Is Rockhold gonna be like Hendricks, who seemed to be the next big champ and then slowly faded?

[skullmaskkid]

fading like dat hairline

 

[phd]

Yeah...I'm solidly in the camp that says Bisping did -not- get lucky versus Rockhold. Does Rockhold win a majority of matchups versus The Count? Absolutely (I have it either 7/10 or 8/10). None of that takes away from Bisping going in there with a gameplan, and executing said gameplan via good counter-punching.

As for Rockhold...He'll be fine. He's a physical specimen, has a "good" camp (only a good rating because they don't know how to keep themselves healthy), and a great well-rounded skill-set.

 

[ArtOfDrowning]

I think Whineman is actually closer to that status. If he loses his next fight and its via finish then he might be done

 

[MuyThaiElbows]

Rockhold is overrated in my book.

Since he backed out of his fight with Jacare, and now Souza is waiting for Yoel/Bisping, Luke should fight Whittaker next.

 

[PutUpYourDux]

if you don't think bisping was lucky to take a late notice fight where he was a fucking 5 to 1 dog and somehow win in the 1st round, then IDK what to tell you. rockhold could easily fight the worst fight of his life and still beat Bisping cause that's how much better he is. you may understand fighting, but clearly you don't understand odds or luck.

He was actually a 10 to 1 dog in some places. But so what? Holly Holm was 12 to 1 to beat Ronda. Was that lucky too?

He was lucky that he got the opportunity but there was no luck involved in the fight.

How can you say Rockhold can beat Bisping on his worst day when Bisping knocked him out in the first round? Was that even his worst day?
He seemed in much worse shape going into the Weidman fight.

This idea that Rockhold is so much better than Bisping just isn't true. A lot of it is fan bias.

He'd finished him previously so everyone just expected it to go the same way + Bisping was on such short notice. Bisping's camp identified a hole in Rockhold's game and they exploited it successfully. Obviously if they were to rematch now Rockhold would be very conscious to not make that same mistake and probably have a different game plan altogether. I'd pick Rockhold in a rematch but I wouldn't be surprised if Bisping won again.

 

[basementdweller]

He was actually a 10 to 1 dog in some places. But so what? Holly Holm was 12 to 1 to beat Ronda. Was that lucky too?

He was lucky that he got the opportunity but there was no luck involved in the fight.

How can you say Rockhold can beat Bisping on his worst day when Bisping knocked him out in the first round? Was that even his worst day?
He seemed in much worse shape going into the Weidman fight.

This idea that Rockhold is so much better than Bisping just isn't true. A lot of it is fan bias.

He'd finished him previously so everyone just expected it to go the same way + Bisping was on such short notice. Bisping's camp identified a hole in Rockhold's game and they exploited it successfully. Obviously if they were to rematch now Rockhold would be very conscious to not make that same mistake and probably have a different game plan altogether. I'd pick Rockhold in a rematch but I wouldn't be surprised if Bisping won again.

Rockhold was not himself in that fight for a lot of reasons. His body expression was alarming from the moment he stepped in the cage. and he fought poorly, he was perhaps on his worst day. still, that very fight with rockhold fighting pretty badly, he'd have all the tools he needed to beat Bisping.

I'm sure you know comparing it to the Holm fight isn't appropriate. Rousey vs Holm never happened before so the market only had Ronda's spectular history to base their betting. If they rematch, I'm sure odds would be more or less 2 to 1 to each fighter. With Rockhold vs Bisping, we had a previous fight that was a one-sided beatdown and is still the most likely outcome of Bisping fighting Rockhold. If they fight again now, I would be surprised if Bisping is considered a less than 3 to 1 dog.

In MMA, everything can happen in a fight. You can say it's all competence, but the same fight under the same circumstances can be played out in radically different ways. Both fighters are very competent. If Rockhold hurts Bisping with a head kick, that's competence. If Bisping catches him off guard with a straight punch, same thing. There's a lot of variance in how their skills are gonna do against each other. So when Bisping is a 10 to 1 dog as you say, and he wins, maybe the odds were wrong or maybe this is exactly the 1 in 10 times Bisping wins that fight. Like if I ask you to guess what number I'm thinking from 1 to 10, and you guess it correctly.

 

[UseARubberGuard]

all hendricks had was a left hand rockhold is more well rounded

Hendricks had plus boxing and some of the best wrestling in the game. With Johnny it just seemed like he lost the fire more and more each time out

 

[Bradillac]

It's more likely to be Weidman.

 

[bunt]

Realistically he one of the most athletic and skilled fighters at middleweight, if not on the whole roster.

However MMA relies on durability and that is something that will only fade more and more with rockhold.

Exciting fighter but he is emotional in the cage as displayed in his TKO's to Vitor and Bisping

 

[GrAtI]

Yeah. Both of them are bad post USADA.

 

[Kung Fu bb]

Rockhold was still doing well post USADA, he lost one fight. He was cocky and thought he'd walk through Bisping. One thing every MMA fighter should have learned after Serra vs GSP. Bisping landed a gorgeous counter ( which he was talking about in an interview in Toronto before the fight) he was practicing the timing of over and over before they fought.

Rockhold lost, the time off even if from injury will do him and his chin good. He's a huge 185er, with cardio, speed and power. I may not be a fan of him personally but out of guys that have had the belt or fought for it Luke is one fighter I think has the ability to get it back, which is a rare thing.

Unlike Hendricks, Luke didn't leave his coaches after he lost to be his own head coach while starting on his own. Now Johnny is training with lesser fighters and has no one to tell him what he need to hear. Hendricks has surrounded himself by Yes Men.

Where as Luke Still has a real Coaching staff to help him improve daily and some excellent fighters to train with. As the old saying goes "iron sharpens Iron".

Hendricks is a sad story but not unlike another AKA Fighter who after losing a TItle shot left his coaches to go out on his own, be his own boss and start his own gym. That was Josh Koschek. Look what happend to him? Bunch of hard losses, retirement reccomended by the UFC, signed with Bellator, still hasn't fought for them but has cancelled a number of fights. Looks like Johny is taking the same road.

Very good post.

 

[UJustGotChaeld]

Agreed that it comes down to rd 1 but I am pretty sure a vast majority scored the fight for Hendericks. Maybe you can correct me with the polls but I remember people scoring the fight for GSP in later polls and that was purely out of spite. I also watched the fight 3 times and scored it for Hendericks every time.

People scored it for Hendricks. Immediately someone put up a poll asking how you scored each round. Many people who scored the fight for Hendricks gave GSP rounds 1, 3, 5. So they gave GSP 3 rounds but someone thought Hendricks was robbed.