To make a comeback Werdum just needs to work on his takedowns.

[FedorGOAT]

I have said it for a while that Werdum relies too much on his opponents for taking him down or Otherwise he tends to be complacent by trading blow on standings. Now He has a great Muay Thai , great Clinch game, Knees & Kicks, but seriously Punching/Boxing isn't his forte. So instead of investing more time on a skill he is not good at, he should invest his time on a skill which will complement his bread & butter. Which I don't why, he surprisingly have neglected thus far.

In this case it's takedown. For an example He has a fellow BJJ practitioner in Maia. After K1 Maia started investing more times in his wrestling, he has literally become a formidable/unbeatable juggernaut .

He has submission wins over Cain,Fedor, Nog, Overeem etc which is quite impressive, but majority of it came out of scramble which he can't expect in his every match.

Another thing to remember is that time isn't in his favour, So if he wants to make another run to the title ( And I believe he has it in him) he really needs to take it seriously.

P.S: I am not saying he has to improve his whole wrestling game but just that takedown & I am not implying that his striking is bad, it's clearly not. But he isn't an elite striker either. SO it would make more sense to stick to his main skill which makes him dangerous.

 

[Dragon Punch]

He just needs to not charge at his opponent like Ronda did against Holly.

 

[FedorGOAT]

He just needs to not charge at his opponent like Ronda did against Holly.

Which is a consequence of not having a takedown game. When he didn't get that single leg takedown, only after that very moment he started to charge on Stipe . If he had gotten it, I think he wouldn't have encountered that KO.

 

[Mattitude V1]

Which is a consequence of not having a takedown game. When he didn't get that single takedown, only after that very moment he started to charge on Stipe . If he had got it, I think he wouldn't have encountered that KO.

He has good takedowns. He's the first and IIRC only person to take down Travis Browne in a fight.

 

[MarleyLynx]

Which is a consequence of not having a takedown game. When he didn't get that single leg takedown, only after that very moment he started to charge on Stipe . If he had gotten it, I think he wouldn't have encountered that KO.

Stipe won. But let's not act like that fight was a strategic breakdown where Werdum lost his will to fight and just said fuck it. It was short and sweet and werdum played his hand very poorly. In 100 rematches that would probably not go down like that - even though stipe would likely win more than lose (and i called that pre-fight).

People read way too much into taht fight for the short bit it was.
Just embrace your new HW champ, Alistar Overeem.

He's going to go through Stipe like a hot knife through butter.

 

[FedorGOAT]

He has good takedowns. He's the first and IIRC only person to take down Travis Browne in a fight.

That might be an exception or otherwise I know he wasn't able to take Kharitonov down who has large hole in his TDD. Also you can't keep Travis on that high regards. Besides Barnett & Overeem he really didn't face any good fighters before their match. If it wasn't for those controversial elbows, Barnett would have secured at least one takedown on him.

 

[Mattitude V1]

That might be an exception or otherwise I know he wasn't able to take Kharitonov down who has large hole in his TDD. Also you can't keep Travis on that high regards. Besides Barnett & Overeem he really didn't fight any good fighters ala Werdum. If it wasn't for those controversial elbows, Barnett would have secured at least one takedown on him.

Based on what? He took down Cain, Nog, Browne, etc. The only recent opponents he didn't get down were Hunt and Stipe.

 

[FedorGOAT]

Based on what? He took down Cain, Nog, Browne, etc. The only recent opponents he didn't get down were Hunt and Stipe.

Both his Takedowns against Cain & Nog came out of scramble. I have to rewatch that match again, but I think it was Big Nog who took him down in the second round & In his solo takedown against Cain, I can vividly remember Cain throwing a sloppy body kick, Which caused him lose his balance. Werdum caught his leading leg & took him down.

Only his takedowns against Browne were clear takedowns.

 

[JollyRants]

I have said it for a while that Werdum relies too much on his opponents for taking him down or Otherwise he tends to be complacent by trading blow on standings. Now He has a great Muay Thai , great Clinch game, Knees & Kicks, but seriously Punching/Boxing isn't his forte. So instead of investing more time on a skill he is not good at, he should invest his time on a skill which will complement his bread & butter. Which I don't why, he surprisingly have neglected thus far.

In this case it's takedown. For an example He has a fellow BJJ practitioner in Maia. After K1 Maia started investing more times in his wrestling, he has literally become a formidable/unbeatable juggernaut .

He has submission wins over Cain,Fedor, Nog, Overeem etc which is quite impressive, but majority of it came out of scramble which he can't expect in his every match.

Another thing to remember is that time isn't in his favour, So if he wants to make another run to the title ( And I believe he has it in him) he really needs to take it seriously.

P.S: I am not saying he has to improve his whole wrestling game but just that takedown & I am not implying that his striking is bad, it's clearly not. But he isn't an elite striker either. SO it would make more sense to stick to his main skill which makes him dangerous.

Yeah takedowns are why he lost lol.

 

[Suffocation]

Yeah takedowns are why he lost lol.

Largely this, he decided to abandon his fairly consistently High Fight IQ for about a full three minutes against a natural born puncher and he was separated from his consciousness for it.

He should make a clean return to the Octagon, though, all fighters make these kinds of mistakes at least once or twice in their careers, it's just that at Heavyweight you stand to pay a greater price for them.

 

[FedorGOAT]

Yeah takedowns are why he lost lol.

