Fights that were closer than people think?

[FightingCageside]

The general perception on Cruz vs Garbrandt seems to be this really on sided, performance of a lifetime type fight but watching it back it is actually extremely close. Cody definitely gets 2 rounds due to knockdowns but the other 3 could pretty much go either way.

Maybe because Cody's performance was so unexpected and different from all of his other fights but this seems to be one that the legend of is quite different than when you watch it back.

Any other fights that come to mind that were much closer than seems to be generally perceived?

 

[Johnny_Knuckles]

Moreno v KKF 2

 

[Izzysexboyfriend]

Askren/Masvidal

 

[kingghidrah]

Fedor vs. Timmy. He had his moments.

 

[kingghidrah]

Askren/Masvidal

Damn, you beat me to the punch on that theme.

 

[mb23100]

Askren/Masvidal

I still say Masvidal tapped

 

[mirko>anyone]

Aldo vs Moraes

I dont see it as an obvious robbery, but i have no problem with anyone thinking Aldo edged it.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

Tito vs Wanderlei..

 

[LindyBrah]

Cormier vs Stipe 3

Yan vs Jimmie Rivera / Yan vs John Dodson

Weidman vs Jacare

 

[cereal gan]

pereira adesanya

 

[sdpdude9]

Damn, OP took my go to. Garbrandt/Cruz was not the one sided blowout people remember and was reasonably competitive for a majority of it.

Another one I’ve seen several times is Colby/RDA being one sided for Colby. RDA was in that fight the whole time and several even thought he won.

 

[Izzysexboyfriend]

pereira adesanya

It was close only because Alex took off a couple rounds to save some gas

 

[Ares Black]

Bisping-Hamill

 

[Izzysexboyfriend]

Colby/Usman 1&2

 

[Ares Black]

It was close only because Alex took off a couple rounds to save some gas

Lol. No.

It was close because Adesanya is a significantly better striker.

 

[Izzysexboyfriend]

Lol. No.

It was close because Adesanya is a significantly better striker.

Good troll. But Alex is clearly the superior striker, he’s knocked out Izzy twice. Even Izzy was hurt by his leg kicks. Alex is 2-0 in kickboxing and 1-0 in mma. Izzy panic wrestled for a reason, if he was better he wouldn’t have done that.

Alex wasn’t active for the 3rd and 4th round. He was obviously saving energy which is why he was able to KO Izzy in the 5th

 

[pick999]

robert izzy 2 i thought robert won a sd

 

[cereal gan]

It was close only because Alex took off a couple rounds to save some gas

i said that cause there are some salty idiots crying "izzy was dominating entire fight"
it was close

 

[Axe720]

Machida vs. Shogun 1. We'd barely ever seen Machida get touched, let alone drop rounds, so people assume it was a robbery when it was super close.

 

[Goutfather]

The general perception on Cruz vs Garbrandt seems to be this really on sided, performance of a lifetime type fight but watching it back it is actually extremely close. Cody definitely gets 2 rounds due to knockdowns but the other 3 could pretty much go either way.

Maybe because Cody's performance was so unexpected and different from all of his other fights but this seems to be one that the legend of is quite different than when you watch it back.

Any other fights that come to mind that were much closer than seems to be generally perceived?

it was closer than a lot of people seem to think, but it still wasn’t that close. “competitive” is right word imo. i don’t think you could really justify giving it to cruz. and to be fair, cruz did very well. cody had a phenomenal performance though—one of the best ever, certainly the best of his career.