Is Robert Whittaker's style becoming a bit stagnant / predictable?

[Substance Abuse]

Not familiar with this term

It's the one that's gonna get your ass banned.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

i said it in another thread, his defense is distance and speed. he gets in, does his jabs, left hook or whatever and gets out. mostly everyone else allows Rob to dart in and dart out, DDP timed him darting in, and then followed him back when he darted out and connected when Rob was trying to reset. that is something nobody does. Romero and Adesanya had success because they timed him coming in, but nobody follows him back the way DDP did.

look at Whittaker's defense besides his distance and speed. it's non-existent. his hands are around his waist usually, and his head stays on the centerline. i think he could've had a better fight if he brought those side kicks to the knee that he did vs Romero, that way he has a weapon that he can lower DDP's guard without having to get too close. doing body shots like others suggested is just not in his game, the only kind of body shots he'd do with his style are jabs and teeps.

 

[wildchild88]

i said it in another thread, his defense is distance and speed. he gets in, does his jabs, left hook or whatever and gets out. mostly everyone else allows Rob to dart in and dart out, DDP timed him darting in, and then followed him back when he darted out and connected when Rob was trying to reset. that is something nobody does. Romero and Adesanya had success because they timed him coming in, but nobody follows him back the way DDP did.

look at Whittaker's defense besides his distance and speed. it's non-existent. his hands are around his waist usually, and his head stays on the centerline. i think he could've had a better fight if he brought those side kicks to the knee that he did vs Romero, that way he has a weapon that he can lower DDP's guard without having to get too close. doing body shots like others suggested is just not in his game, the only kind of body shots he'd do with his style are jabs and teeps.

Good analysis here.

 

[Harlekin]

Should've went to the body vs DDP, it was wide open. DDP actually blocked fine to the head for his level.

Whitaker did very fine on the feet though, till he got caught. Driccus really surprised him with that weird power jab.
Ddp definately was more tired than Rob, I thought Rob would certainly win the next round.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

I think for a while he was evolving his wrestling game to fight izzy, and continued on that path beating vettori, cannonier, till, etc. but his striking seems to have stalled. It’s understandable though, he’s been at the top for a hell of a long time, been through some hellacious wars with Romero, got KO’d badly against Izzy, and had some really bad injuries.

He’s still really good, but a slightly fresher rob should have beat du plessis imo. (Our true African king)