It was Khamzat's fault the fight was boring, and that's OK if he only cares about winning

[wisdom blows]

exactly, Chimaev threw 500 ground strikes and didn't do any damage...

Hard to do damage when your opponent hugs you from bottom and hides his face. DDP made zero attempt to escape, scramble, anything. All we heard for months is how strong he is, Khamzat can’t hold him down etc. Khamzat took his back, mounted him, crucifixed him, fished for chokes, did whatever he wanted but it takes two to fight.

 

[sdpdude9]

The issue is people attack chimaev, or they attack dricus lol. We just need to all accept that they laid an egg together. Their approaches, skillset, and tactics combined to give us a 25 minute control fest.

I think people just need to accept that sometimes it’s just going to be that way. MMA remains one of the most exciting sports out there. There always has been and always will be some less than stellar contests. It’s not unique to mma.

For example, I’ll use hockey as I watch a lot of that as well. It’s an entertaining sport overall. But are some games boring? Yes. Do teams use safe and risk averse tactics to win sometimes? Yes. Does it ruin hockey? No.

 

[mkess101]

Every time he gave his back, Khamzat was punching his face and grabbing at his neck. You guys even watch the fight or just get mad the whole time?

Mark is a moron that thinks a waist lock from behind with no hooks in is the same as having someone's back.

 

[Young Calf Kick]

Khamzat was extremely exiting for 14 straight fights and now had the most important fight of his life, the only one where it wasn’t extremely exiting.

Y’all entitled loudmouth casuals saw back-to-back spinning elbow finishes and are still crying about a grappling heavy fight. Bunch of whiny bitches. Shut the fuck up already.

 

[Cat Biscuits]

Minus the factually incorrect statements, well said lol 500 strikes = lay and pray.

Pretty sure sherdog literally have no clue what the term lay and pray means anymore.

The only lay and pray was done by DDP. Laying on his back and praying he doesn't get finished.

No it wasn't lay n pray, but it wasn't brutalization. He was dominant at holding position, but not so much with causing damage. He valued keeping position more than he valued ending the fight.

How many of those strikes had the ability to end the fight or produce significant damage?

Death by a thousand cuts, right? Looks like Khamzat was a bit short on his cuts if he planned on stopping DDP.


If you want to be impressed by raw stats and numbers without being able to discern how to score significant damage, then whatever. It's your ignorance.

But Khamzat did not produce a huge amount of visible damage on DDP. No large cuts, swelling, bruising, etc. The majority of the strikes landed were not powerful. DDP did not look like he was in a war.

Yeah, I know they don't feel good. But for the top tier UFC fighter, that shit isn't going to phase them.

Strikes from the crucifix position had a 0.1% chance of ending the fight. They were used to allow Khamzat to keep his position by looking busy, but not doing any substantial damage.

I don't blame Khamzat for wanting to win. It was a championship fight. But I won't pretend it was an exciting fight and that Khamzat fought to his full potential.

Sean Strickland landed more sig strikes against DDP in both of their fights and did way more damage.

37 sig strikes out of a total 529 strikes... Only 7% of total strikes were significant strikes.

 

[Poirierfan]

I keep seeing this massive cognitive dissonance on these forums from Khamzat fans, so I want to make this point crystal clear:

1) Khamzat is perfectly within his rights in the current rules to lay and pray to a boring win, if DDP can't stop him.
2) However, it is still his fault the fight was boring, because he completely controlled the fight and refused to take risks to finish it.

This is a CLASSIC example of "You are free to make whatever choices you want, but you are not free from the consequences of your actions." Anyone that thinks otherwise is suffering from cognitive dissonance, because they don't want the boring fight to be Khamzat's fault.

If Khamzat's gonna "fight" like last Saturday and play it ultra safe, I don't want to ever watch that dude again. I'll do something more entertaining with my time, like watch the sunset or jerk off, or do both simultaneously.

 

[Poirierfan]

Hard to do damage when your opponent hugs you from bottom and hides his face. DDP made zero attempt to escape, scramble, anything. All we heard for months is how strong he is, Khamzat can’t hold him down etc. Khamzat took his back, mounted him, crucifixed him, fished for chokes, did whatever he wanted but it takes two to fight.

That's not what happen, you doofus. Khamzat refused to create any space to do damage. The guy refused to take any chances during the 22 minutes he had control for fear that he'd lose that control. He could've easily posted up to create space in multiple positions, he didn't do so on purpose. For example, go watch other fights when someone had crucifix. i'll let you try and figure out how they got the space needed to get a little leverage from crucifix.

