Media RDR looks back on his loss and making comeback

[Safton]

RDR doesn't have bad cardio as a rule. The dude has multiple 3rd round submissions on his record, including one against GM3 who notoriously has a good motor and builds into fights late. RDR has also shown the ability to "cook" guys across 25 minutes, like he did against Whittaker and Nsang -- both of which have significant experience fighting in the championship rounds.

Rather, it seems like RDR is a guy who wilts readily when he takes damage. When he's in the driver's seat, he can go all day but once he starts suffering adversity and accruing damage his gas tank suffers. I also don't know that he is the most mentally squared away dude in terms of heart and composure. Combine that with a super active schedule, a punishing weight cut, and the fact that he's already creeping into his late 30s and I think the result is not all that surprising.

This. I seen him do it and yet, I still don't really believe he did it lol

No one acknowledged how good of a stylistic matchup this was for Allen. They just went full recency bias.

Brendan excels at beating the fuck out of conventionally-trained Black Belt submission specialists and BJJ guys. Daukaus, Muniz, Craig, now RDR. Even against strikers with solid BJJ in their back pocket like Holland and Jotko, he showed them levels. This is a consistent theme in his career. He has more reversals on his record than just about any other fighter on the UFC roster and doesn't fear going to the mat with them to work his top game.

 

[gosuasus]

Homie has CTE from gassing out.

 

[jeff7b9]

It was also his 5th fight in 11 months, basically been in non stop fight camps for a year, he must've been completely worn down.

Post like this makes me miss the old days.

I remember wandy fighting I think 6 times in prideFC in a year.
Mirko... 8 or so.

Jeremy Horn had something like 20 fights in a year once.

Granted the stakes have changed but... hard for me to feel bad about a man making his bed and laying in it.

Especially since that ass whooping came from a guy on short notice.

 

[HHJ]

I remember wandy fighting I think 6 times in prideFC in a year.
Mirko... 8 or so.

The problem with this, is even if it was allowed, and roids were allowed to recover faster, it's not like Mirko was fighting top guys that whole time. He'd have a real fight in Japan and then stay for a few weeks if he was unhurt and be given a japanese mw can to fight on a Bushido show. If UFC allowed people to do that, they def would.

UFC's whole structure is to try and make fights that move the rankings. Plus, let's say Conor Mcgregor was to do that, no way they are paying Conor what he makes to fight that often, and feast on cans in between real fights.

This guy fighting like he was, it's to be commended, if maybe not the smartest.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

RDR doesn't have bad cardio as a rule. The dude has multiple 3rd round submissions on his record, including one against GM3 who notoriously has a good motor and builds into fights late. RDR has also shown the ability to "cook" guys across 25 minutes, like he did against Whittaker and Nsang -- both of which have significant experience fighting in the championship rounds.

Rather, it seems like RDR is a guy who wilts readily when he takes damage. When he's in the driver's seat, he can go all day but once he starts suffering adversity and accruing damage his gas tank suffers. I also don't know that he is the most mentally squared away dude in terms of heart and composure. Combine that with a super active schedule, a punishing weight cut, and the fact that he's already creeping into his late 30s and I think the result is not all that surprising.


No one acknowledged how good of a stylistic matchup this was for Allen. They just went full recency bias.

Brendan excels at beating the fuck out of conventionally-trained Black Belt submission specialists and BJJ guys. Daukaus, Muniz, Craig, now RDR. Even against strikers with solid BJJ in their back pocket like Holland and Jotko, he showed them levels. This is a consistent theme in his career. He has more reversals on his record than just about any other fighter on the UFC roster and doesn't fear going to the mat with them to work his top game.

I don't think Allen can beat any of the guys ranked above him. Hell. I'd pick at least two in the 6-10 range to beat him, as well.

 

[Safton]

I don't think Allen can beat any of the guys ranked above him. Hell. I'd pick at least two in the 6-10 range to beat him, as well.

