Two thoughts about Topuria/Emmett

[BJJ4Tone]

his lack of a kicking game

He landed 19/26 kicks to the leg.
He definitely could have gone high more often, but I thought his kicking game was pretty effective. He was certainly hurting Emmett's leg pretty badly.

 

[Noraaq]

Emmett didnt get dripped left and right not sure where that came from

And Emmetts corner did wise up in the third or 4th and advised him to stay or get into the pocket which is something i was sceaming since round 1 whixh was easiser said. It was his only means with him telegraphing and Topuria being a bit reckless. Emmett missed his big chance in the secpnd amd just missed an opportunity to miss a cery crisp and mean hook to Tops face

Staying in the pocket was never Emmett’s decision to make. He was hitting air and arms while Topuria slipped and slid through out the fight. Topuria dictated the action this whole fight and when they did trade in the pocket it’s because Topuria chose to do so.

Emmett just wasn’t prepared for Topurias improved defense and cardio

 

[Here's Johnny!]

Man I'm more of a hater I think Emmett today would get beaten by every fighter in the top 15.... he never had a good skillset he was athletic and strong... when you win above your skill level due to physical gifts.... when they start to fade you see it.... I said it before this fight but I dont think emmett will win another ufc fight in his career ... 37 hit him hard 38 didn't help.

 

[Ralph Wiggum]

Young more risk averse Masvidal? Seriously? You mean the king of the point fighting split decision, terrible fight IQ Masvidal?

 

[BluntForceTrama]

That's fair enough. I was just throwing out suggestions. Staying in the pocket wasn't working though. Topuria has some tight inside boxing too. The kicks were the money for emmett. Low kicks were landing consistently. I'm sure he could have snuck in some head kicks after be kept him thinking about the low kicks.
Who knows the writing was probably on the wall, he was out classed but surely his corner could recognise what was working and what clearly wasn't. It was desperation time , he was down bad but just repeating what was already not working was stupid

i thought Emmet was most dangerous last night in the pocket especially the 2nd round but Top may have wised up or Emmett just wasnt puttinng the right combos together. He really should be better at countering becsuse he telwgraphs way too much to be a first striker His hand speed is average at best

 

[BluntForceTrama]

Staying in the pocket was never Emmett’s decision to make. He was hitting air and arms while Topuria slipped and slid through out the fight. Topuria dictated the action this whole fight and when they did trade in the pocket it’s because Topuria chose to do so.

Emmett just wasn’t prepared for Topurias improved defense and cardio

i prerty much agree with this

even though i thought emmett was most effective or potentially more effective in the pocket, there was only so much he could do and cpuld not dictate being in the pocket on his own.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

What advice did Whitman give? He's usually excellent in corners

I'm mistaken -- I just rewatched the fight a bit, and Whitman gave some decent advice. I'm probably mixing him up with someone else. I'm going to edit my post now lol Good catch mate

 

[fortheo]

That was the part I found really odd.
You're from Team Alpha Male. You certainly know how to wrestle and grapple. Plan A was CLEARLY not working. You're not interested in trying anything else??

Before the fight, I was listening to a podcast from a Belgian fighter who spent 3 months training at alpha male and he basically said emmett has fallen too much in love with boxing and barely even trains wrestling anymore. It shows.

 

[CPH]

You say Topuria switched to wrestling in the 5th when the gastank got low? Not sure I follow, wrestling is much more taxing

Topuria wasn't completely gassed, but he was flat enough to feel that he can no longer move and execute technically like he is used to, leaving him vulnerable. He still had the energy to get a desperately swinging Emmett down. The formula is different in the later rounds when both guys are running low on energy. Then it becomes a timing game - if you can catch the opponent overextending, you can get him down and keep him down with relatively little effort, all the while completely shutting down any chance he has for the lucky punch.

 

[Deleted member 587672]

Easy

8 + 8 + 9 +9 + 8 = 42

9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 45

1 judge gave more 8's than 9's
Last week 1 judge didn't give out a single 8 to any fighter on the entire card

Yeah but he gave a 9-8 out too?

Sorry. I am SO high right now.

 

[CPH]

I agree with a lot of what you said, but as far as corner work goes, I'm not quite there with you. Different fighters need different approaches. You can only give so much advice before it goes beyond their bandwidth mid fight. I'm not saying Danny Castillo looked like a mastermind last night, but I also don't feel he was just saying mindless gibberish.

With that said, I agree with you somewhat at the same time. Emmett was getting beaten quite severely. I did hear the corner ask a couple times if Emmett was okay though, and ultimately Emmett proved to at least have enough of his wits about him to make a valiant effort in the 5th. I can also appreciate a fan such as yourself showing care for the fighters over entertainment. I feel that a lot of folks forget that these guys are human just like the rest of us and that they have lives, friends, and families outside of MMA. They don't owe bloodthirsty fans shit.

I get the idea that fighters are different, and that in some cases, what a fighter actually needs is for the trainer to light a fire, to get him to wake up, overcome fatigue or to kick into high gear. My issue here is that the advice to "just bite down on the gumshield, fuck it" came in a fight where their guy had been getting beat up and dropped for four rounds straight. It's the combination of both the 'A' and 'B'.

Muay Thai and Boxing are brutal sports. Boxing in particular has left a trail of brain damage and death over its long history. It's still about money, entertainment and all that, but the trainers and refs seem far more tuned into where the line is between a competitive fight and a pointless beatdown. I am not saying that no mma corners care about their fighters, btw - just that there seems to be way too many of these cases where guys are being handled irresponsibly by their team.

