Who showed worse fight IQ, Pearce or Onama?

[EndlessCritic]

Jonathan Pearce and David Onama went to war last night, but both should be having nightmares about that fight -- and in particular the second round.

Repeatedly throughout the fight, Pearce took Onama down, then worked to take back mount. Onama showed fantastic defence, and repeatedly escaped Pearce's backmount in a fight reminiscent of Ray Borg vs Casey Kenney or Matt Arroyo vs Dan Cramer.

Yet, rather than disengage, Onama then repeatedly tried to take Pearce's back, only to immediately fall off and result in Pearce back in top position! Onama's back escapes were very high level, but his attempts to take Pearce's back were beyond sloppy.

Back mount is supposedly considered one of the most dominant positions in BJJ. The reality is, the position is just a tool, and the tool is only as good as the person using it. Some fighters clearly have elite back mounts, and should take the position. But the fact that Pearce kept going for it after losing it repeatedly was just horrible fight IQ.

Ryan Bader and Cain Velasquez made careers out of generally refusing to take back mount, instead preferring to ride their opponents from the top turtle. Bader's performance against Mitrione is a particularly good example of this, as he preferred to simply entangle Mitrione's near side leg from the top turtle, rendering Mitrione completely helpless (though creating a rolling kneebar risk). Watch at 15:08



Bottom line: Both Onama and Pearce are great fighters, but both need to rewatch that 2nd round badly.

 

[RonDante]

Pearce really didn’t have anything on the feet for onama and it was extremely obvious, so I go with onama for engaging where he was losing. It’s always annoying to see the guy with a reach and speed disadvantage head hunt like his life depends on it, attack the body even if just to score points

 

[dipstickjimmy]

Pearce really didn’t have anything on the feet for onama and it was extremely obvious, so I go with onama for engaging where he was losing. It’s always annoying to see the guy with a reach and speed disadvantage head hunt like his life depends on it, attack the body even if just to score points

Not MMA but if you saw the BKFC fights last night there was a crazy example of Low fight IQ with a guy head hunting to the point of gassing and getting himself KO'd from it. It was Riggs vs Angulo both age 41. Riggs looked like an athletic specimen and he was teeing off on Geico Caveman Angulo to the point where I thought he was going to break his hands on that caveman skull. He had him hurt and simply kept throwing full power shots at his head and gassed then walked onto a big right hand and was KO'd. It was early UFC or even toughman fight level stupidity.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Not MMA but if you saw the BKFC fights last night there was a crazy example of Low fight IQ with a guy head hunting to the point of gassing and getting himself KO'd from it. It was Riggs vs Angulo both age 41. Riggs looked like an athletic specimen and he was teeing off on Geico Caveman Angulo to the point where I thought he was going to break his hands on that caveman skull. He had him hurt and simply kept throwing full power shots at his head and gassed then walked onto a big right hand and was KO'd. It was early UFC or even toughman fight level stupidity.

That Riggs dude is insane. Fought on TUF 7, lost to Salter in the regionals, then was inactive from combat sports for 9 years.

 

[World eater]

Onama by far. He was tagging him with the jab almost at will. All he had to do is disengage and keep striking from range. That was very questionable iq. But I don’t mind, because it was very fun to watch, especially that ultra sloppy brawl at the end.

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

Not MMA but if you saw the BKFC fights last night there was a crazy example of Low fight IQ with a guy head hunting to the point of gassing and getting himself KO'd from it. It was Riggs vs Angulo both age 41. Riggs looked like an athletic specimen and he was teeing off on Geico Caveman Angulo to the point where I thought he was going to break his hands on that caveman skull. He had him hurt and simply kept throwing full power shots at his head and gassed then walked onto a big right hand and was KO'd. It was early UFC or even toughman fight level stupidity.

Right? And my hands hurt from watching that one. And for sure I got more stupid.

 

[Travis Alexander]

Not MMA but if you saw the BKFC fights last night there was a crazy example of Low fight IQ with a guy head hunting to the point of gassing and getting himself KO'd from it. It was Riggs vs Angulo both age 41. Riggs looked like an athletic specimen and he was teeing off on Geico Caveman Angulo to the point where I thought he was going to break his hands on that caveman skull. He had him hurt and simply kept throwing full power shots at his head and gassed then walked onto a big right hand and was KO'd. It was early UFC or even toughman fight level stupidity.