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I mean, he has fought the majority of them to a loss (multiple losses in the case of Hernandez), so that's not a bold assertion to make lol. That being said, no one else has made a fight against Fluffy look as competitive as he did in their rematch and he arguably did better against Imavov than many others have as of late. You could chalk both losses up to lapses in fight IQ -- a common issue for Brendan -- where him winning if you ran the same fight back ten times is far from unthinkable.

Sean probably does beat him again, though I think a rematch would be more competitive just due to respective momentum and Allen's improvements. Dricus is a compelling match-up, though I'd expect DDP to be the favorite. Khamzat is a bad stylistic match-up, though Allen has a few ways he could challenge Borz more than others might.

As far as the 6-10 range, I'd favor this version of Brendan against Izzy. He already beat RDR. Caio would be intriguing after their no-gi match; I'd favor Caio but not by a tremendous margin. Whittaker in his prime smokes Brendan and might still beat him, but I could see Brendan finishing him. I used to see Jared as a nightmare match-up for Brendan and he still has the ability to outlast & chin him, but Father Time is unforgiving and he could just as easily end up being the one to get stopped instead.

That being said, I don't know what this has to do with the idea of Allen matching up well against BJJ guys. I'm a self-admitted BA fanboy, but fringe Top 5 is frankly the ceiling I always envisioned for him. He's a talented fighter, albeit a flawed one.

 

[Whitestallion]

Its gonna sound crazy, but he should go to 170.... Hes big but not JACKED

 

[Whitestallion]

I don't think Allen can beat any of the guys ranked above him. Hell. I'd pick at least two in the 6-10 range to beat him, as well.

View attachment 1128762

He destroyed Imavov for 1 round then gassed, I think he can easily do that

 

[Pequeño Corey]

As far as the 6-10 range, I'd favor this version of Brendan against Izzy. He already beat RDR. Caio would be intriguing after their no-gi match; I'd favor Caio but not by a tremendous margin. Whittaker in his prime smokes Brendan and might still beat him, but I could see Brendan finishing him. I used to see Jared as a nightmare match-up for Brendan and he still has the ability to outlast & chin him, but Father Time is unforgiving and he could just as easily end up being the one to get stopped instead.

Yea Caio and Bobby would be my 6-10 picks to beat him. I know that the Strickland finish was a while ago, but I can't say that I've seen leaps and bounds of improvement in BA's striking, whereas Strickland's defense and pressure have truly become top notch. All that is to say that Izzy would still have a good chance if he could avoid an ugly, grapple heavy fight. Izzy finishing BA with strikes, even at this point, doesn't sound like a stretch at all. I don't think Izzy would take that fight though. He's at the tail end of things and probably holding out for "fun" fights.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

He destroyed Imavov for 1 round then gassed, I think he can easily do that

RDR destroyed Brendan for two rounds before gassing.

 

[Safton]

Yea Caio and Bobby would be my 6-10 picks to beat him. I know that the Strickland finish was a while ago, but I can't say that I've seen leaps and bounds of improvement in BA's striking, whereas Strickland's defense and pressure have truly become top notch. All that is to say that Izzy would still have a good chance if he could avoid an ugly, grapple heavy fight. Izzy finishing BA with strikes, even at this point, doesn't sound like a stretch at all. I don't think Izzy would take that fight though. He's at the tail end of things and probably holding out for "fun" fights.

I'm a big fan of Caio and I expect him to smoke RDR, but he really underperformed against Imavov. Brendan had more success against Nassourdine comparatively I'd argue.

Bobby is on a downward slope. I didn't like seeing him gas as badly as he did against RDR and his chin is always in question. I do think his quick, accurate striking and typically explosive hips would make him difficult for Brendan to deal with, but I could just as easily see Allen club-n-subbing him during a crazy exchange.

Sean probably still matches up well against Brendan, but he seems checked out lately whereas Brendan's confidence and ability to eat strikes seems to have improved out of nowhere. I'd still favor Strickland, though.

