Media Teh Chris looking TST

[JustBleed69]

I didn't say "peak Chris" lol. I said Chris before the leg snap, i.e. the guy who had been finished by Reyes and Jacare in recent years and gone to a sloppy Decision against Omari in his previous bout where he gassed after some grueling grappling exchanges by both men. Of course Chris in his prime is way too much for any version of Tavares.

Oh I misread, whoops, forgive me.

 

[JustBleed69]

Are you trolling? I'm in better shape as just a random dude.

Pics or didn't happen.

 

[Safton]

Oh I misread, whoops, forgive me.

View attachment 992314

All good my man, happens to the best of us. I should have been more clear with my wording in hindsight. I basically see there as being three versions of Chris:

1. Prime (Title Run & Defenses)
2. Downward Slope/Post-USADA Chris where he lost his strap to Rockhold, went 2-6 with all of his losses via KO/TKO, and ultimately culminating with the devastating leg injury. Took a couple of long lay-offs in this time period and also bounced between weight classes. To his credit, he managed two (somewhat sloppy) wins over Gastelum and Omari thanks to his tried & true grappling.
3. And finally: whatever version of Chris comes back from the aforementioned leg injury. Needless to say, at Chris's age, coming off a such a debilitating setback, with potential ring rust, and the fact that he hadn't looked like himself in years even beforehand... I don't expect too much but it would be a nice comeback story to be proven wrong.

But I digress. Basically what I was saying in my other post was that I feel like Tavares could have given the Weidman of #2 a serious run for his money IMO, especially if he caught him late in said run. Whether he would have beaten him... I dunno, but I feel like it would be more competitive than most people think.

 

[H41ph_84k3d]

Wood bang, no homo.

 

[StewDogg11]

I think he has a fair chance against Tavares, but seems like most people believe Tavares knocking him out is all but guaranteed. I dunno, any particular result doesn't seem so obvious to me.

Taveras is a guy that looks like he SHOULD have power but only has 2 KOs/TKOs in 20 UFC fights.

 

[Safton]

I think he has a fair chance against Tavares, but seems like most people believe Tavares knocking him out is all but guaranteed. I dunno, any particular result doesn't seem so obvious to me.

Brad doesn't have that much power, but Chris isn't all that durable these days. Regardless, while I think Tavares can finish Chris, I don't think he has to. Tavares has better cardio and really good TDD. Since Romero took him down more or less at will and exposed him on the mat, Tavares focused a lot more heavily on his TDD and it's visibly paid off. Following that fight he has faced ten opponents who have tried to wrestle him in some fashion... with a combined 66 takedown attempts made against him in that time span. Of those attempts he has defended all but eight. His last few bouts have consisted of him relentlessly stuffing Omari Akhmedov, Dricus du Plessis, and Antonio Carlos Jr. (all three of which have 40-50% takedown accuracy across their career, mind you, which is solid or even above-average for a wrestler). I really do recommend watching these fights. The Dricus bout was more of a sloppy brawl, but the Omari bout and especially the Antonio Carlos Jr. one was a master class of defensive wrestling. It's MMAth, but Omari actually scored twice as many takedowns against Weidman as he did against Tavares, though to be fair Chris ultimately ended up out-grappling Akhmedov in the third round pretty decisively despite being fatigued.

When he does get taken down, Brad is good at minding his P's and Q's and staying safe, keeping himself out of bad positions, and scrambling as rapidly as possible back to his feet. He has the 15th lowest bottom time percentage of all active Middleweights. He has never been submitted across his entire career either.

If this was the Chris of ten years ago, I'd say he makes a mockery of Brad's TDD and probably gets him down some way, somehow. That or at the very least he is able to use the threat of the takedown to outstrike him. But this version of Weidman we've seen recently... now coming off a terrible injury and a long lay-off... I dunno. People are right to be worried, especially against this particular opponent. Anything can happen in MMA, though. It'd be nice to see Chris turn back the clock, I just don't have much faith in him to do so.

Taveras is a guy that looks like he SHOULD have power but only has 2 KOs/TKOs in 20 UFC fights.

Yeah he is definitely not a power-puncher, lol. He's a guy who relies on volume, though to be honest he doesn't actually have crazy stats in the department either. That being said, I wouldn't be remotely surprised to see him get an attrition-based TKO against Chris late into Round 2 or in Round 3 if/when Weidman exhausts himself chasing takedowns and is there to get hit, allowing Brad to sit down on his punches and even string together combinations.

 

[BigOlJeet]

He is fighting Brad Tavares. He should do alright.

Brad Tavares by KO.

 

[Superior]

Bag don’t hit back, he should retire.