Anton Kuivanen vs. Justin Salas [HD 720]

I can't stand these commentators equalizing takedown to a landed haymaker. Salas should have probably won but not 30-27... It's not about the takedown but what you do with it, it just puts you in a better position to land punches downwards compared to upwards since you have more space to move and gravity on your side. Takedown by itself shouldn't count for anything unless it's a rampage powerbomb or the fight is on the concrete which it isn't. Whack commentary and judging all I can say...

Unfortunate to kuivanen.. overall in ufc you gotta be more active and takeing risks and maybe also fighting little bit on the edge.

Kuivanen's squared stance just can't work against a southpaw who's in a more sideways stance and who can threaten with takedowns. It just results in a too great of a reach difference and on top of that Kuivanen had to immediately shoot out of the pocked in fear of a takedown. If he got to stay inside he might've been able to work something.

This was a really difficult match up for Kuivanen. He did demonstrate fairly good TDD and he had good movement. Escaping bottom position seemed to work pretty well too. I'm just not sure if that's enough for UFC, especially in lightweight division. I hope they'll give Kuivanen another chance and hopefully it'll be against a less difficult style.

I'd like to know if the non-finnish people here liked what they saw from Kuivanen. "Liked" as in "would give another match for him".

commentators suck bigtime. i get less annoyed by using mute function.

bring back joe roegan and mike goldberg.
or at least a replica of roegan

the fin? why did he have the flag of Estonia?

ffs! I don't like USA chants or nationality too much, but I still rooted hard for my fellow finn. And like 50% of the guys are from usa. 1 Fnnish, 1 swedish, so I want them to do good

ToughGuy wrote:I can't stand these commentators equalizing takedown to a landed haymaker. Salas should have probably won but not 30-27... It's not about the takedown but what you do with it, it just puts you in a better position to land punches downwards compared to upwards since you have more space to move and gravity on your side. Takedown by itself shouldn't count for anything unless it's a rampage powerbomb or the fight is on the concrete which it isn't. Whack commentary and judging all I can say...

this.

wilhoku wrote:Unfortunate to kuivanen.. overall in ufc you gotta be more active and takeing risks and maybe also fighting little bit on the edge.

you gotta be on top, when grappling... or press against cage when clintching

v1rta wrote:the fin? why did he have the flag of Estonia?

Born in Estonia. Raised and lives in Finland.
I was hoping he would have been maybe a little more aggressive towards the end to pull of a W here. I hope he gets a second chance.

By the way did the hook sweep count as a takedown? Do sweeps like that count as a takedown at all or is there a separate section for reversals in the rules?

Overall this was a higher than average debut fight for the lightweight division. I agree that Salas needed to do more with his take downs and he is clearly not in the "elite" category with his striking. But you gotta give the cowboy credit because his movement, conditioning, and technicals were polished. Proof positive that TW and the Grudge Training Center in Denver know what they are doing. I havent been able to figure out how that tiny gym produces so many UFC competitors. As for the Finnish Phenom, what a dissapointing outcome. He could have won that fight if he executed a better game plan. His striking, kicking, and overall strength was superior but he clearly didnt have a game plan. He is better that. Despite his obvious talent, If he doesnt upgrade his coaching team soon he'll be packing his bags back to Northern Europe.

MMA Diehard wrote:He could have won that fight if he executed a better game plan. His striking, kicking, and overall strength was superior but he clearly didnt have a game plan. He is better that. Despite his obvious talent, If he doesnt upgrade his coaching team soon he'll be packing his bags back to Northern Europe.

I agree. Understanding the corner of Anton made it just so much more clear they didn't have alot to offer strategy-wise. It was more in the lines of "cmon Anton do your thing"
I can't do any better ofcourse but comparing to the more known coaches it's clear they have to focus on that aspect of the fighting game more.

But honestly, it's not like they could've said more. We know Kuivanen needed to get in yet he had more and more trouble with Salas' lead hand. Salas started to land his jab successfully and that's something Anton really should have been able to deflect given that it was orthodox vs. southpaw. Towards the end Kuivanen was losing the striking game as well.

It looked like Kuivanen just didn't know how to attack a southpaw, especially one that threatened with takedowns. What he needs is that Edgar-esque lateral movement. He's quick to move forward and backward but that becomes predictable and Salas capitalized on it.
Learning to attack effectively while backing off would also be great but that's hard to teach to a fighter.

Anyways, we're talking about very fundamental problems here. I truly hope this match brought up his weaknesses so that they translate directly into good coaching decisions.

raineri wrote:

v1rta wrote:the fin? why did he have the flag of Estonia?

Born in Estonia. Raised and lives in Finland.
I was hoping he would have been maybe a little more aggressive towards the end to pull of a W here. I hope he gets a second chance.

By the way did the hook sweep count as a takedown? Do sweeps like that count as a takedown at all or is there a separate section for reversals in the rules?

ok! I thought it was the americans mixing up the countries again

where can i see this video guys ? wanna see badly,cus kuivanen is from my country.Fighting out findand.Someone has this video link ?

http://www.fightvideomma.com/2012/02/justin-salas-vs-anton-kuivanen-fight.html