I'm not the one who picked Hendricks to beat wonderboy man. Seems like you were the one in the pretend world and now you're using hindsight. So maybe, and more likely, we just look at fighters and their skillset and their accomplishments differently.
I was contextualizing that he went into a career skid and physical transformation then, coinciding with USADA. You are correct I didn't predict Hendricks would go from world champion, who had never been stopped or remotely hurt on the feet, to a 1-4 run where he gets KO'd repeatedly.
You have to consider context. If you are going to say it was your vision of how Hendricks matched up that predicted and not that his career would literally turn into a dumpster fire, I call shenanigans, but OK.
In regards to Justin's fight IQ, he's doing fine. He has the same amount of top ten wins as Lee, and the fights he lost were very competitive against guys who are at or above Lee's level.
This is a super odd way of saying 'nearly knocked out against a lower level opponent, then knocked out twice in a row, proceeded by a win against an unheralded opponent.'
Talk about sugar coating. Even if we don't want to split hairs, we are talking 2-2 with both losses being spectacularly senseless KO losses in winnable fights.
Also, despite how short his fight against Vick was, he showed a lot of patience with how he pressured and closed the distance. He and his coach have been stressing patience and keeping dominant foot position, and I think we saw some of that against Vick.
Unless I'm remembering wrong, this fight lasted less than two minutes.
Regardless, I just don't think Lee is ready for what Justin brings to the table. I think Gaethje is more prepared to deal with Lee's grappling than Lee is prepared for Justin's pressure and striking.
I do know that Lee's best chance is holding Justin down and submitting him, and I do know that I've seen some of Justin's wrestling career and I strongly doubt Lee can hold Justin down. Lee failed on 7/8 takedowns against AI--it wasn't a wrestling match because AI shut down Lee's wrestling. I expect Justin can do the same, at least enough to get the win.
It's just my opinion. Lee looks better each fight, though, so who knows.
No need to put down Maia over it lol.
I love Maia and I enjoy arguing with you. I'm not disrespecting him, but we all sometimes pick our hearts instead of brains.
I can't stand Lee and I find JG an interesting and fun guy to have around.
Lee will casually walk through him. JG has a punchers chance and I think his fight IQ has looked atrocious, he's literally said as much in his interviews.
Gotta have heart and skill to beat this guy
