Media Matt Serra calling out MMA journo and DDP's coach on their talking

[TheNewGame]

So where is all the praise for Jailton Almeida's performance against Derrick Lewis? The stats are almost identical. Almeida had 21 minutes of control time just like Khamzat. 58 combined significant strikes across 5 rounds compared to only 50 for Khamzat/DDP. Biggest difference is Almeida had 4 sub attempts to Khamzat's 1. Yet no one talks about that fight. No one is claiming Almeida is the best wrestler in history.

True, but If Jailton does that to Aspinall for the belt, I'm sure more people will be talking about him.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

This is a bad mischaracterization of what Luke said. He never said anything about not being a true fan if you enjoyed the fight. He has been very clear that if you enjoyed that sort of thing, that's ok. But for other fighters and pundits to say that "you have to like it or you're a casual" is complete and utter bullshit. Luke pointed out that hamsa chose to maintain chest contact and play it safe rather than try to finish the fight via gn'p or submissions. Where's the lie?

UFC Unfiltered | Anthony Hernandez & Caio Borralho Talk Middleweight Pecking Order | UFC

Matt Serra and Jim Norton welcome top middleweight contenders Anthony Hernandez and Caio Borralho to discuss the 185-pound title picture after Khamzat Chimaev’s win.

www.ufc.com

In the latest episode of UFC Unfiltered, Matt Serra seemed to get a bit riled up, having to talk about a dominant title fight win not only getting praise:

"I had to see some journalist shitting on Khamzat, like 'oh you're not a true fan if you like that performance' where he was opinionated. I think it was
Luke Thomas, actually, who was saying that shit. The guy with the beard. I don't know what the fuck he's talking about?! No listen, it's not like
Khamzat's not trying to finish. He has him in a crucifix and just not landing perfect shots. But definitely beating him up. I mean, what do you want
him to do? Just get off him to take more chances instead? Yeah, I know this is entertainment but that's not his job. His job is to win and beat him up,
that's what he was doing! So why should he take more chances in there, cause it's not like he's just holding him? And if you're watching as a fan
you're like 'is he getting out of this? Could he get out of this or stop him next round?' Not 'Oh, this is boring!' And that guy Thomas was going on
about that. Like, dude what are you talking about?!"

After going through how the title fight went, and what Dricus du Plessis didn't look to have trained for, together with MW contender Caio Borralho,
Matt Serra chimed in with how his coach was pointing at external reasons for losing:

“It’s never a good point when Dricus’ coach starts doing interviews and saying, ‘AH, the ref should have stood him up!’ It’s like, dude *laughs* what are
you talking about? That’s what you’re saying? Get that guy away from a mic! What are you doing? Don’t say that! 'The ref, it was really the ref’s fault.'
Hey dude, you had no answer."

Caio agreed and said "you wanted him to stand them up while he's in a crucifix or what? That's just crazy."

"Yeah, that’s my point. Like, he’s really blaming the ref 'cause of their lack of action. That was the worst. That’s not a good sign, that's not a good
sign at all" Serra replied.

Morne Visser, head coach at CIT PI, admitted some flaws in their preparation. He now wants to fix Du Plessis’ wrestling before a rematch can happen:
“I’ve been asked, ‘Do you want to try on a rematch?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not!’ Obviously, we’d like to fight him very soon again, but there is no way I’ll take
the rematch with us being a little bit behind now in Russian style of wrestling.” he said and dismissed fights with other MW contenders in the mean time.

The majority of sherdoggers complaining 100 percent would have been throwing a party if DDP had done exactly that to Khamzat. Luke Thomas included. It's why I don't take the majority seriously.

Luke Thomas has recently gone to the dogs.

He has lost his marbles plus the dude is very high on himself

I usually agree with Luke on 5/7 things, give or take.

I think he's wrong on this one, I watched and get where his argument is coming from, even on Sherdog we've been over everything twice already.
The fights in the book, boring is subjective, and people are allowed to disagree.

Serra, the voice of reason as usual

I don't recall Luke saying what Matt is claiming he said.

Luke got backlash for critiquing khamzat, and luke was responding to guys like Whittaker and mighty mouse who said "you're not a real fan of MMA if you didn't appreciate that performance"

Obviously you can be a real fan of mma and not love that performance. That's what Luke's point was

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Luke Thomas has recently gone to the dogs.

