I'm pulling for Fitch this fight. He's had it pretty rough the last couple of years, especially with him not being one of Dana's favourites. For the most part, I've always enjoyed a Fitch fight, but I like the technical aspect of fights, as much as I do some of the slug fests.
Damian has been trying to use his BJJ lately. Both of these guys will want to go to the ground. Should be a good fight. I have Fitch by a 3 round ground war.
poor fitch's dog, but I still want maia to sub him. He can't be too broke after he got fotn paycheck for the 2nd time in his last fight. First time was when GSP beat him silly
Can't wait for this fight. Maia has looked like a monster lately but Fitch looked really solid agaist Erick Silva. If Fitch fights pissed off like he did last time against Silva, I see few people who could give Fitch problems.
I'm thinking Fitch takes a close decision. The winner of this fight should get a number one contender fight with the Condit/MacDonald winner.
Saying I'm excited for this matchup is probably my biggest understatement of the year so far. Fitch may very well be the hardest man to submit at 170 and Maia is undoubtedly the best submission artist not only at 170 but perhaps lb for lb the best on the entire UFC roster.
Unstoppable force vs Immovable object here. Lets go!
However if it turns into a stand up fight, god damn it'd be dissappointing.
My money is on Fitch but this match up is waaaay too close for me to ever really gamble on it!
I think it's a little early for Maia considering he's fought for under 5 minutes in the UFC welterweight division overall. If his conditioning looks good though, I can see him beating Fitch. Fitch doesn't have outstanding take down defense and Maia has pretty underrated take downs. He also seems to be really strong at this weight class so Fitch may have his work cut out for him if Maia puts him on his back. Penn nearly caught Fitch, and Maia is on Penn's level of BJJ (Maia has better BJJ in my opinion), except he's bigger and stronger than Penn so that could help him sink in something against Fitch. I know I'm using MMA math there, but the guy with the best BJJ that Fitch has fought was a 155er with weak conditioning and is known for choking at 170, and that guy came close to catching him in a choke and was doing very well up until the later rounds where he is well known for slowing down a lot at this weight class, and he still managed to take Fitch to a draw.
We'll see though, I'm picking Maia at the moment. It should be a good fight.
Maia's BJJ is considerabley higher than BJ's imo, but Erick Silva had that rear naked on 100% Vs Fitch and he didn't tap, eventually getting out of it. The big question is; if Demain Maia can sink in a sub, can he tap Fitch? Most exciting pairing since someone mentioned Cody McKenzie/Brian Ebersole.
Maia's BJJ is considerabley higher than BJ's imo, but Erick Silva had that rear naked on 100% Vs Fitch and he didn't tap, eventually getting out of it. The big question is; if Demain Maia can sink in a sub, can he tap Fitch? Most exciting pairing since someone mentioned Cody McKenzie/Brian Ebersole.
No he didn't. He didn't have his left hand completely behind Fitch's head and therefore couldn't lock the choke up with his own head. That's why Fitch could grab Silva's hand and pull it away and release the pressure of the choke.
I've seen a lot of MMA fighters not doing the full choke, but only putting their lock up up hand on top of their opponent's head instead of behind it and often their opponents can escape, because they just need to pull that hand away. This is actually absolute basic stuff. If you do it correctly, you almost only need to inhale, so your expanding lungs would push your arm and hence your opponent's head forward to initiate the actual choke. You don't even need to squeeze your arms that much then.
Maia's bjj is on such an insanely high level. I am really interested in this fight should it hit the ground as Fitch has very very good sub defense and smothering control.
Striking, neither of these guys have anything to phone home about. Not sure who I would give the edge to.
Going to be interested to see what Fitch does in this fight. Have heard him say in an interview awhile ago they he purposely leaves his head or arm in dangerous places in the first round hoping his opponent expands too much energy early.
Maia can obviously win if he pulls off something quick on the ground or Fitch just sits in his guard.
But Fitch last fight proved he is still an elite WW.
Fitch is a blackbelt in some self defense art and a knowledgeable and strong grappler. He may be one of the harder guys to sub in the UFC. If anyone can it is Maia, but Maia has rolled with far less grapplers and couldn't sub them. Fitch should try to keep it standing anyway. Or the Fitch wall grind. I'm afraid it turns into a bad kickboxing match that Fitch will probably win.
Unfortunately broke Fitch is going to get a lot of bonuses and no longer be broke Fitch. Jon needs to buy a new house and a fleet of cars so he can keep needing money.
Also how did anyone pick against Todd Duffee at UFC 155? Jon told everyone he was offical Poor Duffee.
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