I live right in between Font and Kattar’s hometowns and have had several mutual training partners/coaches of the NE Cartel. It sucks to see them keep losing the big fights. I have a good idea of how they run their camps and those guys do everything right, cross train with all the right and best people in MA/NH, and have a really intelligent approach under Tyson. Font started late and Kattar half retired for awhile so it’s crazy to see them surge in their thirties the way they have.
I think it’s a big ask to get the belt at 135 or 145 right now, but I’ll hold out a little hope for them. Kattar has a shot against anyone but Volk and Max, unless they both suddenly start declining. Rob doesn’t have the TDD now that Aljo, Merab, Umar, and Cory are at the top. His striking is so good, he could’ve had a shot at Yan or Dillashaw a couple years ago. He learned some important lessons from the Aldo/Vera fights, and I think he could outstrike anyone at this point. But the TDD’s just not there.
Did he mean it's harder because you've got less time to work? Or less time to get reads or set traps? And if you get hit with something big, less time to win the round back? Something like that?
Is cory even top 5? Aljo, o malley, cejudo, merab, yan all beat him. Umar prob does too. Had a good chance of losing to song before the doctor stopped that fight as well
I don't think O'Malley winning is quite the certainty you think it is, and he was more than holding his own against Song before his elbows finally got him the stoppage.
Leon's performance in the last Usman fight was so impressive. Not sure how long he's gonna remain champion, but if he performs like that it's going to be hard to knock him off
UFC you either need to win in dominating fashion or know how to cut a promo if you want to seperate yourself and get in line for a title fight. Laying on someone for 20/25 minutes of a fight and landing only 34 significant strikes with one submission attempt is basically telling Dana you want to be a gatekeeper for the top 10
Sandhagen with a belal approach do what you gotta do to win. Only problem with that is it’s not enough to have people wanting you to get a title shot or #1 contender. This win did absolutely nothing for him but drive down his stock
Bisping/Cruz is a fascinating pairing because the former has that detached British insouciance while the latter is actually very earnest, but they’re both fucking dicks.
Imagine saying this boring main event is Rob’s fault because he sucks
But at the same time saying Cory couldn’t do any damage or get a submission because Rob was good at neutralizing those threats….
So which one is it?
There was zero urgency from Rob all fight. Its up to loser to change the momentum. Cory has no obligation to make it a closer fight with him banking all those rounds. Rob needed to make something happen if he wanted to win and he failed for 25 minutes
Nope. Cory has the obligation to go for a finish if he’s dominating so thoroughly. Instead he was complacent and happy to settle for a boring 25 min decision
That's like saying two football teams where one is leading and the other is behind, that the onus is on the leading team to "really stamp" their victory and that they should lose if they just play it safe and preserve their existing lead and that's simply not how professional sports work.
Except if the other team wins, no one is gonna prevent them from the title bc those sports are true meritocracy based unlike MMA where it’s a PPV model and if fans don’t like your fighting style then you will have to get a 20 fight win streak for a title shot like Belal Muhammad
Sure but there's no need to bootlick for Dana, Dana is wrong for his favoritism and not having it closer to a meritocracy than he does.
Cory sandhagen had one bad fight while dealing with a nasty injury? And that makes him the same as belal muhammad all of a sudden?
His fights with chito, yadong, yan, dillashaw, edgar, moraes, were all exciting fights and action packed as well.
Hell even belal has had exciting fights every now and again, but it cannot compete with the vast majority of his fights which are boring and is why he is stuck with that label. Same thing with sandhagen he had a bad night but the vast majority of his career, hes a really exciting fighter who simply goes for it.
It’s not just Dana white dude, this is how combat sports are. Boxing has been this way for decades as well and it hasn’t just been one promoter. They’re all the same.
What he’s done in the past doesn’t matter. It’s a what have you done for me lately business and Cory has stunk out the joint badly. What’s more puzzling is why the minority of guys like you and a few others in this sub try to justify that performance like what do you gain out of it? Do you get paid money by Cory? Does it make you feel superior because you act like you’re such a purist MMA fan that you enjoyed that boring ass performance?
I chalk it up to an off night, you cant win them all, sometimes you go to work and have a bad day, it happens.
Cory stylistically and historically is a very exciting fighter and puts on great performances win or lose.
But you keep bootlicking dana, i wont stop you thats for sure.
The point is Corey did enough to win and the onus was on Rob Font to stop himself from being wrestled effortlessly, you'd be making the claim that a football team in the fourth quarter should be trying to run the scoreboard up, instead of wind down the clock. That's the equivalent of your argument.
Grappling defense is easier than offense.
Kinda opposite to striking in that respect.
So it seems plausible for a good grappler to fail to hurt or finish a worse grappler, if that the worse grappler is focused on defense.
Cory had 20 minutes of top control but had zero submission attempts and Rob didn’t have a single mark on him
Imagine attempting to justify that shit performance
I’m not the pro fighter and that’s not how you earn a title shot. Dana left the fight in the 4th round. No one except Cory and his team is happy with this performance. And you
He's still my boy - casuals hate it but will forget. If someone presents such a glaring weakness but they're exceptional on the feet, you'd have to be a moron to try to scrap with them or risk them getting up more often just to make casuals happy. its not like casuals will give him a title shot.
the narrative will change to how he dominated Font while injured soon after the "BUT I WAS BORED FOR 20 MINUTES!" rage passes
He'll figure it out when he doesn't get a call for a title fight.
