That's not true at all about Tibau vs. RDA. RDA stuffed td's for the most and went for some of his own. Tibau won on the feet, and I thought by a good margin, hurting RDA multiple times. He almost had RDA out of there, and that's a rarity for Tibau. A good majority also seemed to think Dunham beat RDA in the feet. I wasn't one of them, but still, that's another time he could have lost on the feet, to a VASTLY inferior striker to Pettis. Not to mention a while back Stephens ko'ed him, Guida broke his jaw, Griffin beat him on the feet, etc. So there is plenty of precedent here for winning against RDA on the feet and finishing him there, not that Pettis has shown to need it.
I think the type of opponent RDA struggles with is an aggressive one. He likes to be the aggressor. That's how he finished Bendo, High, etc. He got them up against the fence with nowhere to go. Cerrone and Diaz are kind of aggressive, but in a super methodical way, so he used his speed against them. Can't use speed against Pettis, really. RDA might have been the aggressor against Pettis until he started disrespecting him with the baseless overrated talk. Cerrone did the same, Pettis took the center of the cage, and put on the performance of his career arguably. Now I think the same happens against RDA. Shit talking Pettis was one of the worst mistakes he's made in his career. A pissed off Pettis is almost an unbeatable one. You have to get to him early when he's nervous and feeling you out. The first few minutes of a fight has been when he's shown the most susceptibility in his career. But not now, after the smack talk, and now that the pressure is off from his first defense, as well as the anticipation from a super long layoff not being there.
