Who’s to blame for Woodley always getting stuck on the cage?

SteveColdStone

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It’s just not a good tactic. It made more sense against WB because of the style match up, but I struggle to understand why he is constantly against the cage. He will sometimes actually put himself there; it’s not like he always gets pressured and is forced onto it.

Anthony Pettis - same camp - always finds himself against the cage too and it makes me want to scream. In Pettis’ case his hands aren’t that good and he doesn’t have the crazy power to deter people. He’s also physically weak and shines at kicking range.

Is it a coaching issue or are these fighters just lacking in fight IQ and skills such as footwork? You’d obviously want your coaches to correct those things, but some fighters aren’t fixable. I will hear their coaches saying in between rounds for the fighters to get off the cage, but it never happens. Woodley did also have this issue before going to Roufusport. It’s also annoying how insistent Woodley is on throwing only singular punches. It’s rare to see him throw a real combination.
 
It’s just not a good tactic. It made more sense against WB because of the style match up, but I struggle to understand why he is constantly against the cage. He will sometimes actually put himself there; it’s not like he always gets pressured and is forced onto it.

Anthony Pettis - same camp - always finds himself against the cage too and it makes me want to scream. In Pettis’ case his hands aren’t that good and he doesn’t have the crazy power to deter people. He’s also physically weak and shines at kicking range.

Is it a coaching issue or are these fighters just lacking in fight IQ and skills such as footwork? You’d obviously want your coaches to correct those things, but some fighters aren’t fixable. I will hear their coaches saying in between rounds for the fighters to get off the cage, but it never happens. Woodley did also have this issue before going to Roufusport. It’s also annoying how insistent Woodley is on throwing only singular punches. It’s rare to see him throw a real combination.
He seems extremely ineffective at striking in close. He does no damage when guys get up in him and his cardio suffers big time from prolonged exchanges.
 
Pettis did however KO Wonderboy with a punch kicking off the cage which is something Woodley couldn't do in what 10 rounds.
 
This is why I picked Usman over him. He gave Usman exactly what he needed to manhandle him by putting his back against the cage and Usman did exactly that.

Tyron's fire is completely gone.
Absolutely zero urgency to inflict damage especially when his opponents come forward.

He's 38 and is a foot and a half out the door at this point. He really does need to retire before losing some brain cells.
 
Guys like Pettis, JDS, Woodley etc just have terrible defensive footwork and are easy to cut the cage off against. They can't counter at sharp enough angles to pivot off or gain dominant angles to attack or escape routes to restart
 
It’s a bad habit and comes from him being a very timid fighter. The reason he got away with it (mostly) for years is he had the power to discourage people from punishing him. So that leads to a fight where little happens, essentially a stand off.

However, when somebody doesn’t give his power respect, we see fights like the Rory, Usman, and Burns fight where the backing up really works against him. And now, he’s gotten more timid and can’t pull the trigger, so you’ll see more fighters disregarding his power and more fights that look like his most recent ones.

He needs a new camp to correct this, as it’s been a problem for a long time. But he’s probably too old to make too many major changes.
 
He seems extremely ineffective at striking in close. He does no damage when guys get up in him and his cardio suffers big time from prolonged exchanges.
Yeah he really seems to want to set up and measure before unloading. His KO of Lawler was great, but before he landed that bomb he purposely hit Lawler in the chest to get a gauge. He just doesn’t really unload anything on the fly. He also has a lacking lead hand game which can cause a lot of problems. He could use it to set up his power hand and he could use it to deter opponents from walking him down. He makes me think of Rashad. Rashad sometimes had problems pulling the trigger and could be too patient.
 
He has good hands but lacks the footwork to close the distance so he backs up and plays counterstriker, hoping to catch his opponent.
 
Guys like Pettis, JDS, Woodley etc just have terrible defensive footwork and are easy to cut the cage off against. They can't counter at sharp enough angles to pivot off or gain dominant angles to attack or escape routes to restart
It’s insane to me how they don’t improve their footwork. JDS has good hands too, so it’s not like he’s simply a bad boxer. Taking beatings against the cage would make you think that they’d make it a top priority to learn how to move their feet.
 
Tyron was clapping and even a little dropping his hands and moving his head. Also one time Gilbert just stood still for 3 seconds.

The thing that baffled me was in round 4 and 5 Woodley was perfectly fine with hanging out in the bear hug clinch. Even turned it around and pushed Gilbert's back too the cage. IDK whut the Hell that was he needed too KO Gilbert.

But also Damn that quick Double Leg Takedown by Burns. Nobody has don thay 2 Woodley before.

I was impressed how Tyron defended off his back and mounted vs a BJJ World Champ
 
Tyron was clapping and even a little dropping his hands and moving his head. Also one time Gilbert just stood still for 3 seconds.

The thing that baffled me was in round 4 and 5 Woodley was perfectly fine with hanging out in the bear hug clinch. Even turned it around and pushed Gilbert's back too the cage. IDK whut the Hell that was he needed too KO Gilbert.

But also Damn that quick Double Leg Takedown by Burns. Nobody has don thay 2 Woodley before.

I was impressed how Tyron defended off his back and mounted vs a BJJ World Champ
Yeah he was far too patient in rounds 4 and 5. He might have been hesitant because he got dropped and busted up early on. Maybe he never recovered mentally from that.

It’s kind of a classic thing: a fighter is more aggressive as he’s rising up, wins the title in violent fashion, but then turns into a more conservative fighter as he looks to hold onto the belt. Once he loses his belt, he’s stuck in the pattern of being patient, is older, and then can never recapture what he once had and slowly tallies off.


Yes Woodley did a good job on the ground and after getting hurt. Gilbert’s takedown in open space was also perfect.
 
Tyron is obviously to blame but it doesn’t seem his camp is able or capable to help him overcome his issue of getting glued to the fence. Or maybe they drill it perfectly in the gym and Woodley just can’t execute the plan on fight night.
 
In the beginning of round 5, Woodley got fired up for like 10 seconds, then when Burns clinched he stop doing anything for 4.30 min. Classic Tyron.
 
He needs to remove the threat of the takedown, and creative striking from the fight.
 
When another fighter is backing up against the cage it's pretty much instinct for the aggressor to come forward and open up on the guy against the cage, as they feel like they have the advantage. Woodley is pretty much baiting people into coming forward so he can counter them with an overhand right.

Obviously it works with take down defense too.

I am a fan of Woodley.

I feel like his issue was always his cardio which leads to him having extremely low output. Then throw in his predictability with his overhand right and you got a problem.
 
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