What in Wanderlei's striking got him to where he is?

[Apollo Creed]

He had brutal soccer kicks and stomps. All of which he can't use in the octagon.

He also earned the nickname "The Axe Murderer" from a commentator after brutalizing Mike Van Aresdale in Brazil early in his career. If someone else gives you a nickname like that, you're doing something right.

 

[Raff01**]

Agressive style with powerful hands at a time where MMA was still developping and fought mostly outmatched japanese grapplers.

 

[Mikeyz]

His killer instinct!

When he had a guy hurt in his prime 10/10 his opponents got KO'd in brutal fashion.

 

[caesar]

Agressive style with powerful hands at a time where MMA was still developping and fought mostly outmatched japanese grapplers.

His first fight with Sakuraba defined what Wanderlei's career would become, at that time watching that beating it was shocking, frightening, a brutality that wasn't seen like that before, it scared people lol, the dude with the tattoo across the back of his head, Wanderlei just had the perfect look, attitude, and on camera presence in his prime that clicked.

 

[Andre Xiong]

Brute force plus speed with a dash of technique. It isnt pretty but dont mistake Wands striking for Clay Guidas or Diego Sanchez or even Leben. Wand does turn his hips and lowers his base; basic subtle movements to maximize force. Watch his fights against Rampage to see how scary fast, powerful and versatile Wand was: punches kicks knees in your face. He had the chin, takedown defense and enough BJJ to round out his skillset.

 

[JaPo]

 

[Tater Raider]

Combination of speed and power , people tend to forget how fast he was. Hand and Eye coordination as well as speed and dexterity are intangibles the most people don't take into account. Those are also the first to go in all athletes , not just combat sports. Alot of fighters can retain their power into their declining years but the speed and flexibility are just not there.

 

[DiGiTaLiCeBLaSt]

he fought a bunch of scrubs in pride, half of the fighters he fought shouldnt even be classed as pro's more like amateurs.

he was always a mediocre fighter and as soon as he fought real competition he got destroyed by mark hunt and then a legion of other fighters including american hero hendo

he couldnt even beat chris leben ffs, guys a bonafied scrub

Your a fool in their first bout he gave Dan Henderson one of the worst ass woopings ever in mma. Trust me if the UFC rules had knees and kicks to a ground opponent he would have brutalized many of his opponents.

 

[rraaju]

when did Wand puss out of 175? i just heard now. Sonnen is one brave mofo though, no TRT for either Vitor or himself means fair fight and it also means suicide

 

[linvillegorge]

What is all this talk about Wand's chin? He never had a great chin, but in his younger days he could recover very quickly.

What made his striking successful was pure, overwhelming aggression. It's not a surprise that when his chin went south and he couldn't recover as quickly he started losing. In his prime, he was a fucking animal, but that seems like a lifetime ago.

 

[moreorless87]

Wanderlei is I'd say a fighter like Nog were the "legend" of what he was suppsosed to be has been pushed so hard its obscured the reality.

Just as Nog wasn't a guy who got his ass kicked and then pulled off a sub most of the time in Pride so Wanderlei wasn't mostly a wildman who depended on bullrushing opponents.

The classic image of Wanderlei throwing extended sequences wild hooks or going crazy with knees/stomps is not really the foundation of his success, indeed the wild hooks were often a sign things weren't going his way.

Silva was never a technically masterful kickboxer but he was supprizingly accurate when throwing those hooks in ones and twos(rather than 3-4's) and mixed in a good straight and some good kicks as well. Landing those big punches quickly and accurately is what put Wanderlei in trouble in both Pride fights, its what hurt Hendo, Nak, Mezger, Tamura and Saku the 3rd time.

The second round of Wanderlei/Stann is I'd say as close to the kind of performance he built his career on as we've seen in the UFC just with more speed and power back then.

 

[Apollo Creed]

What is all this talk about Wand's chin? He never had a great chin, but in his younger days he could recover very quickly.

What made his striking successful was pure, overwhelming aggression. It's not a surprise that when his chin went south and he couldn't recover as quickly he started losing. In his prime, he was a fucking animal, but that seems like a lifetime ago.

Agreed. He was dropped many times with hard shots, then popped back up like nothing happened. Never showed signs of spaghetti legs.

 

[Tater Raider]

Alot of athletes are on the decline after age 25 , other peak in their 30's. Really just depends on the athlete , some people are just early bloomers. If you look at Wand he has been fighting since he was a really young man. He is in his mid 30's and you could easily mistake him for being close to 50 by looking at him.

 

[linvillegorge]

Alot of athletes are on the decline after age 25 , other peak in their 30's. Really just depends on the athlete , some people are just early bloomers.

What athletes are on the decline at 25, unless significant injury issues are the cause?

 

[The Campos]

his mentality

 

[Tater Raider]

What athletes are on the decline at 25, unless significant injury issues are the cause?

Recent studies have shown the average career length for the major U.S. Sports: NFL- 3.5 years. NBA- 4.8 years. MLB- 5.6 years.

 

[Tater Raider]

That is not to say they are useless , just on the decline.

 

[Tsarcasmic]

He fought people who didn't know how to exploit his wild striking.

 

[Tater Raider]

Also Arthritis can start to set in on the knees of athletes as early as their 20's.