Great game plan, “im gonna beat him by exhaustion”
He has the belt
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Y’all are talking like being the being the technically superior striker means you’re the best striker, or that you can’t lose to lesser or less accomplished strikers. That’s not necessarily the case. In boxing we see it less but in MMA we’ve seen it a lot. “Lesser” technical strikers have become accomplished due to other skills they bringing to the table, stylistic matchups, or intangibles. Just look at any number of strikers we have seen become champions in MMA.
Champs (striking based) who weren’t the most technically skilled:
Rich Franklin. Chuck Liddell. Shogun.
Champs who were the most technically skilled:
Adesanya. Mighty Mouse. Dillashaw.
Look at a guy like Poirier. I consider him to be a pretty good technician nowadays, not the most technical, but he has improved a lot over the years. Look at the way he lost to Gaethje, who is technically inferior.
Hendo knocked out Shogun, Fedor and Bisping, all strikers I consider to be technically superior to him. But MMA changes everything.
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Craig may have zero standup and even worse takedowns but the guy has elite level BJJ in MMA.
That’s pretty much the reason why Bo Nickal fought scared in their match-up.
Thé threat of the takedown fucked Alex
/thread
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We’ll see what happens in the rematch
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He looked off right out the gates during his walk out and stare down. The fire wasnt there. The reflexes werent there. The killer instinct / turning the switch on wasnt there. The chin wasnt there.
To be honest, I think its as simple as he is going to be 38 in a couple months, and has been incredibly active (and financially successful) the last couple years. Look how fast Izzy and Volk fell off with similar schedules once they turned about 35.
You can chalk it up to a number of things, but they are old adages for a reason, “Father Time is undefeated”, and “It’s tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5am when you’ve been sleeping in silk pajamas”
I’m also just super bummed he lost because it would have set up a HW Superfight with him and Jones, then they both retire after.
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Alex is too slow for Ankalaev. And he knows he doesnt have the best chin, so he doesnt want to exchange with a powerful guy like Ankalaev. Thats why he was so hesitant.
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What a dumb comparison lol. Was Alex P clowning around like Anderson was?
People on here are blinded by his CHAMA juice
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And zero fans
Indeed, Ankalaev moves like feather, probably no injuries and no tight muscles
Chama lost
49-46 or 48-47
No moar Chama
Ankalaev did his job he deserved the belt far more than Alex.
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Seriously, I scored it the same. Ankalaev CLEARLY won rounds 2 & 4, and almost KOed Alex too. Pereira was saved by the bell in round 2.
But yes, I have the philosophy that in close rounds, you give it to the champ.
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Rematch goes differently I think. AP can take some time off and come back and dominate Ank. He was so worried about getting taken down that he forgot to fight. If he lets his hands go for half the round and lands some damage, ank can really only take him down and hold him until the rounds over
While that’s all good and fine, he’s still a c level dude at 205 at best.
I had it the same. Hopefully Alex takes training seriously now and wipes the floor with him in the rematch
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