- Joined
- Aug 25, 2019
- Messages
- 1,367
- Reaction score
- 775
Almost feel sorry for the guy, but not really. He brought this on himself.
I can't think of a worse performance by any athlete, led by a worse strategy, with a worse more embarrassing outcome ... ever ... in the history of MMA or combat sports.
The fight was billed as two undefeated fighters with a serious grudge match, and Costa (a life time BJJ practitioner) was surrounded by the finest wrestling coach/wrestler in MMA, Eric Albarracin (a Pan-American Silver Medalist), and Henry Cejudo (an Olympic gold medalist).
Fireworks were predicted, and yet what we saw was a complete mismatch.
IMO, it should not have been a mismatch. It was a mismatch because of the worst strategy possible to face Izzy. Costa needs to fire the people around him, or quit fighting, because there's not a brain in the group.
I'd really like to know who on earth devised that ridiculous fight strategy? To stand there, right in Izzy's territory, and neither "go for it" ... as the two-fisted pressure slugger he's always been ... or to add clinchwork/takedowns to the mix and ground and pound the guy ... but to just "stand there" like a target for a known sharpshooter. I mean WTF?
Honestly, it was the damnedest thing I ever saw. Paulo Costa had his opportunity, and blew it. He choked. I already made the other post that he was "more worried about his stamina" than he was focused on fighting, but it's worse than that.
The truth is, his coaches, not to mention his own judgment, allowed him the dumbest game plan of all time. Not to add grappling to the mix (when surrounded by wrestlers, and as a BJJ black belt), and/or not to take the fist-ighting to a level beyond skills, and just make it a slugfest, was the stupidest non-strategy I've ever seen.
To stand there in front of a lifetime kickboxer, whose faster than you, and better than you, as a strategy for "winning" was a moment blown the likes of which will likely not be seen again.
And of course the "punctuation mark" left by Izzy at the end (in the end?) will probably have Costa screaming in his pillow, every night, for the rest of his life.
I can't think of a worse performance by any athlete, led by a worse strategy, with a worse more embarrassing outcome ... ever ... in the history of MMA or combat sports.
The fight was billed as two undefeated fighters with a serious grudge match, and Costa (a life time BJJ practitioner) was surrounded by the finest wrestling coach/wrestler in MMA, Eric Albarracin (a Pan-American Silver Medalist), and Henry Cejudo (an Olympic gold medalist).
Fireworks were predicted, and yet what we saw was a complete mismatch.
IMO, it should not have been a mismatch. It was a mismatch because of the worst strategy possible to face Izzy. Costa needs to fire the people around him, or quit fighting, because there's not a brain in the group.
I'd really like to know who on earth devised that ridiculous fight strategy? To stand there, right in Izzy's territory, and neither "go for it" ... as the two-fisted pressure slugger he's always been ... or to add clinchwork/takedowns to the mix and ground and pound the guy ... but to just "stand there" like a target for a known sharpshooter. I mean WTF?
Honestly, it was the damnedest thing I ever saw. Paulo Costa had his opportunity, and blew it. He choked. I already made the other post that he was "more worried about his stamina" than he was focused on fighting, but it's worse than that.
The truth is, his coaches, not to mention his own judgment, allowed him the dumbest game plan of all time. Not to add grappling to the mix (when surrounded by wrestlers, and as a BJJ black belt), and/or not to take the fist-ighting to a level beyond skills, and just make it a slugfest, was the stupidest non-strategy I've ever seen.
To stand there in front of a lifetime kickboxer, whose faster than you, and better than you, as a strategy for "winning" was a moment blown the likes of which will likely not be seen again.
And of course the "punctuation mark" left by Izzy at the end (in the end?) will probably have Costa screaming in his pillow, every night, for the rest of his life.
