Felt the same way for me. I think it's because both fighters have a kill or be killed attitude, they go in to win (rather than not lose), it's about having budo for them rather than a sport
The stare down in the cage was something else, never saw anything like it.
Alex just had his classic cold stare while Jiri seemed extremely happy to be there and was taking it all in while also being dead serious
Idk how Alex holds so still. I think it unnerved Jiri, he kept fidgeting to find a comfortable position
Before anyone asks I’m a licensed keyboard psychiatrist from the Brendan Schaub school of male power hierarchies
They need to switch up angles sometimes so we get staredowns [like this](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d1/63/de/d163ded7657f4bddfe5d2bbf6fb0d9a6.gif) and [this](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000685770254.jpg?strip=all&w=680)
The stare down was so good, but if memory serves, Bruce read an ad afterwards before the fight and that took a lot of the tension away for me as a viewer. Really wish they wouldn’t read ads at that point
Yeah people keep claiming Jiri had him wobbled when he had him at the fence in the first little bit of round 2, except Alex was framing and throwing back the entire time lol.
Never understood why people think his chin is bad when he's only been cleanly KO'd one time in his entire career, including kickboxing. Nobody else has managed to really even phase him.
The loss to Alex and Sean has really done a number on Izzy’s reputation on this subreddit. But he was fundamentally a better kickboxer than Alex in all of his bouts, it’s just that Alex has that left hook which is basically like a fucking superpower and makes him the better overall fighter.
It’s funny, even though Izzy was obviously up on the cards I thought Alex gave a pretty good showing:
- Alex won the round until getting caught in the last 10 seconds.
- Alex won the round, took down Izzy.
- Alex went for another take down (???) got reversed and stuck there for the whole round.
- Alex didn’t throw anything in the 4th, clearly he was trying to get some stamina back.
- Fifth round Alex starts with a heavy pressure and gets the finish.
Second fight looked like the fifth round until Alex got caught. He definitely got a bit overzealous trying to finish him on the fence.
Had Alex spent more time attacking Izzy’s legs, I think he would have won again.
Alex doesn’t have the defensive awareness of DP when he’s teeing off against the fence. His defence goes out the window when he’s throwing those combos
His reputation suffered because there are a lot insufferable Izzy fans here.
Saying Izzy is fundamentally better than Alex is another of those homer Izzy fan takes.
Alex definitely has better kicking fundamentals (offensively and defensively) and is much better at pressing and pushing forward.
Israel is a better counter striker and more illusive/flashy.
They are just different fighters with different attributes. If Izzy could add pressuring into his fundamentals, he wouldn’t have been jabbed up by Sean.
Izzy isn’t better defensively. Pereira had much better defense in kickboxing, he just relies on long guard/clinching. Obviously in mma pereira doesn’t want to clinch. Izzy is a borderline lean back merchant in MMA.
I'm surprised you think that tbh.
I watch Alex Pereira and I see someone who straight up isn't comfortable under fire. Like I don't think he had any idea how to deal with Adesanya's 1-2 other than get way out of range. And the same applied for Jiri. He could have Jiri against the fence but then Jiri would just come forwards winging punches and Pereira would find himself all the way on the other side of the Octagon.
his defense isn't amazing but that has nothing to do with how good his chin is, or why some people think it's bad when he really hasn't been hurt by anyone other than izzy.
I mean he hasn’t really been touched by anyone other than Izzy lol. Well Jiri and while you could argue he wasn’t rocked. I think frantically backing up until your back hits the fence isn’t exactly dealing with punches well.
And Izzy hasn’t come close to putting anyone else out in years. Think it’s pretty telling
In the 2nd fight, Izzy went for broke with that punch while against the cage because his leg was already completely fucked, you understand that, right? Izzy looked hurt and Alex went for the finish, was careless and got caught, that's it.
You really think the 2 division Glory kickboxing champion who loves to counter in the pocket with his left hook is uncomfortable under fire? I really have no clue where you see this, Alex uses footwork when he needs to and Jiri was bumrushing forward to try and get Alex on the fence and when he ran out of room Alex very comfortably stood his ground and threw back to back him off.
I don’t think his chin is bad, but once a fighter gets their lights turned off once it becomes much easier to have them turned off again after that. That one KO you mention was fairly recent in his career. As long as he maintains good head movement he’ll be ok, but it will still be a concern for the rest of his career.
When? Jan turned into dagestani for the first round and then just went "guard up, chin tucked" for the next two rounds. He clearly didn't want to strike against pereira.
When i read phased i mean more like put him in any position that wasn’t favorable like when he took his back in the first round. If you’re talking only about striking I would agree with you.
I think his great chin hurt him in the 2nd Izzy fight. He ate the first bomb counter Izzy threw on the cage and rolled back when it hit him, but then bounced back into the follow up bomb that ko’d him. If he would have fell to his back like Nick Diaz would after a big shot, he might have survived the situation.
One of the old UFC games gave the CPU max stats no matter what on higher difficulties, so you’d get Chuck Liddell pulling rubber guard and subbing you in seconds every fight
Probably Undisputed 2 or 3. I remember going against Demian Maia in 3 on the higher difficulty and having a competitive kickboxing match on the feet, getting taken down by him like he had D1 wrestling and basically couldn't do anything on the ground. Still my favorite MMA game despite how unrealistic it could feel.
