UFC 132 Faber-Cruz II July 2, 2011 (Prediction Contest)

Too early for me to say, but at this point I like him better than Warren.

His striking isn't terrible. And he seems very quick with his level changes and that double leg you talked about.

Mendes is boring though and I hate his nickname..

 

I also don't care for an immediate rematch with a CHALLENGER losing clearly.

I'd rather see the long awaited Torres-Faber match, especially since both are coming off losses, so it seems like the match to make.

Also, Bowles vs Cruz II. Bowles is a beast and I don't particularly care for the ending of the last fight with Bowles breaking his hand. Bowles also has a good a chance as anyone with his big one shot knockout power in his right hand.

 

His nickname is bad because it was butchered for PR reasons.

It was initially Chad "Moneyshot" Mendes. With the double entendre there obviously..with the moneyshot referring to his double leg.

 

I have no idea why TLC has such a hard on for Cruz. I thought Faber edged that fight.

Cruz was basically just skipping around like a faggot for 5 rounds, landing the odd glancing blow. Faber landed the more solid shots.

Cruz has a really irritating style, an irritating nickname, and to top it off he's a jesus freak.

By the way, z at Tito wiping his arse with Bader ::

 

Cruz was landing by far the more solid shots...you must be blind.

 

No he wasn't, not even close. You're the one that's blind. He landed a couple of clean pot shots, and that was it. Faber was connecting clean after almost every clinch, plus whacked Cruz with a few clean counters that hurt him, including knocking him down twice.

Fuck, Cruz even said after the fight "Damn, Faber hits hard, his hands are good" etc etc.

Like I said Cruz just skipped around like a faggot for 5 rounds basically. The fight was close due to Faber not doing enough most of the time, but I still thought he won. He landed the shots that mattered, hurt and decked Cruz several times. Even Cruz's leg kicks and takedown attempts were pretty pathetic. Trying to copy Aldo ::

Cruz has a truly hideous style. Like homeless man's pot shotting.

 

I was pulling for Faber in this fight and tended to give him the benefit of the doubt. That being said, I still thought Cruz clearly won. Even the 50-45 score wasn't terrible.

All rounds were relatively close but Cruz dictated everything. The fact that the dude can fight that crazy style without tiring over 5 rounds is incredible.

Cruz is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

 

You are probably the only person to think Faber won that fight, but it's mostly because you are a hater. :doh:

Cruz outlanded Faber in every round with clean punches and kicks, and it wasn't even close. Also, hurt Cruz? :: He knocked him down legitimately once, and that was it. The other times Cruz was off balance. Like I said, blind. And Cruz cracked him with a jump knee that hurt Faber badly as well.

 

You do realize that Cruz landed more strikes and landed more take down attempts in the fight, right?

Cruz out wrestled Faber with relative ease.

I am absolutely not a Cruz fan, but he's a good fighter dude.

 

cruz does nothing spectacular, but he looks incredibly hard to defeat. i dont know how these guys were able to go five rounds like that. especially faber, when he was thwarting takedowns by continusouly rolling out and escaping the way he did in the fifth round.

 

Pace, fitness, speed, reflexes, workrate, takedown defense...all pretty spectacular.


In the first round Faber had a body lock on him, lifted him in the air, Cruz landed on his feet, Faber took his back and Cruz shucked him off and separated. Right now it's at the point where no one can take him down so they have to stand with him, which is dangerous because he's both a good striker but also can take his opponents down at any time and they have to defend against that as well.

 

Faber thought he was going to be able to lift Cruz and get a big slam. Didn't happen.

As Joony said, you have to give it to both these guys for being cardio animals. Neither guy ever significantly tired despite the crazy pace.

By the way, wasn't this the first 145 or 135 fight to head a PPV? If so, good for the UFC because it was a good fight and proves the little guys can headline.

 

I disagree

i think he looked spectacular against omigawa

 

Gotta hand it to these 2 guys. The pace they set was pretty frentic, and neither looked too tired.

One of the main thing that hold mma down as a credible sport is that the fighter seemed to gas waaayy too easilly. It's not unusual to see fighter gas midway through the first round

 

Omigawa looked like crap in that fight. Looked like a damn zombie. That said, Mendes, this supposedly super stud wrestler could barely get Omigawa down and damn near got his arm broken/dislocated by a straight armbar.

 

Cruz can obviously fight but I think you guys are WAY off base thinking he's one of the best P4P. He just kind of skips around and throws the odd pot shot, he doesn't really DO that much. But that trickiness and constant movement is obviously hard to deal with. And obviously yeah it's impressive he can keep that up for 25 minutes.

In fact it's definitely a good advert for the sport the pace they both fought at for those 5 rounds. It makes MMA look pretty awful when guys gas half way through the first round.

I don't think Cruz is anywhere near as good as you think he is. If they met at 145, Aldo would throw him a 1 sided beating.

However because 135 is a new division, there probably aren't many people there capable of beating him.

 

It isn't new. New in the UFC =/= new.

 

For all intents and purposes it is new, seeing as Cruz fights in the UFC.

 

Bantam is only new to the UFC. The WEC had a bantam champ since 2006 and Shooto since the early 2000's if I'm not mistaken. Although in Shooto the 135 pound limit is considered Featherweight.

More importantly though, guys like Faber, Cruz, Wineland, Maeda, etc have been around for a long time.

 

I really enjoyed this ppv. Of course I didn't pay for it, but that is besides the point.::

Cruz/Faber is just a good matchup. Its kind of cool to watch someone neutralize Faber's wrestling. I love the idea of making the Faber/Torres matchup. I think it was TLC. Bowles should get the next shot at Cruz the last fight stopped on a cut, lets make the rematch. For what its worth I had Cruz winning the fight 3 rounds to 2.

As much as I was happy for my boy Leben, it was painful to see Wandy like that. He really needs to hang it up. This guy was one of my favorites for so long, I hope he goes to coaching only. The guy has so much to give young fighters.

Ryan Bader should be shipped to Strikeforce and matched against King Mo. That was pathetic. Shit, Tito should be as well and matched against Dan. You know Dana was just pissed after that fight.:: Especially since Tito topped the salaries with over 500k for this ppv.:doh:

Carlos Condit is just fun to watch. He gets better EVERY time out. I definitely think he needs to be in line after Diaz.

Siver is so confusing to me. I counted this guys out 4 fights ago, he just keeps winning.

Give Guillard a top guy, we need to see him step up.

 

Where's that signature bitch!!!!?????