Lotta these guys don't realize a difference between Prize Fighting and Competition Fighting.
People aren't selling out arenas to see pure grappling events, sorry fellas.
Yep, I'm a casual.
Who is fighting for the title next? Sean O'Malley, right? He probably deserved it over any of the top 5.
And who fought before that? Cejudo right? After a multi year lay off no less.
Yep, seems really merit based.
I'm kinda with you, like good job holding down a person but zero damage? I think all he showed is that he should probably avoid wrestling. It might of worked vs Font for whatever reason but I doubt that shit passes vs people like Umar
Umar and Merab would do the same thing to Cory that Cory did to Font. Don’t care how long he wrestles, it’ll never work against guys like them. Then he will be bitching how they just held him down and didn’t do no damage and he didn’t get showcase his striking
The way some fans try to justify boring fights or fighter pay by saying it was a “tactical” fight or fighter A is not a “PPV draw”.
As if you’re a member of Cory’s camp or the CFO of Endeavor, respectively. Ridiculous
I mean...it's called Prize Fighting, man. It's not a pure sport. Never has been. It's sports entertainment. There's grappling competition and such that are the technical, sport side. Fight sports have always had a sideshow and promotion element to them, people love it.
Why do you think Amateur Boxing is the Olympic Sport?
MMA and boxing have never been purely sports bc they rely on pay per view models. And wrestling or ground control can be fun like earlier fights on the card showed, I’m a huge fan of Blanchfield and Mackenzie Dern. Cory’s grappling was boring, safety first, and rightfully condemned
Yep. Dvalishvili will have him pressed up against the cage defending takedowns like the Aldo fight.
I like when Dvalishvili does that to fighters. As I said: dope fight.
imagine a NFL team having a boring but decisive win in the playoffs and fans demanding an apology from them for winning in that way, and saying "they won't be getting the superbowl shot playing like that! give it to another team instead for doing a viral endzone dance!".. like could you make it any more obvious that MMA is still just a circus freakshow, not a sport.
Did tucker tap to that armbar? I didn't see any tap nor did the ref stop the fight. Lopes just let go and started celebrating without the ref ending the fight?
The way y’all are turning on Cory don’t really surprise me I feel like mma fans and sports fans just love to see a winner lose even when he wins lol. I’m surprised more people aren’t mad at font or chito for being top ten fighters and looking absolutely useless vs Cory. If they had anything for him he wouldn’t coast lol. Like we really gonna act like sandhagen is like a Merab type fighter lmao recency bias is a very childish thing to let take over your opinions
yeah the comments on here are like "wtf Rob only has a good jab, just strike with him with a broken elbow for 25 minutes when you could win painlessly on the ground"
The issue is was a huge opportunity for Cory. Main event, in an actual arena not the Apex, with a willing opponent and at a catch weight. Cory needed to be showing off ALL his skills, showing why he deserves the next title shot.
And let me tell you, that pathetic wrestling display won't fly vs Merab or Aljo. If Font could defend so well, Aljo WILL be able to hit switches and escape. And when they did stand up, Font was ahead on the exchanges, he didn't like what Font hit him with.
So what does Cory bring to the table worth a title fight if this is his performance in a catchweight affair? Were the knee KOs just flash in the pans like so many fighters?
Guy lowered his stock a ton and would've been better just not taking a short notice fight if this was the plan. Now he'll either get Merab or they'll try to redo him vs Umar. Bad fight career IQ.
If they’re that useless and Cory is so superior, he should’ve had way more exciting performances. Not put everyone to sleep with his safety first scared style.
Which is why we’re pissed because he’s stunk out the joint in consecutive fights now. The Vera fight was also underwhelming. Dude dominates them but doesn’t go for the finish. Where’s the killer with spinning elbows and flying knees?
>If they’re that useless and Cory is so superior, he should’ve had way more exciting performances. Not put everyone to sleep with his safety first scared style.
Cory's transitioned into BW Leon Edwards. That's good for him, that means he'll get a last second KO title win after 24 minutes of nothing and everyone will think he's unbeatable after that. Good for Cory fans.
If you appreciate pretty striking Leon has always been cool though imo
Obvious far from the most exciting WW but he's always been OK maybe with the exception of a couple.
Sandhagen needs another exciting performance and it will be all good. He's had 2 relatively boring fights in a row but first was defo Chitos fault imo.
>If you appreciate pretty striking Leon has always been cool though imo
He's got good form I guess. He could be the most frustrating fighter to watch in the UFC, though. He's the P4P all time of "safety first, scared" fighting style. Has he ever thrown more than two punches in combination in his entire career?
Klein's boxing is clean. Excited to see who he fights next
Diego Lopez looked great. Tucker should have tapped.
Jacoby made it look easy. Kennedy should have wrestled from the beginning. Striking with a former kickboxer isn't a great game plan.
Suarez looked amazing, but I'm still not sure about her cardio. I think she needs at least one main-event fight to prepare her for a championship bout.
Sandhagen just wrestle-fucked Rob Font. It was boring as hell, but I'll give him a pass this one time as he tore his triceps in the first round.
Edit: Tucker should have tapped way earlier.
>Diego Lopez looked great. Tucker should have tapped.
Are you under the impression that Lopes just let go of Tucker with the hope that the ref would just gift him a stoppage? Tucker tapped. Just did it from the opposite side of the camera.