I was there for the Riggs vs Angulo fight ringside and firstly was shocked at the ability to eat that hellacious onslaught from Riggs in the beginning. Also it should be noted that he was blatantly grabbing the braided hair of Angulo to use as a fulcrum to pull him into his power punches and the ref did absolutely nothing to intervene. Big props to Angulo for taking everything Riggs had just to shadow realm him a minute and a half later. That fight was fucking crazy for as long as it lasted. You could feel the tide turn in an instant as Riggs punched himself out and Angulo more than capitalized on his opponent’s misjudgment of his chin.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

funny to me that Onama has 4 sub victories and no sub losses and Pearce has only 2 sub victories with 3 sub losses. I would have thought it would be the other way around. Pearces ground control is awful he should have finished Onama. Maybe he just doesn't have the strength or technique to hold someone down.

 

[amok attitude]

Onama by far. He was tagging him with the jab almost at will. All he had to do is disengage and keep striking from range. That was very questionable iq. But I don’t mind, because it was very fun to watch, especially that ultra sloppy brawl at the end.

Fun to watch i dont know bro. A slow guy forcing grappling to survive in a fight but being unable to control his opponent, is not what i call an entertaining fight.
They gave vibes of good regional fighters but they have too much holes in their respective game to hope to have a great run inside the UFC.

 

[Neck&Neck]

Hespectfully, it’s neck and neck

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Not MMA but if you saw the BKFC fights last night there was a crazy example of Low fight IQ with a guy head hunting to the point of gassing and getting himself KO'd from it. It was Riggs vs Angulo both age 41. Riggs looked like an athletic specimen and he was teeing off on Geico Caveman Angulo to the point where I thought he was going to break his hands on that caveman skull. He had him hurt and simply kept throwing full power shots at his head and gassed then walked onto a big right hand and was KO'd. It was early UFC or even toughman fight level stupidity.

Riggs was holding onto the other guys hair during the entire initial onslaught, too.

 

[StonedLemur]

Pearce really didn’t have anything on the feet for onama and it was extremely obvious, so I go with onama for engaging where he was losing. It’s always annoying to see the guy with a reach and speed disadvantage head hunt like his life depends on it, attack the body even if just to score points

Body shots open everything up, whether it's punches or kicks.
His head hunting is what made that fight close tbf.

Like you said, even if its to score points, it gives your opponent something else to worry about.

 

[El Panteron]

Bader's performance against Mitrione is a particularly good example of this, as he preferred to simply entangle Mitrione's near side leg from the top turtle, rendering Mitrione completely helpless (though creating a rolling kneebar risk).

Mitrione's rolling kneebar game sadly wasn't on point that night

 

[EndlessCritic]

Mitrione's rolling kneebar game sadly wasn't on point that night

alcantara/sanders...

 

[El Panteron]

alcantara/sanders...

Yes my brother I do get the part where people do that, I was cackling at Mitrione trying.

 

[TadDunbar]

I read the title as Pence and Obama

 

[World eater]

Fun to watch i dont know bro. A slow guy forcing grappling to survive in a fight but being unable to control his opponent, is not what i call an entertaining fight.
They gave vibes of good regional fighters but they have too much holes in their respective game to hope to have a great run inside the UFC.

What we find fun differs. What is is fun for me might not be fun for you. I watch regional level fighters all the time.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

I was there for the Riggs vs Angulo fight ringside and firstly was shocked at the ability to eat that hellacious onslaught from Riggs in the beginning. Also it should be noted that he was blatantly grabbing the braided hair of Angulo to use as a fulcrum to pull him into his power punches and the ref did absolutely nothing to intervene. Big props to Angulo for taking everything Riggs had just to shadow realm him a minute and a half later. That fight was fucking crazy for as long as it lasted. You could feel the tide turn in an instant as Riggs punched himself out and Angulo more than capitalized on his opponent’s misjudgment of his chin.

Yeah I saw he was initially trying to grab the collar tie up but as the braids gave way he just grabbed a handful since the ref did nothing about it. It was crazy but to me accentuated the "Bar Fight" feeling of the spectacle making it clear it is not a "Sport".

 

[michhmoggan]

Chandler imho

 

[The_Renaissance]

Both guys have a history of looking really erratic and scrappy in there.