Idk if he Lawler was like "I'm just gonna chill and conserve energy" or if he went to sleep for a second but that arm went limp. It wasn't bracing shit. I felt like it should have been stopped when Askren was taking several clean shots to the face though.
I think he knew he was physically overmatched early and was thinking/hoping Usman's cardio would give in the championship rounds. When it didn't he was prob thinking "why let myself get knocked out and possibly damage my brain?"
Considering how those last 3 fights looked on paper this card has to be considered a failure right? Best card since Khabib-Connor and it just fizzled our at the end
Props to Smith for not saying he couldn't continue. If he had said he was rocked, he might be the champ right now.
Terrible refereeing from Dean. It's tough but you have to be able to see that situation for what it is. That choke doesn't have a high rate of finishes (unless you're Newton I guess) and Lawler kept his hand controlled when lifted. He's being choked not sure what he wanted to see from him exactly. I'm glad White wants to run these two again.
Lawler's explanation in the post fight press conference makes sense to me. He said he was never being choked, and he felt Askren squeezing the shit out of his head, so he figured he was in no danger, he'd just hang out and let him burn his arm out. He said when Herb picked his arm up, he gave him a thumbs up. He also said he couldn't hear anything because hos left ear was pinned against Askren and his right ear was under Askren's arm, so that's why he wasn't responding to herb asking if he was OK. Considering who Lawler is and his reputation, I'm inclined to believe him, even without all of the evidence that seems to back his version up.
Lawler said he would do it again. But Askren said he's not fighting Lawler again. Said he didn't like the matchup the first time, so he's not doing it again. He wants to fight the winner of the Masvidal-Till fight. The obvious translation is he thinks Lawler can beat him, so fuck that, he wants to fight someone else. Askren could come in to the UFC and be an appealing voice against Dana. There are plenty of reasons for most fans to not love Dana. Instead, he's coming off like a huge douchebag. He's going to manage to make people like Dana.
Watching it again sober, I can empathize with Herb, and I understand what his rationale was, but he panicked and he screwed up.
It's a tough call in the moment like that, and I also feel for Herb. But, at the same time, it's his job to get it right. He lifted Lawler's arm, Lawler gave a thumbs up, and a second later Herb stopped the fight. We have the benefit of replay, but that's literally what happened. The amount of misinformation, or bad information going around is kind of annoying. The chairman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission said it was a good stoppage. Which is debatable, but I get why he'd take that positions. BUT then he takes it a step further and says: “You could see right in front of us when Herb picked up his hand, his hand just dropped, which would be indicative of him being out. … There was no doubt in our mind that he was out.” Which is 100% completely not true. Like that's literally not what happened, and we have video evidence of that. Askren said: “I had it under his chin and I thought it was tight" No...you didn't have it under his chin. That's simply not true, and again, we have video and pictures that prove that's not true. And think about that, if it is under the chin it was a pressure choke, and it caused Lawler to go out, how does he come back?? He's being choked unconscious, and the person choking him is not letting go, not letting up, if anything digging it in deeper, and somehow he regains consciousness? That's not possible. It cannot happen that way. if I put you in a pressure choke and you go unconscious, you DO NOT regain consciousness until I release that choke and blood starts going to your brain again. AND when you come back you don't just pop back into consciousness and start arguing. You do this:
Went back and watched the Woodley fight again and he just didn’t fight. I’m still as dumbfounded as I was last night.
#freezingcoldtakes Given the level of competition Usman faced prior to this - even RDA who is world class but just too small for WW - I didn't think Usman could dominate Woodley like that in the wrestling aspect. He absolutely wrestlefucked him to death. Question now is who can beat Usman at ww? It would almost take a perfect fight from a world class striker w/ great takedown defense like a Wonderboy or Lawler to catch him early in the fight. Or maybe Askren could weather the storm? I really don't know at this point. In an ideal world I would love to see Khabib jump up and challenge him.
Beating a dead horse here, but in the post fight interview, Askren is asked: did you think he was out? He answers: If you watch the tape, I was actually kinda shocked by it, but Herb lifts his hand a couple times, and says "Robbie are you ok?" and nothing happens, so I actually though, well shit, maybe he is actually out Think about that answer. Why would he be so surprised that Lawler would be out?? Askren is now saying he clearly knew Lawler was out at the time, but in his post-fight interview he was "kinda shocked"? Seems strange.