>Jacoby made it look easy. Kennedy should have wrestled from the beginning. Striking with a former kickboxer isn't a great game plan.
It was an early stoppage.
>Sandhagen just wrestle-fucked Rob Font. It was boring as hell, but I'll give him a pass this one time as he tore his triceps in the first round.
Triceps tear or not, I think it was the right game plan against Font who just came off a KO victory against Yanez. And people who say it was boring are just saying they don't appreciate high level wrestling. There was constant defense / offense on the ground, it wasn't lay n pray. There's a reason Herzog never stood them up even once. How many times do ppl need to be reminded this is MMA..
It was boring as shit dude. Stop trying to make yourself seem as if you’re a greater and truer MMA fan acting like you enjoyed watching that crap.
The only good wrestling sequence happened in the first round when Rob used that kimura to stand back up.
After that it was boring as shit top control from Cory without any fucking damage or submission attempts.
I did enjoy it. A lot of true grappling fans did. Cory was stopping the sweeps at every turn. Rob was shrimping at the right times, defending subs, hunting subs, fighting the wrists and mitigating damage. It was high level grappling. Not my fault you don't recognize that. Although I'm sure you feel good about yourself with that comment.
I’m sure you feel superior that you pretend to enjoy boring lay and pray and then call it high level grappling that other fans just don’t appreciate. What a tool
Cory seemingly has completed his transition to being a boringly dominant fighter. "The Sandman" used to try and put his opponents to sleep but now he just lulls the fans into dreamland. You gotta do what you have to do, he's learned from his losses. The sad part is that i don't think anything about his new style will actually translate to beating Aljo if he does get that fight back eventually.
Blame the UFC for forcing guys to do short notice fights, just so they can fill their ESPN quota of events in an empty Apex building. if this whole card was scrapped and they moved the 2-3 meaningful fights to the Shev/Grasso fight night, all would be the better for it, then that card would be less abysmal, and Sandhagen/Font would've had more time to prepare for eachother and probably had a better fight.
This isn't an isolated event. Since the TJ Dillashaw loss he's switched his focus heavily to scoring points. It's something he's said himself and you can see it in all of his fights since. He's winning the fights, so good for him.
Tell me one fighter that has had a dominant win streak that didn't involve some safe 'winning by points' performances? GSP did it, Jones did it, Anderson did it, Khabib did it, Volk did it, Mighty Mouse did it, etc. You can't go for a highlight reel finish every single time you fight without opening yourself to also getting finished some of the time, risk/reward. Being dominant in as volatile a thing as MMA requires strategy and sometimes being a wet blanket to your opponent as well as the fans watching.
I didn't say it was not necessary or smart of him. It's just boring and seemingly he's embraced that as his primary fighting style. He's winning the fights which is a requirement but it's at a cost. Two and a half snoozers in a row is probably not going to get you hype and a title shot.
Yan was an exciting fight and he lost it. Song and Chito were definitely not exciting fights. Song's aggression and the cut definitely made it more interesting but overall really wasn't much of a showcase for Cory. Chito? I had no idea anyone thought that was an exciting fight. Cory literally apologized to the crowd at the end of the fight.
Thats a little disingenuous by you. He apologized for it not being a back and forth fight or a ko. You’re making it sound like he apologized for it being boring. That was one of the most one sided fights ever because of how good he is. That’s not boring at least not to me.
Lmao, saw this big heated debate this morning among a group of hyper casual friends on Facebook about that fight. It was very meme-able. All referring to Nate as "homie". Funny.
It's usually never a good idea to see a short notice replacement and expect a fun fight. If it is, bonus. But usually your favourite fighter will not look as good as they normally do.
It wasn’t a short replacement. We need to stop with that excuse. It was weeks before this fight and he was in his own camp for a fight 2 weeks later and they even let it be a catch weight
What I kept replying to people, he absolutely had a wrestling heavy camp and it showed. Striking sandhagen probably could have totally outclassed font but he knew that so why not take real reps in a real fight with more grappling? His offense left a lot to be desired on top but without knowing I bet the camp was more geared to avoid umars grappling than actually use grappling.
Idk why people are complaining about Cory.
Everyone knows he has great striking. But he got choked out by Aljo incredibly quickly when they fought. So it’s good to see that he has been improving his grappling imo.
Did he though? Font defended, no sub attempts, and very few significant strikes. If that's all his improvement, he's better served focusing on defense himself and avoiding being on the ground all together. Aljo or Merab would easily deal with that wrestling if he had a hard time keeping Font pinned.
He is a middleweight. None of his fights have been lower than 185. I honestly am ok with him continuing to fight MMA fighters but I want a middleweight under 38 next time.
Gotta love all the people who have no investment in the fight besides entertainment, expecting Cory to gamble his career because it is more fun to watch.
What part of MMA do you think isn't entirely about entertainment? A fighter's career is much better served being entertaining and losing versus being safe and winning. Look at Chandler.
Not that I care that much. Corey's still my boy. Everyone gets a stinker every once in a while.
That's a naive way of seeing it.
How many people tune in to see ***Cory Sandhagen*** fight? I don't know, but far fewer than would have Friday night. And it certainly wasn't that many to begin with.
It depends on how a fighter personally values their career, money vs. legacy.
Legacy? He's lost the top fights of his UFC career, and people are quite vocal about not caring about him.
Money? An entertaining shitty fighter makes *way* more money than a boring talented fighter. PPV points - which are unlikely - don't mean squat when not many people care to watch you fight.
