Will Gus try takedowns vs Rumble?

[pincmil]

Or will it be pure striking?

[YT]fKpWuF1nSAI[/YT]

 

[SalvadorAllende]

I think he will but I dont know if he is going to get it.

Striking becomes much more dangerous when your opponent is worried about TDs.

 

[PAPERCLIP30]

No.

 

[Megatronlee]

Hard to take someone down when you're unconscious

 

[Awesome Possum]

I could see him going for it. He seems pretty confident in his wrestling and would probably feel very comfortable on the ground with AJ.

Take him down early, get him tired and finish in the second or third round.

Kind of similar to the Manuwa fight.

 

[arrelione]

I'm quite sure he will try it a few times at least.

 

[Weidman]

He will try, and then go to sleep...

 

[MMAFan232]

If the opportunity presents itself ala in the Jones fight

 

[Karelinator]

I definitely think he will.

If he will be able to get them is better question though.

Jones TD had proven that Gus likely can TD anyone if in good position, but it's situational.

 

[jjresq]

I see Rumble wrestling him the whole fight

 

[GrindingANARCHY]

He went for the takedowns against Shogun, Thiago and Jones. Of course he will mix it up. Gus should work on his RNC.

 

[Sigmafight]

I don't think he will, but i think he will make Rumble worry about it, through feints and attempts into punches on the disengage

 

[Kirin]

He'd be doing himself a disservice if he didn't. Unlike my man, mr wonderful, apple crumble will have to respect gustafsson's stand up, so he can't be in full on anti-td mode like he was vs phil.

 

[Th3Sav4ge]

he is a mixed martial artist

 

[Hybe]

If the opportunity presents itself ala in the Jones fight

Agreed.

But I'm pretty sure Alex feels he'll be able to pick AJ apart, standing.

Another strategy would be to make AJ work (takedown-attempts/clinching etc), and rely on a perhaps better cardio.

 

[MMAcolyte]

Good question, I think he'll certainly try a few as/if the opportunities present themselves, but he certainly won't chase it; the Davis/Rumble fight proved the futility of that.

If he does succeed in getting Rumble down it'll be more like the Jones fight than the Manuwa fight (Rumble will be back up quick)

I think the more interesting question is if Rumble will get Gus down to work GnP. We've seen AJ wrestle against strikers before; albeit a long time ago in a different weight class, but I do expect them both to mix it up

 

[Spycho]

Gus has seen what he did to Davis. I don't think he will, maybe he will try to take him down for the surprise effect from the clinch but I doubt he will shoot for a TD. I think he will try to keep Rumble on the outside.

 

[MMAcolyte]

He went for the takedowns against Shogun, Thiago and Jones. Of course he will mix it up. Gus should work on his RNC.

I agree, I'm really hoping Gustafsson worked on his submission game a lot b/c that's where AJ is most vulnerable imo. Getting Rumble in a position to work for submissions is the challenge though

 

[Charlestonboy]

Maybe once or twice for points but that's it.

 

[johnmangala]

Gus mixes it up. So I would guess yeah.