How Yoel Romero won - Full Breakdown

[Grappler111]

Romero won the fight like the last two fights. This is not a sport but a show like wwe...all about money. Romero is simply Cuban and too old...

 

[Saku'sEar]

Grab a seat and a cup of coffee

There’s been a good amount of anger at some decisions of late (Jones vs Reyes, Felder vs Hooker). And after watching this fight (muted). I thought it was the perfect subject to analyse. (Although after some research, Lewis vs NGannou would probably be better).

Why, you ask? Because neither fighter did anything, and so breaking it down is so much easier.
This venture did however take a detour when I realised just how bad the judging criterias are, and MORE IMPORTANTLY how they are actively not followed.
So before we can correctly judge the fight, we have to figure out just what the fuck the rules are:

On November of 2018 the Nevada State Atheletic commision adopted, but did not adopt (wtf) the new Unified Rules of MMA. Further making it the NOT unified rules of MMA. confused yet? don’t worry, it gets worse. The new unified rules favors damage more than anything, although they don’t really call it that. it has a more classy name such as “effective striking”. But regardless. Nevada adopted most of these rules except the one concerning grounded opponents (yeah, that whole cluster fuck). Let’s have a look at the current Judging Criteria for Nevada (or just skip it if it’s boring):





Did you find a lot of weird stuff? me too! let’s break them down.

Well, that doesn’t sound like damage at all. Effective grappling? and it has the /. So that means effective striking and effective grappling are equal? Only one of those things cause damage. Confusing.

Oh, wait, this is interesting. So takedowns do matter. You could argue it’s the results from a takedown, but then we’re just back to effective striking (or a submission). It's not what Khabib does WITH his grappling, this scores his grappling as well as his ground and pound. Also, a horrible way of structuring a sentence. “Assessed by the successful executions and impactful results coming from a takedown.” fire this person, please, thank you.

Now this is probably the biggest gripe I have with the entire judging criteria:


If you haven’t watched MMA, you’d read this and start scoring rounds 10-7. Usman and Khabib should have scoreboards full of 10-7. They should be given out nightly. yet 10-7 are MORE rare than 10-10 which the rule books specifically points out as “RARE”.

Now, if we as MMA tourists are confused, imagine what this is doing to the 50-year-old state employee who had one crash course with Big John and got thrown into the limelight.

Here’s my theory. They’re kind of just winging it, aren’t they? I mean a lot of them know what they’re doing, and judging without replays and from one angle is hard. But it’s pretty clear a lot of them are kind of just watching a round going: “I feel that guy won this round.” and most of the time those two definitions overlap. Because the MMA criteria is pretty close to “who would you not want to be after that round.” Regardless, and enough rambling. Let’s have a look at the Adesanya vs Romero fight:


ROUND 1
Adesanya 2 Strikes
Romero 4 Strikes

The infamous start. It’s not hard to see what the game plan was: Force the counter-striker to lead. Yoel might be standing still, but Israel is just dancing around him. moving backwards even though the opponent is stationary. SMH.

Okay, Yoel is not helping his case. Israel finally advances, and Yoel Immediately retreats.

This moment right here is the problem of the entire fight boiled down into a 2 second gif:
Yoel feints, to were israel moves back. Then Yoel proceeds to do the slowest spin ever in the history of MMA. Hopefully on purpose to draw Israel in, but Israel doesn't bite. The 42 year old man is GIVING YOU HIS BACK! and you go "naw." At this point the shit show is a fact. Both fighters are to blame for this.

First actual strike. Looks like a decent calf kick.

Leg kick back. didn't connect, but I'll leave it in, because the reaction it got from Israel could fool the judges into thinking it did.

Blocked head kick, but at least we're getting somewhere.

This is the one: Israel finally loses his patience and does exactly what Yoel has been training for. the result is a solid overhand that gets a good reaction from Israel. Better not do that again.

israel goes back to working on the outside. Another leg kick. this one looks a bit more solid.

I feel like this is Yoel trying to win the round. A burst of energy, flashy. It lands while Israel's retreating. A bit of a stumble too.

Inside leg kick. Israel moves away from it, but it still looks scorable.

SCORE ROUND 1
Sal D'Amato - Yoel Romero - 10-9
Chris Lee - Yoel Romero - 10-9
Ron McCarthy - Yoel Romero - 10-9
Me - Yoel Romero - 10-9

You should find some friends, maybe even a job.

 

[Don Guille S.]

Good post TS, thanks for the work. It's hard to argue for anyone against a decisive 5 round that should have been given to Yoel. But the "you have to beat the champion" nonsense will prevail against what should be a fair contest between two athletes fighting for a prize, how much more do you have to do to "beat the champion" to actually "beat" the champion?

 

[Iron Nick]

Good post TS, thanks for the work. It's hard to argue for anyone against a decisive 5 round that should have been given to Yoel. But the "you have to beat the champion" nonsense will prevail against what should be a fair contest between two athletes fighting for a prize, how much more do you have to do to "beat the champion" to actually "beat" the champion?

