I watched the Gonzaga x Cro Cop match a few times, and I was really impressed with Gonzaga's technique for delivering elbows from inside the guard. He would use his right arm/hand to trap Cro Cop's left arm/hand and then throw a downward cutting elbow with his right arm. It was EXTREMELY effective and seemed effortless.
It wasn't just the elbows, but the method of trapping then transitioning to the elbow that he was using that I've never seen utilized before.
Just what I noticed.
Yep, I was pointing that out to everyone in the room. Fucking loved it. There's a particularly nice one where he controls the wrist away from mirko's body and comes crossing in with a bad ass elbow.
That was like old school Tito elbows.. Mad to watch. Just so. 'Real'.
i know tito had great elbows from inside his opponent's guard, but i never noticed him doing the trapping action. i'm not saying he didn't, but i just don't remember.
He nailed a nice uppercut elbow too. Very nice technique.
Not to spark up a trapping debate, but when Mirko located Napao's wrists, he would bend at the elbows, and drop bombs on Mirkos face. Smart move, and look like he was expecting that. Why Mirko didn't use his hips to draw him in and secure the underhooks is beyond me. That way, he could've waited for a stand up.
"Why Mirko didn't use his hips to draw him in and secure the underhooks is beyond me. That way, he could've waited for a stand up."
Exactly...he used to do that all the time!
Your correct, Tito didn't tra the arm like that, but the damage and impact they were causing reminded me of way back Tito.
It's pretty clear that even Mirko believed the hype from Pride fans, he survived easily against Fedor, the baddest GnP'er in the world - He probably thought he could do the same against Gonzaga, and in the lead up he was saying Gonzaga should fear his subs - wrong!
still no one comes close to the Crows. shame Loiseau doesn't have the wrestling to put himself in that position often enough.
It looked really good. Could some of that be the fact that Cro Cop's guard was completely inactive?
cro cop seemed happy to sit there and eat those elbows.
LOL at luckypunch
"He will be easy pickens by someone like Randleman."
Hoping your just offering comic relief there champ..
"Yep, it's a different animal playing defensive guard against punches, vs when a guy can drop elbows"
For sure. Elbows are so much quicker, and you need much less of a wind-up to hit hard. Throwing pucnhes reveals any points in which you lose balance, and are more easily countered by the person in guard.
Elbows sucks so much. They encourage people to sit in the guard and play a game of "see if I can cut you".
BLEH
XP-Magus
"It wasn't just the elbows, but the method of trapping then transitioning to the elbow that he was using that I've never seen utilized before."
Evan Tanner destroyed Valeri Ignatov at UFC 19 that way. I've trained trapping the hand and throwing same elbow ever since. Very effective strike.
"Gonzaga's elbows weren't about cutting him, they were doing some serious damage and seemed to have him dazed"
Precisely.. They hurt. A 250lb guy throwing elbows at your head it going to do a lot more than 'just cause cuts'.
Like new people to the sport? Totally agree, it's amazing how many subtle nuances to the game you forget when you train it.