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He' ll have to adapt current Overeem style of fight.... cautious and defensive and pick his spots offensively
Or JonesHe need to ditch the aggressive striker style.
He got the tools to fight like gsp or fitch
It seems like a mental problem— Luke just isn’t realistic about his strengths and weaknesses. He had a reach and kicking advantage over Yoel, but didn’t capitalize. Yoel had the clear speed advantage, so Luke’s best bet for success would’ve been to keep him at kicking range, wear him down with kicks, then get more aggressive with the clinch and power kicks after Yoel slowed down.
I have to believe that Hooft laid out a better strategy, including more varied strikes, than Luke used. For example, that check hook has become Luke’s go-to counter, and he continued to use it against Yoel despite little success. To begin with, it’s risky for a southpaw against a faster southpaw, because it requires you to pivot toward your opponent’s power hand. Luke used it enough so that it was just a matter of time before Yoel guessed right and caught him.
This. He relies on his check-hook waaay too much. It gets very predictable, especially since he leans back with his chin up while doing it.
Mostly agree. Luke's not got the tools to be like Anderson. The right counter hook was his downfall as it missed and Yoel landed over the top with his power hand. Worked in SF against Jardine and others, and pressing forward to land a liver kick or a head kick, his best offensive weapons, worked against Costa, but require a heavier output against fighters who won't timidly back down towards the cage.
He needs to tighten his defense, expand his kicking offense even further, and work on getting the takedown from the clinch. Use his kicks to get people to want to be on the inside, and then get them to the floor. A Jon Jones-esque gameplan, just without the boxing.
Rockhold went into the fight with Romero with a sound gameplan. Keep the range with the 1-2, throw the inside leg kick, circle and get out when Romero explodes. Wear him out progressively, and increase pressure accordingly.
The problem was that this strategy requires someone with very good lateral and head movement, someone quick and mobile. Like Whitaker. Rockhold is long and lanky, has good range, but his head movement and footwork is not particularly brisk. He is prone to getting hit more than usual.
Romero started to realize he could plow through the 1-2 combos, and started to connect more in round 2. Rockhold stayed in gameplan, hoping Romero would soon blow his wad before he could catch him. But Rockhold just wasn't quick enough. It was the right plan against Romero, just not the best for Rockhold to execute. He didn't make a mistake, he just came up short.
I think Rockhold is going through a similar problem to Weidman's: he forgot that he is a pressure first fighter, who dominates in top control and with pressure. He is not a reactive fighter, like Anderson, who can play defensively, since he doesn't take pressure well, and is not the most graceful in movement or reflexes. He needs to take a more aggressive approach, and get himself in the positions he needs to be.
Rockhold went into the fight with Romero with a sound gameplan. Keep the range with the 1-2, throw the inside leg kick, circle and get out when Romero explodes. Wear him out progressively, and increase pressure accordingly.
The problem was that this strategy requires someone with very good lateral and head movement, someone quick and mobile. Like Whitaker. Rockhold is long and lanky, has good range, but his head movement and footwork is not particularly brisk. He is prone to getting hit more than usual.
Romero started to realize he could plow through the 1-2 combos, and started to connect more in round 2. Rockhold stayed in gameplan, hoping Romero would soon blow his wad before he could catch him. But Rockhold just wasn't quick enough. It was the right plan against Romero, just not the best for Rockhold to execute. He didn't make a mistake, he just came up short.
I think Rockhold is going through a similar problem to Weidman's: he forgot that he is a pressure first fighter, who dominates in top control and with pressure. He is not a reactive fighter, like Anderson, who can play defensively, since he doesn't take pressure well, and is not the most graceful in movement or reflexes. He needs to take a more aggressive approach, and get himself in the positions he needs to be.
He fights a bit small. Logically speaking he is one of the biggest and tallest in the division. There is more of him to hit. Even a smaller faster Anderson had to learn to roll with the punches in his prime. He was really only matrixing at 205 and the worse strikers at 185.Rockhold went into the fight with Romero with a sound gameplan. Keep the range with the 1-2, throw the inside leg kick, circle and get out when Romero explodes. Wear him out progressively, and increase pressure accordingly.
