Paid Members Carbomb Posted April 26, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted April 26, 2016 I like both Maia and Gunnar, but I thought Gunnar's strategy wasn't wise. I don't blame him for wanting to go toe-to-forehead with Maia in terms of grappling, but he moment it became clear he was coming off worse he should've tried to move it to a more varied offence; I get the impression his striking is better than Maia's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 26, 2016 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 26, 2016 His striking is technically better than Maia's yeah. Gunnar's got a touch of the Machida style in his striking. Maia's striking is very bread and butter but he's come a long way since getting sparked by Marquardt in seconds. He really grafted on his striking for a few years after that, possibly to the detriment of his grappling. He seemed to neglect his BJJ for a long time around then because he was focused so much on improving his striking. It wasn't really until he dropped to 170 in 2012 that he started to look his old self again, when he nearly twisted Rick Story's head off his neck like a bottle lid. Â I'd have to rewatch Maia vs Nelson but I don't remember Maia giving Gunnar much choice in changing up his gameplan. I could well be wrong. But when Maia's on and he's hell-bent on grappling you all night, there's not a lot pretty much anyone can do about it. I think Gunnar was so confident in his own ground game he probably thought he could turn it around but that fight was probably a big wakeup call for him about the different levels in BJJ. Gunnar has great grappling, but Maia is a world championship level pure grappler. My big memory of their fight was the look on Gunnar's face at certain points in the fight. He looked genuinely confused at times that Maia was able to just control him and manipulate him into positions against his will. No-one does that to Gunnar usually. Maia completely big brothered him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted April 26, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted April 26, 2016 I like both Maia and Gunnar, but I thought Gunnar's strategy wasn't wise. I don't blame him for wanting to go toe-to-forehead with Maia in terms of grappling, but he moment it became clear he was coming off worse he should've tried to move it to a more varied offence; I get the impression his striking is better than Maia's. It was this fight that made me realise John Kavanagh isn't actually that great of a coach. It came just after Artem's loss earlier where he also dropped a bollock with his advice. Â After 2 rounds of utter dominance for Maia on the ground, anyone with half a brain could see that the one place you don't want it to go is the ground. Kavanagh then proceeds to tell Nelson to take it to the bloody floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 26, 2016 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 26, 2016 Did he? Fuck me. That's up there with Edmond telling Ronda she was doing 'beautiful' when really she was getting smacked all over the place like Stallone in Balboa vs Lang 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane O' Mac Version 2 Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Makes you think, for all the success Conor and Ronda have had, imagine how great they'd be with elite coaching. Stick Rousey with Greg Jackson and McGregor with Firas Zahabi. Â At this stage in the game, I genuinely think UFC 198 will be the card of the year. Although, a lot of it will hinge on Silva vs. Hall. It's a prominent main card fight, and carries serious implications for both fighters. If they pull out the crazy Tekken shit, I'm on board. But there's every chance we get 3 rounds of posturing, waiting for the other to strike, it'll be a long night. Â Selfishly, I'm hoping Hall loses to Silva. Just because I think it's a little rough that Hall loses to Whittaker and gets a PPV fight against one of the GOATs, where a win would be massive to his career, while Whittaker had to take a lower ranked opponent in Natal where even a first round finish wouldn't have done much more good for his rise through the ranks than his decision win did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 27, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted April 27, 2016 Did he? Fuck me. That's up there with Edmond telling Ronda she was doing 'beautiful' when really she was getting smacked all over the place like Stallone in Balboa vs Lang 1. you have to think that the logic was get into a dominant position on the ground, dangerous game to play. Demian Maia is just lethal these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted April 27, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted April 27, 2016  Did he? Fuck me. That's up there with Edmond telling Ronda she was doing 'beautiful' when really she was getting smacked all over the place like Stallone in Balboa vs Lang 1. you have to think that the logic was get into a dominant position on the ground, dangerous game to play. Demian Maia is just lethal these days.   Nelson held a huge advantage on the feet, absolutely huge. He's a very good striker and to not utilise that against someone of the calibre of Maia is utterly mind boggling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 27, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted April 27, 2016 yeh, i get that, i just feel perhaps they believed that staying on the feet allowed Maia to possibly land a takedown and get the top position? They clearly wanted Nelson on top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 Selfishly, I'm hoping Hall loses to Silva. Just because I think it's a little rough that Hall loses to Whittaker and gets a PPV fight against one of the GOATs, where a win would be massive to his career, while Whittaker had to take a lower ranked opponent in Natal where even a first round finish wouldn't have done much more good for his rise through the ranks than his decision win did. Â As a complete neutral, I know I'd rather see Hall fight than Whittaker. Hall was the guy with the fancy KO's on TUF, and who had folk talking. Whittaker is just a dude to me, he doesn't register on my radar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 27, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted April 27, 2016 i agree with the logic, but MMA needs to be more about stylistic match-making at times and that's where this fight comes in. Hall/Silva is a bit of a dream fight style-wise. I'm all in for this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane O' Mac Version 2 Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 Â Selfishly, I'm hoping Hall loses to Silva. Just because I think it's a little rough that Hall loses to Whittaker and gets a PPV fight against one of the GOATs, where a win would be massive to his career, while Whittaker had to take a lower ranked opponent in Natal where even a first round finish wouldn't have done much more good for his rise through the ranks than his decision win did. Â As a complete neutral, I know I'd rather see Hall fight than Whittaker. Hall was the guy with the fancy KO's on TUF, and who had folk talking. Whittaker is just a dude to me, he doesn't register on my radar. Â Â I'm happy to admit there's bias on my part. Whittaker and I live an hour apart, we have mutual friends, and I recently met him. Definitely skews my radar. Â But Hall is really up and down in the UFC after that great TUF stint. Will we get the guy that spin kicked Mousasi, or the guy that lost a plodding decision to John Howard? Whittaker's only setback has been to Wonderboy, and he's scored some devastating, if less flashy, finishes along the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 29, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted April 29, 2016 Im a Whitaker fan too, im sure he's gonna get a big top #5 fight next though. Id have been up for Whitaker/Silva but the Hall fight is too good an opportunity to pass up in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 Â Â Selfishly, I'm hoping Hall loses to Silva. Just because I think it's a little rough that Hall loses to Whittaker and gets a PPV fight against one of the GOATs, where a win would be massive to his career, while Whittaker had to take a lower ranked opponent in Natal where even a first round finish wouldn't have done much more good for his rise through the ranks than his decision win did. Â As a complete neutral, I know I'd rather see Hall fight than Whittaker. Hall was the guy with the fancy KO's on TUF, and who had folk talking. Whittaker is just a dude to me, he doesn't register on my radar. Â Â I'm happy to admit there's bias on my part. Whittaker and I live an hour apart, we have mutual friends, and I recently met him. Definitely skews my radar. Â But Hall is really up and down in the UFC after that great TUF stint. Will we get the guy that spin kicked Mousasi, or the guy that lost a plodding decision to John Howard? Whittaker's only setback has been to Wonderboy, and he's scored some devastating, if less flashy, finishes along the way. Â Hall's the more attractive name for now though, isn't he? If he's fighting on a prelim show I make sure to watch, whilst Whittaker hasn't really done too much to get me excited yet. That could change though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted May 11, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 11, 2016 Anderson is out, apparently requires gall bladder surgery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 So close to fight night as well.  This card is still very beefy though. There's no shortage of worthy fights they could move to the Main Card to replace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.