In retrospect, which aspects of Anderson's striking were overrated?

[Yolandabecool**]

Only thing I could say is that he got overconfident with it in his later years. But he was so good that he got away with it for a long time.

I'm not so sure that he was overconfident. I think he was aware of the fact that his physical attributes were declining somewhat and the extra 'baiting' was an effective means to mask that.

If speed and reflexes decline [Even slightly] it requires a bigger mistake from your opponent to capitalise on. IMO the excessive baiting was an attempt to lure this out of his opponents.

 

[Hans Gercmiov]

I'm not so sure that he was overconfident. I think he was aware of the fact that his physical attributes were declining somewhat and the extra 'baiting' was an effective means to mask that.

If speed and reflexes decline [Even slightly] it requires a bigger mistake from your opponent to capitalise on. IMO the excessive baiting was an attempt to lure this out of his opponents.

You could be right, because he did it more and more and more as time went on.

31 yr old Anderson could beat just about any version of any MMA fighter.

 

[UJustGotChaeld]

Wrestling, which is not striking.

 

[UJustGotChaeld]

Weidman KO'd him while he was goofing off with his hands down, standing in a stance that didn't even slightly resemble anything related to martial arts. it is as much Silva's fault as Weidman's achievement.

Weidman was destroying him prior to that, and destroyed him in the next fight too. Let's stop being silly shall we.

 

[UJustGotChaeld]

This is on.Basically you get good at what you have to, and specialisation has its merits. Which MMA champs were/are good at everything? Not many. It is not like Fedor or GSP were throwing crazy combos or leg kicking people to death.

GSP started as a striker, with I believe no wrestling background at all. GSP was good at everything, he was actually the best in every category in the WW division. That's why he has more top 5 wins than anyone in MMA while spending his career in the deepest division.

That doesn't take away from Silva, but it's something to be recognized.

 

[Sherm]

His chin was probably overrated or maybe he just got old.

 

[TeamRenzo26]

Silva also has a good size and length advantage and Diaz usually does not care to much about eating punches coming in and Anderson is definitely the wrong guy for that.

BUT although Weidman has big power he KO

 

[tenniswhiz]

He's hard to really analyze, win or lose.
It's because his standup didn't go for extended periods.
As someone else said, he tended to look for that one perfect straight counter to the chin.

If the Vitor fight had developed a bit, we could have learned more.
But again, one blow to the head, and then KO with two follow-up punches to the head.

That's why people saying he wasn't "winning" fights against Chael or Chris is out of nowhere.
He is never "winning" segments of a fight, and particularly against that style.

 

[Megatronlee]

Tbh I think he has been sliping for years. He just got so ridiculous with the setups that people were reckless and he could get away with shit

 

[TeamRenzo26]

GSP started as a striker, with I believe no wrestling background at all. GSP was good at everything, he was actually the best in every category in the WW division. That's why he has more top 5 wins than anyone in MMA while spending his career in the deepest division.

That doesn't take away from Silva, but it's something to be recognized.

GSP was not the best striker or BJJ guy in his division. He was great at most but it was his ability to mix it up is what enhanced his striking. In pure striking matches I would favor many over him, same with BJJ. The threat of the take down is what helped

 

[Bob Gray]

His ability (or lack thereof) to lead, mostly. He neglected learning how to lead with frequent success, mainly with his boxing, and to have it setup his counter punching. His combination punching was never fantastic either, and he specialized with throwing mostly single shot, straight punches almost exclusively. He also isn't real diverse when it comes to changing levels and targeting the body, he's very much a head hunter.

These are the main things that come to mind at the moment. He's always been a master of distance, timing and accuracy though.

Solid breakdown. Probably won't get a better one than this. Kudos.

 

[MMun]

His ability (or lack thereof) to lead, mostly. He neglected learning how to lead with frequent success, mainly with his boxing, and to have it setup his counter punching. His combination punching was never fantastic either, and he specialized with throwing mostly single shot, straight punches almost exclusively. He also isn't real diverse when it comes to changing levels and targeting the body, he's very much a head hunter.

These are the main things that come to mind at the moment. He's always been a master of distance, timing and accuracy though.

Pretty much this. He also relied a lot on his speed and reflexes, and his game kinda stopped evolving as he got older. Aside from Vitor and Chael, the guys he faced in his UFC run had average speed at best. A Forrest or an Okami can't penalize you for messing around with your hands down, but a Weidman can. As you lose your edge in speed, you need to be more conservative.

 

[Phrozenspite]

As others said, he wasnt good at leading or initiating an exchange. Thats what made the single leg kick he throws problematic. He did it way back in the irvin fight, and probably has several other times.

 

[JT RIPPER]

If you want to get really technical and nitpick, then you can say he had weaknesses but I don't think you can call any aspect of his game overrated

 

[Megatronlee]

If you want to get really technical and nitpick, then you can say he had weaknesses but I don't think you can call any aspect of his game overrated

Why not?

 

[JoshR86]

Evidently leg kicks, in all honesty he was the best striker to ever enter the octagon, but you can see even in the Bonnar fight thst his relexes weren't what they used to be, watch his fence rolling, he wasn't able to matrix Bonnar, then his next bout was tagged numerous times by Weidman before getting dropped.

 

[HeroandPucca]

Just because he is on a 2 fight losing streak don't mean we can start saying stuff like this shit

 

[ib313]

Matrix was overrated

 

[Buddie05]

Fundamentals, pertaining to defense. AS is/was so far advanced with offense that 99.9% of the time he could get away with keeping his hands down and not being crisp pulling them back. He finally met the 0.1% with CW.

 

[thobra]

People starting to talk about weaknesses In his striking Are just stupid. I doubt we will see anyone like Anderson again, and his standup was so good, compared to anyone In MMA, that we can not talk about his weaknesses.

His fans exaggregated a bit when they talked about him fighting UFC HWs, And top boxers