Gustafsson's=205 Pound Dominick Cruz??

Looked just like him, except he was missing that signature leg kick at the end of his combo.
 
He definitely utilized movement and footwork the way that Cruz does. Cruz uses his wrestling more though.

I'm sure wrestling and cardio are the main areas that Gus is working to improve.
 
method115 said:
People are refusing to acknowledge this but Gus's leg was hurt from those kicks. He was clearly limping in round 5 so I'm sure it affected his movement earlier then that.

I can't wait to see the rematch between these two though I would prefer they each get a fight in before that. Machida vs Gus and Jones vs Glover would be great on the same card.
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I suspect that Aldo vs Faber and, to a lesser extent, Forrest vs Rampage kinda convinced people that leg kicks are only working when the opponent is damn near fighting from a wheelchair by the end of the bout. In most fights, the effect is much less obvious, but they are still effective, damaging strikes. In this fight, they limited the movement of a guy whose footwork was a real problem, and probably played a big part in Jones taking round 5 fairly decisively.

Anyway, and back to the topic, I think Gus definitely used a Cruz-esque gameplan this fight. It was a good gameplan to use as well. But it wasn't Gus' standard striking pattern. In other fights, he often looks to swarm once he lands a few clean punches. He didn't here because, despite appearances, he gave a lot of respect to Jones' takedowns and he was very wary of finding himself within grappling range even slightly off-balance. That's how Jones has historically gotten a lot of his takedowns - by forcing his opponents to overcommit, clinching and quickly tripping before they recover their equilibrium. Gus obviously worked on this and gameplanned around it.
 
Gus would need to get his cardio up to really be more like Cruz.

Cruz never slows down.

To Gus' credit ... this was his first 5 round fight.
Now he knows how much energy might be required so he should be more prepared next time. Him taking that super deep breathe in the 5th probably made that round look worst for him than it did. I thought the round was close other than seeing Gus breathing hard.
 
Cowb said:
I suspect that Aldo vs Faber and, to a lesser extent, Forrest vs Rampage kinda convinced people that leg kicks are only working when the opponent is damn near fighting from a wheelchair by the end of the bout. In most fights, the effect is much less obvious, but they are still effective, damaging strikes. In this fight, they limited the movement of a guy whose footwork was a real problem, and probably played a big part in Jones taking round 5 fairly decisively.

Anyway, and back to the topic, I think Gus definitely used a Cruz-esque gameplan this fight. It was a good gameplan to use as well. But it wasn't Gus' standard striking pattern. In other fights, he often looks to swarm once he lands a few clean punches. He didn't here because, despite appearances, he gave a lot of respect to Jones' takedowns and he was very wary of finding himself within grappling range even slightly off-balance. That's how Jones has historically gotten a lot of his takedowns - by forcing his opponents to overcommit, clinching and quickly tripping before they recover their equilibrium. Gus obviously worked on this and gameplanned around it.
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Agreed people act like they need to see a guy crawling on the floor otherwise they were baby leg kicks. The funny thing is though when Shogun did it suddenly an amazing counter to Machida and Machida showed even less wear and tear from the kicks.

Agreed on the footwork it was used primarily to stop the TD's I think. By the time Jones went in for TD Gus was already backing out so it made it really hard for me to get ahold of Gus. Anderson does something very similar.
 
Gus likes to emulate what Cruz does at times, but he isn't as good as Dominick is at it. Gustafsson has faster hands, more power and a better chin than Cruz, though. I think he'd do better to fight more aggressively with less functionless movement. All in all, I think Gustafsson has more raw talent than Cruz (though he isn't nearly as refined, yet).
 
method115 said:
Agreed people act like they need to see a guy crawling on the floor otherwise they were baby leg kicks. The funny thing is though when Shogun did it suddenly an amazing counter to Machida and Machida showed even less wear and tear from the kicks.

Agreed on the footwork it was used primarily to stop the TD's I think. By the time Jones went in for TD Gus was already backing out so it made it really hard for me to get ahold of Gus. Anderson does something very similar.
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What? Machida could barely walk afterwards

take ur agenda elsewhere
 
trane said:
What? Machida could barely walk afterwards

take ur agenda elsewhere
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afterwards is the key point in your statement. During the fight you couldn't even tell. In the fifth round of the Jones fight you could see Gus walking on it differently. That's when you know it's bad when a guy can't even hide it anymore during a fight.

Ok just to make sure I wasn't crazy I rewatched the fight and Gus was limping more then machida was after the fight. I just looked at the video now so maybe you need to go rewatch it and see what happened after the fight was over and the decision was being made. Machida needed no help walking and was only slightly limping and not even right after the fight was over.
 
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method115 said:
afterwards is the key point in your statement. During the fight you couldn't even tell. In the fifth round of the Jones fight you could see Gus walking on it differently. That's when you know it's bad when a guy can't even hide it anymore during a fight.
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you could clearly tell, so you're saying machida was moving the same in the 5th as he was in the first round?

like I said gtfo with your agenda
 
tgo007 said:
Requires too much energy.

Cruz can do it because he's a cardio freak.

Gus was tired by round 3.
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To be fair to Gus though, his fight with Jones was the first time he has gone 5 rounds in a fight. i am sure his cardio will improve with time
 
pomonao said:
I think Gustafsson fought a lot like D Cruz in the fight with Jones, and I think a guy that big that could implement a game plan like Cruz will give a lot of fighters fits just like Jones.
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Did you ever hear about 'out-boxers' (or, in this case, out fighters)?
He has more in common with Al
 
trane said:
you could clearly tell, so you're saying machida was moving the same in the 5th as he was in the first round?

like I said gtfo with your agenda
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I just rewatched the end of the fight. Machida didn't even start limping until a little after the fight was over. Gus was limping in the 5th round of the fight.

Go to Google and type in Shogun vs Machida it was the first link on my browser a Vimeoo video. Lets stop arguing about memory and go look.
 
It's one of the least visually appealing styles in MMA.
 
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