Is Doo Ho Choi exposed?

[The Natural Born Runner]

Sound assessment of his weaknesses.

I reckon he can overcome these things after that wake up call last night. Perhaps we will look back on this fight as a key fight in his career.

I sincerely hope he goes on from here and becomes an elite fighter, I really cheered for this guy, I like the hype around him, and I think it's pretty justified. Was one of the best fights I've ever seen.

 

[War Pig]

His granite chin was exposed.

 

[HAWTRIDDUM]

TS I spotted a few things in his game that I now have question marks over.

- His ability to counter. He seems very good at walking you down and throwing straights, but when you throw a flurry at him, most of the time he just needs to throw back and he has a great chance of clipping you. He didn't counter much, if at all.

- His ability to move his head. He literally backs up in a straight line, without his hands up and with his chin up in the air. You'll have heard Rogan say this for years, that is the worst strategy possible when it comes to striking.

- Ground game. He swept the legs of Cub many times, but did pretty much nothing on the ground, didn't look very comfortable or talented there - expect some guys to put him on his back and try and work from there.

I hope he tries to address these gaps in his game, because the kid is fucking talented.

Spot on.

 

[octagon888]

it exposed his amazing chin.

 

[Xenon_]

I sincerely hope he goes on from here and becomes an elite fighter, I really cheered for this guy, I like the hype around him, and I think it's pretty justified. Was one of the best fights I've ever seen.

Funnily enough (I always mention that I don't get emotionally invested in fights etc) I got a little misty eyed when he spoke with joe rogan haha

 

[Lockard The GOAT]

This loss will be a great thing for him in the long run. He now knows what holes he has in his game that he can focus and work on.

 

[ASTERIO]

kid has potential but the Cub fight was too soon for him, a fight like that can ruin a prospect. we will see what happens

but tales of him bien ghte next Conor is clearly exaggerated

Its always like that. New fans are the ones that get waaaay to wet too fast for guys that start doing good. You gonna start seeing the Vannata threads going nuts soon. About the prospects been giving tough fights, I never understood that argument..."they have to build the prospect", I think that is kind of dumb, if you make it to the UFC is because you already were built!! period. That bullshit that you have to be given fights you can win till you are "ready" is non sense. In the specific case of Choi , Swanson was at his level and those kind of fights actually give you more chances to improve than to ruin you.

 

[5crew]

Swanson won by having more experience imo. He most gassed himself out after the round 2 flurry that would have ended almost any other fighters. Choi have a sick chin but I hope is not broke after taking so many shots in this fight.

Humble opinion, even though Choi didn't get KOed, I'm presuming that he is fairly dazed after Round 3 and was on auto pilot. Would explain why he wasn't able to get the upper hand after Swanson slowed down at the mid of round 3.

This fight would make more fans like him rather than those 2 KO that ended within 2mins. At least it makes me want to see how he does in his next fight.

 

[Lawblaw]

TS I spotted a few things in his game that I now have question marks over.

- His ability to counter. He seems very good at walking you down and throwing straights, but when you throw a flurry at him, most of the time he just needs to throw back and he has a great chance of clipping you. He didn't counter much, if at all.

- His ability to move his head. He literally backs up in a straight line, without his hands up and with his chin up in the air. You'll have heard Rogan say this for years, that is the worst strategy possible when it comes to striking.

- Ground game. He swept the legs of Cub many times, but did pretty much nothing on the ground, didn't look very comfortable or talented there - expect some guys to put him on his back and try and work from there.

I hope he tries to address these gaps in his game, because the kid is fucking talented.

Yeah pretty much, and talking about counters. I thought Kelvin had a lot of opportunities to counter but just couldn't. What did you think?

 

[NoSmilez]

It's his stance. He puts on his weight on his front foot so he leans foward. That compounded with the fact he can only move back and forward in a straight line. He got hit almost everytime by some overhand right, he can't move back fast enough without getting hit.

 

[DrunkMonkMeth]

Now I know he's still young but he was doing great until Cub decided to push the pace and had him go backward and the fight changed completely.

somewhat.. he needs to train elsewhere and learn some different technique.. his headmovement is very TKD/karate.. which is why he took so many punches.