Adesanya did more with leg kicks that round than Romero with his strikes, many of which did barely land.
In the following instance for example, when watching it live, it seemed like Romero connected on three strikes, whereas he only connected the third one really:

It's Izzy's round.

 

[nhbfan8080]

Grab a seat and a cup of coffee

There’s been a good amount of anger at some decisions of late (Jones vs Reyes, Felder vs Hooker). And after watching this fight (muted). I thought it was the perfect subject to analyse. (Although after some research, Lewis vs NGannou would probably be better).

.......

Thanks for this thread because I don't think I want to rewatch it again.

 

[Maori]

Striking>Grappling>Aggression/Control

Its not that confusing at all, if a winner cant be determined by striking you move down the pecking order.If a winner of the round cant be determined from the criteria the round is determined a draw.

Pretty simple if you ask me.

Purely based on your rd 5 analysis, if Rd 5 is 14-12 strikes in Yoels favour, as a judge in the moment Id probably score it a draw in terms of striking.It then comes down to grappling and then aggression/octagon control.

 

[kevinramsdell]

Ahhhh another butthurt Romero fan trying to make a case for him. I expect you Conor fans to do the same for his next fight as well.

 

[Kell Martin]

Striking>Grappling>Aggression/Control

Its not that confusing at all, if a winner cant be determined by striking you move down the pecking order.

That's incorrect. look at the rules, it's clearly defined:
Judges shall evaluate Mixed Martial Arts techniques, such as effective
striking/grappling (Plan A), effective aggressiveness (Plan B), and control of the
fighting area (Plan C).

Striking/Grappling, not Striking then Grappling.
if Plan A is equal then you move to Plan B.
In the rule book Effective Striking/Grappling is scored equal.

Ahhhh another butthurt Romero fan trying to make a case for him. I expect you Conor fans to do the same for his next fight as well.

Not a fan of Romero, nor Conor.

 

[DrunkMonkMeth]

Izzy won

 

[Ideanudge]

You spent more energy posting this thread and subsequent posts than Yoel did in his entire fucking fight. Sad for him and for you. You can't defend an indefensibly shit performance.

Irony is that Israel's performance was worse so it's level playing field bud.

 

[Maori]

That's incorrect. look at the rules, it's clearly defined:
Judges shall evaluate Mixed Martial Arts techniques, such as effective
striking/grappling (Plan A), effective aggressiveness (Plan B), and control of the
fighting area (Plan C).

Striking/Grappling, not Striking then Grappling.
if Plan A is equal then you move to Plan B.
In the rule book Effective Striking/Grappling is scored equal.


Not a fan of Romero, nor Conor.

understood, were these the rules they fought under?

even then, based on your striking analysis of 14-12 Yoel, watching live Id have to determine that a draw.

which then means were judging the round based off aggression and octagon control.

 

[ChangeIsComing]

You are spending too much time on this LOL.

Romero lost himself the fight, it was evident he had the skill to beat Israel but instead he did not push the pace enough...I understand the holding back and exploding...but he did far to much of the prior and in turn lost the fight....his corner should have been giving him better instructions.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Good post TS, thanks for the work. It's hard to argue for anyone against a decisive 5 round that should have been given to Yoel. But the "you have to beat the champion" nonsense will prevail against what should be a fair contest between two athletes fighting for a prize, how much more do you have to do to "beat the champion" to actually "beat" the champion?

It's called the Sticky Belt Advantage "SBA" and common knowledge is that the Champ gets a one to 2 rounds lead, depending on the judges.

 

[poor form]

You went through way too much trouble to point out that you disagree with the judges. But, hey it’s your time.

And I can simply point out. The judges disagreed with you. And all they did was put down a few 10s, and 9s.

 

[Clear Winner]

I wish I had as much free time as you, TS.

 

[Hirashin]

The only reason Izzy is still alive is his iron chin.
Excellent post TS.
Izzy fanbois can never make such a good thread.

 

[BlackStrap]

Grab a seat and a cup of coffee

There’s been a good amount of anger at some decisions of late (Jones vs Reyes, Felder vs Hooker). And after watching this fight (muted). I thought it was the perfect subject to analyse. (Although after some research, Lewis vs NGannou would probably be better).

Why, you ask? Because neither fighter did anything, and so breaking it down is so much easier.
This venture did however take a detour when I realised just how bad the judging criterias are, and MORE IMPORTANTLY how they are actively not followed.
So before we can correctly judge the fight, we have to figure out just what the fuck the rules are:

On November of 2018 the Nevada State Atheletic commision adopted, but did not adopt (wtf) the new Unified Rules of MMA. Further making it the NOT unified rules of MMA. confused yet? don’t worry, it gets worse. The new unified rules favors damage more than anything, although they don’t really call it that. it has a more classy name such as “effective striking”. But regardless. Nevada adopted most of these rules except the one concerning grounded opponents (yeah, that whole cluster fuck). Let’s have a look at the current Judging Criteria for Nevada (or just skip it if it’s boring):





Did you find a lot of weird stuff? me too! let’s break them down.

