he knew what cain was going to do and he was quite effectively prepared for it. the problem is he probably thought cain would get dispirited and sloppy when he was thwarted on those takedowns and cain did not. in fact, cain adjusted very well. but it is a clear case, in my view, of junior believing as long as he could stuff the takedowns, he would win the fight- which many of us thought as well. but cain has good striking in his own right and once cain landed the right shot, cain was able to assert the grappling that was being easily shrugged off early on.
JDS has one gameplan and it's the same in every fight. "Box" and avoid the takedown, that's what he tried in his first fight with Cain and was the same in the 2nd fight against Cain. I have no idea why people feel like fighters change their strategies for every fight, when that seldom is the case.
Just because you know something is coming doesn't mean you can stop it. Cain's probably been wrestling his whole life, JDS' probably been training TDD for a few years. That said, JDS' would be better off just worrying about getting better and just leave this fight behind him. Saying you didn't have a gameplan just sounds foolish.
JDS thought Cain would telegraph TD's, then reset in striking range like he did in the first fight. What JDS did not expect, was Cain to never reset in striking range, never try and counter JDS (which led to his KO loss the first time) and just relentlessly move forward with TD's AND strikes. This was the main adjustment Cain made and it's was widely speculated that his injury prevented him from doing this in the first fight. JDS never moves backwards and was not prepared to do so. I imagine his camp for Cain in a 3rd match will focus mainly on lateral and backward movement and how to counter while back peddling or using lateral footwork to punish Cain on his forward movement.
Off course he did! He had a plan for it and that strategy was WRONG! u know sometimes a plan can be wrong right? I made a thread about that, he should have relaxed an not fought off the takes downs so hard, that drained all his energy. He should have fought from his back for a while relaxed and conserve his energy. when standing He should have also kept his hands up and boxed instead of keeping his hands down to defend the take downs. He's not saying he didn't use the strategy they had planned for the match but that the strategy they came up with was the wrong one!
You don't relax when Cain is on top of you, even in full guard. Cain is much like Fedor in that he can do serious damage even from guard and it requires a very good, active guard to neutralize Cain while he's on top. At this point I would guess that only maybe Werdum has that level of talent to handle Cain from the bottom positon. Maybe Mir, but we've seen Mir crumble to aggressive, strong GnP in the past. JR's guard is not going to win him a fight against Cain. Landing the kill shot punch is the only way Jr can win that fight so he has to learn how to land it while moving backwards, or laterally, when Cain commits.
I have to agree. If JDS got tired that fast from Cain's pace before, imagine Cain on top for minutes at a time while Cigano works for a submission.
this he lost all his energy trying to stand up if the fight goes to the ground you should fight there instead of wasting your energy to get up
I agree with you some what, I don't think he would have won on his back, I just think he shouldn't have tried to get up constantly, that's what killed him. Defend your self while on your back, make sure to keep you hips active so he has to focus on positioning and doesn't donkey Kong punch you then and get up when an easier opportunity comes. Do what Kongo did vs Cain but better and smarter. he does that he wins, Otherwise he has no other chance!
The thing is I don't recall Cain ever really focusing on position. He and Fedor were very similar in their approach to ground and pound. Cain is not like a GSP who will focus on positional dominance first, then try to attack. Cain just relies on constant pressure from anywhere which forces his opponents to also abandon position advancement to avoid ending up like Bigfoot. Cain's style allows for fighter to get up easier because Cain sacrifices space to land strikes. So basically a fighter is given two options: take what's given and get up and avoid punishment, or stay in guard and try and deal with the barrage of attacks in hopes of sweeping, submitting or neutralizing him. Basically either way you're fucked with Cain unless you have a very good bottom game. I suppose this is why people are now pumped to see Werdum get a shot because he has that talent.
JDS was gonna use his BJJ and not get punched in the face repeatedly, but apparently he forgot how. I'm sure as long as JDS remembers how to fight, he would easily beat Cain, it's as clear as day and night. Definitely a legit reason for an immediate rematch, imo.
