Throwback Hot Take: Belal vs. Leon II was entertaining

[EndlessCritic]

Leon is not an elite fighter. He's above average, but definitely not elite.

Going into the fight UFC had him ranked top 5 p4p. They still have him 7 p4p -- above Volkanovski, Aspinall, Holloway, Adesanya, and Oliveira.

I personally think having him top 10 p4p after that performance is insane, but going into the fight a top 5 p4p ranking was a defensible position.

 

[blaseblase]

It was better than either of Leon's last two fights due to Belal bringing it to him and preventing him from fighting safe.

 

[moosaev]

I find this disrespectful to Khabib, who had the best GnP game in UFC history by far.

Khabib would beat the living daylights of his opponents on the ground and would always be looking for submissions.

Belal was throwing strikes but he's a bit pillow fisted and they weren't doing a ton of damage.

Khabib would never have lost position the way Belal repeatedly did lol. Khabib's level of control and domination was something else.

 

[JustBleed69]

It was just an okay fight. Not terrible like people are acting, not great either.
6.5/10 maybe?

 

[Ares Black]

Curious to see how people would rate Belal vs. Leon II from this past weekend on a scale of a 1-10 (10 being ELECTRIFINGLY ENTERTAINING)


I'd give it a solid 7.5:
- Big time upset - absolute domination by the 36 year old underdog
- The storyline leading up to the fight
- Those takedowns by Belal were a sight to behold, he ragdolled Leon
- Leon came on late in the fight to make things a lil bit more interesting

So yeah - 7.5 for me is justified

How does everyone else rate it? (All bias and hate aside)

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[HHJ]

I enjoyed the fuck out of it

 

[TempleoftheDog]

I’m always entertained when certain fights go the opposite of what you expected. Where I’m pretty sure I know who wins, and how.

Like seeing Max completely dominate Justin. I was giggling, and loving it. Then the crazy ending of course.

Strickland knocking down, and dominating Izzy. I was outright laughing during most of that fight. Except for round 2.

Then there are the fights going one way. And suddenly they change.

Usman vs Edwards ll
Shevchenko vs Alexa

And watching how this fight was going, and that Belal won that fight. The score isn’t really important to me. 48-47, or 49-46. As long as the judges got it right.

But again, it’s fights like this that can be really entertaining for me personally. Mostly because it’s not what I expected to see.

8/10

 

[GrantB13]

I personally didn't find it that boring. Not near as crappy as Dana will make it seem.

 

[arcadeperfect]

It surprisingly was considering the track record of both guys, though it was Belal that actually brought the entertainment. I thought it was hilarious that Belal was slamming Leon like a prime Rampage.

 

[Spath]

Belal dominated an elite champion and made it look easy. It was a great performance.

It's not Belal's fault that Edwards couldn't hurt him.

Dominated him for a 48-47 UD and made it look so easy he was the only one leaking like a faucet. Truly a spectacular performance!

I’d rate it a 5 for a big main event fight. There was a few of punches that seemed to have a real effect. No close submissions, no one really was close to finishing at any point. Belal’s slam was good and dangerous. Leon landed a nice elbow that cut Belal open, but too little too late.

 

[UFConFOX]

4

Belal looked monkey-strong throwing Leon around. But no killer instinct to finish in this Championship Fight, was disappointing. Big finish would elevate his brand and give fans something to look forward to in future fights.

Leon waited all fight to thrash on Belal and did the most damage, even with getting dropped on his head.

Very fair post which is why I'm responding. You're making the same damage argument I've heard since Saturday and no doubt the visual for the last 45 seconds of the fight did favor Leon.

What do you think the MRI on Leon's neck will show? His C1-C7?

Unless that elbow came w/ a really nasty broken nose I'd rather take the elbow 100/100 than take the slam and have to fight for 18 more minutes like I was fine.

Too, Leon may indeed be fine and his scans may reveal nothing's wrong but it's pretty wild to see veteran MMA fans completely neglect the potential damage it caused simply b/c there was no cut or blood.

On topic: I think a few of the rounds were 7/10. Perhaps Round 5 w/ high stakes and late momentum turn was 8/10 but the middle of that round was tame. Overall 6/10. Even 1 serious submission threat would make it a 7. Oh well.

 

[Slapjit]

I liked it fam but him shoulda finish Sleepy Ed 6ixdog likes dat haffi earn di clout most of di mandem only watch di highlight reelz

Man prolly coulda try harder fi secure di sub or work pon uppin his Power Kube score in trainin' rip dem shots like my yute Big Mac him 29-0 29ko yuh zeeit Man's potential deh deh just need fi unleash it imho Belal fam lmk if u wan fi train wif di Mac man him link up wif u yuh alrdy got di beebz style down tayum fi new saga

 

[Shamrockftw]

7

 

[smalliebiggs]

8 because Belal won. 6 if i didn't have a dog in this fight