Watch the video
Of all time it's Fedor. I already made a similar thread like 4 months ago.
Good stuff CW, we need to define it first although people can rate on their own definitions.
Randy is one Chael noted and I forgot and is a good one.
I know where Chael is coming from on DJ being “intelligent” and “knowledgeable” and maybe even tho GOAT but doesn’t need as much IQ cuz he is good enough to lead the dance. I disagree tho. Chael is making it more about adaptability based on countering your opponent. Randy often imposed his game plan just as DJ did even if Randy isn’t as physically gifted as DJ.
oranos -Of all time it's Fedor. I already made a similar thread like 4 months ago.
Well that’s good u already made the only thread ever on the subject in UG history. Phew.
Wasa-B - Good stuff CW, we need to define it first although people can rate on their own definitions.Randy is one Chael noted and I forgot and is a good one.
I know where Chael is coming from on DJ being “intelligent” and “knowledgeable” and maybe even tho GOAT but doesn’t need as much IQ cuz he is good enough to lead the dance. I disagree tho. Chael is making it more about adaptability based on countering your opponent. Randy often imposed his game plan just as DJ did even if Randy isn’t as physically gifted as DJ.
Great stuff.
I’m not sure there is a fight where Randy ever made major adaptations. The fights that best display his intelligence – Chuck 1, Vitor 1, Tito, Sylvia – he had the perfect gameplan and followed it perfectly. During fights when the gameplan was insufficient–Machida–he had no plan B.
Mighty Mouse, by contrast, often adapted and got better as the fight went on. Both Dodson fights for example. Against Benavidez in the second fight, he read what Joe was giving him for the KO.
GSP reading the direction of the Bisping fight and deciding to go balls to the wall for the finish is one of the better examples of his all-time great fight IQ. Getting the takedown in the fifth against Hendricks is another example.
MisterHawkeMMA -Wasa-B -Uhtred Ragnarson -wiggum - Georges St. Pierre.Among active fighters. And while GSP is the GOAT, his skill set seems basic in comparison to someone like Volk or Izzy.
Non sense. GSP is more rounded than either of them and no one will likely surpass his striking/TD mixing ability for a loooong time.
GSP would have never let a Izzy/Romero situation happen. He may not have Izzy’s striking finishing ability but he would have still imposed his strikes to tds like he does vs everyone else. GSP never needed his opponent to come at him to counter. He could counter or impose his game.
I get what he’s saying. He just means that GSP doesn’t use a lot of exotic or intricate skills. He relies on the basics, but he’s mastered them to a degree, that it’s really all he needs.
Honestly, I wish more fighters were this way. And I think it’s the calling card of a high fight IQ to know what skills you do and don’t need. You need a jab, you need a cross, you need to be able to kick the leg and check leg kicks. That’s really all you need on the feet. And grappling wise, you only really need to know how to get takedowns, get to dominant positions, and strike effectively from those positions. Everything else you need is on the defensive end. And GSP is the most educated fighter on defense ever possibly. Anytime his back touches the ground he gets up immediately. Even when hurt. The Diazs have lost so many fights because they fought from their backs. GSP never does. And that’s why he always wins.
The skill of mixing strikes and tds esp in the way GSP did it is as intricate and sophisticated as anything any fighter does. There is a reason why no fighter has still never come close to this skill which could be considered as foundational or fundamental MMA skill.
wiggum - GSP reading the direction of the Bisping fight and deciding to go balls to the wall for the finish is one of the better examples of his all-time great fight IQ. Getting the takedown in the fifth against Hendricks is another example.
Also letting Bisping get up to get the RNC…
For GSO, perhaps like DJ, it’s hard to pin them down to one thing - IQ, experience, roundedness - cuz they were so good at so many tings.
wiggum -Wasa-B - Good stuff CW, we need to define it first although people can rate on their own definitions.Randy is one Chael noted and I forgot and is a good one.
I know where Chael is coming from on DJ being “intelligent” and “knowledgeable” and maybe even tho GOAT but doesn’t need as much IQ cuz he is good enough to lead the dance. I disagree tho. Chael is making it more about adaptability based on countering your opponent. Randy often imposed his game plan just as DJ did even if Randy isn’t as physically gifted as DJ.
Great stuff.
I’m not sure there is a fight where Randy ever made major adaptations. The fights that best display his intelligence – Chuck 1, Vitor 1, Tito, Sylvia – he had the perfect gameplan and followed it perfectly. During fights when the gameplan was insufficient–Machida–he had no plan B.
Mighty Mouse, by contrast, often adapted and got better as the fight went on. Both Dodson fights for example. Against Benavidez in the second fight, he read what Joe was giving him for the KO.
Horiguchi fight also, DJ acknowledged he was having trouble with Hori’s and started taking him down.
And excellent point on Randy. Yes he often imposed his game plan and it worked or it didn’t. The second Chuck and third Chuck fights - Chuck made the adjustments from the first and Randy could not in the second and third.
Gsp and MM, top 2.
CaptainWoody - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhKUsTIV18Q
Did Chael make a fucking video on my thread? Hahaha, mad bastard.
Chael fucking love you dude.
Wasa-B -wiggum - GSP reading the direction of the Bisping fight and deciding to go balls to the wall for the finish is one of the better examples of his all-time great fight IQ. Getting the takedown in the fifth against Hendricks is another example.Also letting Bisping get up to get the RNC…
100%
Andy Wang and it isn't close.
Another fighter not mentioned.
Frank Shamrock. Him and hendo are two of my top 4 favorite fighters.
Ironically, Frank talked shit about the Gracies but his fight against Tito was right out of the Gracie playbook. Use an active guard and wear down the bigger opponent.
Maybe, he was simply more ahead of the game than other fighters when it came to being truly well rounded but he seemed to wear guys down and pick moments to explode. This was evident against Enson...
Always thought he was a bright guy and an intelligent fighter excluding his Pancrase antics against Bas.
Cruz is high in the list
fedor before he stopped mixing up his game was a nightmare matchup. Pick your poison
anderson played the game like a maestro for a while
but gsp wins for me.
Never deviated from his intentions and won his rematches with exclamations.
Uhtred Ragnarson -CaptainWoody - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhKUsTIV18QDid Chael make a fucking video on my thread? Hahaha, mad bastard.
Chael fucking love you dude.
I watched the video, then when browsing the UG yesterday I seen your thread and said “hey that’s the thread Chael was talking about.”
Ministry of Truth - I think we need to better define fight IQ. A lot of fighters on this thread are just good at sticking to a gameplan or following advice. This is not fight IQ. Fight IQ is the ability to adapt in the moment, and without guidance.Based on his commentary, I think Dominick Cruz is a great answer.
I think a person has to have a lot of tools, watched a lot of tape, know the opponent has tape in him and diagnose the opponent’s strategy before being hurt. Even Cruz admits that he came up with great games plans and trained them into his body.
wiggum -Soul Gravy - Yoel has horrible fight IQ. (Supposedly) world wrestling that he refuses, time and again, to use.Stipe got outstruck by a much shorter man. That should never have happened.
lol at the word ‘supposedly.’
Romero beat Cael Sanderson twice. Nothing ‘supposed’ about his world class wrestling.
Until I see him use it in the cage, it’s “supposedly.”
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