GF, you used to train some mma right? Did you ever take a few months off and was just rusty when you got back in there sparring?
Hermans hands looked crisp, leg kicks were strong and (the hardest part to do on instinct) is out grapple a blackbelt. I don't believe for a second all he did was lift weights a few times and go running. The timing of his punches and kicks alone tell me he's been sparring.
What was the line on this fight anyways? It wouldn't surprise
me if he put a big bet on himself.
Yeah Plat, I trained MMA late in life because as a kid we only had two Karate Dojos in my one horse town, but I boxed from 5th grade to my Junior year of high school, and from what I saw from Herman, he was definitely doing pad work and IMO he had most likely been putting rounds in.
The only thing that makes me skeptical as to how much time he actually spent sparring is that it was not as if he added a new wrinkle to his game, but it was just the same old Dave Herman that we were always used to seeing.
The other thing that keeps me from saying 100% that he had been sparring is that it was hard to discern exactly what his striking game plan was other than use that same weird stance he used against Nogueira which I suppose is his game plan to keep opponents on the outside of his kicks and punches. However, that this is not a Dave Herman created stance which leads me to believe he trained; I say this because I distinctly remember hearing his boxing instructor scream in the Nogueira fight , "Get in your stance Dave!!"
I would like to have seen how Herman would have fared had he been had he been facing at a high level striker. Unfortunately for the first two rounds all Starnes did was walk forward and throw occasional overhand's without ever setting anything up at all ; he allowed Herman to dictate the range with this reach and height and made it hell on himself. Finally, in the third round , Starnes began to put punches together and once he did that he started winning the fight as Herman was showing all of the fundamental flaws in his striking game along with cardio problems. When pressured, Herman backs straight up and in a line and keeps his chin bolt straight where a good striker would be able to take advantage of this; however, Kalib continued to let him off the hook by not using any type of set ups in his striking. Starnes was facing a tall fighter with a long reach and he needed to bob his head and get inside Hermans reach and make it a technical brawl. Instead Kalib was content to sit on the outside and let Herman dictate the range and where the fight took place.
Again, I am not 100% but from my experience, it definitely looked to me as Herman had been putting in rounds and definitely doing more than an occasional jog. We were likely trolled
