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I've always wondered about this and I'm starting to suspect he had seconditis. He didn't want to win, not deep down, subconsciously.
He came into the UFC with two tons of momentum behind him and expectations couldn't have been higher.
A 6'5", shredded 265lb HW with devastating striking and excellent submissions (including a Peruvian Necktie). This was his run up to his UFC debut:
TKOs Paul Buentello in the 2nd round of his Strikeforce debut, winning the belt
KOed Tae Hyun Lee in 36 seconds
Submitted Mark Hunt in 71 seconds
NC against CroCop for low knees
Submitted Gary Goodrige in 1:47
Submitted Tony Sylvester in 1:27
Submitted James 'The Colossus' Thompson in 33 seconds
KOed Fujita in 1:15
TKOed Brett Rogers in 3:40
KOed Todd Duffee (brutally) in 19 seconds, winning the DREAM belt
Decisioned Werdum - Werdum tried a couple of TDS, failed, then kept flopping to his back in a shameful display
UFC debut: KOed Lesnar in 2:26
Imagine getting Brock Lesnar on your debut lol - then finishing him in the first round. This was huge at the time.
Reem then didn't fight for 14 months and then that's when things started going wrong.
He was styling on Bigfoot, then somehow got repeatedly caught by his glacially slow hands and violently KOed.
He was styling on Travis Browne, then inexplicably walked into multiple, telegraphed front kicks from a rather desperate Browne and got KOed again.
Next up he decisioned Mir, a solid W.
Then he got TKOed in the first round by Ben Rothwell lol. Complete rollercoaster of Ws and Ls. Not even Rothwell's biggest fan would rank him near Reem technically, but he was big and very tough and gritty.
Then it seemed he had sorted out whatever the problem was and put together a nice little run of Struve, Nelson, JDS and Arlovski wins, all (T)KOs except Nelson, who had an absolutely titanium chin. Reem completely outclassed him and landed a wide variety of heavy strikes.
UFC Title Fight: In 2016 Stipe was pretty much at his peak. Reem got the better of him standing, knocked him down, then instead of quickly finishing him with one or two GnP punches, foolishly went for a guillotine. Like a lot of people I thought Stipe tapped, but in the end he escaped by the skin of his teeth and ended up taking Reem down and getting a GnP stoppage. I thought Reem's moment had finally come but again he blew it.
In all four of Reem's losses I've mentioned he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. He was 36 when he fought Stipe, with 56 fights under his belt and 10 (T)KO losses. Maybe he just arrived in the UFC too late. But after Stipe he never really had a big win. The door had closed. He actually still went on to beat Hunt and Werdum again, plus Pav and Oleinik with 1st round TKOs. But that wouldn't get you a title shot in 2018 - 2019.
The Two Big fights after the Title Fight:
Reem looked scared of Ngannou when they fought, couldn't take him down, stalled against the cage, then got flatlined with a Mortal Kombat-style uppercut. Reem on paper was a much better striker than Ngannou, but he was scared of his physicality, size and power, and rightly so as it turned out. Blaydes simply outwrestled him, other than Cormier no one could bring that level of wrestling (Reem never fought Cormier). Lesnar was a 0.01% physical freak, but Blaydes was/is a much better wrestler technically. Fair enough, Blaydes was a legit problem for Reem. But he should have performed a lot better against Ngannou.
Reem finished up his career with a couple of irrelevant wins against Sakai and Walt Harris, bookended by (T)KO losses to Volkov and Rozenstruik. By this point he was definitely past it physically. You also can't help having a weak chin. You can train around it obviously, to take less risk and protect it, but at the end of the day you either have a good chin or you don't, and Reem didn't. This was his main weakness imo, apart from the mental factor. There were always questions about his heart. People called him a glass cannon, a bully, a great hammer but a terrible nail. Not just because of his weak chin but because when the going got tough he crumbled mentally and accepted defeat. He wasn't really about coming through the fire to rip that win from his opponent's grasp. Actually I think they said the same about his brother Valentijn, although I haven't followed his fights. He also never seemed despondent or angry after getting (T)KOed. He always seemed relaxed and matter of fact. Which in one way is a good thing, but then they say show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser.
Why do you think Reem never reached the top in the UFC? Chin? Too old and too many miles on the clock? Some technical weakness I've missed? Or would you say I might be onto something that he just didn't really want it enough deep down?
