(Jack Slack) Almeida vs Garbrandt: Reckless Aggression Meets Flustered Counter Fighting

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Good write-up from Jack Slack on tonight's main event matchup.
http://fightland.vice.com/blog/alme...s-aggression-meets-flustered-counter-fighting


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"Another Fight Night is coming up and curiously the UFC has opted to put the spotlight on the prospects, relegating former champion Renan Barao to the co-main event. It doesn't really matter that much but it’s good to see the UFC using its Fight Night events to advertise the young bloods in a division which would otherwise be in danger of becoming like flyweight—where no one is invested because they never see anyone but the champion on main cards. In the 'featured prelim' we see the return of one great bantamweight prospect, Aljamain Sterling against the stalwart grappler, Bryan Caraway, but in the main event we see a meeting of two unchecked hype trains as the undefeated Cody Garbrandt meets the also undefeated Thomas Almeida.

If you have followed my writing you will have heard me sing Thomas Almeida's praises. Even if you don't there's a great chance this isn't the first you're hearing of Almeida, which is a feat in itself for a bantamweight. Fans adore this guy for the simple reason that he gets the job done and has a habit of making a spectacle of it. Almeida was picked up by the UFC after amassing a 17-0 record stacked with knockouts in Brazil, all over guys with no Wikipedia pages of course. When he made his debut in the UFC he won his first fight and looked decent, but went to the decision for the second time in his career—the first being in his professional debut. So far, so normal—a step up in competition and suddenly the human highlight reels are just decent. Except, since that UFC debut, Almeida has had three more fights against more respectable opponents and has starched each and every one.

Cody Garbrandt, meanwhile, did not have to build that extensive record against unheralded opponents that so many Brazilian talents seem to before the UFC calls them up. A talented wrestler and a successful amateur boxer before the transition to MMA, Garbrandt has the kind of comfort in those individual disciplines that you won't see as often in the coming generations of fighters now that 'MMA' is available as a discipline so readily. Going 5-0 with five knockouts before the UFC gave him the call, Garbrandt is now 3-0 in the UFC with two finishes. All of this is added to by the constant praise of his Team Alpha Male coaches and teammates—veterans of the lighter weight classes who consistently assert that Garbrandt is likely to be the team's next world champion.

Garbrandt's last fight was a disappointment from a lot of angles. He was scheduled to fight John Lineker in what would have been an incredibly stern test of his game, but Lineker was forced out due to sickness. The last minute replacement was Augusto Mendes—the great 'Tanquinho' of Brazilian jiu jitsu fame—but Mendes was far from prepared and his young MMA career did not need him to be thrown to the wolves this quickly. So Garbrandt got the knockout but no one was really impressed. Everyone was just sad for what they missed out on. Meanwhile Almeida seems capable of knocking out the best fighters thrown at him, but also seems capable of being dragged into sloppy brawls and getting hurt against almost anyone. As gifted as the young Brazilian is offensively, he is a shambles defensively much of the time.

Let us be clear then, these men are prospects but not unstoppable. Each shows a lot of exploitable habits and shortcomings in the cage. But each also brings his own flair and on any night could have what it takes to trouble the true greats of the division."

Continued at
http://fightland.vice.com/blog/alme...s-aggression-meets-flustered-counter-fighting
 
Cliffs TS, cliffs. Who does Jack like to win the fight?
 
Cliffs TS, cliffs. Who does Jack like to win the fight?

Both are tailor-made to exploit eachother's weakness. Garbrandt's money punch is the left hook, Almeida gets tagged by that punch consistently. If Almeida brawls in the pocket he might get caught. If he keeps his head in it though, he simply has more tools to put Garbrandt away with and once he gets you hurt, you're pretty much done. He doesn't make a pick but I'd say he's leaning toward Almeida.
 
Both are tailor-made to exploit eachother's weakness. Garbrandt's money punch is the left hook, Almeida gets tagged by that punch consistently. If Almeida brawls in the pocket he might get caught. If he keeps his head in it though, he simply has more tools to put Garbrandt away with and once he gets you hurt, you're pretty much done. He doesn't make a pick but I'd say he's leaning toward Almeida.
Thanks. One thing I don't like about Jack, I love his technical analysis, but he rides the fence a lot with his picks.
 
Thanks. One thing I don't like about Jack, I love his technical analysis, but he rides the fence a lot with his picks.

He's not in the business of making picks. He knows better. That's never the point of his work. It's objective analysis meant to highlight the likely factors in a matchup and describe how they could play out.
 
He's not in the business of making picks. He knows better. That's never the point of his work. It's objective analysis meant to highlight the likely factors in a matchup and describe how they could play out.
I get that, like I said I really appreciate his stuff. But come on, breaking down a fight is breaking down a fight. How about making a pick? The worst that could happen is being wrong.
 
I love jack slack threads. Soon 100 people will come in here to hate on him just for existing and then he will arrive himself and try to fight with the haters by being pretentious and just end up creating even more haters. It is always good lulz
 
I get that, like I said I really appreciate his stuff. But come on, breaking down a fight is breaking down a fight. How about making a pick? The worst that could happen is being wrong.
It's just opening yourself up to an extra layer of scrutiny if you make picks. Can even create animosity from the fighters themselves if you pick against them. I get why he doesn't do it. Plus, we all know how hard it is to consistently pick winners in MMA.
 
It's just opening yourself up to an extra layer of scrutiny if you make picks. Can even create animosity from the fighters themselves if you pick against them. I get why he doesn't do it. Plus, we all know how hard it is to consistently pick winners in MMA.
I agree with that, but who cares about the fighters getting upset? Experts in team sports pick winners all the time, it comes with the territory. Ruebusch does it, I've been pretty consistent with picking winners lately. Nobody is ever gonna bat 1000 and upsets happen. But sorry I don't buy that excuse.

Not hating on Jack btw. I appreciate him taking the time to post here and the work he does, he's very good at his craft. It's just riding the fence like that let's you say see I was right about that one.
 
I agree with that, but who cares about the fighters getting upset? Experts in team sports pick winners all the time, it comes with the territory. Ruebusch does it, I've been pretty consistent with picking winners lately. Nobody is ever gonna bat 1000 and upsets happen. But sorry I don't buy that excuse.

Not hating on Jack btw. I appreciate him taking the time to post here and the work he does, he's very good at his craft. It's just riding the fence like that let's you say see I was right about that one.

It's not riding the fence if you have a policy of not making picks. lol. Should every MMA article discussing a fight automatically include picks? I don't really think so. But, I get your point.

Here's my pick- 4th round KO for Almeida.
 
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