He has lost his marbles plus the dude is very high on himself

The most annoying thing is how he CONSTANTLY brings up during the WHOLE long ass video comments like "Looks like I'm right again," and "all you people who disagree with me are just going to have to deal with being wrong" and shit like that. He dedicates almost the same amount of energy, if not more, patting himself on the back than he does attempting substantive arguments

 

[UFConFOX]

I don't recall Luke saying what Matt is claiming he said.

Luke got backlash for critiquing khamzat, and luke was responding to guys like Whittaker and mighty mouse who said "you're not a real fan of MMA if you didn't appreciate that performance"

Obviously you can be a real fan of mma and not love that performance. That's what Luke's point was

Nah. Luke came out w/ his comments prior to Whittaker and after MM. Luke released 3 videos over those handful of hours and days after the fight so it might seem confusing to some of you ex-post.

I think Luke got backlash b/c he acted like a fanboy, not a journo. MMAincelGuru saying it's boring is one thing, a "mainstream" journalist debasing his objectivity just looks petulant and child like.

 

[UFConFOX]

Khamzat was the one in control, and the onus to make the fight exciting and try to finish is always on the fighter with control. We've been through this before with Anderson Silva. I don't know if you were an MMA fan back then, but Silva had a couple weird fights where he trolled and toyed with Thales Leites and Demian Maia. Dana White was so disgusted he didn't want to put the belt on Silva after one of the fights, and Silva was one if his biggest PPV stars.

It was 100000% Anderson Silva's fault because he had full control and chose not to fight to finish the fight. But in this case, everyone was against Silva, so everyone called a spade a spade and agreed it was his fault.

In this case, Khamzat Chimaev has a bunch of rabid fanboys that are desperate to defend him, so people are bending over backwards to argue it's DDP's fault the fight was boring, which is just HILARIOUSLY STUPID.

Khamzat got the win. His performance was impressive. But he still chose to fight super safe for a boring win, and thus he owns the boring fight as being his fault.

KDS is real. and it's spectacular.

Here's a 20 second version of your drivel turned back at you...

It's ok that Dricus said he couldn't be held down by any MW, it's ok that Dricus said he'd get back up and keep getting back up and so on. It's ok that Dricus said he was willing to die in there.

All of that is ok. It's ok that Dricus, instead of being willing to die in there, wasn't even willing to give up his neck or back at a chance to escape. It's really ok. He's allowed to do that. But he must deal w/ the consequences after the fact.

You can't go in to a fight saying you're ready to die in there and then during the fight you're too scared to get finished so you turtle and keep your neck tucked and back flat on the mat.

And you know what? That's ok..it's ok. Dricus is allowed to not be willing to die in the Octagon. But just know that's the standard he set with his own words, blah blah blah vegetable lasagna blah blah blah......

lmfao. post about something else dude, you're sad af.

 

[DanaWhitesButler]

This.

There are so many guys in the UFC that would have finished that fight in every single round, and Khamzat said nah I'm good. Just gonna chill. Yep, 100% dominant performance. Dude was on a different level the entire fight. Looked like a black belt playing with a white belt and at no point did I ever think "Oh shit he might get the finish here."

In a lot of those hypothetical matches, DDP escapes when they recklessly go for the finish, and he goes on to win the fight. Why should Khamzat risk that? He shouldn't. He's there to win, and he did dominantly.

As an aside, I like DDP a lot. But I don't feel strongly he should be champ after seeing those holes in his game. I want him to get back to work, come back and different fighter, and dominant as a better fighter.

 

[DanaWhitesButler]

If I (somehow) got DDP in crucifix...

He is getting finished.

Meanwhile Hamfat waiting on the ref...

lmao if you got DDP in a crucifix he would escape immediately and beat the shit out of you

 

[CasualBot]

So where is all the praise for Jailton Almeida's performance against Derrick Lewis? The stats are almost identical. Almeida had 21 minutes of control time just like Khamzat. 58 combined significant strikes across 5 rounds compared to only 50 for Khamzat/DDP. Biggest difference is Almeida had 4 sub attempts to Khamzat's 1. Yet no one talks about that fight. No one is claiming Almeida is the best wrestler in history.

Sticky this to the top of the forum. Please.

