- Joined
- Dec 19, 2001
- Messages
- 13,352
- Reaction score
- 2,210
If you haven't watched his two fights with Magomed Magomedov hit up Youtube and check them out. The jury's still out on how great Magomed will turn out to be but he's been facing solid comp in ACB and now Bellator and looking excellent. These two had a couple of barn burners early in Yan's career that really showcased every aspect of MMA. Yan deserved to win both but there were some serious shenanigans in their first fight. Yan is a bit of a dirty fighter too.
Ishihara was a can and Son turned out to be nothing special so we'll consider them welcome to the UFC HL reel fights.
Douglas Silva was a big win over an incredibly durable guy who had just beaten Chito and had a huge size advantage over him. The way he broke him down so badly over the course of two rounds was impressive as hell.
Dodson... is frustratingly inconsistent but dangerous. He "beat" Dillasnake, gave Mighty Mouse his toughest fights in the UFC, and at one point may well have been the fastest fighter in the UFC. That isn't the version of Dodson Yan beat mind you, and the fight wasn't as pretty or dominant as I would have liked it to be, but again Yan clearly won.
Jimmie Rivera has been a fringe Top 5 fighter for the past 3 years. He'll never be the champ because he doesn't quite have what it takes to be the best but he's a fantastic litmus test as to whether a fighter has greatness in him. Yan won a fun fight clearly.
Faber was coming off a stoppage of Ricky Simon, a very good all around BW who doesn't get the amount of press he deserves cuz BW is just so damn deep. Faber was 40 years old but had plenty left in the tank and Yan whooped him.
Aldo had zero wins at BW, that can't be denied. Regardless, he's the second greatest FW of all-time, a living legend, and deserved to win against Moraes, IMO (close fight). He showed he still had a lot left to give in that one, CCC just fucked off for no discernible reason, and the division was turned upside down at the time that fight was booked. DW made a business decision and put Aldo against Yan instead of Marlon but it was by no means the worst decision he's ever made. Yan was looking sensational at the time, Cruz had just been TKO'd, CCC was gone, Dillasnake was in the middle of his suspension, and CoGar was already scheduled to fight Assuncao and coming off a whole bunch of TKO's. Aljo/Sandhagen happened two weeks or so after Aldo/Yan and that was the rightful #1 contender's match. Font was injured and didn't have a signature win yet... who was available that deserved it more than Yan? Or Aldo, really? Logically, Moraes and/or Aljo made more sense but DW went with a combination of name value and skill in Jose. And the fight was awesome! Jose looked as good as he's ever looked against Petr for a good two rounds; leg kicks, body shots, solid clinch work (the guy is HUGE for 135). In this fight we got to see Yan play the nail and endure adversity and persevere and answer back every time. By the third round it was clear he was the better man and he proceeded to lay an ass-kicking on a still game but fading Aldo that was Holloway-esque until he finally crumbled. To this point it was the best performance of his career against the best fighter he'd ever faced.
And then he fought Aljo, who was unquestionably the best BW in the game beforehand. I've already given my take on this fight a couple times but let me say that I anticipated Sterling would have success standing that would lead to him scoring some take downs and edging out a decision. The first part was spot on, I guess... Seriously, anyone that says Yan didn't dominate that fight has to have an agenda. The first two rounds were competitive and Aldo put on an incredible pace with his kicking game, worked the knees well, and showed some great hands. The take downs weren't there for him at all though, but that didn't stop him from trying and failing repeatedly. When they didn't work he went back to the crazy-paced standup which scored points and had no visible effect on Yan who kept pressuring him and forcing him to fight at that unsustainable rate. When Aljo let up he got dropped on his head and suffered a knockdown; he had to fight at that pace standing. From the third round on Yan completely took over. He outgrappled Aljo, outstruck him, and out worked him. That was domination... right up until 4:29 of the very 4th round. Fuuuuuuuucccccckkkkk! For the record, I have no problem with Sterling not continuing after that shot. That knee was horrifyingly powerful!
This was way longer than I planned on it being but I gotta stick up for Yan and explain the context of the title shot and why as of right now I see him as being the best BW in the world. Just one man's take mind you and I understand the arguments against both of those statements. Regardless, Aljo needs to rematch Yan immediately and when that happens Yan will win convincingly (like he should have done the first time).
