24 on my card. Lansberg got off zero offense as McMann took her down 3 times and kept her on the mat for basically 14 minutes. Not a complete performance from McMann as she didn’t really mount a ton of offense from the position but she was dominant in a much needed winning performance.

Don’t really know what they do with McMann. Maybe have her fight Holm or the winner of Ladd-Pena or Eubanks-Moraes.

[theanticool]

Brett Johns submits Tony Gravely in the 3rd!

Fantastic fight between Johns and Gravely. Some super entertaining wrestling on display as they scrambled their way through 3 rounds of action before Johns was finally able to secure the RNC to get the win.