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TUF 15 Discussion

18K views 204 replies 48 participants last post by  the ultimate 
#1 · (Edited)
Watching the first episode atm, Justin Lawrence, what a guy!

It sucks that Jeff Smith lost, looked like a good guy and IMO would've subbed him if it was at least 2 rounds.
 
#172 ·
Dude, pistols, Assault Rifles, and GRENADE LAUNCHER...what the hell.

I predict a come from behind victory for Faber just like in the coach's challenge.
 
#175 ·
I heard they are letting Cruz stay on the show, but I don't quite understand that decision. They made Tito leave the show when he had to pull out of his fight with Chuck. Maybe they are letting it slide with Cruz because he's a champion and he will still fight the winner of the Interim title fight.
 
#177 ·
I'm glad they scored that first round for Chiesa. I know Lawrence was on top for the majority of the round after Chiesa failed that rear naked choke attempt, but Lawrence literally looked lost on top and desperately held on to avoid losing position or getting submitted while Chiesa had a lot of submission attempts and kept elbowing Lawrence in the head.

Chiesa needs to work on his conditioning, he almost lost that fight in the second round. Good thing for Chiesa that Lawrence got tired as well. Lawrence isn't a bad fighter, but I knew people were hyping him up way too much from just a single fight they watched of his. That's not a good idea in this sport. Many fighters have looked good for one round, but failed to deliver in their future fights. The fact that people put so much stock into a very young fighter and acted like some fighters were afraid to fight him in the house only set him up for a fall. I wonder if he started falling into his own hype.

Chiesa needs to improve in some areas, but that sweep right into mount in the third round was very nice. Once he started laying in that ground and pound, I knew Lawrence was too tired to fend it off. Good win for Chiesa.
 
#179 ·
Vick has really been improving. I wasn't expecting him to make it this far, but he has proven that he has a legit chance of winning this tournament. I don't think he will win it all, but I wouldn't be that surprised if he did. I thought the decision he won was right, but Proctor did make it a competitive fight and managed to tag Vick multiple times.

Saunders has also proven that his entry fight wasn't him at his full potential. You just can't judge a fighters abilities off of one round. He is a tough scrappy guy and while I'm not sure if he will beat Vinc, I do expect it to be an entertaining fight like John suggested it would be. Nice match making there.
 
#180 ·
Vick has a massive physical advantage, much like Kendal Grove and if he win's he'll likely end up like Grove.

Saunders/Pinchel is going to be a really interesting fight these are guys that can now win the show I predict this fight to go the way of Matt Brown vs Amir Sadollah where both guys sling like crazy and Pinchel gasses out.
 
#182 · (Edited)
Lawrence was killing Chiesa on the feet and the guy, even though his corner was telling him to stay on the feet, takes it to the ground knowing that Chiesa is incredibly dangerous even of his back after what happened in the first round? Come on.
 
#185 ·
Didn't mike Rio point out how Justin's age was going to be his biggest downfall?


Anyways after last night I can surely say no one on the show is going to make any waves in the ufc. Vick possibly could but I don't see anyone else doing anything special
 
#188 · (Edited)
Lawrence was kind of crazy for taking Chiesa down in the third round. He probably figured he could coast to a decision because he thought Chiesa was too tired to be active off of his back. That was too much of a gamble considering Chiesa was beating him up in the first round while on his back. Lawrence looked like he didn't know what he was doing on top and just held on trying to avoid punishment.

He should have kept throwing those body punches in the third round. Chiesa was tired and wasn't taking them very well and even almost got finished in the second round because of one. Amateur thinking by Lawrence. Maybe Lawrence was too tired himself to continue with his stand up which led to him wanting to control Chiesa on the ground for a decision victory. Very wishful thinking because Chiesa was better on the ground and got that nice sweep into mount. Considering how tired he was, that was impressive.

I don't see these guys making waves in the UFC either, but I think if Chiesa could get his conditioning under control, he could be a solid fighter in the future. His stand up is really awkward, but before he gasses, his wrestling is pretty good.
 
