NateR
04-24-2010, 10:04 PM
From Matt's blog:
Sorry about the late blog. Finally got home from the fight and immediately started moving into a new house. Moved to a place that has a little acreage at the end of a subdivision where the kids will be safe walking down the road. I can go out the back door and be on my farm in five minutes riding a 4-wheeler. Audra can go out the front door and drive to the grocery store in five minutes. It's the best of both worlds and she can consider herself in town and I can look out any and all windows and not see a neighbor.
Everybody is probably wondering about the fight and I can say that it definitely went my way. My plan was to stay on my feet with Renzo and not give him a chance to work his slick submissions. I thought that was the most uncomfortable place for him to be and when people are uncomfortable, they tire easily. After I re-watched the fight I realized there were probably a couple of times in the second and early third round where I could have gone in for a finish, but one thing you need to realize is that people are dangerous up against the fence. If you don't believe this statement, you need to re-watch Robbie Lawler's last fight. I think I had the best cornermen there, Jeremy Horn, Matt Pena, Robbie Lawler, and forum-favorite, Boomtown (as Hanna likes to call him).
The other fights on my card were very interesting. The BJ Penn fight didn't go like I had it scored, but this was the fight right after mine and I had several things going on as I watched it, so maybe my scoring wouldn't be that accurate. From what I saw, I thought BJ won the first three rounds. Frankie's gameplan was to use a lot of movement, but to be honest I didn't see it as really effective striking. I thought BJ landed more power shots (even though it didn't look like it at the end of the fight) and damage is my first criteria for judging. Second would be aggressiveness, which I don't know if I would count Frankie's movement as being aggressive, because it's not like he was backing BJ up. I even think you could see the disappointment in Frankie's eyes, when one judge gave all five rounds to one fighter, as he knew he didn't win all rounds. So I didn't have it as the judges had it, but I'm a firm believer that you've got to beat the champ. He's the defender, you are the challenger and you have to take the belt from him. Nothing against Frankie, he's a great guy and I wish him the best.
The Anderson fight was interesting in a whole different way. I don't understand why Anderson didn't want to finish the fight other than maybe he was tired. That's really all I want to say about Anderson's fight. Don't know how the UFC is going to do it, but I hear talk of trying to make fighters be more entertaining.
The UFC has contacted me about a possible next fight. I can't say who, where or when yet; but there are plenty of rumors floating around about it. As soon as I get confirmation that all is settled, I will let everybody know.
I want to thank everybody for their support and mostly the prayers. So everybody have a good weekend.
Here is the Bible verse for the week:
My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son he delights in. (Proverbs 3:11-12)
-matt
Sorry about the late blog. Finally got home from the fight and immediately started moving into a new house. Moved to a place that has a little acreage at the end of a subdivision where the kids will be safe walking down the road. I can go out the back door and be on my farm in five minutes riding a 4-wheeler. Audra can go out the front door and drive to the grocery store in five minutes. It's the best of both worlds and she can consider herself in town and I can look out any and all windows and not see a neighbor.
Everybody is probably wondering about the fight and I can say that it definitely went my way. My plan was to stay on my feet with Renzo and not give him a chance to work his slick submissions. I thought that was the most uncomfortable place for him to be and when people are uncomfortable, they tire easily. After I re-watched the fight I realized there were probably a couple of times in the second and early third round where I could have gone in for a finish, but one thing you need to realize is that people are dangerous up against the fence. If you don't believe this statement, you need to re-watch Robbie Lawler's last fight. I think I had the best cornermen there, Jeremy Horn, Matt Pena, Robbie Lawler, and forum-favorite, Boomtown (as Hanna likes to call him).
The other fights on my card were very interesting. The BJ Penn fight didn't go like I had it scored, but this was the fight right after mine and I had several things going on as I watched it, so maybe my scoring wouldn't be that accurate. From what I saw, I thought BJ won the first three rounds. Frankie's gameplan was to use a lot of movement, but to be honest I didn't see it as really effective striking. I thought BJ landed more power shots (even though it didn't look like it at the end of the fight) and damage is my first criteria for judging. Second would be aggressiveness, which I don't know if I would count Frankie's movement as being aggressive, because it's not like he was backing BJ up. I even think you could see the disappointment in Frankie's eyes, when one judge gave all five rounds to one fighter, as he knew he didn't win all rounds. So I didn't have it as the judges had it, but I'm a firm believer that you've got to beat the champ. He's the defender, you are the challenger and you have to take the belt from him. Nothing against Frankie, he's a great guy and I wish him the best.
The Anderson fight was interesting in a whole different way. I don't understand why Anderson didn't want to finish the fight other than maybe he was tired. That's really all I want to say about Anderson's fight. Don't know how the UFC is going to do it, but I hear talk of trying to make fighters be more entertaining.
The UFC has contacted me about a possible next fight. I can't say who, where or when yet; but there are plenty of rumors floating around about it. As soon as I get confirmation that all is settled, I will let everybody know.
I want to thank everybody for their support and mostly the prayers. So everybody have a good weekend.
Here is the Bible verse for the week:
My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son he delights in. (Proverbs 3:11-12)
-matt