That’s exactly why scoring it 10-8 was a crime.
Exactly.
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it seems the consensus is that the fifth should have been scored 10-9. ive not seen it. but assuming this is correct…
your opinion:
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mike fucked it up. nightmare, but unintentional
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someone got to him, this is corruption
Grasso was bloodied, tired and getting lit up most of round 5. Valentina overconfidently went for a Judo throw late and slipped off. Grasso took immediate advantage to her credit, got her back. Landed a few good shots and attempted subs that were defended by Valentina. 10-9 Grasso sending the belt back to Valentina. 1 judges 10-8 made it a draw. Had Valentina rode out the round, it was a clear decisive Valentina win.
Go watch round 2 where Valentina absolutely dominated Grasso including a mounted guillotine. Arguably deserving a 10-8 from all 3 judges based on Bells standards.
It was a near-50/50 fight, but Bell made sure that Valentina could not get the belt. It’s straight up corruption.
A draw could have been a fair outcome, but not ‘how’ this draw was ‘created’
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Round 4, the Grasso knees and the flurry against the fence as Valentina just covered up and I actually thought it was close to fight ending… how did so many media members give that round to Valentina? Or am I misremember that with a different round
Not the case at all. Some knees grazed, one hit back of head. Here is a breakdown. He argues the biggest blows of the round were still Val’s right hook and elbow and against the criteria, right or wrong, states the bigger the reaction, the bigger it counts. Val wobbled Alexa with the hook and cut her with the elbow and yes cuts count for damage impact too.
Close still but still an argument for Val winning the round. The knees were clearly not near fight ending in the slightest.
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Imo it was grasso point fighting like she tends to. And Val going for subs and the harder strikes.
I confused what happened against the fence in round 2 with round 4. There was a sequence where Grasso was landing knees and elbows and Val was just covering up. It happened in round 2 not 4.
Grasso was pretty vicious when she got the upper hand. Round 2 and Round 5. She tried for a armbar and lost position in Round 2 that mightve been a bad strategic move, but she was there to finish. Round 5 Gasso was mean with the ground and pound with Val just covering up for a bit.
If there is a 3rd fight, Val can not let Grasso have any access to her back at any point.
Val got out of Grasso’s 2 back takes in fight 2 without too much trouble. R5 she took some GNP, cant remember how far the RNC attempt got. When Grasso got Val’s back earlier and slammed her down, i dont think she held control for very long after that?
Yes, she did capitalize on the moments she had in R2 and R5 but imo she did not have the same overall advantage in the striking that she did in fight 1 which is credit to Val making the adjustments esp at her age at 35 and having the injured thumb. The guillotine was also very nice quite close. In R2, i also thought Val was quite hurt when covered up upon Grasso’s clinch strikes but then she showed she was still with it with the elbow and movement when she disengaged (was not on shaky legs).
It was a great fight. In some ways i enjoy these kinds of fights where there is different kinds of things happening, striking, grappling, subs, knockdowns, scrambles on the ground to slugfests like Weili Joanna 1 - not that i didnt enjoy that. Those are the 2 best womens fights that i can think of off the dome. This Val Alexa fight is also a FOTY contender.
Yeah, for all the talk of Grasso being the bigger puncher, while she def showed it in fight 1 and while she did drop Val in R2 of this fight, Val landed a huge hook in R4 as well that stumbled Alexa a bit and she also landed that cutting elbow in R4. This is why i think R4 could have also gone to Val - it was close though. Val was arguably on her way to winning 4-1 had she not done that silly misthrow. She has to leave that out the arsenal along with the spinning kicks (esp in R5 when they are more tired and sweaty).
Val’s jab was even more on point in this fight and Alexa didnt have too much of an answer for it, esp in R5. She really got lucky with the misthrow.
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But …fuck Mike Bell.
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butt*
Only the Asian dude got it right, Grasso 3-2
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He had to 10-8 it so Shevchenko didn’t rob grasso.
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R4 coulda went either way, thus 3-2 either way is acceptable.
Lol by robbing Valentina in the end. He gave Val r4.
Im happy judges are getting better training for 10-8 rounds. We should see more 10-10 rounds also, they are very rare.
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