 

[Lemmy Caution]

kid has potential but the Cub fight was too soon for him, a fight like that can ruin a prospect. we will see what happens

but tales of him bien ghte next Conor is clearly exaggerated

DHC was not schooled like Conor was against Nate.

 

[Andrusz]

Way too reliant on his power right now. Once the KO didn't come and he was forced to defend his attack became predictable.

But this fight showed his potential. No head movement but definitely a chin. Little defensive striking, but if he drills these elements he'Il be every bit the amazing prospect a lot of us believe he is.

I'm just not confident he will find this training in Korea.

 

[MitMcl]

He's 25. This loss will be good for him in the long run.

 

[Huligani]

Yes.

 

[Hardkore]

Cub just proved to be a bad style matchup. DHC has all the potential of n the world

He needs more grappling/wrestling and an improved S&C program. Most of all he needs to work on his footwork.

 

[Readybodisready]

DHC no can defend. Exposed for now, yes.

 

[knock_you_out]

Son's of swans are his Kryptonite.

 

[Hardkore]

In a way yes, we found out he doesn't fight well at all moving backwards.

He can still improve though, he's young. Look how much better Rory MacDonald got after the Condit fight way back.

Even if he doesn't fight well off the back foot, I didn't like the fact he backs up in a straight line instead of pivoting out.

 

[The_Renaissance]

Nah, itll do him a world of good! He was awesome even in defeat, his chin is ridiculously good.

 

[AllAlong87]

I agree with the "bad head movement" assessment. Seems like anytime Cub caught him with a decent shot, it was far too easy for him to land 2 or 3 follow up punches. Like almost every time.

 

[BryanTheFighter]

kid has potential but the Cub fight was too soon for him, a fight like that can ruin a prospect. we will see what happens

but tales of him bien ghte next Conor is clearly exaggerated

But there was still a "commercial victory" for him, everyone who watched this fight will talk abut it, remember it and so on. If you before this did not know who "Doo wo" is, now you KNOW. It's little bit like UFC 165: Jones vs. Gustafsson, at Air Canada Centre. Gus was far from known outside from the group of."hardcore mma-fans", but after a close and very entertaining 5 round war with Jones he became famous and loved among a much larger crowd, despite not winning on the score card.

Doo ho lost the fight but won fame and future exposure, the next time he fights a elite FW we will tune in, despite being 1-1 in his last two and being ranked outside of the elite, you all know what I am talkin abou!

 

[CJohnny]

We just know that his striking defense is that bad - and it's not eve in this fight that I noticed this, go watch his second fight, he was getting hit a lot but he got the finish against a not so good fighter.

Against great fighters, you need to know to defend. He also doesn't like pressure which will be huge. He is nothing like Conor and would get finished by him in the first, that's for sure.

 

[RafaelDosSantos]

Choi will never lose again.

 

[Danespina]

Can't wait to watch his next 10-20 fights.

 

[Zvengeance]

The biggest problem I saw was that he was not fighting his own fight. Once that happened it was an all out brawl which benefited Cub. I thought he won the 1st and would have maybe finished it the 3rd but decided to take Cub down which was a horrible decision.

 

[Krazybee129]

He is mini jds.

 

[SoberAwakening]

I hate "fighter A exposed" threads after someone loses. Kid put on a great show. Proved he can take a punch and battle adversity. Chill out on the exposed talk.

 

[SimonNova]

I thought he could have won if he kept his cool, but kind of. It happens, Tumenov lost to Alcantara, then beat 5 fighters who are all ranked higher than him.

Then proceed to start to look as average as he did vs Alcantara since then. That last lost was.... man, Im still so fucking dissapointed about it. Went into a staring contest to end up tapping to a guy ranked like 23rd at WW.

 

[ramair455]

TS I spotted a few things in his game that I now have question marks over.

- His ability to counter. He seems very good at walking you down and throwing straights, but when you throw a flurry at him, most of the time he just needs to throw back and he has a great chance of clipping you. He didn't counter much, if at all.

