Signings/Scouting WMMA Discussion #29

werepig said:
dunno what happened to the mexicans (like, all of them) but i hope they glean some new lessons from their losses.
that said, well done to the winners tonight - souza for snatching that neck, dumont for keeping aldana away (no props given for the gash, that was a head clash) and val for her championship performance... i guess. *sigh*
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You make it sound like Aldana only had that one bit of damage. Dumont opened up cuts on her eye, nose and lip with strikes and turned half her face blue.
 
Thoughts. Submissions vs. scrambles was the mistake from Grasso in this fight, instead of scrambling to improve position or get back up like she did in previous fights she went for subs which cost her time & position. She got stuck flat on her back a lot more in this fight compared to the previous ones, and without the scrambles their ground games more or less cancelled each other out.

Key adjustment by Valentina was keeping full control of the pace, in previous fights Grasso could start putting combos together and pressure Shev into some mistakes and on the ground she was able to scramble and create opportunities. This time Valentina played a more positional game on the ground, she gave Grasso some opportunities for subs but did a good job of keeping top position & control. She didn't take risks until late in the round where she'd go for subs or mount. Also a neat trick on the takedown setup; she'd hit Grasso in the head with a punch combo or 2 to get her to shell up and defend head punches, then she'd fake or put a throwaway punch at her while driving in for the double leg. Alexa's striking got totally trashed by the wrestling & ground control threat, probably having flashbacks to Esparza & Suarez.

There's a bunch of folks saying Alexa has no TDD but I don't think that's really true, she just ran into possibly the best takedown artist in WMMA. Suarez has the better clinch and chain wrestling to drag opponents to the ground, but she doesn't have the speed & timing on her shots that Valentina does. Shooting reactive doubles, setting up takedowns with striking sequences, and timing shots such that the opponent is mid-step or swinging at you is kinda rare on the men's side and just not seen in WMMA outside of this fight and Nunes vs. GDR. Valentina has the best shot takedowns in the game, a strong clinch game with takedowns from there too, plus a bunch of leg sweep and caught kick takedowns, it's the most complete takedown package in the sport and a lot of it is top level as well. She has better takedown accuracy than Suarez, and Tatiana is generally considered the best wrestler in the sport.

Finally, with the impending retirement of Carla Esparza, I propose we start a petition for @Xuh to pledge his undying love to Valentina Shevchenko, who now reps the art of wrestling and GSP's holy 50-45 score in her championship fights.
 
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Mmmmmmma1234 said:
You make it sound like Aldana only had that one bit of damage. Dumont opened up cuts on her eye, nose and lip with strikes and turned half her face blue.
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it was an over simplification for sure - didn't mean to take away from dumont's performance, it was shockingly successful against Irene. as a Lobo gym fan I am just utterly flabbergasted by Irene and Alexa's performances last night
 
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Mmmmmmma1234 said:
You make it sound like Aldana only had that one bit of damage. Dumont opened up cuts on her eye, nose and lip with strikes and turned half her face blue.
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I seriously hope Aldana's doing okay. At last night's press conference DW said she's fine. Kinda want to hear a further update though I don't follow her on social media. If anyone know, please give an update. Thanks.
 
aerius said:
Thoughts. Submissions vs. scrambles was the mistake from Grasso in this fight, instead of scrambling to improve position or get back up like she did in previous fights she went for subs which cost her time & position. She got stuck flat on her back a lot more in this fight compared to the previous ones, and without the scrambles their ground games more or less cancelled each other out.

Key adjustment by Valentina was keeping full control of the pace, in previous fights Grasso could start putting combos together and pressure Shev into some mistakes and on the ground she was able to scramble and create opportunities. This time Valentina played a more positional game on the ground, she gave Grasso some opportunities for subs but did a good job of keeping top position & control. She didn't take risks until late in the round where she'd go for subs or mount. Also a neat trick on the takedown setup; she'd hit Grasso in the head with a punch combo or 2 to get her to shell up and defend head punches, then she'd fake or put a throwaway punch at her while driving in for the double leg. Alexa's striking got totally trashed by the wrestling & ground control threat, probably having flashbacks to Esparza & Suarez.

There's a bunch of folks saying Alexa has no TDD but I don't think that's really true, she just ran into possibly the best takedown artist in WMMA. Suarez has the better clinch and chain wrestling to drag opponents to the ground, but she doesn't have the speed & timing on her shots that Valentina does. Shooting reactive doubles, setting up takedowns with striking sequences, and timing shots such that the opponent is mid-step or swinging at you is kinda rare on the men's side and just not seen in WMMA outside of this fight and Nunes vs. GDR. Valentina has the best shot takedowns in the game, a strong clinch game with takedowns from there too, plus a bunch of leg sweep and caught kick takedowns, it's the most complete takedown package in the sport and a lot of it is top level as well. She has better takedown accuracy than Suarez, and Tatiana is generally considered the best wrestler in the sport.