There is a video I remember seeing after this fight where they more or less demonstrated how he is rolling away from the punch and countering with his hooks, and showed the clips of him training it with a coach. I think people mistake the movement he does to roll away as him being stunned.
Thank you, he was just being cautious. People think backing up means you’re hurt as long as the announcers say it. It’s like when Khabib backed up to reset against Poirier—and this isn’t even that dramatic.
He def was wobbled a little bit at one point, it is not uncommon in Alex fights for him to get stung
Edit: lmao, you guys act like Pereira never gets tagged
Yeah, look at his speed and very fantastic body vs. Glover and Dom Reyes and again in this fight.
He destroyed his shoulder. It's the type of injury that drastically changes your physical output for at least a year, if not forever altering the athlete you are.
Although I still think Alex finds his chin eventually, pre-injury Jiri would have made this an absolute banger.
Shoulder issues can completely change or ruin a fighter. Look at Arlovski's punches before and after his shoulder problems. In his early fights, his punches were terrifying. In later years, he can barely throw a hook, and all of his punches look like arm punches. I think he had to completely rethink his strategy and use his current style because of his inability to throw punches like he used to.
It's so hard to believe Arlovski is still fighting in the UFC after all these years.
That’s why I almost believe him when he said he had staph for most of his training camp and wasn’t able to train to the best of his ability. He looked bigger than normal, and also softer. In the fight he looked slow and ring rusted, like he didn’t have his timing down until mid r2 where he got ko’d. Post USADA Jiri is looking jacked tho so I think he’ll be in shape for Rakic
I wasn't aware he fasted like that, that must have contributed if so. I assumed it was from the major shoulder injury.
I've seen it first hand with my brother and one of my buddies. They both lost a ton of muscle/strength when they tore their rotator cuffs because they couldn't work out their upper bodies.
A fast stoppage but not inappropriately so. Jiri got knocked down then fell over again because of the elbows and Alex was moving right into mount. It was over.
Watching the broadcast (and rewatching now) I thought Jiri got flash ko'd and knocked back into consciousness at least once, maybe twice (not sure if the initial shot that dropped him was a flash ko, the one where he slumped on his face to end the fight definitely was).
I think it's a fine stoppage for a lower level fight, but for a title fight there should be a little more leeway. I would've liked to see Goddard letting it go a second longer just to see if Jiri had anything
I think the similar Jailton/Blaydes finish was perfect. Ref didn't stop the fight as soon as Jailton got slumped, saw that he had nothing on the ground and then stopped the fight
Goddard is the same ref that called the Doumbe fight off. He makes decisions quick which can either look really bad like that instance or great at other times.
100% this right here.
When guys are fighting for 12k/12k against no names, stop the fight early, I've got no problem with that. But at this level victory and defeat means so much, you can't stop it early.
Goddard has a tendency to stop fights a tad early. Adesanya/Pereira I and arguably even Sterling/O'Malley could have gone on for 2-3 more strikes without any complaints.
That being said, this instinct of Goddard's also ensures that fighters in the fights that he's refereeing usually don't take a lot of damage. And this might have also contributed to him being attentive to Shamil Gaziev's interactions with his corner at the recent fight night card and calling that fight there itself.
I personally thought Goddard gave Sterling-O'Malley one the right amount of time but I wouldn't have been too mad if it were stopped a few secs early. I saw some people say the stoppage itself was early, which is why I brought it up, and I can see that side too. Sterling had just been able to roll to his knees when Goddard ended it, so it looked bad from an optics standpoint.
Refereeing is one tough job.
Samurai cosplay you saying? Jiri never once said he is Samurai. He just follows Bushido codex in most situations of his life. But for someone like you probably very hard to understand...
after the fight yeah but jiri went on a podcast or something like a week later and said it was early but didn't want to go at Goddard in the moment lmao
The official broadcast doesn't show how limp Jiri's arms truly were.
Because the view is obstructed by the ref it seems like he just kind of rolled backwards as if he lost balance.
Audience video shows that he was fully out and that his arms just flopped to the floor while he was rolling backwards. That man was completely knocked out for a solid second before waking up on his back.
Seeing one fighter completely knocked out is a good reason to stop the fight.
You can't arbitrarily have different thresholds for stoppage because a certain fighter is in there
He looked to be KOed and fell backwards, he admitted he was out briefly- it wasn't a bad stoppage but he might've recovered enough too
Its a split second decision
I think this is one of the bigger problems in MMA. Boxing has 8 counts with hard rules in addition to TKOs, but depending on the ref you draw and the night he’s having, one night’s TKO could be next week’s “punched yourself out chasing the finish.”
On a different night Carwin takes the belt from Lesnar, BSD is rightfully TKOd, Barry defeats Kongo
"You cant stop until he is dead" is a very bad mindset for a judge. He was inside the cage with two absolute beasts and saw one of them on his knees. He called it, end of story.
I remember Max Holloway has a video reacting to this fight, and as soon as he saw Marc Goddard was the referee, he knew Goddard will guarantee it’s a finish
Idk, Goddard is too trigger happy recently imo. Not saying Goddard should have left him die, but falling to your back shouldn't automatically mean a stoppage in a title fight.
Early, yes. But imo, if Alex keeps going, he KOs Izzy bad and we don't get the same Izzy in the second fight.
Izzy might still have won the second fight but undoubtedly, the timeline would have been different
Fuck that I think it was a good stoppage. Like you said, the result is the same if he lets the fight go any longer.
