Cro Cop's movement/footwork against Wanderlei 2nd fight...

Need Boxingislife/TimingBeatsSpeed to come tell us what we're seeing here, to help us understand.
 
shady313 said:
Still dont understand why mirko did not perform well in the UFC
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Mileage and the fact that his kick was kind of figured out. Gonzaga was definitely ready for it, so was Fedor.

Without his speed and high kicks CroCop just was not that great.
 
Fight Professor said:
Mileage and the fact that his kick was kind of figured out. Gonzaga was definitely ready for it, so was Fedor.

Without his speed and high kicks CroCop just was not that great.
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The idea that circling to the left was some advanced technique to beat Mirko doesn't hold water, loads of people in Pride did the same, Igor, Aleks, etc

For me it was a combination of not adapting to the new environment and simply a near perfect Gonzaga performance. The same way Randleman hadn't really "figured out" Crocop, he just timed a perfect punch the same way Gonzaga caught the first kick Mirko threw for a takedown and then timed a perfect LHK. These are things he never showed he could do consistently.

Mirko's style was always risky, he rarely looked to pick away from safer range with smaller shots, it was all about putting yourself I danger looking for the big counters and that does mean theres the potential for someone to land a perfectly timed shot.
 
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grimballer said:
also dont forget mirko put on weight in ufc as well

in pride he was 220/225, while in ufc he was around 235/240. that also might explain why he didnt look as fast in ufc
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Mirko has a tiny frame for a heavyweight.
He was 220 looking like a fucking action figure, naturally a lot smaller than Fedor or Nog who are themselves not big for the division.
 
moreorless87 said:
The idea that circling to the left was some advanced technique to beat Mirko doesn't hold water, loads of people in Pride did the same, Igor, Aleks, etc
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I think counter attacking is the second part of it. It could involve low kicks or just closing distance and punching. Randlemann did a great job of closing the distance quickly and throwing a punch; it was not just a matter of a td threat.
 
CereserBr said:
What was that? Really amazing, even better than todays McGregor and The Spider...
Those counters were on point, as the devastating kicks... Its a shame this Mirko never went to the UFC.
This was the man that turned me an MMA fan:
crocop.gif
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One of the most overrated performances of all time
 
Will not rewatch. Seeing wanderlei's carcass hitting the floor like that... ahhh

Huge bloated up Wand was too slow and predictable. Iirc he was over 230lbs there.
Kinda like when trunks goes buffmode against cell. Vegetable knew that losing speed would equal a loss, despite the power gains.
225lbs crocop was too technical. Too precise. Too quick.
 
shady313 said:
Out of all my years of watching MMA, I consider that my favourite KO.

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Still dont understand why mirko did not perform well in the UFC
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Fight Professor said:
Mileage and the fact that his kick was kind of figured out. Gonzaga was definitely ready for it, so was Fedor.

Without his speed and high kicks CroCop just was not that great.
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EL Capitan said:
Impressive that he was faster than a guy a weight class smaller.
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Wand outweighed him by 5lbs for that fight, he put on too much muscle and it slowed him down. Prime Crocop was always one of the fastest and most mobile HW's around.

Crocop had too many sugeries, he's had something like 4 knee surgeries on the same leg and for a guy that relied so much on his kicks, speed and agility that was the beginning of the end for him. I believe his other knee had surgery and some shoulder surgery.

He kept coming back from surgery too soon as well, fought Reem 2 months after surgery, Dos Santos just over 5 months after surgery.

After 40 amateur boxing matches, about 30 K1 matches and a similar number of MMA matches that's practically 3 full careers, he started so young its amazing he stayed high level as long as he did, he was a lot older than his years by the time he got to UFC.

4t96pu.jpg


crocop-twitching-o.gif
 
Redhawks100 said:
One of the most overrated performances of all time
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Yup totally was. Wand was definitely not an absolute killer at the time going 20-2-1-1 during that stretch...
 
Poor Wanderlei. It wasn't right to let him fight heavyweight killers like Mirko and Hunt.
 
Glove said:
This is a good point as well, i never understood why they choose to put on weight when their speed gave them the advantage at Heavyweight. But maybe its because they werent as quick anymore and wanted to simply try and become heavier to stay in par with the other heavyweights at that weight.
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I think part of it also was that it was right around the same time Brock and Carwin were on top and those guys were huge. Crocop as well as Mir both put on muscle at that time, which didn't seem to help either of them. Then Cain came on the scene and was dominating while being lighter, now you don't see guys bulking up like that really anymore. But that's just my opinion.
 
That was a good fight for Cro Cop, but you have to remember it was not the same Silva as his MW title run in Pride. it was a Silva who looked much slower and heavier.
 
Chute Boxe was so bad as fight tacticians its unreal. They killed Murilos momentum completely by chubbing him up to HW (as a natural WW/MW) and then roided Wanderlei out of his body for this fight.

Wanderlei showed in his fight against the much heavier Hunt how important speed was and then completely neglected it with this dumb play of making him "stronger".

Crocop was very very good but at the same time that was an alltime low for Wanderlei at this point. I really dont want to know what he injected to get that big. Looked like a science project.

Normal 205 Wanderlei would have given a much better fight but I think Mirko would have won either way. This Mirko would decimate todays HW picture. Stipe would be no match at all for his world class stand up.
 
Prime Crocop could be the UFC HW champion against the current roster!
 
Dead Kennedy said:
I think part of it also was that it was right around the same time Brock and Carwin were on top and those guys were huge. Crocop as well as Mir both put on muscle at that time, which didn't seem to help either of them. Then Cain came on the scene and was dominating while being lighter, now you don't see guys bulking up like that really anymore. But that's just my opinion.
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Your opinion is quite "sound", i believe what can assure your point is the recent success of Alistair Overeem. His last 2 matches he seemed far slimmer in bulk and knockout wins over Dos Santos and Arlovski whom both are quite mobile fighters.
 
Redhawks100 said:
At 205. His gameplan was embarrassing.
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His game plan has always been violence. Simple as that.

He drew with Crocop (should have been a win but had special rules), has a split with Hunt that was razor close and was the first to KO Fujita. That is far from a bad showing at HW
 
I've thought about it too, it was really nice watching it, brilliance vs Wand.
 
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