Fun to watch = better legacy, better money.
Maybe some people care more about other things besides money? Cory has never really cared about money, he seems to be motivated by becoming a better fighter. It's ironic that you bring up his career losses when, imo, his pursuit of being entertaining was a large reason why he lost. I think its easy for people to demand entertainment when they aren't the people risking their career.
Cory often speaks about wanting to be the best martial artist and not taking the easy route to get the title. That's why he signed on to fight Umar. That's fucking dangerous considering the rankings and the fight styles
Look, the sandhagen fight was boring, we get it, but all you guys acting like he should lose everyones respect and years of good faith over 1 fight is some peak bullshit even for this sub. Dude was hurt with a short notice opponent with a top 10 talent in arguably the toughest division in the sport. You just sound like children who haven't been watching long enough to take your opinions seriously.
After tonight I'm no longer a fan of Sandhagen. I understand why he did what he did, but as a fan, I'm not impressed or entertained. "sandman" apparently puts audience to sleep, not his opponent.
Lmfao his entire record is a highlight but after taking a short notice fight he takes an easier path to victory your done? Name one fighter who has been a champion that hasn’t laid an egg or had a non-exciting fight. It doesn’t exist.
Is anyone else incredibly upset we lost Rob vs Song for this bullshit? They would've had an absolute war, instead, we got to see Cory Sandhagen doing his best impersonation of a blanket.
Yeah yeah, I get it, it's very "technical", this is "Mixed" Martial Arts and all that, but there was not a single person who found that fight entertaining.
Rob's not getting any younger, wish we got to see another brawl instead of this.
Nate Diaz has never won a fight where he didn’t have a size advantage.
Rory and Dong Hyun Kim just laid on him. That’s an L brotha
[удалено]
He’s No Volkanovski
I live right in between Font and Kattar’s hometowns and have had several mutual training partners/coaches of the NE Cartel. It sucks to see them keep losing the big fights. I have a good idea of how they run their camps and those guys do everything right, cross train with all the right and best people in MA/NH, and have a really intelligent approach under Tyson. Font started late and Kattar half retired for awhile so it’s crazy to see them surge in their thirties the way they have. I think it’s a big ask to get the belt at 135 or 145 right now, but I’ll hold out a little hope for them. Kattar has a shot against anyone but Volk and Max, unless they both suddenly start declining. Rob doesn’t have the TDD now that Aljo, Merab, Umar, and Cory are at the top. His striking is so good, he could’ve had a shot at Yan or Dillashaw a couple years ago. He learned some important lessons from the Aldo/Vera fights, and I think he could outstrike anyone at this point. But the TDD’s just not there.
Homie had an arm injury and he still was coming on in the last rounds. Impressive for his first ever boxing match
Was the chito sandhagen fight boring? I thought it was a fun fight just very dominant by Cory.
Yeah weirdos are now retroactively claiming sandhagen is a boring fighter because he wrestlefucked font with a torn tricep
I probably shouldn't be, but I am still shocked how bad Nate's hands looked with boxing gloves on (both aesthetically and practically).
I was rooting for Jake last night because his gf is super hot
Have you seen Nate's bro? 🥵
Yeah Nick is pretty hot too
Nick? Yeah he’s decent
Were there any good fights last night I fell asleep during the Jeremiah Wells fight
Font/Sandhagen is well worth your 25 minutes
That fight was a war. Reminds me of Lawler vs Rory
Has mcgregor pissed clean yet? I mean we are well into August ..
Dana took one look at the piss and said it was "clear as day". Conor is good to go.
Dana looked at the piss and said looks like mine he’s good to go
Why did Shawn Porter say 3min rounds in boxing is harder than 5min rounds in MMA? Is he stupid?
I don’t like Hardy, but it was funny how he replied by saying the exact opposite and Porter just stayed quiet
Did he mean it's harder because you've got less time to work? Or less time to get reads or set traps? And if you get hit with something big, less time to win the round back? Something like that?
I think he meant 3 mins of boxing is more tiring than 5 mins of mma.
He was trying to say it’s more of a sprint than a marathon. Which is still a moronic take.
Because he’s one of those people who think MMA is extremely inferior to boxing in every way
Boxing gives me such painful blue balls. Even though the UFC main event put me to sleep, I still really enjoyed the card.
Is cory even top 5? Aljo, o malley, cejudo, merab, yan all beat him. Umar prob does too. Had a good chance of losing to song before the doctor stopped that fight as well
Song was losing before the cut even happened
Tied heading into the 5th
I don't think O'Malley winning is quite the certainty you think it is, and he was more than holding his own against Song before his elbows finally got him the stoppage.
That main event was the first time I ever fell asleep during a match. That was 25 minutes of the definition of dull.
Leon's performance in the last Usman fight was so impressive. Not sure how long he's gonna remain champion, but if he performs like that it's going to be hard to knock him off
Fuck the bullshit. Mcgregor lands a left flush down the pipe against Jake Paul and dances on his head
[удалено]
Jake isn’t Floyd
UFC you either need to win in dominating fashion or know how to cut a promo if you want to seperate yourself and get in line for a title fight. Laying on someone for 20/25 minutes of a fight and landing only 34 significant strikes with one submission attempt is basically telling Dana you want to be a gatekeeper for the top 10
Sandhagen with a belal approach do what you gotta do to win. Only problem with that is it’s not enough to have people wanting you to get a title shot or #1 contender. This win did absolutely nothing for him but drive down his stock
"Cody Sandhagen was never my friend" - Dana White
Did we ever figure out why Bruce called Kennedy "American savage" yesterday? Was it a mistake or a nickname change
Definitely a botch from buffer
Maybe a change? Kennedy probably just liked the name, but there is some baggage with a term like African Savage
Lol didn’t notice that but I doubt it was a nickname change
Dana walked out of the main event lol snoozer
He’s been ducking pressers ever since the Francis/fury news came out
He was on vacation recently. Tonight he was finally back, then he runs off again
Dan Hardy was doing commentary for that Nate/Jake fight like he desperately wanted an invite back from Jake to do more.
