Los_29 wrote:Clay Davis wrote:Los_29 wrote:
He’s 31 years old. Even if he was in his early 20s it would be a near impossible task.
What fighters do you remember getting dominated in a 5 round fight coming back to beat that fighter years later?
You’re not learning much in 6 weeks. Volk is a great grappler and an excellent striker. DDP relies heavily on strength and bullying people with his size. Technically, he’s an average grappler who makes a lot of mistakes. Chimaev took him down in seconds and then got him into one of the worst positions you can get in. And it happened numerous times. Gap is too large.
You'd be surprised how much you can learn in 6 weeks if you're dedicated. Just off the top of my head here's four simple things DDP could've done to make the shots less effective:
1. Not go for a headlock. Anyone who knows anything will know that if they get their legs on the other side of the headlock grip without the hooks getting in, they're in the clear from being submitted.
2. Sprawl. Literally the most fundamental defensive wrestling move. DDP sprawled on a double in the fifth but then didn't sprawl on the single for some reason, but even that was enough to open a window and give him a chance to get into a dominant position.
3. (Kind of related to 1.) establish frames and hooks as you're being taken down, or a whizzer. If he's on top of you there's no reason to not get an arm across the throat and butterfly hooks in.
4. Maintain better distance. He started the fight off by checking a non-existent kick and then got easily taken down. Like I have no idea wtf he was thinking. Firas Zahabi noticed this.
When he got taken down he literally conceded his position in the worst way possible since he literally gave Khamzat a free path to the upperbody by not getting his legs in and trying that stupid headlock. And ya the crucifix is a **** position to be in but he wasn't taking much damage and he avoided the submissions. Honestly, two rounds of being beaten up in the crucifix but making Khamzat expend significantly more energy would've given him MUCH more room to breath in the championship rounds. This isn't even getting into how easy it is to avoid the crucifix. Lol the best grappler in the world Gordon Ryan must've been face-palming like mad watching DDP since he put out a 6 minute youtube video the day after the fight on basic side control escapes. He even mentions some mistakes DDP made.
DDP was really bad off of the back. I don't think that he knows nothing about grappling... there's that famous video of him submitting 4 people from a Gracie Barra gym in a row. A lot of the problems he had are very, very fixable. I think you're underestimating the impact that 6 weeks of a great training camp can have. Again, you're saying that Volk is a great grappler and I don't disagree... but his success against Islam didn't just come in a vaccuum lol he worked with a dude named Craig Jones (one of the most high rizz grapplers in the world) who literally made a DVD called "Just stand up" that is focused entirely around nerfing MMA grappling. He would've shown very little of that fantastic grappling if he hadn't worked with him.
Some good rematches:
1. Ngannou vs Miocic -- This example alone defeats your argument. Miocic was a very good wrestler, and Ngannou had very minimal grappling experience. Miocic destroyed Ngannou in the first fight. Yet in the rematch Ngannou showed phenomenal defensive wrestling en route to using his striking to get an easy KO. Ngannou's team at Xtreme Couture did for the second fight basically what I think that DDP should've done: the training camp was essentially
a room full of great wrestlers who'd push Ngannou to his breaking point. The end-result? Very good takedown defense that completely nullified Miocic's advantage in grappling.
2. GSP vs Matt Sera -- GSP utilized a much different approach the second time around than the first time by using grappling rather than fighting a striking match.
Wrestling isn't rocket science. Yes it's very technical but the great thing about the UFC is that you have your striking to dissuade people and a ref to ensure that each round begins on the feet. DDP needs to work with some cornfed Iowa boys. Send him 2-3 years Iowa and forget.
Serra KO’d GSP. He didn’t maul him for 5 rounds.
Ngannou/Stipe is not a bad example. But Stipe was nearly 40 years old with tons of mileage. Ngannou started MMA very late and is a freakish athlete. There was plenty of untapped potential there. DDP is not a freakish athlete and has been fighting for a long time. Ngannou fought Stipe 4 years into his MMA career. Then fought him again 4 years later. Stipe was also not a highly decorated wrestler.
DDP got put into a crucifix 5 times in ONE fight. That is low level grappling. He’s not bridging that gap. A crucifix is a rare position to be put into even once in a fight. DDP found himself in that position repeatedly.
Ok what would you rather have happen to you: what happened to DDP (I've seen people look worse after a day of TRAINING, let alone fighting) or what happened to Serra? I would take the rizz of the DDP beatdown over Serra. The most dominant thing that can happen to you in ANY fight sport is to get knocked out.
In 2003 the best countries in the world at wrestling were Russia, Iran, and the United States.
In the average year there are 2300-2400 D1 wrestlers. Of those wrestlers, 330 of them qualify for the NCAA D1 tournament. In 1997, Stipe Miocic was one of them. He was in the top 10% of the top 1%. For you to say he wasn't a high level wrestler is asinine, especially since you're comparing him to Khamzat Chimaev, who won a gold medal in some random national wrestling tournaments in Sweden. If Stipe was Svante, he'd have been an Olympian competing for Sweden in wrestling.
The reason why the crucifix is rare is because you need to be basically close to braindead to let it happen to you. It shows a lack of fundamentals. Fundamentals that are teachable, especially to someone motivated. It just tells me, more than anything, that DDP didn't see any high level wrestling until fight night. LOW RIZZ MSITAKE.
Anyway, the reason why it's rare to get so many crucifixes is that people usually finish from there. Khamzat's grappling has some holes in it as well.
considering he had fought all strikers it's a pretty casual take