Well, that doesn’t sound like damage at all. Effective grappling? and it has the /. So that means effective striking and effective grappling are equal? Only one of those things cause damage. Confusing.

Oh, wait, this is interesting. So takedowns do matter. You could argue it’s the results from a takedown, but then we’re just back to effective striking (or a submission). It's not what Khabib does WITH his grappling, this scores his grappling as well as his ground and pound. Also, a horrible way of structuring a sentence. “Assessed by the successful executions and impactful results coming from a takedown.” fire this person, please, thank you.

Now this is probably the biggest gripe I have with the entire judging criteria:


If you haven’t watched MMA, you’d read this and start scoring rounds 10-7. Usman and Khabib should have scoreboards full of 10-7. They should be given out nightly. yet 10-7 are MORE rare than 10-10 which the rule books specifically points out as “RARE”.

Now, if we as MMA tourists are confused, imagine what this is doing to the 50-year-old state employee who had one crash course with Big John and got thrown into the limelight.

Here’s my theory. They’re kind of just winging it, aren’t they? I mean a lot of them know what they’re doing, and judging without replays and from one angle is hard. But it’s pretty clear a lot of them are kind of just watching a round going: “I feel that guy won this round.” and most of the time those two definitions overlap. Because the MMA criteria is pretty close to “who would you not want to be after that round.” Regardless, and enough rambling. Let’s have a look at the Adesanya vs Romero fight:


ROUND 1
Adesanya 2 Strikes
Romero 4 Strikes

The infamous start. It’s not hard to see what the game plan was: Force the counter-striker to lead. Yoel might be standing still, but Israel is just dancing around him. moving backwards even though the opponent is stationary. SMH.

Okay, Yoel is not helping his case. Israel finally advances, and Yoel Immediately retreats.

This moment right here is the problem of the entire fight boiled down into a 2 second gif:
Yoel feints, to were israel moves back. Then Yoel proceeds to do the slowest spin ever in the history of MMA. Hopefully on purpose to draw Israel in, but Israel doesn't bite. The 42 year old man is GIVING YOU HIS BACK! and you go "naw." At this point the shit show is a fact. Both fighters are to blame for this.

First actual strike. Looks like a decent calf kick.

Leg kick back. didn't connect, but I'll leave it in, because the reaction it got from Israel could fool the judges into thinking it did.

Blocked head kick, but at least we're getting somewhere.

This is the one: Israel finally loses his patience and does exactly what Yoel has been training for. the result is a solid overhand that gets a good reaction from Israel. Better not do that again.

israel goes back to working on the outside. Another leg kick. this one looks a bit more solid.

I feel like this is Yoel trying to win the round. A burst of energy, flashy. It lands while Israel's retreating. A bit of a stumble too.

Inside leg kick. Israel moves away from it, but it still looks scorable.

SCORE ROUND 1
Sal D'Amato - Yoel Romero - 10-9
Chris Lee - Yoel Romero - 10-9
Ron McCarthy - Yoel Romero - 10-9
Me - Yoel Romero - 10-9

Both of them fought like puss's, but Israel actually did a bit of superficial damage, whereas Romero did not. Israel is the champion and so he has to be defeated. Also, in real life, Israel won.

 

[Iron Nick]

The only reason Izzy is still alive is his iron chin.
Excellent post TS.
Izzy fanbois can never make such a good thread.

Izzy's chin is good, but it's not as "iron" as you think it is. Even that shot in the first round had a relatively low amount of upper body rotation in it, it was rather an arm punch, and it also landed on the temple, instead of the chin.

If you're watching slow-motions of all the (supposed) meaningful exchanges, you'll see that most of Yoel's strikes did not land as clean as one might think upon watching it live.

This is another good example for that:

Live, it seemed like Romero landed three, or at the very least two really big shots, bit it was only the last strike that connected.

 

[Russie]

Romero did a great job defending anything thrown to his head. That primarily is why Israel stuck to the leg kicks. Some choose to dismiss the leg kicks which is crazy. Some also want to discredit Israel for avoiding to engage with Romero against the cage and in other areas during the fight.

There is no fault in steering clear and picking your shots as he did. He was trying to get out with little damage and with his belt which was a success. Given what Romero has experienced you would think he would've gone full blown balls to the wall to get a convincing win. It was just the opposite almost like he was the title holder and he expected Israel to take it from him.

 

[Conor_Is_Overrated]

He should have won on the scorecards, and the 4-1 Adesanya score was a joke... but I always have that weird feeling with Romero: maybe with just a little more he might have won any of those three fights.