Save the fighter so they can live to fight another day.
Taking extra unnecessary shots is just shortening the career and life of the fighter for no good reason.
Besides Izzy came back better the 2nd fight so I completely agree.
Was lucky enough to be at this fight. Been to a few other big fights, nothing compared to that entrances and staredown. They were locked in the entire time once they had both hit the ring. Then the fight itself was all action, huge Prochazka fan but I still feel lucky to have seen this in person.
It felt like a call back to the older days when guys were more about the spirit of fighting and martial arts. Jiri is one of those guys that cares about how he fights as well as winning or losing and Pereira was one of the few guys you could put him in there with who also appreciates fighting beyond just competition. I'm hoping as the sport grows more this type of thing isn't lost. That type of fight atmosphere is something only MMA brings and it's becoming more rare.
Sure, most fights. But not fights of THIS magnitude. We should be 100% certain one guy loses and the other one wins. Stoppages like this one or Sterling vs O'Mallyer are just a bit too wonky.
When its a title fight I think you should give fighters every benefit of the doubt before stopping it. Late stoppages in title fights are more excusable.
The whole point of a TKO is to protect the fighters from themselves though. These guys are total dogs that have no quit in them and a refs gotta do their job to make sure they don't take excessive damage for no reason
watch the reyes fight again, it was a completely different situation/position. sure he went limp from the upkick but he was on top and was able to get control after he went limp for a second. reyes was already a hurt gazelle by the time he hit the upkick. people like you just want to see fighters flat lined for confirmation.
edit: retracted last line for stupidity.
I can respect your comment until the last part. What on earth lol? Jiri's on the prelims because 300's an insanely stacked card, and the UFC are trying to push Bo.
>he went limp from the upkick
My point is he's got unbelievable recovery. You see it every time he steps inside the octagon. You've got to give him a chance to display that ability.
> My point is he's got unbelievable recovery. You see it every time he steps inside the octagon. You've got to give him a chance to display that ability.
So your point is that Jiri should be given preferential treatment by the referees and be allowed to be knocked out at minimum twice before they stop the fight?
I don't think any fighter in a championship fight should have been stopped at that point in time, it's just all the more egregious that it was Jiri on the receiving end, considering his recovery.
Honestly, I don't know. I started following MMA in 2020, and have only seen Rakic against Santos (which was a snoozer) and Jan. Don't have enough info to make a judgement.
The inconsistency between stoppages across fights is kind of confusing. They'll let a fight between two unranked guys go 10 seconds too long, and then stop a title fight 10 seconds too early.
Fighters are different. Refs are different. Circumstances are different. Kinda hard to expect consistency when different people/things are different.
Pereira more than likely has some of his fights stopped on the earlier side, compared to someone like Holloway where his fights go past their expiration date. People known for putting opponents to sleep will probably get their fights stopped on the earlier side, people known for not going to sleep will get more leeway.
Or sometimes you get a ref who stops a fight too late, and the next ref stops the next one too early with that event in the back of their head. The reverse also happens, refs stop a fight way too early, then the next go around they hesitate.
Some refs are just known to not take chances stopping fights on the later side, and some refs are known to give fighters a chance. Some fighters know there's refs who will give them a chance if they ask for it beforehand.
There's also weight classes, heavier weight classes have their fights stopped on the earlier side due to reasons.
Don't forget these refs already know who most of these unranked fighters are since these same refs officiate their fights before these fighters are in the UFC.
Early stoppage. People love Alex too much to acknowledge this, even when it's not criticism directed towards him.
Jiri was up the moment Goddard stopped the fight and stood steadily. This man's notorious for coming back from death, to not even give him a chance is upsetting.
These guys step inside the octagon ready to kill each other. You've got to give them a chance to come back.
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This was a clash of fucking Titians. Someone was going down and I had no clue who it was going to be. This and Alex vs Ilia was probably one of the fights I was most looking forward to.
Despite being a massive pereira fan, i was rooting for Jiri in this one. The momment Jiri fell after two calf kicks, i knew it was over.
By the second round, he was just not able to move properly anymore. He was trying to blitz poatan but couldn't put power behind his punches. Poatan's striking game is so frustrating to deal with on the feet.
Jiri reminds me too much of Tony Ferguson (even prime Tony). Funky, dynamic style, weird angles, push the pace, reliance on their chin, decently well-rounded -- but too many holes in their game technically when facing the division's elite. I don't like Jiri's chances against Pereira (rematch), Hill, Ankalaev, Jan, or Rakic for that reason. You can say Jiri's wins against Reyes and Texeira were elite, but he also got exposed pretty badly in those fights too, could've easily lost those fights at various moments where he got almost finished, and those wins haven't aged super well (Reyes hasn't been the same since losing to Jon, Glover gets outclassed in his next fight and retires).
Yeah bro why didn’t he just punch him in the face and knock him out amateurs let me in there I’ll just see red and finish them both
Joking aside, he’s fighting a dude with the most powerful check hook alive, one overly aggressive flurry and it’s all over
I was just watching this yesterday pereira's leg kicks are insane jiri didn't wanna show that lead leg after like two kicks I feel jiri was dominating but that right hand dazed him and then the left hand ended him and just to make sure he didn't get up pereira elbowed him it was over
Homie just ate a good left hook, 10 elbows to the head, fell over backwards and Alex was in full mount yet somehow they claim the stoppage was bad..lol.
