Joe Rogan thinks Petr Yan should have gotten the nod over Sean O'Malley at UFC 280, and he wonders about the significance of Yan’s takedowns in the wake of the close outcome.
Yan (16-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) lost a controversial split decision to O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) this past Saturday in Abu Dhabi, which turned heads, including ex-lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
While Rogan admits he thought Yan won the fight, he credits O’Malley for the damage he was able to inflict. However, Rogan believes it comes down to the impact of the six takedowns Yan scored over the course of 15 minutes.
“He was certainly in it against Petr Yan, who’s a former champion and one of the best in the division, by far the No. 1 contender” Rogan said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “It was a very close fight, and he definitely hurt Petr on multiple occasions, caught him with that big knee, rocked him. The question is: How much is the takedown worth? How much is control worth?
“Takedowns without damage, what is that value? I’m not denying that I thought Petr Yan won, because I did think he won at the end of it. But takedowns without damage vs. standup with damage, because ‘Sugar’ landed more strikes standing and had big moments. Yan had some big moments, too, one big left hand that rocked him. The question is: How valuable are those takedowns, and how valuable is that top game and that control?”
Rogan has been vocal about his discontent with MMA’s 10-point must scoring system. With UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling dominating T.J. Dillashaw on the ground en route to a second-round TKO in the co-main event, Rogan questions how that round should have been exactly scored as all three judges awarded Sterling a 10-8 in Round 1.
“The first round of Aljamain Sterling and T.J. Dillashaw, that is a f*cking dominant round,” Rogan said. “What is that? Is that a 10-7? Is it a 10-6? That’s an all Aljamain round. He beat the sh*t out of T.J. Dillashaw, took him down, dominated him, took his back, beat the f*ck out of him. What is that? How do you score that round? How could that be better scored with a better system.”
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