Now I am a big Anderson fan. I thought he showed phenomenal skill last night. His footwork and defence were awesome. Like many others though, I felt he had several opportunities to finish the fight and didn't pull the trigger. I wonder why... I thought I'd post some ideas that came to me and see what everyone thinks...
1. He's been training with Lyoto and and has really taken the defence before offence attitude to heart. He wants to win without getting hurt. If he is winning, why risk getting hurt to finish the guy.
2. He wants the RJJ fight bad. So he figures he will put in a performance like that to upset the UFC to be able to negotiate with. Show them he has the skill and ability to win a fight with ease, but why take any risks for the UFC if they won't take any risks for him.
3. Leties was brazilian and he decides that he will let Thales go the distance, but he totally dominates him without putting him away.
4. He's never gone 5 rounds in the UFC as the champion and wants to go the distance to prove to himself and others that he can.
5. Thales was too defensive and he never really gave Anderson the openings he neede to put him away. So Anderson played games with him to see if Thales would open up some. But Thales realised he couldn't win so he didn't get too aggressive and wanted to go the distance.
Not sure if any are applicable at all. But some points I thought were interestig and crossed my mind during the PPV. Anyone else have opinions on this?
i am honestly baffled by what i saw last night. i can understand wanting to put on a show, i guess. but how do you do that for 20 minutes and not be disgusted with yourself?
i wann see him just come out and wreck people before he even breaks a sweat, leban style
I'd be shocked if it didn't involve at least one of your options.
One of the issues is that many fans value a fighters record over the quality of his fights. I'd imagine this puts a pressure on the fighter to do anything to protect that instead of trying to put on a show. I can appreciate this but it certainly is a bitter pill.
I thought him and Leites trained together at one point. Seemed like he didn't want to hurt him.
Also, Anderson weighed in at 182. Did he even cut weight? Seems strange for a guy who is looking to fight at 205. I've always thought the key to Anderson's success in the UFC is that at 185 he is much stronger with more finishing power and better wrestling then he had at 170. I thought he clearly lacked the power and strength he showed in his previous UFC fights.
Did he just screw up his weight cutting? Was he sick? Was he testing his body for a potential catch weight fight vs GSP? Did he screw up the weight cut? Did I just misread it and he actaully weighed in at 185?
He clearly doesn't have the aggressiveness he used to. When he fought Chris Leben he chased him around and finished his ass quickly. Thales might a little better standing than Leben, but not much. He's not that good standing. Anderson has clearly Lyoto-fied himself.
But at the same time, Leites did NOTHING. Everytime he got hit with a single punch, he would flop to his butt. Should have been point deductions imo for refusal to engage, because you can't just flop down and expect the champion to follow you. If you want the fight on the ground, pull guard or take him down. But the flopping was disgraceful. Total refusal to fight Anderson at all.
I liked the fight, Leite went into survival mode after a while but that too takes skill. How many here would be able to go 5 rounds against Anderson without being finished?
His plan was to fight from the outside and take his time to avoid the take downs. While on the outside he specifically wanted to destroy leites front leg, which is what he did. Other then that he waited for his openings and when he got them leites butt flopped.
There is no mystery or conspiracy, that is just how the fight went. Anderson could have thrown caution to the wind, but he didn't, and I think he did the right thing from a fighting point of view. Leites was losing and should have gone for it instead of waiting 5 rounds for his chance which he never got.