Eddie Hall vs. Hafthor Bjornsson

[Mr2urbo]

they are each going to throw one or two shots and then gas immediately.

This has to an exhibition match with exhibition rules which is fine, no sanctioning body would allow this to be a pro fight, can you imagine the blood pressure of each guy???

They’ll burst that blood pressure thing and obviously fail every ped test imaginable.

 

[weirdflex]

Surely their gonna be gassed by end of the first tho.

Will no doubt still watch.

It really depends how seriously each of them takes it. Eddie has been retired from strongman for a long time now but he clearly enjoys being as big as he is and being able to mix it with other pro strongmen, bodybuilders and powerlifters in terms of what he can lift.
All of these huge bodybuilders and strongmen come to a point/age when they realise it's time to slim down and stop the PEDs for the sake of health. But it's usually when they are at least 45.
Thor has not retired from strongman and he will absolutely still be competitive as a potential winner for all the big strongman contests in 2021 so it is extremely unlikely he would make radical changes to his physique for the sake of a boxing exhibition.
Eddie was an elite swimmer as a kid, Olympic potential. So he is no doubt very familiar with having that kind of normal sized body, how to get there and the utility of it. He will no doubt have elite level cardio if he does. But will it be important enough for him to do so? That is the question

 

[dittohead84]

Thor has stumpy lookin arms for his height. A sham of a big man, no Brian Shaw

 

[HuskySamoan]

Eddie Hall already competed in a boxing match vs a normal sized HW and he got badly out boxed. My money would be on Hafhor since he'd have such a height and reach advantage and they'd both be equally useless at boxing. Here's a video of Hall in that match.

Hall has talked about how in order to compete at the highest level in strongman competitions he had to get up to 420-430lbs and it wasn't healthy or at all sustainable for him, which was the main reason for his retirement.

Since retirement Hall has dropped 80lbs and is down around 340-350lbs. Dude at 6'3 430lbs nobody can box....Youre bound by your own size, so far past the point of diminishing returns for a sport like boxing. He has a competitive swimming background though and has spent a good amount of time doing more cardio while dropping the weight, including boxing training. He says he probably doesn't have more than 120 hours clocked in his lifetime in boxing and near zilch in terms of experience but considering thats probably a lot more than Hafthor it makes you think.

I think cardio and handspeed will be a big factor for Eddie, I've seen him hit pads and his hands are not slow for his size and since Thor still actively competes and will stay around 450lbs while I expect Eddie will be down to around 300-320lbs for the fight he'll probably have a big cardio edge too...even if they still both gas in a round or two.

 

[Sanserif]

Watching thor spar in boxing gives a new appreciation for the technique displayed by ngannou. He is often characterised as raw technically speaking and getting by on his strength and power, but the poor punching of thor shows that just because you are very strong and even very powerful, you cannot hit really hard unless you have good technique.

 

[Hypetrainhipsta]

If you have the skills and sufficient strength you can outgrapple significantly heavier guys, especially in Folkstyle & Freestyle wrestling, but that's usually because the bigger men you're wrestling don't know how to grapple or they're no good at it. At some point you reach a limit to just how far up you can climb and I've never seen it tested against anyone nearly as heavy as 450 pounds or remotely as strong as a guy like Hafthor (a top 3 strongest man in the world for the last 8 years). It would be a terrible idea in a street fight to attempt. Even if you manage to get a takedown it could be rather meaningless since he could just power back up or power through submission attempts you apply on him (or through his own submission attempts on you). Top control would be a serious problem with a guy that ridiculously big and strong regardless of how technical your grappling may be as well as applying many submissions.

Mark Kerr was a big guy (260 pounds or so) and strong as shit with an extensive collegiate wrestling background (D1 champ & D1 AA). His size and strength alone though allowed him to do what I just described against far more technical submission grapplers. And, just on his strength alone, he was able to beat the likes of a big man himself and technical grappler in Josh Barnett.

Here's a Freestyle wrestler that's only 158 pounds handling a bodybuilder advertised as being 340 pounds (over 300 for sure but 340 is a stretch). Notice though that he's cooperating and putting up very little resistance.

Yeah, facing those world class strongmen in grappling would be a bad idea. They could actually be decent grapplers with a bitt of training, they are explosive and should be able to learn a good power double and they don't have to to a ton once they are on top of an opponent, use your weight to wear him down and only go for low risk moves.
No way such a huge guy with no experience can pick up striking in a normal amount of time and be decent/fluid, it's all wrong for him.

 

[voodoo chile1]

this is gonna be a great fight between two evenly skilled behemoths. two of the most powerful human beings on the planet going at it in a real fight! love this idea!!

 

[Boxiana]

This is a retarded idea. Will be an absolutely unwatchable gas fest.

Why don’t they just do some head to head strongman stuff, winner takes all. That would be cool.

 

[NortheastPhilly]

Ten ounce gloves.. no head gear.. heavy weight power..

Someone is gonna get gassed out

 

[tru3f4n]

Yeah, facing those world class strongmen in grappling would be a bad idea. They could actually be decent grapplers with a bitt of training, they are explosive and should be able to learn a good power double and they don't have to to a ton once they are on top of an opponent, use your weight to wear him down and only go for low risk moves.
No way such a huge guy with no experience can pick up striking in a normal amount of time and be decent/fluid, it's all wrong for him.

and yet probably the most athletic strongman ever Mariusz Pudzianowski couldn't grapple worth the fuck against probably on of the least athletic HW MMA fighters ever in Tim Sylvia.

