Conor v Diaz exposed a big problem with many of today's fighters

[MMA-Aficionado]

Becoming too cocky/arrogant and beginning to believe you are both invincible and unstoppable i.e.:

+ Anderson Silva: thought no one could touch him. Danced and clowned around with Weidman like he was Neo in the matrix, too fast to be touched and couldnt be hurt even when he was touched - until Weidman KO'd him.

+ Ronda Rousey: started to think she was unstoppable on her feet and couldn't be hurt. Decided to strike with Holm rather than stay respectful and stay away, to the extent possible, from Holm's biggest strength and rely on her greatest strength, grappling.

+ Conor: waded in there with no respect for Nate's toughness/chin and fought a large part of the fight with his hands at his waist - again, as if: 1) Nate couldn't hurt him and 2) Nate's chin couldn't withstand his shots. He was fighting Diaz who has fucked many people up on the feet before, including at WW - respect his power and chin and keep your hands up - except for occasionally to draw Diaz in.

The fight game is a great example of the human psyche/condition - need to be confident to be a fighter and for most of them, once they start winning a lot, they become over-confident, and start to underestimate their opponents and overestimate their skills, ability and durability.

Contrast this with: 1) GSP, who was always respectful of his opponent's strengths and tried to take advantage of their weaknesses and stay away from their strengths; and 2) Jones, similar approach - fights smart.

Let me know if you have a different opinion, and Conor may very well have lost anyway, but he certainly did not fight a very smart fight.

 

[Barryg4]

Excellent post TS, i agree 100%

 

[DrunkMonkMeth]

i agree.. too many UFC fighter trying to emmulate Floyd mayweather without a fraction of the hard work or success he had built up to behave the way he does. People hate floyd but hes an undefeated winner richest boxer and the best boxer in our time. defensively. yu see floyd whe he was a young up and comer he was humble pie.. he earned his attitude. mcgregor and rousey were upjumps wannabes.. who fell hard

 

[djstoop_id]

I think you have a great point that I've been thinking about since last night... the human mind is really at work in MMA.

People like to think that MMA fighters are robots, but they are not, you can see that their mindset has an important effect on the outcome. Some really do have bad strategies, other bad nights, other are truly outclassed, but still.

I would have added to your list that Fedor was another interesting example. He beats the top guys at their own game, but he was not reckless. Then, it appears he thinks he's a headhunter (after AA), and it gets more difficult.

Great post.

 

[djstoop_id]

i agree.. too many UFC fighter trying to emmulate Floyd mayweather without a fraction of the hard work or success he had built up to behave the way he does. People hate floyd but hes an undefeated winner richest boxer and the best boxer in our time. defensively. yu see floyd whe he was a young up and comer he was humble pie.. he earned his attitude. mcgregor and rousey were upjumps wannabes.. who fell hard

Look at Cruz. Is there a more cerebral and hard-worker in MMA? He's the one who's emmulating Floyd. That should tell you what it takes.

 

[mmmjojo]

i agree.. too many UFC fighter trying to emmulate Floyd mayweather without a fraction of the hard work or success he had built up to behave the way he does. People hate floyd but hes an undefeated winner richest boxer and the best boxer in our time. defensively. yu see floyd whe he was a young up and comer he was humble pie.. he earned his attitude. mcgregor and rousey were upjumps wannabes.. who fell hard

McGregor did a good job of emulating Mayweather last night. Took the money and limited unnecessary punishment once he saw he was fucked. LOL

 

[berimBOWLoh]

to reach a certain level in life you have to have a nice dosage of irrational confidence. easy to go overboard.

 

[FreCan]

So Anderson became too cocky after two decades of fighting, and that's why he lost?

 

[Upchuck22]

You forgot Weidman TS.

 

[legkicktko]

Makes no sense in my opinion.

Ronda didn't try to strike with her. Her grappling got stopped and she got destroyed.

Anderson was aging and lost after how many years and fights of dominance?

Conor is a confident guy. He has a flashy style. It works for him most of the time but that's not why he lost. He lost because he fought someone who could take his shots because they weren't two sizes smaller than him and that made it a real, gritty fight.

 

[Bumbletwerp]

Becoming too cocky/arrogant and beginning to believe you are both invincible and unstoppable i.e.:

+ Anderson Silva: thought no one could touch him. Danced and clowned around with Weidman like he was Neo in the matrix, too fast to be touched and couldnt be hurt even when he was touched - until Weidman KO'd him.

