Striking Review: Faber v. Pulver?

[wOg]

I haven't found much good analysis about the striking battle between Faber and Pulver, so I figured this would be the forum to ask.

What did you think of Faber's stand up game? It was interesting to see him stand for virtually all of the entire five rounds. Stylistically, what was working for him compared to Pulver's more traditional looking approach? It was especially interesting to see given Pulver's size and reach advantage.

I also thought I heard a commentator say that Faber's style was reminiscent of Bernard Hopkins. I don't know boxing very well. Is this true about Faber's style being Hopkins like?

Last thing: Faber trained with BJ Penn before this fight. Given how much standup was in BJ's fight with Sherk, does anybody think that Faber's gameplan might have been influenced by the training he did with Penn in Hawaii?

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Yanoush]

Faber was just too quick for Jens. He honestly moves faster then anyone I've seen in MMA

 

[Chimpy Bob]

i like faber's striking its kinda like Fedor's he always leads with the right hand and is always

pushing foward. not really technical at all but still effective

 

[5acrossYOeye]

Faber's straight right was faster than Pulver's straight left.

Once Pulver saw what was going on he tried slipping the right and tried landing his left uppercut, which then allowed Faber to close the distance to land his left hook.

I thought Pulver could have moved to his right more to take away Faber's straight right and opened up angles for his straight left.

to me i saw a jens pulver who didn't have the speed he once yet still thought he had.

 

[right hand lead]

i picked Faber to win this in the 1st by KO. but i didnt think he would outstrike Jens, i thought he would land some wild overhand right.

i was very impressed with Faber's striking and footwork. i was lovin the right hand lead B-Hop style

 

[right hand lead]

I also thought I heard a commentator say that Faber's style was reminiscent of Bernard Hopkins. I don't know boxing very well. Is this true about Faber's style being Hopkins like?

well his style is that much like Hopkins, i think it was the way Faber was throwing his right hand lead and ducking his head at the same time like Hopkins does. Hopkins uses it quite often and i remember him dropping Antonio Tarver with that.

 

[Mithra]

Faber was faster, he left himself open to a knee or uppercut but Jens wasn't quick enough to capitalize

 

[Whitefish]

Faber would fake for a takedown then come back with the overhand right when Pulver dropped his hads to prepare for a sprawl.

Aside from that I was rooting for Pulver but he seemed like he just didn't have an answer for that. And in the final round when it was apparent he was loosing I expected him to go all out with some crazy punches. But he just stuck with the same gameplan.

 

[Michael Wanaka]

Pulver didn't look like a pro boxer. Barely threw the jab, was only looking to throw his straight left. I didn't see any bodywork or decent footwork from jens either. I was very disappointed.

 

[devante]

Pulver didn't look like a pro boxer. Barely threw the jab, was only looking to throw his straight left. I didn't see any bodywork or decent footwork from jens either. I was very disappointed.

i think jens really didn't think he would be in a standup match w/faber and hadn't really prepared to have to counter, slip, step back, step out or diversify his off; to be honest we hadn't seen faber really throw hands (feet) and most fig urijah would eschew standup for his usual wrestling/gnp strategy.

once urijah came out and started striking jens was waiting to land the big shot that would make faber change his plan or just fig faber would on his own go into his typical approach; i think later on jens began to adjust, but a)it was too late in the fate b)urijah began to diversify his attack and c)faber was to fast/agile for jens.


i was impressed w/fabers range of strikes, his fluidity, footwork and setups; noone thought he had that kind of striking and i was GREATLY impressed w/jens takedown def, guard work and ability to get back up when taken down. Usually when people get put down by faber, they usually don't get back up, hell they usually don't even make it through the round... they get subbed/gnp'd. Pulver showed some excellent def wrestling skills and def grappling skills.

 

[UrbanSavage**]

I think Jens has been so used to being the quicker guy for so long that he was thrown off by someone being THAT much quicker than him. Also, it didn't even look like he wanted to knock out Uriah, I don't know if I saw him throw with real intent more than a handful of times.

 

[5acrossYOeye]

Pulver didn't look like a pro boxer. Barely threw the jab, was only looking to throw his straight left. I didn't see any bodywork or decent footwork from jens either. I was very disappointed.

Me too. It wasn't like Faber was doing anything special. Straight right from the outside and hook on the inside.

I'm wondering if it was age. Didn't seem like he could pull the trigger and he didn't adjust like a striker can and should. The only adjustment I saw was changing his straight left to an uppercut but all that did was allow Faber to land the left hook because he missed most of his uppercuts.

 

[earthman32]

Good Topic!

