What, No Knees, Really Junior?

[Black Gi]

dos santos throws very few kicks and no knees at all.

That's a problem.

 

[Minnja]

JDS really got to figure out how to fight a wrestler like Cain. Whether he wants to learn to implement knees or learn to better predict the shoot and keep his hands up, he's really got to do something before he fights Cain again.

JDS keeping his hands so low makes sense to stop the shot, but Cain is one of the fastest HW so it's not safe to keep his hands low like that unless he also learns some legit head movement like Anderson. He can try putting knees into his game but that could very well just lead to him getting taken down at will. Imo JDS needs to improve on timing knees and using head movement. Generally speaking JDS will murder all slow grapplers, but someone like Cain will not be beaten like that.

 

[SideKickPro24]

Well I think cans pace and the knockdown took a lot out of jr. and I'd imagine it put a tremendous fear of being taken down in his head. That being said I do remember one occasion when jds had underhooks at Cains armpits and there was literally no way Cain could have caught the knee if he threw it. I'm sure that when they go back and watch the tape (especially if he gets machidas take on it) he'll start in
cooperating knees in his tdd. for those who think knees get you taken down its actually not the case more often than not if the knees are quick and to the body

 

[SideKickPro24]

Well I think cans pace and the knockdown took a lot out of jr. and I'd imagine it put a tremendous fear of being taken down in his head. That being said I do remember one occasion when jds had underhooks at Cains armpits and there was literally no way Cain could have caught the knee if he threw it. I'm sure that when they go back and watch the tape (especially if he gets machidas take on it) he'll start in
cooperating knees in his tdd. for those who think knees get you taken down its actually not the case more often than not if the knees are quick and to the body

When your tired and getting beat down though your gonna go with what your comfortable doing. And for jds that's his hands

 

[Manila**]

Now we all know that Junior Dos Santos is known for his upper limb strikes rather than his lower.

And by around the 3rd he started throwing some jolting inside elbows to the face of Cain Valasquez, but Cain was often open for knees to the body.

Knees to the body can sap the opponents energy and best case scenario end a fight.

It is somewhat surprising that JDS did not utilise this tool, even more so that he was raised under the same umbrella as Anderson Silva.

Hat

 

[Dedfish]

You're an idiot, he would get his leg caught and get taken down immediately.

 

[Emjay]

But ... but ... he looked so much bigger at the weigh-ins ...

 

[wowspare]

I remember an instance during the first round where JDS threw a knee in the clinch and Cain almost caught the leg.... Junior was probably wary of throwing knees after that

 

[FightsFTW]

I was alot more suprised JDS didnt throw any uppercuts.

Cain was so open for uppercuts since he closed in so obviously with his head down all the time, but JDS never capitalized on that.

Watch that fight again, I definitely saw him throw uppercuts, can't recall how many, but I saw them in the fight.

 

[Natman2939]

Are you suggesting that Anderson has displayed the better TDD overall?

all his ufc fights vs all of jds' ufc fights? Yeah, I'd say that.

He probably displayed more TDD in the Maia fight alone than JDS has in his whole career

but if you add the 2nd sonnen fight and henderson and bonnar and anyone else who tried to take him down, Silva definitely has shown more.

My evidence is simply that JDS hasn't shown hardly any:
-he defended one weak takedown from gonzaga
-he defended one VERY weak takedown from an already hurt Carwin


and that's about it. I've never really counted the little foot grab in the 1st cain fight, and in the 2nd fight he was taken down at will.

 

[Kumason]

Anderson knees wrestlers.

Junior has better TTD.

So no.

I wrestled for most of my life and at a high level for a long time anderson silva has terrible tdd from doubles but his tdd from upper body locks is absolutely phenomenal.It's crazy a guy could have such a dramatic difference between the two.Silva throws his knees from and off of upper body clinches something he's done a million times before and if the guy drops for a double while silva's throwing a knee ...forget about it.Totally different styles but thank you I love to laugh at these hindsight what a guy shoulda done posts.The best is when frank trigg commentates after every fight he's like well if this guy just did this he would have knocked him out etc. it always makes me laugh.

I can't imagine JDS changing his game too much throwing knees would throw off his whole base for his boxing and his footwork two things he rely's on so heavily.I always hope the best for JDS but I don't really see knees being a big part of his game with his style.

 

[mmass]

Dont Know JDS just looked not ready ,and he was going backwards , not intrested in match in first round, and after that well.......
Maybe someone won a lot of money from this fight????????????

You could say similar things about lots of fights but where does that get you? Occam's Razor.

 

[Rackus]

JDS seems gassed for whatever reason before cain even landed that punch in the 1st. Never seen him slow down in the 1st b4, especially since he was defending mostly and not throwing all that much. The 3rd fight should be interesting.

 

[Dramacydal]

It's probably also worth mentioning that Anderson Silva has a solid BJJ game, whereas I've seen nothing to suggest JDS is slick on the ground.

That means it's not the end of the world for Silva to go down, so he can be a little riskier with his strikes.

 

[Alexandergreat3]

JDS isn't a muay thai kickboxer like Overeem, so knees attack might not come automatically in the clinch.

 

[That209]

Anderson knees wrestlers.

Anderson Silva is the best fighter in the world and has been for a very long time, and his BJJ is also better than Junior's. Anderson's movement is one of his main things, he's a lot better at moving than Junior and he's always been better in the clinch and his countering is better.

JDS can improve where he went wrong, but Anderson Silva is the best and he does these things because he doesn't worry about TD's because he's not only dangerous in one spot. He's comfortable everywhere.

 

[SUPERCHARGED]

Hmmmmm I see alot of Overeem haters here saying JDS should have used knees in the clinch and timed some brutal kicks to Cain and that would have slowed Cain down. JDS is not a kickboxer nor does he have good MT skills. His skillset is very limited.

But it does sound very much like what Overeem will do and does. The irony is amusing.

 

[SUPERCHARGED]

I agree. Junior needs to vary his attack more. So many times in this fight it was so apparent that he was looking for a big right uppercut or a big right hook. If you spend your night looking for one shot against an opponent as intelligent as Velasquez, you make it easy for them.

I have been saying this for a very long time. JDS is very predictable with his strikes. His lack of diversity in that department would eventually catch up to him more and more.

 

[chubbypickle]

blah u never know he did what he could he will come back stronger next fight no doubt with his heart

 

[Squarechoke]

True indeed.

I'm not talking about flying knees in the middle of the octagon.

I'm talking about knees from the clinch ala Kongo.

JDS could and should have used them.

He could have won the fight with them.

I highly doubt that would have made much difference. You assume that Cain wouldn't compensate for JDS starting to use the knees, which isn't very logical.

You also claim that it's so easy because Anderson throws knees now and then against wrestlers, and completely disregard that JDS stated himself that he was really worried about the takedowns and therefor made more fundamental errors than not using knees.

You're starting in the wrong end and your conclusions are too shallow imo. Of course JDS could have thrown a knee here and there, but that certainly wasn't the biggest problems he had.