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Back in the WEC, Bendo was an incredibly athletic grappler/wrestler/clinch artist who had good GnP, a fearsome guillotine, and solid kicks per his TKD background. He beat people up in close quarters.
You could pretty much count on him to physically dominate his opponents, but he was never a guy to strictly out-strike them, or to knock guys out on the feet. That approach carried over to his early UFC career, where we saw him just dominate Jim Miller in the 2nd half of their fight.
That Bendo hasn't been around since he wore the LW belt. He's still an incredibly physically imposing athlete, with tremendous lower- and upper-body strength. But for some reason, he doesn't try to apply his killer close quarters game.
The only time I saw Bendo clearly outstrike an opponent since he won the UFC LW strap was Nate Diaz, who like his brother have a stance that allows opponents to brutalize them with kicks to their front leg.
While I thought his front side kicks to the thigh and rear leg-to-rear leg kicks last night were slick, it's point fighting, and one can live or die by the sword doing that.
The old Bendo used to dominate opponents. And it's not like we can use the argument that the UFC competition is better, since the guys he fought in the WEC title fights were as good an anyone in the UFC.
Granted, we know Cowboy's wrestling game and TDD have come a long way since the WEC, and he's developed that nasty counter knee against wrestlers.
But I just can't figure Bendo out. It's like he left the part of his game that made him so fearsome on the wayside after getting to the LW title in the UFC.
You could pretty much count on him to physically dominate his opponents, but he was never a guy to strictly out-strike them, or to knock guys out on the feet. That approach carried over to his early UFC career, where we saw him just dominate Jim Miller in the 2nd half of their fight.
That Bendo hasn't been around since he wore the LW belt. He's still an incredibly physically imposing athlete, with tremendous lower- and upper-body strength. But for some reason, he doesn't try to apply his killer close quarters game.
The only time I saw Bendo clearly outstrike an opponent since he won the UFC LW strap was Nate Diaz, who like his brother have a stance that allows opponents to brutalize them with kicks to their front leg.
While I thought his front side kicks to the thigh and rear leg-to-rear leg kicks last night were slick, it's point fighting, and one can live or die by the sword doing that.
The old Bendo used to dominate opponents. And it's not like we can use the argument that the UFC competition is better, since the guys he fought in the WEC title fights were as good an anyone in the UFC.
Granted, we know Cowboy's wrestling game and TDD have come a long way since the WEC, and he's developed that nasty counter knee against wrestlers.
But I just can't figure Bendo out. It's like he left the part of his game that made him so fearsome on the wayside after getting to the LW title in the UFC.
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