+ Ronda Rousey: started to think she was unstoppable on her feet and couldn't be hurt. Decided to strike with Holm rather than stay respectful and stay away, to the extent possible, from Holm's biggest strength and rely on her greatest strength, grappling.

+ Conor: waded in there with no respect for Nate's toughness/chin and fought a large part of the fight with his hands at his waist - again, as if: 1) Nate couldn't hurt him and 2) Nate's chin couldn't withstand his shots. He was fighting Diaz who has fucked many people up on the feet before, including at WW - respect his power and chin and keep your hands up - except for occasionally to draw Diaz in.

The fight game is a great example of the human psyche/condition - need to be confident to be a fighter and for most of them, once they start winning a lot, they become over-confident, and start to underestimate their opponents and overestimate their skills, ability and durability.

Contrast this with: 1) GSP, who was always respectful of his opponent's strengths and tried to take advantage of their weaknesses and stay away from their strengths; and 2) Jones, similar approach - fights smart.

Let me know if you have a different opinion, and Conor may very well have lost anyway, but he certainly did not fight a very smart fight.

ur an idiot if you don't understand why they do the things they do

 

[IIIIIIII]

i think it's intentional on the part of those fighters. they saw chael's blueprint on getting more money by acting cocky and talking shit. you combine good fighters with that kind of talk, and you start building tons of hype, along with tons of money. it works great when you're winning, and you end up with egg on your face when you lose.

so that's why i don't see a problem with all the shit conor is getting. it benefited him while winning, and he has to take it back when he loses. remember that he would have talked SO MUCH shit had he won. he has to accept it in return.

 

[snakedafunky]

yes great post. You could make an argument that Anderson was starting to get old at the time.

 

[IIIIIIII]

i agree.. too many UFC fighter trying to emmulate Floyd mayweather without a fraction of the hard work or success he had built up to behave the way he does. People hate floyd but hes an undefeated winner richest boxer and the best boxer in our time. defensively. yu see floyd whe he was a young up and comer he was humble pie.. he earned his attitude. mcgregor and rousey were upjumps wannabes.. who fell hard

i don't entirely think this is true. rousey and mcgregor were destroying their competition. floyd has as well. the only difference is that floyd never lost. if floyd had lost at the end of his career, he would have received a similar amount of backlash. maybe not on the level of the first two, because as you say, floyd has done it for what feels like forever. but he still would have gotten some flack. and with floyd, he fights like gsp, which means as safely as possible. he still gets shit for fighting that way. you can't say that about ronda or mcgregor.

 

[GrandReaper]

The only thing I'll really disagree with is Jones. More often than not he tries to beat people with their own expertise - wrestling Chael and fighting in close with DC.

 

[MMA-Aficionado]

I think you have a great point that I've been thinking about since last night... the human mind is really at work in MMA.

People like to think that MMA fighters are robots, but they are not, you can see that their mindset has an important effect on the outcome. Some really do have bad strategies, other bad nights, other are truly outclassed, but still.

I would have added to your list that Fedor was another interesting example. He beats the top guys at their own game, but he was not reckless. Then, it appears he thinks he's a headhunter (after AA), and it gets more difficult.

Great post.

thanks all. And yeah, fedor is an interesting example. Used to fight very smart and then became more and more of a headhunter.

The basics are the basics for a reason - keep your hands up and your chin down. I love great head movement and dropping hand to draw someone in but it needs to be used at the right time.

 

[Defeat Unknown]

Yup, those 3 are great examples of losing touch with reality. No one is untouchable in MMA. Anyone can beat anyone.

 

[MMA-Aficionado]

Look at Cruz. Is there a more cerebral and hard-worker in MMA? He's the one who's emmulating Floyd. That should tell you what it takes.

Yeah and he is all about defence - used that unorthodox movement to try and avoid getting hit.

 

[Koro_11]

Yup, hopefully Jon Jones is next to eat that humble pie.

 

[MMA-Aficionado]

ur an idiot if you don't understand why they do the things they do

1) and to earn the most cash, you need to win and not lose. Not to mention legacy.

2) They are not doing it primarily for the money - its arrogance/hubris.