Sid22 - dana doing damge control...if mousasi is what people say he is he woulda KO'd latifi and Dana knows it...imagine gustaffson was fighting...mousasi wouldve been finished..I was thinking this about Gus too.
DaemonDragon - Yeah I saw that. Huge bummer.I think he has great footwork. Kept the pressure on the whole fight. Maintained the distance. Followed him around...wasn't all over the place. Was grounded. Good base. All in the legs
At least he doesn't rely on kicks as much as Shogun...otherwise you'd be afraid Gegard had already passed the prime of his career because of injury.
But Gegard isn't a footwork-heavy fighter like a Gus, he's more flat-footed, and he doesn't kick that much. So he can recover.
It blows that he's going to be out yet again for so long. Especially because in his late 20's, he should be in the physical prime of his career right now.
epic hero -SimonSu -HandyDarsh -SimonSu -Dude he trained for someone completely different, and still controlled his opponent with ease.
Seemed fine until he ate a massive leg kick and began moving funny...
Don't wanna hate, but honestly I'm getting a bit tired of Gegard's excuses against guys he supposedly should beat without much trouble. There's always a reason to why he didn't perform and he's not a very gracious winner and an even worse loser. Like, just get on with it and stop making excuses already because that's what all the guys who are above you in the rankings are doing. The path Gegard is down looks more like downslide Rampage than future world champ.
But he injured his knee so people are upset?
It's just frustrating that he wont accept responsibility and improve. I've been a fan since the Manhoef fight back '08 and the toolset hasn't changed any since then.
How do you know he doesn't take responsibility. The truth is that you're nothing but a scrub behind the refuge of your keyboard and you'll just always be that guy on the sidelines because you don't have what it takes
There's no need to insult me first of all - we can have a civil, mature discussion.
And yes you are right; I don't know and I'm speculating as are you if you think that he does. From my prespective I just find it concering that he's had a string of "poor" to "ok/good" performances and all of them have been accompanied by excuses with little or no improvement. Against King Mo he was "too comfortable" off his back. Against Jardine, also a late replacement, it was the judges fault. Against OSP he had ring rust. Against Latifi it was his knee and a cold. Oh and as a side note he's also not been taking his training seriously, so none of the poor performance really counted...
When you add all these things together and weigh them against the fact that he's looked nothing like the killer he used to and is closing in on 40 fights over a 10 year career span, you can't help wondering where his head is at.
SimonSu - Against King Mo he was "too comfortable" off his back.
Very few will able be to stop Mo's takedowns. For Gegard to beat Mo, Mo needs to be in "Cuban boxer mode" where Mo thinks his standup is world class (I question Mo's fight IQ, and from his last fight you have to question his chin, although fluke KOs do happen).
However if Mo is in wrestlefuck mode I don't think Gegard can do much to stop that. Granted, he did beat the living fuck out of Mo from the bottom, but under unified rules Mo has a big edge on not only Gegard but pretty much everyone in the division outside a handful of guys.
Against Jardine, also a late replacement, it was the judges fault.
He gave Jardine the worst beating of his life...that WAS the judges fault. And all the judges gave the fight to Mousasi anyway, that no-warning point deduction caused the draw.
But that fight was a clear 30-27 so the point deduction shouldn't have mattered. That "draw" was an embarrassment to the sport, so no "excuse" needed.
Against OSP he had ring rust.
OSP is a huge athletic wrestler, exactly the kind of guy to give Gegard trouble, but Gegard handled him easily until gassing. You can certainly critique the gassing - Gegard's condition is questionable, though it looked fine today - but he handily beat OSP, and OSP is no joke.
That was OSP's only loss in his last 10 fights, and when OSP wins he usually does so dominantly. OSP is legit, he wouldn't be elite in the UFC but he'd be a good gatekeeper.
Against Latifi it was his knee and a cold.
He destroyed Latifi, just like a GSP performance. He completely neutralized his opponent and beat him in every way. Why in the world would an "excuse" be necessary for that performance?
Like GSP, Mousasi is content to play it safe and ride out decisions. He's not Anderson or Jon Jones, but there's nothing wrong with that.