- Joined
- Jul 28, 2016
- Messages
- 272
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I've never understood this; I only mention it because of Showtime's FW debut and I still don't understand why he's moved down.
There seems to be a trend where fighters who go on a skid, decide to try their luck in a different weight class, but this has always been a waste of time and energy to me.
Pettis hasn't hit a brick wall because he's too small for 155, he's hit a brick wall because he's been figured out.
Everyone knows how to beat him; put pressure on him, close the distance to take away his kicks, bully him against the cage and take him down at every opportunity.
As dynamic as his kicks are, he's pretty predictable and offers little on the feet other than flashy kicks. His actual boxing is poor, his TDD is wack, he rarely gets off his back, his sub game is overrated and his clinch game is surprisingly bad considering he's been working with a former muay thai champion all these years. These issues won't magically dissappear now that he's moved down, Pettis should work on his Boxing (particularly his jab), and train with with world class wrestlers/grapplers. It's amazing what a good jab and some takedowns could make in his game as it will allow him to control the fight more and gives his opponents other things to think about, giving him more opportunities to sneak in one of his trademark kicks.
Summary for the TL;DR peeps; Pettis @ 145= bad idea
Pettis improve overall game= good idea.
There seems to be a trend where fighters who go on a skid, decide to try their luck in a different weight class, but this has always been a waste of time and energy to me.
Pettis hasn't hit a brick wall because he's too small for 155, he's hit a brick wall because he's been figured out.
Everyone knows how to beat him; put pressure on him, close the distance to take away his kicks, bully him against the cage and take him down at every opportunity.
As dynamic as his kicks are, he's pretty predictable and offers little on the feet other than flashy kicks. His actual boxing is poor, his TDD is wack, he rarely gets off his back, his sub game is overrated and his clinch game is surprisingly bad considering he's been working with a former muay thai champion all these years. These issues won't magically dissappear now that he's moved down, Pettis should work on his Boxing (particularly his jab), and train with with world class wrestlers/grapplers. It's amazing what a good jab and some takedowns could make in his game as it will allow him to control the fight more and gives his opponents other things to think about, giving him more opportunities to sneak in one of his trademark kicks.
Summary for the TL;DR peeps; Pettis @ 145= bad idea
Pettis improve overall game= good idea.