Lessons to Be Learned From Askren vs Santos Main Event
Reigning ONE Championship Welterweight Champion Ben Askren, has made consistent, confident claims that he is the best 170 pound fighter in the world. On Friday, at ONE Championship: Valor of Champions, Askren looked anything but that. He was not alone, because neither the organisation nor the officials looked great either.
Askren’s title defense against Luis “Sapo” Santos was expected to be another routine display of his skills. Santos came in regarded as a good, rather than great fighter, who had been finished by Ben Saunders and Ryan Ford in previous outings. Fighters who themselves aren’t on Askren’s level either. Whatever happened, no matter how good Askren looked, the fight was not going to confirm him as the greatest in the world.
For the two minutes and nineteen seconds that the fight lasted, Askren barely looked like he belonged in the top fifteen, let alone at the top of the division. Santos resisted Askren’s desperate attempts to take him down, even using Askren’s aggression against him with slick throws that put the champion on his back. On the feet, there was only one winner, and that wasn’t Askren, who was taken off his feet by a savage leg kick.
Could Santos have kept that pace up for twenty five minutes? Probably not, and Askren may well have outlasted him and regained control of the fight. Sadly, we would not find out the answer.
Askren clearly, accidentally, poked Santos in his right eye midway through the first round, before landing a takedown that Santos was in no position to defend. Referee, Olivier Coste called the timeout at Santos’ request, standing both men up.
Then the pantomime began. At first, Coste refused to believe that there had been any eye poke, attempting to reset them in the same position on the mat. If he hadn’t seen it, Coste could not call it, but that doesn’t absolve him from blame. Seeing is after all an important part of his job.
There were immediate communication problems as Coste told Santos to get up, issuing warning after warning, as the Brazilian ignored him. Santos could not understand the instructions he was being given, something which was being made even more difficult by a growing inability to see out of his right eye.
As Askren became increasingly frustrated, Coste called for a review hoping to see a replay of what actually happened. He would also point out to Askren that Santos did not speak English, so he could not instruct him properly.
Coste gave Santos five minutes which passed with little change. Askren was still frustrated and Santos was still unable to continue. The referee tried to call the fight off and award it to Askren as Santos refused to continue. Officials at cage side, including CEO Victor Cui, stopped that from happening.
Under advisement, Coste now accepted that the eye poke was legitimate, but it was clear that nobody in the building wanted to believe that the fight was over.
Santos was then given another, more official, five minutes. Time, and more time… and then some more time on top of that. At least they now had Santos’ coaches translating for him to relay the message that if he could not continue this fight would be called off.
Eventually, nearly twelve minutes after the initial eye poke, Olivier Coste had no choice but to wave the fight off. The official verdict a no contest.
On some levels it was disappointing, on others embarrassing. That Olivier Coste could not get a review despite numerous requests for one was the latter. So was the inability to communicate with Santos, or have a plan in place to do so should such a situation occur. They are both things that ONE Championship should learn from.
The disappointment comes from the fact that, prior to the eye poke and the chaos that followed, this was quickly turning into an intriguing title fight.
How should be judged from two minutes of action is questionable, but Ben Askren looked further away from being the best welterweight in the world than he had ever been before.
Sijara Eubanks – Remember the Name
Invicta Fighting Championships 12 took place on Friday night from the Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri. With nine all female fights on the card, the opener between Sijara Eubanks and Gina Begley had received little fanfare.
Both women were making their professional debuts, and Begley was a late replacement for the injured Roma Pawelek. If that led you to overlook the fight and tune in late, you missed the debut of a fighter with genuine top ten potential.
Sijara Eubanks made it 1-0 with a controlled, and eventually vicious performance. A decorated Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, Eubanks elected to stand with her opponent for the majority of the first round. It soon became clear that the fight was only taking place there because she wanted it to.
With 90 seconds of the first round remaining, Eubanks closed the distance and manhandled Begley, dumping her on the ground. From that point the only question was whether Eubanks had enough time to find a finish. Begley was mauled, as an eventual two-fisted beat down forced John McCarthy to stop the bout with just one second left on the clock.
Sijara Eubanks is a name you could be hearing a lot more of in the future. Her aggressive jiu jitsu style seems to be the perfect fit for mixed martial arts, and already puts her ahead of most in her division when the fights hit the mat. If she can continue to develop the other areas of her game she will become a genuine contender.
Commendable Judging at InvictaFC 12
Fans, journalists, fighters, coaches, and promoters, we are all quick to wave our fists at mixed martial arts judges when we perceive them to have made mistakes. No injustice goes unnoticed, and often, even a fair score draws the ire of the internet when a fight is close enough to go either way.
Forgotten are the numerous fights that are judged correctly, often under difficult circumstances. One such fight took place on Friday night at InvictaFC 12, where former training partners Shannon Sinn and Maureen Riordon faced off in the prelims.
We are led to believe that judging is such a difficult job because it is subjective. Of course, that isn’t really the case. Or at least, it shouldn’t be. There are strict, definite rules and guidelines on how fights should be scored. Still, it is often suggested that certain factors can sway judges towards incorrect score cards.
Things like the amount of strikes a fighter throws, even when they aren’t landing. The emphasis that they might put on them, with vocal outbursts accompanying every shot. Even superficial damage that might have been taken, a bloodied fighter giving the impression that they are losing a fight which in truth they are winning.
Throughout the entertaining scrap, Riordon threw a lot, missed a lot, and made a lot of noise doing it. Meanwhile her opponent picked her off with crisper, more notable straight punches and counters, despite her face being bloodied.
At the fight’s conclusion the judges handed in scorecards of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 to give Shannon Sinn the unanimous decision victory. By and large, they got it right, and that deserves praise, especially when we are so quick to jump all over them when they don’t.
