Why do fighters constantly play right into each other's strengths?

[chunglii]

Gonna blow your mind, TS: Fighting is hard.

 

[Godzilla3232]

Any time. When you are an independent contractor that relies on the approval of your customers (word of mouth/internet buzz), and you do such a shit job (even only one time) that is causes a large segment of people to not want to hire/watch you, that's what we call cause and effect.

Success and approval in most competitions are generally earned by winning the competition. MMA is a funny "sport," isn't it?

Not many other competitive environments where the fans and competitors alike feel that looking cool and losing is preferable to winning.

 

[Godzilla3232]

I guess backpedaling throwing 60 leg jabs is called striking now

It's better striking than Nick sitting there eating leg jabs and bitching, while not landing anything himself. If anyone should've been embarrassed by their performance in that fight it's Nick.

 

[MMAProfessional]

It's better striking than Nick sitting there eating leg jabs and bitching, while not landing anything himself. If anyone should've been embarrassed by their performance in that fight it's Nick.

Embarrassed because he was chasing down a running fighter the whole time? It takes two fighters to make a fight. Anyone who thought Condit looked good in that fight is just riding him at this point.

 

[Vovchanchyn Fan]

In some cases, I think there is a relative bias that lures fighters into doing what TS is referring to, as I've seen it a lot.
What do I mean by relative bias... Assume fighter A is a 10 in terms of submission skills.
Fighter B, knowing he is going against A works hard on his submissions and doubles his sub skills, from 3 to 6.
B thinks "my sub skills have improved massively", and they have, but relative to where B started.
It's still a 10 skill vs 6, but this new confidence plus ego seems to then set the trap for fighters to want to go head to head with their opponents strength.
Example - Randleman vs Saku. Randleman worked hard on his subs and was talking about his new found sub skills before the fight.
I immediately felt he would lose b/c he was still not at Saku skill level in submissions even if he was much better than before...and guess who lost by submission.
Smart strategy is focusing on your strengths and avoiding others strengths, but fighters are inherently competitive and thus don't like to think that they aren't the best in all areas, and thus sometimes directly challenge their opponents strength directly with predictable results.

The other aspect of course is that people that are really good in an area can often force their opponent into their strength (ie fights start standing so strikers start in their domain and with good td defense, keep them there vs grappler has to do takedown first...) .

 

[Godzilla3232]

Embarrassed because he was chasing down a running fighter the whole time? It takes two fighters to make a fight. Anyone who thought Condit looked good in that fight is just riding him at this point.

Nick should be embarrassed because he's been training boxing his whole career yet somehow doesn't know how to cut off an opponent who's circling away from him.

If I was in a fight and discovered that all I had to do to COMPLETELY shut my opponent down is circle away and throw kicks, then easy win. Not Condit's fault Nick sucks.

 

[MMAProfessional]

Nick should be embarrassed because he's been training boxing his whole career yet somehow doesn't know how to cut off an opponent who's circling away from him.

If I was in a fight and discovered that all I had to do to COMPLETELY shut my opponent down is circle away and throw kicks, then easy win. Not Condit's fault Nick sucks.

You're the only one who thought that was good on Condits part excluding himself as well. But I guess when ya got balls on your face it's hard to think clearly.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

Reminds me of Rothwell vs JDS. Rothwell had the worst gameplan ever. He did not attempt even 1 takedown, not even 1. all he did for 5 rounds is stand and try and trade with JDS. didnt try to put him against the fence or nothing. brainless.

 

[Werdun]

It's not just the Diaz legion, there are plenty of us who feel cheated, like we were sold a bill of goods.
Condit never fought like that before, and hasn't since. He did that to himself, and lost more fans than if he would have lost.
Sure, it got him a title shot, but I'll never waste 15 minutes watching another Condit fight. I'll catch the highlights.

Never waste 15 minutes watching condit fight?! You are also saying he never did that before or after... bro u went full retard, and deserve ban. Do u even mma bro? Whats wrong with u bro?