 

[BluntForceTrama]

Man I'm more of a hater I think Emmett today would get beaten by every fighter in the top 15.... he never had a good skillset he was athletic and strong... when you win above your skill level due to physical gifts.... when they start to fade you see it.... I said it before this fight but I dont think emmett will win another ufc fight in his career ... 37 hit him hard 38 didn't help.

i honestly thought he was going to announce retirement after this He should. Unless he likes getting beaten down as a gatekeeper

 

[CPH]

Good point. Who knows what corners talk about in the gym. Maybe some of them have been told not to stop the fight.

It shouldn't really matter what the fighter thinks before or during the fight. The corner should have the power to overrule him under the right circumstances, for obvious reasons. Some fighters are given more slack than others, and I get that, but there is always a limit.

 

[CPH]

Emmett didnt get dripped left and right not sure where that came from

You're right. He only got dropped once.

 

[Masturbin]

2. The utter stupidity of MMA corners was once again on full display. Emmett was getting outclassed badly, dropped right and left, and used as a heavy bag. His dumbass coaches simply didn't give a fuck. On top of that, they stopped giving him any technical advice mid way through the fight, sending him off with bum lines like "swing hard, bite down on your mouthpiece, fuck it". If this were boxing, the fight would have been stopped by either the ref or the corner. But in MMA, the legacy of the early days freak shows is still very much present. There is a lot of talk about the promotion not taking care of the fighters, but no one talks about how way too many teams are shit-for-brains amateurs who don't look out for their guy. The result is careers being shortened and fighters left with permanent damage. It ain't just Diego - there are a lot more like him.

I dissagree.

Similar to ortega vs Volk.

Yes Emmet was getting destroyed and damaged hard but he still had that dog in him.
He did not quit nor did he have 0 path to victory.

At the end of round 3 and start of round 5 he got some momentum and could have koed Topo.

 

[Brettco]

They said that because they knew Emmett had no chance

He's a slow fighter with an overhand, against an all around guy

He reminds me of Roy Nelson.

 

[checktheknuckles]

He landed 19/26 kicks to the leg.
He definitely could have gone high more often, but I thought his kicking game was pretty effective. He was certainly hurting Emmett's leg pretty badly.

His leg kicks were pretty basic. Just calf kicks mostly against Emmett. That style of kicking isn't going to work well against Yair.

 

[CPH]

I dissagree.

Similar to ortega vs Volk.

Yes Emmet was getting destroyed and damaged hard but he still had that dog in him.
He did not quit nor did he have 0 path to victory.

At the end of round 3 and start of round 5 he got some momentum and could have koed Topo.

Obviously, you are not alone. Most people here agree with you and both DC and Cruz didn't seem to worry about Emmet either. I find this mindset weird and disconnected from reality though. To give just one of countless examples from boxing: Porter was more competitive with Crawford and had much better chances of winning the fight, even after the second KD, yet his father stopped the fight anyway. Meanwhile, Emmett ended up getting 50-42ed, according to one judge, and took 50 head strikes in rd4 ...yet his trainer sent him out there anyway.

 

[Paynebringer]

1. Obviously, like everyone else, I am thoroughly impressed with Topuria's all-around game. The boxing is very high level - the footwork, the timing, blocking, rolls, angling off, the the smart shot selection... The way he used the jab to catch Emmett lunging in, again and again, was impressive. And when he finally ran low on gas in the 5th, his wrestling and grappling were there, also very high level. His boxing reminds me of a young Masvidal except that he is much less risk averse. The one knock I have on him is that I think that he takes unnecessary risks in these early exchanges. I hope that he takes a more disciplined approach now that he is in the top 5. There is no need to impress or prove himself. Now is the time to win at all costs.

2. The utter stupidity of MMA corners was once again on full display. Emmett was getting outclassed badly, dropped right and left, and used as a heavy bag. His dumbass coaches simply didn't give a fuck. On top of that, they stopped giving him any technical advice mid way through the fight, sending him off with bum lines like "swing hard, bite down on your mouthpiece, fuck it". If this were boxing, the fight would have been stopped by either the ref or the corner. But in MMA, the legacy of the early days freak shows is still very much present. There is a lot of talk about the promotion not taking care of the fighters, but no one talks about how way too many teams are shit-for-brains amateurs who don't look out for their guy. The result is careers being shortened and fighters left with permanent damage. It ain't just Diego - there are a lot more like him.

Spot on assessment @CPH you always got that good deep eye to see what's going on in a fight, even at times we might buck full agreement with this one ↑↑↑

 

[NicholasJBasile]

I get the idea that fighters are different, and that in some cases, what a fighter actually needs is for the trainer to light a fire, to get him to wake up, overcome fatigue or to kick into high gear. My issue here is that the advice to "just bite down on the gumshield, fuck it" came in a fight where their guy had been getting beat up and dropped for four rounds straight. It's the combination of both the 'A' and 'B'.

Muay Thai and Boxing are brutal sports. Boxing in particular has left a trail of brain damage and death over its long history. It's still about money, entertainment and all that, but the trainers and refs seem far more tuned into where the line is between a competitive fight and a pointless beatdown. I am not saying that no mma corners care about their fighters, btw - just that there seems to be way too many of these cases where guys are being handled irresponsibly by their team.

Thank you for the response, and very well put. We need more fans that have such thoughts in my opinion. At the end of the day, I care more about these athletes outside of the cage than in it.