Pettis Myths

[mkt]

I have no real favorite in this fight, and I acknowledge that Nate's layoff could be a major factor. That said, I keep hearing these super confident predictions about how Pettis will win, and I think they're largely based on myths.

• Just because Pettis has a traditional martial arts background doesn't mean he's a good point fighter. Don't confuse him with Wonderboy or Machida, who have a bunch of UD wins. His best decision win in the UFC was against a well past-his-prime Jim Miller. He's never outpointed a really competent striker. He either finishes his opponent, gets finished or loses decisions against better competition.
• Pettis hasn't shown great movement and an ability to land leg kicks and avoid punches like I keep reading. To the contrary, he doesn't do well at all against pressure fighters with good chins. And remember, Nate has a 4-inch reach advantage.
• Nate has been finished one time in 30 fights. He's NOT an easy guy to finish. Granted, Pettis' best bet is to follow Josh Thomson's gameplan in Nate's one KO loss, which was basically kick and run. People forget that fight was boring (much like Nick Diaz vs Condit) until Nate left himself open for a head kick. There's NO GUARANTEE that will happen again in the Pettis fight. And if that head kick never happened, Nate-Josh would've gone down as a very forgettable fight, i.e., Condit vs. Nick #2.
• Pettis hasn't shown strong cardio nor the ability to stick religiously to a gameplan for a full fight. Maybe it will be different this time, but don't bet on it. He likes to scrap, and at some point this often costs him (see the Ferguson fight).
  

 

[Kvothe_the_kingkiller]

Josh Thomson's gameplan in Nate's one KO loss, which was basically kick and run. People forget that fight was boring (much like Nick Diaz vs Condit) until ..

Damn you. Now I have to go back and watch that fight. Because I don't remember it being boring at all.

But the rest of it, ya, I agree, Pettis is an attacker first and foremost. This is a hell of a fight.

EDIT: ya, I'm going to have to strongly disagree. Unless you define anything other than rock-em-sock-em as "Condit v Diaz style". Thompson didn't stand in one place, that's for damn sure. But he didn't do a Condit either. Josh also landed 2 headkicks in the first 2.5 minutes. Nate didn't "just get caught". He was open all night. And Josh was throwing bombs with all 4 limbs the entire fight. He also got a takedown at the end of round 1. Wasn't afraid to throw GnP.

Sorry mate. That wasn't a boring fight, and it was a well planned and well executed Thomson beatdown. And I've been a Diaz fan longer than most anyone here. And I tend to agree with most of your posts, @mkt . But you missed on this one small point. Cheers.

Wasn't Nate's night. It happens.

fight starts at 1:40.

 

[L.T.]

I have no real favorite in this fight, and I acknowledge that Nate's layoff could be a major factor. That said, I keep hearing these super confident predictions about how Pettis will win, and I think they're largely based on myths.

• Just because Pettis has a traditional martial arts background doesn't mean he's a good point fighter. Don't confuse him with Wonderboy or Machida, who have a bunch of UD wins. His best decision win in the UFC was against a well past-his-prime Jim Miller. He's never outpointed a really competent striker. He either finishes his opponent, gets finished or loses decisions against better competition.
• Pettis hasn't shown great movement and an ability to land leg kicks and avoid punches like I keep reading. To the contrary, he doesn't do well at all against pressure fighters with good chins. And remember, Nate has a 4-inch reach advantage.
• Nate has been finished one time in 30 fights. He's NOT an easy guy to finish. Granted, Pettis' best bet is to follow Josh Thomson's gameplan in Nate's one KO loss, which was basically kick and run. People forget that fight was boring (much like Nick Diaz vs Condit) until Nate left himself open for a head kick. There's NO GUARANTEE that will happen again in the Pettis fight. And if that head kick never happened, Nate-Josh would've gone down as a very forgettable fight, i.e., Condit vs. Nick #2.
• Pettis hasn't shown strong cardio nor the ability to stick religiously to a gameplan for a full fight. Maybe it will be different this time, but don't bet on it. He likes to scrap, and at some point this often costs him (see the Ferguson fight).
  

