Tyron Woodley vs Wonderboy part II - Who has the most adjustments to make?

[Threetrees]

I think that's old wrestling stiffness, which Hughes also had. Look at Tyron's hands and feet when he's going backwards towards the cage. Hands high on the side, open fists, feet sideways almost in a straight line. Basically no striking base, but more what you see from wrestlers on the outside.

But he has that crazy spring in his step that lets him explode with those huge power strikes even when his feet are all wrong. But when his opponent is active he can't find openings to explode and he's basically a poor wrestleboxer, like in the Shields fight.

Woodley won't be a good fighter when his athleticism goes. Too much of his game is based on it, much like with Rashad and Lombard.

That's a really good point
He's getting up there in age, but he's hitting a weird sort of prime where his technical ability is starting to catch up with his athleticism right before it probably drops off.

I think you are looking past the fact that Wonderbread fought his fight and Woodley got through it. Thompson wasn't able to use distance effectively to keep Tyron at bay and was getting hit way more than normal. Wonderbread was the only one ever to be in trouble during the fight as well. I think he has the most to change because his normal game plan got him hurt and only managed to get him a controversial draw.

Nah, I just think the most likely thing is that the fight goes the same as last time but Wonderboy avoids getting hurt. That's not a knock on Tyron in the slightest, I'm a fan of his - I'm just pessimistic when it comes to guys making large adjustments at this age, especially late. Hope I'm wrong and it's a completely different kind of fight, whoever wins.

Woodley has more changes to make, but those changes aren't major. He just needs to wrestle more and keep WB guessing more to land some big shots. In which case I favor Woodley to do much better than the first time especially because he now knows better what to expect, than the first time and WB will probably just do the same, more or less.

I think you actually made a better point, or alluded to one. I'm wondering what exactly Wonderboy COULD change in terms of technical and tactical adjustments. Kick more? That led to him getting takedown down. Punch more? Tyron actually countered him well. It's going to be great to see.

 

[Ninjarobby]

I think alot of wonderboys game is hindered after you've already fought him. Twood will have a better idea of his distance and range this time around. But I still think wonderboy takes it

 

[Goatenstein]

If either guy stops square dancing and tries to win they should be able to.

 

[Shocktagon]

Woodley doesn't really need to make any adjustments. He can fight the same fight and win a decision because under the new rules round 1 is a 10-8. Hell, I wouldn't have contested a unanimous 10-8 for it the first time around. Not sure what Thompson can do to avoid getting caught that he wasn't capable of before. All his tricks were rather ineffective.

 

[HunterBuusta]

Instant rematches are generally stupid in MMA, I don't think this one is an exception. But the first fight was great enough that I'm all in.

Which guy has the most to change to convincingly win a rematch?
I think Tyron won the last fight 1,3,4 and I didn't see my scorecard as being controversial. I see arguments for others, but after rewatching a couple times I still think thats the best way to call it

Even still, I favor Wonderboy in a rematch. I think he can fight almost exactly like he did last time and pull out a decision - and I also think the style matchup favors Wonderboy pretty much in all the same ways as last time, even if he doesn't land the cleaner harder shots he'll still get points with the judges for sheer volume and activity.

With Tyron I think he has to adjust a lot of his gameplan, because Wonderboy is still a match up nightmare on the feet. That or he has to commit to the takedown game, which I think he'd cruise to a decision win with if he did.

What say you?

I still got Woodstock for the 2nd fight. That wrestling against WB was legit. I hope Woodley depends on that right hand a little less and focuses more on that GnP. That shit was nuts and really showed what happens when WB is put on his back by someone who is legit on the mat.

 

[Still Jones]

Instant rematches are generally stupid in MMA, I don't think this one is an exception. But the first fight was great enough that I'm all in.

Which guy has the most to change to convincingly win a rematch?
I think Tyron won the last fight 1,3,4 and I didn't see my scorecard as being controversial. I see arguments for others, but after rewatching a couple times I still think thats the best way to call it

Even still, I favor Wonderboy in a rematch. I think he can fight almost exactly like he did last time and pull out a decision - and I also think the style matchup favors Wonderboy pretty much in all the same ways as last time, even if he doesn't land the cleaner harder shots he'll still get points with the judges for sheer volume and activity.

