His striking was actually great for his grappling level and used it effectively. It was super grounded, educated, and was able to conserve alot to energy with his style. If you're stupid enough to close the distance on DC you're going for a ride, so he's able to hang out in the neutral zone quite a bit when he's tired( got him in trouble against Stipe) while also applying immense pressure on guys by having their backs against the cage. It can look kinda lame because it's mostly 1-2s and hand fighting but you must remember he is a grapple first type fighter.
It's why he struggled so much against stipe, he couldn't enforce his will against the cage and his injuries clearly caught up to him so he couldn't chsnge levels like he used to so he got locked into striking exchanges with stipe for 9 rounds,AND STILL gave stipe everything he could handle on the feet.
Sorry I love DCs fat boy striking, it's super deceptive and genius. He's always complaining about guys and their big actions or big movements not being energy efficient and I can't help but think" yeah but not every guys gets 9 miles to the gallon like you DC, they can spare a flying knee or two"
Anywho DC was a force, I hope we can get another guy like that. Alot of people think bo nickal can be that guy but I just don't see it. When DC picked up josh Barnett I was a fan for life, that shit was GANGSTER.