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TLDR: 240+ pound men hit extraordinarily hard. If you watch most of Arlovski's (T)KO losses, he gets hit square in the face with an extremely hard punch/counter while his hands are in a sub-optimal position. It's moreso a striking defense issue.
I realize I'm about to poke the bear with this, but I felt the need to make it anyway. I discussed it with some other people before in an unrelated topic, and was met with a fuckton of vitriol, .gif shitposting, and people just telling me I was basically braindead. I expect more of the same.
To get it out of the way, let's post every gif of Arlovski's losses:
So we have an overhand punch by Datsik, completely undefended. This was Arlovski's first MMA fight, and it showed. Both fighters looked subpar.
-An accumulation of strikes from Ricco Rodriguez. Not really a chin issue.
-A 1-2 straight to the face by Pedro Rizzo, again, with exceptionally non existent defense.
-A counter punch he ran right into from Sylvia
-An overhand he ran right into from Fedor
-A power punch right to the fucking chin from Brett Rogers
-More power punches taken right on the button from Kharitonov
-Two shots behind the ear from Stipe
One thing people need to realize is that when Arlovski gets pressured, he often times backs right up, which accentuates the force of the incoming blow tremendously. This is evident in his losses to Stipe, Rogers, Kharitonov. He doesn't attempt to roll with the strike, doesn't move his head, doesn't move his feet or anything. He backs straight up and takes the strike right to the chin. This is a death sentence for nearly anyone in the HW division. Mir before his fight with Duffee even brought this up. You cannot back up against a power puncher, it makes it that much worse. This is why you saw Mir fight Duffee the way he did.
I simply fail to see how you can deduce that the reason for these losses is "chin" related as opposed to a striking defense issue, primarily. It's a lazy analysis. It's not as if Arlovski gets put away any time he gets hit. He was dropped by Mir and managed to survive and win. He was dropped by arguably one of the hardest hitters ever in Rumble, had his jaw broken and survived. He took a vicious counter strike from Browne that nearly made him do a 360 degree spin, and he came back to win a minute later. His chin is not bad.
"Wait a minute! You're saying his chin is good?" - Nope! I'm saying his chin cannot withstand strikes from 240 pound men! There are a few rare cases, like prime Mark Hunt that can. However, even Hunt in his prime was KO'd. The HW division (and Melvin Manhoef) is fucking devastating .
"Hey! So you're saying it's impossible to have a bad chin at HW since everyone hits hard?!" - Nope! See:
I think once we get the past the first few posts fishing for likes, we can have a neat discussion.
I realize I'm about to poke the bear with this, but I felt the need to make it anyway. I discussed it with some other people before in an unrelated topic, and was met with a fuckton of vitriol, .gif shitposting, and people just telling me I was basically braindead. I expect more of the same.
To get it out of the way, let's post every gif of Arlovski's losses:
So we have an overhand punch by Datsik, completely undefended. This was Arlovski's first MMA fight, and it showed. Both fighters looked subpar.
-An accumulation of strikes from Ricco Rodriguez. Not really a chin issue.
-A 1-2 straight to the face by Pedro Rizzo, again, with exceptionally non existent defense.
-A counter punch he ran right into from Sylvia
-An overhand he ran right into from Fedor
-A power punch right to the fucking chin from Brett Rogers
-More power punches taken right on the button from Kharitonov
-Two shots behind the ear from Stipe
One thing people need to realize is that when Arlovski gets pressured, he often times backs right up, which accentuates the force of the incoming blow tremendously. This is evident in his losses to Stipe, Rogers, Kharitonov. He doesn't attempt to roll with the strike, doesn't move his head, doesn't move his feet or anything. He backs straight up and takes the strike right to the chin. This is a death sentence for nearly anyone in the HW division. Mir before his fight with Duffee even brought this up. You cannot back up against a power puncher, it makes it that much worse. This is why you saw Mir fight Duffee the way he did.
I simply fail to see how you can deduce that the reason for these losses is "chin" related as opposed to a striking defense issue, primarily. It's a lazy analysis. It's not as if Arlovski gets put away any time he gets hit. He was dropped by Mir and managed to survive and win. He was dropped by arguably one of the hardest hitters ever in Rumble, had his jaw broken and survived. He took a vicious counter strike from Browne that nearly made him do a 360 degree spin, and he came back to win a minute later. His chin is not bad.
"Wait a minute! You're saying his chin is good?" - Nope! I'm saying his chin cannot withstand strikes from 240 pound men! There are a few rare cases, like prime Mark Hunt that can. However, even Hunt in his prime was KO'd. The HW division (and Melvin Manhoef) is fucking devastating .
"Hey! So you're saying it's impossible to have a bad chin at HW since everyone hits hard?!" - Nope! See:
I think once we get the past the first few posts fishing for likes, we can have a neat discussion.
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