Media Former UFC Champ: I don't buy DDP closing the gap, it looked like two completely different levels
- Thread starter Unheralded Truth
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Fluffy is no Khamzat -- the guy got out grappled by marcus perez. He has made a lot of improvements, but yeah, he is not khamzat in regards to the top control. That would be a good match up for DDP to prove something to himself and some fans about his grappling, though. I don't know if the timing would work out, but I'd watch that.
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DDP did horrible against Khamzat but ok in the UFC. I think he is done. The wrestling difference is to great for him to get the title back and Khamzat doesn't plan on standing with anybody. This is the state of the UFC MW division until someone else can change it. Maybe a more prepared Kamaru Usman can bring the belt back to Ameri... I mean Africa.
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Blah blah blah I want another title shot after offering nothing
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How many times have people said Fighter A has zero chance of ever winning rematch and they do just that? Anything can happen in the sport.
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Bottomline Dricus will never good enough to beat Khamzat. Some people are just better at you at a certain sport. And that's life in general.
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That gap is about the same as me trying to wrestle prime Karelin. It ain't getting closed.
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10 fights ago and he's on a 8 fight win streak with 6 stoppages. Beating Allen and Dolidze back to back... pretty impressive IMO.
DDP x Fluffy is exquisitely fun and I think Fluffy is still criminally underrated around here. We don't see Dolidze getting MOLLYWHOPPED. If you can do that with complete impunity, you're elite. People dog on Allen to for some reason too but his record is extremely respectable.
I see Fluffy as a dark horse in the division and his cardio and 2025 grappling make him a fun fight at the top.
Driccus wasn't prepared to do a basic sprawl which frankly my mind still can't process. I don't know what went on in that camp, but presumably they thought Khamzat wouldn't point fight and would brawl by round 2-3 and DDP would do his thing. He wasn't hitting counter wrestling like you would expect out of a high schooler and that is simply bad coaching / prep.
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Don't get me wrong, I think fluffy is great, and I think he could beat DDP and maybe khamzat too. I just think he has a very different approach with his grappling than khamzat, so I don't see him doing to ddp what khamzats did. He still could beat him, though.
I do think fluffy is a tough out for anyone in that division
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At a glance, Fluffy looks undersized. He's well rounded though and leverages cardio as a weapon... IMO we're seeing high level fight IQ out of a guy who's skill, talent and understanding of the game are converging.
I think Caio wins his next fight and gets on deck, and I really can't pick the winner of Fluffy x RDR. I find myself really, really rooting for RDR but that is a tough fight.
Match-up wise we really can't lose. Any combination of Caio, Khamzat, Fluffy and RDR fighting is awesome.
If its not obvious I don't see Imavov winning lmao
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I favor Caio against imavov, too, but I don't like the fact that he's cutting weight twice in two weeks. That makes me a little less confident in Caio.
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Ddp will never beat him. He has a better chance of winning the belt at lhw but eventually Khamzat will win there, too.
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Fluffy 49-46d Brendan back in LFA much the same. Fight didn't show a whole lot different, dropped a round again where Brendan had moments and put him in bad positions he's always been in.
Fluffy is very good and on a long streak but he doesn't have the win quality yet to have a lot of confidence in him against the real title threats since he's never fought one yet.
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Not often, especially when the first match was this one sided. It’s not like it was a fluke or flash KO. It was 25 minutes of DDP unable to do anything but survive
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What? You literally are the first person to say someone who steps in the Octagon at 220 lbs, is too small. He looked huge in the Octagon against Khamzat. Probably, the biggest he has ever looked. He still beats everyone in the division except Khamzat. He was heavier and more muscular all around than Khamzat. Most are calling for him to move up to light heavyweight since he cuts too much weight at over 35 lbs to make middleweight. They were literally the same height barefoot so not sure what you are smoking when you saw Khamzat 'towering'.
If anything, the above is a complement to Khamzat that despite the fact that Dricus deadlifts almost 500 lbs for reps, Khamzat was able to use skills and technique to overcome Dricus' strength.
Issue was, simple skills gap since it was all grappling and technically Khamzat was way superior. Dricus' big advantage was in the striking and kickboxing, if he could negate Khamzat's grappling advantage by using his counter wrestling. but he could never get over the constant takedowns by Khamzat.
Dricus started to figure things out in round 5, but it was too late when he stuffed two takedowns and ended up taking Khamzat down twice. He is the first guy ever who took Khamzat down twice. Let alone once. Still, it all boils down to Dricus completely misjudging the style of wrestling Khamzat has in his prep. He simply did not look prepared at all to deal with that type of wrestling. Dricus has been grappling since age 5 with Judo/Wrestling, and has competed in BJJ competitions and won. More than 50% of his finishes are via submissions. However, his camp failed him as they could not adapt and properly strategize for this unique style of wrestling and had no answer to the pressure style of wrestling Khamzat and Russians in general are famous for.
Whether Dricus can close the gap or not? I don't know, but it was simply Dricus failing to impose his own game plan and will by using his striking advantage especially in the later rounds.
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DC already said it. it was basic wrestling defense that DDP did not have. he never tried to control wrists, never tried to break grip, didn't hand fight at all, looked completely clueless. it was basic wrestling. no one in the UFC will come close to kamzhats wrestling. bo unironically might be competitive wrestling wise. but that's it. might. you can train for years and will never catch up to kamzhat. you need to develop a new strategy. concede that you will be taken down. go all out fifth round.