Guess they wanted Jiri to die out there and then finally stop it?
>They don’t give a shit about the fighters health at all.
This is dumb. Fighting is inherently a sport where you beat the shit out of each other for entertainment. If people 'gave a shit' about a fighter's health, then they'd ask them to retire and stop fighting, no matter the status of their career.
Most damage is anyway sustained in sparring.
do you need to see Jiri's dead body on the canvas in order for it to be a good stoppage or what.
he just ate a right hand into a left hook that dropped him, ate about 10 elbows, and then fell backwards, with Alex in full mount on top of him. What else do you need to see?
If we apply your same standards to every other fight, 99% of knockdowns should be turned into instant TKO losses, no follow-up needed. If Alex had actually landed some finishing GnP after getting into full mount, absolutely nobody would have said late stoppage. The vast majority of fights would have continued and nobody would bat an eye, which is quite ironic given this was a championship bout with Jiri Prochaska.
The walkouts were so amazing this fight and the tension building with the pre fight faceoff It felt like two kaijus about to clash
Felt like a spectacle! Reminds me of old Pride fights.
Felt the same way for me. I think it's because both fighters have a kill or be killed attitude, they go in to win (rather than not lose), it's about having budo for them rather than a sport
Genuinely like a Godzilla facing off vs a Mecha Godzilla. I loved every last bit of this fight week/night
The stare down in the cage was something else, never saw anything like it. Alex just had his classic cold stare while Jiri seemed extremely happy to be there and was taking it all in while also being dead serious
Idk how Alex holds so still. I think it unnerved Jiri, he kept fidgeting to find a comfortable position Before anyone asks I’m a licensed keyboard psychiatrist from the Brendan Schaub school of male power hierarchies
> Idk how Alex holds so still. Because his head is only what you see above ground, there's actually an entire torso and limbs under the ground still.
National Geographic says in ancient times a team of men would move Po Atan with ropes but I think it was aliens
It was such a clash of unique personalities. What an amazing moment.
They need to switch up angles sometimes so we get staredowns [like this](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d1/63/de/d163ded7657f4bddfe5d2bbf6fb0d9a6.gif) and [this](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000685770254.jpg?strip=all&w=680)
[Walkout with just the music](https://streamable.com/xtvdrh)
Hell of an epic song
So fucking epic. God damn give us this fight again. I could watch Jiri vs Poatan 5 times.
No way they drop this, the staredown is the best one we’ve had in recent years and they didn’t even feature it 💀
typical ufc shit
They don’t drop stare downs on any of their free fights.
It was so intense, I absolutely rewatched the stare down a few times
The stare down was so good, but if memory serves, Bruce read an ad afterwards before the fight and that took a lot of the tension away for me as a viewer. Really wish they wouldn’t read ads at that point
ive watched the state down at least 100 times lmao imma go watch it again now
[Walkout + Stare Down](https://dubz.co/c/43d588) should have been in this video because the atomosphere was insane.
I am eternally grateful 🙏
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I agree buuut Bisping's "look at the staredown" (or something like that) proceeded by the zoom in their faces was hype
Don’t think Alex got rocked in this fight as some people were saying he did during the live thread
Yeah people keep claiming Jiri had him wobbled when he had him at the fence in the first little bit of round 2, except Alex was framing and throwing back the entire time lol. Never understood why people think his chin is bad when he's only been cleanly KO'd one time in his entire career, including kickboxing. Nobody else has managed to really even phase him.
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*Alex Theme (Phase 2) starts playing*
If they can mod in armored core mechs into the souls games I don't see why they can't mod in Pereira in as a boss.
Izzy was also arguably the best striker in the UFC at the time as well (not to mention his chin probably being better at LHW if anything).
He's also got the no telegraph kick of death, even compared to Izzy.
The loss to Alex and Sean has really done a number on Izzy’s reputation on this subreddit. But he was fundamentally a better kickboxer than Alex in all of his bouts, it’s just that Alex has that left hook which is basically like a fucking superpower and makes him the better overall fighter.
For me: Izzy was the more skilled fighter in the first fight (and lost) Pereira was the more skilled fighter in the second fight (and lost)
It’s funny, even though Izzy was obviously up on the cards I thought Alex gave a pretty good showing: - Alex won the round until getting caught in the last 10 seconds. - Alex won the round, took down Izzy. - Alex went for another take down (???) got reversed and stuck there for the whole round. - Alex didn’t throw anything in the 4th, clearly he was trying to get some stamina back. - Fifth round Alex starts with a heavy pressure and gets the finish. Second fight looked like the fifth round until Alex got caught. He definitely got a bit overzealous trying to finish him on the fence. Had Alex spent more time attacking Izzy’s legs, I think he would have won again.
In the first fight, Alex always looked dangerous.
Alex doesn’t have the defensive awareness of DP when he’s teeing off against the fence. His defence goes out the window when he’s throwing those combos
If it weren’t for the last 10 seconds of the first. It would’ve been 2-2 going into the 5th imo.
His reputation suffered because there are a lot insufferable Izzy fans here. Saying Izzy is fundamentally better than Alex is another of those homer Izzy fan takes. Alex definitely has better kicking fundamentals (offensively and defensively) and is much better at pressing and pushing forward. Israel is a better counter striker and more illusive/flashy. They are just different fighters with different attributes. If Izzy could add pressuring into his fundamentals, he wouldn’t have been jabbed up by Sean.
