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- Jul 13, 2015
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Wonderboy has been a staple of the top ten and even top five for the past several years. He's picked up key wins over guys like Patrick Cote, Robert Whitaker (stoppage), Rory Macdonald, Jorge Masvidal, and Johnny Hendricks (stoppage). That said, seeing him fight such a large variety of opponents has elucidated not only the things that make him great, but also the flaws in his striking style.
First off, Thomson is one dimensional in today's UFC landscape. He is not a guy who's prone to mixing it up and executing a grappling heavy attack. That said, a lot of elite guys who also stick to a niche and seldom deviate from it. His real issue is that when his opponent doesn't come at him, his lead striking is extremely ineffective in comparison to his counters off the back-foot. The irony in all of this is that welterweights have watched enough people succumb to his counters so that each guy he fights is not only at a very high level, but fighting more and more cautious and more and more aware of where he is dangerous and where he isn't.
That's how you get a fight like Till-Thompson, and I suspect that the more tactical guys in the division could pursue similarly intelligent gamelans to avoid Thompson's counter-striking game altogether. For this reason, it is up to Thompson to evolve. I think he should take the next several months to allow the welterweight title picture to play out (Woodley could easily lose his belt in the next 12 months) and switch up his training/his camp to further adapt his style.
All of this said, after rewatching this fight this morning, I'm amazed that people, and judges, have Till winning that. I think perhaps this is an emotional reaction to just being upset with Thompson's style. I'm not going to insult you like the average sherdogger. I'm not going to say that if you don't agree with me you're an idiot. All I would say is that I challenge everyone to rewatch that fight (I know its hard because it was a total snoozer) and score it round by round. Till landed next to nothing in rounds 1, 3, and 4. 5 was clearly his round and the easiest to score of the fight, but keep in mind these things are scored one round at a time.
Dwell on this... If Till had never dropped Thompson in the 5th, and in fact, if it were Thompson who dropped Till, Thompson would have still lost on 2 judges scorecards. That should terrify you as a fan of the sport. Judging four rounds for Till is nearly impossible, as close as the rounds were. You don't win a fight for coming forward and missing. The one or two clean counters Thompson landed in each of the rounds 1-4 were more significant than Till's handful of leg kicks over the course of the fight. That's why the media scores look the way they do.
First off, Thomson is one dimensional in today's UFC landscape. He is not a guy who's prone to mixing it up and executing a grappling heavy attack. That said, a lot of elite guys who also stick to a niche and seldom deviate from it. His real issue is that when his opponent doesn't come at him, his lead striking is extremely ineffective in comparison to his counters off the back-foot. The irony in all of this is that welterweights have watched enough people succumb to his counters so that each guy he fights is not only at a very high level, but fighting more and more cautious and more and more aware of where he is dangerous and where he isn't.
That's how you get a fight like Till-Thompson, and I suspect that the more tactical guys in the division could pursue similarly intelligent gamelans to avoid Thompson's counter-striking game altogether. For this reason, it is up to Thompson to evolve. I think he should take the next several months to allow the welterweight title picture to play out (Woodley could easily lose his belt in the next 12 months) and switch up his training/his camp to further adapt his style.
All of this said, after rewatching this fight this morning, I'm amazed that people, and judges, have Till winning that. I think perhaps this is an emotional reaction to just being upset with Thompson's style. I'm not going to insult you like the average sherdogger. I'm not going to say that if you don't agree with me you're an idiot. All I would say is that I challenge everyone to rewatch that fight (I know its hard because it was a total snoozer) and score it round by round. Till landed next to nothing in rounds 1, 3, and 4. 5 was clearly his round and the easiest to score of the fight, but keep in mind these things are scored one round at a time.
Dwell on this... If Till had never dropped Thompson in the 5th, and in fact, if it were Thompson who dropped Till, Thompson would have still lost on 2 judges scorecards. That should terrify you as a fan of the sport. Judging four rounds for Till is nearly impossible, as close as the rounds were. You don't win a fight for coming forward and missing. The one or two clean counters Thompson landed in each of the rounds 1-4 were more significant than Till's handful of leg kicks over the course of the fight. That's why the media scores look the way they do.
