Having seen the fight many times and seeing it replayed again tonight on Countdown, I have to wonder why so many people think Heath KO'd Nog or had the fight won if he didn't let Nog up or the ref gave Nog a gift by not stopping it.
Nog's head bounced once off the mat when he dropped from the initial kick and that's it. His head never hit the mat again when Heath was trying to GnP, he kept one arm up defending at all times, never went limp, and he kept Heath in his guard. Heath flailed away for 30 seconds, obviously tiring himself, and only stood back up when Nog reached to PULL HEATH DOWN. Heath knows how dangerous Nog's guard is. It wasn't some idiotic decision on Heath's part that gave the fight away, Nog wasn't one punch away from being KO'd, and the ref didn't give him a gift.
"Heath flailed away for 30 seconds, obviously tiring himself, and only stood back up when Nog reached to PULL HEATH DOWN. Heath knows how dangerous Nog's guard is."
This is key. Also, how many times after one fighter has knocked another down have we heard Bas Rutten say, "Instead of following/taking him down, he should just stand up out of his guard so that he can force a stand up and knock him out"? See Fujita/Fedor (when Fujita took Fedor down) and Pele/Newton (same thing).
"Also, how many times after one fighter has knocked another down have we heard Bas Rutten say, "Instead of following/taking him down, he should just stand up out of his guard so that he can force a stand up and knock him out"?"
EXACTLY, and a point I forgot to make (thanks). Following an opponent down means, 9 times out of 10, that you will get tied up and he will get to recover. Heath made the right decision to force the standup, especially given the fact that Nog was defending and trying to pull him down further into guard.
Stopping the fight when Nog got dropped would have been a horrible stoppage, and not just because we know how the fight eventually turned out. An example of a stoppage that could very, very easily have been justified was when Anderson dropped Rich with the punch at the end of the first round of their second fight. Rich completely crumpled like a discarded puppet.
By the way, Nog was similarly not "saved by the bell" in the Crocop fight despite the many who think otherwise. He did not ragdoll to the ground, he immediately swiveled and got his legs between himself and Mirko, kept his head up, and Crocop was not pouring on some brutal assault at the bell.
the Sylvia fight easily proved that no-stop was the right call, and Heath didn't "miss his chance" or screw up. Tim dropped Nog, followed up as best as he could and did no better than Heath.
Herring just wasn't doing much damage from the top with those windmill type punches. Mino was rocked for sure, and having Noguria rocked it is probably wise to want it on the feet to capitalize on an opening. Even a dazed Mino has instincts on the ground to stay safe until he recovers.
Anyone who says Herring had him beat needs to reveiw Nogueira's past fights. He is a different animal.
But all this is beside the point, because Mino was intelligently defending himself.
"I have a HUGE Nog fan but that round was 10-8 and the fight should have been a draw..."
Definitely an argument could be made for that, but in MMA scoring a knockdown doesn't automatically make it 10-8, and Nog owned the first 4:30 of that round. A draw in that fight would only have highlighted the main weakness of round-by-round scoring.
"In a "whole fight" scoring scheme, why would you consider the fighters "even" when one completely dominated 14:30 of a 15 minute fight?"
because I wouldn't...
In a round by round 10 point must system I would however consider that a draw.
" One strike doesnt warrant a 10-8 round"
One strike that nearly KO's your opponent should be worth a whole lot more than 4:30 of not-much-of-nothing-ahead-on-points. If that round wasn't 10-8 then there is no such thing as a 10-8 round in MMA...
It does count for more than controlling the first 4:30 that is why he won the round. In no way is that a 10-8 though when Nog was easily winning the striking and grapplling up to that point.
" it would be 10-8 if Herring controlled the round AND got the knockdown."
Apparently, just like the poor judges they have assigned to mma, you guys don't count damage for much of shit. Nearly finishing you opponent is what really counts in a fight and that's what mma is SUPPOSED to be. As close to a really fight as possible. How sad is it that a sport that was NHB 10 years ago now has fans who want to score it like fucking Olympic Ice skating!!