UFC 102 recap and analysis

[poskid]

If you want to do a quick(ish) ramble on a fight from last night please do so. Try not to make them 3 pages long but decent depth so we can follow your thought patterns...

This should help the MMA forum by allowing us to throw some non-ESPN analysis for people to understand how we make picks event to event.

PK

[poskid]

I'll start with the top of the card...

Couture fight was definately interesting. Nog pretty much did what all of us thought he didnt have left though I dont think he was ridiculously impressive either. Honestly I think Couture made a few mistakes in this fight. He never should have allowed Nog to counter punch like that. Couture should have been dancing in and out. Instead he decided to try and irish box with the guy toe-to-toe when he's outweighed by 20 pounds. At first Nog looked really uncomfortable but once Randy basically stayed in front of him Nog realized he didnt have to have any footwork and just started throwing bombs.

The turning point of the fight was when Randy got turned over in the ground game. Randy was in Nog's guard and instead of trying to pass into half he went straight for the full mount. By doing so he got stuck with his hips too high and no base below to stop Nog from turning him easily. These were elementary mistakes you usually dont see from Couture. Once Randy got turned the fight was squarely in Nog's favor and Randy would need a huge final round to win the fight. The most egregious mistake was standing in front of a guy who has shown that he has no footwork though and got tagged a few times for it.

[mavskidd02]

Marquardt fight was over in the blink of an eye.....

[poskid]

Marquardt fight was over in the blink of an eye.....

nice

PK

[mavskidd02]

nice

PK

Haha.

Maia comes out with a sweeping leg kick that misses as Marquardt backs up a bit. Coming back together, Maia tries to land a high leg kick, Marquardt blocks it easily.

After a few seconds, Maia comes in close and looked to be setting up a body kick, but before he can land it Marquardt put him on his back with a menacing right hand.

Maia is down and out, and Marquardt refrains from hitting him again before the fight is even called, something Rogen found honorable.

The fight lasted 20 seconds.

[wayne1218]

poskid, Do you think Couture's problem was also lack of concentration or desire? I just didn't feel like he was into it like i thought he would have been. Did he underestimate the opponent or just get beat?

[poskid]

Wayne,

I think it has to be a combination of those things and possibly a few more. Couture was training Gina Carano for her fight while trying to get ready for Nog. This probably split his focus while training and probably cut into his gameplanning while working out his strategy for best going after Nog. Couture has always been known for his strategic attack of opponent's weaknesses and he played almost fully into all of Nog's strengths. I have NEVER seen Randy look so unprepared for a fight. Admitedly Nog looked 5x better than either of his last 2 fights. But like I said above he didnt impress me...He basically looked like a mid-level UFC heavy-weight.

A wrestler of Couture's stature should have easily known that trying to bypass half guard for a straight mount was a terrible idea against a ground guy like Nog. He also should have known that Nog had lost a lot of footwork. I mean his fight with Mir I think one of the announcers said it best "Nog made Mir look like Mike Tyson in his prime". Unlike Couture, Mir was moving in and out circling off and not allowing Nog to throw the effective counter punch. I dont think Mir's stand-up is all that much better than Couture's I just think he had a better idea of how to attack him.

I honestly think Couture got beaten by an inferior opponent due to poor prep. He looked in great shape and seemed to throw crisply and move well. I really dont know if the desire to win was a problem. He may have been overlooking Nog somewhat thinking that he could train another fighter while trying to get ready for someone he had seen dismantled recently. Desire and overlooking are those types of things though that really are hard to tell unless you are close to the subject. I cant give a good response to either of them.

PK

[wayne1218]

Thanks PK

Good Read!

[poskid]

Gonna move down the card a bit...

Rosholt v Leben. This was the epitome of what makes UFC great. 2 completely different fighting styles matching up. Leben a stand up specialist with lots of power and an iron jaw. Rosholt an elite wrestler with an improving stand up game. I think the most intriguing part of this match was the finish. Anyone who doesnt understand MMA would look at this and think...Wow nice choke out. Actually it was a superior ground fighter taking advantage of a poor ground fighter.

The side choke that Rosholt applied was a non-control choke. Basically his positioning was such that Leben should have been able to roll out of it if he wasnt A) really tired B) trained to defend ground position properly or C) truly outmatched in strength or weight. When you watch most submission fighters they dont particularly care whether they are on top or bottom when they get the fight to the ground. They simply work their lower bodies into position to control their opponent and minimize risk of disadvantageous positional change. They then use their arms and head to control the upper body position in order to make oppnents take damage and/or hopefully open up a limb for manipulation and submission.

While watching this fight we saw Rosholt and Leben on the mat a couple times. In the second round Rosholt was controlling Leben's position well but wasnt able to gain any position past the upper guard and they were stood up. I thought that Rosholt had done a good job there scoring the takedown, aggression, and cage command points. However Leben was able to guard almost too easily.

In the 3rd round Rosholt locked in the choke and I was actually REALLY surprised when it was locked in hard enough that Leben wasnt able to get out. I kept looking for Leben to roll the hips and put Jake out of position where he would have to break the hold or lose position to a side mount.

I personally thought it was awesome that Leben went out mid tap. Basically he wasnt giving up until he absolutely couldnt take it anymore and the lights went faster than his hand could. I was personally impressed by that from Leben and it definately elevated my respect for him and that chin of his.

PK

[poskid]

Either I've really hit the nail on the head or no one is reading these

PK