On paper, UFC Fight Night in Houston was a solid spectacle of prospects, veterans, and projects. In practice, it was equal measures thrilling, and perplexing. Chan Sung Jung (officially the Korean Zombie I guess) picked up a wonderful uppercut TKO of Dennis Bermudez, Felice Herrig upset Alexa Grasso, and Jessica Andrade vs. Angela Hill stole the show in an early fight of the year candidate.
MMA is never content to leave without its WTF moments, and to that end, the Adam Milstead fight with Curtis Blaydes qualifies on an end of the sport’s embarrassing end of spectrum. To say nothing of the fact that Lloyd Irvin is allowed to corner fighters, but Randy Couture can’t corner his own son. These things happen in MMA, to quote Dr. Shank Tark.
Return of the Living Dead
The answer is a five knuckle meatsoother yes.
I was worried that Bermudez’ overhand right would be a factor, and it was for a few seconds. Bermudez cracked Jung over the head, who had the wherewithall to immediately clinch in order to clean the undead cobwebs.
Then he infiltrated Dennis’ nervous system with counter(ish) uppercut. I hesitate to call Zombie’s performance “great” because that’s the thing with MMA: you only need moments. But after being off for three years, and having sparring partners of very questionable quality, with his wife there to see him fight live for the first time…well, too many things worked against him besides Bermudez himself (a good, ranked fighter) for it to be anything other than a smashing brain munching success.
Alexhuh?
Alexa Grasso fought a pretty questionable fight, to put it mildly. Tactically, it was bad. Grasso likes to be aggressive in proximity, leaning on attacks in transition, and instead of creating those opportunities, which could have been fixed with something as simple as a takedown attempt, she waited for Herrig to make the first move.
I’ll get to Herrig in a bit, but the thing about learning mechanics is that they teach you the how. How to counter, how to throw an overhand, how to throw a hook, et cetera. Grasso has learned the how. But she’s struggling with the when; sports, like everything else, requires the use of ideas. Such as, what kind of attack taps into my strengths? Grasso had real difficulty sequencing her offense, resigned to throwing the same combinations she throws in sparring, working on the necessary curve needed to be efficient. That she failed isn’t a condemnation of her status. She’s still highly gifted, and I look forward to her next bout. But it’s something she clearly needs to work on.
Lil Epilogue
I have to admit. I kind of agree with Tim B; I thought Grasso was technical enough on the first, and aggressive in the third to potentially take it (a draw on my scorecard). But credit to Herrig who fought a focused, no nonsense fight that relied on poise and what was really excellent scouting to boot. Still, what the hell is that? Did judge Patrick Patlan fall asleep during the third round? Perhaps he was diligently looking for a beer and a nacho plate? It’d be great if we got to the point where MMA judging could be trust even just 60 percent of the time. Alas…
Ovince Quaint Preux
OSP fought Ethan Embry in one of the least interesting fights on the card that turned into a less interesting actual contest. I’ll be perfectly honest. Juggling this card with the Dallas Stars playing the Chicago Blackhawks, as well Dallas’ AHL farm team, yea, I kind of stopped going my job there for a round or two. So I couldn’t tell you much about this fight other than referencing this hilarious exchange between Mookie and Tim. I’d just add that OSP doesn’t just need a great camp; he has zero economy of offense, very few instincts that serve him well, and really, he’s just a big athletic guy that UFC commentary is never not quick to remind us about.
Wake the fu** up, MMA cornerman, refs, doctors, and anyone else involved in this ridiculous Milstead fight
I really don’t know what to tell you. Adam Milstead went into his corner of round 1 with Curtis Blaydes clearly in discomfort. The referee didn’t think to bring the doctor, and the doctor didn’t think to look. Meanwhile, Mark Cherico, relied on Milstead’s own testimony, as if Adam was on the path towards having a Pat Barry Cheick Kongo moment. Milstead goes out there, and blows out his knee like somebody cut the wrong wire on a booby trap of C4.
It was gruesome, and we were thankfully saved by not having Rogan there to replay it in super-mo in extreme closeup and x-ray vision. Cherico’s mistake was trusting his fighter’s testimony. He was grabbing it the whole team, and has a history of knee injuries. This is the point where Cherico needs to identify whether he’s really fit to go back out or not. He didn’t, and now Milstead’s knee is history.
As for Blaydes, it was a dominating performance even before incompetence gave Milstead penguin knees. He’s a solid heavyweight profile, with a unique skillset that’s fallen out of fashion over the years.
A FOTY by any other name
Angela Hill and Jessica Andrade engaged in one of the best fights I’ve seen all this year, and even going back to 2016. Andrade pressed forward with almost reckless abandon, but she never bulled forward like a automaton. She came in with well timed hooks, right hands, and most importantly, bodywork. Hill chambered a good jab, but she struggled to capitalize on her jab with distance offense. There was never really any followup except the winging punches she’d throw in response to being pressured.
The rest of the card was filled with fun, random action. Marcel Fortunas didn’t really blitz Anthony Hamilton so much as shock him unconscious. Tecia Torres did her best Tyson Griffin impression, and I wish her well as she goes back to school because it’s not like her dayjob of fighting can’t be confused for part time work despite a quality profile in the division. Khalil Rountree punished lazy clinchwork the way I’d like to see lazy clinchwork punished. I hear James Vick fought, but I was distracted by the scum in his corner: