Cheers And Jeers: UFC Fight Night Sydney

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Cheers: Frank Camacho Vs. Damien Brown.

My God, was this was a fight. These guys were just standing in front of each other throwing hammers. Honestly, I’d rather get hit with a hammer than what these guys got hit with in this fight. Not since the days of Don Frye have two men expressed such a disregard for future CTE. This was one of the most deserving “fight of the night” bonuses I’ve seen in a long time. How could you even score it? Camacho landed less but seemed to do more damage, while Brown was landing massive straight rights directly on Camacho’s jaw that didn’t seem to phase him at all (when a guy has a head that hard, maybe go to the body?). Simply wonderful.

Jeers: Trying to interview Frank Camacho after that fight.

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Camacho seemed a little out of it after the fight, probably on account of having just eaten 18 straight knuckle sandwiches. Dan Hardy asked him a few questions, all of which Camacho answered with some variation on “the fans.” The Dan Hardy-Doc Gooden announcing team is one of my favorites, but… maybe don’t interview fighters after a fight like this? Asking a guy to be articulate after that is downright cruel. You know how we like to say they “left it all in the cage?” Leave it at that. A fight like that says more than words.

Cheers: The Bec Rawlings and Jessica-Rose Clark fight.

My first thought on seeing that this was the co-main event: Seriously? A 7-6 fighter coming off two losses vs. a late-replacement opponent fighting on 11 days notice? My second thought was, holy hell these ladies are beating the piss out of each other. Rowdy Bec is possibly my least favorite fighter on the entire UFC roster, but this was a hell of a fight.

Jeers: Evan Field, the judge who scored the fight for Rawlings.

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Dude, what the hell fight were you watching? Rawlings’ displayed an impressive ability to take punches directly to her face and walk right through them like the Terminator (hey, it worked for Miesha Tate sometimes), but she didn’t mount much in the way of offense, especially not in the second and third rounds. With Rawlings’ reversal in the first you could make a case for 29-28 Clark, but to score it for Rawlings? Out of 18 cards, Field was the only one who scored it for Rawlings.

Cheers: The fights in general.

Despite the abundance of decisions, this card was full of back-and-forth slugfests, from Camacho/Brown on down. Jake Matthews-Bojan Velickovic was the notable exception (mostly thanks to Matthews’ persistent-yet-largely unsuccessful takedown attempts).

Jeers: The judging in general.

The fact that there were three split decisions doesn’t even do it justice. Jake Matthews somehow “won” a fight where he did nothing but attempt bad takedowns and then get outgrappled on the rare occasions when he actually succeeded. Then in the Theodoru-Dan Kelly fight, in which Kelly at one point almost finished a rear naked choke, one of the judges, Charlie Keech, actually scored it 30-26 for Theodoru. Unlike Matthews-Velickovic, that card was bad in a way that defies hometown advantage. Of course, it doesn’t help that Theodoru is almost as obnoxious as Bec Rawlings, giving himself credit for “squashing” the beef between him and Kelly that we only knew about because he just told us (note: it doesn’t really count as the “high road” if you pre-congratulate yourself for taking it).

Cheers: The main event, and main event winner Fabricio Werdum.

No one wants a heavyweight fight to go the distance (we generally prefer them to end like Tai Tuivas-Rashad Coulter on the undercard — violently, with someone almost dying), but you have to give these dudes credit for trying to finish it the entire time. Fabricio Werdum has fought twice in two months, speaks at least three languages, throws hard on the feet and is world class on the ground, likes to do a weird joker smile and is generally lovable in post-fight interviews. Also, his nickname is “Go Horse.” What’s not to love?

Jeers: Fabricio Werdum

I’ll give Werdum credit for hitting Colby Covington with a boomerang, on account of… 1. that’s a hilarious sentence. 2. it lead to this hilarious local news report:

and 3. Colby Covington, who made headlines a few months ago when he called Brazil a dump and Brazilians “filthy animals,” kind of had it coming. The whole “pro wrestling heel in real life” thing has to go. I admit I enjoy some of the drama, but maybe tone down the xenophobia?

Unfortunately, Werdum also had to call Covington a f*g a few times. Fighters in the past have occasionally gotten passes for similar (see: McGregor, Conor), on account of that’s just how any two dickheads tend to talk when they’re yelling at each other in the street, but when you’re also a paid ambassador for a fight club owned by a Chechen strong man accused of presiding over a gay genocide, you relinquish your right to that pass. There’s a case to be made for not judging a country’s athletes by their repressive leader, that maybe (*maybe*, like if you squint pretty hard) helping them open up is better than isolating them completely in the long run, but it’s impossible to make that case when you’re dropping f-bombs on a city street. Be better, Fabritz. You’re otherwise so easy to like.

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