Is Stipe the most evolved fighter ever?

[timoteo]

I just made an argument. Jon Jones if he ever gets off suspension,is gonna stay in his lane.

If you took the same skill set from any of the top 10 fighters from heavyweight and gave them to any other fighter in any other division they wouldnt be top 10

 

[HHJ]

If you took the same skill set from any of the top 10 fighters from heavyweight and gave them to any other fighter in any other division they wouldnt be top 10

That doesn't mean anything. Its like saying compared to mayweather, Klitchko's skills suck. But thats not true. If your the size of Klitchko,you don't fight like Mayweather. You use what you need to win.

 

[xentreos]

Struve is one of the biggest under achievers in MMA imo. To have that kind of athleticism and mobility and power at 6'11 is literally everything you can ask for. For him not to reach at least top 5 in his career i think is dissapointing.

Say what you want about Tim Sylvia but if Stefan struve had half his striking game i think he'd be HW champ but unfortunately he doesn't believe in moving his feet and pumping the jab, instead he fights like a fighter who is six feet tall constantly.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

He's a good wrestler and a great boxer (by MMA standards).

He's just refined all of his skills since the Struve loss so that he doesn't leave as many openings.

Werdum's transformation from a pure BJJ guy (who was cut from the UFC) to an elite MMA striker/UFC champion is the most shocking of all.

Compare Werdum's striking to other BJJ specialists like Maia and Shields, and there's your answer.

Actually I think the issue is that Stipe hasn't evolved much in terms of skill but has in terms of confidence/tactics. Just look at the two JDS matches for example, first time around he's much more tentative fighting Jnr's fight a lot of the time and only exploiting his weakness to pressure every so often. Second time around he's going after that weakness like a bloodhound, getting Jnr up against the cage and landing the big shot quickly.

That's why I think he';s fallen on very fertile ground in todays HW division, its a division full of guys with obvious weaknesses to exploit.

As far as Werdum goes he's actually been rounded for years well before his UFC cut but has become much more focused on his standing offence as he doesn't have the agility to take anyone good down anymore. I think we saw that here as he left himself wide open getting far too aggressive.

 

[timoteo]

That doesn't mean anything. Its like saying compared to mayweather, Klitchko's skills suck. But thats not true. If your the size of Klitchko,you don't fight like Mayweather. You use what you need to win.

no it means everything. fighting is fighting regardless of size. there may be little thinigs different that you do because of the size but not much. If you took the skill set from any top 10 fighter in any other division and gave them to any top 10 fighter in heavyweight, they would still be top 10.

 

[ostlerrage]

He'll devolve against cain. and most likely ngannou as well.

 

[g*r*b]

Most evolved? I don't think I'd say that. In a lot of ways his fighting style is what it always was at the core: boxing heavy with some wrestling and GnP thrown in when useful, plus some heavy low kicks. That describes his debut as it does the Overeem bout. But it is impressive how much honing and refining it's undergone, and even more important how his fight IQ has sharpened over the years. The diamond in the rough is now polished and sparkling.

Two features of his attitude have been absolutely crucial in this: his ability to learn and bounce back from defeat, and his willingness to learn still even after he's reached the top of the heap. Maybe he isn't the most evolved, but he's committed to a course of always becoming better.

 

[HHJ]

no it means everything. fighting is fighting regardless of size. there may be little thinigs different that you do because of the size but not much. If you took the skill set from any top 10 fighter in any other division and gave them to any top 10 fighter in heavyweight, they would still be top 10.

Again it doesn't matter. Ngannou does not need Dominick Cruz skills to win,so there's no point to learn them. Dom Cruz would not fight like he does if he could physically dominate and crush people w one punch like ngannou. A wrestler doesn't need to be a great striker or even a good one if he can dominate with his wrestling. When I saw Travis Browne hopping around like a giraffe on a pogo stick o just thought it's useless for a guy his size. Fedor,cain,stipe,jds etc are all talented because they can thrive in an arena where one good shot usually means instant death. They have their own methods to deal with it. They have to prevail even if a guy whose not as good as them will give them alot of trouble simply by being 30 40 lbs bigger,and they have to have the cardio to go 5 rounds with huge guys.

 

[HHJ]

Struve is one of the biggest under achievers in MMA imo. To have that kind of athleticism and mobility and power at 6'11 is literally everything you can ask for. For him not to reach at least top 5 in his career i think is dissapointing.

Say what you want about Tim Sylvia but if Stefan struve had half his striking game i think he'd be HW champ but unfortunately he doesn't believe in moving his feet and pumping the jab, instead he fights like a fighter who is six feet tall constantly.

He was trained and managed badly. How you gonna come into the UFC with 20+ fights and fight so amatuerish??? He's trained by Bob Schreiber who is like a bar room brawler...and that's how struve fights big surprise

 

[VERBAL-FEDOR]

Because how can you lose to this guy

and then

To this /\/\/\

 

[sonofjay817]

I'm assuming this discussion is meant to be limited to among the heavyweights.

 

[PlayTheGame]

That would be TJ imo. Look at him 6 years ago.

 

[Gorkle]

Dennis Siver evolves into...

Gary Copeland then evolves into...

Lesnar confirmed most evolved fighter.

 

[true_fan]

Conor evolved more after the diaz1 fight then stipe has in his entire time in the ufc. The truth is the overweight division is a joke. All those guys have been around since the dawn of time and they just cant hang anymore. Andrei and overeem get knocked out by everybody. Bald JDS sucks compared to full head hair JDS. Stipe is talked about like hes some great boxer but he barely moves his head if at all and hes gonna fall off the radar hard once he gets caught. He gets pressured a lot and nearly put out in a good amount of his fights he just has the youth the others dont to tough it out. Hes done good but I wouldnt say hes evolved and I dont think hes going to last very long. Reminds me of heavyweight Ronda

Thanks for the laughs dude! lol

 

[true_fan]

Dennis Siver evolves into...

Gary Copeland then evolves into...

Lesnar confirmed most evolved fighter.

Stipe evolved into

And he went after Trump
You have to see it to believe it

 

[faustian]

The truth is the overweight division is a joke.

Truth is there's like 5 HWs who'd literally be favored over 99% of the rest of the UFC roster

 

[timoteo]

Truth is there's like 5 HWs who'd literally be favored over 99% of the rest of the UFC roster

I really dont think so tbh. I think as a fighter it' smart to not fight those guys but I really do think they' get starched by other divisions. Hopefully Rory will fight in the Bellaire heavyweight tournament to showcase what I mean

 

[pick999]

you try fighting someone 7 feet tall thats trained and tell me how it went.

 

[blingking]

GSP.

 

[E Undead]

I really dont think so tbh. I think as a fighter it' smart to not fight those guys but I really do think they' get starched by other divisions. Hopefully Rory will fight in the Bellaire heavyweight tournament to showcase what I mean

Thats why all of them cut weight. Fighting at hw would be too easy.