This was pretty great stuff. I have been wavering on Riddle a bit this year, but putting him in with another MMA guy minimizes some of his more questionable attributes. The opening mat section between the two was pretty great, both guys were just rolling, looking for submissions grabbing advantages, high level stuff which is always good to watch. Riddle is a super impressive athlete and will often do something jaw dropping, after the matwork they exchange tough guy chops, elbows and kicks, and Riddle ends it with a pele kick which looked like it was in fast forward. Lawlor has a fun dick head charisma, shit talking, claiming Dana White sent him to take Riddle out, he is a natural heel and I dug him. His counter of the senton with a rear naked choke was especially cool. Finish was really awesome with Riddle throwing on a super fast triangle choke, and Lawlor trying to slam his way out of hit, only to turn it into a pinfall right before he went out.

I agree, this was great. Easily the best Lawlor match I've ever seen to this point and one of the best Riddle singles matches I've ever seen. The early grappling exchanges were fantastic. The strikes in this were quite brutal sans the kicks which they were obviously holding a lot back on. Luckily we didn't get the Riddle fighting spirit streak he's been doing in recent matches and a lot less goofy facial expressions from him. The commentators constantly going on endless This could've happened in the UFC, but it's happening here was quite annoying, but they did do a great job at putting over the triangle choke near the end.

 

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