"agreed. fight was stopped prematurely, if it wasn't; stopped in the first, NO WAY it should have been stopped in the third."
I suggest you watch it again. Tito was moving in the first round and Forced a postition change. In the 3rd he just laid there in a semi fetal position getting hit. Even if they all hit arms NO REF will let you lie on your side and get hit in the fetal position.
Again, in the first rd, Chuck was hitting him harder and had aone or two get through, But Tito moved, shited his hips and got out of a bad postiton. In the 3rd he was hurt too bad to do anything but the fred ettish.
If you watch the replay you'll see Tito bump to put Chuck into his
guard just before the ref jumps on them, to me that is defending, and
it also shows that he was sound enough to try and put himself in a
better position, not really enough cause to stop a title fight in my
opinion. Im getting really tired of this whole "we take such good care
of our fighters" bullshit that the UFC inconsistently promotes. I
understand the importance of their policy, but enough with title fights
getting stopped like this!, make the guy get a decisive knockout or a
submission, its for the fucking title!
BASICALLY, i DONT THINK CHUCK WAS DOING ENOUGH IN THAT POSITION TO WIN, HE DID LAND A FEW SHOTS DOWN THERE, BUT MOST DID HIT TITO IN THE ARMS AND TITO WASNT ROCKED DOWN THERE. THIS WAS MORE OF A CASE OF TITO NOT TRYING TO IMPROVE HIS POSITION, AND THE REF STOPPED THE FIGHT. I ACTUALLY THOUGHT TITO WAS GOING TO TAKE CONTROL OF THE FIGHT AFTER HE HAD CHUCKS BACK.
You can't just lay there and let the guy whale away on you. He was on his side spooning the invisible man while the hardest punching 205 lber was raining UNANSWERED punches down on him. In the rules meetings they go over this exact scenario.
I will throw in my 0.02 cents...I am a DIE HARD TITO O...fan from way back. That being said, I have heard that Tito was ordered to move up or reposition by the ref, and that Tito actually said the word STOP, STOP twice.
Tito didn't make any excuses because he knew he was D-O-N-E...and he never said anything about a premature stop. From where I was setting Tito was thankful Chuck was being pulled off him.
Give props to Chuck as he has really proven he is the TOP DAWG...give props to TITO for TRULY showing the heart of a warrior for getting up in the first when Chuck really had him in a bad way, and I thought it was going to be stopped, but Tito reached down there, where you go to find heart to get back up because he wanted to win. Tito drained the tank tonight and he just doesn't have the tools to get Chuck, and never will.
So, if Tito isn't making excuses it is retarted for his true fans to be...Tito said he brought his A game and he couldn't fight any better, and Chuck is the better fighter...
So, for us bewildered Tito fans all we can do is keep hope alive for Rampage to beat Chuck....stranger things have happened.
Raining down punches that would give Tito sore arms the next day. Kind of like a flurry in a cartoon where all you see is a dust cloud with an arm or head popping out every now and then.
I think someone wrote in Grappling magazine a point I think is worth pondering. A fighter's corner knows the fighter better than a ref.
He wrote there should be no stoppage less than a KO or TKO (refs still call these) for this "not intelligently defending thyself." It should be up to the corner to throw in the towel when they think their fighter has had enough, not the ref.
What is damaging to one fighter may be a walk in the park for another. How does the ref know what the fighter's defense strategy is? Not pulling guard? Arms blocking punches good enough?
It seems that if you are on top and throw a wild flurry of punches the fight gets called no matter what the accuracy of the punches is. Usually, when a fighter throws this flurry, he's lucky if half connect. With elbows it's different.
In boxing, they do a standing eight count right? I agree with others that this area of calling a fight needs some revisiting. Not saying an eight count is the answer but maybe a better defined criteria for calling it.
Or maybe some refs who don't get aroused like the fans by "punches in bunches."
When they stopped the fight he really only hit tito a couple of times. I thought tito had a little better guard than that.....Chuck is that good.....It went how I thought it would......