Sunday, March 12, 2017

Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Bethe Correia vs Marion Reneau

Here's the match video of Bethe Correia vs Marion Reneau from last night's UFC show in Brazil. This fight emphasized the shortcomings of both fighters. Bethe is a mediocre fighter with no ground game or punching power. Her mouth has gotten her places in the UFC. Marion has lost fights due to her lack of aggression. She has skills but I think she tends to overthink things and not use her instincts. Her instincts should have told her that Bethe can't submit her and Bethe doesn't have the power to KO her. There's no reason for Marion to be tentative with Bethe. But that's what happened in the first two rounds. And in the first round, it's not like Bethe did much either. But she did enough to win the round 10-9. Two of the judges scored it that way. The third judge scored it 10-9 for Marion probably based on some strikes she landed from bottom position after Bethe took her down at the end of the round. I didn't think it made up for her lack of offense in the rest of the round. The second round was worse for Marion as she again did nothing and Bethe scored with jabs and combinations. Her punches couldn't break an egg. But she did enough to win the round 10-9. So now Marion is down two rounds and she needs a finish. Her trainer Doug Marshall read her the riot act between rounds. It's like Marion sending one of her students to the principal's office. Lo and behold, Marion is a different fighter in round three. She takes Bethe down and pounds her. If she had stuck to that, she would have got a stoppage. But instead she switches to a rear naked choke attempt that she is unable to complete. It was a mistake but I don't mind aggressive mistakes. I scored the round 10-8 for Marion. It's a 28-28 draw. But will the judges score round three 10-8? They did and the fight was a majority draw. If you watch the end of the fight, Bethe thought she won. Obviously she thought winning the first two rounds was enough. There would have been justifiable outrage if the judges had scored round three 10-9. Most fighters know when they are getting clobbered. Not Bethe. Marion blamed herself for not doing enough in the first two rounds. That's easy to fix. Be aggressive at all times. Time will tell if she has learned her lesson. Lack of aggression seems to be an epidemic as this is the third straight UFC women's fight that I have scored a draw. Fighters don't win fights by default. Aggression is the key to winning. Enjoy the video!

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