Ok so I was so shocked and well shocked I had to watch it again. First of all this wasn't a bad fight. Round 1 might have been the most entertaining round without an official KO all year. So for what it is worth here is what I saw.
Round 1
Fedor comes out clearly planning on eliminating Fabio quickly. Fabio's plan appears to be lean on the cage, weather the flurry, and catch Fedor exiting. And guess what? It happens. Fabio stands through a rough exchange and then a second and catches Fedor. Fedor is in trouble is clearly out twice Maldonado and pounding away mercilessly. Ref doesn't stop the fight (where was this guy on the most recent Belfort/Henderson fight?). Fedor works to his feet and then stumbles away. Fabio pursues and is clearly gassed. His punches continue catching the hobbled Fedor but have almost no lasting impact and lack the snap and power we saw early. Fedor is basically a stationary target the rest of the round. He does catch Maldonado a couple times with clean jabs and nice 1-2 combos but nothing of note except after one Fabio steps back and his nose is bleeding badly. I suspect his nose broke at some point around this time. But this round is clearly Fabio's round. If Herb Dean is in there is over quickly. Unfortunately for Maldonado he comes away from this round gassed and tired and in my non expert opinion with a broke nose. All keys to what happens next.
10-8 Maldonado
Between round. Fedor looks like ground beef. He is up off the stool first. Maldonado has Dr. working on his face. I suspect nose and that is definitely the case in between 2-3.
Round 2
Maldonado comes out quick and sticks Fedor in his right eye. It's almost swollen shut. Fedor gets him in a Thai clinch and clearly hurts Maldonado. After this Maldonado looks like a bloody mess. The rest of this round is marked by Fedor throwing combos and Maldonado slowing throughout. Fedor does go down but the punch doesn't appear to be the reason. He is circling and his feet slip out from under him. A short while later he falls in the same area throwing a kick. I suspect the mat is wet. Regardless this round is marked by some good striking by Fedor and slow ineffective striking by Maldonado.
10-9 Fedor
In between Maldonado is spitting up blood. His nose looks horrible and obviously hurts to the touch. I am confident it's broken. He looks completely gassed and is breathing hard.
Round 3
Maldonado looks pitiful. Fedor looks equally as bad if not worse. Maldonado basically does nothing but eat Fedor's labored combos throughout this round. His punches are slow and Fedor slips almost all of them. In the first two minutes there are 2-3 times it looks like Maldonado is done. It is Fedor's most effective striking since early in round 1. Why Fedor doesn't take him down and ground and pound is beyond me. There was a period of about 2 minutes where it's seems Maldonado missed everything he threw. Fedor lands some combos here and there but mostly commits to staying at distance and sticking the jab. It works. Maldonado rallies late in the round but Fedor sticks him a few times and he has to retreat. Every time he retreats he grabs his nose. Round ends.
10-9 Fedor probably his best round.
So basically I scored it 2 rounds to 1 but scored it a 28-28 draw based on the one sidedness of round 1. That said almost NEVER in any MMA league are judges unanimous on 10-8 rounds (see link below). So it comes as no shock that it's only a draw on one card. 10-8 rounds in themselves are rare enough much less in Russia when you are scoring against their most popular athlete.
Post fight Fedor looks bad. Maldonado looks bad. Maldonado appears happy to have went 3 rounds with Fedor. Fedor appears disappointed but then is laughing in the interview. I suspect this is the end of Fedor. He didn't look like a MMA fighter. He looked like a boxer. Had he incorporated some Sambo in this fight and took it to the ground I think he could've won it in the third. He didn't. He is too one dimensional at this point to continue. Though he could still probably easily avenge that Bigfoot Silva loss.
CSAC's Andy Foster: 'The difference between a 10-8 and 10-9 round is having adverse consequences on MMA fighters'
Round 1
Fedor comes out clearly planning on eliminating Fabio quickly. Fabio's plan appears to be lean on the cage, weather the flurry, and catch Fedor exiting. And guess what? It happens. Fabio stands through a rough exchange and then a second and catches Fedor. Fedor is in trouble is clearly out twice Maldonado and pounding away mercilessly. Ref doesn't stop the fight (where was this guy on the most recent Belfort/Henderson fight?). Fedor works to his feet and then stumbles away. Fabio pursues and is clearly gassed. His punches continue catching the hobbled Fedor but have almost no lasting impact and lack the snap and power we saw early. Fedor is basically a stationary target the rest of the round. He does catch Maldonado a couple times with clean jabs and nice 1-2 combos but nothing of note except after one Fabio steps back and his nose is bleeding badly. I suspect his nose broke at some point around this time. But this round is clearly Fabio's round. If Herb Dean is in there is over quickly. Unfortunately for Maldonado he comes away from this round gassed and tired and in my non expert opinion with a broke nose. All keys to what happens next.
10-8 Maldonado
Between round. Fedor looks like ground beef. He is up off the stool first. Maldonado has Dr. working on his face. I suspect nose and that is definitely the case in between 2-3.
Round 2
Maldonado comes out quick and sticks Fedor in his right eye. It's almost swollen shut. Fedor gets him in a Thai clinch and clearly hurts Maldonado. After this Maldonado looks like a bloody mess. The rest of this round is marked by Fedor throwing combos and Maldonado slowing throughout. Fedor does go down but the punch doesn't appear to be the reason. He is circling and his feet slip out from under him. A short while later he falls in the same area throwing a kick. I suspect the mat is wet. Regardless this round is marked by some good striking by Fedor and slow ineffective striking by Maldonado.
10-9 Fedor
In between Maldonado is spitting up blood. His nose looks horrible and obviously hurts to the touch. I am confident it's broken. He looks completely gassed and is breathing hard.
Round 3
Maldonado looks pitiful. Fedor looks equally as bad if not worse. Maldonado basically does nothing but eat Fedor's labored combos throughout this round. His punches are slow and Fedor slips almost all of them. In the first two minutes there are 2-3 times it looks like Maldonado is done. It is Fedor's most effective striking since early in round 1. Why Fedor doesn't take him down and ground and pound is beyond me. There was a period of about 2 minutes where it's seems Maldonado missed everything he threw. Fedor lands some combos here and there but mostly commits to staying at distance and sticking the jab. It works. Maldonado rallies late in the round but Fedor sticks him a few times and he has to retreat. Every time he retreats he grabs his nose. Round ends.
10-9 Fedor probably his best round.
So basically I scored it 2 rounds to 1 but scored it a 28-28 draw based on the one sidedness of round 1. That said almost NEVER in any MMA league are judges unanimous on 10-8 rounds (see link below). So it comes as no shock that it's only a draw on one card. 10-8 rounds in themselves are rare enough much less in Russia when you are scoring against their most popular athlete.
Post fight Fedor looks bad. Maldonado looks bad. Maldonado appears happy to have went 3 rounds with Fedor. Fedor appears disappointed but then is laughing in the interview. I suspect this is the end of Fedor. He didn't look like a MMA fighter. He looked like a boxer. Had he incorporated some Sambo in this fight and took it to the ground I think he could've won it in the third. He didn't. He is too one dimensional at this point to continue. Though he could still probably easily avenge that Bigfoot Silva loss.
CSAC's Andy Foster: 'The difference between a 10-8 and 10-9 round is having adverse consequences on MMA fighters'