Again he bumrushed only after not getting that single leg takedown. And a lot of thinks can be said there. Bad gameplaing, he wen emotional & panicked. I am not trying to rob Stipe from his win as it's a legit victory.

Besides I made this thread in a general sense. It's not a breakdown of his fight against Stipe. It's not about what mistake he made against Stipe. In his second run, He probably have to face JDS & Arlovski, which stylistically can give him a lot of trouble. I am talking about those possible upcoming matches, where his existing style won't work & he have to have those takedowns or otherwise his chances are slim.

 

[Nuremberg]

I like Wedum but what he did was a school boy error and his total lack of respect for Stipe was foolhardly and he paid for it in his motherland in front of his people, AND HE TRAINS AT KINGS MMA. Disgraceful.

He should learn the mental aspect in the cage more as opposed to making faces and talking. I beleive and hope he can beat Stipe, but Stipe is a no nonesense man, a respectful Werdum would fair better.

 

[MikeMcMann]

He just needs to not charge at his opponent like Ronda did against Holly.

Its not that easy.

I would bet the game plan was to not fight at range, EVER. You are either on the ground or in clinch doing MT and looking to take it to the ground. But NEVER stay at range. I bet that is what they drilled into him.

Sure when charging to try and punch into clinch range versus someone with good boxing lateral foot movement who can counter punch it looks obvious you should not do it. But if he had hung back trying to pick his spots for a TD and instead got KO'd at range everyone would say he was trying to be K1 Maia and should have got the TD or to clinch.

A lot of people on this site do not yet recognize the value of good defensive footwork and think if a dominant grappler wants a fight on the ground it will just go there. Holly taught Ronda that is not the case. Werdum will struggle against Stipe and JDS for that reason.

 

[SH10151]

he should have taken the fight seriously. It was bad mojo to be clowning around all the way up to the starting bell. his take down attempt had no set up. his boxing wasnt too bad at first but he got impatient and sloppy when Stipe started having more success on the feet.

 

[Striderx5]

I find it hard for a Bjj wiz, of old school Bjj (non new age competition style) has problems with take downs. Werdum just overreacted. Not taking anything away from stipe, werdum made a horrible choice and stipe took advantage

 

[Mixfight]

Werdum has good takedowns. He took down Bigfoot Silva, Aleks Emelianenko, Brandon Vera with finesse. He has good trips and sneaky dragdowns but hasnt been using them as much recently.

 

[yaheyyosurveysays]

Stipe might be too strong for him so he has to relay in his bjj in rematch

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

he certainly needs to improve his takedowns, it would benefit his game hugely.

 

[Mochan]

I have said it for a while that Werdum relies too much on his opponents for taking him down or Otherwise he tends to be complacent by trading blow on standings. Now He has a great Muay Thai , great Clinch game, Knees & Kicks, but seriously Punching/Boxing isn't his forte. So instead of investing more time on a skill he is not good at, he should invest his time on a skill which will complement his bread & butter. Which I don't why, he surprisingly have neglected thus far.

Agreed, have said this many times. Werdum can't take anyone down for jackshit. The fight occurs expressly where his opponent wants it to happen.

He probably imagined that improving his standup would be better because it woudl make him a more complete fighter that could fight on the ground and on the feet. And in many ways this is correct, because sometimes takedowns just fail and when that happens he is left with absolutely nothing. So improving his striking is actually IMO the correct path for him.

Look at Maia. Maia worked on his takedowns but still neglected his striking. He still has issues even at Welterweight... huge issues. He would get much more mileage if he improved his striking to a deadly level the way Werdum has.

When your opponent fears you both standing and on the feet -- the way a lot of people began fearing Werdum -- it makes everything so much easier. But when your opponent only needs to fear one thing, it becomes so much easier for them and so much harder for you.

That's exactly what Maia is facing right now. So let's see -- Werdum -- won the HW Belt. Maia -- still no belt. So yeah. I'd say Werdum had the right idea.

In this case it's takedown. For an example He has a fellow BJJ practitioner in Maia. After K1 Maia started investing more times in his wrestling, he has literally become a formidable/unbeatable juggernaut .

LOL no Maia is not an unbeatable juggernaut. Even though he won all rounds against Brown, he's not even in title shot contendership yet. And he had issues against Brown. Barely managed to eke out the finish. Maia shoudl start improving his stand up and become a complete MMA fighter. All the greats are complete fighters. Maia is still a one-dimensional fighter.

 

[Mochan]

Its not that easy.

I would bet the game plan was to not fight at range, EVER. You are either on the ground or in clinch doing MT and looking to take it to the ground. But NEVER stay at range. I bet that is what they drilled into him.

Sure when charging to try and punch into clinch range versus someone with good boxing lateral foot movement who can counter punch it looks obvious you should not do it. But if he had hung back trying to pick his spots for a TD and instead got KO'd at range everyone would say he was trying to be K1 Maia and should have got the TD or to clinch.

A lot of people on this site do not yet recognize the value of good defensive footwork and think if a dominant grappler wants a fight on the ground it will just go there. Holly taught Ronda that is not the case. Werdum will struggle against Stipe and JDS for that reason.

Much truth here for those that don't get it. Werdum can't sit back and outbox with Stipe. Stipe will just eat him alive as he gets in his rhythm and finds his range. Stipe has the advantage in a protracted distance striking battle with his much superior reach, technical boxing, speed and footwork.

Werdum is strongest in close range with his clinch and possible takedowns to grapple.