Fedors technique anyone?...

[Mickstah]

I was wondering if anybody could tell us how he looked in terms of technique. (I'm looking at you strikingguy) his handspeed looked awsome in that first flurry he just seems to have no chin anymore?

 

[ssBaldy]

he forgot about defence ant Fabio got a solid one-two hitting the sweet spot exactly. Fedor was not fighting smart.

 

[RawHawg]

It was odd when Fedor early on threw that long flurry of many punches, and Maldonado just held his gloves up and blocked all or most of them. Fedor seemed to not throw one straight punch down the middle. I found it a big waste of energy.

 

[skylolow]

This is the Fedor we've seen more commonly since 2006. Wild and nontechnical with little to no game planning. Swing for the fences and over whlem him has been a common game plan for Fedor.

Plain in simple, if he truly want the UFC next then he needs to realize its time to start training at a top MMA camp and not for just one or two weeks. A full camp around his fight. Get rid of the all the yes men in training he currently has.

 

[synyster]

I was wondering if anybody could tell us how he looked in terms of technique. (I'm looking at you strikingguy) his handspeed looked awsome in that first flurry he just seems to have no chin anymore?

man did you see the punches he got caught with watch that shit in slow motion, he was leaping forward and he took a right hook straight across the jaw immediately followed by a left hook that sent him to the floor. I'm shocked he wasnt completely out if anything his chin is fine.

 

[Bubblun]

Fedor striking technique actually improved a lot in his last part of his career, a lot more polished.
And that it's obvious, the guy been fighting for more than 10 years and had no striking background before.

He never was a big and strong heavyweight, he closed that gap with his speed and explosiveness, he puts his whole body weight behind every throw and every strike.
That's his strong asset, but also his weak point at the same time, because he overcommit a lot, like he did against Maldonado.

Had he smoked Fabio in the first, like he was planning to do and was being successful before getting caught, nobody would have questioned him.
I say that if he plan to fight in the UFC in the future, this Maldonado fight it's a blessing, because i think he realized he has to respect even the slowest opponent and can't fight like a madman all the time.

 

[eseseses681]

He threw a cheat-hook that he loaded up on from way too close to throw a cheat-hook-- especially one that you loaded up on-- especially against a professional boxer. A cheat-hook's a term for a lead-hook you throw while stepping forward with your right leg (or left-leg, if you're in the southpaw stance.) It's a strong, powerful technique that you can throw from a long distance. It's one of Fedor's favorite techniques, and Shogun uses it a lot, too. I talked about this on here before, but I'll say it again.

Look how close his feet are to Maldonado when he throws a cheat-hook (and the nice two-three that Maldonado responds with in kind).

He was close enough to throw a jab, or even a right-straight, but he throws a big cheat-hook instead and look what happens. Now look at Shogun, who probably has the best single cheat-hook knockout in this sport's history, and look how far away he was when he threw it compared to Fedor:

Here's Khabib using a cheat-hook [it's more of a cheat-smash, but anyways] to knock down Thiago Tavares, but, again, look how far out he is when he throws it compared to Fedor:

A cheat-hook's one of Fedor's favorite techniques-- he has a whole bunch of moments in his career of using it successfully. Here's a nice one against Goodridge-- Goodridge, by the way, was a top-10/15 heavyweight at the time and was a dangerous, big, powerful striker who had victories over Valentijn Overeem [this was when Overeem had beaten Randy Couture and had gotten to the finals of the RINGS Grand Prix], Oleg Taktarov, Bob Schrijber, Achmed Labasanov, and a K-1 victory against Mike Bernardo. You'll not only notice that the Fedor flurries look very similar to what he'd been attempting against Maldonado, but that he threw- and landed the initiating cheat-hook from way further out than he did against Fabio:

Not only that, but if you watch the Ishii fight-- Ishii's a very good fighter, by the way, contrary to what a lot of people on here may think, and yeah, he wasn't as good then as he is now, but in this situation there's something to be learned-- Fedor was in almost the same distance that he was to Maldonado, but he throws a straight instead of a cheat-hook, and look what happens:

