mma – Mallard

Holy shit. UFC 189 is going to go down as one of the greatest events in Mixed Martial Arts history. The event started off kinda boring but once Matt Brown sacrificed Tim Means to the MMA gods of yore, we were blessed with several fight of the year candidates. The UFC was banking on this event to draw new viewers in with all the advertising they did and having McGregor get as much media attention as he could and I think that it paid off very well.

From the main event of the undercard and onwards, each fight was compelling in their own way. Brown and Means battled each other out to see who has the best “hellbows” of the UFC with Brown getting the better of the two. Almeida struggled against the veteran Pickett but was able to fight back to a spectacular flying knee KO after being dragged into deep waters. Gunnar Nelson managed to outstrike the incredibly dangerous striker in Brandon Thatch and showcase his slick BJJ. Jeremy Stephens and Dennis Bermudez was a back and forth war where Stephens would manage to land a bomb on Bermudez and in turn Bermudez would use his superior grappling to bully Stephens. Ultimately, Stephens managed to time one of Bermudez’ takedown attempt into another flying knee KO.

Then we get to the co-main event. Words cannot express how wonderful this fight was. Both men took several years off each other as they battered each other with strikes and broke each others’ bones. The fight also had what is currently my favorite moment in any MMA event ever. Lawler ultimately was able to stop MacDonald by completely shattering his nose on the 5th round when he was down on the scorecards. Rory now finds himself in a similar position to where Robbie was 10 years ago. We’ll see him come back and hopefully be better than ever.

McGregor and Mendez had an incredible atmosphere to the fight as a crowd full of Irishmen cheered their fellow countryman on. McGregor managed to land several body kicks early in the first, killing of Medez’ normally incredible cardio. Mendez also struggled to through McGregor’s reach advantage but he managed to do so and land several bombs onto the Irishman’s noggin. Mendez also managed to take down MgGregor several times and did a lot of damage when he was able to keep him down. Finally, at the end of the 2nd, McGregor managed to get up after a failed guillotine/necktie attempt by Chad and secure a TKO victory with 2 seconds left in the clock.

McGregor Mendez — Chad shaking Conor’s hand after he won the Interim UFC Featherweight Championship.

The only question left is: WHERE YOU AT ALDO?!

This Saturday’s going to be nuts! UFC 189 is one off the most name-stacked cards that we’ve had in a while with an undercard that easily could’ve been a Fight Night by itself. It’s unfortunate that Jose Aldo got injured but Money Shot Mendez is a great replacement that will test the Notorious One’s grappling skills. I’m not one of the haters that think that Connor McGregor is immediately going to fold against an elite wrestler; its silly to think that he wasn’t getting ready for it considering Mendez or Edgar would’ve likely been the next contenders where he to beat Aldo.

The Fight Pass prelims are going to be capped off with Neil Seery and Louis Smolka. Seery’s someone who i’ve been very interested in after he made his debut in the UFC on short notice against a very tough Brad Pickett. Pickett’s one of the best in his division and Seery neutralized him on the feet and stalemated him when Pickett managed to take him down. I wasn’t able to see Smolka’s last fight but I do remember his fight against Chris Cariaso and that was a sick fight where both men fought at a high pace the whole time and I thought that he got the better of Cariaso in that fight.

The undercard in turn will be capped off by Matt Brown vs Tim Means. This has fireworks all over it. Both men are savages and will push the pace. Watching Brown is always interesting because it’s been shown that he’s weak to taking body shots almost like a video game boss with a big red blinking weak point. If Means can exploit that, then Brown will be in a lot of trouble. Erik Silva nearly managed to put Brown away with a savage kick to the body but couldn’t follow through as he gassed out trying to finish Brown. I’m guessing that this one will take fight of the night.

Finally, the fight i’m looking forward to the most is Lawler vs Macdonald 2 for the UFC Welterweight Championship. Their first fight was incredible with both men getting their time to shine and ending with what I thought was a razor thin victory for Macdonald. Rory Macdonald has been widely promoted as being part of the “new breed” of MMA fighters who’ve immediately started training MMA since they were in the womb rather than taking up one art first then expanding outward. Intelligent, methodical, and honestly a little bit psycho, there’s a good reason why he’s also heralded as the successor of his training partner Georges St. Pierre. Robbie Lawler on the other hand has been around forever and is a throwback to the days where fighting was half about a showcase of technique and half about trying to out-scowl and out-man your opponent. He has had a career resurgence lately from getting beaten by Lorenz Larkin to becoming the champ. What interests me the most is how Rory and the Tristar Gym folks has done to evolve Rory’s game and ensure that their second fight doesn’t end up as close as their first fight. Like GSP, Rory is one of those fighters that you simply don’t beat twice as they’re very open to changing their game plan and their training regiment to shore up any faults that lead to their initial defeat.

I haven’t mentioned the other fights on the card but that’s a disservice to the fighters on it as every match on it is intriguing in its own way. This is definitely a card that you’ll want to see from start to end and I really hope that it delivers. Don’t forget this Saturday to go out, find a bar that’s showing it, and get rowdy with the rest of us. Join the team!