Metal Reviews

167: Hendricks, Sonnen, MacDonald, Woodley, Elliot, Cerrone, Herman.

Wow, Hendricks was robbed.

^Basically. The part that pissed me off most is how when he had GSP on the ropes and stumbling the ref stopped him for his mouthpiece falling out. It seemed like he was sending him back to his corner rather than simply letting him put it back in. He could have ended the fight right there if he was able to continue lacing into GSP. The bar was talking about how it was comparable to the Gustaffson Jones fight and I couldn't disagree more. That was an even fight; this was GSP looking entirely outclassed. Hendrix matched him in wrestling, exceeded him in boxing, and only really looked bad when he almost got tapped out.

Oh, and fuck Rory Macdonald for becoming as boring as GSP. He got made to look like a chump for pussyfooting it.

I have no idea what happened to Sonnen there, but Rashad looked nasty. I always overestimate how old Evans is.

And Woodley was absolutely beastly.

It's an MMA fight, not who has thicker skin fight. The numbers all point to GSP being the winner. He had more takedowns, landed more strikes, and had a higher striking accuracy. GSP won, but got beat up. Knees to thighs and and a few elbows don't win a 5 round fight with GSP. Learn the 10 point system and re-watch the fight. GSP won. And it was Hendricks mout piece that fell out, not GSPs and the ref waited for them to stop moving before he paused the fight so Hendricks could put it back in.

I personally love the fact that GSP stood toe to toe with Hendricks and fired power shots right back at him. Hendricks was clearly the stronger dude, but you have to remember that St-Pierre has been in 12 straight 5 round fights, he's gonna have some serious scar tissue on and around his face.

What you call "boring" is called point fighting and career longevity. I agree MacDonald has to get meaner and try harder for the finish, but he was fighting Robbie Lawler. That dude can knock out a transport truck. You get in wild exchanges with him and you get put to sleep. MacDonald tried to pick his shots and ended up losing a close decision to a tough veteran. Very similar to his fight with Condit.

I always watch fights with the ten point system in mind and I had Hendricks winning 3 rounds. And the numbers don't all point towards GSP being the winner, Fight Metric, the UFCs official stat keepers, have Hendricks winning a close decision (Source). I gotta say Hendricks could have fought smarter though, at one point he had GSP seriously rocked and went for the clinch to knee his thigh. Just separate and smash his head in!

Gotta give respect to Hendricks, not too long ago I thought he was just another dumb wrestler with knockout power. Even when he had a string of insane knockouts I remained unconvinced. He proved he was more than that when he beat Condit in a decision but I definitely did not see him going 5 rounds against GSP and doing as well as he did.

I'm not taking anything away from Hendricks, he beat the shit out of GSP. But again, St-Pierre threw and landed more strikes and attempted and gained more takedowns. Sure he'll have more wounds to heal and some serious headaches to deal with, but he won an MMA fight. Just barely, but he won. Don't forget the saying, you gotta beat the champ to be the champ. Hendricks beat him up, but didn't beat him.

Also, if you want to judge a fight by damage done, GSP's cuts are healed and he'll be cleared to fight in less than 60 days. Hendricks is out 6 months from a knee injury stemming from the leg kicks absorbed throughout the fight.

Nice card coming up, anyone wanna pick?

Gonna post mine in a bit... GO SILVA!

Silva, Rousey, Browne, Miller, Poirier, Hall, Tibau, Siver, Howard... A bit on the fence on Browne-Barnett and Poirier-Brandao but those are my picks. Should be a good one.

Silva will win. I don't think he'll make the same mistake twice

I chose all the matches right besides the Silva upset, but jesus that fucking image will never leave my mind. Easily the gnarliest injury I've seen in sports besides maybe McGahee's knee going totally back.

Oh, and Rousey is a fucking beast. Fuck the haters.

Agreed (other than Clint Malarchuk) and agreed.

RIP Silva's career.

A quick, very quick google search reminded me of what happened to him. Oh my god.

Yeah, Silva's done. He claims he wants to come back, but I'm not super interested in him continuing to dominate his weight class. I always wanted to see the grand cross-division battle between him and GSP or him versus Bones. But alas with ailing health, he wouldn't stand a chance against those younger guys. More interesting will be watching the vaccuum left in his wake. Vitor got owned by Silva and if he can come out and show up Weidman then it'll kinda question Weidman's legitimacy. I don't want to say Weidman got lucky, but he caught an overly confident Silva in the chin first fight and did dominate him in that first round, but checked a leg kick to win. He might have had that fight, but so did Chael till he didn't. Then again Chael got straight dominated in the rematch, unlike Weidman. I would love to see Sonnen drop back down to that weight class too. Regardless, it should be interesting to see how it shapes up.

And Rousey vs McMann is going to be awesome.

Tarec Saffiedine will make a successful debut this weekend.

I haven't stopped crying about Anderson.

Henderson, Miocic, Cerrone.

Two title fights this Saturday. Who's got picks?

I've got Barao, Aldo, Overeem. But I hope Lamas can put up a fight against Aldo, not because I want to see Junior lose, just want to see someone actually challenge him. Lamas is a beast and just may be the man. But Chad Mendes was suppose to be that man and he got knocked out in the 1st round.

I expect Faber to put up a good fight, but Barao is on a whole other level. Both Barao and Aldo will win and move up in weight.

And this should also be Frank Mirs retirement party. I'll never forget when he tapped out Lesnar. I was so happy. Or when he broke Tim Sylvia's arm and Herb Dean jumped in to stop the fight at Tim is just like "what the fuck?".

Share your favourite Frank Mir moment. I also like when Shane Carwin almost murdered him in the clinch.

I got the same picks as you. And yeah, Mir should definitely ride into the sunset after this one, he's been in the game for too long. Should have at the very latest ended after his title fight against Junior.

His knockout of Noguiera was awesome considering the chin of Nog. And the rematch had him reversing Noguiera after almost being knocked unconscious then tearing his shoulder out. He also beat Tank Abbott with a damn toehold, the only one in UFC history

Well. I guess he won't retire after all.

Speaking of retirement, Pat Barry is taking an indefinite leave from MMA. Sucks, I always looked forward to his fights.