Here is how Vai Cavalo becomes UFC World Heavyweight Champion!!

[Nobru]

Cain is a nightmare to most fighters. His style is predictable, but how can you counter it? Its like Messi, you know he is gonna drible with his left leg and still he goes. I would like to watch something like Cain x Cormier, but it wont happen.

JDS found a heavy hit and droped him indeed, but dont forget Cain wasnt doing his thing, he wasnt pushing or anything, was standing still trading punches (nobody should try that against JDS, Cain learned it the worst possible way, but came back and beat JDS twice)

that said, I expect Werdum not to be afraid to trade hits with Cain and to be able to withstand a lot of pressure, specially considering how good he is at his guard (he and Cain both know it).

Cain is the favorite, my only concern is his long time off, due to injuries. Werdum has a very good chance to win this, I wouldnt consider it an upset.

 

[Young Herschel]

Rexx, with a 17 month layoff you cannot see Werdum beating Velasquez via sub or TKO???

 

[Young Herschel]

I think the fight will be determined by how timely Cain is with his high-pressure style of MMA Kickboxing . . . does he suffer from being rusty?/

I want also want to see Cain defend from the clinch which could prove very problematic if he is indeed rusty after the 17 month layoff

Cain wins the clinches then he is halfway to victory I say.

If Cain lose the clinches and gets repeatedly beat up with Muay Thai strikes or taken down with BJJ by Vai Cavalo then he is halfway to defeat!!!

 

[Cantalope]

I think Cain is going to use his cardio and tire out Werdum in the later rounds.
I'm very interested if Cain goes dor a takedown at all.

 

[Cagecide]

Sprawl and brawl/spinning away-off the cage. If Werdum, or anyone up to and including JDS can learn and implement this old school style, Cain is in trouble. That said, who is going to the well these days?

 

[Himo]

Cain is a nightmare to most fighters. His style is predictable, but how can you counter it?

Well you can knock him out on the counter, not the highest percentage but JDS did it once, came close another few times and Kongo almost did it in every round. People say "Cain has a great chin" but that is just explaining past events, not a magical shield that exempts him from the physics of being knocked out by the force of HW blows. Mark Hunt has a better chin than Cain and Werdum knocked him out. Cain mixes up his combinations and shots pretty well here and has crisp direct boxing that's not all that easy to counter.

You can impose your will on the feet, by blitzing forward and backing Cain up. I imagine this figures prominently in Werdum's gameplan as that's the Rafael Cordeiro signature style to begin with. Werdum's best shot in this fight is to hurt Cain in one of these blitz's and then pour it on or jump on top of him for the stoppage.

You can keep it standing by circling and sprawling. Unfortunately you need to be a better boxer than the other guy is at cutting off the cage and the opposite is the case here. Cain also throws those devastating leg kicks (ask Big Nog) that Gonzaga exposed Werdum with and will limit his mobility.

You can win the unavoidable clinch fight by punishing Cain before he gets those inevitable TDs. Cain has been open to damage here -- JDS landed a bunch of nice elbows and threatened that ninja choke and Kongo rocked him while his back was on the cage -- although he did wipe the floor with both of those guys. Werdum's MT is several steps up from them though: he doesn't fear being taken down and invites the clinch, viewing it as an opportunity to deal damage while fighters like JDS are just looking to get out of dodge. Cain is a much better wrestler but Werdum's all-world BJJ and high level Judo play will give him windows to finish and/or win rounds.

You can impose your will and put Cain on his back. Cain's go-to setup is the 1-2 and then ducking in for a single and if you duck the right he's often wide open for the TD. Kids here seem to think that because Cain is the better wrestler he is somehow immune to being taken down but this is non-serious nuthuggery: it doesn't matter who you are, when you are wide open to being taken down you can be taken down easily. Werdum has shown he can take down Cormier who at HW was a better wrestler than Cain is.



Cain may stand up easily if taken down but well you scored and took some of his gas and maybe had a chance to land some big MT shots on him when he back to his feet. And if he doesn't get up... well then you won the round or perhaps even the fight. More importantly if you're on top of Cain the chance of him taking you down is much lower then if you're standing up. BJ Penn notably exploited this to win 2 rounds and get a draw against Jon Fitch (a much better wrestler known for grinding and gas tank ala Cain). Again it's a naive view of MMA that just because a guy is better at you at something in MMA you should eliminate it from your game. No one says "hey that guy is a better boxer than you, don't throw any punches this fight" because it's stupid. Likewise eliminating all offensive grappling from your MMA toolbox can only make the opponent's job easier.

 

[Young Herschel]

I don't concede that Cain has the advantage in anything other than striking power and cardio.

Wrestling isn't an advantage because it is outweighed by Werdum's MMA grappling . . . he will swim without getting wet right through Cain's groundgame and into top position (2nd degree BJJ and multiple world BJJ championships)

Striking isn't an absolute advantage because pure power isn't everything . . . what if Cain starts loses exchanges in the stand-up absent his customary takedown threat into his groundgame? He hasn't been training in American kickboxing any longer than Werdum has been studying Brazilian Muay Thai and NEITHER of them are strikers by nature. As a previous poster asserted, the combatant who isn't scared to let his hands go for fear of the groundgame has the advantage in the standup.

The clinchgame goes to Werdum's advantage because he has close combat Muay Thai strikes and the Muay Thai clinch as well and at 6'4 it should be easy to employ versus the 6'1 Velasquez and don't discount his Judo clinch either which he could use at any time to take advantage of an overly aggressive Cain.

If Werdum can win the standup over Cain's AKA kickboxing . . . he takes this fight into a very, very uncomfortable realm for the champ :icon_twis Can Cain fight as effectively while backing up?

It is good to be validated after all these many months!! Yes, its good to be the KING!!!!

 

[Young Herschel]

Wish on buddy. The only way Werdum becomes Ufc Hw champion is if Cain keeps having injury and lose his belt via Dominick Cruz.

You were saying????

 

[Young Herschel]

I submit that Werdum will be in far better condition than he was when he last faced Overeem . . . his cardio was horrible that night as he apparently tried to bulk up.

His cardio for his last fight was purposely enhanced according to Kings MMA owner Rafael Cordeiro and will be even more so by fight night in November. Werdum has more selection in his BJJ game than Palhares who only seems to be a one-trick pony and he has faced much better competition too which serves to enhance his MMA repertoire.

How do you know that Cain will win the standup exchanges? He will be without his takedown threat to amplify his kickboxing in this matchup. He could get lit up by Werdum's Brazilian Muay Thai if he isn't careful because Werdum doesn't have to be concerned by takedown feints . . . only striking feints.

He could lose a clinchgrapple exchange to a Judo push/trip/pull/throw and wind up on his back.

Last time I checked Cain wasn't hard to hit either unless you are as slow as Bigfoot and we all know that Werdum is not.

This. All night this.

 

[Young Herschel]

I can't wait for this fight. I think both guys pose some interesting threats to each other and I'll be curious to see what the game plans for each guy are. I would assume Cain will try to use some dirty boxing, grind Werdum up against the cage and try to tire him out and finish him with strikes; taking Werdum down and fighting him on the floor is a risky proposition, even for a great wrestler like Cain. Cain's main advantages will be his cardio and quickness, but Werdum's striking has improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years and anybody who goes to the ground with him is at a distinct disadvantage, so it's really an interesting match-up, I think.

Great call Glumberjack!!!