GSP comes to mind as a prime example of aguy who was KO'd by 22 unanswered Serra Hammas and then made a vow to himself to fight smart and never allow that to happen again. Current GSP is a very smart and safe fighter. I believe it's due to his loss.
Fedor losing to Werdum made him think twice about jumping into Bigfoot's guard and pounding away like he did on Nog. If the Werdum fight never happens, maybe Fedor dives in and pounds Pezao out.
Tito used to have an effectively wild striking style that vanished after the first Chuck KO. Now he fights with a tight high guard (like Rampage) and hesitates to pull the trigger when striking.
any others?
Somebody's going to have to explain this Carwin love after his performance last weekend. He got killed and looked awful...I do not get what the positives are coming out of that fight.
Rashad went back to his roots after the Machida fight. He had fallen in love with his standup.
TSMontana - Despite losing to JDS, I think you have to add Carwin to this list...for the better, BTW.
I'm not sure if it was for the better. One of the things that made Shane so successful was his power and aggression. He's never going to win a technical chess match at the top of the division. His best bet against JDS or Cain was bullying power and connecting with a bomb. The smaller, more measured Shane may have lasted 3 rounds, but he at no point was able to impose his will for anything meaningful against JDS. If monster Carwin rushed JDS and started unloading, he would have had a better chance of winning.
jjj2121 - Rashad went back to his roots after the Machida fight. He had fallen in love with his standup.
Good example. The Forrest KO was the worst thing to happen to Rashad, like Fedor's new found power against Sylvia, Swarlovski and Rogers, he fancied himself a boxer. Rashad and Fedor were top guys when they used striking to set up takedowns
GingerWhinger -Ding ding ding.TSMontana - Despite losing to JDS, I think you have to add Carwin to this list...for the better, BTW.
I'm not sure if it was for the better. One of the things that made Shane so successful was his power and aggression. He's never going to win a technical chess match at the top of the division. His best bet against JDS or Cain was bullying power and connecting with a bomb. The smaller, more measured Shane may have lasted 3 rounds, but he at no point was able to impose his will for anything meaningful against JDS. If monster Carwin rushed JDS and started unloading, he would have had a better chance of winning.
Lasting the entire duration of an onesided asskicking =/= improving. When has Carwin ever had his ass kicked like that without mounting ANY offense before?
GingerWhinger -jjj2121 - Rashad went back to his roots after the Machida fight. He had fallen in love with his standup.
Good example. The Forrest KO was the worst thing to happen to Rashad, like Fedor's new found power against Sylvia, Swarlovski and Rogers, he fancied himself a boxer. Rashad and Fedor were top guys when they used striking to set up takedowns
Chack and Forrest back to back made him think he was a killshot artist.
Corey Hill ¬.¬
jjj2121 -GingerWhinger -jjj2121 - Rashad went back to his roots after the Machida fight. He had fallen in love with his standup.
Good example. The Forrest KO was the worst thing to happen to Rashad, like Fedor's new found power against Sylvia, Swarlovski and Rogers, he fancied himself a boxer. Rashad and Fedor were top guys when they used striking to set up takedowns
Chack and Forrest back to back made him think he was a killshot artist.
He was being beaten by Forrest on the feet. His success came as soon as he landed the takedown.
mirko cro cop after gabriel gonzaga fight
Proteus The Invincible -Forrest slipped and fell down.jjj2121 -GingerWhinger -jjj2121 - Rashad went back to his roots after the Machida fight. He had fallen in love with his standup.
Good example. The Forrest KO was the worst thing to happen to Rashad, like Fedor's new found power against Sylvia, Swarlovski and Rogers, he fancied himself a boxer. Rashad and Fedor were top guys when they used striking to set up takedowns
Chack and Forrest back to back made him think he was a killshot artist.
