.. I didn't see the robbery that seems to be the post fight narrative, I even though round one was close - Santos's takedown was due to mistake/fall on Shevchenko's part and Shevchenko did some great work of her back.
Anyone else seen it yet? What are your thoughts? What am I missing? I don't disagree that Santos won the fight, but it wasn't an absolute landslide, I have seen way worse results than that.
Also Shevchenko didn't look as fired up as normal whilst Buffer was introducing her, plus she seemed less sharp even in the early rounds.
I guess it all plays into Ariel Helwani's campaign for open scoring, I am still in conflict as to whether that would be a good idea, apparently, Invicta FC always tell the corner what the score is after each round and the corner/fighter decides if they want to hear the current scoring.
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I wouldn’t necessarily call it a robbery either, although I do think that Santos won due to the simple fact that she kept Shevchenko somewhere she didn’t wanna be and had never really been, being on her back for the better part of those first 2 rounds. But you can definitely see where that clash of heads in the 3rd completely threw Santos off even though she still got a takedown. She was wincing in pain the rest of the fight and made almost no advances forward to initiate an exchange or go for a takedown, which is where Shevchenko really turned it on and where she started to take the fight, I still had the 3rd for Santos since she still got that takedown and I feel like she won most of that round but Valentina took it from there.
As far as open scoring goes I don’t think I like the idea of it, there’s always gonna be close fights that people are unsure how to score it, I don’t see how open scoring fixes that. But what I do like about invicta that I didn’t know until Ariel Helwani interviewed their founder on his show is that the corners and the fighter have the option to know the scoring if they please, the corner can know but if the fighter may not wanna know then they don’t tell them, but it’s displayed for the rest of the fans to see. I like that concept but I like these close fights with unsure decisions more.
Totally agree with this Slim, couldn't have said it better myself. I do think that Santo beat Shevchenko, but it wasn't like a Reyes v Jones moment (he sounds like he has been through the mill since that decision for sure). Do you think they run it back?
This was a cracking episode of The MMA Hour. I thought this piece about open scoring was absolutely facinating, but, it hasn't compelled me to watch Invicta because of it, which means I don't really care if we see it or no. I like the suspense and all that brings at the end, it would feel a bit flat with open scoring if I already knew.
I watched that episode of the mma hour, it didn't motivate me to watch more Invicta content based on open scoring either 🤷♂️ - I also like the suspense at the end, the discussions mid way through the fight and the arguments at the end.. someone should go watch some Invicta content and report back 😂
It's a nope from me on MMA open scoring. Sounds like a terrible idea, the thing it with Ariel is that he can pretty much package up and sell you anything he believes, he's make an amazing court room lawyer.
I have just watched Adrian Yanez on the same card, holy shit!! 😅
Adrian Yanez is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As of June 20, 2022, he is #15 in the UFC bantamweight rankings.
I guess it depends on the definition of robbery. I'd define a robbery as a clear cut decision that the judges give to the wrong fighter, which is what I'd call this. I've not watched it since, but I had rounds 1,2 and 3 to Santos with Valentina picking up 4 and 5. It definitely doesn't help Valentina's case that her success coincided with an illegal headbutt.
I also think that whilst much of Santos' ground work was as a result of Valentina trying to take her down, that doesn't work against Santos is any way. If Valentina wants to keep trying a head and arm throw that ends with her back taken every time, then that's her round to lose and Santos' one to win in my opinion
When you put it like that, one judge did 'rob' her of the decision as it was so far the other way, I get what you're saying. Emotionally I wouldn't call it a robbery but yeah in terms of the actual result.. that one judge didn't half fuck it up 🤦♂️
Was a robbery, too much ground work from Santos to go un-noticed - doubt she'll get an immediate rematch but she should.