Barao-Dillashaw and Shock, Aldo, and Underdogs in MMA

- Did Barao take the massive underdog lightly?
- Did he get hurt so badly in the 1st round he was a walking corpse for the rest of the fight?
- Is Dillashaw just a much, much better striker and fighter than 90% of us believed?
- Has Dillashaw's striking improved at a meteoric rate recently while working with Ludwig?
- Did Dillashaw's gameplan just work perfectly vs Barao's style, but he may go back to looking mortal again vs an Assuncao or a Dodson?

Or, is the way that MMA is structured and publicized now done so in a way that guys are presented as raw no-hopers in these fights, in an unfair and reductive manner?

odds and upset is always not so simple and has a multiple causes. this Dillashaw's historical upset impression was made from the confluence of various factors like those bold lines.
In addition, I want to note the following things.

- TJ's team, preparation for this fight, and his own natural style worked in harmony with against barao.
http://fightland.vice.com/blog/can-tj-dillashaw-corner-himself-to-the-ufc-bantamweight-title
http://mmajunkie.com/2014/03/t-j-di...or-champ-renan-barao-even-before-ufc-173-call
It seems he vaguely knew what he should do to beat barao since he was in faber's corner at UFC 149. seems his style has been developing for this day in retrospect. important to note, TJ's striking style is completely different with faber's. I think TJ's angle making and switching stance could nullify the right leg kick, left jab of barao's main weapons and badly break his rhythm even before got TJ's first big right overhand.

- I think Assuncao and Dodson are still relatively bad stylistic match up for TJ
because both has a very good counter striking. barao's problems are he is not so good at short range boxing, and he has a tendency to stay on that area and engage. at that fight, he just engaged even when he was dominated the angle. In contrast, Assuncao landed a short hand counter with each time TJ stepped in his range with stepping back adequately. step-in/out is one of the most important aspect of TJ's game, and Assuncao has a extremely good sense of distance and timing. His counter-striking at the fights with Easton and TJ were noticeable works.

And just chasing Dodson, whose main style is counter-striking with a possibly P4P speed and power was just bad tactic.
Of course, those rematch would be different, since TJ drastically improved fight-to-fight as you mentioned above.

- Public is always hyped by recent impressive fashion win and doesn't take a close look at a old competitive fights.
maybe 'hyped' is not a correct word for barao, but if we just didn't have barao-faber 2, the odds should have been much more closer IMO.
also TJ-Assuncao should have been more reputed and TJ even showed an further improvement at Easton fight.

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That being said, those recent inflated odds are just out of control and about that discussion, this thread would be good read for you.
http://forums.sherdog.com/forums/f2/lot-massive-favorites-losing-lately-2747377/
 
Mendes will never, i repeat never beat Aldo! Aldo imo has been and will remain the number 1 p4p fighter on the planet! Everyone bought into the Barao hype via UFC hype machine once again! Aldo is legit and Mendes is way to small with his t-rex arms and tiny legs to out strike the lengthy Aldo, will never happen!

Right, nothing to do with the 34-1 record and finish over mayday, wineland and faber
 
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