Revisiting Cody vs Cruz - Totally different fighter
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Cody goes full tard against TSnake, because it's personal.
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Vs Cruz he fought with his brain and skills. Vs TJ he fought with raw emotion. Cody can't go chin vs chin, power vs power vs TJ, that's often times than not a losing strategy. Cody did hurt TJ in their last fight but TJ hurt him more. Bad strategy. Cody let his ego dictate that fight. That's like Khabib thinking to himself. This Conor guy, I'll stand toe to toe with him and try to knock him out. No. Khabib is going to use skill and strategy and take the fight to the ground and pound him for 5 rounds or submit him.
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TJ knows Cody much better than Cruz does.
Also, Cody is a very emotional guy. There's an awful lot of water under the bridge with TJ and Cody. That sort of baggage can have a dramatic effect on the way people interact in all sorts of situations... championship cage fight included.
Also, Cody is a very emotional guy. There's an awful lot of water under the bridge with TJ and Cody. That sort of baggage can have a dramatic effect on the way people interact in all sorts of situations... championship cage fight included.
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People are so stuck on this he fought emotional narrative lol
He fought the same way he always fights
He fought the same way he always fights
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He had less movement this fight. He was more flat-footed, more one-dimensional... just looking for that KO.
And made the same mistake as previous fight.
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Cruz got under Cody's skin pretty well in shit talks, but Cody kept his composure during the fight...
I agree, beef with TJ was much more ancient and personal
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This. His fight IQ switches off and he tries to swing for the fences inside the pocket.
A recipe for getting knocked out.
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For some people that type of style worked for them. Prime wand or prime Vitor. It doesn't work for Cody. You gotta have crazy power and a crazy chin to do that.
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Neither vitor or wanderlei had a great chin but they had ferocious nonstop offense , and tons of power (no doubt roid fueled)
Cruz took all kinds of shots from garbrandt and simply wouldn't fold. Cody head hunts with one two shots. Vitor and wanderlei would throw literally dozens of strikes
Different kinds of offense
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Cody needs to forgive TJ, embrace him as a friend again, drop all the hate... He wont fight so emotional next time and then drop TJ on is ass. im sure he would beat TJ if his emotions don't get the better of him. I still believe Cody is the better fighter between the 2 of them.
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Honestly its not like he looked terrible in those fights either, he looked very dangerous in both but had flaws exposed that were always there.
The main thing that stands out watching that HL is just how slow/sloppy/inacurrate Cruz is when force to lead.
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Cruz doesnt have the power threat so Cody got away with a lot too. There were times Cruz landed pretty well and if it were TJ landing those same strikes he would KO Cody.
What was also important are the styles of TJ and Cruz in relation to Cody’s. Cruz alluded to this himself after the fight as well, that he works the best when you’re chasing him and in the Cody fight he was pulled into the pocket where he’ll always lose to such a fast, sharp boxer. TJ on the other hand was coming at Cruz, allowing him to work from that movement and countering the offense that had more windup. Also in defense of Cruz it has to be said that he’s never looked so immobile and plodding, especially comparing to late WEC days where he swung around the cage like a pendulum.
TJ, in addition to having improved, doesn’t care if you’re moving or not and he is sharp enough to sharpshoot a guy like Cody, and match him in the pocket ( although in both fights he got tagged. people shit on Cody now but there’s not many guys in the division who are able to survive a fist fight in Cody’s range. ) tl;dr Not hard for Cody to look like a world beater when he is trading with Cruz, who only throws long looping strikes that he’s only able to make work with his movement. Deprive him of that and the result is the fight at UFC 217
TJ, in addition to having improved, doesn’t care if you’re moving or not and he is sharp enough to sharpshoot a guy like Cody, and match him in the pocket ( although in both fights he got tagged. people shit on Cody now but there’s not many guys in the division who are able to survive a fist fight in Cody’s range. ) tl;dr Not hard for Cody to look like a world beater when he is trading with Cruz, who only throws long looping strikes that he’s only able to make work with his movement. Deprive him of that and the result is the fight at UFC 217
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Urijah has Cody fighting his battles
Its very sad to see
I agree that Cody and TJ should be friends
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Oh he was there.
He was on the canvass
He was on the canvass
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We're going to disagree here
This is how Cody always fights
Cody fights outside until he seems an opportunity to plant his feet and throw, often as a result of an opening for a counter created by his opponent coming forward. Then he lands, then he blitzes forward with a combination. His style is pretty straight forward
Against Cruz he fought someone who is uncomfortable leading, any by that I mean leading in any committal way not just leading by being the first to move. If you watch the fight, nearly every time he landed anything of significance it was off of a counter, and he spent the entire fight trying to bait Cruz into coming first in the middle of the cage
the problem wasn't that he fought differently against TJ, it was that he fought the same against a different type of opponent. TJ thrives on moving forward, and his entire style is based around forcing the opponent to try to counter him - which is just to say he's much better equipped to do it than Cruz is, he has a better arsenal of feints an entries suited to that purpose. What TJ does better than anyone else is that when he exchanges he forces it to happen on his terms based on where his feet are positioned relative to the other guy. Cody, in contrast, is used to being faster and quicker in the pocket often will set his feet initially and not adjust based on where the opponent is if he's committed to throwing, because against 99% of fighters he'll beat them to the punch. And if he does adjust, it's BEFORE the exchange where as TJ will adjust in the exchange.
There's also the factor that Cruz is just really sloppy when it comes to throwing hooks and for a guy like Cody whose style is built around exchanging his righthook for yours that's a godsend. Cody even noted that in the FullBlast where Cruz fought Uriah Faber, but it's plain to see Cruz throws hooks from his waist because he wants to mask them, but that doesn't matter against a guy like Cody who is just going to plant and counter whatever you throw. Even the rare times Cruz beat Cody to the punch, his slapping hooks did nothing to stop the return fire.
Being emotional likely had something to do with Cody's loss, but it shouldn't be the dominant narrative. The real story, which was the common thought coming in, is that TJ is just such a diverse fighter with a large toolbox that the longer any give meeting between the two went on the more likely he would be to find something that worked. And he did in the second round of the first fight, and that continued into the second bout.
TlDR, Cody fought the same way he always does, and that's why he lost.
The "he was emotional" storyline is overrated - he was emotional, but in either fight he looked good fotowork head movement and technique wise (relative to himself) until he got cracked.
