Ah …
Got it.
My bad.
PRIDE rules make it way more dangerous for wrestlers/grapplers. LNP was also much less of an issue in PRIDE.
The PRIDE greats were ready to defend soccer kicks and stomps. UFC greats got a free pass from soccer kicks, stomps, and knees to the dome from a sprawl. Mighty Mouse got a taste of these extra attack options in ONE FC.
Either way, good fight but I favor prime Mirko in a ring with PRIDE rules over prime Cain. I’d favor Cain over Mirko with the gay, wrestler-protecting, watered down UFC/Unified Rules.
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I think Hendo was as dangerous in the “transitional spaces” as anyone.
Right hand, left hand, back fist, awkward angles, etc … That H-Bomb was always a threat.
Problem with Hendo was his instinct is to just throw down.
A true fighter’s fighter.
I believe that had he been just a little more game-plan oriented, his career would have been even better.
For such a high level wrestler, he got taken down a lot. It’s because he was more focused on trying to take a guy’s head off.
To this day, I believe Hendo with the proper gameplan beats Anderson.
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Dude his timing and power off a break were elite. It was intuitive with him.
I don’t care how you want to chalk it up on a technical level, it’s still a fight – and Hendo had a better chance than most to end the fight in those transitions.
.
That’s a pretty damn good combination!
He also had elite submission defense.
Silva caught him because Hendo was rocked.
Jake Shields was a submission wizard with an elite top game – and he couldn’t find a way to finish an injured and gassed Hendo for like 2 rounds in superior position.
True.
One of the things that makes Fedor the GOAT.
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Do you agree that Hendo with a more disciplined gameplan would have beat Anderson?
Dan Henderson is one of the 8 or so guys in my top 5, lol.
But if forced to really rank them, I can’t see Hendo outside of the top 5.
IMO he had 3 big opportunities to be a serious GOAT contender.
He blew one of them.
One was close enough to deserve an extra round.
And one was a fucking egregious robbery.
Fuck.
Good points.
But if you watch the first round and think about the first Chael fight…
Anderson was beatable.
IMO Hendo needed to have a control based gameplan and not force the fight ending punch.
Had he done that the opportunity might have come to him, but if it didn’t he would control to victory.
I don’t see Hendo getting subbed like Chael did without being rocked.
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1000% agree.
I remember when Wandy was asked who his toughest opponent was.
His answer was something like “Dan Henderson. When you fight him you’d better bring your lunch.”
That was before the rematch, so Wandy was saying that about an opponent he had a win over.
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He fell in love with his hands.
That’s usually a harbinger of a decline.
In Hendo’s case it got him some very big wins.
Unfortunately, it was also to his detriment in a few fights – Anderson being one of them.
Yeah…
The thing we like about him was both a strength and a weakness.
A rematch in the UFC would have been awesome.
I think Wandy was more on the downslope than Hendo by then though.
Pride era Wandy was an absolute monster.
Hendo was just game as fuck for almost 2 decades.
He beat Bisping twice IMO.
Hendo vs Liddell would have been fun.
And Wandy/Liddell was as good an argument for an extra round as I think I’ve seen!
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Your wrestling idols may eat a knee to the dome before they ever get on top to headbutt. Derp.
The gay UFC/Unified Rules protect them like endangered species.
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100%
It’s stupid how everyone assumes wrestlers would be the ones with the advantage.
Upkicks from a downed opponent and knees on a failed shot would make wrestlers think twice about shooting
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I don’t accept that certain guys are better simply because they came later, but if you only want to compare newer wrestling based fighters, what about Amir Aliakbari? He was a much more accomplished and larger wrestler who looked unbeatable until an over the hill Crocop beat him. I think you’re just underestimating how good an uninjured prime Crocop is.
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Everyone was roiding in the UFC.
I guess you forgot about USADA and how people fell off. When the TRT exemption (free roid pass) ended, it got ugly.
And all of that was AFTER the merger…
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He got severely injured during the Gonzaga fight and didn’t take a rest until after Roy Nelson. His next fight he finally semi-healed after taking his first rest of more than a year since his injury. Add to that the rules for UFC are horrible for an aggression based striker. The giant octogon/fence is the most horseshit design imaginable for any elite aggressive striker. It’s part of the reason Pride was so much more exciting that the UFC.
None of this matters to the topic however. His poor UFC performance was not because of poor takedown defense. He had shit mobility and was getting KOed.
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I’m not saying a striker cannot do well in the cage (especially an out-fighter), but any type of aggressive-based striker is at a disadvantage. I’m not sure if you’ve ever boxed, but a LOT of time is spent training how to get someone in and yourself out of corners. You can’t cut off the ring if there are no corners. Even the size sucks. I don’t pay as much attention to the UFC as I used to, but remember when they used 2 different sized cages? The smaller ones always had more exciting fights.
Mirko was past his prime when he lost that fight. Not sure what point you’re trying to make here.
It happens to everyone eventually if you stay past your physical prime. Either age, mileage, or both make you vulnerable enough to lose to lesser competition.
It happened to boxer Ray Leonard at 34 when he lost to Terry Norris. No way he loses that fight in his prime, but he wasn’t the same guy at that stage.