I just got done watching UFC 86 for the 3rd time, this time
my focus was on scoring the bouts. I have mixed reviews in the event overall.
My only real complaint is that almost all of the main card fights went to a
decision. I hate decisions. This is not because I do not like close
battles, but I like having a definitive winner. Decisions make me really want
every fight to be 5 rounds. I posted in a comment earlier in the week that I
thought Almeida won. After watching that fight a couple times, I really found
it to be a draw. Almeida clearly won the first round, but did not designate a 10-8
by any means. Cote won the second round. The third round I thought was a draw.
The reason I gave it a draw it was Cote had a small edge in the striking, but
then Almeida took him down, so in my opinion that made the round even. In terms
of damage, nether fighter took any significant damage.
Things that I had wrong in my predictions, I saw two problems with my picks
that I did not see happening. First, in the Tyson Griffin vs Aurelio match I
thought that Aurelio would handled himself better standing. On
the ground it went how I saw it going, but I was hopping Aurelio would catch
the uncatchable Griffin. Second, in the Almedia vs Cote match I thought that
Almeida would press the pace more. It was hard to tell if he was tired or just
really relaxed. For a grappler, conditioning is everything. A grappler has the
task of taking the other person down and controlling their opponent's body.
My shock of the event was Grugel getting caught in a triangle. He was sloppy,
and he should have known not to be. He had the fight won. I expected a lot more
for a very highly regarded black belt.
If there was a rematch of the same exact fights in a year, I would pick everything
the same except the Griffin Aurelio fight. I gained a lot more respect for
Griffin that fight.
My record moves to 40-20. I consider that very good.
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