Except Thomson hit him flush with multiple head kicks. The last one allowed the finish. Stop acting like it was a fluke.

 

[VinceArch]

The Diaz-Thomson fight WAS NOT boring.

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

Pettis is 3-5 in fights that have went the distance and was seriously overrated when he was champ. He's 4-5 in fights that have went the distance. Tbf Nate is 3-9 in fights that went the distance but most of those were due to wrestling. Pettis is the big star that never happened, terrible tdd defense and only good at distance. Good kicks and BJJ off his back.

 

[mkt]

The Diaz-Thomson fight WAS NOT boring.

Everyone in the forums (live) were calling it Condit vs. Nick #2 until the finish...but each to his own. Thompson did a good job, but he was definitely letting Nate chase him, and his 1st round head kick didn't bother Nate at all...he kept moving forward.

Pettis could pull off something similar, but it's nowhere near a certainty like so many here think.

 

[vgff]

I have no real favorite in this fight, and I acknowledge that Nate's layoff could be a major factor. That said, I keep hearing these super confident predictions about how Pettis will win, and I think they're largely based on myths.

• Just because Pettis has a traditional martial arts background doesn't mean he's a good point fighter. Don't confuse him with Wonderboy or Machida, who have a bunch of UD wins. His best decision win in the UFC was against a well past-his-prime Jim Miller. He's never outpointed a really competent striker. He either finishes his opponent, gets finished or loses decisions against better competition.
• Pettis hasn't shown great movement and an ability to land leg kicks and avoid punches like I keep reading. To the contrary, he doesn't do well at all against pressure fighters with good chins. And remember, Nate has a 4-inch reach advantage.
• Nate has been finished one time in 30 fights. He's NOT an easy guy to finish. Granted, Pettis' best bet is to follow Josh Thomson's gameplan in Nate's one KO loss, which was basically kick and run. People forget that fight was boring (much like Nick Diaz vs Condit) until Nate left himself open for a head kick. There's NO GUARANTEE that will happen again in the Pettis fight. And if that head kick never happened, Nate-Josh would've gone down as a very forgettable fight, i.e., Condit vs. Nick #2.
• Pettis hasn't shown strong cardio nor the ability to stick religiously to a gameplan for a full fight. Maybe it will be different this time, but don't bet on it. He likes to scrap, and at some point this often costs him (see the Ferguson fight).

yeah, Pettis often breaks against pressure fighters. could easily happen this time too

 

[Kvothe_the_kingkiller]

Everyone in the forums (live) were calling it Condit vs. Nick #2 until the finish...but each to his own. Thompson did a good job, but he was definitely letting Nate chase him, and his 1st round head kick didn't bother Nate at all...he kept moving forward.

That's called "sherdoggin it".

Watch it again with eyes wide open and you'll see that Josh had Nate's number the entire fight. Regardless of hard core fans of one fighter insisting in real time that it's otherwise. In fact, that's probably why a sizable minority of sherdoggers still think Nick won the Condit fight; because they went into it knowing it would happen and couldn't watch the fight unbiased.

And yes, not every strike put Nate down - only the last one did lol

 

[mkt]

That's called "sherdoggin it".

Watch it again with eyes wide open and you'll see that Josh had Nate's number the entire fight. Regardless of hard core fans of one fighter insisting in real time that it's otherwise.

And yes, not every strike put Nate down - only the last one did lol

Fair enough. There's still no guarantee that Pettis can pull off the same thing. People thought Cerrone would beat Nate with "more diverse striking" or Michael Johnson (who was doing pretty well at the time) with faster hands...but that didn't work out for either of them.

 

[FrontNakedChoke]

I have no real favorite in this fight, and I acknowledge that Nate's layoff could be a major factor. That said, I keep hearing these super confident predictions about how Pettis will win, and I think they're largely based on myths.

