UFC Fight Night picks go 4-0. That is 7-0 over the past two events.
I have to say that I was very impressed with Tom Lawlor’s performance and he lost a very tough fought match and has nothing to be ashamed of. Simpson won on heart, conditioning, and points. Lawlor looked bigger and had excellent striking.
In the Diaz vs Maynard fight, after seeing how bad the reach advantage was I started to worry. However, the analysis was correct. Maynard would be more active and more accurate on the feet. He avoided the ground and took the decision. It was weird that one judge saw it 30-27 Maynard, and another saw 29-28 Diaz, but Maynard got the vote from the third judge taking the split decision. The reach was a big issue, and Diaz did some very predictable head movement. Maynard also did some predictable combos as well. Both could have fainted a little more and then their setups would’ve worked. Everytime Diaz ducked down, it looked like he was folding himself in half, Maynard should have exited the pocket with a hook to the side of the body he was exiting to. Or faint to uppercut would have caught Diaz. Instead of the loopers Diaz threw, he could have just thrown straight punches all night and it would have caused all kinds of trouble for Maynard.
The Evan Dunham / Efrain Escudero fight was great. Efrain came out ultra confident while not doing much thinking he is a technical puncher. Dunham is a zombie with more skills. If the zombie fighter does not have greater skills, the zombie fighter will likely lose because they will get picked apart. You look at the Simpson fight as an example. Greater wrestling skills, greater conditioning. In the end that is what won the match. Dunham locked on a sick arm bar, but really that became a shoulder lock submission before Escudero tapped with some serious arm damage. I swear I thought his arm was going to pop any second.
Amir Sadollah had too much arsenal for Brad Blackburn. All three judges scored it 30-27.