After Luke vs Branch, does anybody think Luke would be an easy target and too slow for Whittaker?

[Kung Fu bb]

I´m not sure if it was only due to ring rust or what, but after watching his fight on saturday I got the feeling that Luke would be too slow for Whittaker at this point and wouldn´t be able to keep up with the same pace or take him down, just like Romero couldn´t. And if Branch tagged him multiple times, I see Whittaker doing the same but much harder.


Thoughts?

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

The guy showed heart Saturday. Think he has a good chance at finishing Whitaker.

 

[GOD...frey Jones]

Like you said, it all comes down how much ring rust Rockhold had.

I know one thing for sure. Whittaker would have kicked Rockhold's head into the 5th row in that particular fight.

 

[Kung Fu bb]

The guy showed chin and heart Saturday. Think he has a good chance at finishing Whitaker.

Chin? i don´t know. I think it´s more because Branch isn´t a hard hitter at all. As far as I´m concerned, Bisping cracked that chin.

 

[elwani]

Luke's post fight speech reminded me of this classic instance of Aussie oratory:

 

[Cooliox]

Rockhold would maul Whittaker.

Rockhold's got a lot of size and power on Whittaker, and unlike Romero, Luke actually has great technique to go with it... and not just explode randomly and gas.

Rockhold is going to take Whittaker down, especially with Whittaker coming back from a busted knee... Rockhokd takes him down and mauls him worse than he did Machida.

 

[KingKali]

Bobby knuckles is the future

 

[IK00PA]

Whittaker is the truth man. Dude is well rounded with hella take down defense. young and really good fighting in the "chaos" that alot of mma fighters use to reset.

 

[rjmbrd]

I think Robert Whittaker has proven to be head-and-shoulders better than everyone else.

He's on a historic win streak for the modern division and stopped most of his opponents. Absolutely wrecked Jacare. Stop and recall that he had to literally out wrestle Yoel Romero to beat him.

Beating Jacare and Romero back to back on a 8 fight win streak is arguably the most impressive thing any middleweight has ever done in the history of the sport.

Whittaker is a bad matchup for everybody.

 

[GOD...frey Jones]

Luke's post fight speech reminded me of this classic instance of Aussie oratory:

Haha....that was a terrible speech. I thought he was having a stroke.

 

[The Moloko man]

I think we need to chill out on luke and let him get back to getting a cool buzz, catching some tasty waves and keep banging that that sweet California ass

 

[XThe GreatestX]

The guy showed heart Saturday. Think he has a good chance at finishing Whitaker.

man he is just wayyyyy to nonchalant in the cage. His mma boxing ( offense and defense) is just not great

I think Whitakar puts him on his ass and finishes him

 

[chillyoo]

Luke didn't look like he was rusty, he just didn't make adjustments with his striking defense and leaves his hand low still.

Branch just pressured forward and was landing shots because he's lazy when he thinks he's out of range.

A different matchup could mean a million things but lazy defense on a guy who throws combos together like Whitaker could turn out the lights, and can he get Robby down? Idk he looked great against Yoel and Jacare

 

[andrikkis7]

I think Robert Whittaker has proven to be head-and-shoulders better than everyone else.

He's on a historic win streak for the modern division and stopped most of his opponents. Absolutely wrecked Jacare. Stop and recall that he had to literally out wrestle Yoel Romero to beat him.

Beating Jacare and Romero back to back on a 8 fight win streak is arguing the most impressive thing any middleweight has ever done in the history of the sport.

Whittaker is a bad matchup for everybody.

Add the fact that his knee was fucked and he still wasn't taken down.

AND he seems like a really good guy.

 

[ArtOfDrowning]

Could be. Whittaker is a great boxer. Question is how will he deal with kicks of Rockhold. If he can take those body shots and close the distance without eating too many of those then I think Whittaker will KTFO Luke.

Hard fight to call, I would really like to see it.

 

[Kung Fu bb]

Could be. Whittaker is a great boxer. Question is how will he deal with kicks of Rockhold. If he can take those body shots and close the distance without eating too many of those then I think Whittaker will KTFO Luke.

Hard fight to call, I would really like to see it.

Branch was circuling correctly to avoid Luke´s kick and he did a good job. Only 1 or 2 landed correctly but none did any damage. I believe Whittaker would do a similar strategy and circle against the power kick.

 

[Blayt7hh]

I think Robert Whittaker has proven to be head-and-shoulders better than everyone else.

He's on a historic win streak for the modern division and stopped most of his opponents. Absolutely wrecked Jacare. Stop and recall that he had to literally out wrestle Yoel Romero to beat him.

Beating Jacare and Romero back to back on a 8 fight win streak is arguably the most impressive thing any middleweight has ever done in the history of the sport.

Whittaker is a bad matchup for everybody.

lol it's very impressive but come one dude. Anderson Silva

 

[TrevorLahey]

Whittaker definitely has a chance to beat Rockhold and even knock him out, a fight I would love to see.

 

[explodingbunny]

He didn't expect Branch to come out swinging like that. It was a good game plan by Branch but Luke adjusting his plan to win was more impressive.

Luke would make Whittaker look 2 dimensional

 

[ArtOfDrowning]

Branch was circuling correctly to avoid Luke´s kick and he did a good job. Only 1 or 2 landed correctly but none did any damage. I believe Whittaker would do a similar strategy and circle against the power kick.

Agree, I think Whittaker has the footwork to do that. He just has to be careful because only 1 of those is enough to change the whole fight. Luke is dangerous with those kicks. If Whittaker cuts off the distance and stays in Luke's face at boxing range I think Luke goes down before the 4th round.