Sober Reflections: UFC on FOX 21
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It's no secret that Demian Maia's jiu-jitsu is out of this world, but tonight he made a devastating statement in a quick first round submission finish of former interim UFC welterweight champ, Carlos Condit.
From the very first minute they announced this fight was going down, the fight nerd in me was geeking out at the possibility of seeing the Natural Born Killer's trademark penchant for intelligent counter-striking go up against a guy who has eloquently flown the banner for Brazilian jiu-jitsu in MMA.
In fact, for many BJJ practitioners such as myself, it kinda felt like this when he won.
Everytime @demianmaia fights, he does #brazilianjiujitsu proud. We're huge supporters of Carlos Condit on this podcast, but tonight was something else. Maia's execution is out of control. #ufconfox21 #demianmaia #carloscondit
Posted by Verbal Tap Podcast on Saturday, August 27, 2016
There are others with great jiu-jitsu, but perhaps no one who makes it look easier. And so tonight, we saw Maia give the UFC slight pause with their intention to put Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson as the first offering for newly crowned welterweight champ, Tyrone Woodley.
And like the true martial artist and respectful guy he is, Maia told Brian Stann in his post-fight interview that he'd patiently wait his turn.
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Not bad for a dude rounding the bases at the youthful age of 38 while politely waiting his turn for the shot (although, in retrospect, it is a very Canadian thing to do, so it only made sense he did so right then and there).
However, sportsmanship aside, it's hard not to be impressed with the way that Maia was effortlessly able to transition from being put in half-guard to mount to taking the back without any major disruptions. On the commentary, Stann was saying how Condit and his camp had planned to deliver some elbows as a means of counter-offense should the game go to the floor (as we've seen previously form Condit).
That, of course, didn't go exactly as planned, as Maia took only one significant strike the entire time (and if you're looking at his past four fights, he's only absorbed 14 significant strikes. THAT'S INSANE!!!).
But let's take a second to marvel at his work.
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Elsewhere, we saw a fantastic return to form from Anthony "Showtime" Pettis, who managed to survive some pretty tough spots (and, more importantly, a well-publicized weight cut to featherweight) to take out the very game Charles Oliveira. Pettis later told the broadcast team that he thought he hit Oliveira so much he brought him back to life.
I'd say, it's hard to argue with that point (I've seen enough zombie movies in my life).
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And speaking of a return to form, this evening had a great 2nd round TKO from former Dancing with the Stars contestant Paige VanZant who was able to silence a number of critics who wondered if the reality show had taken anything out of her UFC game.
After an even first round that saw "Rowdy" Bec Rawlings get in a few solid shots, VanZant's corner told her that she needed to stop trying to "hit that flying stuff."
Of course, like clockwork, the minute Stann started talking about that piece of information he overheard from her corner, Paige was able to win the fight "via flying stuff."
The following is the best representation of the fight, from our good pals at As Shopped As It Gets.
Of course, in a night filled with stunning submissions and knock outs, the Fight of the Night honors would once again go to two individuals who know how to put on a show. Jim Miller and Joe Lauzon are incapable of giving us a bad fight. For fifteen minutes, these two warriors left it all in the cage and gave us everything we could have possibly wanted.
Some would say the judges decision to give Miller the nod was incorrect, they would be wrong.
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Miller was able to straight up get the better of Lauzon on the feet in an extremely close fight. And while it might be tempting to score those takedowns as the deciding factor in favor of Lauzon, Miller's higher output on the fight early in the first and second round gave him just the slightest edge he needed to pull out that victory.
Mind you, it was an extremely close. And one we'd like to see again.
And again.
And, basically, forever.
See this Instagram photo by @verbaltapcast * 323 likes
Also, we'd be crazy not to mention the impressive performance of our pal Sam Alvey who was able to patiently wait out Kevin "KO" Casey's game to score an impressive knock out earlier in the evening.
Alvey may have even upstaged his own knock out with a memorable post-fight speech with Stann where he paid tribute to his lovely wife -- and also made the case for hoping a plane to fight alongside his mentor and coach, Dan Henderson in Manchester later this year.
And All The Rest
For your viewing pleasure, here are a set of tweets from the official Verbal Tap Podcast Twitter from the big night of UFC in Vancouver.
See this Instagram photo by @verbaltapcast * 111 likes
Apparently this one got lost in translation...
From The Post-Fight Press Conference
Should you want to watch the UFC on FOX 21 post-fight press conference, you can do so below. There are some other interesting nuggets that were revealed during that time as well.
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