Isn't Valentina too big for Joanna for their fight to be competitive?

Eater of Souls said:
While I think she beats JJ for numerous reasons, it should go the distance. Val is adapting better to MMA (still has a few things to work on, and wrestling in general) but JJ's footwork no longer seems to be as crisp. I can see her getting countered for 25 minutes. But it should still be a good fight.
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IMO Joanna's striking has been going downhill since her move to ATT. The main things I've noticed is her timing & ability to make adjustments, the former is more "on the beat" and predictable and the latter went from pretty good to pretty poor. She seems to be a more rigid fighter than she was before, it's like she comes up with a plan with her team and it either works or she goes down with the ship.

I think Joanna was at her best in the Letourneau fight and the rematch against Claudia. In both fights she had parts of her game shut down but made the correct adjustments to turn the fight around. She controlled distance & especially angles better, varied the timing on her strikes & feints, and she knew how to exploit a weakness and press an advantage when she had one. Her footwork, strike selection, and fight IQ were just better.

Joanna at her best would give Valentina a hell of a fight and might even win a decision with the right judges. Problem is that was 6 fights ago and she's devolved a fair bit since then. These days, I'd expect a good fight but a pretty clear decision for Valentina, I think the end result would be fairly similar to Val's fight against Holly.
 
they are about the same size

JJ weighs 130 lbs before a week from fight night. she probably weighs more than 135 lbs. and valentina walks around 138 lbs. shevchenko might be bigger but not much
 
aerius said:
IMO Joanna's striking has been going downhill since her move to ATT. The main things I've noticed is her timing & ability to make adjustments, the former is more "on the beat" and predictable and the latter went from pretty good to pretty poor. She seems to be a more rigid fighter than she was before, it's like she comes up with a plan with her team and it either works or she goes down with the ship.

I think Joanna was at her best in the Letourneau fight and the rematch against Claudia. In both fights she had parts of her game shut down but made the correct adjustments to turn the fight around. She controlled distance & especially angles better, varied the timing on her strikes & feints, and she knew how to exploit a weakness and press an advantage when she had one. Her footwork, strike selection, and fight IQ were just better.

Joanna at her best would give Valentina a hell of a fight and might even win a decision with the right judges. Problem is that was 6 fights ago and she's devolved a fair bit since then. These days, I'd expect a good fight but a pretty clear decision for Valentina, I think the end result would be fairly similar to Val's fight against Holly.
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Good to see soneone else notice that prime Joanna was back during her Letourneau fight, she absolutely tore her up. Joanna was actually trying to finish as well.
 
PolarBearPaulVarelans said:
I'm hardly a "new fan of mma" considering my username references a fighter from the first MMA event I ever watched, UFC 7. But I will admit that I am new to forcing myself to watch women's MMA, and have only seen Joanna's (who I am very unimpressed with) two fights against Rose Namajunas as well as Tecia Torres.

I have seen a fair number of other strawweights, though, and visually Joanna is much larger than them.



Okay, I will amend my statement. Joanna is huge at 115, but on two occasions, she fought opponents around her size or slightly larger.



Oh, I think Valentina is past such humble beginnings, although one can similarly dismiss the great early pioneers of MMA from 1993 to about 2005.
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You watched her two fights, okey thanks for your input.

You also seen other strawweights, that's good, but maybe try to watch more.

I wish Valentina good luck, maybe she will be able to be again on some win streak in the UFC, last time she was - 2 wins, was very impressive.
 
I don't think she's too big for it to be competitive. The size difference won't be that much with JJ not having to cut a lot of weight and she'll likely put on more size before they fight. I still think Valentina wins this fight more often than not because she's more well rounded. I could see Valentina getting it to the ground and keeping her there if she chose to. I'd much rather a striking match, but I'm not sure we'll get that.
 
aerius said:
IMO Joanna's striking has been going downhill since her move to ATT. The main things I've noticed is her timing & ability to make adjustments, the former is more "on the beat" and predictable and the latter went from pretty good to pretty poor. She seems to be a more rigid fighter than she was before, it's like she comes up with a plan with her team and it either works or she goes down with the ship.

I think Joanna was at her best in the Letourneau fight and the rematch against Claudia. In both fights she had parts of her game shut down but made the correct adjustments to turn the fight around. She controlled distance & especially angles better, varied the timing on her strikes & feints, and she knew how to exploit a weakness and press an advantage when she had one. Her footwork, strike selection, and fight IQ were just better.

Joanna at her best would give Valentina a hell of a fight and might even win a decision with the right judges. Problem is that was 6 fights ago and she's devolved a fair bit since then. These days, I'd expect a good fight but a pretty clear decision for Valentina, I think the end result would be fairly similar to Val's fight against Holly.
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Why wasn't Andrade fight with "the prime Joanna"? I thought this fight was spectacular and Joanna was in ATT already. Andrade had been a beast before that fight and remained one still.
Also, I believe Valentina had a role in Joanna's losses to Rose since she trained her to beat Joanna.
 
I don't think JJs chin holds up against Shev, I really would not be surprised if she TKOs JJ inside 2.
 
I'd say Val has maybe a 7 pound advantage, nothing crazy. Will Shev have a lot more power at 125, we know Joanna will - witness the Sexton fight. No evidence of Joanna's weak jaw in her last two fights, infact it only became a thing when she was working with the New Age nutritionists. Also judges like volume and aggression and that will be coming from the Pole.

Of course Joanna needs a decent camp - 230 is ridiculous but as a company girl she might take it - and neither team are great gameplanners. All in all Shevchenko is a better fight for Jedrzejczyk than Suarez, although, saying that, no-one has kicked Tatiana in the head yet.
 
What fight is competitive for Valentina at 125? She took Nunes to a razor close decision when she was clearly smaller and Nunes has starched the rest of her competition with ease.

I don’t think anyone will be competitive with her at 125 for awhile and she is probably the most dominant fighter for their weight class.
 
The_Drinker_of_Skies said:
Why wasn't Andrade fight with "the prime Joanna"? I thought this fight was spectacular and Joanna was in ATT already. Andrade had been a beast before that fight and remained one still.
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It was a good performance, but watch Joanna's footwork in the fight along with her positioning & strike setups, and keep in mind that Andrade's footwork isn't as good as Claudia's or Valerie's. Before ATT, Joanna made better use of pivots & adjustment steps, and she did a better job of entering & exiting on an angle instead of going straight in & out. Against Andrade, and especially against Rose and Torres, it was a lot more straight in & out then sidestepping while out of range rather than getting in & out on an angle. Overall, it's not as crisp & efficient, and leaves her stuck in the pocket longer where she gets hit more.

Also, I believe Valentina had a role in Joanna's losses to Rose since she trained her to beat Joanna.
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Yes and no. I think Valentina & her team helped Rose a lot in putting her fundamentals together and becoming a disciplined fighter, but there wasn't really anything Joanna specific in the training.
 
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