When he first stepped in to the Octagon in his debut against Jason Tan, he was coming off of a 9 Win 1 Draw 0 Loss professional record in the Asian mma leagues, mainly Spirit MC and DEEP Impact, along with two CMA Fastivals (yes, they really spell it like that.) His nick name was "Stun Gun" because of his devastating left that knocked out 3 Japanese DEEP fighters in a row, each with a single punch. You can see his videos on youtube.
vs Tomoyoshi Iwamiya DEEP 25
vs Mitsunori Tanimura CMA Fastival
vs Kousei Kubota DEEP 26
vs Jun Ando DEEP 27
vs Yukiharu Maejima CMA Fastival 2 <---- 11 second KO by shotgun vs Hidenobu Koike DEEP 28
vs Hidehiko Hasegawa DEEP 31 <------Gotta see!
At his match against Jason Tan, he displayed unexpected superiority in just about every aspect. He went so far as to try a backdrop (which is illegal)! Unfortunately, the call was somewhat disputable as Tan didn't seem to be really taking much damage from the seemingly dangerous onslaught of elbows at the end. However, given Kim's superiority in stand up, take down, and ground skills, he would likely have lost anyway, so no real problem as far as I am concerned. I do wish the ref hadn't called it so soon though. I thought it was slightly unfair to Tan. Regardless, I digress. Where was I? ....Oh yes.
So, after displaying such superiority at his UFC debut, everyone expected him to give us an amazing fight in his second bout with Matt Brown............
......which was a total flop. I agree that he should have and did win the fight by split decision, since he did rack up more points, but....if this had been PRIDE, Matt Brown would have won. Why? In PRIDE, if you fought like Kim did this day, you would have gone bankrupt just from the point deductions from not fighting aggressively enough. The UFC point system is a little quaint and doesn't reflect certain factors as much as it should, but I'm not going to go in to the details. That's for experts to explain. What I CAN say is that Kim just did horrible. It was so obvious what he was going for, a take down or a big left, and Brown had just no problem avoiding Kim's attacks while launching many of his own. Brown's take down and ground defense was also more than sufficient to stave of any attacks Kim attempted without taking too much trouble. I still think that Kim did perform enough to win by split decision like he did, but I would not have been surprised at all if it had swung the other way. Aside from technique, Brown stood out more in cardio conditioning and, more importantly, in spirit.
I've been a fan of Kim since I first saw DEEP 25 (I don't normally watch SMC...accessability issues). However, after the second bout, I was seriously disappointed. I do hope that he doesn't perform like that again, or he will never make it to aired bouts, much less main event status. GSP isn't going to wait forever, you know.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Couture vs Lesnar - Rematch Required
I don't know about you...but as far as I am concerned, there's some rematching that is warranted about this bout! I do not believe that Brock Lesnar really won the fight that day, he only won in the eye of the judges based on technicalities and regulations.
I don't mean that Brock Lesnar won as a fluke, of course. He definitely has size working for him, plus his stand up is not half as bad as a lot of people seem to think for some reason. The fact that even a glazing punch like that could knock out Randy proves that he has some serious punching power. Despite his apparent arrogance, I actually like the guy and find him entertaining to watch. I don't know if you remember, but when he lost to Frank Mir it wasn't so much of a tap out as much as a frustrated "Okay, I can't move, I guess you won." You could see it in how he tapped out, it was almost like watching a pro-wrestling match in that it practically looked staged. Anyway, I digress.
Those of you who saw the match are probably aware that despite Lesnar's upper hand in the beginning, towards the end Couture was gaining the upper hand. He was better conditioned, had more stamina, was breathing easier, and was hacking away at Lesnar while holding of the attacks of someone 50% bigger than him. If Lesnar hadn't grazed him with that lucky shot, I honestly believe that Randy would have won, either by decision or on the ground.
Yes yes, I know, lucky shots are a part of the game. But the reason I really want a rematch is that I feel both fighters didn't get to show off all of their abilities. Lesnar didn't get to show that he's not just another big guy (Choi Hong Man......) that runs out of steam and basically defeats himself. Randy obviously didn't show us his full spectrum of skills and strengths. This is partially because they were both very aware of what kind of damage the other can do in a very short time, and also because they couldn't find an opening to attack very easily without getting retaliated against. I understand that a bout between top notch fighters can actually be more boring that an amatuer fight, but I don't think that this bout was boring. I just want to see them go at it again.
Yup, that's the bottom line. Call me selfish, but it's not always that we get to see match ups like these. Is it wrong of me to want to see it finished more.....hmm. Fairly? That doesn't sound quite right, but you know what I mean. I want there to be a winner that won by skills and technique rather than a lucky glancing blow that the opponent thoughtlessly ducked in to. Wouldn't YOU like to see that one?
I don't mean that Brock Lesnar won as a fluke, of course. He definitely has size working for him, plus his stand up is not half as bad as a lot of people seem to think for some reason. The fact that even a glazing punch like that could knock out Randy proves that he has some serious punching power. Despite his apparent arrogance, I actually like the guy and find him entertaining to watch. I don't know if you remember, but when he lost to Frank Mir it wasn't so much of a tap out as much as a frustrated "Okay, I can't move, I guess you won." You could see it in how he tapped out, it was almost like watching a pro-wrestling match in that it practically looked staged. Anyway, I digress.
Those of you who saw the match are probably aware that despite Lesnar's upper hand in the beginning, towards the end Couture was gaining the upper hand. He was better conditioned, had more stamina, was breathing easier, and was hacking away at Lesnar while holding of the attacks of someone 50% bigger than him. If Lesnar hadn't grazed him with that lucky shot, I honestly believe that Randy would have won, either by decision or on the ground.
Yes yes, I know, lucky shots are a part of the game. But the reason I really want a rematch is that I feel both fighters didn't get to show off all of their abilities. Lesnar didn't get to show that he's not just another big guy (Choi Hong Man......) that runs out of steam and basically defeats himself. Randy obviously didn't show us his full spectrum of skills and strengths. This is partially because they were both very aware of what kind of damage the other can do in a very short time, and also because they couldn't find an opening to attack very easily without getting retaliated against. I understand that a bout between top notch fighters can actually be more boring that an amatuer fight, but I don't think that this bout was boring. I just want to see them go at it again.
Yup, that's the bottom line. Call me selfish, but it's not always that we get to see match ups like these. Is it wrong of me to want to see it finished more.....hmm. Fairly? That doesn't sound quite right, but you know what I mean. I want there to be a winner that won by skills and technique rather than a lucky glancing blow that the opponent thoughtlessly ducked in to. Wouldn't YOU like to see that one?
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