Nicco Montano not scared of Valentina Shevchenko

[El Fernas]

Like if any pro fighter would say they are... i mean, they would say something like "i respect her, its her division", then realize that might have look a bit weak, specially after asking to fight for the other division belt against a different fighter and switch tune after, but no fighter would say they are scared to fight someone.

 

[dim_]

The TUF fights are very different than full on fights. They are two rounds, the fighters dont get to train for them, nor do they have access to any of their coaches.

two of her tuf fights were two rounds, two of her tuf fights were three rounds.

 

[aerius]

Part of the reason Esparza was the favorite is that Joanna's TDD improved astronomically between fights, which no one knew. She went from being easily taken down by Lima to put up a fight against Claudia's takedown attempts to deny all but one from Carla in just 3 fights.

I wouldn't say she is a shit wrestler. She is a weaker and less efficient wrestler than Gadelha, but so is 90% of that division. If you put a non-elite fighter in front of her like Lima, Moroz or Rawlings she will be persistent with her wrestling, which is also not the christmas of technique, and eventually mop the floor with them

Carla is a decent wrestler for WMMA, problem is actual good wrestlers on the women's side are about as rare as high level strikers so she's more decent by default than anything else. An actual high level wrestler would not be struggling with the likes of Markos or Calvillo, and it's in the latter fight where you can see the problems with Carla's wrestling (you can see it in the Joanna fight as well, but that's kinda not fair).

Esparza doesn't shoot from a good stance, she leans forward and ends up trying to drive a shot from her knees. Instead of level changing and shooting from a stance that's similar to a football lineman's and getting a powerful drive from the legs & hips, Esparza either a)essentially falls forward until her knees are almost on the mat before trying to drive off or b)leans way over at the waist and tries to drive forward without getting her legs & hips under her. This means she can't get power & penetration on her shot which was why Calvillo and Joanna were able to stuff it so easily. Contrast that with Claudia who does level change properly and shoots from a strong wrestler's stance, even when opponents try to stuff the shot there's so much drive behind it that they still get blasted off their feet.

 

[Marianne]

Carla is a decent wrestler for WMMA, problem is actual good wrestlers on the women's side are about as rare as high level strikers so she's more decent by default than anything else. An actual high level wrestler would not be struggling with the likes of Markos or Calvillo, and it's in the latter fight where you can see the problems with Carla's wrestling (you can see it in the Joanna fight as well, but that's kinda not fair).

Esparza doesn't shoot from a good stance, she leans forward and ends up trying to drive a shot from her knees. Instead of level changing and shooting from a stance that's similar to a football lineman's and getting a powerful drive from the legs & hips, Esparza either a)essentially falls forward until her knees are almost on the mat before trying to drive off or b)leans way over at the waist and tries to drive forward without getting her legs & hips under her. This means she can't get power & penetration on her shot which was why Calvillo and Joanna were able to stuff it so easily. Contrast that with Claudia who does level change properly and shoots from a strong wrestler's stance, even when opponents try to stuff the shot there's so much drive behind it that they still get blasted off their feet.

Yeah, she has some technical problems, especially when setting up her takedowns. I agree mostly on your first point (I haven't really observed her do much leaning forward, although she did try a couple of really shitty takedowns bent over against Calvillo that were easily stopped and she does finish her singles very arched). She can get really clean doublesShe does have a nice tani otoshi once she gets tangled up with people (idk how wrestlers call that) but she is much more determination than skill.