Stephen Thompson: Striking hard to the body is ok but not the head...

[MaTaLa]

why are ppl taking about Anderson's chin? I don't remember him getting hit.
Who was gonna KO him? Bonnar? Sonnen? Belfort didn't hit him at all. Diaz doesn't KO anyone especially moving up in weight.

Don't think that's breaking news for anyone, especially Zuffa/Silva's camp pre-fight.

But, I agree, AS isn't an example to use here.

 

[ultramanhyata]

wait, josh, or stephen?

Big Reveal: Stephen and Josh are the SAME GUY. He has been duping the UFC, and the fans, in order to get twice as many fights and earn twice as much money every year.

 

[KantoTerror]

Smart way to go...go balls in during the actual fight....

 

[Flex Plexico]

Thompson & Thompson

Precisely

 

[Roljo]

Put on headgear and spar as you were previously, and yes headgear is a good thing and protects you

Put on headgear and many people get a false sense of how much added protection (because now their face doesn't hurt) and they begin using less defense and throwing harder offensively. Each guy turns it up because they feel invincible with the headgear and it's nothing but either guy throwing knockout shots and eating the blows in return because now they can

This may not get them KOed in training or faces all cut up like it would have if no headgear, but the brain is still rattling around in the skull and doing the micro concussions that lead to the long term damage more

that makes sense, thx

 

[wellz6]

Matt Hughes went hard everyday!

Behind the barn?

 

[mudrubble]

Smart is as smart does. You're looking at the future champ, no ques...

 

[basedgodfedor]

Matt Hughes went hard everyday!

Behind the barn

 

[method115]

It worked for Cain, Cormier and now Rockhold, though...

But I agree with him. If I were a fighter, I'd train smart not brutally physical. It seems to me that technique and cardio goes the farthest

Yea but Cain was already a top athlete before he started training like that at AKA. In his wrestling days people were already talking about him. Same with Cormier obviously. Rockhold is about the only one I can agree with. Basically Cain and Cormier were most likely going to be monsters regardless of where they trained.

 

[THECYNDlCATE]

Only if people use it as an excuse to wail on eachother. But unless you're in a very old school gym, a bad gym, or slugging it out in someone's backyard that's not how that equipment should be used.

Dude, they wear it in full blown fights. Headgear causes more concussions, period.

 

[THECYNDlCATE]

How's that ? Always though headgear kind of protected your head

Without headgear, fights are stopped sooner. With headgear, people assume you are more safe, they let some things go on longer.

The only thing headgear protects you from, is surface damage. Your brain still accelerates rapidly, then decellerates rapidly when a blow lands on your head. So if they let the fight go on longer, because of headgear, you are naturally taking more damage to your brain.

 

[The real JG]

Matt Hughes went hard everyday!

You know Joe, Mark and Matt used to pound each other behind the barn everyday.

 

[AP_RESURRECTION]

Imo he's spot on. Robbie has learned this lesson as well. Smarter, not harder. This is a sad truth about Andy (and other old school fighters like him), all those years of little headgear, hard sparring MIGHT seem effective, but probably has worse long term effects.

anderson isnt a good example of what you are talking about, at all

 

[560ti]

I posted this in another thread but i'll post it in here as well

Hard sparring is the most overrated aspect of modern MMA BY A LONG SHOT (it's about as overrated and old school as roadwork for boxing).

90% of the up and coming MMA guys who do hard sparring consistently can't even do proper pad work and have medicore conditioning/footwork/breathing

Coaches are basically saying "hey lets do 80% power sparring when you can't even do 50% padwork at a respectable level" (any level headed coach should be able to tell you how stupid that sounds)

That's the main reason why alot of newer coaches are transitioning more towards a athletic/technique approach to training (conditioning, fundamentals, and technique should be prioritized over hard sparring).

 

[sp00k]

How's that ? Always though headgear kind of protected your head

The way I think it goes is that it creates a larger surface area of impact.

 

[SuperiorHands]

Dude, they wear it in full blown fights. Headgear causes more concussions, period.

The only reason it would cause more is if it allowed people to stay up to absorb more punishment. If your sparring so hard and intense that what I described becomes a factor, than your sparring excessively hard enough that you're going to be damaged no matter what and the fault is not in the equipment.

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

You can't condition the chin but you can condition the mind. If you took a pro fighter and an average Joe and hit both of them equally hard, there's a much better chance the guy on the right goes down. Is it 100% mental? Maybe. But there's no doubt that whatever the cause of average Joe getting T/KOed but not the pro is that the latter actually practices getting hit in the head.

 

[Ever Watchful]

why are ppl taking about Anderson's chin? I don't remember him getting hit.
Who was gonna KO him? Bonnar? Sonnen? Belfort didn't hit him at all. Diaz doesn't KO anyone especially moving up in weight.

Sonnen didn't knock him out but he did stagger him with a punch.

 

[Kim Jong Un]

This is also beneficial because there is not nearly enough body conditioning among UFC fighters. Professional strikers are trained to absorb body punishment far beyond the shots that drop UFC fighters.

 

[trblesome1]

I feel like he will be the future champ, smart guy and very exciting