Does Oliveira have the second best striking at 155?

[HockeyBjj]

His striking really has come along, and having the best grappling (Islam has best wrestling, but I feel grappling and wrestling can be two different metrics) in the division allows him to be fearless with what he can throw and how much pressure he can put on and get in peoples faces. He’s not limited like some other very good strikers are by having no ground game and this fear of leaving an opening if they up their offense too much against certain opponents.


Koed Chandler after a beautiful left hook drop in the middle of a mutual exchange

Dropped Gaethje CLEANLY with that right cross after backing him up and defending the low kicks nicely

Held his own on the feet with Porier- the #1 striker in the division

(Love Porier’s little nod of approval as Olives stops DP’s killer switch double jab to big loaded up right in its tracks with his quick right cross to the chin)


Being able to defend yourself after being rocked by going to the ground is a part of mma striking. Olives does trust his chin too much as the only negative I can say about where his striking.

Credit to @KazDibiase for always getting the gifs together after events. You the man

 

[FIghtxIQ]

His striking really has come along, and having the best grappling (Islam has best wrestling, but I feel grappling and wrestling can be two different metrics) in the division allows him to be fearless with what he can throw and how much pressure he can put on and get in peoples faces. He’s not limited like some other very good strikers are by having no ground game and this fear of leaving an opening if they up their offense too much against certain opponents.


Koed Chandler after a beautiful left hook drop in the middle of a mutual exchange

Dropped Gaethje CLEANLY with that right cross after backing him up and defending the low kicks nicely

Held his own on the feet with Porier- the #1 striker in the division

Being able to defend yourself after being rocked by going to the ground is a part of mma striking. Olives does trust his chin too much as the only negative I can say about where his striking.

Credit to @KazDibiase for always getting the gifs together after events. You the man

Yeah his muay thai is legit now. He's outstriking fighters with it, even striking based fighters. Yeah he gets rocked and dropped, but he still wins the striking exchanges overall if you look at the whole fight. A lot of fighters have no answer for his muay thai, just shows that less and less fighters have less experience with muay thai in modern mma. They don't seem to have an answer for the elbows/knees. Gaethje tried a few leg kicks and got checked after throwing 2, and countered and rocked with right hands after trying to throw leg kicks again. Poirer and Gaethje had no answer for the clinch knees. Gaethje kept dropping his head into the knees, just shows he doesn't train expecting knees in his game. He couldn't read the knees or know when he is in range to get kneed. He would dip straight down to the rear knee or dip right while Olivera was framing him for the lead switch knee. Olivera has a muay thai advantage because less and less fighters train muay thai and Olivera is able to exploit that.

Most think muay thai is just leg kicks and roundhouses and don't train elbows/knees/clinch - that isn't muay thai, that's kickboxing.

 

[sdpdude9]

Said it multiple times. Dude is an offensive dynamo, dangerous wherever the fight goes and maybe the most dangerous in the division in that sense. His defense is subpar however. What I’ve seen is because his defense is subpar, he gets guys real excited and they leave themselves open. Almost works to his advantage right now, though you gotta wonder how long his chin holds up.

 

[fortheo]

Said it multiple times. Dude is an offensive dynamo, dangerous wherever the fight goes and maybe the most dangerous in the division in that sense. His defense is subpar however. What I’ve seen is because his defense is subpar, he gets guys real excited and they leave themselves open. Almost works to his advantage right now, though you gotta wonder how long his chin holds up.

Anyone who forces the fight like oliveira does is going to take shots and look like their defense is lacking.

 

[BigSexy444]

Second after Conor?

 

[sdpdude9]

Anyone who forces the fight like oliveira does is going to take shots and look like their defense is lacking.

That’s true. But still, he does get tagged so you gotta wonder if that will come back to bite him one of these days. I’d be curious to see how his striking defense looks if he’s more reserved, but he doesn’t really fight like that. For now, I’m enjoying his run. He’s had only bangers lately, what a career turnaround.

 

[fortheo]

That’s true. But still, he does get tagged so you gotta wonder if that will come back to bite him one of these days. I’d be curious to see how his striking defense looks if he’s more reserved, but he doesn’t really fight like that. For now, I’m enjoying his run. He’s had only bangers lately, what a career turnaround.

I feel like he's basically just speed chessing these guys and the diversity of his attacks compliments that approach. I'd love to see him getting hit less. If he could do what he's doing now while getting hit less, it would be amazing -- I'm just not sure how plausible that is. He is capable of fighting a more cautious fight and he's done it in the past. I guess it depends on who he's fighting.

 

[HHJ]

second after WHOMST?

 

[markg171]

What exactly is the real argument for having Poirier ahead of Charles? That he dropped him? So did Chandler and Justin. We all know his chin is a weakness, but that's not a striking skill but inherent physical ability.

Cause I don't see him having held his own on the feet against Poirier, but also rather having beat him there. His body work was the far more effective striking between them, plus the head work was similar.

Combine the head to head striking that they did against one another + better results against same opponents = Charles #1, not Poirier.