 

[Alpha_T83]

If Khamzat's gonna "fight" like last Saturday and play it ultra safe, I don't want to ever watch that dude again. I'll do something more entertaining with my time, like watch the sunset or jerk off, or do both simultaneously.

Call me a casual but i feel the same way. I'm just not interested in watching guys like Mokaev and Khamzat "impressively control" people. I'm sure it's impressive for a guy like Whittaker to watch that, but for the majority of MMA fans and even some fighters, it's just boring.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Khamzat was extremely exiting for 14 straight fights and now had the most important fight of his life, the only one where it wasn’t extremely exiting.

Y’all entitled loudmouth casuals saw back-to-back spinning elbow finishes and are still crying about a grappling heavy fight. Bunch of whiny bitches. Shut the fuck up already.

Again, it's the outside the octagon stuff that is causing this deserved backlash against Khamzat. He's had 3 pullouts in his last 4 fights, and then he talked a big game saying "I don't care about anything, I'm gonna kill this guy", and proceeds to care very much about fighting safe and did almost the opposite of "kill this guy".

If Khamzat would just be reliable, fight more than once a year, and not talk smack if he doesn't plan on backing it up, then I guarantee you he would get a lot less backlash.

 

[theincognito]

It was the fault of both.

DDP's because he had zero answers.

Chimaev's because he had an outmatched opponent in dominant positions and played patty cake instead of dropping some serious GNP or setting up subs.

 

[Poirierfan]

Call me a casual but i feel the same way. I'm just not interested in watching guys like Mokaev and Khamzat "impressively control" people. I'm sure it's impressive for a guy like Whittaker to watch that, but for the majority of MMA fans and even some fighters, it's just boring.

Guys like Whitaker and MM promoting this type of shit is bad for the sport imo. The majority don't want to watch it, it's the opposite of entertainment.

 

[pātrēärkē]

The difference between this fight and Volk / Islam 1 not being "boring" is because Volk posed a skillset and unwillingness to just lay on his back doing fuck all. Imagine that.

So if Volk was unable to do that, then the fight would have been boring right?

Your argument is basically saying Islam is boring, but Volk made it more interesting. So then the complaints are right, Khamzat made it boring. He made no attempts to take advantage of dominant positions. He was point fighting, that's boring. To blame DDP for that is just silly because as soon as DDP was able to get in to an advantageous position he went for finishes. Something Khamzat with 23 minutes of control time and 1000 strikes didn't

 

[mkess101]

I've never said Dricus wasn't playing defence.

I'm pointing out when you're in a crucifix multiple times and the guy on top doesn't land a single significant strike or kimura while you're completely defenceless that's obviously on their lack of intensity though. There's a reason why those positions are usually far more deadly and it's because the guy on top actually takes advantage of it.

None of you guys will admit that the fight would've been scored exactly the same if Khamzat just had full guard the entire time because Khamzat showed zero intensity or power behind anything he did except his TD shots. Dricus can play defence and score zero points all he wants, but that doesn't mean Khamzat gets more for his pitter patter baby shots no matter where he had Dricus.

You're completely missing the point. The guy who's easily winning shouldn't be expected to make adjustments. In fact, it would be extremely stupid for him to do so. The guy who's getting ragdolled has to figure out a way to change how the fight is going.

Like a football team that hands the ball off every play and gains 5 yards..."this is boring, they need to mix in some long passes to make it more exciting!" No, the defense needs to change THEIR strategy to FORCE the offense to change theirs. Bring a bunch of guys up to the line of scrimmage to take the run away and force them to pass. Otherwise the team will keep running their "boring" handoff and march down the field time after time for an easy win. Which is what Khamzat did. And DDP never forced him to alter a damn thing.

 

[markg171]

So if Volk was unable to do that, then the fight would have been boring right?

You're argument is basically saying Islam is boring, but Volk made it more interesting. So then the complaints are right, Khamzat made it boring. He made no attempts to take advantage of dominant positions. He was point fighting, that's boring. To blame DDP for that is just silly because as soon as DDP was able to get in to an advantageous position he went for finishes. Something Khamzat with 23 minutes of control time and 1000 strikes didn't

People are like "DDP was just happy to survive"

Survive what? Khamzat wasn't threatening anything.

 

[mkess101]

So if Volk was unable to do that, then the fight would have been boring right?

