Dan Hardy vs Akihiro Gono

[The Decay of Meaning]

A fight that went to the decision. It became a split decision victory for Dan Hard.

Dan Hardy seemed to strike the most of the two, but the majority of them Akihiro avoided perfectly using his boxing skills. If you study the fight closely, it seems that A. Gono landed the majority of the shots.

In addition Akihiro got some really nice punches in, got three or four takedowns and even got the back of Dan Hardy.

It should be said in Dan Hardy's defense that he got away from those takedowns very nicely, but still, he got taken down and ended in unfavorable positions.

Is it just me or should this fight have gone to Akihiro?

[Doublejab]

Nope you aren't, I also scored it for Gono. I guess 'Octogan Control' made a difference, which basically means you score higher if you're walking forward. Stupid criteria IMHO.

Given how there careers have gone since then the decision going the other way might have made quite a difference as well!

[slipthejab]

Thanks for the tip off on this fight. Very good fight to watch. Dan Hardy almost wasn't able to take advantage of his reach because Gono was to slippery. He made Dan miss so many of his shots.

It was a very close split decision. By one point basically. Tough break for Gono. The back pedaling hurt him. Judges usually won't look favorably on that even if it is tactically smarter for the fighter as it was in this case with Gono.

His elusiveness and his constant head movement made it very difficult for Dan Hardy to land flush with anything. Hardy looks like a solid puncher and kicker and perhaps the overall physically stronger of the two... but for all of that he wasn't really able to press his advantage against the smaller, shorter reach Gono. So yeah... I'd have scored that bout for Gono as well.

Tough break for Gono. Good heads up for anyone who takes on Hardy from here on in that he basically leaves his head sitting square on his shoulders at all time.