But, again, against Maldonado, he threw a cheat-hook and threw it from way too close to be safe. He has a couple moments in his career where it looks like he threw it from a similarly-close distance-- like against Sylvia-- but those moments were almost all against guys who were a lot bigger than him, like the 6'8 Sylvia, so the distancing in that situation is different. Or he just didn't load up on it like he did against Fabio, which itself can make a big difference.
Fedor said outright after the fight that he wanted to strike with Fabio and wanted to prove he could beat a striker where they're best, which's why he didn't shoot for a single takedown in the entire fight-- despite the fact that, after he rocked Maldonado with the knees in the clinch early in the second round, he probably could've gotten a takedown and finished him. But whether this near-finishing moment was due to him looking passed Maldonado or him thinking he was in a safe range cuz' he hadn't fought much in the past three years and still had some ring-rust on him [which's what I think], or a combination of the two, it's still the same reason why he got caught. Throwing a loaded-up cheat-hook from way too close to be safe against a fighter who can capitalize on that.
It's a similar reason why Miguel Torres got knocked out by Brian Bowles, and why Eduardo Dantas got knocked out by Tyson Nam, and why Anderson Silva got knocked down in the second fight with Weidman. Trying to hold onto a Plumm with your arms completely outstretched, your head in the air and little-to-no grip on your opponent's head is asking for a hook to come over the top of your outstretched arm, much like a cross-counter.

After that moment happened against Fabio, Maldonado got on top of him for about three minutes and nearly finished him, and Fedor survived and was exhausted (as was Maldonado.) That's not an uncommon thing to happen. Very few fighters can take beatings like that and not end up completely exhausted like Fedor was.
You'll notice, however, that after this moment in the fight, when Fedor recouped and ended up winning the next two rounds, he never threw a cheat-hook from that close again. He threw them, yes, but he did it from the safe distance to throw it, and when he was in that same range he got rocked in, he threw a jab instead or got in close to try to use a Plumm and land knees.
Fedor could also throw jabs and straights if he wanted. That was a big reason of why he ended up winning the next two rounds of the Maldonado fight; he used a solid jab to hurt Maldonado. It was also the reason he beat Nogueira the third time around. That entire fight was a montage of Fedor using jabs, straights, one-twos, and setups therein, but if you looked at the fighters ojbectively using the kind of consensus on skill and what good form is that people on here repeat, you'd say that Nogueira had the better boxing- and striking and, since Fedor always relies on nothing but hooks and his speed, Nogueira therefore can- and will outstrike Fedor. But Fedor proved the exact opposite, showing there's more to his game than what common people associate it with, and that he holds a lot more form and skill in his striking than what people think.
Here's a nice moment against Rizzo, where he throws a jab and a hook off of the same arm, showing he can throw more-conventional (and strong-in-skill-) punches when he wants to:

But those big hooks he throws that he's known for and all those different ways he throws 'em are some of Fedor's favorite moves. They're powerful and fast, he's been doing them since he started Sambo, they're one of the biggest reasons he's had so much success in his career, it probably feels great when he hurts someone with 'em, they set up his takedowns magnificently (Sambo again, and that was the other big part of the third Nogueira fight; when he'd throw a big hook, if it didn't land clean, he'd be in so close that he could start using his chain-wrasslin' to trip Nogueira to the ground, like he did to Cro Cop and Herring and so many others), so it makes sense why he uses them so much. And, because people associate anything that's not a straight with bad striking, people think they look sloppy, but they aren't. Besides that, you don't beat conventional things by being more conventional-- you do it by being unconventional.

A lotta people who say that people have "terrible technique" just because they don't look conventional don't know what they're talking about. People think Askren has "terrible wrestling technique" because his style's unconventional. Yeah, Askren-- the two-time Dan Hodge trophy winner (to give a frame of reference to how great an accomplishment that is, Cael Sanderson won the trophy three times, and one of those was a tie, and wrestling phenoms Kyle Dake and Jordan Burroughs only won it once), two-time NCAA division-1 champion and two-time NCAA division-1 runner-up (think about that: that means, every year of college, Askren was either the #1 or #2 guy in his division), and Olympian who wasn't just an alternate, but he actually wrestled at the Olympics-- yeah, he doesn't know how to wrestle.
If you wanna know more about Fedor's striking, Jack Slack (TheStrikingGuy on here) wrote a popular article a few years ago that gives a brief, basic run-down of Fedor's striking. You could also PM Disciplus on here, aka Conor Ruebusch, the current Bloody Elbow Judo Chop writer, and he might be willing to tell you something.

