Now do you all agree that Dricus's striking is elite? (Also I told you so)

Chael_Sonnen

Chael_Sonnen

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I've been saying this for ages.
Let me quite a comment I made before the fight, because I think it sums up my point pretty nicely.
People are still massively underrating DDP's striking game. He doesn't walk forward with no defense lol. If he did that Whittaker would have sparked him. He's a very smart, very athletic striker with great game planning and an awkward style, which throws a lot of spectators off and they make the mistake you did in assuming just because they don't understand his game, that means he must not be a good striker. Dricus doesn't need Strickland's level of striking defense, it's a totally different matchup.

DDP's striking, especially at this stage of Izzy's career, is too fast and too long for Izzy. There's a few things he does, including his long 3/4 strike combos and his strong kicking game which Izzy has never really had to contend with in MMA. Maybe a prime Izzy does well in the striking, but not this Izzy. Izzy's style is based on reaction speed, and he's noticeably slowed down in that department over the last 3 fights. Dricus is going to test that reaction speed over and over again, and imo he's going to prove to be too fast offensively for this version of Izzy.

Now, this may be a moot point because there's a good chance DDP comes out just looking to wrestle, and we don't even see much of the striking game. And if he does this, I think Izzy's in a lot of trouble. BUT, if he does stand with Izzy, I think people are going to be very surprised at the outcome.
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I called the finish. I said that Dricus was going to be different than the other strikers Izzy has faced, because he throws long straight combinations. I thought that he would be able to catch Izzy on the end of his combinations, and guess what, that happened repeatedly, and even led to the finish.
I said:
I can see Dricus catching Izzy on the end of a 3/4 punch combo when Izzy tries to slip.
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Dricus just beat Adesanya, one of the greatest strikers in MMA history, in a mostly striking bout. The finishing sequence was directly because Dricus hurt Izzy badly on the feet. People were saying over, and over, and over that Dricus was too sloppy, lunged top much and didn't have the technique to contend on the feet. They were all plain wrong. I said a bunch on here and a bunch in other places that Dricus's style of striking was a bad matchup for Izzy.

Also, to comment on the lunging comments, people were saying over and over that Dricus overextended too much. The reason they were wrong, is that a lot of people view all lunging the same, because they don't have a proper understanding of the different types of lunging/blitzing. Dricus's blitz is completely different to say a Whittaker blitz. Whittaker lunges with his head forward, on an angle, and throws looping overhands (or at least he did against Izzy). Dricus by contrast, takes his whole body forward on the blitz, not just his head, and he blitzes in a straight line (not on an angle), with straight punches. It's totally different, and this is why he had so much success with it when other people haven't against Izzy.

So, does everyone agree now that Dricus's striking is elite? It may not look pretty, but he just beat Whittaker, Strickland, and Izzy back to back to back, with mostly striking.
 
linvillegorge said:
Honestly, no. His striking is good, don't get me wrong. But his technique isn't elite. His speed, power, and just overall natural athleticism makes up for it though.
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You can have elite striking without your technique being elite. His combination of speed, power, athleticism, game planning, pace, aggressiveness, heart and chin make him elite.

I agree he can be sloppy technically. But he is an elite striker, and today proved it.
 
Chael_Sonnen said:
I've been saying this for ages.
Let me quite a comment I made before the fight, because I think it sums up my point pretty nicely.

I called the finish. I said that Dricus was going to be different than the other strikers Izzy has faced, because he throws long straight combinations. I thought that he would be able to catch Izzy on the end of his combinations, and guess what, that happened repeatedly, and even led to the finish.
I said:

Dricus just beat Adesanya, one of the greatest strikers in MMA history, in a mostly striking bout. The finishing sequence was directly because Dricus hurt Izzy badly on the feet. People were saying over, and over, and over that Dricus was too sloppy, lunged top much and didn't have the technique to contend on the feet. They were all plain wrong. I said a bunch on here and a bunch in other places that Dricus's style of striking was a bad matchup for Izzy.

Also, to comment on the lunging comments, people were saying over and over that Dricus overextended too much. The reason they were wrong, is that a lot of people view all lunging the same, because they don't have a proper understanding of the different types of lunging/blitzing. Dricus's blitz is completely different to say a Whittaker blitz. Whittaker lunges with his head forward, on an angle, and throws looping overhands (or at least he did against Izzy). Dricus by contrast, takes his whole body forward on the blitz, not just his head, and he blitzes in a straight line (not on an angle), with straight punches. It's totally different, and this is why he had so much success with it when other people haven't against Izzy.