He was being beaten by Forrest on the feet. His success came as soon as he landed the takedown.
thelast10er -JohnMatrix -i concurDaTazzManianDevil - mirko cro cop after gabriel gonzaga fight
Funny - I'd say Gonzaga after that fight, because it made him think he was a top kickboxer.
also damien maia after the marquardt fight. Hes trying a little to hard to show off his stand up game
but, at least he improved his striking right? the munoz fight couldve gone either way and if i remember correctly in the kendall grove fight, most of the time it was on the ground
TSMontana -I think that Lesnar-JDS would have been a much closer fight than most fans think.GingerWhinger -TSMontana - Despite losing to JDS, I think you have to add Carwin to this list...for the better, BTW.
I'm not sure if it was for the better. One of the things that made Shane so successful was his power and aggression. He's never going to win a technical chess match at the top of the division. His best bet against JDS or Cain was bullying power and connecting with a bomb. The smaller, more measured Shane may have lasted 3 rounds, but he at no point was able to impose his will for anything meaningful against JDS. If monster Carwin rushed JDS and started unloading, he would have had a better chance of winning.
JDS wouldn't have let Carwin bumrush him striking. JDS has too good footwork to keep the distance and command of angles, and has enough counter-wrestling to keep it on the feet, most of the time (which most impressed me this fight). The version of Carwin that fought Lesnar would have been out of there early round 2 TKO, imo. But Carwin got himself healed up and adopted a better weight for his frame...he's still a superior fighter than his previous version, and his next fight is going to bear that out.
The one guy who could maybe bully JDS would have been Lesnar, just alone due to the fact JDS wouldn't have a reach advantage on him.
I'm of the belief that JDS looked better in the Carwin fight than he should have because Carwin didn't do enough to disrupt his rythymn. I was actually shocked that the speed avantage wasn't as pronounced as it should have been. JDS also kept his hands fairly low (probably expecting Shane to wrestle more) and was open for punches that never came. The amped up Lesnar who bullrushed Cain or the Shane from every other fight would have presented much more danger than a much smaller Carwin who stood at a distance and didn't engage. JDS most likely uppercuts either guy into Bolivian, but at least they would have a change if they attempted to overpower and overwhelm him.
If Gonzaga never KO'd Cro Cop, he'd still be in the UFC top 10. Good call on GG. He was a big, strong top game BJJ guy with power strikes that somehow forgot that he was an all world BJJ guy.
Brian Stann looks like a completely different fighter since Phil Davis beat him and he dropped to 185. This new Stann could either be a legit top 5 guy or the winner of cleverly matched fights...we'll see
Carwin improved a lot from his fight with Lesnar, lighter, more relaxed, far better cardio. Although he got his ass beat by Junior, I think it's pretty obvious he did improve. Now he has to work on his boxing.
Overeem continually improves.
Fedor was a guy improved massively between many of his fights in Pride. Even late in his career after he was far removed from his competitive judo days he showed us some new tricks.
Vitor and Mirko are the two who instantly come to mind.
Tito changed for the better after his loss to Frank Shammy
Plenty of fighters have fought VERY well with forward pressure, taken a hard loss, and then lost again because they fought tentatively instead of aggressively in their next bouts. Some of the biggest examples:
- Andrei Arlovski
- Randy Couture
- Chuck Liddell
- CroCop
- Vanderlei
- Rampage
- Vitor Belfort
- Shane Carwin
- Rich Franklin
I think they take a hard KO loss, and then in the next fight they try to avoid it, but as a result they don't press forward, which is what made them so successful in the first place, so they continue to be unsuccessful until they develop a new plan OR get the old forward pressure back again...
timmyfront - Tito changed for the better after his loss to Frank Shammy
That fight made Tito great by training like an athlete after it. Great one
Kenny Florian after the Sherk loss realized he needed to lock himself in a wrestling room and learn how to compensate for his lack of god given physical abilities.
Mark Munoz after losing to Hamil dropped down in weight so he could use his strength.
Randy after the 2nd Chuck KO realized his chin was an issue adapted his game plan to avoid standing and trading.
Nick Diaz got his face ground up vs Noons and had his forehead shaved and scar tissue removed.
Arlovski changed after the Tim Sylvia ko. Was tentative, slowly got the aggression back and then fedor took it away again. Tito definitely changed. Pete Williams and rampage. 