Dillashaw basically fought like Dominick Cruz...

Ippy said:
I disagree.

Cruz is very active. He's ALWAYS landing shots. The major difference here is that Dillashaw has more power, and I agree he sits down on punches better. 9/10x Cruz wouldn't have finished Barao.

Also note that it wasn't just footwork that I said Dillashaw displayed similar to Cruz.
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Activity and aggression are not the same.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with Cruz would give Barao problems. I certainly think that there are ASPECTS of TJ's game that were essential to him winning that Cruz shares. But at the end of the day, there are fundamental differences in their styles and while they share some attributes I don't think that Dillishaw fights like Cruz does.
 
He fought like a seasoned prized fighter at a low weight class thats in his prime. Been a long time since ive been impressed by a fighters skill in MMA.

Way he anticipated his opponents strikes an avoided them with his upper body movement, altered low power to high power punches correctly, footwork (always planted an never off balance) and sudden changes in direction.

Fight had the perfect ending. For he broke him down slowly every round after outclassing him in every round.
 
flanellograf said:
Well, I wasn't singling you out. I was just generalizing, based on how many people seemed utterly amazed at TJ even having a chance, let alone completely dominating.
But yes, your conclusion is solid. I've long thought that Cruz was too much for Barao, even if TJ is technically more sound. Cruz has a lot of wasted movement, for instance.
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IMO, a lot of Cruz's "wasted" movement allowed him to be nigh unhittable. Of course, it was a double edged sword, because it also meant he could never really sit down on his punches.
 
Tj looks like he took a few ideas from Cruz' style and made it his own. No unnecessary footwork, which I felt cruz does sometimes, great angles and better power on his punches. He's not as fast as cruz, but he was faster than his opponent and had the power to continue to be a threat.

A fight between these two would be like something out of so you thinn you can dance.
 
Anybody who hasn't or didn't pay attention should watch TJ vs Mike Easton to see why a lot of people were saying that T.J would make a difficult fight for Barao in a few years, and why I and a few others were saying that he was a livedog in this fight.

He's an incredibly talented fighter.
 
I don't think that TJ's footwork was really like Cruz. Or Edgar for that matter. I think there were similarities in that all three of them are very busy with their feet... but I think in the Barao fight, TJ was better than Cruz or Edgar have ever been. If he reminded me of anyone, it's Mighty Mouse.

TJ and MM both use a lot of footwork, but with a clear purpose. With someone like Cruz, it can often feel a little random or just movement for movement's sake (Guida is the prime example of this), but all of TJ's moves seemed purposeful and he landed the right strikes at the right time, picking his shots and firing away aggressively.

The way he'd use angles to evade Barao's strikes and quickly circle round him to attack was just beautiful.

After the fight I just couldn't stop saying "That was AMAZING."

I was literally amazed by TJ's performance.
 
First sherdog says...nobody fights like Dominick Cruz! Totally unique style

Then a fighter strikes hard and knocks out the champ (something cruz has never done) who has ruled for a while and that guy fought like Cruz?? Ok sherdog...

Jokes aside where is this Cruz narrative coming from? I didn't at all think Cruz when I watched this fight.
 
The answer to that question depends a lot on how you interpret "basically". I don't have any Cruz fight fresh in mind, but my immediate reaction is to disagree. TJ has more otrhodox footwork, working a lot of angles without neccesarily covering that much distance. Cruz is good with angles as well, but he lunges and retreats more often, with very unorthodox footwork. It's not that they don't share similarities - they definitely do, but since Cruz is less of a pressure fighter, he's at the same time a different stylistical matchup for Barao.

I don't think Cruz has much for Barao unless he gets a tune-up in between, and i think it's likely that his knee injuries are disastrous for his style.

I didn't give TJ much of a chance in this fight, though, so what do I know?
 
Sleep Doctor said:
Dillashaw is actually aggressive and caused damage constantly. Cruz and Edgar just pitter patter punch and go for meaningless takedowns at the end of rounds to score "points." Totally different. Movement is not exclusive to Cruz.
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Gray Maynard would totally disagree that Frankie Edgar just pitter patter punches.
 
thatKid said:
He fought like T.J Dillishaw.

That's basically the same way he beat up Mike Easton except with less takedowns.
Every fighter with good footwork =/= Cruz
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That little shuffle and feint is something that Cruz brought first and is NOT normal footwork by any means.
 
thatKid said:
He fought like T.J Dillishaw.

That's basically the same way he beat up Mike Easton except with less takedowns.
Every fighter with good footwork =/= Cruz

He was more aggressive, sat down on punches better and shot for takedowns differently
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This. TJ's arsenal is relentlessly punishing. No movement is wasted and he intends to hurt with all aspects of his game. Supreme feints, footwork, accuracy, variety, pace. This is stuff that very few other fighters have ever shown in MMA, and I hope to God it holds once Ludwig leaves.

I actually don't think Cruz would necessarily have had the same kind of success against Barao since his bamboozling feints and footwork aren't backed up by any comparable degree of violence.
 
Ippy said:
IMO, a lot of Cruz's "wasted" movement allowed him to be nigh unhittable. Of course, it was a double edged sword, because it also meant he could never really sit down on his punches.
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No, it was the parts where he moved well which allowed him to do that. But he does a lot of unnecessary things that really doesn't serve much purpose, and it also hinders him sitting down on his punches. Even Faber, who isn't really a technical genius, had some success with him partially because of this. If the threat of a knockout isn't really there, a fighter can get a lot more reckless in trying to tag you.
 
I don't remember Cruz ever showing that much power in his strikes
 
Lol Cruz's footwork is so overrated.

How many times was Faber able to tag him?

Shuffling your feet and moving around frantically =/= having good footwork.

I've never seen Cruz be able to cut angles like T.J. has while throwing power shots. In fact, I don't even think he's capable of throwing a power strike.

Barao would have eaten Cruz alive.
 
KoreanZawmbie said:
Lol Cruz's footwork is so overrated.

How many times was Faber able to tag him?

Shuffling your feet and moving around frantically =/= having good footwork.

I've never seen Cruz be able to cut angles like T.J. has while throwing power shots. In fact, I don't even think he's capable of throwing a power strike.

Barao would have eaten Cruz alive.
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Get this shit outta here

Being all rational and actually watching fights and shit...
 
KoreanZawmbie said:
That's it?

You do realize Mighty Mouse had Cruz hurt at one point in their fight don't you? Cruz essentially won by wrestling/grappling him for 4+ rounds, you know...also by being the much bigger guy :rolleyes:
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Why are you giving him a hard time for agreeing with you?
 
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