D
Deleted member 546119
Guest
He fought the same way he always does and lost to a better fighter in Gaethje, but I actually don't think he fought the same way he always does against Oliveira. He was definitely much more cautious and didn't just run headlong into exchanges like he always does; there were times where previously he would've committed to pressure, but he held back and let Oliveira take the lead. I think it had a lot to do with him just being more wary after the beating he took from Gaethje. That said, I still think he just lost to the better fighter and this version of Oliveira likely beats him regardless.
I do disagree that Tony isn't past his prime. I think he exited his prime before a lot of people realize, and it's been chipped away noticeably over time. He's been slowing down for years now because his style just isn't sustainable.
The MJ and Castillo fights were a long time ago, but they definitely still provide solid takeaways. The Castillo fight convinced me that Tony wouldn't be as big a threat to Khabib as he was being made out to be, and this loss to Oliveira pretty much killed most of my interest in that fight. I also referenced the MJ fight as to why I thought Gaethje would beat him. Tony's improved over the years for sure, but in a lot of ways he's been the same fighter with the same weakness for a long time.
Still, I think he's a quality fighter overall and has definitely been getting unnecessarily piled on after this loss. But hey, he's a brash, batshit crazy guy who comes off as delusional even for an MMA fighter, so I get it.
Olivera has been rag dolling people at 155, I knew he was going to man handle Tony
The truth is Tony has garbage wrestling, it has always been terrible and his stand up was always very sloppy
The reason you think Tony wasn’t himself against Charles was because Charles basically broke his arm in the first. Tony had no chance of winning after that armbar
But to fair, few more seconds in the first and Charles would have won by TKO arm break. Tony was not getting out of that. Tony couldn’t do anything in the second and third because he literally had one arm, he couldn’t extend his left arm at all
