Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Sarah Moras vs Tara LaRosa

In case you haven't heard, the UFC has posted the unedited fight videos from the first episode of UFC 18 on their website. So I was on Twitter last night waiting for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race broadcast. I was using my tablet. I love my tablet. So I started seeing rumblings from fans who believed that the Sarah Moras vs Tara LaRosa fight should have been called a draw and should have gone to a third round. So I figured I should look at it and see how I feel about it. And you can watch the fight video right here on the blog and form your own opinion. My short answer is I thought Sarah won the fight. It wasn't a decisive win but it wasn't a draw. This happens a lot in MMA. Some folks including judges don't know what they are watching during a close fight. They miss nuances. I always tell fighters who are effective fighting from the bottom position they need to be careful because some judges won't give credit for effective ground defense or effective activity from the bottom. Both rounds were fairly similar. Sarah got takedowns and Tara got a couple of reversals. The problem was Tara was not effective from top position. She did not advance her position. Sarah's ground defense was very effective. She kept Tara very close in her guard. And she landed her own shots from the bottom including several elbows to the head. So Sarah was more effective even from the bottom where she should have been at a disadvantage. Tara needed to do more to score points especially in top position. Getting top position isn't and shouldn't be enough. There needs to be more activity. It's a common mistake. Judges make this mistake all the time and they are supposed to be experts. Check out the match video for yourself.