A sniper like Izzy has a chance against anyone with the defensive liabilities Brendan shows, but he has slowed down a lot. He gets hit clean more often, doesn't take it as well as he used to, and I don't think he'd survive if Allen got on top of him. It's a bit coin-flippy, but at this stage I'd narrowly favor Brendan.

RDR destroyed Brendan for two rounds before gassing.

He did not. RDR had a lot of success in Round 1, got the takedown early and forced Brendan to spend most of the time defending submissions and mitigating GnP strikes on bottom. The round actually ended with BA escaping and achieving top position, though.

Round 2, RDR got the takedown early again but achieved very little with it and Allen escaped at around the 3:00 mark before spending the rest of the round punishing RDR with ground strikes from top.

Every judge gave Allen Round 2. No judge gave RDR a 10-8 for Round 1 (though they arguably could have). Round 3 onward was pretty much all one-way traffic for Brendan. Also, RDR didn't just inexplicably tire out from beating Brendan up or something. Brendan contributed to him gassing by constantly defending and scrambling on bottom, reversing positions, and putting legitimate damage on RDR when he got top position which in turn forced the Dutchman to wilt.

 

[SaltedVinegarfootstomps]

This. I seen him do it and yet, I still don't really believe he did it lol

That's because hes an inbred ichi the killer. He's functionally retarded but also a fighting system genius.

 

[SaltedVinegarfootstomps]

He remembers every second, trust me.

 

[RichardHarrow]

This never fails to make me laugh.

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

That's because hes an inbred ichi the killer. He's functionally retarded but also a fighting system genius.

It's the nickname name "All In" for me personally lol

"If you say it fast, it sounds nearly identical to my last name!
Soon I'll be wearing a raccoon hat too."

 

[Pequeño Corey]

He did not. RDR had a lot of success in Round 1, got the takedown early and forced Brendan to spend most of the time defending submissions and mitigating GnP strikes on bottom. The round actually ended with BA escaping and achieving top position, though.

Round 2, RDR got the takedown early again but achieved very little with it and Allen escaped at around the 3:00 mark before spending the rest of the round punishing RDR with ground strikes from top.

Every judge gave Allen Round 2. No judge gave RDR a 10-8 for Round 1 (though they arguably could have). Round 3 onward was pretty much all one-way traffic for Brendan. Also, RDR didn't just inexplicably tire out from beating Brendan up or something. Brendan contributed to him gassing by constantly defending and scrambling on bottom, reversing positions, and putting legitimate damage on RDR when he got top position which in turn forced the Dutchman to wilt.

Yea I remembered round 2 incorrectly. I thought Allen turned it around in the third, but he was already rolling downhill in the second. Allow me to revise my statement:

"RDR destroyed Allen for 1 round before he gassed."

I used the word "destroyed" because it's the same word that homeboy used to describe Allen's first round against Imavov. Neither was destruction, just domination by grappling with little to no meaningful Gn'P. Both were 10-9. Allen had a nice body lock to slam type takedown, but otherwise, spent a good chunk of time in side control, a brief mount, and then Imavov reclaimed guard. RDR had a more dominant first round vs Allen. Lots of time in mount and back control with a body lock.

Mind you, I'm just refuting homeboy's point that Allen would beat Imavov in a rematch because he a had a good first round in a previous fight that he ultimately lost. My reply about RDR winning the first round was to refute that.

Lastly, you're on an island if you think RDR didn't gas vs Allen. Who did RDR cook across 25 minutes? A can in ONE at LHW? Did he really cook Whitaker for 25 minutes? The only grappling in that fight was rounds 2 and 3, for about half of the round. He didn't grapple "deep" into that fight. Also, he took plenty of damage from Whitaker on the feet, yet somehow, his gas tank didn't completely empty out.

No doubt, getting the shit beat out of you will make you gas quicker, but the loss to Allen (and yes, gassing out) was the culmination of many things as you previously stated; 4th weight cut in a year, tailor made opponent with a great style to beat him, and vicious Gn'P.

Also, if cardio wasn't an issue for RDR, then why is the premise of this thread a video about him working on his conditioning?