You're argument is basically saying Islam is boring, but Volk made it more interesting. So then the complaints are right, Khamzat made it boring. He made no attempts to take advantage of dominant positions. He was point fighting, that's boring. To blame DDP for that is just silly because as soon as DDP was able to get in to an advantageous position he went for finishes. Something Khamzat with 23 minutes of control time and 1000 strikes didn't

Or...DDP takes more chances during the fight so that literally his only chance to do anything doesn't come with 30 seconds to go in a 25 minute fight.

 

[markg171]

You're completely missing the point. The guy who's easily winning shouldn't be expected to make adjustments. In fact, it would be extremely stupid for him to do so. The guy who's getting ragdolled has to figure out a way to change how the fight is going.

Like a football team that hands the ball off every play and gains 5 yards..."this is boring, they need to mix in some long passes to make it more exciting!" No, the defense needs to change THEIR strategy to FORCE the offense to change theirs. Bring a bunch of guys up to the line of scrimmage to take the run away and force them to pass. Otherwise the team will keep running their "boring" handoff and march down the field time after time for an easy win. Which is what Khamzat did. And DDP never forced him to alter a damn thing.

Nice strawman. Nobody's disputing Khamzat can win any way he feels like doing so.

We're pointing out it's boring.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Or...DDP takes more chances during the fight so that literally his only chance to do anything doesn't come with 30 seconds to go in a 25 minute fight.

DDP played it correctly. He did the smart thing. Last the round give yourself a chance at the start of the next round. Dont get sloppy and caught in a random sub. Forget about trying to reverse and win a round. DDP has never been the type of fighter who cares about winning rounds. He's trying to finish. So even if he lost four 10-8 rounds, he still had a chance to finish in the 5th. Each round starts standing.


Now if DDP was under HEAVY fire and was worried the fight would be stopped, He might be forced to have to scramble out inorder to not get TKO'd. But he wasn't. So DDP made the intelligent decision. BOTH fighters made the intelligent decision.

 

[Oddmonster]

No...

MMA is a sport... not entertainment..

Sports can be entertaining ..its not a necessity though

it's not entertainment...theres WWE for that..


I keep seeing this argument... about the winning fighter should of done more...why exactly should the winning fighter have to do more... he's already winning...

When a hockey teams up 3-0... Are they shitting the bed cuz they didnt win 10-0 ...

No .. there not ..its on the other team (fighter) to change the course of the game...

Also i dont see people saying these things when strikers jab and push kick/low kick there way to victory while using superior foot work and distance management .. should we make them have to grapple then? .. but but but its unfair he just jabbed and didn't let me grapple him...

Its a slippery slope when you start taking rules out because of viewership .. it often ruins sports ..

MMA is the purest form of combat we have...i personally train in martial arts and dont want to see it bastardized because people cant take the time to understand what they are watching...

UFC has always been entertainment first. That is just a fact that has been proven many times.

To you other comments -

Most sports has rules in place to make it less boring - Example is Basketball where you can only possess the ball for a limited amount of time before you must pass, shoot, or dribble. These time restrictions are crucial for maintaining a fast-paced game and preventing stalling tactics.
And in hockey stalling is penalized with a minor penalty (2 minutes in the box).

So if a hockey team is up by 3-0, they can't just stall - they have to play the game. In the UFC, if you are up on points, you can, as we saw, stall for 20 minutes.

And yes, people complain about boring fights when it is striking matches too. Look how much flack Strickland is taking for his jabbing style.

Also - There are already rules in place, both to make it less boring(breaking up stalemates/standing people up f.ex), and to make it safer. It is already "Bastardized".

I will end this by saying that I am not advocating for any specific changes to the rules, I just had to answer you because you are wrong on almost every point you made i.m.o.

 

[chinarice]

So if Volk was unable to do that, then the fight would have been boring right?

You're argument is basically saying Islam is boring, but Volk made it more interesting. So then the complaints are right, Khamzat made it boring. He made no attempts to take advantage of dominant positions. He was point fighting, that's boring. To blame DDP for that is just silly because as soon as DDP was able to get in to an advantageous position he went for finishes. Something Khamzat with 23 minutes of control time and 1000 strikes didn't

DDP literally admitted he could have got out of being on his back but chose not to lol you guys just don't care that he admitted he could have done more and chose not to. I am not absolving Khamzat but DDP also let it happen.

 

[Lee Danger]

Hard to do damage when your opponent hugs you from bottom and hides his face.

irrelevant, he was in control and he was the one in the position to choose how to attack.
Dricus minimize the damage, i guess it's his fault too...