K R Y

He got dropped once and popped right back up. He took a few hard shots but wasn't nearly KO'd at all. Had Barboza followed up after the knock down it may of happened, who knows. Pearson recovered well though, he's got a great chin.

Also, you can't score the entire fight on 2 hard shots.

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xeberus

Well its not that pearson was by far the aggressive octagon controlling fighter the entire fight. Its that pearson badly out struck barboza the entire fight, including round two where he got dropped. I'm not saying I gave round two to pearson, but let that one punch miss pearson and he had a clear cut 30-27.

The difference tonight between these two fighters was that one is a technical striker with great movement and accuracy who doesn't hit hard against a guy with a decent chin with powerful wild punches.

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dvonfunk

I'm sorry, but after watching Barboza's last two fights, I simply don't understand all this hype (admittedly mostly from UFC employees) about him. I thought he lost to Njokuani, and without watching the Pearson fight over again, I think the decision is at least questionable. Don't get me wrong, I had him winning, but would not have been shocked had Pearson been given the decision.

Okay. He's fast, and a very technical striker. To me, that's where it ends. His power is unimpressive and put him up against a decent wrestler, or even a more well-rounded fighter for that matter, and he's in big trouble. I don't know, he may prove me wrong in the end, but as it stands now the hype is unjustified. I imagine the UFC will match him up with at least a few more strikers (aka favourable match ups) before they give him a legit threat to his unbeaten record.

K R Y

Fight metric scored it for Peason as well, by their numbers he didn't outstrike Barboza by as much as I first thought, but he still did.

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SerJ

That was a very close fight. It was really a toss up for me. I'm a Ross fan so I say at least a draw. It was that close in my opinion.

SigFig

I was heavily vested in Barboza (gambling-wise), and was nervous as heck with the decision... I was crossing my fingers for a little homecooking.

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mmaswe82

Could have gone either way. Round 1 was pearson for sure, 2and 3 I'm having real trouble scoring. Extremely even fight.
It's funny how Kenny kept talking about Barboza being so extremely technical when I personally though Pearson had better technique. Barboza was great as well tho but why no talk about Pearsons crisp standup? Barboza had more power but was not the better striker IMO ofcourse.

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