I think Cruz is going to get hurt. I like Cruz and he's great but i think he hasn't had enough recent fights to take out the new bad boy of the bantamweight.
I scored Cruz to win . Alot of takedowns...3-2. Another fight where i need to watch again out of slight bias.
It was a great fight from a technical standpoint, but the styles of Cruz and TJ don't make for the most exciting fight so it wasn't for everyone. Both of them are always moving, that's their style.
I found the fight very tense for me and frustrating for Dillashaw. TJ's face looked quite a bit more beaten up. Pretty great win considering what Cruz has been through.
They both landed about an even amount of shots. TJ was more aggressive and throwing power and Cruz was more evasive and using technique. TJ landed 4 headkicks from what I remember, Cruz got 2-3 takedowns that went nowhere. TJ stood right back up. I don't really care about either fighter too much.. but I had TJ winning 3 out of 5 rounds and holding the strap. I won't call it a robbery.. but it was not a good call IMO.
Oh and didn't TJ also land some BRUTAL leg kicks? I'll say he definitely should have won that.. I'll have to rewatch and score it all the way through though.
Which goes to show you the flaw of fight metrics. In the first 3 rounds Dillashaw struggled to land anything like a clean shot whereas Cruz landed multiple clean hard shots. I don't see how it was in any way contentious. I can't see any argument for Dillashaw winning the first 3 rounds, between the striking and the takedowns Cruz was clearly in control (indeed the commentary in the fight reflects this as well, for the first 3 rounds they're talking about Cruz's control and how Dillashaw is struggling).
I scored it 1, 4, 5 T.J. The thing is that mma does not judge defense (or they are not supposed to). Yet everybody goes on about Cruz making T.J miss (and most of the time not following up). If you're not scoring defence you SHOULD be scoring offense, T. J was more offensive, and no takedowns really lasted. Controlled the center more etc.
I can agree about not scoring defence (it being a reward in itself) but also remember Cruz scoring quite a few pot shots, long hooks, forearm strikes among all the dipping and weaving. If fighter A throws 10 shots and connects 1 and fighter B throws 1 shot and connects it then to me that's a draw no matter how much fighter A "looked" to be on the offence.
Equally if one fighter is aggressive and lands 10 insignificant scuffs, and the other is evasive and lands 10 solid hits then to me that's a win for the second fighter.
