Was Werdum much better than in PRIDE?

[ExitLUPin]

Fabs clinch game has been improved since PRIDE but his grappling is much the same and his boxing and defense are still crap. He lands more combinations now but against lesser strikers. His technique is still poor and I didn't realise it until rewatching more of his older fights

Hunt, Cain and Stipe are the only good boxers he's fought recently. Roy, Browne and russow have shit boxing even and fab looked beast again them
Hunt was winning the fight pretty easy, knocked him down, was boxing him up and werdum couldn't even do anything in his guard. Hunt took fight on super short notice too and obviously gassed from altitude.

Hunt really only got beat by grapplers from top position and bit hard on a feinted TD which he prolly didn't have time to prepare for (werdum on top too) and got KOd

I underestimated how well Cain did too werdum looked sloppy with his striking at range before Cain started gassing and even dropped him.

Only difference in those fights were stipe stayed on the outside and wanted to lure fab in while hunt and cain were pressuring him. So the impact from stipes punch with fab going head on was much more devastating

Technique and approach wise this werdum didn't seem much different from the old werdum of several years ago. His defense hasn't improved at all IMO

Werdum is a great fighter 3rd alltime @ HW imo but some of his revent wins server very circumstantial IMO

 

[Luger]

He started using knees effectively, and became more confident with his striking in general.
And using gifs against Hunt does not tell a good tale where your striking is.

 

[CrimsonFan]

I think his confidence in his striking went up. Kind of ducked him over though

 

[sonhow]

Difference is "only" like night and day. He gets dropped but he is never really that hurt aside from the last fight of his.
He became much smarter as well. Him charching at Stipe was a result of 40 000 screaming Werdums. The disadvantage of hometown crowd.

 

[crofighter]

I have Werdum 5th at all time. Also, i dont get why people put Werdum ahead of JDS? JDS beat him, successfully defended his belt unlike Werdum, has been on top longer, and to me actually has better resume also.

 

[Buff]

Werdum was a borderline jobber in Pride that just stood there until it hit the mat... He knocked out Mark Hunt in the UFC. That shit would have been unthinkable in Pride.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

I voted Werdum improved on a few aspects. he improved some of his striking, but not fully, still too slow and stiff in the striking. BJJ has always been good. his takedowns have always been non-existent for the most part.

 

[EndlessCritic]

pride werdum would have lost to cain, browne, nelson

 

[Raziel82]

Werdum applied the duck and fall versus Overeem in their second fight. He found confidence in his striking in that fight. I the third round he was outstriking Overeem but this was because Overeem emptied his bloody gastank. After that he had a few good standup wins. But his old tactic, duck and fall down as soon as it looks like he's getting hit, he didn't apply versus Miocic. So he got knocked out, stepping forward like crazy. Third best HW all time? GTFO. Most slippery HW all time, for sure. Last fight he was outsmarted by a firefights though.

Anyway, he went from drop and fall after being hit once to stepping forward like crazy and requesting to be knocked out. Though, he has stepped forward more often in his career. He would've been wiser to have applied the tactic he used versus Reem though, but fighting at home, he could not let the fans down like that. Better fighter won.

 

[Tormund]

I've always said Werdums muay thai is sloppy and horrible in terms of technique.

 

[Deleted member 501827]

God I cringe everytime I watch that charge at Stipe. Its so damn amateur. Theres no excuse for a ufc champion to be looking that bad. Thats not even amateur, thats like street brawler shit.

 

[Medical Marijuana Man]

I've never trained a day in my life so I don't know.

Werdum gave Nog a competitive fight in PRIDE, he's always been legit IMO I think his overall striking improved, as well as his conditioning.

 

[Mochan]

Werdum changed a LOT.

He still has some of the same weaknesses, but he was very one-dimensional back in Pride, which is part of the reason why he sucked so bad and was still doing butt scoots and pulling guard.

Lousy takedowns, lousy wrestling, lousy clinch game, lousy striking. Excellent ground game.

