I was impressed by quite a few fighters on Saturday night myself and I'm just wondering if anyone else was.
Brian Foster - To be honest I hadn't the slightest idea of who he was before this fight. I knew who Brock was, but not Brian. Honestly this kid brought it to Brock and beat him handily and Brock is a really tough dude. Looking forward to seeing Brian fight again soon.
Lil' Nog! - First off, I was damn excited to see him in the UFC. Second, he destroyed Cane and that's not an easy task. Cane was a true up and comer in the weight class and I put him right up with Cain and Carwin, a really dangerous fight for Lil' Nog's debut. Far better boxing than his bigger brother, hell of a chin too and he's showed some great power. Very excited for him to be fighting in the UFC
Amir Saddolah - I've liked Amir since he put CB away with that second armbar. He seems to be acclimating very well to MMA from being a pure striker, so much so that we really haven't seen much of his striking yet. His fight against Baroni was nothing short of a clinic. Beautiful strikes all around, fantastic angles and great combinations being put together. I realize Baroni was gassed completely by the third, but the dude is still dangerous and Amir really showed what he's made of. Happy Amir is finally coming to his own.
Ben Saunders - I've been a fan of Ben since he was on tough, he reminds me of the guy who trained me a lot. I'm also a huge fan of Marcus Davis, but to see Ben get that kind of stoppage and bully Marcus around like that was awesome.
Thoughts? Anyone else you were really impressed by?
Lil Nog. Put away someone like Luiz Cane quite easily, can't wait to see what he offers in the future. Not sure why he wasn't in the UFC earlier.
Ben Saunders- I have NEVER seen Marcus Davis dominated like that and he has faced some incredibly tough guys. Not to mention the fact he got KTFO. I bet this match just shot him up to main card status.
I'd say Amir Saddollah but Phil Baroni put on such an awful peformance that I could say Kalib Starnes could have beaten him even with his running man method.
On a side note, I was incredibly dissappointed in Tito Ortiz. If anyone watched him in the countdown, he said he became a lot better than when he fought him the first time but I literally saw no difference. If anything, I saw flaws. His cardio/strike defense/takedowns got incredibly worse. After that performance, I don't see him winning ever again in the UFC.
I would definitely say Ben Saunders for me. I'm a huge Marcus Davis fan and I have never seen him get dominated like that. I knew it'd be a tough fight, but in no way did I exect him to destry Davis like he did. Kudos to him.
Plus: Amir. Great fight.
Plus: Kos. I loved him calling out Dan Hardy like that. I also thought Hardy doing the "boo hoo teary eye" thing was hilarious. That would be a pretty good fight.
I was impressed with little Nog as well. He definatively put down someone who was supposed to be moving into the higher regions of the division...did it with ease.
Can't say that I was impressed with Amir. No matter how that fight would have went he was still fighting Phil and Phil isn't that good. Not to mention the fact that besides him not being good he put on a horrible showing.
Wasn't impressed with Tito, he looked like crap IMO. When he loses the first thing he does is make excuses once again. Props to Forrest for actually coming to the aid of a fellow fighter who was making excuses for losing to him...class act.
I thought George looked good with his ground game; although like most 10th planet guys I've rolled with they tend to go for flashy stuff instead of taking the easy stuff that's right in front of them, which can be a hindrance.
It's not so much who Amir was fighting, it was how he fought him. He used extremely crisp technique, put all his stuff together in bunches and kept it mixed and accurate. I can't help but think that even if Phil hadn't totally gassed the fight wouldn't have looked much different. I want to see Amir/Swick.
i agree with most of your post but i cant figure out why you said
"Cane was a true up and comer in the weight class and I put him right up with Cain and Carwin"
you do realize Cane is a LHW and so is Lil Nog? Otherwise everything else i agree with was spot on in the OP.
Yeah I was tired... but I meant I put him in the same league as them, being fairly new guys but quickly rising to the top of their respective division in devastating fashion.
Saunders' knees - WOW!, Grove with that slick triangle, Amir was amazing to watch and lil Nog with that quick knockout...and I was also impressed with Tito once again making up an excuse on the fly like that! :thumbsup:
I will agree with all of these, although I can't recall the foster fight so well. This was my firts time seeing Lil' Nog, and damn is that dude impressive. I can't wait to see more.
Amir Sodallah blew me away. I was not expecting him to win in that manner in any way. He made such great use of push kicks, and pretty much made Baroni look like a stumbling drunk as usual.
Ben Saunders looks like he was built specifically for Muay Thai. The dude is huge, but also with extra long arms and legs. I did not expect at all for him to do what he did to Davis. It's cool how some of these random guys from various TUF shows grow into talented fighters capable of beating fighters with already established names.
Yep, I like Kos, the dude rarely disappoints. The fans didn't seem to like him, and he didn't seem to like them either. His post fight interview was pretty funny.
George Sotiropoulos -- His bjj is looking excellent these days. I want to see him fight Dustin Hazelett. I'd really like to see that.
Lil Nog -- He showed great looking standup, nice movement in the cage and totally destroyed a really solid fighter. He's going to do well in this division.
Ben Saunders -- He came in with a great gameplan and worked it to perfection. Davis looked lost, while Saunders looked way too big and way too strong for him.
Nogs always crack me up. Their heads look 20 years older than their bodies. Amir couldn't finish a totally gassed Baroni and that speaks against him as much as his tactical skills speak for him. He's like Forrest in good ways and in bad ones. Foster was a beast and that was an impressive fight. Saunders looks amazing if he can stay in his game plan.
Tito and Forrest are both fairly mediocre in the division now. Maybe some day Tito will grow a spine and Forrest will quit throwing arm punches.
I agree that Amir did put on a clinic in the fight against Phil, but when you are fighting someone that is that far below where you are at technically it's easy to look good.
I would like to see him fight someone closer to his level and see how he does.
Lil Nog defiantly. I though this might be fight of the night to be honest I thought Luiz was gonna be a good test but Nog just ran through him. I mean Cane walked through Sokoudjou and Sokoudjou had beaten Lil Nog in pride while I know that doesn't mean anything I thought it would be a better fight and Nog just crushed him
I agree with your whole post. I was the most impressed by Saunders though, or maybe not "impressed" as much as just plain happy. I was surprised to see him throw around Davis so easily.
Loved watching Amit pick Baroni apart. Was just a really elegent taking apart of a fighter.
Saunders and Nog too of course.
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