Let's talk about Pedro Munhoz. Was he being too nice to Rivera in there?

First off great fight. Intense fight.

By the end of the second round Riveras leg was gone. 3-4 more clean calf kicks would've stopped fight. From that point though, Munhoz decided to ease off the calf kicks. Kicked to the body and head instead.

Almost as if he was like "i don't want to break this dudes calf. He's a warrior. Im winning the fight anyways and we're getting that bonus so..."

Why was he holding back with the calf kicks? Because of respect or just because kicking the shinbone hurts too much?

 

I thought that was weird too, but nevertheless, it was a great performance.

Drastic improvement from their first fight. He beat Rivera more thoroughly than Yan did. Yan only won that fight because of the knockdowns.

Munhoz should still be ranked in the top five. That bullshit Edgar loss really set him back.

 

He still landed nearly the same amount of leg kicks in the 3rd as the 2nd. Maybe his leg was fucked up as well. Who knows. Really dont think he was being too 'nice' in there.

 

Munhoz was consistent that whole fight. Maybe Jimmie's movement and offense made a slight difference but Munhoz was still going after that leg. The guy is a fucking savage.

 

Yeah Munhoz is damn good. I wouldn’t mind him fighting Font or welcoming TJ back.

Rivera is still a tough out for anyone. He had his moments last night and kept it competitive. He should get Edgar next

Edit: since he's on a rematch tour, id like to see Rivera/Moraes 2

 

munhoz is very good. He's 8 and Cody's 4, LOL. He left Cody for dead. I'd like to see him fight Aldo. I think he beats Aldo and can get back in the top 5.

 

If that's him being nice I hope he's never nice to me.

 

he took a lot of overhand counters trying it R3, i think that made him somewhat tentative to throw it,, specially considering he already had the fight on the bag, and also think he wanted to try mix it up down and up, didn't worked out but he could've KO'd Rivera with a high kick doing so

 

I was hoping for brutality in the 3rd round but meh

 

Seemed like Rivera had his timing for leg kicks by the end of the fight. He was missing with a lot of them so he stopped targeting the leg. He threw too many naked kicks with no set ups. Could also have hurt his own shin/foot. Depending on what parts of the leg/body he hit. He was targeting head/body kicks too so he could have kicked an elbow/knee or other bone during the fight.

 

Think without those calf kicks he was being beaten. They was the game changer, simply put Rivera was too tough to be finished. Great fight. Munhoz great game plan.

 

Munhoz made a mistake calling out TJ. He should have dared Cody or Font to take a rematch against him, threatening to finish them even more violently than the first time.

I'll eat my words if he actually gets the TJ fight, but we all know he won't.

 

If he stopped doing it, you have to assume there was a reason. Maybe Rivera was starting to time and counter them. He must have saw something that deterred him.

 

I do not think kicking Rivera's leg to Bolivian is being nice TS

 

Munhoz should have moved down to flyweight several years ago. Now that he's 34, that becomes more difficult. According to CSAC, he rehydrated to 151 lbs at UFC 227. If he lost about 6 lbs of fat and muscle, he would be able to cut to flyweight without issue. He could contend for the belt there. At bantamweight, that is impossible because his 65-inch reach is easily exposed against guys like Sterling and Sandhagen.