Rockhold should change to a grappling heavy gameplan

Cat Biscuits said:
All he had to do was test Yoels cardio for 2-3 rounds, then if needed, he could strike.

He let Yoel keep his cardio and explosiveness, which he paid for very badly. It's a shame Rockhold didn't grapple at all.
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Romero has competed at the highest level of wrestling. Rockhold would gas himself out trying that. He's not a wrestler.
 
I don't think he's necessarily abandoned his grappling...

He did take Branch down in order to finish prior to the Romero fight

I just don't think using a grappling heavy gameplan would have been smart against an animal like Romero

Also, it's not like Rockhold wasn't having success standing up. His jab was on point as well as his low kicks
 
blaseblah said:
Romero has competed at the highest level of wrestling. Rockhold would gas himself out trying that. He's not a wrestler.
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There's a good chance Romero would gas first. He's definitely shown much more of a tendency to gas than Rockhold. I don't think anybody's arguing for Rockhold to turn this into a technical wrestling match, but then again, this is MMA so the wrestling is different. The fact that you can hit the opponent changes the game. If Rockhold could have tied him up and pressed him against the cage, that would have been a start. Hell, even if he ended up against the cage himself and Romero had to expand energy to keep him there, it would have probably favored him. One thing's for sure, standing with Romero as a game plan wasn't a great idea.
 
BabyBlue_Bomber said:
Also, it's not like Rockhold wasn't having success standing up. His jab was on point as well as his low kicks
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Yeah, but jabs will only get you so far, they need to be a setup for something. And the likelihood of him TKOing Romero on leg kicks was pretty small. He hurt Romero bad enough that he was unable to stand after the fight, and what good did that do to slow him down? Still had enough explosiveness to KO Rockhold. Best would have been to at least mix things up and keep him guessing.
 
That inverted triangle kimura scramble is one of my all time favorite grappling exchanges.
 
tm8747a said:
There's a good chance Romero would gas first. He's definitely shown much more of a tendency to gas than Rockhold. I don't think anybody's arguing for Rockhold to turn this into a technical wrestling match, but then again, this is MMA so the wrestling is different. The fact that you can hit the opponent changes the game. If Rockhold could have tied him up and pressed him against the cage, that would have been a start. Hell, even if he ended up against the cage himself and Romero had to expand energy to keep him there, it would have probably favored him. One thing's for sure, standing with Romero as a game plan wasn't a great idea.
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There are different levels of cardio. A striker is not going to wear out a wrestler in the clinch. Awful idea.
 
Would be a great idea. Pretty safe to say that the chin is compromised, so as much as I hate to say it, he needs to stop banging & start wrestling more.
 
Agreed. His wrestling isn't great either though which is odd since he has trained with dc and cormier
so much in the past . He needs better takedowns.

I think he could be a force at lhw which imo is pretty much striking orientated
 
He needs a legit boxing coach. He kinda looks basic tbh. I agree tho,grappling heavy gameplan would favor him,but still needs to work heavy on his boxing
 
Agreed. His striking defense is terrible and he leaves himself open for big shots.

He must use his wrestling and ground game to continue to be relevant.
 
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