....everytime a fighter rules in a division or has a good undefeated streak, his future opponents (=all the other guys in the division) study him like crazy. They study every move that he makes and train to develop a style which can be effective against the champion's weapons. There were already AT LEAST 2 examples in UFC history: 1.) Brock Lesnar: when he came to the UFC nobody could stop his takedowns. He was a monster coming at you at highspeed to take you to the ground and pound on you once he had you off your feet. So later everybody did nothing but takedown defence training and suddenly Brock couldn't take them or keep them down anymore: examples: Cain Velasquez. And against Overeem Brock Lesnar didn't even try to take him down anymore cause he knew it wouldn't work 2nd example: Lyoto Machida: for those who forgot, there was a point where he looked invincible and was the undisputed king of his division and his opponents weren't even able to win a single round against him. That changed quickly later after his opponents studied his style and trained all day long to be effective against his style. Same with Dos Santos: he WAS so good. And no, he was not overrated and no, he didn't get exposed. Cause JDS did beat all those really good fighters in the UFC. He wouldn't have beaten those guys so "easily" if he wasn't THAT GOOD. But Cain and probably the whole division focus on JDS' style so much and try to develop a style that can be a solution to the "problem" named Junior Dos Santos. And finally it worked. Has nothing to do with JDS having been "overrated". UFC history has shown that nobody is dominant for more than 2 or 3 fights at the top level. Only exception would be Anderson Silva and GSP.
TS....ummm so ur saying that challengers for the world title study the champion? this is earth shattering shit right here!! ANDDD u can think of 2 whole examples where this actually happened and worked? WOW!!
You forgot Jones and most of the dominant champions who stay on top for long tend to be well-rounded that is one of the differences. Or can win in many different ways as Jones, GSP and Silva have shown. JDS cant and couldn't and that was his downfall as well as his inability to adjust in fight. JDS could not make adjustments in the fight that suited his strengths and seemed to lack something that the other champions have which was the ability to adjust and make adjustments that suited their strengths. His lack of a well-rounded game was apparent in that fight as was his lack of adjustment making.
Gonna be even harder now since he's worked on his TDD a lot for the fights with Chael. If Silva never gets taken down, then Silva wins every time for sure.
Cain didn't need to do any extra "studying" to beat JDS. He employed the same gameplan he's employed for every single fight he's ever been in: Beat the opponent senseless at a ridiculous pace. JDS just got lucky the first time, as cliche as it sounds to say. The rubber match won't look any different than the second fight.
great comment. I do agree that ring IQ is the main reason why GSP and Silva have that winning streak. Fedor was the other guy who had it. He knew exactly what he was doing and why. In boxing I always felt Kostya Tszyu, Bernard Hopkins and Mayweather had that. Especially Tszyu: when I watched him box, he always had that plan inside his head and then he executed that plan. It probably has to do with the ability to adapt when you are inside the ring/octagon and feel your opponents strengths and his weaknesses. Only those fighters with a high ring IQ can exploit the weaknesses of their opponents no matter what fighting style they have.
He always had good TDD. What helped him defend the takedowns even better against Shale was the shorts grabbing.
agreed. Actually I remember Rogan or Goldberg saying once that Silva has statistically the best Take Down Defence of the whole division. He just couldn't deal with Sonnen's takedowns.
We also believe forbidden psychological technology was used. Cain was practically glowing after absorbing juniors energy