#191 ·
Well my advice is this, Watch ALL the fights. Start with the tryouts and see how everyone is picked. It's been a real competitive season, all the front runners have been knocked out and the underdogs are taking it. Some, but not all, the fighters are very coachable and you can actually see their progress in their fights and see them doing what their coaches said. As far as the fights go, they have been pretty good.
 
#190 ·
I've really enjoyed this season, might be bias cos I'm a big Cruz fan and he usually gets the better of Faber in their little arguments.

Also think the coach's challenge this season was the best I've ever seen. (Though I've only watched TUF since the Heavyweights season with Shad and Page)

However I was so confused as to how Lawrence lost that fight, seriously what was he thinking. That second round he threw 2 body shots, the first clearly hurt him and the second dropped him. How he didn't finish him when he dropped I have no idea. And then he tries to wrestle with him in the third? Big mistake.

Also wanted Proctor to win, but that didn't work out either. So yeah I agree, I don't see any of the remaining people causing many UFC fighters problems.

Also sucks that Cruz has blown his acl, think the remaining episodes are going to be a bit more boring
 
#192 ·
This season was a huge let down IMO. After the entry fights I was pretty excited because the talent level looked good. But, after watching all of the guys fight, I have no confidence in any of these guys breaking top 10 in their division. No one had that killer instinct like so many people had last season.
 
#194 ·
Definitely unpredictable. The finals looks drastically different than most of us predicted.

Lawrence is an idiot. Had he listened to the coaches for just a brief moment, he would have easily taken that fight. Chiesa was getting worked on the feet, and so Lawrence takes the fight to the ground? I know he's a kid, but common sense is common sense.
 
#196 ·
Lawrence wasn't stupid, he's clearly fighting outside his weight and we have no idea the toll of a long camp and inexperience had on him. I believe he thought he won those first two rounds he won't have to worry about pacing himself or positioning in a UFC fight the same way he did here.

BTW don't be surprised if what you just saw with Chiesa/Lawrence doesn't happen with Jake Ellenberger soon, maybe not with Kampmann but with some of the other wrestlers in that division, maybe a Mike Pierce, Josh Koshceck, Johnny Hendricks or Jon Fitch.
 
#198 ·
I think we'll be seeing a Iaquinta-Chiesa final. Overall i think Iaquinta is the top guy left by far. The Chiesa and Vich fight will be close - Vick is very good at using his reach to avoid takedowns, but Chiesa is persistent. Pichel is just there for the ride!
 
#199 ·
Lawrence may not have been stupid, but he was crazy to think he won that first round just because he was on top. Everybody else knows he was never in control and he was pretty much in survival mode even though he supposedly was at an advantageous position. Even with UFC rules, it was a clear 10-9 round for Chiesa. I guess that just shows Lawrence's age, though. "I'm on top so I won right? .. right?!"

I had a dream Chiesa won his semi final fight, but it was against Lawrence again for some reason. Vick vs. Chiesa is a hard fight to decide a winner. Iaquinta vs. Pichel is an easier fight to pick a winner for me. I'll pick Iaquinta by technical knock out.
 
#200 ·
I don't believe he was crazy or stupid sometimes you get those top position calls (Sherk over Dunham) sometimes you don't (Johnson over Torres). At the end of the day the fact of the matter is he's going to make a huge impact at 145 he'll likely move ahead of whatever guys wins the 155 title.
 
#201 ·
Maybe, but that was very bad top positioning on his part. I think the only reason he didn't get swept earlier was because he froze and just held on without trying for anything that would leave him open for counters.

Either way, you're right about him being at 145. Another reason he may have had so much trouble on top was because Chiesa is stronger than him. He had to concentrate all of his effort on just holding him down and had to take whatever punishment Chiesa was giving him from the bottom. That's no easy task when you're fighting outside of your weight class against a wrestler. He wasn't able to be offensive without giving up position and that put him on full defensive mode.

As long as he immediately goes back to 145, he could have a bright future in the UFC. I think these guys deserve more benefit of the doubt regarding their cardio. Considering the training programs they're in, they're almost always going to be a little gassed in the later rounds of the competition. I'm sure once they get their UFC contracts, we're almost guaranteed to see completely different fighters cardio wise.
 
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