 

[europe1]

Another thing is that Fedor barely thrww any body strikes. Fabio just covered up against his flurries or shifted his head away yet Fedor didn't punish his exposed torso for it

 

[KOskater]

I was wondering if anybody could tell us how he looked in terms of technique. (I'm looking at you strikingguy) his handspeed looked awsome in that first flurry he just seems to have no chin anymore?

It was pretty good except the initial aggressive flurry. It had combos and fakes but was too much head hunting/looking for instant-win when the round began.

When Maldanado buckled up, Fedor just tried to break through because he did so with Goodrich. Maldanado probably trained specifically for this. It became clear he wouldn't be able to and at that point he should have done something else... instead he stubbornly persisted, got even more aggressive and jumped in head-first, eating a combo on the way.

On the ground he gave up his back and muscled his way up... very poor ground game and something he only pulled off cuz Maldo was smaller.

When Maldanado put his hands up and Fedor wasn't getting through should have instead:

• gone underneath for a uppercut or body shots instead of from side. Maldo's chin was wide open
• backed away and restarted
• gone for a sweep but I think he was worried about Maldo's BJJ
• Cliche'd up and knee'd to head or body (something he did deploy in later rounds)

In the 2 and 3 he fought much cleaner, smarter and began to vary attacks and used awesome head movements.

It looked great but he still kept eating many counters... I'm unsure why.... either he's slowed from age or was simply too phased from the first to avoid them. It's likely the latter.

Nearing the end of 3rd, he got sloppy, dropped all defensive postured and had his arms down completely down at this sides and no longer gave a f***, I think he was too tired, entirely numb from the pain at that point and knew that after about 50 hard blows he wasn't going to be put down.

I think overall, he improved and fought smarter except the initial underestimation of Maldanado and getting caught for it.

I think if fought in the 1st the way he did in 2nd and 3rd he would have KTFO but he only started fighting smart after about 20 concussions so a lot of it was negated.
​

 

[Mixfight]

He threw a cheat-hook that he loaded up on from way too close to throw a cheat-hook-- especially one that you loaded up on-- especially against a professional boxer. A cheat-hook's a term for a lead-hook you throw while stepping forward with your right leg (or left-leg, if you're in the southpaw stance.) It's a strong, powerful technique that you can throw from a long distance. It's one of Fedor's favorite techniques, and Shogun uses it a lot, too. I talked about this on here before, but I'll say it again.

Look how close his feet are to Maldonado when he throws a cheat-hook (and the nice two-three that Maldonado responds with in kind).

He was close enough to throw a jab, or even a right-straight, but he throws a big cheat-hook instead and look what happens. Now look at Shogun, who probably has the best single cheat-hook knockout in this sport's history, and look how far away he was when he threw it compared to Fedor:

Here's Khabib using a cheat-hook [it's more of a cheat-smash, but anyways] to knock down Thiago Tavares, but, again, look how far out he is when he throws it compared to Fedor:

A cheat-hook's one of Fedor's favorite techniques-- he has a whole bunch of moments in his career of using it successfully. Here's a nice one against Goodridge-- Goodridge, by the way, was a top-10/15 heavyweight at the time and was a dangerous, big, powerful striker who had victories over Valentijn Overeem [this was when Overeem had beaten Randy Couture and had gotten to the finals of the RINGS Grand Prix], Oleg Taktarov, Bob Schrijber, Achmed Labasanov, and a K-1 victory against Mike Bernardo. You'll not only notice that the Fedor flurries look very similar to what he'd been attempting against Maldonado, but that he threw- and landed the initiating cheat-hook from way further out than he did against Fabio:

Not only that, but if you watch the Ishii fight-- Ishii's a very good fighter, by the way, contrary to what a lot of people on here may think, and yeah, he wasn't as good then as he is now, but in this situation there's something to be learned-- Fedor was in almost the same distance that he was to Maldonado, but he throws a straight instead of a cheat-hook, and look what happens:

