The Downward Spiral of DDP's career begins now

[ShaggyDoyle]

Part of DDP's appeal as a fighter was being the guy with main character aura. This means he was the guy that found a way to win despite having a clumsy way of fighting and looking like he is about to lose. In addition, his ability to psychologically get under the fighter's skin and make them upset before the match was another reason that fans loved him. However, with the disgraceful 50-44 loss to Khamzat, as well as, the loss of his belt, two things have now been created: 1. A blue print on how to easily beat him 2. decrease effectiveness of his mind games before a fight. To expand more on the latter, no matter what DDP says to another fighter, all they have to do is bring up how helpless he was against Khamzat for his insults/jokes to have little to no effect on them. Basically DDP's aura is now gone and I suspect that this will now be a long chain of events of him progressively losing more than winning before he ends up fading into obscurity and retiring.

 

[Cameron]

I personally think we will see some Jon fitch arc. I see him clearing out the division. Beating all the others but miles away from Khamzat. He lost so badly he probably needs 3-4 wins before a title shot.

Fights RDR next or the loser of Caio vs imomov

 

[FreddieRoachsVoice]

0/10 troll job. Do better

 

[GoWokeGoBroke]

I see alcoholism in his future. I hope not but GoWokeGoBroke speaks what he he feels is truth weather we want to hear it or not

Hope im wrong

 

[fortheo]

I don't think so. He lost fair and square. He was outskilled on the mats, but I didn't see a man defeated in there mentally at all. I saw a guy who would have gladly gone another 10 rounds. He's still reasonably young, and this was his first loss in a decade. He can make some adjustments and grow as a fighter from this, and nobody else in the division has takedowns like Khamzat does. Other guys can have some success grappling DDP, I'm surre, but I don't think anybody other than Khamzat controls him for 90 percent of the fight like that

I suspect DDP will come back with a vengeance. The dude has no quit in him. Hopefully he and his team put their ego aside and either cross train at a place with better wrestling, or they bring much better wrestlers in than what they have been training with.

 

[Aurelian]

Dricus doesn't seem like the type of person to break that easily. He still has a lot of winnable fights in the division.

But even if he never won a fight again, he's still a former champ with 2 defenses. That's more than most fighters ever accomplish.

 

[Dim1]

He's only 31 so he has the time to improve with the right training.

 

[flektarn]

Yep this is a white belt thread alright.

 

[fortheo]

He's only 31 so he has the time to improve with the right training.

It isn't crazy to think he hasn't even peaked yet. Might peak at 33 or 34 for all we know, which isn't that uncommon at Middleweight. It's his first loss in a long time -- I think DDP is the type who will learn from it. Hopefully.

 

[jeff7b9]

It is just a natural result of fighting careers that when a guy reaches the championship tier of competition they are more likely to hit a win some lose some pattern than they were while they were working their way up through a markedly lower level of competition.

Pay goes up, usually those fighters want to keep their pay high (they call them PRIZE fighters for a reason, the prize is money) so they fight headlining slots against top 5 guys who also are worthy of a headline slot and are also trying to get that title fight pay.

However- Dricus is 31 and I would have him as a favorite vs anyone at MW who is not Khamzat.

If he CHOOSES to pursue "money fights" at LHW then that changes the risk vs reward aspect of his win likelihood, but it is a calculated risk for a payout.

If he stays at MW I would venture he probably wins 3 or 5 of his next 5, then we will have to see how his health is holding up in his mid 30s and what the division around him looks like.

 

[Ozze]

"1. A blue print on how to easily beat him"

I don't think it's that easy TS. The rest of the top 10 is not made of 9 other Khamzat.

You think every other fighter is like "oh, so just hold him there for 25 minutes, piece of cake!"?

 

[Aurelian]

"1. A blue print on how to easily beat him"

I don't think it's that easy TS. The rest of the top 10 is not made of 9 other Khamzat.

You think every other fighter is like "oh, so just hold him there for 25 minutes, piece of cake!"?

 

[Reileyb]

This seems like an unpopular opinion, but i'm on board with OP's analysis (kind of)

I've thought this for a while, DDP is overachieving and very well could be one road bump away from a depressing loss streak.

He had a great run, but it felt like he was stumbling a lot, none of his wins felt dominant, he never looked comfortable, his level of skill set felt comparable to Belal's honestly.

If he gets matched up against Imavov or maybe even RDR, it's going to spiral downwards for sure.

That overachieving momentum he had, could have just snapped. I predict he doesn't fight for the title again.

 

[Chubi]

There's no blueprint to beat him, because nobody else in the division has Khamzat's grappling. Khamzat is a blueprint to anybody. It's funny to me how the MMA unified rules are way better for strikers because they put an emphasis on damages, yet the most dominant champions are Merab, Islam and Khamzat. Even Pantoja shines mostly with his grappling.

 

[HoiceNJuicy]

He can always hope that Chimaev will eventually vacate and move up to challenge for the LHW title.

Then Dricus might be able to pull a Volk and get his strap back against someone else.

 

[188912345]

I want to see him vs Usman, since he likely needs to win at least 3 fights to get a new shot.

 

[thorcorm]

Disagree.

Even in round 5 he beat Khamzat in a weird wrestling exchange where they both just tipped over. Dude almost had the piano land on Khamzat after getting dominated.

There is no blueprint because no one can replicate that aside from Khamzat.

 

[darcandkharg]

main character aura.

weeb

 

[Streeter]

DDP should go to LHW . Hes not sniffing a shot anytime soon at mw he would have a faster track to a title at LHW and a easier one .

 

[markantony20]

Part of DDP's appeal as a fighter was being the guy with main character aura. This means he was the guy that found a way to win despite having a clumsy way of fighting and looking like he is about to lose. In addition, his ability to psychologically get under the fighter's skin and make them upset before the match was another reason that fans loved him. However, with the disgraceful 50-44 loss to Khamzat, as well as, the loss of his belt, two things have now been created: 1. A blue print on how to easily beat him 2. decrease effectiveness of his mind games before a fight. To expand more on the latter, no matter what DDP says to another fighter, all they have to do is bring up how helpless he was against Khamzat for his insults/jokes to have little to no effect on them. Basically DDP's aura is now gone and I suspect that this will now be a long chain of events of him progressively losing more than winning before he ends up fading into obscurity and retiring.

View attachment 1109096

The white beltist thread I’ve seen