UFC Live Sanchez vs. Kampann Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 from Kentucky
There were a lot of great fights tonight but I’m only going to talk about two of them. The first being a bantamweight bout with one of the front runners for a title shot, Brian Bowles and the second is an absolutely astonishing decision from the judges in the Sanchez “win”.
Brian Bowles vs. Domacio Page - bantamweight
This is a new division to the UFC so all these fighters are very unknown to me. This fight in particular is a rematch between the two. They fought in 2008 when Bowles defeated Page via guillotine. Bowles went on to win his next two fights where he won the WEC bantamweight title against Miguel Torres in 2009. He lost that belt to Dominick Cruz who was the last WEC bantamweight belt holder and the current UFC bantamweight champion because of a doctor stoppage. (see my blog where Cruz got the UFC bantamweight belt click here). Page starts the first round really aggressive, he lands a nice head kick and a big knee right away. He gets in some nice leg kicks and Bowles seems to just be sitting back and waiting for his moment, not throwing too much. But when you're attacking so aggressively like Page is, you leave some openings. Apparently this is what he did the first time they fought too. Came out strong and lightning fast but got a little too comfortable. Bowles clips him with a quick right then drops him and attacks with a flurry of punches. He grabs Page's neck and pulls off the guillotine choke again! Page didn't tap, Bowels had to roll a bit to show the ref he was asleep. That was a great finish for Bowles, I think he's coming after that belt, the guys got talent.
Diego "The Dream" Sanchez vs. Martin "The Hitman" Kampmann - welterweight HIGHWAY ROBBERY
First off, Diego "The Nightmare" Sanchez has reinvented himself, shaved his head and changed his name to "The Dream". But he still keeps his I'm angry don't look at me mean mug on while he’s walking in to some weird calypso music. He also looks a little big. Not muscle big but a little extra jello big. This could be because Sanchez has bounced around from 155 to 185, to 170 and so on between the divisions. It’s easier to gain and loose fat than actual muscle mass. This was such a controversial decision that I had to watch the fight a couple times to see if there was something I missed.
First round started little slow, Kampmann maintained control of the center of the cage. Both landed some good shots. But then Kampmann lands a straight right about a minute and a half in that rocks Sanchez pretty good. Kampmann also landed a pretty nice knee right to Sanchez’s face and consistently landed clean hits to his face too. By the end of the round Kampmann had easily stuffed 5 or 6 takedown attempts and Sanchez had blood all over his cut up face. Even though Sanchez attempted so many takedowns, none were effective so I give this round 10-9 to Kampmann.
The second round starts off with another takedown attempt failed by Sanchez. Sanchez did initiate a lot more exchanges but if you’ve seen his style you know he throws at least 3 or 4 hard punches a little haphazardly. Don’t get me wrong, if he was to connect with one of those it would hurt, but that doesn’t happen too often. With about two minutes left in the round Sanchez did get off a few great punches on Kampmann. During this round Kampmann does develop a small cut on his face that Rogan insists slowed him down. I don’t agree with that. Kampmann is quietly lethal. He’s a very technical fighter. His punches are a lot crisper and landing a much higher percentage. In the last minute or so, Sanchez went in two or three times with his attempt at a slugfest. He landed a few nice shots but had to throw 4 air-balls to get them (yes I know an air-ball is a basketball term but I think you know what I mean). However during these mini slugfests Kampmann consistently landed clean shots to Sanchez’s chin and finished the round strong. Again I score this round 10-9 Kampmann.
Okay so here we listen to the commentary between rounds. Kampmann does well when he maintains control of the cage, he keeps it in the middle and can decide on the pace. When he allows Sanchez to get him against the cage and start throwing wild punches that’s when he gets clipped. Which happened twice in that round. Whopee, two punches that connect. Watch those exchanges in slow motion and see how many actually do damage.
I’m not against giving a fighter credit where it is due. Sanchez did start the third round with a nice right and a good body shot but when another takedown was attempted he ate a nice clean from Kampmann. One thing he did in this round that I (and Joe Rogan cannot stand) is keep his hands on the mat when he didn’t have to, to avoid a knee. Sanchez was bent over and when Kampmann had a clear shot at landing a brutal knee to him Sanchez keeps his hands on the mat. I’m not sure how to technically describe this rule but basically when a fighter is “grounded” they can’t be knee’d. I totally agree that this is a good rule when that fighter has his knees on the mat, but when it goes for just hands too fighters take advantage. Instead of having the rule to protect the fighter, it’s being used as a tool. Just over two minutes Sanchez gets a takedown finally. He gets side control but does nothing with it and Kampmann stands up. Again, more slugfest attempts where Diego may land one punch out of 5 but Kampmann lands one of one cleanly to Sanchez. Just over a minute left Kampmann shakes out his hand, clearly hurting. He definitely slows down throwing rights to finish the fight. Diego’s face Is BUSTED, A total wreck. Sanchez looked really aggressive in this round but I still completely give it to Kampmann easy 10-9.
It goes to the judges for the decision and all three score is 29-28 for Sanchez to win unanimously! I cannot believe it. This is clear robbery to me. A round is scored based on these criteria; effective striking, grappling, aggression and octagon control. So here's where the questions start showing up. A takedown attempt in an offensive movie while blocking the takedown is defensive and according to the criteria does not receive any points. I'm really hoping the judges don't believe that and if they do I think there needs to be a change in the rules. In this fight in particular Sanchez attempted close to 15 takedowns and was stuffed on all of them except one! The entire 15 minutes he got one takedown. Another issue I have with the "aggression" judging is the combination attempts. The key term I think needs to be looked at more diligently is EFFECTIVE striking. Is it Kampmann's fault that he may be a bit more technical and instead of going for a "slugfest" throwing 15 punches one after another and possibly landing 2 he throws 5 crisp ones that land every time? I mean come on, he broke his hand on homeboy's face! That's not doing damage?!
Rogan interviews Kampmann as well as Sanchez. Rogan says Kampmann won the first and probably the second… I would say if the judges would give him ANY round it was the second. Kampmann even says Sanchez threw a flurry of punches but a lot didn’t land, duh!
When I watched Kampmann fight Shields I thought he lost. A lot of people thought he was robbed because Shields didn't do anything with his takedowns. But the difference in that fight was that Shields actually got the takedowns! He may not have dealt a lot of damage once he had that top position but during that fight Kampmann didn't either. When he fought Shields, he didn’t win because he wasn’t aggressive enough, he sat back. He wasn’t hurt badly but he was more laid back. In this fight just look at Sanchez’s face, Kampmann was picking him apart! I honestly feel he should have won this fight, no question. Dana White said on twitter he thought Sanchez had that fight won but I really don't see how. I have no problem admitting the fighter I was rooting for lost if I feel that loss was justified. I can fully admit that Sanchez did show a lot of heart continuing to fight with his face ripped apart in 18 places but heart does not equal a win.
I can see how someone watching mma for the first time may see Sanchez as the winner. He did look more aggressive, throwing more, attacking more but these “judges” are supposed to be experts. They should be able to see that a punch thrown is only effective when it connects with something, anything!! I am entirely frustrated with this decision and do not agree with it at all. I don’t want to see a rematch because I don’t like Sanchez’s fighting style, I want to see Kampmann move on and fight another more technical fighter.
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