But, again, against Maldonado, he threw a cheat-hook and threw it from way too close to be safe. He has a couple moments in his career where it looks like he threw it from a similarly-close distance-- like against Sylvia-- but those moments were almost all against guys who were a lot bigger than him, like the 6'8 Sylvia, so the distancing in that situation is different. Or he just didn't load up on it like he did against Fabio, which itself can make a big difference.
Fedor said outright after the fight that he wanted to strike with Fabio and wanted to prove he could beat a striker where they're best, which's why he didn't shoot for a single takedown in the entire fight-- despite the fact that, after he rocked Maldonado with the knees in the clinch early in the second round, he probably could've gotten a takedown and finished him. But whether this near-finishing moment was due to him looking passed Maldonado or him thinking he was in a safe range cuz' he hadn't fought much in the past three years and still had some ring-rust on him [which's what I think], or a combination of the two, it's still the same reason why he got caught. Throwing a loaded-up cheat-hook from way too close to be safe against a fighter who can capitalize on that.
It's a similar reason why Miguel Torres got knocked out by Brian Bowles, and why Eduardo Dantas got knocked out by Tyson Nam, and why Anderson Silva got knocked down in the second fight with Weidman. Trying to hold onto a Plumm with your arms completely outstretched, your head in the air and little-to-no grip on your opponent's head is asking for a hook to come over the top of your outstretched arm, much like a cross-counter.

After that moment happened against Fabio, Maldonado got on top of him for about three minutes and nearly finished him, and Fedor survived and was exhausted (as was Maldonado.) That's not an uncommon thing to happen. Very few fighters can take beatings like that and not end up completely exhausted like Fedor was.
You'll notice, however, that after this moment in the fight, when Fedor recouped and ended up winning the next two rounds, he never threw a cheat-hook from that close again. He threw them, yes, but he did it from the safe distance to throw it, and when he was in that same range he got rocked in, he threw a jab instead or got in close to try to use a Plumm and land knees.
Fedor could also throw jabs and straights if he wanted. That was a big reason of why he ended up winning the next two rounds of the Maldonado fight; he used a solid jab to hurt Maldonado. It was also the reason he beat Nogueira the third time around. That entire fight was a montage of Fedor using jabs, straights, one-twos, and setups therein, but if you looked at the fighters ojbectively using the kind of consensus on skill and what good form is that people on here repeat, you'd say that Nogueira had the better boxing- and striking and, since Fedor always relies on nothing but hooks and his speed, Nogueira therefore can- and will outstrike Fedor. But Fedor proved the exact opposite, showing there's more to his game than what common people associate it with, and that he holds a lot more form and skill in his striking than what people think.
Here's a nice moment against Rizzo, where he throws a jab and a hook off of the same arm, showing he can throw more-conventional (and strong-in-skill-) punches when he wants to:

But those big hooks he throws that he's known for and all those different ways he throws 'em are some of Fedor's favorite moves. They're powerful and fast, he's been doing them since he started Sambo, they're one of the biggest reasons he's had so much success in his career, it probably feels great when he hurts someone with 'em, they set up his takedowns magnificently (Sambo again, and that was the other big part of the third Nogueira fight; when he'd throw a big hook, if it didn't land clean, he'd be in so close that he could start using his chain-wrasslin' to trip Nogueira to the ground, like he did to Cro Cop and Herring and so many others), so it makes sense why he uses them so much. And, because people associate anything that's not a straight with bad striking, people think they look sloppy, but they aren't. Besides that, you don't beat conventional things by being more conventional-- you do it by being unconventional.

A lotta people who say that people have "terrible technique" just because they don't look conventional don't know what they're talking about. People think Askren has "terrible wrestling technique" because his style's unconventional. Yeah, Askren-- the two-time Dan Hodge trophy winner (to give a frame of reference to how great an accomplishment that is, Cael Sanderson won the trophy three times, and one of those was a tie, and wrestling phenoms Kyle Dake and Jordan Burroughs only won it once), two-time NCAA division-1 champion and two-time NCAA division-1 runner-up (think about that: that means, every year of college, Askren was either the #1 or #2 guy in his division), and Olympian who wasn't just an alternate, but he actually wrestled at the Olympics-- yeah, he doesn't know how to wrestle.
If you wanna know more about Fedor's striking, Jack Slack (TheStrikingGuy on here) wrote a popular article a few years ago that gives a brief, basic run-down of Fedor's striking. You could also PM Disciplus on here, aka Conor Ruebusch, the current Bloody Elbow Judo Chop writer, and he might be willing to tell you something.

Thank your for this gem of a poast. Awesome insight and write up.

