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Actually Rebel I was just thinking about this fight and was planning on watching footage, but from what is stored in my memory bank I think that the line on this fight is out of whack.
Real quick shitty break down (spoiler for space)
First off, I do think that Felder is among the best strikers in the 155 pound weight division, but he is a relative neophyte in the UFC and when he is at his best, Ross Pearson is an absolute stud boxer who has the capability of out pointing just about any striker in the division or catching them and knocking them out as he has tremendous power as well.
I do think that Felder is the rightful favorite as he is the more diverse striker and is willing to pull more attacks out of the repertoire than the more boxing centric Pearson. Indeed, rather than mess around with low percentage spinning attacks that can get you taken down, Ross prefers to instead just plant his feet and throw cris, clean, tight punches straight down the pipe. Additionally, Ross is also a master at getting in telephone booth range and using his tight striking defense to counter his over aggressive opponents who attack with looping punches.
Meanwhile, Felder also has good hands but is also comfortable throwing spinning heel kicks, wheel kicks, ax kicks, and myriad other spinning techniques in concert with the more fundamental attacks that he utilizes such as his devastating leg kicks. The fanciful striking of Felder is a byproduct of his TKD and karate backgrounds which he has a black belt in each respective discipline.
Essentially, if you watch his striking technique, Felder has basically married Dutch Muay Thai with the traditional Japanese striking arts TKD and karate. That is to say, where most of those fighters who specialize in TKD and/or karate will throw their techniques just to land (a product of the point fighting systems in the respective arts) Felder throws his strikes with the intentions of taking his opponents head off. This is what separates Felder from other fighters who are high-level traditional martial artists.
Nevertheless, in his last outing Felder showed a real vulnerability in his defense which is that he can have trouble with speedy fighters who can get off faster than he can -- which was how Barbosa continuously scored on him. While Ross is not as fast as Barbosa is, he is still a quick, and his tight punches make him extremely effective. In fact, we saw this when Pearson and Barbosa fought. What's more, while he mainly utilizes a near exclusive boxing attack, Ross is much more than a two-fisted pugilist as he too holds a black belt in TKD and in a fight where he is unafraid of being taken down, we could potentially see a lot more of Pearson's creativity then we have seen in the past. Actually, if you go back and look at Pearson's fights with opponents who are not going to try and take him down such as Andre Winner, Dennis Siver, Sam Stout, and Edson Barbosa, you'll see that Pearson is extremely efficient and exceptionally versatile. At the same time however, when facing excellent strikers with the ability to get the takedown, such as Cub Swanson and Al Iaquinta, we've seen Ross get his chin cracked.
I'll go to more in depth later in the week, but I do believe that as of right now Felder is probably at -165 or so just because of his edge in power and versatility. But regardless, I don't see any way to justify a SU play on Felder as a near 4-1 favorite. X currently, the best way to play this IMO would be Ross x DEC or Felder KO.
I do think that Felder is the rightful favorite as he is the more diverse striker and is willing to pull more attacks out of the repertoire than the more boxing centric Pearson. Indeed, rather than mess around with low percentage spinning attacks that can get you taken down, Ross prefers to instead just plant his feet and throw cris, clean, tight punches straight down the pipe. Additionally, Ross is also a master at getting in telephone booth range and using his tight striking defense to counter his over aggressive opponents who attack with looping punches.
Meanwhile, Felder also has good hands but is also comfortable throwing spinning heel kicks, wheel kicks, ax kicks, and myriad other spinning techniques in concert with the more fundamental attacks that he utilizes such as his devastating leg kicks. The fanciful striking of Felder is a byproduct of his TKD and karate backgrounds which he has a black belt in each respective discipline.
Essentially, if you watch his striking technique, Felder has basically married Dutch Muay Thai with the traditional Japanese striking arts TKD and karate. That is to say, where most of those fighters who specialize in TKD and/or karate will throw their techniques just to land (a product of the point fighting systems in the respective arts) Felder throws his strikes with the intentions of taking his opponents head off. This is what separates Felder from other fighters who are high-level traditional martial artists.
Nevertheless, in his last outing Felder showed a real vulnerability in his defense which is that he can have trouble with speedy fighters who can get off faster than he can -- which was how Barbosa continuously scored on him. While Ross is not as fast as Barbosa is, he is still a quick, and his tight punches make him extremely effective. In fact, we saw this when Pearson and Barbosa fought. What's more, while he mainly utilizes a near exclusive boxing attack, Ross is much more than a two-fisted pugilist as he too holds a black belt in TKD and in a fight where he is unafraid of being taken down, we could potentially see a lot more of Pearson's creativity then we have seen in the past. Actually, if you go back and look at Pearson's fights with opponents who are not going to try and take him down such as Andre Winner, Dennis Siver, Sam Stout, and Edson Barbosa, you'll see that Pearson is extremely efficient and exceptionally versatile. At the same time however, when facing excellent strikers with the ability to get the takedown, such as Cub Swanson and Al Iaquinta, we've seen Ross get his chin cracked.
I'll go to more in depth later in the week, but I do believe that as of right now Felder is probably at -165 or so just because of his edge in power and versatility. But regardless, I don't see any way to justify a SU play on Felder as a near 4-1 favorite. X currently, the best way to play this IMO would be Ross x DEC or Felder KO.
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