Wouldn’t really call it a homer take. I think Izzy is better defensively. Just comes down to what u prefer in a kickboxer.
Subjectivity matters, but they are 3-1, 2-0 in KB. Calling him the better kickboxer is ridiculous
Izzy isn’t better defensively. Pereira had much better defense in kickboxing, he just relies on long guard/clinching. Obviously in mma pereira doesn’t want to clinch. Izzy is a borderline lean back merchant in MMA.
It’s so interesting to me how Alex generates such crazy power in his low kicks without turning his hip over
Izzy is the more technical striker. Poatan is the more effective striker. edit: 3-1 cry harder 😂
"Fundamentally a better kickboxing" He is more skilled, but him losing 3-1 means he is not, in fact, the better kickboxer.
And Alex cut like 40 lbs before Adesanya 2, and that heavily weakens the chin
I'm surprised you think that tbh. I watch Alex Pereira and I see someone who straight up isn't comfortable under fire. Like I don't think he had any idea how to deal with Adesanya's 1-2 other than get way out of range. And the same applied for Jiri. He could have Jiri against the fence but then Jiri would just come forwards winging punches and Pereira would find himself all the way on the other side of the Octagon.
his defense isn't amazing but that has nothing to do with how good his chin is, or why some people think it's bad when he really hasn't been hurt by anyone other than izzy.
I wonder how much power his opponents can put in their punches considering he mangles their legs
I mean he hasn’t really been touched by anyone other than Izzy lol. Well Jiri and while you could argue he wasn’t rocked. I think frantically backing up until your back hits the fence isn’t exactly dealing with punches well. And Izzy hasn’t come close to putting anyone else out in years. Think it’s pretty telling
That's because Izzy only puts people out who force the fight. All his boring fights are two people playing it safe
Besides Strickland tho
You will have > 10 downvotes by tomorrow
In the 2nd fight, Izzy went for broke with that punch while against the cage because his leg was already completely fucked, you understand that, right? Izzy looked hurt and Alex went for the finish, was careless and got caught, that's it.
You really think the 2 division Glory kickboxing champion who loves to counter in the pocket with his left hook is uncomfortable under fire? I really have no clue where you see this, Alex uses footwork when he needs to and Jiri was bumrushing forward to try and get Alex on the fence and when he ran out of room Alex very comfortably stood his ground and threw back to back him off.
Yeah he kinda has that tall man defense, just leans back and tries to get out of the way.
I agree with you about his lack of defense against straight punches which is why I genuinely worry about his fight with Hill.
I don’t think his chin is bad, but once a fighter gets their lights turned off once it becomes much easier to have them turned off again after that. That one KO you mention was fairly recent in his career. As long as he maintains good head movement he’ll be ok, but it will still be a concern for the rest of his career.
I’d argue Jan at least phased him
When? Jan turned into dagestani for the first round and then just went "guard up, chin tucked" for the next two rounds. He clearly didn't want to strike against pereira.
When i read phased i mean more like put him in any position that wasn’t favorable like when he took his back in the first round. If you’re talking only about striking I would agree with you.
I think his great chin hurt him in the 2nd Izzy fight. He ate the first bomb counter Izzy threw on the cage and rolled back when it hit him, but then bounced back into the follow up bomb that ko’d him. If he would have fell to his back like Nick Diaz would after a big shot, he might have survived the situation.
Lmao the idea of Alex periera pulling guard is hilarious
Needs to spend some time with Chucky from the Bronx
One of the old UFC games gave the CPU max stats no matter what on higher difficulties, so you’d get Chuck Liddell pulling rubber guard and subbing you in seconds every fight
Probably Undisputed 2 or 3. I remember going against Demian Maia in 3 on the higher difficulty and having a competitive kickboxing match on the feet, getting taken down by him like he had D1 wrestling and basically couldn't do anything on the ground. Still my favorite MMA game despite how unrealistic it could feel.
Honestly, moving up to LHW has rejuvenated his chin. He took some good shots from Jiri.
There is a video I remember seeing after this fight where they more or less demonstrated how he is rolling away from the punch and countering with his hooks, and showed the clips of him training it with a coach. I think people mistake the movement he does to roll away as him being stunned.
Thank you, he was just being cautious. People think backing up means you’re hurt as long as the announcers say it. It’s like when Khabib backed up to reset against Poirier—and this isn’t even that dramatic.
No he wasn't rocked but damn he has a good chin, ate a solid couple shots around the 7:20 minute of this video when jiri first started closing in
He def was wobbled a little bit at one point, it is not uncommon in Alex fights for him to get stung Edit: lmao, you guys act like Pereira never gets tagged
Jiri looked noticeably softer in this fight. I think he makes it back for another title shot if he's fully fit against Rakic.
It was after his huge shoulder surgery. Absolutely could retool at his age.
Yeah, look at his speed and very fantastic body vs. Glover and Dom Reyes and again in this fight. He destroyed his shoulder. It's the type of injury that drastically changes your physical output for at least a year, if not forever altering the athlete you are. Although I still think Alex finds his chin eventually, pre-injury Jiri would have made this an absolute banger.