*Tips hat*

 

[Idonotbelieveit]

It's Fedor being a badass

Fearless

 

[KOskater]

He threw a cheat-hook that he loaded up on from way too close to throw a cheat-hook-- especially one that you loaded up on-- especially against a professional boxer. A cheat-hook's a term for a lead-hook you throw while stepping forward with your right leg (or left-leg, if you're in the southpaw stance.) It's a strong, powerful technique that you can throw from a long distance. It's one of Fedor's favorite techniques, and Shogun uses it a lot, too. I talked about this on here before, but I'll say it again.

Look how close his feet are to Maldonado when he throws a cheat-hook (and the nice two-three that Maldonado responds with in kind).

He was close enough to throw a jab, or even a right-straight, but he throws a big cheat-hook instead and look what happens. Now look at Shogun, who probably has the best single cheat-hook knockout in this sport's history, and look how far away he was when he threw it compared to Fedor:

Here's Khabib using a cheat-hook [it's more of a cheat-smash, but anyways] to knock down Thiago Tavares, but, again, look how far out he is when he throws it compared to Fedor:

A cheat-hook's one of Fedor's favorite techniques-- he has a whole bunch of moments in his career of using it successfully. Here's a nice one against Goodridge-- Goodridge, by the way, was a top-10/15 heavyweight at the time and was a dangerous, big, powerful striker who had victories over Valentijn Overeem [this was when Overeem had beaten Randy Couture and had gotten to the finals of the RINGS Grand Prix], Oleg Taktarov, Bob Schrijber, Achmed Labasanov, and a K-1 victory against Mike Bernardo. You'll not only notice that the Fedor flurries look very similar to what he'd been attempting against Maldonado, but that he threw- and landed the initiating cheat-hook from way further out than he did against Fabio:

Not only that, but if you watch the Ishii fight-- Ishii's a very good fighter, by the way, contrary to what a lot of people on here may think, and yeah, he wasn't as good then as he is now, but in this situation there's something to be learned-- Fedor was in almost the same distance that he was to Maldonado, but he throws a straight instead of a cheat-hook, and look what happens:

But, again, against Maldonado, he threw a cheat-hook and threw it from way too close to be safe. He has a couple moments in his career where it looks like he threw it from a similarly-close distance-- like against Sylvia-- but those moments were almost all against guys who were a lot bigger than him, like the 6'8 Sylvia, so the distancing in that situation is different. Or he just didn't load up on it like he did against Fabio, which itself can make a big difference.
Fedor said outright after the fight that he wanted to strike with Fabio and wanted to prove he could beat a striker where they're best, which's why he didn't shoot for a single takedown in the entire fight-- despite the fact that, after he rocked Maldonado with the knees in the clinch early in the second round, he probably could've gotten a takedown and finished him. But whether this near-finishing moment was due to him looking passed Maldonado or him thinking he was in a safe range cuz' he hadn't fought much in the past three years and still had some ring-rust on him [which's what I think], or a combination of the two, it's still the same reason why he got caught. Throwing a loaded-up cheat-hook from way too close to be safe against a fighter who can capitalize on that.
It's a similar reason why Miguel Torres got knocked out by Brian Bowles, and why Eduardo Dantas got knocked out by Tyson Nam, and why Anderson Silva got knocked down in the second fight with Weidman. Trying to hold onto a Plumm with your arms completely outstretched, your head in the air and little-to-no grip on your opponent's head is asking for a hook to come over the top of your outstretched arm, much like a cross-counter.

After that moment happened against Fabio, Maldonado got on top of him for about three minutes and nearly finished him, and Fedor survived and was exhausted (as was Maldonado.) That's not an uncommon thing to happen. Very few fighters can take beatings like that and not end up completely exhausted like Fedor was.
You'll notice, however, that after this moment in the fight, when Fedor recouped and ended up winning the next two rounds, he never threw a cheat-hook from that close again. He threw them, yes, but he did it from the safe distance to throw it, and when he was in that same range he got rocked in, he threw a jab instead or got in close to try to use a Plumm and land knees.
Fedor could also throw jabs and straights if he wanted. That was a big reason of why he ended up winning the next two rounds of the Maldonado fight; he used a solid jab to hurt Maldonado. It was also the reason he beat Nogueira the third time around. That entire fight was a montage of Fedor using jabs, straights, one-twos, and setups therein, but if you looked at the fighters ojbectively using the kind of consensus on skill and what good form is that people on here repeat, you'd say that Nogueira had the better boxing- and striking and, since Fedor always relies on nothing but hooks and his speed, Nogueira therefore can- and will outstrike Fedor. But Fedor proved the exact opposite, showing there's more to his game than what common people associate it with, and that he holds a lot more form and skill in his striking than what people think.
Here's a nice moment against Rizzo, where he throws a jab and a hook off of the same arm, showing he can throw more-conventional (and strong-in-skill-) punches when he wants to:

