Rashad Would Beat Cormier In a #1 Contender Fight

[JayElectra]

I'm surprised so many people are impressed with Rashad's striking. He is very good at infighting, but from range his striking, which is mostly boxing, is mediocre and inconsistent. He has relatively fast hands and power, but he has shown himself to be utterly incapable of taking the lead. He mostly sits back and looks for big single shot counters hoping his opponent will overcommit. He has had two fights that I can remember where he made his jab something of a factor (Forrest for the title a few years back and the recent Hendo fight).

Cormier, on the other hand, has shown no problem fighting on the front foot or back foot and has showcased a lot of tools that are rather rare for MMA such as a strong jab that he can apply in a variety of different ways (on the front foot to close the distance and get inside, or pot shotting with it on the backfoot). Rashad's greatest strength in my opinion, his infighting, is matched and probably even exceeded by Cormier's and there would be little hope of Rashad outwrestling him. I will say that Rashad's defensive wrestling could very well give Cormier a lot more problems than he is used to, and the threat of big single shot counters would likely force Cormier to fight with less aggression, likely behind his jab for the most part. I'd predict Rashad would get very hesitant to do anything and get picked off on the outside for most of the fight with Cormier giving him very little to counter. It would be on Rashad to lead and create some of his own offense, and he has shown time after time in his career that he is rather poor at doing so.

 

[TmacRmac**]

Cain definetly has the speed and footwork that Rashad has.

Lol what a retard. Rashad would get his ass whopped every where.

 

[JayElectra]

Cain definetly has the speed and footwork that Rashad has.

Cain is clearly a better striker than Rashad even if they're rather different stylistically.

 

[SuperNerd]

What JayElectra said.

 

[TmacRmac**]

I'm surprised so many people are impressed with Rashad's striking. He is very good at infighting, but from range his striking, which is mostly boxing, is mediocre and inconsistent. He has relatively fast hands and power, but he has shown himself to be utterly incapable of taking the lead. He mostly sits back and looks for big single shot counters hoping his opponent will overcommit. He has had two fights that I can remember where he made his jab something of a factor (Forrest for the title a few years back and the recent Hendo fight).

Cormier, on the other hand, has shown no problem fighting on the front foot or back foot and has showcased a lot of tools that are rather rare for MMA such as a strong jab that he can apply in a variety of different ways (on the front foot to close the distance and get inside, or pot shotting with it on the backfoot). Rashad's greatest strength in my opinion, his infighting, is matched and probably even exceeded by Cormier's and there would be little hope of Rashad outwrestling him. I will say that Rashad's defensive wrestling could very well give Cormier a lot more problems than he is used to, and the threat of big single shot counters would likely force Cormier to fight with less aggression, likely behind his jab for the most part. I'd predict Rashad would get very hesitant to do anything and get picked off on the outside for most of the fight with Cormier giving him very little to counter. It would be on Rashad to lead and create some of his own offense, and he has shown time after time in his career that he is rather poor at doing so.

This is correct but Cormier doesnt work off the jab, feinting when you extend your lead hand to theirs essentially removes your jab and cormier does that a lot but it sets up his left hooks,overhands,kicks. Honestly Cormier is a better striker technically than Rashad and add in his wrestling game...

 

[JimmyJumper]

I would not pick Rashad, I would say though that Suga could possibly kill off a bit of Cormiers hype by making it close and gritty though.

 

[JayElectra]

This is correct but Cormier doesnt work off the jab, feinting when you extend your lead hand to theirs essentially removes your jab and cormier does that a lot but it sets up his left hooks,overhands,kicks. Honestly Cormier is a better striker than Rashad and add in his wrestling game...

Cormier certainly does work off the jab at times. The Bigfoot KO was a good example and he used it a ton in several different ways against Barnett. Against better strikers (ones that probably don't compete in MMA), some of the problems with his jab would certainly be exploited (the "bow and arrow" issue would certainly get him into problems with a genuinely good boxer). Other times he gets away with throwing rather lazy and easily countered jabs because his opponents simply aren't very good strikers and they fear his wrestling so much.

 

[Stump]

Only thing Rashad is beating DC at is a face-race to the canvas

 

[Alpinestar]

You wrote "Cormier's striking won him fights at HW and schooled Hendo at LHW." That means "Cormier's striking won him fights at HW and (Cormier's striking) schooled Hendo at LHW." The second clause doesn't have a subject of its own because the only subject is "Cormier's striking."

What you should have written is "Cormier's striking won him fights at HW and he schooled Hendo at LHW." See the difference?

Writing skills. May want to work on 'em. Also, intellectual honesty. Just accept that your sentence did not represent your point, admit it and move on.

You got me. I did not write the pronoun...

But based on their last fight, there is no way you could have assumed I meant DC schooled Hendo in striking department. It was just brutal grappling clinic put on by Cormier against a superb wrestler in Dan Henderson, not striking.

My bad.

 

[Spindrift0036]

... and then TS woke up

 

[ScarletnGray 33]

Still love this fight. I want to see it badly. Love Rashad, but DC would and should be favored. I could see Rashad out-pointing him, and there is always a chance he lands the big shot to put it away.

