Glory 23 and UFC Fight Night Fall Out

The number one kicking boxing company and number one MMA company in the world both ran shows over the weekend. Glory made it's Las Vegas debut strange given Vegas is the home of major combat sports. Also back in the day K-1 ran several US shows in Vegas. Nieky Holzken a fighter with a legit claim as the number one pound for pound kickboxer in the world finally got a shot at a major championship while several American fighters were given big chances. The UFC ran in Nashville for the first time in years. OSP had a chance to to main event in his home state while Glover Trexiera had a chance to get back on track.

Overall Opinions

Glory 23- As usual Glory put on an excellent show in terms of in ring action. The one night tournament short rounds and pure stand element usually lend itself to good action. While I had some doubts about giving Raymond Daniels a shot at the title given how easily Holzken beat him not that long ago I was proven wrong. Daniels showed improved boxing and was able to keep from getting trapped. It differently seemed like Daniels was winning the fight before the cut. That said Holzken did what he does best. He's not a flash fighter but fighter who uses the basic great. He kept walking down Daniels down and putting the work in. While it appeared Daniels was winning it was by no means a blowout and it felt Holzken was giving away the early rounds to tire him out and take the power out of spin kicks.

The gimmick of doing all American fighters is a bit of mixed bag. Dustin Jacoby delivered two exciting knockouts but as someone who watches kickboxing I don’t' know if Jacoby will be able to do much against elite competition. I get that in order to grow in the US Glory needs American fighters to become stars so I get doing this tournament.

Really my biggest knock was the promotion leading upt to the event. As I mentioned in my How to Grow Glory article I feel like Glory doesn't do enough to you to know the fighters before hand. I don't get why Glory never gets some type of preview special. Hell right after Glory went off the air a special previewing the Tarver vs. Cummingham fight that will air on Spike this Friday. Why not do some type of special looking at just the Welterweight title fight? I really feel this would help win over causal fans and get them excited for the event. I really don't know if is Spike not being willing to give air time or Glory feeling it wouldn't do much but I would like to see them try.

UFC Nashville- Its been a busy summer for the UFC that saw some very important fights take place. So this card felt like that last bit of leftovers. It was by no means an awful card but it wasn't great. To point it felt this was the UFC setting up for make Ovince Saint Preux into the next big things. He had the big win over Shogun and now he's main eventing in his home town and a chance to get an over a former number one contender with some good names on his resume. If that was the case than OSP struck out. While he hurt Glover Teixeira early on he quickly found himself in trouble. Teixeira soon figured out he had a huge advantage on the ground and kept the fight there before getting a submission. A big weakness discussed for OSP was the fact he still with the same team he started with. And it's a fair criticism. I get loyalty to a team and can respect it but there is a reason why so many fighters as they get higher up in the UFC move onto the super teams. OSP clearly has some weaknesses and he's not improving on them.

Sadly this card will most likely be viewed as some of the worse judges calls of the year. Michael Johnson clearly dominated the fight vs. Beneil Dariush. He out landed him, he stuffed all the takedown, and he controlled the cage. But someone how the judges marked Dariush the winner. It was soon bad that during his post fighter interview even Dariush seemed confused in how he could be named the winner. This is the kind of stuff that makes we want to see local AC's taken out of power. Because it seems like if the let the UFC pick judges and refs they would pick guys that know what they are doing.

Biggest Winners:

Nikey Holzken- In 2013 at Glory 13 The Natural won the tournament beating Joseph Valtenllini in the finals to win the Glory Welterweight championship. He than saw as the company changed and essentially take away his belt. Than injures kept him out of of the ring and he watched Valtenllini win the title at Glory's first and only PPV. After winning contender tournament he was posed for the rematch to regain his title only to have to wait when Valtenllini vacated it. But after all the delay Holzken again showed he is the top welterweight if not the top fighter in all of kickboxing at this moment. Maurllio Ranellio said it best. Fighters know what is coming with Holzken but they can't stop it. He's flashy fighter spinning around, he's not wild throwing hay makers and head kicks he's simply effective. Young fighter not just kickboxers but MMA or boxers should take note.

Amanda Nunes- The road to title contention in the UFC woman’s bantamweight division isn't that long and with her win over former number one contender Sara McMann Nunes took a few giant steps. Nunes has a great 11-4 record with all 11 wins coming in the first round. But the two times she been paired up with the upper level of the division against Davis and Zingano she lost. A win over McMann shows she can beat a higher level fighter. Once again Nunes finds herself on the verge of title contention. It's not outrages to think one more win and she should be facing the winner of Rousey v Tate 3.

Biggest Losers

Michael Johnson and Beneil Dariush- Sadly both men will suffer from this awful judges call. Johnson came in with a lot of momentum. There was a lot of talk about a potential fight with former Champion Ben Henderson. Why I don't think the UFC will hold it against him it's simply unfair this happened. The old saying don't leave it in the hands of the judges is misunderstood in my opinion. Most take that to mean finish the fight. It really means dominate the fight and give the judges no other option but mark you the winner. Johnson appeared to that. Yet the judges either through stupidity, incompetence or something worse said he lost. Its truly unfair for Johnson that in his chosen career he's can't trust the people given so much power over it. And Dariush isn't any better off. Losing to Johnson even as one sided as the fight was is by no means a bad loss for the young fighter. Instead though he's not that guy that got a gift win. Sadly fans do hold stuff like this against you just ask Tim Bradley.

Ovince Saint Preux- This card was set up to be an OSP showcase. He was coming off two good wins over Rua and Cummings. He was main eventing in his home area with all the fans behind him. Like his loss to Bader this loss again showcased his weaknesses. He lacks on the ground and his fight IQ seems low at times. A lot of the talk around OSP before this fight focused on his decision to still train with the same team he's always trained with. Now I can understand the various reason why loyalty to those that got him to the UFC, sole focus of his coaches, being close to home etc. The fact still remains OSP has some glaring weaknesses. At the end of the day the best of the best often leave home, Jon Jones became a champion with Greg Jackson or look at Robbie Lawler since leaving Iowa to train at ATT. I'm not saying OSP needs to leave Tennessee and never look back but heading to some type of higher profile team could help him greatly. The potential is there but he's also reaching that point where its be a true contender or become a gate keeper.

Sara McMahon-As I said the road to a womens' Bantamweight title shot isn't extremely long. But McMann keeps slipping backwards on the path. Some including McMann herself fell her fight with Rousey was stopped to soon. McMann also said she doesn't understand how Miseha Tate is getting a third fight with Rousey. It's simple Tate made it so she was the only option the UFC had unless Cyborg cuts down. McMann had her chance to stop a third fight but she lost to Tate. The loss to Nunes is another hard one for McMann. McMann big key to her style is her wrestling but she clearly lacks on her feet. Nunes hurt her early and than submitted her. McMann was once 7-0 but in her last four fights shes 1-3. She can get a title shot again but she's behind a number of fighters at this point.