Agressive blasting jams up technical strikers

Cain brought the right game plan last night. He smothered JDS from the start and did not give him a chance to find his rhythm or his timing last night.

It looked very much like when top level fighters figured out the game plan to beat Crocop was by doing the same thing.

This is the weakness of technical boxing and Kickboxing in the MMA game.

High level boxers need their feet under them and their range established through jabs and body shots to get comfortable, JDS had no such chance.

The same way high level Kickboxers use round kicks and front kicks to set their range.

JDS normally likes to take the first 2-3 minutes of the round to feel all of this out, then picks up the pace.

Cain fought a masterful gameplan and JDS had no such chance and had to defend multiple takedowns all the while taking bombs to the face.

Adding the fact that all JDS brought to the table was boxing, he needs to go back to the drawing board and add some new strikes to his game. He became predictable and Cain was the one with a more diverse standup game and landed almost everything and the kitchen sink.

 

I think JDS can win with his current toolset. However you're right, if he mixes in some well timed knees and other strikes he will be able to better utilize his boxing because it will be more surprising. What he has to get better at is to either predict the shoot better or keep his hands up. He can not try to be Anderson and leave his hands down because he lacks the head movement/experience to matrix dodge.

Cain fought the perfect fight. Much props to him

 

He did look like he was trying to be Anderson at times. Lacked the gas and speed to pull it off though.

 

Yes, this was proven when Leben pwned Andy.

 

JDS fought with his hands down the entire fight and paid for it big time. He needs to work on defending strikes and deal with the takedowns as they come. He needs to realize that he WILL be taken down and come up with a plan from there. Focusing on not being taken down and fighting with his hands so low got him killed. Cain can strike and everyone knows that so obviously everyone needs to worry about that as well. He is a complete fighter and will be tough to beat but he can be KO'd just like anyone else.

 

There are examples that go each way. Relax dude

 

Throwing windmills like the Tazmanian Devil and rushing someone with great striking technique and discipline are worlds apart.

 

haha i was about to say this thread title can be disproven with one name. anderson silva

 

Would it be unthinkable that maybe, just maybe, Anderson Silva is an exception to the rule?

He's not exactly the average fighter.

Anyhoo, Lyoto Machida's struggles with Shogun/Rampage follow similar logic. Pressure can be a powerful tool.

 

There's actually many things similar about Sonnen/Anderson 1 to the jds/cain 2 also. Clearly leben can't use this exact gameplan on anderson because his lack of wrestling. Gonna be honest, I don't see anyone (wiedman included, not good enough striking imo yet) in 185 that can.

 

This fight really reminded me of Sonnen-As 1 where a supposively inferior striker was landing a lot simply because of aggression.

 

Cain just Randy Couture'd JDS.. big time..

 

Seriously people are overloking the fact JDS had a 66% TDD in the fight last night. Cain was 11 of 33 on TD. Seriously both of these guys are monsters. JDs needs to add a mpre diverse striking game next time they meet. If Cain leaves the openings he left against Overeem(and I am not an Overeem fan) he's not going to have a body left.

 

Joe Frazier put it like this once

technical puncher have trouble with volume punchers. Volume punchers have trouble with power punchers. Power punchers have trouble with technical punchers.

 

JDS usually catches guys moving away from him, Cain was in his grill the whole time

 

Yes, it's a shame if you can't exploit your strengths by fearing your weaknesses; JDS needs more confidence on the ground... That should be his goal and should help him keep his hands up and avoid looking like the elephant man.

 

Good analysis TS. Overeem I think better protects himself against this by using knees more liberally than JDS to keep the opponent back when he rushes

 

Maybe I'm remembering the Lyoto-Rampage fight wrong but I don't remember any pressure whatsoever. The only thing I remember was Lyoto exploding in the 3rd. I believe there might have been a 10-10 in a previous round due to nothing happening. That's what I remember anyway.

Edit: Rashad Evans was uber aggressive and he got his block knocked off by Lyoto. And Ryan Bader was aggressive for about 3 seconds before getting killed.

 

Tell that to Griggs and Diabate

 

Bro you have no clue what you are saying. You know jack shit about Boxing.

Not every boxer sets up with timing. Mike Tyson and Foreman were an example of this.

JDS lost because of incredibly bad boxing defense.

His hands were down the whole fight, show no head movements, no shoulder rolls. No defense period. Him throwing kicks would had made it worst he would had been taken down even more. And it was a technical Boxing move by Cain that started the beginning of the end for JDS. It was when he came in with a the right cross that drop JDS. No smothering in that sequence.