 

[TheWave111]

The second gif could be a knock out by Poirier. If Pourier steps further he would have landed clean on the chin of Charles.

 

[HockeyBjj]

second after WHOMST?

Porier

 

[HockeyBjj]

The second gif could be a knock out by Poirier. If Pourier steps further he would have landed clean on the chin of Charles.

Except Oliveira disrupts it and stops Porier in his tracks with a snappy right cross.

That’s the point. On most others DP lands a powerful loaded up punch. Olives keeps his composure and counters DP mid combo to break it up, rather than just covering and eating a hammer

 

[fg1985bg]

Offensive wizard and a legit threat no matter where the fight guys. His striking is just so precise and tight. Add on top of that him being a submission threat from any position. The guy is just…something special and has finally put all the prices together.

There’s a lot of talk of his defense and granted he needs to stop engaging in these fire fights because they always catch up to you…that being said, his constant pressure almost serves as a defensive tool because it’s difficult for his opponent to keep up with the pace. Also, even when he gets rocked/dropped there seems to be a hesitancy to follow up on him simply because of the submission threat which was on full display with Justin.

 

[Zebra Cheeks]

His striking really has come along, and having the best grappling (Islam has best wrestling, but I feel grappling and wrestling can be two different metrics) in the division allows him to be fearless with what he can throw and how much pressure he can put on and get in peoples faces. He’s not limited like some other very good strikers are by having no ground game and this fear of leaving an opening if they up their offense too much against certain opponents.


Koed Chandler after a beautiful left hook drop in the middle of a mutual exchange

Dropped Gaethje CLEANLY with that right cross after backing him up and defending the low kicks nicely

Held his own on the feet with Porier- the #1 striker in the division

(Love Porier’s little nod of approval as Olives stops DP’s killer switch double jab to big loaded up right in its tracks with his quick right cross to the chin)


Being able to defend yourself after being rocked by going to the ground is a part of mma striking. Olives does trust his chin too much as the only negative I can say about where his striking.

Credit to @KazDibiase for always getting the gifs together after events. You the man

first off congratulations on correctly identifying the best striker at 155.

Yeah it’s overlooked I think. Charles is the most dangerous submission guy at 155 and he’s definitely in the top few for strikers depending on what you value the most.

He’s really got an amazing skill set. I’d love to see him fight dariush because that’s such a fun fight but I really do think they give him islam which is too bad cause I think dariush and Ollie produce a FOTY candidate

 

[Reffson]

His striking really has come along, and having the best grappling (Islam has best wrestling, but I feel grappling and wrestling can be two different metrics) in the division allows him to be fearless with what he can throw and how much pressure he can put on and get in peoples faces. He’s not limited like some other very good strikers are by having no ground game and this fear of leaving an opening if they up their offense too much against certain opponents.


Koed Chandler after a beautiful left hook drop in the middle of a mutual exchange

Dropped Gaethje CLEANLY with that right cross after backing him up and defending the low kicks nicely

Held his own on the feet with Porier- the #1 striker in the division

(Love Porier’s little nod of approval as Olives stops DP’s killer switch double jab to big loaded up right in its tracks with his quick right cross to the chin)


Being able to defend yourself after being rocked by going to the ground is a part of mma striking. Olives does trust his chin too much as the only negative I can say about where his striking.

Credit to @KazDibiase for always getting the gifs together after events. You the man

Notice how his eyes never waiver from the target. That's confidence. Conor was the same way before he went to boxing.

 

[gluehuffer1776]

he has very good striking. he reminds me of prime werdum that beat hunt and cain. he throws alot of well timed knees

 

[Reffson]

I like Dariush a lot but he broke his damn leg. It's a long recovery to heal and especially to get back in fight shape. He isn't getting screwed if Islam gets the shot while he recovers. Shit just happens sometimes. Let him fight Conor and Islam fight Charles. Chandler had his shot and lost. Then he lost to Justin too so Islam is the logical choice for the TS, IMO. People want to see it because both are high-level grapplers with good-to-great striking.

 

[HockeyBjj]

first off congratulations on correctly identifying the best striker at 155.

Yeah it’s overlooked I think. Charles is the most dangerous submission guy at 155 and he’s definitely in the top few for strikers depending on what you value the most.

He’s really got an amazing skill set. I’d love to see him fight dariush because that’s such a fun fight but I really do think they give him islam which is too bad cause I think dariush and Ollie produce a FOTY candidate

He's so damn good at one thing, people don't realize he's become exceptionally well rounded as well. And then tied the two aspects of his game together perfectly not just having a mode A and then a plan B

 

[Reffson]

He's so damn good at one thing, people don't realize he's become exceptionally well rounded as well. And then tied the two aspects of his game together perfectly not just having a mode A and then a plan B

He's like Anderson Silva was after joining the Nog's and becoming a great grappler. He already had the striking, which helped the Nog's with too.

 

[blaseblah]

Second after Conor?

Conor's only the best striker in round 1.