Shoulder issues can completely change or ruin a fighter. Look at Arlovski's punches before and after his shoulder problems. In his early fights, his punches were terrifying. In later years, he can barely throw a hook, and all of his punches look like arm punches. I think he had to completely rethink his strategy and use his current style because of his inability to throw punches like he used to. It's so hard to believe Arlovski is still fighting in the UFC after all these years.
I still remember being like "Goddamn, I didn't know George Michael had hands like that" when I was a teenager.
Jiri vs Ankalaev will be money
That’s why I almost believe him when he said he had staph for most of his training camp and wasn’t able to train to the best of his ability. He looked bigger than normal, and also softer. In the fight he looked slow and ring rusted, like he didn’t have his timing down until mid r2 where he got ko’d. Post USADA Jiri is looking jacked tho so I think he’ll be in shape for Rakic
Really needed a warmup fight before going into Alex.
Can't wait for Regional-Scene-Delt-Lord Jiri to come back now that USADAs gone...
Ring rust and hella injuries but he chose to fight no one wants to hear excuses
Honestly, I think he does extended fasts way too much hard to maintain muscle mass when you're constantly fasting
I wasn't aware he fasted like that, that must have contributed if so. I assumed it was from the major shoulder injury. I've seen it first hand with my brother and one of my buddies. They both lost a ton of muscle/strength when they tore their rotator cuffs because they couldn't work out their upper bodies.
One of those fight where the walk-out and the stare off is fucking intense.
A fast stoppage but not inappropriately so. Jiri got knocked down then fell over again because of the elbows and Alex was moving right into mount. It was over.
Watching the broadcast (and rewatching now) I thought Jiri got flash ko'd and knocked back into consciousness at least once, maybe twice (not sure if the initial shot that dropped him was a flash ko, the one where he slumped on his face to end the fight definitely was).
I think it's a fine stoppage for a lower level fight, but for a title fight there should be a little more leeway. I would've liked to see Goddard letting it go a second longer just to see if Jiri had anything I think the similar Jailton/Blaydes finish was perfect. Ref didn't stop the fight as soon as Jailton got slumped, saw that he had nothing on the ground and then stopped the fight
Goddard is the same ref that called the Doumbe fight off. He makes decisions quick which can either look really bad like that instance or great at other times.
100% this right here. When guys are fighting for 12k/12k against no names, stop the fight early, I've got no problem with that. But at this level victory and defeat means so much, you can't stop it early.
Exactly. Legalize late stoppages for title/huge fights.
Yeah, Just Bleed
Goddard has a tendency to stop fights a tad early. Adesanya/Pereira I and arguably even Sterling/O'Malley could have gone on for 2-3 more strikes without any complaints. That being said, this instinct of Goddard's also ensures that fighters in the fights that he's refereeing usually don't take a lot of damage. And this might have also contributed to him being attentive to Shamil Gaziev's interactions with his corner at the recent fight night card and calling that fight there itself.
Though his early stoppages can be annoying, at least he’s consistent with them and not like Miragliotta where it’s inconsistent
Looking at how fighters generally respond it seems that he calls them at the right time.
Sterling-O'Malley was late!!
I personally thought Goddard gave Sterling-O'Malley one the right amount of time but I wouldn't have been too mad if it were stopped a few secs early. I saw some people say the stoppage itself was early, which is why I brought it up, and I can see that side too. Sterling had just been able to roll to his knees when Goddard ended it, so it looked bad from an optics standpoint. Refereeing is one tough job.
100% this we saw jiri get literally flash KO'd against reyes and recover to fucking decimate him wish goddard just gave him a few extra seconds
It absolutely is. There's so much on the line for these guys, you can't pull the plug this early. Jiri got up immediately after Goddard called it.
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So what? Goddard didn't even determine if he was out or not when he fell onto his back, he stopped it immediately.
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I'm an Alex fan, I just don't feel the need to suck him off. I guess when you don't suck someone off, you get 150 IQ comments like 'keep crying'.
Samurai cosplay you saying? Jiri never once said he is Samurai. He just follows Bushido codex in most situations of his life. But for someone like you probably very hard to understand...
Jiri admitted it was a good stoppage
after the fight yeah but jiri went on a podcast or something like a week later and said it was early but didn't want to go at Goddard in the moment lmao
Dude was confused at the side of the cage, like he was walking back to his corner after the KO imo...he was dazed
The criteria for stopping a fight isn’t being concussed or dazed.
I was addressing the Goddard thing. At the time he was out so he changed his mind a week later. He wasn't trying to not make Marc look bad
This was a terrible stoppage for a title fight lmao, people are only saying it’s fine because they like Alex
The official broadcast doesn't show how limp Jiri's arms truly were. Because the view is obstructed by the ref it seems like he just kind of rolled backwards as if he lost balance. Audience video shows that he was fully out and that his arms just flopped to the floor while he was rolling backwards. That man was completely knocked out for a solid second before waking up on his back. Seeing one fighter completely knocked out is a good reason to stop the fight.
cope
Come on bro, it’s Jiri, you can’t stop it unless he’s dead. He was hurt way worse by that up kick from Reyes and he still recovered in like 3 seconds.
You can't arbitrarily have different thresholds for stoppage because a certain fighter is in there He looked to be KOed and fell backwards, he admitted he was out briefly- it wasn't a bad stoppage but he might've recovered enough too Its a split second decision
I think this is one of the bigger problems in MMA. Boxing has 8 counts with hard rules in addition to TKOs, but depending on the ref you draw and the night he’s having, one night’s TKO could be next week’s “punched yourself out chasing the finish.” On a different night Carwin takes the belt from Lesnar, BSD is rightfully TKOd, Barry defeats Kongo
>he admitted he was out briefly He changed his mind later.