But those big hooks he throws that he's known for and all those different ways he throws 'em are some of Fedor's favorite moves. They're powerful and fast, he's been doing them since he started Sambo, they're one of the biggest reasons he's had so much success in his career, it probably feels great when he hurts someone with 'em, they set up his takedowns magnificently (Sambo again, and that was the other big part of the third Nogueira fight; when he'd throw a big hook, if it didn't land clean, he'd be in so close that he could start using his chain-wrasslin' to trip Nogueira to the ground, like he did to Cro Cop and Herring and so many others), so it makes sense why he uses them so much. And, because people associate anything that's not a straight with bad striking, people think they look sloppy, but they aren't. Besides that, you don't beat conventional things by being more conventional-- you do it by being unconventional.

A lotta people who say that people have "terrible technique" just because they don't look conventional don't know what they're talking about. People think Askren has "terrible wrestling technique" because his style's unconventional. Yeah, Askren-- the two-time Dan Hodge trophy winner (to give a frame of reference to how great an accomplishment that is, Cael Sanderson won the trophy three times, and one of those was a tie, and wrestling phenoms Kyle Dake and Jordan Burroughs only won it once), two-time NCAA division-1 champion and two-time NCAA division-1 runner-up (think about that: that means, every year of college, Askren was either the #1 or #2 guy in his division), and Olympian who wasn't just an alternate, but he actually wrestled at the Olympics-- yeah, he doesn't know how to wrestle.
If you wanna know more about Fedor's striking, Jack Slack (TheStrikingGuy on here) wrote a popular article a few years ago that gives a brief, basic run-down of Fedor's striking. You could also PM Disciplus on here, aka Conor Ruebusch, the current Bloody Elbow Judo Chop writer, and he might be willing to tell you something.

Great analysis, it's called a Casting Punch in Sambo I think and Fedor's KO of Brett Rogers with it was beautiful.

It's foolish of him to keep trying it so quickly into the round, as he's done so many times and Bigfoot saw it coming a mile away in their 2nd round. I think maybe he thought Maldo wouldn't expect it at close range.

I think it's just tempting for him to revert to it... it's powerful and he's great at it. Setups for trips and throws are tiring and technical as opposed to lopping someone's head off.

My suspicion is he didn't take Maldanado to the ground because he was weary of subs, the guy is a Gracie Brown Belt and Fedor knew as long as he remained moving the decision was his.... I don't believe the strongest area talk.

 

[eseseses681]

^There is no way that Fedor was afraid of Maldonado's ground game. If he was afraid of Maldonado's grappling, he would've been so afraid of his striking that he wouldn't have even taken the fight. That area that Maldonado's won all of his fights in and that he has an undefeated professional boxing record in association with? Yeah, that's no problem. The area that he's been grapplefucked badly in in many of his losses? Now that's a problem. Any Sambo world champion who tests Maldonado's grappling will surely perish!

And if Fedor thought that he'd catch Maldonado off-guard with a cheat-hook close enough to land a jab, he's lost a lot of the intelligence he had just six months ago. That's like going, "My jab's not working as well as I'd like it to. Maybe it'll work better if I drop my hands and close my eyes and lead with my chin before I throw it." Or like shooting for a double-leg when you're outside of even side-kick range and going, "Shooting from any closer than this is surely a fool's errand. From far on the outside, though, now that's something they won't see coming!"

A casting punch is also when you punch with your hand upside down so you land with the knuckles. It's also called a "Russian hook" and a "Sambo punch" and a bunch of other names. The thing he knocked out Rogers with was an overhand-version of the "Dart punch" or "Cobra punch". It's like a cheat-hook, except it's off of the hand you're stepping forward with.
He also threw a cheat-hook in the first 5-seconds of his fight with Sylvia, way earlier than against Maldonado. He was in a safe position to throw it, though, so it was fine. Unless it's complex, how early you try something isn't a big issue if you're in a safe position to do it.