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OT: WWE/MMA/Boxing Thread

Interested to see what Dana has to say about the judging. Usually has strong opinions. If he also thought Reyes won rounds 1-3, could be a quick rematch
 
soco22 said:
Dana White had the same.

Thinking there could be a rematch. If Reyes gets his cardio to a new level - should be intriguing
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I don't even think cardio was necessarily the issue, I think ring control was. Jones was slow and methodical, controlling the centre of the ring, and largely controlling the pace of the fight. Reyes was 1) coming out firing at the beginning of every round & 2) Constantly, constantly moving...which is good, but it takes a lot more energy to move backwards than it does forward and Reyes spent most of his night trying to control distance by circling away from Jones. He needs to figure out a strategy or technique that he can try to utilize that allows him to avoid taking the usual Jones assault on the knees/legs, while taking back some level of control of the centre of the octagon. Don't get me wrong, sure get your cardio to El Cucuy levels and it just doesn't matter. I think there's a path to victory in the strategy he selected for this fight (shit, I think he won that fight) but it definitely lends to being gassed down the stretch.
 
I know I have asked you before Mindz, but can you give me/us again, a little of what you think could occur with El Cucuy and Khabib?
 
aniablue said:
what you think could occur with El Cucuy and Khabib?
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Honestly don't know how to handicap it. Tony has a super bad habit of ending up on the bottom against wrestlers but is used to being able to do damage, chase submissions, or scramble out as needed. So where he's about as dangerous off of his back as anyone Khabib has ever faced, it's still not a high percentage path to victory there. So Tony needs to keep the fight on the feet, but I'm not sure if crazy Tony doesn't believe in himself enough to not see it that way. He'll fight takedowns, but I don't know if he'll scramble with the type urgency he really should. That 10th planet rubber guard shit is legit against 99% of MMA fighters. Khabib's chain wrestling is just a different beast though.

If Tony can stuff the takedowns and keep this on the feet...well..everyone else Tony fights comes out looking like they've been locked in a 6 foot cage with an 8 foot tiger. Despite not being a one punch knock out artist, his hands are basically legendary in MMA circles for how heavy they are. Everything on the man is just elite at bludgeoning and cutting his opponents open. The fucking guy sharpens his shins, on purpose. Khabib is awkward on the feet but the omnipresent threat of his chain wrestling keeps basically everyone from engaging him comfortably on the feet, which leaves openings for his pretty below par striking.

So basically, I don't know if Tony's apeshit crazy scrambling ability will keep Khabib off of him, it's what the fight hinges on. I also wonder what Khabib's gas tank is like in a fight that he's not dictating the terms of. He has one god tier skill set that no one has been able to counter yet, but is completely beatable if it can be countered. Tony probably has the best set of tools available to possibly counter it, but that's hardly a guarantee. Khabib's chain wrestling is stupid. Otherworldly good, and he's a physical ox on top of that. He holds his own against Cormier when they roll together (giving up an easy 40 pounds against an elite, elite wrestler) and stories of him rag dolling Rockhold (who is 20-30 pounds bigger , and a high level MMA wrestler) at AKA are common.

One really weird detail might play a huge factor in the fight. Wrist control. Both Tony and Khabib are ridiculously elite at controlling wrists in clinch/wrestling/bjj situations. Tony's hand strength and finger length are pretty legendary, and Khabib's grip strength is apparently just dumb. If Khabib is able to close the distance consistently, Tony is going to have to beat him at the wrist control game to take advantage of his close quarter weapons (those fucking elbows man...).

I would have Khabib as the slightly favourite here, just because we haven't seen anyone really slow his take down game other than crazy Al, who decided to sacrifice his face instead. But only a slight favourite. Anyone who leaves his opponents looking like this

ED6rVHEUUAEqK-z.jpg


should never be a heavy dog.
 
Dude, you are the "athletic" . Superb shit. Where the f is zeke btw?

The other half of the athletic has gone missing .

You two are just amazing.

I am sure Floydian is impressed wherever he is now.

I would love to see you and Zeke on Rogan's podcast. Both deserve it.

I would also like your opinion on the Habs last night. Was it my eye test, or were they fast as a bat?

I think we got tired of chasing them. Same as we got tired of chasing Washington a few years ago in the playoffs.

I dunno if that shows up in analytics. But chasing teams that just don't give up the puck, seems to be the future.

Dubas sure seems to believe in that. I am starting to BeLeaf as well.
 
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Wilder/Fury was kind of shit to watch and I say that as someone impressed by Wilder's power but entirely unimpressed by his overall boxing ability, hardly a stan. He got mauled by Fury who game planned well but it's just completely unwatchable to see him wrestle his way into a rabbit/maybe ear punch knockdown that probably burst Wilder's ear drum (at the minimum, something in there is damaged, his balance was fucked afterwards) and then show a complete inability to do anything substantive to put away a compromised fighter over the course of 4-5 rounds afterwards. Really only continued to bully him and land the odd decent shot. The Flurries were messes of bad distance control, bad timing. His game plan appeared predicated on a bit of jabbing, but mostly fighting in the fucking clench like this was muy thai. Effective? Sure. Entertaining? Not a fucking chance.

Just a boring, shitty fight to watch that didn't resemble any type of high level boxing. Just one guy with a 60 pound weight advantage wrestle rag dolling the lighter guy around the ring until he tired.
 
I generally only watch MMA, but since this is such a huge fight I watched. The pageantry at the start was probably the most entertaining part of the evening. I just have a hard time finding boxing nearly as entertaining as MMA. The Hooker/Felder fight > this fight.
 
Wilder is a terrible boxer with god tier power. He's been pretty regularly outpointed through the early and middle rounds but has reliably been able to put people to sleep when he's been able to touch them.

Fury is a much better boxer, but it's a really shitty style to watch. He has an educated jab (and fantastic movement, especially for a big man) but everything else is flailed or out of the clench, or otherwise some form of "dirty" boxing. Just not a friendly style to watch.
 
Deckie007 said:
I just have a hard time finding boxing nearly as entertaining as MMA.
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Fights like this aren't going to change your mind either. Watching prime GGG (which he's not anymore sadly) or Loma is the pinnacle of combat sports imo for entertainment. Best parallel I can draw is F1 vs Nascar. F1 you watch for the refined skill level, Nascar you watch to get liquored and hope for a crash.

There's just something extremely satisfying to see a specialist combat sport like boxing at the absolute highest level. MMA being more of a generalist discipline relies on moments of pure insanity.
 
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