Media MMA Rematches That You Swore Would Be Different

[Deleted member 545701]

Lots of fighters improve over the years and people throw specific losses away because they believe "if they fought today, fighter X would easily win".

I think there has been two very stand out examples of this lately.

#1 - Al Iaquinta vs Kevin Lee II

The first fight was Kevin Lee's UFC debut. He was a lot skinnier back then and was very green. The first fight was pretty close actually.

This is the scorecard. So the whole mindset was, Kevin Lee won a round against Al on his debut. Now that he fought for a world title and dominated Edson Barboza, this would be much different. He really battered Barboza, maybe worse than Khabib did.

Then it came, this was going to be Kevin Lee's revenge. He was going to send Al back to the prelims and beat Al worse than Khabib did.

But, it turns out Al Iaquinta is just a bad match up for Kevin Lee. He has good wrestling, decent boxing, and 5 round cardio. I don't really consider Al a top 5 lightweight, but Kevin Lee just couldn't beat him.

#2 - Dustin Poirier vs Max Holloway II
This one was a lot different. I personally thought that this fight could go either way. Somedays I thought Poirier would destroy Max, and other days I thought Max would get the win. Either way, a majority of the MMA fanbase believed Max had improved far too much for Poirier to beat him. He was on a 13 fight win streak and he was the featherweight champion of the world. Meanwhile Poirier had scraped together a solid streak of tough opponents, but he had the journey man vibe.

This was the young Max. It was the same reasoning that people believed Holloway would melt Conor in a rematch. This was an even greener Max than the one Conor fought. This was his UFC debut.

Max would avenge one of his losses at FW and then challenge Khabib for the title. It was all in the plan, but the result stayed the same

Dustin won 4 rounds against Holloway, proving to be Max's toughest match up so far.

What are some other examples of rematches that fans truly believed would be different?

 

[Me&MrJones]

Holloway vs Poirier 2 wasn't at the same weight class. Holloway by head clean off at 145.

 

[Reign009]

Pettis/Benson 2.

I was one of the few people picking Pettis because Bendo was on a roll.

 

[Deleted member 546119]

Lawler and Rory.

 

[Ken Fresno]

Lots of fighters improve over the years and people throw specific losses away because they believe "if they fought today, fighter X would easily win".

I think there has been two very stand out examples of this lately.

#1 - Al Iaquinta vs Kevin Lee II

The first fight was Kevin Lee's UFC debut. He was a lot skinnier back then and was very green. The first fight was pretty close actually.

This is the scorecard. So the whole mindset was, Kevin Lee won a round against Al on his debut. Now that he fought for a world title and dominated Edson Barboza, this would be much different. He really battered Barboza, maybe worse than Khabib did.

Then it came, this was going to be Kevin Lee's revenge. He was going to send Al back to the prelims and beat Al worse than Khabib did.

But, it turns out Al Iaquinta is just a bad match up for Kevin Lee. He has good wrestling, decent boxing, and 5 round cardio. I don't really consider Al a top 5 lightweight, but Kevin Lee just couldn't beat him.

#2 - Dustin Poirier vs Max Holloway II
This one was a lot different. I personally thought that this fight could go either way. Somedays I thought Poirier would destroy Max, and other days I thought Max would get the win. Either way, a majority of the MMA fanbase believed Max had improved far too much for Poirier to beat him. He was on a 13 fight win streak and he was the featherweight champion of the world. Meanwhile Poirier had scraped together a solid streak of tough opponents, but he had the journey man vibe.

This was the young Max. It was the same reasoning that people believed Holloway would melt Conor in a rematch. This was an even greener Max than the one Conor fought. This was his UFC debut.

Max would avenge one of his losses at FW and then challenge Khabib for the title. It was all in the plan, but the result stayed the same

Dustin won 4 rounds against Holloway, proving to be Max's toughest match up so far.

What are some other examples of rematches that fans truly believed would be different?

I could have sworn Shamrock was gonna land a strike in one of them rematches.

 

[Lateralus]

I remember a lot of people thinking Chuck was gonna reap his revenge on Rampage.
(I was on Team Rampage for that one)

 

[Vaanderdecken]

Cain vs Santos III.

I was certain Santos would have walked away from their 2nd fight with a better gameplan. But he hadn't made a single change. The whole fight he was just getting mauled against the cage. I can understand when you're up against someone like Kebab or Colby, as they keep taking you down, over and over. But Dos Santos didn't make any effort to break away, despite getting trounced.

 

[Eli1015]

I knew GSP and Mcgregor would win there rematches vs Serra and Diaz

 

[UFCFantasyMVP]

Anderson VS Chris 2 comes to mind. Being the fan that called Anderson the GOAT, I was so disappointed when Anderson $hit the bed in losing his title. Then, as he was gaining confidence in the rematch, I was gaining confidence in him, hoping I could believe in him again... Then I was like, Oh snapples! Never have I been more disappointed in MMA, or any combative athlete, for that matter. He's never been the same. Heck, I was even supportive of him boxing Roy Jones, 'cause there were rumors about will from both sides, but now, I've lost all confidence in Anderson. Not because of time, but because of his lost PRIMED consciousness, which may have ruined him forever. For all I know, if he took Weidman seriously, 44 year old Anderson would still be dominating the division. (Because there probably wouldn't have been a rematch, which could be another explanation for his deterioration).

 

[0verlord]

No one with a brain thought Max was gonna win the second time around or was LW material at all, except for after-fight accounts created on the Sunday following his Ortega win.

 

[Ian]

I thought Maynard would be able to finish Frankie in their 3rd fight.

 

[FrontNakedChoke]

DC vs Stipe 2

I was right

 

[Just Sneeze]

I thought that Machida would figure out how to do better against Shogun. He was still undefeated and hadn't really been rocked before. Then Shogun knocked him out in Rd 1.

 

[Portland8242]

All I remember is LMAO'ING @ people who thought Gus would have been any sort of problem for Jones in the rematch.

Was clear as day Jones just had a shitty night and a shitty gameplan in the 1st fight and still got the W.

 

[TStoner]

Hendo v Shogun II

The first fight was a back and forth war that was razor thin. With hendo aging so much, I thought for sure Rua would take it, and easily. Not to mention Hendo coming off a 3 fight losing streak, and his first ever KO loss after a legendary career and chin.

Then the H-bomb landed, as it tends to, and shoguns nose was decimated.

Not as fun as the first fight, but still awesome.

 

[supnmunm]

I thought Anderson would stop clowning and destroy Weidman with ease

 

[180bysummer]

Bit of an odd one, but I thought Brunson was going to starch Jacare.

 

[Where you at Georges?]

It was glorious too see one of my favorites Frank Mir submit Nogueira. Alot of pride fanboys tilted

 

[ferrisjso]

MM v both Joe B and Dodson. I truly believed MM was the champ through luck all the way until the second Dodson fight.

 

[magicmarker]

A lot of people thought Yoel would win the rematch against Rob.