Certainly not the best finish to the card but I enjoyed it overall. I thought the production and videos looked amazing on TV. Hats off to the UFC for pulling that off and hopefully it won’t actually be the last time.
Main event played out like many of us thought it could. Either Merab was going to do that with his endless gas tank or O’Malley was going to catch him, it ended up being the former. Not the most exciting by any means but Merab is a wild man and just a machine. His hard work paid off and good for him. I know he doesn’t think Umar deserves it but he totally botched that moment.
O’Malley had nothing for him until those front kicks at the end. He’s used to freezing people and I thought he kinda froze at times and had no idea what to do. Almost as if he realized Merab is just a different animal. Tonight is precisely why people had that running joke (or truth) about the UFC trying to keep Merab far away from him for as long as possible. Do O’Malley vs Sandhagen now.
I see some people upset with the scoring but I didn’t have an issue with the 48-47. I thought a case could’ve been made for rounds 3 and 5 to O’Malley. He can get those two rounds and still be dominated overall. Both things can be true.
Co-main wasn’t an entertaining fight either. Another completely dominant grappling performance. We definitely don’t need to see a fourth one. It wasn’t fun but Valentina is one of the best to do it.
Lopes looked good. Thought he could’ve finished in the first but still did what he needed to. He has earned a big jump in the rankings.
Zellhuber vs Ribovics was incredible. I enjoyed every single second of that fight. Hope they got taken care of.
Rodriguez vs Osbourne had some fun moments as well. I’m surprised Rodriguez was able to get out of the first round. I didn’t agree with the 10-8.
As for the negatives….
Herb Dean was awful. No one is there to see you so shut up, man. The unnecessary early warnings, another to Merab where Herb made him think the round ended and it almost cost him, telling Merab to work when he clearly was working, and finally telling them to fight as they were circling. Just terrible.
I also thought the broadcast team was horrible, which is often the case when Rogan and DC are together. Rogan has always been awful with the “it’s tight…it’s locked in….it’s over” but they took it to another level with the almost submissions. None worse than the co-main where you’d think Grasso almost subbed Valentina seven different times if you only listen to the audio. They also kept taking about this non-existent triangle when all she was doing was crossing her legs. Din Thomas is a much better analyst and commentator than both of those guys.
