Note: The following are short blurbs of notes I use to guide my podcasts. We'll start posting these after each major MMA event. See our full coverage at this link.
Bermudez over Morales
Morales just didn't see that guillotine coming, and by the time he did, there was nothing he could to about it. Bermudez is going to need a lot of work, because there was no one overwhelming skill he showed and that 10-0 record was all glitz.
Perez over Shelton
Shelton is by far a better boxer, but he was moving backward. He still caught Perez who was moving straight after 1-2 without any head movement. Perez's ability to chain everything together helped him gain the victory . Perez got caught at the airport and missed weight. he called out Robert Sanchez
Yahya over Doane
This could be it for Doane. He's lost 5 of 6, meanwhile Yahya has one loss in his last 8 fights. Yahya goes after the lead leg with a single, that's almost always his MO. He gets spiked after backpacking Doane, which was cool. Yahya works into an arm triangle after he was possibly winning 20-16. Yahya Couldn't hit the knee cut to finish the choke. So, he used his instep to pry open Doane's legs just a little. Then he drives his own knee to the mat and his body to the other side. There was a nasty, nasty double crucifix in this fight. A beauty.
Alvey over Prachnio
Alvey moved up to 205, and jokes that Cormier is ducking him, but called out Gian Villante, so it sounds like he's hanging around for a while in the division.. Alvey caught Prachnia with a couple of insane rights moving backwards. Pranchio was totally baited by a low kick that knocked him off balance.
Jouban over Saunders
This is a war. Saunders' chin was holding up well early. Jouban is better when he moves forward, because he drops his hands a lot when moving backwards. Jouban was switching it up in the first round, but was very happy to trade with Saunders. Jouban really went at the base and balance of Saunders with leg kicks in that first round. I was surprised Jouban was so happy to take on a clinch battle with Saunders. Jouban then landed a video game left hand KO.
Angela Hill over Moroz
There wasn't a lot to this. Hill came to fight and Moroz came to lightly spar. There was much made on commentary of Moroz's volume, but she was throwing feints over and over again that didn't do anything and missed the mark by six inches.
Reneau over McMann
McMann landed a quick takedown and crucifixed Reneau -- which is her sweet spot. For as good as a jab as McMann has had at times, she jumps in with both arms out a lot. Reneau clips her and eventually submits her. This fight sums up McMann's MMA run. I remember when her boyfriend would always trash catch wrestling publicly, and now her last three losses are via submission. Reneau wants to be in the title talk now and should.
Kelleher over Barao
Elias Theodorou mentioned "Nova União guys always have great TD defense, especially if you shoot only a single or double and don't chain techniques together." Barao found a lot of success early with the leg kick, but circled into the power of Kelleher a lot. Barao was good at getting his underhooks in against the cage and turning the tides. Barao doesn't react to these shots the way that he used to. In the third round, Kelleher goes ham sandwiches on Barao and used anything he could to measure and set up huge uppercuts. I had it at 30-26. Barao is now 1-5 in the USADA era, but he stayed in there, and would occasionally throw nice knees that connected throughout the third round.
Griffin over Perry
Griffin was the biggest underdog on the show, in Perry's hometown and still won. He ran into trouble several times -- at the end of the first and third -- but eluded Perry. Perry's game wasn't one dimensional or anything, but was much slower than Griffin. Perry would measure over and over again and not follow up, and wasted the last 30 seconds on a takedown when he had Griffin in trouble. Till wanted to fight Perry with a win, but that's not happening now.
Latifi over OSP
Latifi loves to dive into his overhand, but OSP fights way from the outside. Latifi brings is to OSP with a left that he gets back to his body so quick. He follows up by guillotining OSP AND PUTS HIM OUT! OSP tapped but Alonso didn't see it. Bad, bad reffing. Latifi has won 5 of 6.
Andrade over Torres
Torres was getting the better of Andrade on the feet to start things out. Andrade constantly circled towards the power, speed and angles of Torres. Andrade was still landing in round one, and in the second round landed some high veloctity and high volume takedowns. There wasn't a lot of offense from Andrade in round 2, but she won it even after getting upkicked. Round 3 was a different story. Andrade put the pain on Torres from the top and really pressured Torres for all 15 minutes. This was an excellent fight.
Stephens over Emmett
I don't understand Emmett or Anik saying that Emmett would expect a title shot with a win over Stephens tonight, considering that Frankie Edgar and Brian Ortega are fighting on pay-per-view next Saturday night. Everything Stephens throws is intended to knock someone out. This was very much a fight were both men knew the big punch was coming, and respected each other's power accordingly. Emmett landed his big shot in the first round with a counter, but wasn't able to put Stephens away. Stephens hit his big one in the second round and was able to get it done. This is probably the best run of Stephens' career. Upon replay, Stephens threw three illegal strikes that could very well cause the fight to be overturned.