The problem was that this strategy requires someone with very good lateral and head movement, someone quick and mobile. Like Whitaker. Rockhold is long and lanky, has good range, but his head movement and footwork is not particularly brisk. He is prone to getting hit more than usual.
Romero started to realize he could plow through the 1-2 combos, and started to connect more in round 2. Rockhold stayed in gameplan, hoping Romero would soon blow his wad before he could catch him. But Rockhold just wasn't quick enough. It was the right plan against Romero, just not the best for Rockhold to execute. He didn't make a mistake, he just came up short.
I think Rockhold is going through a similar problem to Weidman's: he forgot that he is a pressure first fighter, who dominates in top control and with pressure. He is not a reactive fighter, like Anderson, who can play defensively, since he doesn't take pressure well, and is not the most graceful in movement or reflexes. He needs to take a more aggressive approach, and get himself in the positions he needs to be.
Rockhold went into the fight with Romero with a sound gameplan. Keep the range with the 1-2, throw the inside leg kick, circle and get out when Romero explodes. Wear him out progressively, and increase pressure accordingly.
The problem was that this strategy requires someone with very good lateral and head movement, someone quick and mobile. Like Whitaker. Rockhold is long and lanky, has good range, but his head movement and footwork is not particularly brisk. He is prone to getting hit more than usual.
Romero started to realize he could plow through the 1-2 combos, and started to connect more in round 2. Rockhold stayed in gameplan, hoping Romero would soon blow his wad before he could catch him. But Rockhold just wasn't quick enough. It was the right plan against Romero, just not the best for Rockhold to execute. He didn't make a mistake, he just came up short.
I think Rockhold is going through a similar problem to Weidman's: he forgot that he is a pressure first fighter, who dominates in top control and with pressure. He is not a reactive fighter, like Anderson, who can play defensively, since he doesn't take pressure well, and is not the most graceful in movement or reflexes. He needs to take a more aggressive approach, and get himself in the positions he needs to be.
First, he went for outside leg kicks not inside.
Secondly, Whittaker is not long and lanky like Rockhold.
Thirdly, he did make a mistake even to your accord. Lateral movement and headmovement right? What did he do when he got backed up to the cage? Made a mistake.
How does it feel to be a pompous ass?
I have to believe that Hooft laid out a better strategy, including more varied strikes, than Luke used. For example, that check hook has become Luke’s go-to counter, and he continued to use it against Yoel despite little success. To begin with, it’s risky for a southpaw against a faster southpaw, because it requires you to pivot toward your opponent’s power hand. Luke used it enough so that it was just a matter of time before Yoel guessed right and caught him.
The problem for Luke is that Romero is surprisingly good at making reads, picking up on patterns, and then coming up with a solid plan for landing the KO sequence. Rockhold doesn't have enough depth in his striking game to keep Romero guessing and throw his aim & timing off. Luke can throw a bunch of different strikes but he always falls into a pattern at some point and he doesn't change the timing or way he throws each of his strikes; if you've seen one of his check hooks you've seen them all, seen a leg kick, seen them all, he throws them the same way every single time. Once Romero figured out the patterns & timing it was all over.
As for the check hook, it's actually pretty safe to throw it as long as you do it right. Watch Shevchenko vs. Holm, another southpaw vs. southpaw fight where Valentina pretty much won the fight with her check hook. When you watch her throw it, it's different every time, the timing changes as does the way she throws the punch. Sometimes it loops around on the outside, sometimes it goes inside, sometimes it's a same time counter, sometimes she waits a bit longer. And she pivots out to the side and dips away from incoming punches. It's a lot less predictable and far harder to time & counter than Rockhold's version.
Luke got hurt pretty bad in the 2nd throwing the check hook to counter a Romero blitz, then did the same thing in the 3rd and got KTFO. Romero was obviously faster, and simply guessed right about Luke throwing the hook. Romero throwing a double jab should've alerted Luke that a hard left would likely follow, so he should have tried to slip it before throwing the hook, or just put a nice front kick in his stomach like Whittaker. Poor Luke.
Yet, he's afraid to get anyone in his face. He doesn't like getting hit, so he runs back and ducks and dodges. He would have better luck closing in and making it dirty. But Mr. PrettyFace don't like ugly fights.