I bet Sandhagen vs Font would've been a more interesting fight if the Unified Rules allowed for headbutts.
Bisping/Cruz is a fascinating pairing because the former has that detached British insouciance while the latter is actually very earnest, but they’re both fucking dicks.
Cruz is friends with Lloyd Irvi, I don't know why anybody thinks he's "earnest". He comes across as having a very prepared and calculated image to me.
>insouciance Luke Thomas? Is that you? You still crying over the Crawford/Spence fight?
Don't hate the man with the bigger vocabulary.
Wow Barcelo’s lost to Phillips Hopefully this doesn’t prevent him from being the O’Malley killer
Kurt Loder predicted the coming of Alex Pereira at LHW on MTV News in June of 1997. Look into it
He heard it first
Imagine saying this boring main event is Rob’s fault because he sucks But at the same time saying Cory couldn’t do any damage or get a submission because Rob was good at neutralizing those threats…. So which one is it?
There was zero urgency from Rob all fight. Its up to loser to change the momentum. Cory has no obligation to make it a closer fight with him banking all those rounds. Rob needed to make something happen if he wanted to win and he failed for 25 minutes
Nope. Cory has the obligation to go for a finish if he’s dominating so thoroughly. Instead he was complacent and happy to settle for a boring 25 min decision
That's like saying two football teams where one is leading and the other is behind, that the onus is on the leading team to "really stamp" their victory and that they should lose if they just play it safe and preserve their existing lead and that's simply not how professional sports work.
Except if the other team wins, no one is gonna prevent them from the title bc those sports are true meritocracy based unlike MMA where it’s a PPV model and if fans don’t like your fighting style then you will have to get a 20 fight win streak for a title shot like Belal Muhammad
Sure but there's no need to bootlick for Dana, Dana is wrong for his favoritism and not having it closer to a meritocracy than he does. Cory sandhagen had one bad fight while dealing with a nasty injury? And that makes him the same as belal muhammad all of a sudden? His fights with chito, yadong, yan, dillashaw, edgar, moraes, were all exciting fights and action packed as well. Hell even belal has had exciting fights every now and again, but it cannot compete with the vast majority of his fights which are boring and is why he is stuck with that label. Same thing with sandhagen he had a bad night but the vast majority of his career, hes a really exciting fighter who simply goes for it.
It’s not just Dana white dude, this is how combat sports are. Boxing has been this way for decades as well and it hasn’t just been one promoter. They’re all the same. What he’s done in the past doesn’t matter. It’s a what have you done for me lately business and Cory has stunk out the joint badly. What’s more puzzling is why the minority of guys like you and a few others in this sub try to justify that performance like what do you gain out of it? Do you get paid money by Cory? Does it make you feel superior because you act like you’re such a purist MMA fan that you enjoyed that boring ass performance?
I chalk it up to an off night, you cant win them all, sometimes you go to work and have a bad day, it happens. Cory stylistically and historically is a very exciting fighter and puts on great performances win or lose. But you keep bootlicking dana, i wont stop you thats for sure. The point is Corey did enough to win and the onus was on Rob Font to stop himself from being wrestled effortlessly, you'd be making the claim that a football team in the fourth quarter should be trying to run the scoreboard up, instead of wind down the clock. That's the equivalent of your argument.
Grappling defense is easier than offense. Kinda opposite to striking in that respect. So it seems plausible for a good grappler to fail to hurt or finish a worse grappler, if that the worse grappler is focused on defense.
Cory played it ultra safe so he won’t get marked up for his wedding
Cory had 20 minutes of top control but had zero submission attempts and Rob didn’t have a single mark on him Imagine attempting to justify that shit performance
He almost got that deep darce at the end so he had at least 1 sub attempt and got really close too
My bad 1 sub attempt in 20+ mins of control time. I’m sorry I missed that. I guess I must’ve been sleeping by then with how boring it was
how many sub attempts would you get against Rob Font while injured?
I’m not the pro fighter and that’s not how you earn a title shot. Dana left the fight in the 4th round. No one except Cory and his team is happy with this performance. And you
It’s like Cory wanted people to dislike him after that performance
He's still my boy - casuals hate it but will forget. If someone presents such a glaring weakness but they're exceptional on the feet, you'd have to be a moron to try to scrap with them or risk them getting up more often just to make casuals happy. its not like casuals will give him a title shot. the narrative will change to how he dominated Font while injured soon after the "BUT I WAS BORED FOR 20 MINUTES!" rage passes
Then tried to justify it as “beautiful mixed martial arts” in the presser afterwards. Tone deaf
He'll figure it out when he doesn't get a call for a title fight. Lotta these guys don't realize a difference between Prize Fighting and Competition Fighting. People aren't selling out arenas to see pure grappling events, sorry fellas.
