Was anyone REALLY surprised how good Rory's Stand up looked?

I love BJ to death but damn Rory put on a clinic. Did not expect that out of him to be honest

 

I was surprised Rory didn't hold Penn down.

Not surprised that Rory couldn't finish. He doesn't have the skillset to finish Penn.

 

To be honest he had BJ hurt in the 2nd and it was really CLOSE to a finish, IMO Rory could've finished BJ but man BJ is a fucking warrior

 

Yea. I thought for sure he would take him down and try to gnp. Looked like he wanted to prove something.

 

Possibly. I'm glad to see Penn isn't getting horribly finished like Fedor, Crocop, and Chuck did at the end of their careers.

 

Penn was done after the first few clinchs and that elbow to the head. After that it was basically cherry picking.

De la Hoya had some advice for Rory:

 

i didn't think he would do that well on the feet, he looked real good

 

He probably would have stopped him with a higher volume and more commitment. His striking looked damn good. Suprisingly solid jab and strong kicks. He actually utilized his dimensional advantages quite well (which is relatively rare for MMA).

 

Yea.......

 

Another 5 minutes and Penn may have quit on his stool

 

Ehh, not to take anything away from Rory but im not sure BJ is the best test of his stand up skills right now. BJ seems to be a different fighter than the guy we used to see, and he was at such a size disadvantage that i take the stand up clinic with a grain of salt.

Dont get me wrong, Rory is a beast and looked really sharp but i just think that a better litmus test is needed to really get a look at his stand up. He almost never had to hang in the pocket and counter against BJ due to the range he fought at. That said i think Rory will probably be an elite striker sooner rather than later, he maybe be already, but we havent seen a match up that would give us the full picture the way i think a rematch with Condit will or a fight with a guy like Alves, Diaz, or Kampmann would.

 

People have made a lot out of this. I wouldn't be shocked if De la Hoya didn't even watch. Great fighter and promoter (or perhaps frontman is the better term) but he talks out of his ass a lot and always has an agenda. Jabbing to the body in this fight wouldn't have made a great deal of difference. Penn was already frozen up and Rory had his timing and distance down pat. A lack of volume, killer instinct and Penn's durability and decent defensive fundamentals were what prevented BJ from getting finished. Still, a dominant win for Rory.

 

Yea rory's standup looked good, but it's easy to look good when the other guy doesn't fight back. The only offense penn attempted was an overhand right, which didn't work b/c of rory's height advantage. Just caught shoulder. Hell, Chael Sonnen looks awesome just working on pads lol.

 

I was surprised, even though I expected Rory to win I thought he would focus more on taking Penn down, but granted his stand up probably looked better because the fear of a takedown.

 

jabbing to the body opens up the straight right/overhand right to the head.

 

I think he didn't want to risk pushing too hard for the finish. BJ has an excellent chin and does have power in his hands, it might have made him a little hesitant.

 

I agree with you. Even in the 1st round, BJ never pulled the trigger. He looked very hesitant, like a guy whose reflexes were gone. My fear for Rory is that this fight may have caused him to fall in love with his newfound striking ability, like so many wrestlers have before him. If he tries to stand with Condit for a round, he'll be looking up at the lights again.

 

He could have finished him easily, he just wanted to torture BJ to prove a point. He purposely let him recover so he could keep hitting and clowing on him. I though it was obvious.

 

I was surprised at just how dominant his boxing was. BJ has stood with the best boxers in the division and has always looked good for at least part of the fight (supposedly till he gassed) ... Diaz, GSP etc, but he couldn't do a thing against Rory and also took significant damage. That's very impressive and reflects Rory's skill.

 

Yes, it can. Hearns perhaps most famously used it like that to open up cannon of a straight right. My point is that the emphasis that Oscar put on it is rather arbitrary. Penn was already a sitting duck and Rory was landing most of what he was throwing (though, Penn did avoid a fair amount of his power shots to the head with his decent defense, so maybe it could have been a useful tool to open up the head). Still, I think all Rory had to do was keep up a high volume. I'm not going to fault him too much, though. He won easily enough and Penn isn't easy to finish even when he is a sitting duck (just ask Diaz).