Yeah, for the purported improvements that he kept promising the press his hands had...bit of a bummer.
Haha yeah. We'll see how he develops from here. I think just taking baby steps as a striker would be really nice, practicing combos and technique. And the thing is I'm sure that they did practice that stuff, because he spent hours in the gym...doing something. Somehow it just all went out the window the moment he stepped into the cage. I think some of that is the stage. He said in interviews before the fight that he thought if he beat Amosov he should get the title shot. So he really believed this was his shot and perhaps in the excitement of the moment he got overenthusiastic and forgot his training. Weirdly enough I've also always perceived him to have an attitude problem as well, so I want to see how he takes this first loss emotionally.
Storley impressed the hell out of me, too. He fared way better than I though he would, particularly after seeing Ruth get outclassed by Amosov rather easily. Storley needs to hide his take downs behind his strikes. He does not need to become a proficient striker or go for KOs, he needs to use his striking to set up the take downs. If he doesnt, he will make the same mistake Crutchmer made last fight, which cost him the decision. He should not abandon his base, he is a wrestler and will always be a wrestler. He just needs to mix it up a little bit more so he can set up his take downs a little bit better.
Larkin was ranked top 5 in UFC and he's struggling hard with the WW contenders in Bellator.
Yeah, I agree. I think Storley just needs to get better at throwing jabs, and then the pump shot overhand strike, pump strike into shot action.
brb reviewing that rant on goodreads
If Crutchmer doesnt go back to his wrestling base he will have a very short lived MMA career. He is not a striker and he will never be one, he just needs to adapt his striking to set up his takedowns. I dont think he was necessarily outstruck by Latchinov because, at least IMO, Crutchmer won that fight. But his game plan of striking and disregarding his wrestling was horrible. He vastly underestimated his opponent and overestimated his striking skills. I bet he thought this was an easy fight that he could win without using his wrestling, and test his striking. It horribly backfired on him, that was just poor fight IQ. Im not sure if he was trying to prove something or what the deal was but if had stuck to what he knows he would have probably won that fight comfortably.
Yeah, I think a lot of times fighters like to think/say dumb shit like "oh I'm looking to practice my striking this fight." Don't do that. If you can win one way, don't risk it by trying to learn something else new. Nothing is more important than the W. You'll get plenty of time to practice your striking down the line, particularly in fights where say your takedowns don't work. Or, you can practice your striking in sparring sessions. Instead, creating artificially difficult matches for yourself which could result in you taking Ls, which sets you further back in the timeline of your career, it's a truly awful idea. In fighting, you get 2, maybe 3 fights a year. If you lose a fight, as opposed to winning, it sets you back two fights, because you need to win once and then win again to be where you were at prior. So you could waste an entire year of your inevitably short fighting career, by nature of the sport. And Kyle is 27, he's not old but he's not so young that he can waste time. I also thought he probably won the fight. But neither fighter did any damage to the other fighter. It could have gone either way, and when I heard the decision, I wasn't happy, but I felt alright because, as a Crutchmer fan, I never want him to walk out of the ring after a fight like that and think "I did good enough to win." No. At most, your opponent did bad enough to lose. You certainly did not do good enough to win.
Hope to see Crutchmer use his wrestling soon because he was in a very similar path to Logan Storley. It think he was a couple of fights away from facing top competition and now he is set back a whole year, like you said.
True, but at least he has faced better opposition than MVP. He is way mlre deserving than MVP. Can you imagine what Amosov would have done to Ross Houston? Wouldnt be mad if Larkin or Gracie get the shot next. Larkin would be a fun fight bit Gracie is not ready, yet.
Yeah, Houston is pretty decent althlugh largely unproven. I think Amosov finishes him. There is no way in hell Houston takes Amosov down, i think Amosov takes him down and GnP him.