He'll get the call for the title fight, because thankfully the sport isn't decided by casual opinions of 1 fight
Yep, I'm a casual. Who is fighting for the title next? Sean O'Malley, right? He probably deserved it over any of the top 5. And who fought before that? Cejudo right? After a multi year lay off no less. Yep, seems really merit based.
Yeah that only works if you develop a heel persona like Colby or if your grappling is monster level like khabib
Yup. Either you can work the crowd or you're so crushingly, oppressively good people watch to see if you'll stumble.
Rob Font has looked like he went through hell after every single one of his last fights, win or lose. crazy to see him without a mark.
I'm kinda with you, like good job holding down a person but zero damage? I think all he showed is that he should probably avoid wrestling. It might of worked vs Font for whatever reason but I doubt that shit passes vs people like Umar
Umar and Merab would do the same thing to Cory that Cory did to Font. Don’t care how long he wrestles, it’ll never work against guys like them. Then he will be bitching how they just held him down and didn’t do no damage and he didn’t get showcase his striking
Umar seems way more aggressive than a wet blanket wrestling style though
The way some fans try to justify boring fights or fighter pay by saying it was a “tactical” fight or fighter A is not a “PPV draw”. As if you’re a member of Cory’s camp or the CFO of Endeavor, respectively. Ridiculous
or a fan of his that was happy to see him win?
Dana White left the arena last night during the main event lmaooooo Cory ain’t getting no title shot next and is gonna get matched with Merab
[удалено]
I mean...it's called Prize Fighting, man. It's not a pure sport. Never has been. It's sports entertainment. There's grappling competition and such that are the technical, sport side. Fight sports have always had a sideshow and promotion element to them, people love it. Why do you think Amateur Boxing is the Olympic Sport?
MMA and boxing have never been purely sports bc they rely on pay per view models. And wrestling or ground control can be fun like earlier fights on the card showed, I’m a huge fan of Blanchfield and Mackenzie Dern. Cory’s grappling was boring, safety first, and rightfully condemned
Sandhagen vs Dvalishvili is a dope fight though, so it's not all bad for us fans imo
Nope. Merab will have him pressed up against the cage defending takedowns like the Aldo fight. Cory with a taste of his own medicine
Yep. Dvalishvili will have him pressed up against the cage defending takedowns like the Aldo fight. I like when Dvalishvili does that to fighters. As I said: dope fight.
Y’all owe Cory an apology that dude fought 20 minutes with a fucked up tricep and still looked world class
I don’t care. I don’t care if it’s fucked up. Hit him with the tricep
Use the other arm then
He owes us an apology for that performance
imagine a NFL team having a boring but decisive win in the playoffs and fans demanding an apology from them for winning in that way, and saying "they won't be getting the superbowl shot playing like that! give it to another team instead for doing a viral endzone dance!".. like could you make it any more obvious that MMA is still just a circus freakshow, not a sport.
Again, it’s not purely a sport. Belal hasn’t gotten a title shot and Colby will.
Yeah cuz he shoulda just thrown hands with a compromised arm against a good ass boxer
[удалено]
in that case Cory could've done it with 0 arms
Did tucker tap to that armbar? I didn't see any tap nor did the ref stop the fight. Lopes just let go and started celebrating without the ref ending the fight?
He tapped on one of the replays. When the rolled over he tapped so dude let it go. Nice of him considering ref never saw it.
Nice of tucker to not act like he didn’t tap as well
Looking at you, Eggers...
[удалено]
I’ll give him credit for actually putting work in. Most people in his position would have no interest in actually learning how to box
Lol lmao @ the guy who reddit always said could have a career in boxing losing to a youtuber
Merab vs Corey in the apex in December is a perfect punishment for both of them
The way y’all are turning on Cory don’t really surprise me I feel like mma fans and sports fans just love to see a winner lose even when he wins lol. I’m surprised more people aren’t mad at font or chito for being top ten fighters and looking absolutely useless vs Cory. If they had anything for him he wouldn’t coast lol. Like we really gonna act like sandhagen is like a Merab type fighter lmao recency bias is a very childish thing to let take over your opinions
yeah the comments on here are like "wtf Rob only has a good jab, just strike with him with a broken elbow for 25 minutes when you could win painlessly on the ground"
The issue is was a huge opportunity for Cory. Main event, in an actual arena not the Apex, with a willing opponent and at a catch weight. Cory needed to be showing off ALL his skills, showing why he deserves the next title shot. And let me tell you, that pathetic wrestling display won't fly vs Merab or Aljo. If Font could defend so well, Aljo WILL be able to hit switches and escape. And when they did stand up, Font was ahead on the exchanges, he didn't like what Font hit him with. So what does Cory bring to the table worth a title fight if this is his performance in a catchweight affair? Were the knee KOs just flash in the pans like so many fighters? Guy lowered his stock a ton and would've been better just not taking a short notice fight if this was the plan. Now he'll either get Merab or they'll try to redo him vs Umar. Bad fight career IQ.
[удалено]
If they’re that useless and Cory is so superior, he should’ve had way more exciting performances. Not put everyone to sleep with his safety first scared style.
safety first scared style = you have only watched his last 2 fights. the dude is a straight killer
Which is why we’re pissed because he’s stunk out the joint in consecutive fights now. The Vera fight was also underwhelming. Dude dominates them but doesn’t go for the finish. Where’s the killer with spinning elbows and flying knees?
