DDP's weirdly effective striking is high level

[hbombbisping]

Does anyone realize he was a champion kickboxer before he came to the UFC? His strikiing looks like crap but it's actually high level awkward style and he almost always seems to get the better in exchanges.

I think Khamzat is going to need to take him out on the ground. I give him one to two rounds before DDP starts to take over.

 

[Jawth]

He's so athletic and explosive that his sloppy striking just works anyway, like Black Beast or Mike Perry.

 

[Frode Falch]

This generation version of Keith Jardine.

 

[TJ Dillashank]

His striking is absolutely not high level. He is a UNIT and probably the most physically gifted MW ever considering his physicality is what got him the championship, and even more impressive since he was at one point a Welterweight.

 

[hbombbisping]

His striking is absolutely not high level. He is a UNIT and probably the most physically gifted MW ever considering his physicality is what got him the championship, and even more impressive since he was at one point a Welterweight.

Literally was a WAKO K-1 world champion at the age of 18.

 

[Harlekin]

Does anyone realize he was a champion kickboxer before he came to the UFC? His strikiing looks like crap but it's actually high level awkward style and he almost always seems to get the better in exchanges.

I think Khamzat is going to need to take him out on the ground. I give him one to two rounds before DDP starts to take over.

Amateur kickboxing at the age of 17, the 2012 WAKO Junior World Championships at 86kg and had a 33-0 amateur career.
Yeah, good. But kickboxing has like 3 times more belts than boxing. Although WAKO is the biggest amateur belt.

A glory belt is worth a lot more.


His hands are pretty crude, his kicks effective. He is getting better though.
He has a good overall package in improved cardio, solid chin, tank, heart.

 

[hbombbisping]

Amateur kickboxing at age 18, the 2012 WAKO Junior World Championships at 86kg and had a 33-0 amateur career.
Yeah, good. But kickboxing has like 3 times more belts than boxing. Although WAKO is the biggest amateur belt.

A glory belt is worth a lot more.


His hands are pretty crude, his kicks effective. He is getting better though.
He has a good overall package in improved cardio, solid chin, tank, heart.

I'm not saying he's the best kickboxer on the planet but he has better pre MMA career striking credentials than 99% of the UFC roster.

 

[linvillegorge]

The biggest thing that makes him effective IMO is his otherworldly cardio. There's a lot of muscle bound explosive fighters who use their natural athleticism effectively in short bursts but you're not supposed to have those athletic traits and fight in big, explosive movements like that and do it for 25 minutes. That's fucking crazy. That's why a guy like Yoel Romero fought the way he did. Basically a lot of standing around doing nothing and then a few big moments every round. That's pretty much how you have to fight when you're a big dude with those physical traits and that style if you don't want to gas out in a round. But DDP can basically fight like he's a flyweight and do it for five rounds

 

[Unheralded Truth]

I guess it's not high level in the way you're selling it, though I get your point here for sure.

If we take Darren Till as an example, he's actually a skilled striker showing some good technique. But doesn't have the strength of DDP at all.
That's why Dricus retorted to wrestling at any chance he got in their fight, and guess who won fairly easily due to this physical ability?

But Darren won the "boxing match" if you will, so it all depends on what you mean with "high level".

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

He's so athletic and explosive that his sloppy striking just works anyway, like Black Beast or Mike Perry.

It's more than that. Look at the two Strickland fights. He made a lot of adjustments and dominated Strickland in the second fight. The first fight he got off to a slow start and made adjustments mid-fight. It was a close fight but DDP's striking is very underrated.

 

[HHJ]

MMA is all about weirdly effective striking.

Africanus fits right in.

 

[Harlekin]

I'm not saying he's the best kickboxer on the planet but he has better pre MMA career striking credentials than 99% of the UFC roster.

500 male fighters
Adesanya, Pereira, Wonderboy, MVP, Giga and those are just half the kickboxers with better credentials.
We also have boxers, Thai, Karate, TKD and many other styles.
So that number is closer to 90%

 

[fortheo]

I guess it's not high level in the way you're selling it, though I get your point here for sure.

If we take Darren Till as an example, he's actually a skilled striker showing some good technique. But doesn't have the strength of DDP at all.
That's why Dricus retorted to wrestling at any chance he got in their fight, and guess who won fairly easily due to this physical ability?

But Darren won the "boxing match" if you will, so it all depends on what you mean with "high level".

Once Dricus switched to southpaw in that fight, He won the striking exchanges. Daren won round 2, and that is all -- he lost the striking in round 3.

 

[JoeRowe]

I guess it's not high level in the way you're selling it, though I get your point here for sure.

If we take Darren Till as an example, he's actually a skilled striker showing some good technique. But doesn't have the strength of DDP at all.
That's why Dricus retorted to wrestling at any chance he got in their fight, and guess who won fairly easily due to this physical ability?

But Darren won the "boxing match" if you will, so it all depends on what you mean with "high level".

He also rocked Izzy and Whittaker with his boxing so its obviously come a long way.

 

[Marko Polo]

He’s just massive for the division and really strong with great cardio. I don’t think he does anything too crazy, he doesn’t set traps, he has no head movement, footwork ain’t the best. He’s a brawler

 

[hbombbisping]

500 male fighters
Adesanya, Pereira, Wonderboy, MVP, Giga and those are just half the kickboxers with better credentials.
We also have boxers, Thai, Karate, TKD and many other styles.
So that number is closer to 90%

Semantics.

The point is that DDP is not some striking noob. People think he's blindly finding success because of athleticism when in truth is that some very good/effective strikers don't look traditionally technical when they do it. DDP is a very good striker even though he doesn't look it.

 

[Prince Nephilim]

Very Akward and unbalance style. He makes up for it by being a tank. Let's see if he can get away with throwing those kicks with a grappler.

 

[Trabaho]

It's just a fancy thing to say "Dricus striking is akward should not work" as if 5% actually understood why or what it's supposed to mean

 

[hbombbisping]

He’s just massive for the division and really strong with great cardio. I don’t think he does anything too crazy, he doesn’t set traps, he has no head movement, footwork ain’t the best. He’s a brawler

He throws strikes in bunches and is good at keeping forward momentum backing his opponents up and anticipating their next move. His striking is deceptively higher level than it looks.

 

[Marko Polo]

He throws strikes in bunches and is good at keeping forward momentum backing his opponents up and anticipating their next move. His striking is deceptively higher level than it looks.

I don’t know man I just think the way he’s built means he doesn’t really get punished when he fks up, and then when he find success he does serious damage. Look at the Adesanya fight for example he got rocked and falls into a takedown out of brute strength, or when he jabbed Whittaker onto his butt. He’s all herky jerky in there and no doubt he is effective but that doesnt mean it’s going to work for someone else