Today, he still has lousy takedowns and wrestling, but his clinch now has some good Muay Thai techniques thrown in, and his striking is overall competent. He's also much more confident on his feet. I haven't seen Werdum buttscoot or pull guard since the Overeem fight. He's totally changed as a fighter, not 100% in all areas but he fights very differently now and is simply much more formidable.

He was like a joke back in Pride and even in Strike Force.

 

[Mochan]

God I cringe everytime I watch that charge at Stipe. Its so damn amateur. Theres no excuse for a ufc champion to be looking that bad. Thats not even amateur, thats like street brawler shit.

Bullshit. A lot of good fighters, heck even other very good champs (hello Aldo!) have done the same and lost the same. The counter that hit him is a very low-percentage shot that not many people can achieve, and it's very rarely seen. His rush was not amateurish, especially because he had wobbled Stipe a bit with a punch just before he went for the rush. He was going for the kill and he just got caught. It happens, however rare.

The Gods of Combat were smiling on Stipe that night, that's all.

 

[Deleted member 501827]

Bullshit. A lot of good fighters, heck even other very good champs (hello Aldo!) have done the same and lost the same. The counter that hit him is a very low-percentage shot that not many people can achieve, and it's very rarely seen. His rush was not amateurish, especially because he had wobbled Stipe a bit with a punch just before he went for the rush. He was going for the kill and he just got caught. It happens, however rare.

The Gods of Combat were smiling on Stipe that night, that's all.

Literally no one else thinks that. Everyone thought it was horrible sloppy technique and a stupid move. Stipe wasnt hurt at all. In fact it was Werdum who caught a counter that stunned him just prior to charging after him. It was the same exact shot too and then he charged him while hurt with chin straight in the air, without his feet under him throwing wild sloppy punches. It was truly embarassing and Im a Werdum fan.

 

[Conor McTouchbutt]

I wouldn't call the rush against Stipe Amateur.. but I think he drank a little too much of his own kool aid when it came to his striking.. (which is understandable, I would too if I KO'd Hunto). He's gotten a lot better imo with his clinchwork and striking combinations (especially against Browne) I'd still love to see a rematch with Hunt/Reem or JDS

 

[TimeisNOW]

^I'd call it extremely amateur, stupid considering his experience.


if werdum didn't right like rousey we would have had an entertaining fight

 

[Mochan]

Literally no one else thinks that. Everyone thought it was horrible sloppy technique and a stupid move. Stipe wasnt hurt at all. In fact it was Werdum who caught a counter that stunned him just prior to charging after him. It was the same exact shot too and then he charged him while hurt with chin straight in the air, without his feet under him throwing wild sloppy punches. It was truly embarassing and Im a Werdum fan.

Everyone is blind and just jumping on the "Werdum is GOAT he is a much better fighter than Stipe! He just lost because he lost his Fight IQ" bandwagon. Which is pure bullshit. Give Stipe his due. The man can box and he got Werdum's timing and rhythm.

Check the fight you'll notice that Werdum threw a punch -- it didn't really hurt Stipe per se but it wobbled him -- you'll see Stipe had some unstable footing for a second. That's when Werdum decided to go for the kill.

 

[I Am Legion]

Werdum had NO striking in PRIDE. Now he has decent knees and combos, and can cause damage on feet and on the ground. He isn't JDS on the feet but he also isn't the guy that would slap and jump right to his back like in the PRIDE days. Cain will destroy him in a rematch, JDS already beat him and Stipe is better on the feet and beat him as well. Overall a top 10 HW of all time, but not a top 5 guy imo.

 

[Deleted member 501827]

Everyone is blind and just jumping on the "Werdum is GOAT he is a much better fighter than Stipe! He just lost because he lost his Fight IQ" bandwagon. Which is pure bullshit. Give Stipe his due. The man can box and he got Werdum's timing and rhythm.

Check the fight you'll notice that Werdum threw a punch -- it didn't really hurt Stipe per se but it wobbled him -- you'll see Stipe had some unstable footing for a second. That's when Werdum decided to go for the kill.

I know Stipe is legit but Werdum still made a stupid mistake with horrible technique