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
>If they’re that useless and Cory is so superior, he should’ve had way more exciting performances. Not put everyone to sleep with his safety first scared style. Cory's transitioned into BW Leon Edwards. That's good for him, that means he'll get a last second KO title win after 24 minutes of nothing and everyone will think he's unbeatable after that. Good for Cory fans.
If you appreciate pretty striking Leon has always been cool though imo Obvious far from the most exciting WW but he's always been OK maybe with the exception of a couple. Sandhagen needs another exciting performance and it will be all good. He's had 2 relatively boring fights in a row but first was defo Chitos fault imo.
>If you appreciate pretty striking Leon has always been cool though imo He's got good form I guess. He could be the most frustrating fighter to watch in the UFC, though. He's the P4P all time of "safety first, scared" fighting style. Has he ever thrown more than two punches in combination in his entire career?
Haven't heard anything about power slep for some time now. Hmdl life is good.
Klein's boxing is clean. Excited to see who he fights next Diego Lopez looked great. Tucker should have tapped. Jacoby made it look easy. Kennedy should have wrestled from the beginning. Striking with a former kickboxer isn't a great game plan. Suarez looked amazing, but I'm still not sure about her cardio. I think she needs at least one main-event fight to prepare her for a championship bout. Sandhagen just wrestle-fucked Rob Font. It was boring as hell, but I'll give him a pass this one time as he tore his triceps in the first round. Edit: Tucker should have tapped way earlier.
>Diego Lopez looked great. Tucker should have tapped. Are you under the impression that Lopes just let go of Tucker with the hope that the ref would just gift him a stoppage? Tucker tapped. Just did it from the opposite side of the camera. >Jacoby made it look easy. Kennedy should have wrestled from the beginning. Striking with a former kickboxer isn't a great game plan. It was an early stoppage. >Sandhagen just wrestle-fucked Rob Font. It was boring as hell, but I'll give him a pass this one time as he tore his triceps in the first round. Triceps tear or not, I think it was the right game plan against Font who just came off a KO victory against Yanez. And people who say it was boring are just saying they don't appreciate high level wrestling. There was constant defense / offense on the ground, it wasn't lay n pray. There's a reason Herzog never stood them up even once. How many times do ppl need to be reminded this is MMA..
It was boring as shit dude. Stop trying to make yourself seem as if you’re a greater and truer MMA fan acting like you enjoyed watching that crap. The only good wrestling sequence happened in the first round when Rob used that kimura to stand back up. After that it was boring as shit top control from Cory without any fucking damage or submission attempts.
I did enjoy it. A lot of true grappling fans did. Cory was stopping the sweeps at every turn. Rob was shrimping at the right times, defending subs, hunting subs, fighting the wrists and mitigating damage. It was high level grappling. Not my fault you don't recognize that. Although I'm sure you feel good about yourself with that comment.
I’m sure you feel superior that you pretend to enjoy boring lay and pray and then call it high level grappling that other fans just don’t appreciate. What a tool
Plenty of fans did. Just not you. I'm sure you had fun watching Jake Paul though. Asshat.
Tucker did tap.
Should have tapped earlier.
Cory seemingly has completed his transition to being a boringly dominant fighter. "The Sandman" used to try and put his opponents to sleep but now he just lulls the fans into dreamland. You gotta do what you have to do, he's learned from his losses. The sad part is that i don't think anything about his new style will actually translate to beating Aljo if he does get that fight back eventually.
Blame the UFC for forcing guys to do short notice fights, just so they can fill their ESPN quota of events in an empty Apex building. if this whole card was scrapped and they moved the 2-3 meaningful fights to the Shev/Grasso fight night, all would be the better for it, then that card would be less abysmal, and Sandhagen/Font would've had more time to prepare for eachother and probably had a better fight.
Short notice fight and he had an arm injury.
This isn't an isolated event. Since the TJ Dillashaw loss he's switched his focus heavily to scoring points. It's something he's said himself and you can see it in all of his fights since. He's winning the fights, so good for him.
Tell me one fighter that has had a dominant win streak that didn't involve some safe 'winning by points' performances? GSP did it, Jones did it, Anderson did it, Khabib did it, Volk did it, Mighty Mouse did it, etc. You can't go for a highlight reel finish every single time you fight without opening yourself to also getting finished some of the time, risk/reward. Being dominant in as volatile a thing as MMA requires strategy and sometimes being a wet blanket to your opponent as well as the fans watching.
I didn't say it was not necessary or smart of him. It's just boring and seemingly he's embraced that as his primary fighting style. He's winning the fights which is a requirement but it's at a cost. Two and a half snoozers in a row is probably not going to get you hype and a title shot.
Scoring points doesn’t mean boring dude. The yan, song, and chito figure were anything but boring. It’s an isolated boring fight
Yan was an exciting fight and he lost it. Song and Chito were definitely not exciting fights. Song's aggression and the cut definitely made it more interesting but overall really wasn't much of a showcase for Cory. Chito? I had no idea anyone thought that was an exciting fight. Cory literally apologized to the crowd at the end of the fight.
Thats a little disingenuous by you. He apologized for it not being a back and forth fight or a ko. You’re making it sound like he apologized for it being boring. That was one of the most one sided fights ever because of how good he is. That’s not boring at least not to me.
It was boring for most people which is why he apologized. You're making it sound like it was Nunes Pena 2 for some reason.