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

and yet probably the most athletic strongman ever Mariusz Pudzianowski couldn't grapple worth the fuck against probably on of the least athletic HW MMA fighters ever in Tim Sylvia.

Maybe when he ripped 315 pound Bob Sapp's rear leg right out from underneath him it was luck then?
Anyhow, you're missing the point. The average guy would get manhandled for even trying to outgrapple someone that large and ridiculously strong. They would be at an extreme disadvantage in both size and strength from the start. What strongmen lack in grappling strength and skill they make up for in raw strength and size (they cancel out the skill differential as long as it's within reason). You may be able to take them down but what happens after that? You'd have no choice but to try and submit them quickly assuming they can't just power out of your submission attempts to escape.

How about top control? It's not going to be too effective against someone that can just press you off with ease to create space in order to scramble back up. How long do you realistically think an average Joe could control a strongman's hips and/or wrists from top position? They're not going to cooperate. They're more likely to just explode up/buck you off and overpower you from ever establishing control over them. They'll also be actively resisting you the whole time as the far larger and exponentially stronger guy which will drain even the most fit and skilled of grapplers much less the average man.

 

[Sickbro69420]

Conor is going to help thor get the W

 

[wbubbles]

Grappling with a guy that big and strong would be a terrible mistake for sure. I know Jeff Monson. He's strong and is a fairly good grappler. Not a bad fighter all around (though a washed up Fedor still handled him easily). Monson has some interesting tattoos.

Did you just refer to Monson as a "fairly good grappler?" Lol umm hes one of the best bjj guys to ever fight in mma.

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

Did you just refer to Monson as a "fairly good grappler?" Lol umm hes one of the best bjj guys to ever fight in mma.

First of all, he's not just a "BJJ guy". He's actually more well known for what he did at ADCC than the Worlds/Mundials and many of their competitors aren't even pure BJJ/Jiu-Jitsu players, they're submission grapplers. Second, in the context of MMA he's absolutely not a great grappler. He doesn't even make Tapology's greatest grapplers of all time in MMA list. There are over 120 fighters on that list yet Monson isn't on there.

He's one of the most decorated submission grapplers to ever compete in MMA is what you meant to say. So, are you going to tell me about "K-1 level" strikers next and how they're technically superior in MMA as well? LOL. That was a hard lesson some of you guys learned and yet you continue to conflate pure grappling/striking sport credentials with actual ability in MMA.
The Greatest MMA Grapplers of All Time

 

[wbubbles]

First of all, he's not just a "BJJ guy". He's actually more well known for what he did at ADCC than the Worlds/Mundials and many of their competitors aren't even pure BJJ/Jiu-Jitsu players, they're submission grapplers. Second, in the context of MMA he's absolutely not a great grappler. He doesn't even make Tapology's greatest grapplers of all time in MMA list. There are over 120 fighters on that list yet Monson isn't on there.

He's one of the most decorated submission grapplers to ever compete in MMA is what you meant to say. So, are you going to tell me about "K-1 level" strikers next and how they're technically superior in MMA as well? LOL. That was a hard lesson some of you guys learned and yet you continue to conflate pure grappling/striking sport credentials with actual ability in MMA.
The Greatest MMA Grapplers of All Time

Im very familiar with monson. I still disagree with calling him just "a fairly good grappler."

 

[defjaam]

Im very familiar with monson. I still disagree with calling him just "a fairly good grappler."

not surprising. He also thinks that Mark Kerr was just a strong guy with no skills.

 

[RabbitPunch36]

Grappling with a guy that big and strong would be a terrible mistake for sure. I know Jeff Monson. He's strong and is a fairly good grappler. Not a bad fighter all around (though a washed up Fedor still handled him easily). Monson has some interesting tattoos.

Bro fairly good grappler is a huge understatement he was a adcc champion.

 

[tru3f4n]

Maybe when he ripped 315 pound Bob Sapp's rear leg right out from underneath him it was luck then?
Anyhow, you're missing the point. The average guy would get manhandled for even trying to outgrapple someone that large and ridiculously strong. They would be at an extreme disadvantage in both size and strength from the start. What strongmen lack in grappling strength and skill they make up for in raw strength and size (they cancel out the skill differential as long as it's within reason). You may be able to take them down but what happens after that? You'd have no choice but to try and submit them quickly assuming they can't just power out of your submission attempts to escape.

How about top control? It's not going to be too effective against someone that can just press you off with ease to create space in order to scramble back up. How long do you realistically think an average Joe could control a strongman's hips and/or wrists from top position? They're not going to cooperate. They're more likely to just explode up/buck you off and overpower you from ever establishing control over them. They'll also be actively resisting you the whole time as the far larger and exponentially stronger guy which will drain even the most fit and skilled of grapplers much less the average man.

using Sapp for any type of counter point is absolutely absurd that fight took place well after the point Sapp's MMA career had any sort of legitimacy.

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

not surprising. He also thinks that Mark Kerr was just a strong guy with no skills.

I never said that. That's funny however considering that respected sources on the matter agree. I noticed you never replied to what I posted from Tapology. Hmmm.

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

using Sapp for any type of counter point is absolutely absurd that fight took place well after the point Sapp's MMA career had any sort of legitimacy.

Right, but he was still a 315 pound man that got his leg ripped out from underneath him like he was a child.