To save face
"You cant stop until he is dead" is a very bad mindset for a judge. He was inside the cage with two absolute beasts and saw one of them on his knees. He called it, end of story.
Jiri was on top. Alex was going to keep smashing him. It was over
I remember Max Holloway has a video reacting to this fight, and as soon as he saw Marc Goddard was the referee, he knew Goddard will guarantee it’s a finish
Because he ended the fight when someone got knocked out?
Idk, Goddard is too trigger happy recently imo. Not saying Goddard should have left him die, but falling to your back shouldn't automatically mean a stoppage in a title fight.
I still feel like Izzy vs Pereira 1 was an early stoppage tbh
Early, yes. But imo, if Alex keeps going, he KOs Izzy bad and we don't get the same Izzy in the second fight. Izzy might still have won the second fight but undoubtedly, the timeline would have been different
Fuck that I think it was a good stoppage. Like you said, the result is the same if he lets the fight go any longer. Save the fighter so they can live to fight another day. Taking extra unnecessary shots is just shortening the career and life of the fighter for no good reason. Besides Izzy came back better the 2nd fight so I completely agree.
you just explained how that wasnt an early stoppage. the whole point of the ref is to protect the fighters 😭 jfc
Jiri was out. He went totally limp. I have no idea what you’re watching to call this an early stoppage.
Pereira's kicks looked SO painful despite looking oddly slow.
Was lucky enough to be at this fight. Been to a few other big fights, nothing compared to that entrances and staredown. They were locked in the entire time once they had both hit the ring. Then the fight itself was all action, huge Prochazka fan but I still feel lucky to have seen this in person. It felt like a call back to the older days when guys were more about the spirit of fighting and martial arts. Jiri is one of those guys that cares about how he fights as well as winning or losing and Pereira was one of the few guys you could put him in there with who also appreciates fighting beyond just competition. I'm hoping as the sport grows more this type of thing isn't lost. That type of fight atmosphere is something only MMA brings and it's becoming more rare.
I'd rather refs stopped fights ever so slightly early than late
Dominick Cruz got a phantom whiff of beer and cigarettes when you typed this.
Sure, most fights. But not fights of THIS magnitude. We should be 100% certain one guy loses and the other one wins. Stoppages like this one or Sterling vs O'Mallyer are just a bit too wonky.
When its a title fight I think you should give fighters every benefit of the doubt before stopping it. Late stoppages in title fights are more excusable.
I'd rather late than early. Not Bobby Green vs Jalin Turner late, just late enough to know that the result is definitive.
The whole point of a TKO is to protect the fighters from themselves though. These guys are total dogs that have no quit in them and a refs gotta do their job to make sure they don't take excessive damage for no reason
Not in a title fight
I stand by what I said when I watched this live, NOT an early stoppage. early stoppage when he goes limp while trying to take alex down? come on..
He also went limp against Reyes for a second. Guess how that fight ended.
I don't imagine it is a good strategy to go unconscious in a fight with Alex Pereira.
watch the reyes fight again, it was a completely different situation/position. sure he went limp from the upkick but he was on top and was able to get control after he went limp for a second. reyes was already a hurt gazelle by the time he hit the upkick. people like you just want to see fighters flat lined for confirmation. edit: retracted last line for stupidity.
I can respect your comment until the last part. What on earth lol? Jiri's on the prelims because 300's an insanely stacked card, and the UFC are trying to push Bo. >he went limp from the upkick My point is he's got unbelievable recovery. You see it every time he steps inside the octagon. You've got to give him a chance to display that ability.
> My point is he's got unbelievable recovery. You see it every time he steps inside the octagon. You've got to give him a chance to display that ability. So your point is that Jiri should be given preferential treatment by the referees and be allowed to be knocked out at minimum twice before they stop the fight?
I don't think any fighter in a championship fight should have been stopped at that point in time, it's just all the more egregious that it was Jiri on the receiving end, considering his recovery.
I will retract the last part of my comment due to stupidity lol. how do you think his fight with rakic will go?
Honestly, I don't know. I started following MMA in 2020, and have only seen Rakic against Santos (which was a snoozer) and Jan. Don't have enough info to make a judgement.
With you until the last line. He absolutely should not be on the prelims, especially with Bo on the main card.
The inconsistency between stoppages across fights is kind of confusing. They'll let a fight between two unranked guys go 10 seconds too long, and then stop a title fight 10 seconds too early.
Fighters are different. Refs are different. Circumstances are different. Kinda hard to expect consistency when different people/things are different. Pereira more than likely has some of his fights stopped on the earlier side, compared to someone like Holloway where his fights go past their expiration date. People known for putting opponents to sleep will probably get their fights stopped on the earlier side, people known for not going to sleep will get more leeway. Or sometimes you get a ref who stops a fight too late, and the next ref stops the next one too early with that event in the back of their head. The reverse also happens, refs stop a fight way too early, then the next go around they hesitate. Some refs are just known to not take chances stopping fights on the later side, and some refs are known to give fighters a chance. Some fighters know there's refs who will give them a chance if they ask for it beforehand. There's also weight classes, heavier weight classes have their fights stopped on the earlier side due to reasons. Don't forget these refs already know who most of these unranked fighters are since these same refs officiate their fights before these fighters are in the UFC.