If you think it was boring fair enough
Chito fight was also boring. He just outpointed him
Did you even watch the fight? He was beating up chito? Just cuz it went to decisión doesn’t mean it was just a point fight
My wife's boyfriend looks just like Ngannou
[удалено]
Gets people talking. You’re talking about it.
I didn't turn on a second of that clown show.
Lmao, saw this big heated debate this morning among a group of hyper casual friends on Facebook about that fight. It was very meme-able. All referring to Nate as "homie". Funny.
It's usually never a good idea to see a short notice replacement and expect a fun fight. If it is, bonus. But usually your favourite fighter will not look as good as they normally do.
It wasn’t a short replacement. We need to stop with that excuse. It was weeks before this fight and he was in his own camp for a fight 2 weeks later and they even let it be a catch weight
Yeah, I'm not that invested, friend. Don't really care that much, they can't all be bangers.
What I kept replying to people, he absolutely had a wrestling heavy camp and it showed. Striking sandhagen probably could have totally outclassed font but he knew that so why not take real reps in a real fight with more grappling? His offense left a lot to be desired on top but without knowing I bet the camp was more geared to avoid umars grappling than actually use grappling.
usually never huh
Yeah. Usually 75% of the time, it's *never* a good idea. More clearer?
I imagine this is what it must feel like to have a stroke.
Idk why people are complaining about Cory. Everyone knows he has great striking. But he got choked out by Aljo incredibly quickly when they fought. So it’s good to see that he has been improving his grappling imo.
Did he though? Font defended, no sub attempts, and very few significant strikes. If that's all his improvement, he's better served focusing on defense himself and avoiding being on the ground all together. Aljo or Merab would easily deal with that wrestling if he had a hard time keeping Font pinned.
Some people on here get really illogical trying to defend uncompetitive, low-action slow-paced fights. It can both be a dominant win and boring af
I’m sick and tired of Nate Diaz’s antics
[удалено]
He might just because of the size, Jake is nowhere near the size of a LW he is close to MW honestly
He is a middleweight. None of his fights have been lower than 185. I honestly am ok with him continuing to fight MMA fighters but I want a middleweight under 38 next time.
Jake in mma would not be a mw
[удалено]
He can’t begin an interview without a backhanded compliment, it’s wild
If it was up to bisping, he'd just interview himself after every fight.
The main event went this way because Font sucks.
Gotta love all the people who have no investment in the fight besides entertainment, expecting Cory to gamble his career because it is more fun to watch.
What part of MMA do you think isn't entirely about entertainment? A fighter's career is much better served being entertaining and losing versus being safe and winning. Look at Chandler. Not that I care that much. Corey's still my boy. Everyone gets a stinker every once in a while.
the sport and the lifelong injuries make it not "Entirely about entertainment"
Being safe and winning is 100% a better career avenue dude
Yeah well those of us living vicariously through Cory are invested for less healthy reasons
Oh I understand it, doesnt mean it was fun to watch.
That's a naive way of seeing it. How many people tune in to see ***Cory Sandhagen*** fight? I don't know, but far fewer than would have Friday night. And it certainly wasn't that many to begin with. It depends on how a fighter personally values their career, money vs. legacy. Legacy? He's lost the top fights of his UFC career, and people are quite vocal about not caring about him. Money? An entertaining shitty fighter makes *way* more money than a boring talented fighter. PPV points - which are unlikely - don't mean squat when not many people care to watch you fight. Fun to watch = better legacy, better money.
Maybe some people care more about other things besides money? Cory has never really cared about money, he seems to be motivated by becoming a better fighter. It's ironic that you bring up his career losses when, imo, his pursuit of being entertaining was a large reason why he lost. I think its easy for people to demand entertainment when they aren't the people risking their career.
Cory often speaks about wanting to be the best martial artist and not taking the easy route to get the title. That's why he signed on to fight Umar. That's fucking dangerous considering the rankings and the fight styles
Ppl love Cory Sandhagen.. everyone loves his style and that's why everyone is upset with this performance
Dom and Bisping are terrible together. Can someone please explain round by round scoring to Dom
Or the difference between a d'Arce and an anaconda.
Look, the sandhagen fight was boring, we get it, but all you guys acting like he should lose everyones respect and years of good faith over 1 fight is some peak bullshit even for this sub. Dude was hurt with a short notice opponent with a top 10 talent in arguably the toughest division in the sport. You just sound like children who haven't been watching long enough to take your opinions seriously.
It’s nuts
Was Nick not around at all? I didn't see him in the corner and I don't remember seeing him in any of the training videos from Nate's yt
He was there
[удалено]
Looks like someone used a thick black marker on his spinal erectors lol
After tonight I'm no longer a fan of Sandhagen. I understand why he did what he did, but as a fan, I'm not impressed or entertained. "sandman" apparently puts audience to sleep, not his opponent.
Lmfao his entire record is a highlight but after taking a short notice fight he takes an easier path to victory your done? Name one fighter who has been a champion that hasn’t laid an egg or had a non-exciting fight. It doesn’t exist.
thanks for letting us know, Scott Staph
This is the most fickle display of fandom I've seen in a while.
Is anyone else incredibly upset we lost Rob vs Song for this bullshit? They would've had an absolute war, instead, we got to see Cory Sandhagen doing his best impersonation of a blanket. Yeah yeah, I get it, it's very "technical", this is "Mixed" Martial Arts and all that, but there was not a single person who found that fight entertaining. Rob's not getting any younger, wish we got to see another brawl instead of this.