With Tyron I think he has to adjust a lot of his gameplan, because Wonderboy is still a match up nightmare on the feet. That or he has to commit to the takedown game, which I think he'd cruise to a decision win with if he did.

What say you?

Wonderboy will win this time.

 

[Still Jones]

Tyron. Needs to adjust from being so racist.

Good thinking.

 

[Sgt Smith]

I think this is a tough call. Stephen probably has the better tools to win a decision, and Tyron the better tools to end in a finish. If Stephen can prevent the TD, he stands a much greater chance of winning. And the inverse for Tyron winning. I would normally favor Stephen winning the battle of adjustments, but I saw some things from Tyron in that fight that show he's really working on trying to avoid weaknesses that had plagued him in the past. I'm really on the fence in the rematch.

 

[MMAFanatic86]

I was with you to a point about Wonderboy. If Wonderboy fought exactly like he did the last time, he would lose consciousness within the first round.

I saw a lot of hesitation on Wonderboy's part in the first fight. He let Woodley slide a little bit when he made him miss. This time, if Wonderboy wants to get the belt, he's going to have to be busier on the feet and not let Woodley get his footing in. If Woodley misses, Wonderboy better pull the damn trigger.

 

[Somos]

Wonderboy needs to pressure Tyron more. Playing safe with him is recipe for disaster.

i.e Rory and Nate

 

[One MMA Fan]

Wonderboy is my pick.

He can improve on the game plan.

I do feel Woodley over performed and I'm not sure that will be the case for this next one.

Another aspect no more Chris his family bleeding on the ground cause he didn't play it safe enough, that had to factor in the mental game for WBoy walking out.

 

[yeguiza]

I think Tyron did pretty well on the feet

Nobody said he blanketed

Now in the rematch, he´ll feel free to take the match wherever he feels comfortable

I got Woodley by TKO in rd3

 

[Forever Young]

T-wood won. He'll win more convincingly next time.

Maia deserved it

 

[dontlaugh]

Wonderboy.

Too scared of the takedown, ends up leaving himself open for tyron's usual attack (feint low, go high). needs to find a way to control the range better, time Tyron better (tyron is fast), stay at distance and read the level changes better. He miscalculated a lot and Tyron tore in with hard shots.

 

[DS7]

Do you have a MMA blog?

No lol, why?

 

[DomiDomi]

I'm rewatching now and round 1 is not a 10-8 for me, and it's not even that close.

For the first 2 minutes 10 seconds of the round they're on the feet getting nowhere near each other, Wonderboy threw a few strikes that didn't land, I'm not even sure Woodley threw a strike. I suppose you have to give the first 2 mins 10 to Wonderboy on activity alone.

He takes him down off a kick at 2 mins 50 left in the round, but his leg is trapped and the only shots he can land are to the body, for over 2 minutes Woodley doesn't even land a proper strike to the head. Somewhere in the last 30 seconds he cuts him and and then in the last 5 seconds he lands a couple of nice elbows. Really the blood made this look far worse than it was, it was nowhere near the sustained beatdown people think it was, he managed to cut him near the end and landed 2 good elbows after that. If you want to watch ground and pound deserving of a 10-8 watch Khabib vs MJ, and then compare it to this. They're night and day.

Round 2, Woodley held him against the face for a bit but lost the stand up. Wonderboy edged this round.

Round 3, all stand up, I'm baffled people give Woodley this round, it was Wonderboy's best, landed plenty of shots, more active. Woodley had a leg kick that knocked Wonderboy off balance and a couple of punches but overall the round wasn't even close.

Round 4 a 10-8, Wonderboy did win the first 90 seconds and had top control for the last minute once he escaped the choke, which isn't enough to escape a 10-8 but I think scoring it a 10-7 is a stretch.

Round 5. Woodley described this round as close, which is hilarious. He literally did nothing except get punched in the face quite a lot.

Scored it a draw.

The narrative on here that Woodley outstruck Wonderboy is a big stretch, he landed one big right hand in 4 rounds that were spent on the feet, other than that he was getting outlanded and outworked. He can definitely finish the fight with a big punch in the rematch but I'd look to try take him down if I were Woodley.