Angela Lee/Mei Yamaguchi: what did you think?

[snapster]

Ok, so I thought this was an exciting fight for sure. It had it all; it went back and forth, both ladies showed a hell of a lot of heart, but...
I have to wonder what would happen if someone like Angela faced Joanna, or some of the top UFC ladies. I know they're in different weight classes, but nonetheless, I just get the impression that Joanna would kick her ass. I love the way Angela makes exciting fights, because she is constantly trying stuff. But I just hav to wonder if that Lee/Yamaguchi fight was somewhat made exciting because both of them have some deficiencies in their ground games that allow some of those submission attempts to get as far as they did.
Angela is only 19. She definitely has a great future ahead. Her ground game is creative. But currently her standup needs a lot of work. She's tall for her weight, and she needs to learn how to use her range much more. But I just think that if she were in the UFC now, she might get beaten up.

 

[Asurah]

You are comparing someone in the prime of their MMA career and had a highly successful Muay Thai career preceding that to someone who is 19 and less than 2 years into her career.

I think there is little doubt that Joanna would win right now, Angela is still very early in her career and has a lot of developing left to do

 

[leto1776]

Angela fights at 115 lbs, they just call it atom weight in One Championship.

She just fought someone who actually fought so at atom weight, and had a great back and forth battle that she won. She's the true definition of a prospect. I'd say she has more upside than the likes of PVZ and Sage Northcutt.

Frankly,mi never buy into the whole, "how far can she go? She's not beating champion X, that's for sure." Line of reasoning, unless they're a top 5 fighter. Compare fighters to their contemporaries who have similar records, or around their rankings.

Angela definitely needs to continue working on her standup, which is very basic. Not sure who evolve has for that, but I think they have some legit MT instructors.

The biggest challenge for Angela will be finding her credible opponents. ONE isn't exactly a hot bed of talent in any division, let alone their lone female division. She and her brother are contracted to ONE/Evolve, but she'll have to eventually look elsewhere is she's serious about being a great fighter, which she does seem to be.

 

[Maxtheripper13]

Angela fights at 115 lbs, they just call it atom weight in One Championship.

She just fought someone who actually fought so at atom weight, and had a great back and forth battle that she won. She's the true definition of a prospect. I'd say she has more upside than the likes of PVZ and Sage Northcutt.

Frankly,mi never buy into the whole, "how far can she go? She's not beating champion X, that's for sure." Line of reasoning, unless they're a top 5 fighter. Compare fighters to their contemporaries who have similar records, or around their rankings.

Angela definitely needs to continue working on her standup, which is very basic. Not sure who evolve has for that, but I think they have some legit MT instructors.

The biggest challenge for Angela will be finding her credible opponents. ONE isn't exactly a hot bed of talent in any division, let alone their lone female division. She and her brother are contracted to ONE/Evolve, but she'll have to eventually look elsewhere is she's serious about being a great fighter, which she does seem to be.

One FC has the new weight cut rules.That division is a natural 115 without a significant weightcut. The fighters would be your usual atomweight and cut to 105.

How much do you think Joanna cuts and what division she would be in to compare. It's kind of like Joanna moving up to 135 in the UFC.

For example Roger Gracies title win was actually at 220, so technically heavyweight. It's quite intersting what they are doing and might change things up quite a bit.

 

[leto1776]

The names for their new weight classes is stupid. It's so the current champions could keep their titles.

Their new weigh in system leaves a lot to be desired, as nothing is made public. I like it in theory, but it's gonna need a lot of tweaks, and transparency would go a long way. There are already rumors that Angela never made the contracted weight.

WRT Yamaguchi vs Lee, Yamaguchi carries her weight lower, but even taking the height difference into account, Lee was still a visibly larger fighter all around.

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

The names for their new weight classes is stupid. It's so the current champions could keep their titles.

Their new weigh in system leaves a lot to be desired, as nothing is made public. I like it in theory, but it's gonna need a lot of tweaks, and transparency would go a long way. There are already rumors that Angela never made the contracted weight.

WRT Yamaguchi vs Lee, Yamaguchi carries her weight lower, but even taking the height difference into account, Lee was still a visibly larger fighter all around.

Weigh in results are on their website.

Lee is larger than yamaguchi but she started fighting at 105lbs last yr (cutting weight) and now fights at 115lbs (cuttig next to no weight as per the new restrictions).
It's very very different from Joanna who cuts a lot of weight to fight at 115lbs...she looks like death at weigh ins.

Personally I think that the way they've handled the new rules is fine...most ONE fans didn't even notice anything had changed. It's only annoying for people who rank and compare fighters globally like OP is doing.

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

As for Angela herself, she needs to improve her BJJ technique. I'm no master but she was making plenty of mistakes, that along with mei being very difficukt to finish led to her not being able to get the sub.

Despite almost getting KOd, I think she would've had a much easier time striking with mei due to the height and reach advantage.
She won the fight in the end due to her superior cardio, she took over in Rd 4 and 5.
Great scrap anyway.

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

For what it's worth...mei yamaguchi was ranked #3 in the world at atomweight. So Angela is now a top 5 fighter at 19, which is impressive no matter how deep the division is.

The thing is, she's a normal sized Asian woman. Therefore as MMA becomes more popular, it will eventually become the most stacked womens division.

 

[Asurah]

For what it's worth...mei yamaguchi was ranked #3 in the world at atomweight. So Angela is now a top 5 fighter at 19, which is impressive no matter how deep the division is.

The thing is, she's a normal sized Asian woman. Therefore as MMA becomes more popular, it will eventually become the most stacked womens division.

Mei was top 5 at 105 (this is also a weight class that lost a lot of the previous top 5 to UFC's 115 division such as Penne, Waterson, and Ham), the fight happened at 115. Angela has never fought below 115, just because the division is called Atomweight now doesn't mean she can be ranked as a 105 Atomweight.

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

Mei was top 5 at 105 (this is also a weight class that lost a lot of the previous top 5 to UFC's 115 division such as Penne, Waterson, and Ham), the fight happened at 115. Angela has never fought below 115, just because the division is called Atomweight now doesn't mean she can be ranked as a 105 Atomweight.

Sorry my mistake, seems like Angela is one of the few fighters who continue to fight at the same limit under the dehydration ban

 

[Gil Thorp]

Sorry my mistake, seems like Angela is one of the few fighters who continue to fight at the same limit under the dehydration ban

Angela posted on her instagram that her walking weight was 125 but through dieting and training dropped her walking weight to 113.8 fully hydrated for the fight.

I put myself on a strict diet, a heavy training regime, and I was able to get my WALKING WEIGHT down to 113.8lbs! (I had no water cut and was completely hydrated when I weighed in). My walking weight is usually 125lbs and I never thought I'd be able to get down to 115, let alone 113.8!

 

[SH10151]

Amazing battle.

 

[leto1776]

Angela posted on her instagram that her walking weight was 125 but through dieting and training dropped her walking weight to 113.8 fully hydrated for the fight.

This is the pic from the quote of her you posted:


However, the pic below is from a day before the fight(weigh in day), and IMO, she shows some signs of dehydration.


So, I don't know. The jury is out.

All that having been said, she's exciting, talented, and cute. I'll definitely keep watching her fights.

 

[maestrotaku]

 

[milliniar]

In disclosed pay, sure Cyborg likely doesn't make more than disclosed pay. And we really don't know what Joanna, makes her last disclosed purse was before she won the belt, and not sure this guy would know what JJ makes.