 

[CasualBot]

lmao if you got DDP in a crucifix he would escape immediately and beat the shit out of you

(Somehow)



Nah, not if it got to that position.
It's over at that point.
Bait the escape and take advantage.
This is basic shit honestly.

 

[Alpha_T83]

KDS is real. and it's spectacular.

Here's a 20 second version of your drivel turned back at you...

It's ok that Dricus said he couldn't be held down by any MW, it's ok that Dricus said he'd get back up and keep getting back up and so on. It's ok that Dricus said he was willing to die in there.

All of that is ok. It's ok that Dricus, instead of being willing to die in there, wasn't even willing to give up his neck or back at a chance to escape. It's really ok. He's allowed to do that. But he must deal w/ the consequences after the fact.

You can't go in to a fight saying you're ready to die in there and then during the fight you're too scared to get finished so you turtle and keep your neck tucked and back flat on the mat.

And you know what? That's ok..it's ok. Dricus is allowed to not be willing to die in the Octagon. But just know that's the standard he set with his own words, blah blah blah vegetable lasagna blah blah blah......

lmfao. post about something else dude, you're sad af.

lol dude, you sound like a butthurt little girl. That ramble barely made any sense.

DDP definitely takes a big L here for getting dominated. No one is arguing against that. But you little Khamzat nuthugging cucks are incapable of accepting the reality that Khamzat was to blame for that fight being boring. He had the advantage. He had the control. The risk was on him to take to end the fight, not for Dricus to basically let Khamzat submit him.

Grow up child.

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

I don't recall Luke saying what Matt is claiming he said.

Luke got backlash for critiquing khamzat, and luke was responding to guys like Whittaker and mighty mouse who said "you're not a real fan of MMA if you didn't appreciate that performance"

Obviously you can be a real fan of mma and not love that performance. That's what Luke's point was

This is a bad mischaracterization of what Luke said. He never said anything about not being a true fan if you enjoyed the fight. He has been very clear that if you enjoyed that sort of thing, that's ok. But for other fighters and pundits to say that "you have to like it or you're a casual" is complete and utter bullshit. Luke pointed out that hamsa chose to maintain chest contact and play it safe rather than try to finish the fight via gn'p or submissions. Where's the lie?

I stand corrected, good catch guys.

Full disclosure, I skimmed Serra's response and had watched Luke's vid the day it dropped and haven't rewatched it since, and my reply was typed and posted all I like 2-3 mins tops.

I can see that Serras framing of Luke's take was far from accurate, so that's on me for a half assed response.

I'll say this, and after that I'll have had my fill of this topic for the time being.

Serra's defense of the performance doesn't surprise me.
It's on brand for an old head with a base in grappling, in addition to being tight with Dana, him running interference in the way that he did shows that he's more concerned with deflecting criticism more than anything.
Not great, but not a hanging offense either.

Luke's criticisms were well stated and seem to be in line with how scoring criteria reads currently.
I would probably agree with most of it, or at least I don't disagree with him to any meaningful degree that would be worth trying to go back, rewatch both the fight and his break down, just to look for something to pick out and argue against.

For the week immediately following the fight, I was interested in the debate enough to read most of the threads about it and my conclusion was that khamzat won every rd. But couldn't seem 10-8 anywhere in there.

And now I'm content to leave it at that and move on to the next one.
Ultimately, the result is in the books, and we'll probably be lucky to get an average of 2 khamzat fights a year at best. Fluffy is the only guy out of the top 5 that'd I'd root to see win the belt.
And even then it's probably a long shot.
If not him, I don't have a strong preference for any of them in any particular direction. They're all good fighters, obviously.

The main thing is I hope the division doesn't get log jammed and that these guys all get the opportunity to secure a title fight should they continue winning.

Thanks again for the correction as well

 

[octagonation]

Luke Thomas should be booted out of the MMA community the guy. He cuddles with his ego.

Oh wait they have actully kicked him out of the MMA community and he has become a freelancer nowadays. Luke Thomas has that holier then thou attitude to the point where he is the type of guy that thinks his shxt is perfume. EXTREME Holier then thou complex

 

[UFConFOX]

So where is all the praise for Jailton Almeida's performance against Derrick Lewis? The stats are almost identical. Almeida had 21 minutes of control time just like Khamzat. 58 combined significant strikes across 5 rounds compared to only 50 for Khamzat/DDP. Biggest difference is Almeida had 4 sub attempts to Khamzat's 1. Yet no one talks about that fight. No one is claiming Almeida is the best wrestler in history.

