Ryan Hall v. Gray Maynard
- Thread starter DrJitsu
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I've envisioned this many times. Either as a counter to movement or to strikes. Gotta get some more training in and start to test it out in the cage. Really seems like he's counting on people just not knowing how to respond to wild dives from out of range. I think actively setting up the leg entanglements could potentially change the MMA meta tho.
He did try it, and got reasonably deep on it, but he was doing it while his back was turned and he was near the cage.
Hall needs to mimick Maia to the T. It's not arbitrary that Maia employs his circular endless loop fighting strategy.
He's honed it over the years and found the part of least resistance. Hall needs to study it, and perfect it.
He's honed it over the years and found the part of least resistance. Hall needs to study it, and perfect it.
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I'm a Hall fan, but that sounds completely unwatchable
That's what he was trying to to do. Gray feinted him out tho
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'I would have played him if he didn't out play me.'
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it was a weird fight for sure. not exactly exciting. But the people who feel the need to personally attack Ryan or act like Gray trying to appeal to his masculinity actually means anything can get fucked. He straight up lost the fight, and it wasn't even close.
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Good to hear. Just bleeders have taken over the UFC, as evidenced by two of the best WW in the world not even being signed by the UFC because people don't enjoy watching their style. The Spurs style is worse than watching paint dry, but not allowing them to play in the NBA isn't the answer.
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I don't know if that's as feasible at FW as it is at WW. Maia's game is based on super strong top control, I can't think of any FWs who have consistently won with a stifling top game, even good wrestlers like Chad Mendes. It's just too hard to hold someone down when the strength/weight ratio is as lopsided as it is at that low of a weight class. I would like to see Ryan employ more TDs, but I don't know that it's realistic for him to pressure pass people the way Maia does.
Gui Mendes has a pretty stifling top game for a little guy. Yeah it's not mma but still.
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He relies on the gi a lot. OTOH he competed against quality grapplers not mma fighters with a rudimentary ground game.
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There's Lucas Lepri too, Cobrihna as well.
Also consider Khabob, who along with Maia and Askren are pretty much the poster children for successful grappling in mma, who is close to the same size.
What the common, crucial thread here is not simply takedowns, but riding. The ability to keep a guy pinned on the ground and under control is the most essential skill for grappling in mma. That's the difference between a dominant performance, and a whole lot of wasted effort when the opponent escapes after a minute or two, invalidating the whole business altogether. Takedowns, submissions, nothing has any use without riding first.
Also consider Khabob, who along with Maia and Askren are pretty much the poster children for successful grappling in mma, who is close to the same size.
What the common, crucial thread here is not simply takedowns, but riding. The ability to keep a guy pinned on the ground and under control is the most essential skill for grappling in mma. That's the difference between a dominant performance, and a whole lot of wasted effort when the opponent escapes after a minute or two, invalidating the whole business altogether. Takedowns, submissions, nothing has any use without riding first.
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Small guys with good top control are the ones to watch. Holding down a small, quick guy with good hips and movement is fuckin hard. It's like trying to hold a slimy fish that won't stop moving and keeps slipping away in every direction. To watch Rafa or Gui hold guys down in that leg drag position, it shows that those guys understand movement and control on an insane level.
I've become much more interested in little guys who can hold people down than big guys who can hold people down.
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This is a crucial point, and one that I think a lot of BJJ guys don't really appreciate until they start training MMA with good wrestlers. Passing guard is easy (when strikes are involved) compared to keeping someone down who only wants to get up and knows how to do it. If you really watch Maia carefully, a huge part of his top game is that he's always either lifting his opponent's legs and keeping his weight forward to prevent the standup, or he's progressed to having solid enough upper body control that he stops the standup. He never postures up and leans back to try and knee slice or leg drag like you would in pure grappling, because a good fighter is going to take that opportunity to create distance and get the hell up.
Incidentally I think the whole riding thing also explains why American folk wrestlers sometimes have more success in MMA than guys with solid backgrounds in the international styles: They've spent years learning how to get on top of people and just control them and keep them down. They might not have the breadth of takedown game of a guy like Yoel Romero, but once they get someone down he stays down.
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Taking a big guy down is harder. Passing their guard and establishing solid top position is often much easier.
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You're right about why the folkstyle guys do better. But what I've noticed is that people from bjj or international backgrounds honestly have trouble actually understanding or comprehend what exactly riding actually means, even if they try to academically/mentally. It's something that has to be felt much like high level pressure or hand/grip fighting. Good riding and pressure is something that can't be "light rolled"
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That's very true. And riding is something that used to be bigger in BJJ (and I think is coming back in some circles) in the form of pressure passing, though the strong preference for guard play in the IBJJF has definitely made it something of a lost art. At the very least a less common art, as these days it's notable if someone is a heavy pressure passer, especially at the lighter weights.
But no, you can't spar it light.