- His ability to move his head. He literally backs up in a straight line, without his hands up and with his chin up in the air. You'll have heard Rogan say this for years, that is the worst strategy possible when it comes to striking.

- Ground game. He swept the legs of Cub many times, but did pretty much nothing on the ground, didn't look very comfortable or talented there - expect some guys to put him on his back and try and work from there.

I hope he tries to address these gaps in his game, because the kid is fucking talented.

Great assessment. Needs work a pull counter for that laser right hand, head movement, staying in the pocket and fighting off the back foot.

 

[FinBJJ]

Cub has been a top guy for a long time, too tough of a test for Choi at this point.
I think he'll learn from it and bounce back in his next fight. Against someone unranked or at least lower than him I presume.

 

[So Fresh]

His offence is fine
Has to work on his defence tho..

 

[Rick Lee]

It was cringe worthy to watch Cub swinging with wild haymakers . DHC does not know how to fight backwards. He needed to do run away and move sideways to restart ala Overeem, Condit, Gustuffson.

Having a good chin increases the risk of brain damage. It would've been better if DHC just got KO'd via one punch.

 

[ImNotSurpisedDonks!]

kid has potential but the Cub fight was too soon for him, a fight like that can ruin a prospect. we will see what happens

but tales of him bien ghte next Conor is clearly exaggerated

Poor Asian fighters always get rushed because Sherdog/the MMA community has such nostalgia for the old days, TMA culture, K-Pop girls and wants to believe that one Asian fighter will come to rule them all, like Saku did. Still Saku was so hyped that he got fed to monsters and subsequently destroyed. From Kid, to Horiguchi, to KZ to Choi; all got rushed, subsequently damaged badly and were never allowed to mature as prospects before being rushed to the next level owing to hype.

The matchmakers lurk on these forums and other. They decide what matches to make based upon what the fans want. People were heralding Choi as the next Conor while NONE of the signs were the there. The worst thing a UFC can be is young, Asian, exciting and string together a couple of first round finishes.....I pity the fool as they will get thrown to the wolves and hurt badly. DHC may never be the same after that fight. And the sad part is, he did not break the whole fight, was not knocked down, until the last ten seconds of the fight; at that point, his heart and chin gave out at once (like Rory vs Robbie). The implications of mentally breaking are massive and many are never the same again (Rory or Johnny Hendricks).....let's hope this is not the case as his face looked like a pound of hamburg at the end of the fight.

 

[ArtemV]

I thought he could have won if he kept his cool, but kind of. It happens, Tumenov lost to Alcantara, then beat 5 fighters who are all ranked higher than him.

 

[HereToSlay]

We just know that his striking defense is that bad - and it's not eve in this fight that I noticed this, go watch his second fight, he was getting hit a lot but he got the finish against a not so good fighter.

Against great fighters, you need to know to defend. He also doesn't like pressure which will be huge. He is nothing like Conor and would get finished by him in the first, that's for sure.

Again making it about Conor. You need therapy

 

[ImNotSurpisedDonks!]

Great assessment. Needs work a pull counter for that laser right hand, head movement, staying in the pocket and fighting off the back foot.

You know, he kinda reminds me of JDS. Both had a ton of hype, both are a bread and butter pressure type boxers with not a lot of flash, both had great TDD, both are/were huge first round finishers, had great accuracy/power and appeared to be unstoppable until you got them to fight off the rear foot. If we look at JDS now, all his losses have come off of guys pressuring him and not allowing him to get his game on. He tried to correct his deficiencies but was never able to, as rear foot fighting is one of the hardest things to master. If you look at almost all the champs now, they can all fight off of their back foot (MM, Cruz, Conor, Bisping, Stipe), as the striking element of MMA is changing so much and so quickly.

 

[SimonNova]

Cub is world class and crafty as fuck, and the heart of a lion. This fight reminded me why I love this shit, both guys stock went up IMO.

 

[Sjb1888]

I wouldn't call him exposed, coz I was always pretty sure he wasn't at the level some thought he was...

He's still a future top 3 fighter, maybe even champ, but he was getting over hyped at this stage.