Hot Take Does Vettori always freeze in fights?

[Bobby Boulders]

No, he's just trying to think and there is a delay

 

[Slapjit]

I'm not joking when I say this, but if he wants to keep his combat sports career alive, he needs to join Power Slap. I just don’t see him finding success anywhere else. In slaps though, he genuinely has the traits of a future champ. Here's why.

His tendency to freeze up actually helps him in a format that gives up to a full minute of recovery between strikes. Vettori clearly needs time to think when he gets hit hard, and in Power Slap he won’t have to worry about anything coming back at him while he does it.

He also has a granite chin despite not being Polynesian, and in my predictive models, chin strength is the second-best indicator of long-term success in the sport. The best indicator is a low offensive-foul rate. This is where Vettori shines. He mostly throws arm punches, which is perfect for clean slapping. A lot of competitors swing with their whole bodies and rack up stepping or clubbing fouls, immediately putting themselves on the wrong side of a 10-8 round, with a second offense leading straight to a DQ. Vettori has shown he can't generate that kind of overcommitted power even when he tries, which becomes an advantage under these rules.

Say whatever you want about Power Slap, but the champs get paid decently and take far less yearly damage than Vettori absorbs in a single round. They also get free coaching and career management, so he’ll actually keep what he earns. He could even make money between fights as a coach, like former champ Branden Bordeaux, or land a steady job as a Rocket Scientist like current middleweight champion Isaih Quinones.

With six months of Bob and pool-noodle training, followed by one clean run through the Power Slap Combine, he could realistically decision his way to double-champ status by 2027. I, for one, still believe in the Italian Dream.