Is waterson Joanna biggest threat?

[Swarthy]

True. But JJ got dropped by Claudia and KK. Andrade is stronger and hits much harder then either one

Yeah those straight punches got her stepping in (Thinking back can't remember what Punch KK's was I think it was a straight right? ) But both Claudia and KK are quite large girls and have decent reach. Joanna will fight very Long vs Andrade and will IMO keep her at range.

 

[Kaybee]

Grasso with a few more years is the only legit threat to Joanna TBH. Suarez could be a legit prospect but I think she just becomes a better version of Esparza. I'm not all that sure that Andrade is that much better than Claudia.

Waterson is legit, but Joanna is a real crappy matchup for her. Too much range

 

[Swarthy]

Only serious contender is Andrade due to her power and JJ has some defensive holes

I think she is a contender but I am not as nervous for this fight as I was for Claudio and KK.

 

[Dana_is_your_GOD]

Strong power punching grappler with better cardio than Claudia = bad news for JoJed.

USADA by decision.

 

[Drake]

USADA by decision.

 

[ortheapocalypse]

I would like to see her face off against Gadelha or Andrade to get a deeper understanding of where she stacks up in top 10 of the division. Beating a young, mostly athletic, scrappy fighter with little martial arts experience in Page isn't a good gauge (no pun intended) of how she can do against the top 5. I live in ABQ and am a little biased because I support all fighters in the area, but I happen to think on any give day she could beat anyone in the top 5 or 10. Time will tell!

 

[aerius]

I'm not all that sure that Andrade is that much better than Claudia.

She isn't. Andrade is a poor man's Claudia, Claudia actually understands setups & counters on her punches whereas Andrade just runs forward swinging hooks in 2002 Wandy style. JoJo had her completely shut down in the standup and wasn't doing too badly in the grappling until she left her neck out and got caught. Now, if you watch the finishing sequence in that fight, you'll actually see that it's the exact same move that Claudia tried to catch Joanna with early in the 1st round of their rematch. Difference is Joanna's a much better defensive grappler and immediately got hand control on Claudia to stop the choke before it even got started.

There's always a small chance that Andrade can catch Joanna with a wild punch, but it's just a puncher's chance and not a good one at that.

 

[NinjaNiK]

I think she's too small

How is she too small? She is the same exact height as the last person to fight Joanna for the title, Karolina. And please don't say because Michelle fought at AW because she only had 4 fights in that division vs 14 pro fights at SW which is her natural weight class.

 

[NinjaNiK]

I agree. Range will be an issue with Joanna.

How so? Paige has the same exact reach as Joanna, 65" ... didn't seem to be a problem for KH

Penne also has 2 inch more reach than Joanna at 67" and KH handled her too

 

[NinjaNiK]

True. But JJ got dropped by Claudia and KK. Andrade is stronger and hits much harder then either one

Joanna did not get dropped by KK .. she got stunned while remaining perfectly up right, walked/retreated backwards and KK rushed her and pushed her into the fence and she fell. Joanna was not dropped in that fight.

 

[aerius]

How so? Paige has the same exact reach as Joanna, 65" ... didn't seem to be a problem for KH
Penne also has 2 inch more reach than Joanna at 67" and KH handled her too

Speed, kicks, angles, shot selection. Joanna fights long on the outside and her speed & distance control is as good as it gets in her division. Waterson will be eating front kicks, jabs, and low kicks all night long, it'll be a replay of the Karolina fight except Waterson gets beat up worse in the clinch when it gets there.

 

[dembones22]

a receding hair line??

come on, she's super cute but that seems to be a problem for quite a few women. Anyone else notice?? I'm talking women in general too.

.

EDIT : for some reason I glanced and read the thread title as " What is Waterson's biggest threat." oops.

 

[NinjaNiK]

Speed, kicks, angles, shot selection. Joanna fights long on the outside and her speed & distance control is as good as it gets in her division. Waterson will be eating front kicks, jabs, and low kicks all night long, it'll be a replay of the Karolina fight except Waterson gets beat up worse in the clinch when it gets there.