 

[TmacRmac**]

Cormier certainly does work off the jab at times. The Bigfoot KO was a good example and he used it a ton in several different ways against Barnett. Against better strikers (ones that probably don't compete in MMA), some of the problems with his jab would certainly be exploited (the "bow and arrow" issue would certainly get him into problems with a genuinely good boxer). Other times he gets away with throwing rather lazy and easily countered jabs because his opponents simply aren't very good strikers and they fear his wrestling so much.

Cormier fought bigger men so he generally likes to pick his shots. When he jabs its more of a setup is what I mean, he works behind it a lot even though its a decent jab

 

[Wayweary]

You got me. I did not write the pronoun...

But based on their last fight, there is no way you could have assumed I meant DC schooled Hendo in striking department. It was just brutal grappling clinic put on by Cormier against a superb wrestler in Dan Henderson, not striking.

My bad.

It's cool. You said that he has superior striking to Rashad, it seemed like you were trying to use the Hendo fight to support that. Anyway, there is no shortage of ridiculous opinions on sherdog. lol

His wrestling does make his striking more danger, though, I feel. But I'm not sold on his pure striking. If someone is ever able to shrug off his take downs without opening themselves up to strikes (the way JDS opened himself up to Cain), like I suspect JJ and Rashad might be able to do, it would be interesting to see how he fairs.

 

[Blond]

In 90% of his fights Rashad is doing some weird shit when the fight is on the feet. He only looks dominant when he manages to get top position, which probaly won't happen vs DC. Rashad is athletic and can land heavy shots, but his striking doesn't seem to have any thought to it, he likes to jump around and through a random overhand or a combination that is nowhere near landing. DC on the other hand is a very smart fighter and picked up boxing very quick his striking is a lot more intelligent than Shad's. He'd probably outwrestle rashad too.

 

[Kelman]

Rashad all day. He is too fast for DC. Has better striking. I think his wrestling is definetly good enough to be competitve with Cormier.

It is MMA and anything can happen, but I'd put money on Shad. He is underrated on here since he lost to Nog.

I disagree that Rashad has better striking. I think DC's boxing looks better. Rashad is pretty good on the feet, but he isn't a top striker by any stretch.

However, I agree with you that Rashad is a very live dog indeed vs DC. I too think Rashad would be surprisingly competitive in the wrestling stakes, as his own speed and athleticism will outstrip even Daniel's, and be a shock to DC after years of fighting slower and more lumbering fighters in MMA. I view that fight as close to a 50-50, and would probably only lean towards DC because I think he might have slight edges in boxing skills and physical strength.

Rashad is being forgotten about these days, but he could easily beat DC or Gustafsson on his day. I'd back him to edge Rumble by outgrappling him over the piece and taking a decision.

 

[DLX]

Cormier has better wrestling...

He's probably stronger

Cormier has better striking imo...

And he has speed to deal with rashad.

So no...

 

[Chapter40z]

I would still really love to see this fight. Cummins and ole man hendo didn't prove a whole awful lot for DC. Don't get me wrong I think he is a great fighter but I still see some proving ground at LHW.

One of the things I was most interested in seeing was how he handled was the speed difference at LHW and fighting a guy on his first UFC fight on short notice and possibly the slowest man in the division didn't satisfy my curiosity regarding that.

 

[YourfatherII]

Rashad may be the least active fighter at 205. Dude ins just collecting dust at this point in his career.

 

[KarateKickbox22]

I'm surprised so many people are impressed with Rashad's striking. He is very good at infighting, but from range his striking, which is mostly boxing, is mediocre and inconsistent. He has relatively fast hands and power, but he has shown himself to be utterly incapable of taking the lead. He mostly sits back and looks for big single shot counters hoping his opponent will overcommit. He has had two fights that I can remember where he made his jab something of a factor (Forrest for the title a few years back and the recent Hendo fight).

Cormier, on the other hand, has shown no problem fighting on the front foot or back foot and has showcased a lot of tools that are rather rare for MMA such as a strong jab that he can apply in a variety of different ways (on the front foot to close the distance and get inside, or pot shotting with it on the backfoot). Rashad's greatest strength in my opinion, his infighting, is matched and probably even exceeded by Cormier's and there would be little hope of Rashad outwrestling him. I will say that Rashad's defensive wrestling could very well give Cormier a lot more problems than he is used to, and the threat of big single shot counters would likely force Cormier to fight with less aggression, likely behind his jab for the most part. I'd predict Rashad would get very hesitant to do anything and get picked off on the outside for most of the fight with Cormier giving him very little to counter. It would be on Rashad to lead and create some of his own offense, and he has shown time after time in his career that he is rather poor at doing so.

I expected a couple paragraphs from you. Considering you are Cormier's biggest fan.

 

[JayElectra]

I expected a couple paragraphs from you. Considering you are Cormier's biggest fan.

So, what do you think about the "couple paragraphs"? I'm not saying anything remotely critical about Machida, so you might be able to give a clear unbiased thought.