• Just because Pettis has a traditional martial arts background doesn't mean he's a good point fighter. Don't confuse him with Wonderboy or Machida, who have a bunch of UD wins. His best decision win in the UFC was against a well past-his-prime Jim Miller. He's never outpointed a really competent striker. He either finishes his opponent, gets finished or loses decisions against better competition.
• Pettis hasn't shown great movement and an ability to land leg kicks and avoid punches like I keep reading. To the contrary, he doesn't do well at all against pressure fighters with good chins. And remember, Nate has a 4-inch reach advantage.
• Nate has been finished one time in 30 fights. He's NOT an easy guy to finish. Granted, Pettis' best bet is to follow Josh Thomson's gameplan in Nate's one KO loss, which was basically kick and run. People forget that fight was boring (much like Nick Diaz vs Condit) until Nate left himself open for a head kick. There's NO GUARANTEE that will happen again in the Pettis fight. And if that head kick never happened, Nate-Josh would've gone down as a very forgettable fight, i.e., Condit vs. Nick #2.
• Pettis hasn't shown strong cardio nor the ability to stick religiously to a gameplan for a full fight. Maybe it will be different this time, but don't bet on it. He likes to scrap, and at some point this often costs him (see the Ferguson fight).

agreed

 

[Thesnake101]

If Conor can outpoint you, Pettis certainly can.

Not a lock by any means, but I have a hard time seeing Nate dealing with Anthony's kicks.

 

[Kvothe_the_kingkiller]

Pettis can win round 1. Winning 2 rounds will be tough, but very doable.

Fair enough. There's still no guarantee that Pettis can pull off the same thing. People thought Cerrone would beat Nate with "more diverse striking" or Michael Johnson (who was doing pretty well at the time) with faster hands...but that didn't work out for either of them.

Totally. I nitpicked one of your statements (shame on me) but agree with the intent of your OP. Cheers.

 

[mkt]

If Conor can outpoint you, Pettis certainly can.

Not a lock by any means, but I have a hard time seeing Nate dealing with Anthony's kicks.

Pre-Mayweather (pre-nutcase) Conor had better hands than Pettis, though, and a longer reach. This will really come down to whether Pettis can kick and evade consistently, or if he'll get countered and stuck throwing hands with his inferior boxing and sizable reach disadvantage. That's happened to him before...more than once.

Remember, that version of Conor beat Aldo, Holloway, Poirier and Alvarez by either KO and/or outstriking them. 3 of those 4 guys beat Pettis.

 

[William Huggins]

The first round head kick didn't land with the shin, it's not the same sort of impact. The only things you can take from that fight is.

A) Nate will never learn and not even a shin to the dome is going to change his game plan.
B) Thompson actually had a good fight IQ and could stick to the plan.
C) Goldberg and Rogan are Diaz nut huggers.
D) The Raven haired security girl wanted some......

 

[Ralph Wiggum]

You're understating Pettis kicking game. Pettis has the best kicks in the game, at least in his weight class.

 

[electricfuneral]

I am picking nate because of how pettis lost to holloway

 

[blaseblah]

I think we all know Pettis isn't a good point fighter, but neither is Diaz. And he also isn't going to be going for takedowns.

 

[mkt]

You're understating Pettis kicking game. Pettis has the best kicks in the game, at least in his weight class.

That's why he beat Barboza, right?...Oh wait.

 

[Exemplar]

I have little doubt that the Nate that fought McGregor would easily UD or TKO nearly any version of Pettis. Nate was peaking...

Nate post-layoff? Fck knows how he’ll look in the cage against Pettis.

 

[mkt]

I have little doubt that the Nate that fought McGregor would easily UD or TKO nearly any version of Pettis. Nate was peaking...

Nate post-layoff? Fck knows how he’ll look in the cage against Pettis.

Yeah, I'm bringing up these points due to a rather unbalanced take on the fight by most of Sherdog. However, I wouldn't bet or risk my reputation on this fight because the layoff is a huge question mark. But you're right. People look at current, post-Mayweather nutcase Conor and forget Nate went 1-1 with Conor in between Conor KO-ing the FW champ and LW champ. He was very good at that time, like him or not.