Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Valerie Letourneau vs Maryna Moroz

Here's the video for Valerie Letourneau vs Maryna Moroz from last night's UFC show in Saskatoon. Valerie is a veteran fighter from Montreal who has fought mostly at a heavier weight but is trying 115. She trains now at American Top Team in Florida. Maryna is from the Ukraine and trains with her boxer husband. In her UFC debut, she beat Joanne Calderwood with an armbar from bottom position. She has won several fights using this move. So what happens if she can't get an armbar from the bottom. Because you can be sure that Valerie's trainers at ATT scouted this. In round one, Maryna is quicker but Valerie is bigger. Both are landing punches and neither has KO power. Maryna kicks but she isn't very good at it. Valerie drops her with a punch and then jumps on her. Of course Valerie needs to be conservative because of Maryna's rep of hooking an armbar from bottom position. So for Valerie this becomes a lay and pray strategy and sometimes that can work if the ref is lenient which Yves Lavigne was in this fight. Maryna was still going after the arm. But at some point she needed to get out of there because she's losing the round. Then they get tangled up and neither could do anything. I don't know why Lavigne didn't stand them up then. Valerie wins round one 10-9. Round two is mostly even but Maryna hurts Valerie with a punch with about a minute left in the round. So what does Maryna do? She goes for a flying armbar. Are you kidding me? Of course when that failed it let Valerie off the hook. Maybe if Maryna followed up with more strikes, she could have finished. That's just terrible strategy. I gave Maryna round two 10-9. In round three, Valerie knocked her down and sat on her again. She was just stalling knowing if she held Maryna down, she gets the win. Again I don't know why Lavigne didn't stand them up. He never even warned Valerie. Maryna tries for a kimura and then a triangle choke but she's still losing because she's on the bottom. When she starts making progress with the triangle, Valerie gets out of there. I scored the fight 29-28 for Valerie. The judges scored it 29-28, 29-28, 30-27. Maryna needs to learn that when your usual strategy doesn't work, you need to adjust. She didn't do that. Valerie has trouble making 115. She missed weight on the first pass. A lot of fighters use IV fluids to rehydrate after a tough cut. As of Oct. 1, the UFC won't allow fighters to use IVs anymore. Valerie is one of several fighters who may be forced to move up in weight because of that. Enjoy the video!