Finally, with the impending retirement of Carla Esparza, I propose we start a petition for @Xuh to pledge his undying love to Valentina Shevchenko, who now reps the art of wrestling and GSP's holy 50-45 score in her championship fights.
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Always enjoy reading your breakdowns. Curious about a couple of things in case you or anyone here might know. How did Valentina develop such a strong game plan for this fight? I'd imagine she has a lot of say but it must also be her coaching team. At last night's press conference she mentioned a team in Thailand and a team in I think she said Houston but she was talking so fast and in so many different languages that I didn't quite catch it all. Why isn't her team more well-known? Or perhaps does she like to keep it that way?
 
werepig said:
it was an over simplification for sure - didn't mean to take away from dumont's performance, it was shockingly successful against Irene. as a Lobo gym fan I am just utterly flabbergasted by Irene and Alexa's performances last night
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Again, not to take away from their high level opponents. Wondering whether Team Lobo was spread too thin with Aldana, Grasso and Lopes all having big fights last night. Sincerely I think Dumont and Shevchenko were so dominant that it might not have mattered much. Interestingly Dumont mentioned pre-fight that her team's game planning was sound and that she was confident in her abilities to adjust during a fight. Which she clearly displayed. Lopes was asked about Grasso's fight and he said basically that it sucked and that Alexa came out flat. He didn't offer up much more than that.
 
PurpleStorm said:
I seriously hope Aldana's doing okay. At last night's press conference DW said she's fine. Kinda want to hear a further update though I don't follow her on social media. If anyone know, please give an update. Thanks.
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PurpleStorm said:
Again, not to take away from their high level opponents. Wondering whether Team Lobo was spread too thin with Aldana, Grasso and Lopes all having big fights last night. Sincerely I think Dumont and Shevchenko were so dominant that it might not have mattered much. Interestingly Dumont mentioned pre-fight that her team's game planning was sound and that she was confident in her abilities to adjust during a fight. Which she clearly displayed. Lopes was asked about Grasso's fight and he said basically that it sucked and that Alexa came out flat. He didn't offer up much more than that.
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I’ve long (well, since the fight was announced, at least) suspected that part of the reason Shevchenko finally relented to the date was because Aldana and Lopes were already booked to fight. Strategic move.
 
PurpleStorm said:
Always enjoy reading your breakdowns. Curious about a couple of things in case you or anyone here might know. How did Valentina develop such a strong game plan for this fight? I'd imagine she has a lot of say but it must also be her coaching team. At last night's press conference she mentioned a team in Thailand and a team in I think she said Houston but she was talking so fast and in so many different languages that I didn't quite catch it all. Why isn't her team more well-known? Or perhaps does she like to keep it that way?
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I don't know for sure, but based on past interviews her longtime coach does most of the game planning and training arrangements; he figures out what they need to work on then they fly out somewhere to a camp where they have the right people to work on that stuff. IIRC, she was out at Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand which is her sponsor/home gym over there, then spent some time at Zen Martial Arts in Houston where she's trained before earlier in her career and Fight Ready Gym which is where Henry Cejudo trains. I didn't make the connection before, but I guess the latter would explain her improved wrestling.
 
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Put together a sample of Valentina's takedown setups.
In the 1st sequence Val throws a few combos at Alexa's head and goads her into swinging back. As soon as Grasso tries to throw back she ducks under for a clean entry and double leg. Next sequence she gets Grasso defending the lead hook to the head, then uses a throwaway hook to get her to cover high which leaves her hips exposed for a clean double. The throwaway punch lets her step in on Grasso for a better shot along with distracting her and exposing her hips. Most of the takedowns in the fight came from one those setups and Shev also got some free strikes in off the failed attempts.

This is gonna be tough for future opponents to deal with. Most women can't shoot double legs and the ones who can often telegraph their shots from outside the ideal range so there's time to react and defend. The way Valentina sets up her doubles leaves almost no time to do anything, with more practice on top control and ground & pound she could GSP the division.

 
Thanks bud. Fascinating how she has improved as a fighter. She entered the UFC with a striking pedigree. Tremendous dedication to adding new weapons.
 
PurpleStorm said:
Thanks bud. Fascinating how she has improved as a fighter. She entered the UFC with a striking pedigree. Tremendous dedication to adding new weapons.
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Well, her striking pedigree was obvious but she was also a master of sport in Judo and most of her early MMA fights were grappling-heavy.
 
aerius said:
Finally, with the impending retirement of Carla Esparza, I propose we start a petition for @Xuh to pledge his undying love to Valentina Shevchenko, who now reps the art of wrestling and GSP's holy 50-45 score in her championship fights.
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It could come to pass. We've already seen Val has the blessing of the GOATess, she has also been touched by the GOATfather
Gh4q4Ee.jpeg

Already feeling mild arousal in anticipation of her clinical 50-45ing of Manon Froggy 😍
 
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