The point of my post was not that Joanna could not or would not use her range to good effect in a fight against KH. My point is to say that KH CAN overcome those things, most especially when she is used to fighting with that particular disadvantage, even as it may have been against less skilled strikers than Joanna. There aren't any better strikers than Joanna in that division, but you cannot discount the well rounded-ness of KH's game and her ability to prepare and game plan for an opponent.

Michelle has 10 years as a MMA pro, 6.5 yr of which were fought at SW and with a finish rate much higher than the Champ. I am probably Joanna's biggest fan and supporter on this forum, but she can be beat ... even as KH may not be the one to do it ... or she could. KH has speed, kicks, angles, and shot selection too, albeit a different style, not to mention a ground game that is way more developed than Joanna's.

The real obstacle I see for KH vs Joanna would be getting Joanna down to impose her ground game.

 

[WouldNotBang]

How so? Paige has the same exact reach as Joanna, 65" ... didn't seem to be a problem for KH

Penne also has 2 inch more reach than Joanna at 67" and KH handled her too

JJ knows how to use the range. PVZ isn't JJ.

 

[WouldNotBang]

The point of my post was not that Joanna could not or would not use her range to good effect in a fight against KH. My point is to say that KH CAN overcome those things, most especially when she is used to fighting with that particular disadvantage, even as it may have been against less skilled strikers than Joanna. There aren't any better strikers than Joanna in that division, but you cannot discount the well rounded-ness of KH's game and her ability to prepare and game plan for an opponent.

Michelle has 10 years as a MMA pro, 6.5 yr of which were fought at SW and with a finish rate much higher than the Champ. I am probably Joanna's biggest fan and supporter on this forum, but she can be beat ... even as KH may not be the one to do it ... or she could. KH has speed, kicks, angles, and shot selection too, albeit a different style, not to mention a ground game that is way more developed than Joanna's.

The real obstacle I see for KH vs Joanna would be getting Joanna down to impose her ground game.

Good points.

 

[liverkick83]

lol she will not defeat paige let alone fight for the belt

Ummmmm

 

[Rebel_LioN]

I think she's too small

They're 115 lb women they're all small

 

[aerius]

The point of my post was not that Joanna could not or would not use her range to good effect in a fight against KH. My point is to say that KH CAN overcome those things, most especially when she is used to fighting with that particular disadvantage, even as it may have been against less skilled strikers than Joanna. There aren't any better strikers than Joanna in that division, but you cannot discount the well rounded-ness of KH's game and her ability to prepare and game plan for an opponent.

Waterson has been able to overcome those disadvantages because she's always been the better striker in her fights, except for the time she wasn't and got TKO'd. A skill advantage can overcome size disadvantage as we saw in Holm vs. Shevchenko, but a size & skill disadvantage which is what Waterson would be facing in Joanna is nearly impossible to overcome unless she has a power advantage (she doesn't) or a range where she's way better (she doesn't, JJ is better everywhere standing).

Michelle has 10 years as a MMA pro, 6.5 yr of which were fought at SW and with a finish rate much higher than the Champ. I am probably Joanna's biggest fan and supporter on this forum, but she can be beat ... even as KH may not be the one to do it ... or she could. KH has speed, kicks, angles, and shot selection too, albeit a different style, not to mention a ground game that is way more developed than Joanna's.

The real obstacle I see for KH vs Joanna would be getting Joanna down to impose her ground game.

Waterson hasn't gone up against the same level of competition as Joanna, give JJ a bunch of Paige & Penne level opponents and she'd finish every one of them. Joanna can be beaten but Waterson isn't the one. Michelle is highly skilled but what she doesn't have is the craft and setups of Joanna, what she does isn't put together into a cohesive whole the way Joanna's game is. As for KH getting JJ down and keeping her down long enough to do something, good luck with that, especially if JJ can round out her game at ATT.

 

[mrtombom]

Strong power punching grappler with better cardio than Claudia = bad news for JoJed.

We'll see. Sometimes people like to exaggerate things.

 

[007]

More experience and skilled then any top 5 in there. I'd like to see her get Karolina next