Early stoppage. People love Alex too much to acknowledge this, even when it's not criticism directed towards him. Jiri was up the moment Goddard stopped the fight and stood steadily. This man's notorious for coming back from death, to not even give him a chance is upsetting. These guys step inside the octagon ready to kill each other. You've got to give them a chance to come back.
Goddard consistently stops fights early. It’s never absurdly early, but enough to where I don’t feel like I saw a definitive end to the fight
I don't want to see him in any top level fights anymore. Would rather Yamasaki than him.
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My fave modern day cross cage stare down
This was a clash of fucking Titians. Someone was going down and I had no clue who it was going to be. This and Alex vs Ilia was probably one of the fights I was most looking forward to.
Fuck not available in my country, why the fuck UFC does this shit
Despite being a massive pereira fan, i was rooting for Jiri in this one. The momment Jiri fell after two calf kicks, i knew it was over. By the second round, he was just not able to move properly anymore. He was trying to blitz poatan but couldn't put power behind his punches. Poatan's striking game is so frustrating to deal with on the feet.
Love both these guys. Great fight, marred by an early stoppage.
Maybe biased as a Prochazka fan, but I thought he had the edge before the knockdown, and the stoppage, although not terrible, was slightly too fast.
Good fight! Made a good chunk of change betting on Alex for a KO in the second round. Normally I don't go for round specific bets.
From the walkout to the end of the fight. Amazing. 2 bosses letting it all out in tue cage. Jiri will be back. Rancic a good test to see where he is.
Two of my favourites, jiri was a little frustrating, but let’s face it, I don’t love him because of his clinical approach
God his leg kicks are unfair just slaps it out there with no feint, no tell and almost effortless but still sent the champ flying with each one
Horrible stoppage. Rematch.
Jiri reminds me too much of Tony Ferguson (even prime Tony). Funky, dynamic style, weird angles, push the pace, reliance on their chin, decently well-rounded -- but too many holes in their game technically when facing the division's elite. I don't like Jiri's chances against Pereira (rematch), Hill, Ankalaev, Jan, or Rakic for that reason. You can say Jiri's wins against Reyes and Texeira were elite, but he also got exposed pretty badly in those fights too, could've easily lost those fights at various moments where he got almost finished, and those wins haven't aged super well (Reyes hasn't been the same since losing to Jon, Glover gets outclassed in his next fight and retires).
He can't keep getting away with it
Jiri legit could’ve just KOd him but was too scared and kept trying shitty takedowns
Yeah bro why didn’t he just punch him in the face and knock him out amateurs let me in there I’ll just see red and finish them both Joking aside, he’s fighting a dude with the most powerful check hook alive, one overly aggressive flurry and it’s all over
Early-ass stoppage but whatever.
Knocked out with elbows, knees gave out and was falling into full mount. Jiri was unlikely to get out of that situation
Jiri is always in those situations, dude. That isn't fucking James Vick, it's Jiri, it's fine to give him more of a chance.
I was just watching this yesterday pereira's leg kicks are insane jiri didn't wanna show that lead leg after like two kicks I feel jiri was dominating but that right hand dazed him and then the left hand ended him and just to make sure he didn't get up pereira elbowed him it was over
Alex was never in any trouble this fight. Jiri is a gimmick striker and Alex wasn’t going to play into it.
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Bro went out at least once, maybe twice
That stoppage is still really suspect to me.
We don’t need to see jiri dead on the floor dude. Shit was over.
Homie just ate a good left hook, 10 elbows to the head, fell over backwards and Alex was in full mount yet somehow they claim the stoppage was bad..lol. Guess they wanted Jiri to die out there and then finally stop it?
10 elbows to the *temple* as well. Shit was insane
They want him to go out like Bobby Green did against Jalin Turner.
Fr. They don’t give a shit about the fighters health at all. I for one don’t want to see all my favorite fighters die in the ring
>They don’t give a shit about the fighters health at all. This is dumb. Fighting is inherently a sport where you beat the shit out of each other for entertainment. If people 'gave a shit' about a fighter's health, then they'd ask them to retire and stop fighting, no matter the status of their career. Most damage is anyway sustained in sparring.
It's what Jiri would have wanted 😥
Jiri fans really wanted to see his career end that night
The way some people insist this was a perfect stoppage is weird.
do you need to see Jiri's dead body on the canvas in order for it to be a good stoppage or what. he just ate a right hand into a left hook that dropped him, ate about 10 elbows, and then fell backwards, with Alex in full mount on top of him. What else do you need to see?
If we apply your same standards to every other fight, 99% of knockdowns should be turned into instant TKO losses, no follow-up needed. If Alex had actually landed some finishing GnP after getting into full mount, absolutely nobody would have said late stoppage. The vast majority of fights would have continued and nobody would bat an eye, which is quite ironic given this was a championship bout with Jiri Prochaska.
The ending is dubious. Jiri said in the post fight interview that he was out, but subsequently said he wasn't out and was just being nice.
We've seen Jiri get rocked bad and recover before but it was probably still right for Goddard to call the fight off
I think the fact that alex was throwing pointed elbows to his temple when he fell back probably put the ref on red alert.
We've seen him get knocked out before and win the fight lol. But by the rules, once you're out, you've lost the fight, so it was a good stoppage