Fergie bested amidst a symphony of destruction

DA,

WhereEdit: Were you watching over the weekend?

What a weird fight. For so many reasons too. 

I don't recall another fight where the underdog beat down the favorite with such authority with nobody losing an ounce of respect for the favorite.

I for one have more respect for Fergie than I had before. As a fight fan, that's a first for me.

It's also rare for me to watch a fight and actually have to look away at times. Years ago I made the mistake of watching a stoning on the early version of youtube. Parts of this fight reminded me of that.

Particularly the part just before they stopped the fight. That headshake...haunting. But he never went down. Damn!!!

I'll watch the recap but I feel the message was clear. Counter punching is alive, well and deserving of its own verse in the Symphony of Destruction.

Was your money on Fergie? I'd given Gaethje about a 2/10 chance of winning, IF he could do so in the first three rounds. 

He had other ideas. "I'll go 5 rounds, fight with restraint for the first time, and take no damage." Literally the opposite of anything we've seen from him before. 

One gets the feeling that Gaethje's respect for Fergie was the main contributor to how things played out.

Dagestan awaits

Oh, much thanks to the US and the ever enterprising entrepreneurs at the UFC for making this happen.

Let's hope other sports leagues take notes.

Dana White - legend

Sheeesh Plum

What a fight.....

Yeah, I actually stayed up through the night to watch the prelims and then the main fight.....

I had actually picked Gaethje to take it.... no bullshit, but only within 3 rounds..... I told my mate that if it went 3 rounds or less, then Justin would definitely take it, only because I knew about his immense power so well, after having watched so many of his previous fights and interviews leading up to this fight…..even though I also knew that power was not everything……but I also said that if it went 5 rounds, then Tony would walk away with his hands raised.

So I got the winner right, but within the wrong timeframe, which totally surprised me….. I would have put money on Tony taking it after 3 rounds…. and definitely after 4 rounds. Tony is sub human regarding his stamina and the ability to take punches….. and that uppercut in the 2nd round to Justin would have ended most opponents right there.

Justin completely and utterly surprised even me, and I have been closely following his career for a long while already...… I just didn't think or believe that he could go a full 5 rounds with a guy, the calibre of Ferguson.

When Gaethje tweeted a while ago, after confirming the fight with Tony…." I am terrified and I fucken love it", I knew then that he was so up for this fight, and I knew all along about his power.... but it actually wasn't until I watched a small interview with Ferguson, that made me favour Justin even more, and it was when Tony himself admitted that he had so much more respect for Gaethje for admitting that he was terrified of the fight, because according to Ferguson, any man that can publicly admit that he was terrified of something, was clearly afraid of nothing at all, including losing.

That final left punch that connected, and made Tony shake his head, wobble, shake his head again, and slightly turn his back and move away to the side of the cage…. was something I will just never ever forget.  How any man could have still stood standing after what Justin landed flush, that whole fight…. is just incredible.

Now I see that Ferguson is dancing in his hospital room, with his gown on and posting it on social media….. what a guy

Herb Dean definitely stopped the fight at the right time, of that I had no doubt.  Some might say it was too soon, but I genuinely don’t think that Ferguson needed to take another flush right hand….. he was clearly completely out of it

Gaethje vs Khabib…… fuck me….. can’t wait…….

I see Khabib immediately taking it to the ground, literally within the first minute

Glad you watched it, DA!

Man, I posted a long reply but it didn't upload.

I try again today.

Ja man, some epic fights on that card.

How weird, the empty arena and the commentators inadvertently coaching the fighters?

The lack of background noise revealing the true impact of some of those shots.

I can’t bear to watch a replay of the main event though. Particularly rounds 4 & 5.

It seems as though the view on that weird headshake before the fight was stopped, is that it was universally unnerving.

Lots of people saying that one isn’t that same after taking that amount of damage. And they’re not talking only about confidence.

They took 700K PPVs…at $65 a piece. That’s around $45Mil.

With McGreggor, Masvidal, Gaethje and Khabib…only in that weight class. Ching ching!!!

I saw a Brenden Schaub clip where he was saying DW lays awake at night waiting for McGreggor to text him. With these amounts on the table, I can see why.

And good on them too. I’ll bet on entrepreneurs over politicians any day of the week.

“I am terrified and I fucken love it", I knew then that he was so up for this fight, and I knew all along about his power.... but it actually wasn't until I watched a small interview with Ferguson, that made me favour Justin even more, and it was when Tony himself admitted that he had so much more respect for Gaethje for admitting that he was terrified of the fight, because according to Ferguson, any man that can publicly admit that he was terrified of something, was clearly afraid of nothing at all, including losing.”

This 100%. Gaethje is weird like that. In this game, the old knowledge is that your aura must be one of invincibility.

Khabib v Gaethje is just an impossible task. Gaethje is a wrestler but he refuses to wrestle. I haven’t followed him for long but I know that he has a great sprawl and is an AA Wrestler. If he is able to avoid being taken down, he wins. If only it was that easy haha.

I remember, during his fight with Firmino, he took tons of damage but his sprawl really impressed me, even once he’d gassed it stayed fresh. Khabib isn’t Firmino though.

Also cant wait to see that fight.

Very frustrating Plum, I also typed a long response yesterday and it didn't submit, so I left it... and sometimes if I remember, I will copy and paste it in word, just in case it doesn't pull through, but I often forget

The sounds that the impact of those punches made, was sick... no other way to describe it..... it was incredible

Interesting that Ferguson only got $500 000 and Gaethje $350 000, but I guess it's not Connor or Khabib fighting.

I think the fight with Cruz was ended a tad early.  He is the ex champion, and widely regarded as the best ever Bantamweight to ever enter the cage, so I would have thought that he would be given every chance possible in the fight, and it did genuinely look like he was bringing himself to his feet..... and I have yet to see any semi or unconscious person pull something like that off.

Ngannou vs Rozenstruik was such a complete letdown, just 20 seconds......yet it also said so much about the absolutely ferocious raw power of Ngannou

I am surprised that Ngannou has even lost a few times, but he has..... so now it should hopefully be a title shot for him, but it looks like Stipe wants a Cormier decider because it is already 1-1

I reckon Khabib will try and take Gaethje down as soon as the fight starts, and it will be takedown attempt after takedown attempt , and if Gaethje can get through that, he has a chance.... because not even Khabib has been hit with the power that Justin has....

I thought that Gaethje fought such a technically brilliant fight, and more importantly, he did not stupidly run in to finish off Tony, even when he clearly knew that Tony was in serious shit and wobbling around.

There were two points in the fight that cemented the outcome for me.... and it was something so small, yet it said so much.

Gaethje's coach told him after 2 rounds to take 10% off his punches and hit Tony with clean hard shots because he was trying too much to kill him with every punch.....

The best one was when his coach told him to be careful because he lost once before because he was rushing in without thinking ….. to which Justin replied, "I lost twice because of that"

Then I knew, his head was in the game and he was fully focused on the outcome of that fight

It has to be one of the most brutal fights that I have seen in many many years, purely because of the accuracy of the punches thrown, the sounds that they all made without the crowd, and the damage that was visible on Ferguson's face as the fight progressed