He came into the UFC with two tons of momentum behind him and expectations couldn't have been higher.
A 6'5", shredded 265lb HW with devastating striking and excellent submissions (including a Peruvian Necktie). This was his run up to his UFC debut:
TKOs Paul Buentello in the 2nd round of his Strikeforce debut, winning the belt
KOed Tae Hyun Lee in 36 seconds
Submitted Mark Hunt in 71 seconds
NC against CroCop for low knees
Submitted Gary Goodrige in 1:47
Submitted Tony Sylvester in 1:27
Submitted James 'The Colossus' Thompson in 33 seconds
KOed Fujita in 1:15
TKOed Brett Rogers in 3:40
KOed Todd Duffee (brutally) in 19 seconds, winning the DREAM belt
Decisioned Werdum - Werdum tried a couple of TDS, failed, then kept flopping to his back in a shameful display
UFC debut: KOed Lesnar in 2:26
Imagine getting Brock Lesnar on your debut lol - then finishing him in the first round. This was huge at the time.
Reem then didn't fight for 14 months and then that's when things started going wrong.
He was styling on Bigfoot, then somehow got repeatedly caught by his glacially slow hands and violently KOed.
He was styling on Travis Browne, then inexplicably walked into multiple, telegraphed front kicks from a rather desperate Browne and got KOed again.
Next up he decisioned Mir, a solid W.
Then he got TKOed in the first round by Ben Rothwell lol. Complete rollercoaster of Ws and Ls. Not even Rothwell's biggest fan would rank him near Reem technically, but he was big and very tough and gritty.
Then it seemed he had sorted out whatever the problem was and put together a nice little run of Struve, Nelson, JDS and Arlovski wins, all (T)KOs except Nelson, who had an absolutely titanium chin. Reem completely outclassed him and landed a wide variety of heavy strikes.
UFC Title Fight: In 2016 Stipe was pretty much at his peak. Reem got the better of him standing, knocked him down, then instead of quickly finishing him with one or two GnP punches, foolishly went for a guillotine. Like a lot of people I thought Stipe tapped, but in the end he escaped by the skin of his teeth and ended up taking Reem down and getting a GnP stoppage. I thought Reem's moment had finally come but again he blew it.
In all four of Reem's losses I've mentioned he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. He was 36 when he fought Stipe, with 56 fights under his belt and 10 (T)KO losses. Maybe he just arrived in the UFC too late. But after Stipe he never really had a big win. The door had closed. He actually still went on to beat Hunt and Werdum again, plus Pav and Oleinik with 1st round TKOs. But that wouldn't get you a title shot in 2018 - 2019.
The Two Big fights after the Title Fight:
Reem looked scared of Ngannou when they fought, couldn't take him down, stalled against the cage, then got flatlined with a Mortal Kombat-style uppercut. Reem on paper was a much better striker than Ngannou, but he was scared of his physicality, size and power, and rightly so as it turned out. Blaydes simply outwrestled him, other than Cormier no one could bring that level of wrestling (Reem never fought Cormier). Lesnar was a 0.01% physical freak, but Blaydes was/is a much better wrestler technically. Fair enough, Blaydes was a legit problem for Reem. But he should have performed a lot better against Ngannou.
Reem finished up his career with a couple of irrelevant wins against Sakai and Walt Harris, bookended by (T)KO losses to Volkov and Rozenstruik. By this point he was definitely past it physically. You also can't help having a weak chin. You can train around it obviously, to take less risk and protect it, but at the end of the day you either have a good chin or you don't, and Reem didn't. This was his main weakness imo, apart from the mental factor. There were always questions about his heart. People called him a glass cannon, a bully, a great hammer but a terrible nail. Not just because of his weak chin but because when the going got tough he crumbled mentally and accepted defeat. He wasn't really about coming through the fire to rip that win from his opponent's grasp. Actually I think they said the same about his brother Valentijn, although I haven't followed his fights. He also never seemed despondent or angry after getting (T)KOed. He always seemed relaxed and matter of fact. Which in one way is a good thing, but then they say show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser.
Why do you think Reem never reached the top in the UFC? Chin? Too old and too many miles on the clock? Some technical weakness I've missed? Or would you say I might be onto something that he just didn't really want it enough deep down?