That's the biggest difference? Lewis was 2-4 over his last 6, 1-3 in his last 4.

I'd submit - by some distance - the biggest difference is the quality of opposition. Not the merit of performance. That's not even debatable frankly, but emotions get in the way of objectivity - is normalz.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

UFC Unfiltered | Anthony Hernandez & Caio Borralho Talk Middleweight Pecking Order | UFC

Matt Serra and Jim Norton welcome top middleweight contenders Anthony Hernandez and Caio Borralho to discuss the 185-pound title picture after Khamzat Chimaev’s win.

www.ufc.com

In the latest episode of UFC Unfiltered, Matt Serra seemed to get a bit riled up, having to talk about a dominant title fight win not only getting praise:

"I had to see some journalist shitting on Khamzat, like 'oh you're not a true fan if you like that performance' where he was opinionated. I think it was
Luke Thomas, actually, who was saying that shit. The guy with the beard. I don't know what the fuck he's talking about?! No listen, it's not like
Khamzat's not trying to finish. He has him in a crucifix and just not landing perfect shots. But definitely beating him up. I mean, what do you want
him to do? Just get off him to take more chances instead? Yeah, I know this is entertainment but that's not his job. His job is to win and beat him up,
that's what he was doing! So why should he take more chances in there, cause it's not like he's just holding him? And if you're watching as a fan
you're like 'is he getting out of this? Could he get out of this or stop him next round?' Not 'Oh, this is boring!' And that guy Thomas was going on
about that. Like, dude what are you talking about?!"

After going through how the title fight went, and what Dricus du Plessis didn't look to have trained for, together with MW contender Caio Borralho,
Matt Serra chimed in with how his coach was pointing at external reasons for losing:

“It’s never a good point when Dricus’ coach starts doing interviews and saying, ‘AH, the ref should have stood him up!’ It’s like, dude *laughs* what are
you talking about? That’s what you’re saying? Get that guy away from a mic! What are you doing? Don’t say that! 'The ref, it was really the ref’s fault.'
Hey dude, you had no answer."

Caio agreed and said "you wanted him to stand them up while he's in a crucifix or what? That's just crazy."

"Yeah, that’s my point. Like, he’s really blaming the ref 'cause of their lack of action. That was the worst. That’s not a good sign, that's not a good
sign at all" Serra replied.

Morne Visser, head coach at CIT PI, admitted some flaws in their preparation. He now wants to fix Du Plessis’ wrestling before a rematch can happen:
“I’ve been asked, ‘Do you want to try on a rematch?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not!’ Obviously, we’d like to fight him very soon again, but there is no way I’ll take
the rematch with us being a little bit behind now in Russian style of wrestling.” he said and dismissed fights with other MW contenders in the mean time.

Thanks for the cliffs -- I tend to agree with Serra. I don't particularly find it wrong if folks weren't entertained, but Khamzat fought a damn near perfect gameplan imo.

 

[cade187]

Luke Thomas has recently gone to the dogs.

He has lost his marbles plus the dude is very high on himself

He literally spent half the video talking about how his opinion is 100% right and cannot be wrong. Do you even know what an opinion is Luke?

 

[Ara tech]

DDP coach is a very competitve guy, that is seen but you must admit defeat and not be blind.

Blaming the referee from not making them stand up from side control or crucifix is delusion. Khamzat mauled DDP, that's it. Move on.

And if you are a great coach, you would produce ten others DDP.

 

[Brca031]

"I CUDDLE ERRYBODY BRATA"

 

[Mind Mine]

Yeah, or they're fine with a control based game and think the onus is on DDP to get free. I have no problems with that opinion. But at the same time, those people shouldn't get mad when luke points out the lack of meaningful offense from Khamzat, and they shouldn't get mad when he points out that refs do indeed have the liberty to stand guys up if they're not working towards a finish or working towards advancing position. REGARDLESS of how dominant your position is You need to be working towards finishing or advancing when on the ground or the ref can stand you up.

Fighting for the sole purpose of maintaining dominant position on the ground is wrasslin