 

[EGarrett]

Perceiving fighters going toe to toe with Tyson as being stupid would mean that they had a better option. Like, staying on the outside and...jabbing the shit out of him? They probably would have done so if that was an actual possibility. It wasn't though, cause they didn't have the skills.

I don't know boxing, all I see is them going toe-to-toe with him instead of keeping their distance, circling, trying to use their reach etc...and the commentators even wondered out loud what they were doing.

 

[Aluminati]

Never waste 15 minutes watching condit fight?! You are also saying he never did that before or after... bro u went full retard, and deserve ban. Do u even mma bro? Whats wrong with u bro?

Nope, never again, bro. Yes, I have done MMA, bro. It is a valid opinion, bro. The last question... still waiting on the medical field to figure it out, bro.
And as far as saying that he never did after, bro... You got me, bro. I wouldn't know, bro, unless he was jogging around in the highlights I guess, would I, bro?

I don't support fighters that fight for the decision, bro. My time and money is too scarce to waste on that shit, bro. Bro...

 

[Werdun]

Nope, never again. Yes, I have done MMA. It is a valid opinion. The last question... still waiting on the medical field to figure it out.
And as far as saying that he never did after... You got me. I wouldn't know, unless he was jogging around in the highlights I guess, would I?

Dude... just stop.

 

[Buff]

"Everybody has a gameplan until they get hit in the face" - Kenny Florian.

 

[Aluminati]

Dude... just stop.

Dude, I'm confused. I thought we doing bro. You alright, man?

 

[Aluminati]

Success and approval in most competitions are generally earned by winning the competition. MMA is a funny "sport," isn't it?

Not many other competitive environments where the fans and competitors alike feel that looking cool and losing is preferable to winning.

Because MMA is literally making a sport out of what used to take place as combat.
I guarantee you that the Romans never ran around Europe waiting for the judges to hand over the land to them...

 

[robjenkins2]

It's better striking than Nick sitting there eating leg jabs and bitching, while not landing anything himself. If anyone should've been embarrassed by their performance in that fight it's Nick.

He outlanded Carlos to the head and body, but people only remember what they want to remember about the fight.

 

[Werdun]

Dude, I'm confused. I thought we doing bro. You alright, man?

Not really mate, im still confused and upset that you dont appreciate the NBK, saint of Just Bleed God

 

[Krushey]

I think it was Jones who said he wanted to beat Chael at his own game.

...the wrestling game not the horsemeat game...

 

[Glumberjack]

It's not just the Diaz legion, there are plenty of us who feel cheated, like we were sold a bill of goods.
Condit never fought like that before, and hasn't since. He did that to himself, and lost more fans than if he would have lost.
Sure, it got him a title shot, but I'll never waste 15 minutes watching another Condit fight. I'll catch the highlights.

Your loss then, because damn near every fight he's had other than that one has been a barn burner.

 

[HIMBOB]

In some cases, I think there is a relative bias that lures fighters into doing what TS is referring to, as I've seen it a lot.
What do I mean by relative bias... Assume fighter A is a 10 in terms of submission skills.
Fighter B, knowing he is going against A works hard on his submissions and doubles his sub skills, from 3 to 6.
B thinks "my sub skills have improved massively", and they have, but relative to where B started.
It's still a 10 skill vs 6, but this new confidence plus ego seems to then set the trap for fighters to want to go head to head with their opponents strength.
Example - Randleman vs Saku. Randleman worked hard on his subs and was talking about his new found sub skills before the fight.
I immediately felt he would lose b/c he was still not at Saku skill level in submissions even if he was much better than before...and guess who lost by submission.
Smart strategy is focusing on your strengths and avoiding others strengths, but fighters are inherently competitive and thus don't like to think that they aren't the best in all areas, and thus sometimes directly challenge their opponents strength directly with predictable results.

The other aspect of course is that people that are really good in an area can often force their opponent into their strength (ie fights start standing so strikers start in their domain and with good td defense, keep them there vs grappler has to do takedown first...) .

Thanks, saved me a lot of typing.