Well, I was wrong. It seems Jiris style just doesnt work against someone with striking like Poatans.

[Donnybat]

It takes someone with some Goddamn grappling skills tbh. Jiri can beat a lot of guys I think Alex can't. Pereira has had nothing but favorable matchups. It's not his fault, but it's still annoying

Jan was as close to a grappler as he’s had but did pretty well against him in that regard.
Really would love to Alex leg kick Jones though!

 

[Momentosis]

In a striking sense, Jiri is the kind of fighter to beat a technician like Poatan. Remember the saying about how you need to "brawl the boxer and box the brawler"? It's why Mayweather has had some of his tougher fights against more aggressive and puncher style boxers like Maidana and Cotto.

The big equalizer though is that Poatan hits like a god damn monster on top of being a technician.

 

[HatKick]

I wonder how good Jiri would be with solid kickboxing fundamentals. He is already insanely talented in terms of power, athleticism, cardio, chin and has all the heart in the world. His intelligence is questionable but he's pretty much the whole package talent-wise.
He could still throw some unorthodox techniques at times but what if he had a skillset more similar to Jan Blachowicz instead of Johnny Walker? He also has the tools for a nasty Thai clinch.

 

[orca]

i mean i already knew who would win in this fight
pretty obvious lol

 

[TriangleMonkey]

Does Jiri even spar?

He fights as if he just makes stuff up

 

[blaseblase]

Almost like blocking punches with his face against Rakic should have been the evidence that he made no adjustments to suggest a rematch would go any differently. People have called Gaethje the Homer Simpson of MMA but it's Jiri.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

In a striking sense, Jiri is the kind of fighter to beat a technician like Poatan. Remember the saying about how you need to "brawl the boxer and box the brawler"? It's why Mayweather has had some of his tougher fights against more aggressive and puncher style boxers like Maidana and Cotto.

The big equalizer though is that Poatan hits like a god damn monster on top of being a technician.

From a core style vs. style match-up it favors Poatan, but there is a lot of truth in what you said - I re-watched the first fight and Jiri did far better than I remembered. His awkward entries and constant lunging/resetting was giving Poatan issues with the timing/range and making it difficult to get a bead on what he was doing next. You aren't going to be a more outside technical kickboxer than Poatan, so why fight him in that style context?

The short notice rematch led to all the wrong adjustments - start southpaw to limit leg kicks and fight slower to not be as exposed, but it just completely eliminated him as an offensive threat which is what makes him a dangerous fighter. No pressure, no variety of striking attacks, no pushing a pace, just content to let the fight "flow" which means he was getting attritional damage throughout.

He lost the entire first round but wasn't getting destroyed, then with a few seconds left decides to lunge in for no reason and basically gets flash KO'd by the left hook.

 

[13Seconds]

Fuck I miss prime machida.

I don't. He was good. But boring.

 

[Fedora Millionankles]

I legit thought this was a fifty fifty fight, and the last time we saw it just happened to be one of the 5 times out of 10 it goes Alex's way. After what was saw last night, however, it's clear to me Prochazka's style just can't work against Periera. He's too quick, too accurate, and too powerful for someone with such wild antics like Jiri. Jiri I think is capable of beating just about anyone else in the LHW division, but Poatan will just clock him every time. Jiri relies on taking punishment, but he cannot take Alex's punishment. That's clear as day.

He's not getting another title shot as long as Poatan is champ, either. Taking this fight on such short notice seems like a dumb idea for him in retrospect.

It’s not really his striking style that’s a problem, it’s his complete disregard for any fundamental defense.
You can’t sit in the pocket with your hands at your waist with poor head movement and you can’t throw strikes with your chin in the air against Poatan.

 

[Fedora Millionankles]

I don't. He was good. But boring.

Machida is super exciting when you watch his highlight reel . lol

 

[legcramp]

Didn't you hear? Jiri is a bum and was never an elite fighter.

 

[2004 account]

I always saw jiris ceiling and noted his lack of fight iq im certain situations. His defense sucks. Mid tier to me.

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

Jan was as close to a grappler as he’s had but did pretty well against him in that regard.
Really would love to Alex leg kick Jones though!

No he didn't. He arguably lost that fight

 

[ocfightfan]

Jiri's wild car crash style can work against mediocre strikers, but not against elite technical strikers like Alex. Truthfully relying on your chin and toughness is a dumb long term strategy. You might get away with it early and at low levels but eventually its going to catch up to you either in accumulated damage or a highly skilled striker seeing through the buzzsaw of nonsense.

 

[Donnybat]

Jiri's wild car crash style can work against mediocre strikers, but not against elite technical strikers like Alex. Truthfully relying on your chin and toughness is a dumb long term strategy. You might get away with it early and at low levels but eventually its going to catch up to you either in accumulated damage or a highly skilled striker seeing through the buzzsaw of nonsense.

‘‘Twas none of that mate. Clearly it’s was the powers of Aztec black magic. Jiri said so

 

[Donnybat]

No he didn't. He arguably lost that fight

But he didn’t.

 

[Natural Order]

Jiri's fight IQ (IQ in general let's be honest) is terrible. His in/out bouncing with hands at his side is about the absolute worst technique one could assume against one of the best kickboxers of all-time. Does this guy even train with people advising him?

 

[Kompromat]

If your striking style involves getting hit or taking chances or trading blows, then you cant beat Alex Pereira. Thats it really. Either you outclass him entirely or you eat a shot and go out sooner or later. Jiri aint it. It takes someone like Izzy or Anderson Silva or perhaps Machida in his prime. Someone with the speed, range and technique to outclass him. Izzy does it best and at best in MMA its 50-50 so far. At LHW I doubt Izzy could pull it off. But nobody who fights like Jiri can beat Pereira. Even some of the all time LHW greats like Shogun, Wanderlei, Dan Henderson, forget about it.

Actually Jan did quite well against Pereira. And surprisingly Bruno Silva, who was very evidently much slower than Alex but was still catching him occasionally and even unleashed a very solid combo at the end of Rd2 that somewhat wobbled him. Was strange to see considering the skill gap but I suppose Alex was still getting used to MMA striking.

 

[shunyata]

Jan was as close to a grappler as he’s had but did pretty well against him in that regard.
Really would love to Alex leg kick Jones though!

I know it's speculation, but Glover mauled Jan in grappling and Alex has been training to get out and stand up with Glover on him in the gym for a while now. I know they only release his kickboxing sparring rounds on youtube, but you know Glover's been working him off camera in the get up standup style of anti jiujitsu for years now.