I thought Faber was impressive. He beat the southpaw at the southpaw's game (ie...leading with a cross and then bringing a swatting hook). I thought Mir hit the nail on the head with his comparison to Hopkins' right cross. If you look at Hopkins' history, he owns southpaws (See Hopkins v Tarver), because he loves to lead with a right cross and duck out of danger.

I also thought Jens showed his age. He was much slower than Faber. Even when he got opportunities, it looked as if he had to take a minute to remember his best combinations before he threw them. No where near the speed he had when he fought Gomi in 2004.

As far as his training with Penn:
I hadn't considered that before, but it is an interesting thought. I think they both trained for where ever the fight would go and they both just realized they were successful at the stand up in those particular match ups.

 

[earthman32]

double post.

 

[devante]

u think all the gym wars mfs guys engage in along w/jens history of forcing standup wars against hard hitting/larger and skilled opponents caught up to him; i means jens isn't that old, but in fighting years he is up for retirement.

i don't think faber did anything spectacular; that being said, we hadn't see faber really do anything standing at all. So for him to show some basic tech and to commit to it; not just go back to wrestling when he got caught or hurt shows some heart and a serious commitment to dev his standup.

i think if pulver had shown himself to be faster or fresher faber wouldn't have attempted this; but his speed adv and agility/mobility adv was soo huge jens pretty much couldn't do anything even if he wanted to, faber realized this and as a result was able to get off like he did standing.

 

[Guts]

I was suprised Pulver was getting caught with those rights.

 

[earthman32]

Absolutely. Pulver has a lot of miles on him, especially when you think about that fact that he was fighting championship caliber fighters when Urijah was wrestling middle school! Definetly, props for Faber staying on his feet. He kept Pulver confused and slow.

 

[5acrossYOeye]

u think all the gym wars mfs guys engage in along w/jens history of forcing standup wars against hard hitting/larger and skilled opponents caught up to him; i means jens isn't that old, but in fighting years he is up for retirement.

i don't think faber did anything spectacular; that being said, we hadn't see faber really do anything standing at all. So for him to show some basic tech and to commit to it; not just go back to wrestling when he got caught or hurt shows some heart and a serious commitment to dev his standup.

i think if pulver had shown himself to be faster or fresher faber wouldn't have attempted this; but his speed adv and agility/mobility adv was soo huge jens pretty much couldn't do anything even if he wanted to, faber realized this and as a result was able to get off like he did standing.

I definately think the gym wars are a big reason. I also think him fighting at 160ish (pride) then 155 then moving down to 145 hurts as well. I'm not a believer in dropping down a division...for the most part it doesn't work.
A guy like BJ just didn't train the right way so moving down for him made sense.

 

[devante]

I definately think the gym wars are a big reason. I also think him fighting at 160ish (pride) then 155 then moving down to 145 hurts as well. I'm not a believer in dropping down a division...for the most part it doesn't work.
A guy like BJ just didn't train the right way so moving down for him made sense.

i am not a fan of it either, that being said in jens case he has seemed more spry, better conditioned and durable; he was able to manhandle swanson and def was on equal terms w/ faber in the clinch and on the ground, usually faber runs people over and physically dominates them he didn't do so to pulver. Also pulver seemed able to recover from shots better, an take shots better; faber landed alot of hard/clean/BIG shots, pulver was right there for 5 rounds.

i don't think many people at 145 can muscle jens, nor can they knock him around or stop him; whereas at 155 or 160 jens might not absorb those shots quite as well, not over a 5 round period..even though he has a good/very good chin.

i think pulver is a big faded as far as his sharpness, timing, reaction time, etc; i think the skills are there, but the ability has faded a bit, he still landed his fair share of shots, its not like faber walked throuhg him. But the adv in mobility and hand/footspeed and exp really was too much for pulver at this stage.

 

[devante]

i am not a fan of it either, that being said in jens case he has seemed more spry, better conditioned and durable; he was able to manhandle swanson and def was on equal terms w/ faber in the clinch and on the ground, usually faber runs people over and physically dominates them he didn't do so to pulver. Also pulver seemed able to recover from shots better, an take shots better; faber landed alot of hard/clean/BIG shots, pulver was right there for 5 rounds.

i don't think many people at 145 can muscle jens, nor can they knock him around or stop him; whereas at 155 or 160 jens might not absorb those shots quite as well, not over a 5 round period..even though he has a good/very good chin.

i think pulver is a big faded as far as his sharpness, timing, reaction time, etc; i think the skills are there, but the ability has faded a bit, he still landed his fair share of shots, its not like faber walked throuhg him. But the adv in mobility and hand/footspeed and exp really was too much for pulver at this stage.

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