Don't get me wrong: I from the started said that if Islam finishes Volk early he should get massive credit. And wrote a thread cementing that position in the ongoing storm of people trying to discredit Islam
https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/islam-should-get-massive-credit.4311564/
However, the view that Islam should get massive credit is compatible with the view that Full camp Volk would have done better, and they are, indeed, both also true. Here is the analysis of why full camp Volk would have done better:
Volk is not an "intuitive fighter", but rather a "cerebral fighter". You can see Volk in there thinking when he is fighting. Moreover, for the parts of his game where in the cage there is no time to think, he has drilled in good habits and that is what carries him through rather then his good intuitions. This should not only be obvious to anyone who watches Volk, but has also been confirmed by Volk.
One problem for Volk is that he has bad instincts for blocking body and head kicks, this was noted by many clever people before his fight with Yair, and was why the fight was thought to pose such a challenge for Volk. Yet Volk came out with a significantly more solid kicking defence. Volk had managed to drill in good kicking defence during his camp with Yair.
However, on short camp Volk didn't have the time to drill in the same kicking defence. He likely focused these 12 days on drilling some wrestling and getting in shape. This meant that he again operated with his bad instincts for blocking kicks. The upshot here, then, is that in a full camp Volk would likely have drilled in good habits for blocking body and headlocks, and thus he would have preformed better.
Note two things: First, some might say "Volk wouldn't have drilled kicking defence against Islam anyway." But this is mistaken. We know Volk is a high iq fighter, and he would have known that part of Islams game he struggled with in the first fight was the kicking game, and that Islam would likely try to further exploit that. Hence, he would undoubtably have drilled that.
Second, some might say "Volk's habits from the Yair fight should have carried over." But this is false. Because everyone has bad instincts in certain areas of fighting, and it very hard to train away them permanently. Rather what happens is that in a camp you can focus on those areas and secure a good habit for that particular fight. This is even for fighter like Volk who are more cerebral than intuitive.
https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/islam-should-get-massive-credit.4311564/
However, the view that Islam should get massive credit is compatible with the view that Full camp Volk would have done better, and they are, indeed, both also true. Here is the analysis of why full camp Volk would have done better:
Volk is not an "intuitive fighter", but rather a "cerebral fighter". You can see Volk in there thinking when he is fighting. Moreover, for the parts of his game where in the cage there is no time to think, he has drilled in good habits and that is what carries him through rather then his good intuitions. This should not only be obvious to anyone who watches Volk, but has also been confirmed by Volk.
One problem for Volk is that he has bad instincts for blocking body and head kicks, this was noted by many clever people before his fight with Yair, and was why the fight was thought to pose such a challenge for Volk. Yet Volk came out with a significantly more solid kicking defence. Volk had managed to drill in good kicking defence during his camp with Yair.
However, on short camp Volk didn't have the time to drill in the same kicking defence. He likely focused these 12 days on drilling some wrestling and getting in shape. This meant that he again operated with his bad instincts for blocking kicks. The upshot here, then, is that in a full camp Volk would likely have drilled in good habits for blocking body and headlocks, and thus he would have preformed better.
Note two things: First, some might say "Volk wouldn't have drilled kicking defence against Islam anyway." But this is mistaken. We know Volk is a high iq fighter, and he would have known that part of Islams game he struggled with in the first fight was the kicking game, and that Islam would likely try to further exploit that. Hence, he would undoubtably have drilled that.
Second, some might say "Volk's habits from the Yair fight should have carried over." But this is false. Because everyone has bad instincts in certain areas of fighting, and it very hard to train away them permanently. Rather what happens is that in a camp you can focus on those areas and secure a good habit for that particular fight. This is even for fighter like Volk who are more cerebral than intuitive.
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