newyorker4ever wrote:Cyborg is gonna do what she always does. She's gonna go straight at Holly as soon as the bell rings and get her up against the fence and throw absolute bombs. Holly will need to get punches, kicks and knees in when Cyborg is coming at her. She was able to keep her space when she fought and beat Rousey but against Cyborg i can't see her being able to keep that space. If Cyborg gets her down then it's all over with Cyborg's ground and pound and submissions. She absolutely has to keep space or there's no way for her to win this fight. I'm rooting hard for ya Holly and hoping you can land that one big punch or kick or knee or elbow or something and hoping if you knock her out you take her pants down and show the world that Cyborg has a penis.
The thing about Holly is that she's at her best against plodders. Shevchenko, GDR and even Correia all made Holm be the aggressor and she's a mixed bag in that role mainly because she has a habit of throwing her flurries head on...no angle, just straight forward with a flurry of punches that don't have stopping power. When fighters have come at her though, she makes them chase and picks them off with openings. Cyborg will go straight at Holly and Holly will need lateral movement all night, but I think early on that movement will be crisp and later on Cyborg won't have the energy to trap Holly. That said, the clinch is gonna be big because I think that's how Cyborg might be able to trap Holly along the cage. It's funny though, I think the little fake left and slip right that Holly does when her heels tap the cage is the sort of motion that will force Cyborg to settle for one strike at a time damage.
newyorker4ever wrote:
I think anyone who wasn't a Ortega fan before the C.Swanson fight became a fan of his after it. Not only for his fight game but for his story and how he wanted the performance bonus to spend on helping the kids. Kid is young and has a great career ahead of him. He won't beat Hollaway on the feet but if that kid gets your back it's all over and if he gets on top of you then you better have a great Jiu Jitsu game cause that kid can submit you from anywhere on the ground.
I became a big fan of Yair since i saw his first fight cause he's so unpredictable on his feet and throws crazy kicks and punches that you never see coming but his last couple of fights haven't been great for him against higher level fighters. He's so young though and think he's gonna keep putting the work in to get better and will fight for the belt.
Clyde_Style wrote:
I'd say my two active favorites are Ortega and El Cucuy, both of whom have some magic in their game and you never quite know what to expect.
I love Ortega's whole mentality. I went full stan mode when he pulled the comeback against Guida. Dude had like three straight comeback wins in the third round before the Cub fight. He's also handled adversity better than his peers. He's developing enough striking to last until he can get a grip on a guy and I was actually pretty impressed with how well he competed with Cub standing. It's enough that he can get a hold of most guys, Max is just a hard one to grab. So Ortega needs some more striking tests before I fully jump on the wagon but I think he's an eventual champion.
I could definitely see an Ortega fan being big on Ferguson. Dude is the most unpredictable fighter in the game and Ortega has that same blink of an eye transition ability. I think their polar opposite would be a Ryan Hall who is super predictable but has such mastery of his handful of tricks that he's looked virtually untouchable in his bouts...but boring because he's too safe. Hall will use hook kicks and izanari rolls but opponents are so unwilling to go to the ground with him that it becomes a lot of standing in space and throwing light kicks. Ferguson and Ortega force the issue because they're a lot more confident in their striking to force the issue. But I'd keep an eye on Hall, if he ever gets that striking beyond the safety precautions, he'll be able to set traps striking too.
Yair definitely has the gift of age. He kinda reminds me of young Max, because Max lost a couple of times by doing reckless ish. When Rodriguez figures out to stick with the fundmentals and use his explosions when his opponent is lulled, that'll be a turning point. He obviously has to work on his wrestling too. I think Yair and Diakese are really similar styles and both guys have huge upside but a lot to develop to reach it.