So, does everyone agree now that Dricus's striking is elite? It may not look pretty, but he just beat Whittaker, Strickland, and Izzy back to back to back, with mostly striking.
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His striking is not 'elite' by a long way. But his 'MMA striking' is. The threat of the takedown changes everything and mixing it up with that awkward style.
Its how Randleman KO'd Cro Cop.
 
If people say Adesanya striking is elite then DDP striking is on another level.

DDP striking is elite its very effective he has power and used it to set up the take down.

He is well rounded comes to fight.

Glad he won. If Adesanya had of won we would have witnessed something worse than what Adesanya did to Costa after the fight.

Adesanya last 4 fights 3 losses 1 win.
He’s definitely on the decline.
 
Chael_Sonnen said:
I've been saying this for ages.
Let me quite a comment I made before the fight, because I think it sums up my point pretty nicely.

I called the finish. I said that Dricus was going to be different than the other strikers Izzy has faced, because he throws long straight combinations. I thought that he would be able to catch Izzy on the end of his combinations, and guess what, that happened repeatedly, and even led to the finish.
I said:

Dricus just beat Adesanya, one of the greatest strikers in MMA history, in a mostly striking bout. The finishing sequence was directly because Dricus hurt Izzy badly on the feet. People were saying over, and over, and over that Dricus was too sloppy, lunged top much and didn't have the technique to contend on the feet. They were all plain wrong. I said a bunch on here and a bunch in other places that Dricus's style of striking was a bad matchup for Izzy.

Also, to comment on the lunging comments, people were saying over and over that Dricus overextended too much. The reason they were wrong, is that a lot of people view all lunging the same, because they don't have a proper understanding of the different types of lunging/blitzing. Dricus's blitz is completely different to say a Whittaker blitz. Whittaker lunges with his head forward, on an angle, and throws looping overhands (or at least he did against Izzy). Dricus by contrast, takes his whole body forward on the blitz, not just his head, and he blitzes in a straight line (not on an angle), with straight punches. It's totally different, and this is why he had so much success with it when other people haven't against Izzy.

So, does everyone agree now that Dricus's striking is elite? It may not look pretty, but he just beat Whittaker, Strickland, and Izzy back to back to back, with mostly striking.
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Well said. And Adesanya got his Karma for his hateful/racist words to DDP.
 
He won with his grappling not striking if anything he needed to get the fight down asap because while he was landing the harder strikes he was gassing, also Adesanya imo is a better technical striker but has a suspect ground game that DDP took advantage of even with all that said the man is amazing, I don't think his striking is elite like a pro kickboxer level but is good enough to hang with a pro kickboxer to set up TD's like he did here.
 
Royce Greasy said:
He won with his grappling not striking if anything he needed to get the fight down asap because while he was landing the harder strikes he was gassing, also Adesanya imo is a better technical striker but has a suspect ground game that DDP took advantage of even with all that said the man is amazing, I don't think his striking is elite like a pro kickboxer level but is good enough to hang with a pro kickboxer to set up TD's like he did here.
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I think most of his gassing came from the grappling heavy 2nd round. Then Izzy started going to the body that took quite a bit out of him too. Either way, DDP got the win so it's really all moot.
 
Emphasis on TD threat. Makes lesser strikers more effective when they have to keep their opponent guessing. There was a sequence where Dricus lunged forward, whiffed on punches and Izzy just ducked under, pivoted and was literally standing behind him, with Dricus' back to him, but he didn't capitalize on it. There were moments like that that told me Izzy isn't as sharp as he used to be. Another fighter in Izzy's position might have punished DuP. badly for that mistake. That sequence was definitely not elite striking on Dricus' part.
 
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Poirierfan said:
TS likes to float his own boat.
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Mate, I've been getting shit for saying this all year, and I very rarely float my own boat, but i thought on this occasion a bit of boat floating was justified.

You've been on these boards for long enough to know I haven't made any threads or boat floating comments pretty much ever. This is a special occasion, and although I did point to where I was right I don't think I went overboard. Tell me if I did and I'll change it. Also, a lot of my post was about the technical aspects of DDP.
 
Chael_Sonnen said:
Mate, I've been getting shit for saying this all year, and I very rarely float my own boat, but i thought on this occasion a bit of boat floating was justified.

You've been on these boards for long enough to know I haven't made any threads or boat floating comments pretty much ever. This is a special occasion, and although I did point to where I was right I don't think I went overboard. Tell me if I did and I'll change it.
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I'm sorry man, I can't help but fuck with people sometimes, don't take it to heart, cheers. 😁✌️
 
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