Jacare's weapons were obvious (td and right hand), what we all saw was Whittaker using footwork and patience to take away these weapons and land his own (solids left jabs and hooks to set up the right head kick)
I think its prob a factor but the problem with the USADA camp folks is that they cannot see anything else. All that stuff you said was gonna be factor, PEDs or not. Also Jacare got Whitaker down with a nice inside trip but Whitaker was prepared and never let Jacare get in range again.
His reaction time looked REALLY slow. He ate a jab in the first round and offered almost zero defense in the form of head movement or blocking. I knew after that jab it was over for him.
Yeah, he seemed really unprepared for Whitaker's speed and movement.
Can't tell from those pics and I didn't watch the event last night. I'm a fan of Jacare and I'm happy he just inked an 8 fight deal. This is great!
That said, this is the PED league, where cheats and drug users alike share the octagon in a quest for greatness. They had to bring in USADA for fucks sake. Has anyone seen how Ronda performs post USADA? Guys, these people are human too. They are in a high stakes game of win or get cut or to the end of the line. Of course PED's are involved here but now with the threat of failed test enforcement, some of these guys/girls had to get clean. Look at GSP, said he was testing 7 months ago and now just barely started. They cannot afford to get busted. Some of these people will go clean, and then show up looking atrocious.
I feel Jacare is SUPER DANGEROUS, but only to certain fighters (albeit a vast majority of them) in that if you have enough defense to keep from getting murdered on the ground immediately, or make him REALLY REALLY force a take down to burn himself out, and have standup that is quite a bit better, he can be beaten. Similar to Werdum, although Werdum caught people offguard for awhile by vastly improving his standup. Jacare has enough power on the feet to keep this from being a reality to most fighters though, and that's why he has been so successful.
Nah. He's old, but claiming USADA played a role is an overstatement. From the opening bell Whitaker was giving Jacare problems with controlling the distance. He was pacing Jacare and you could sense early that Jacare was getting timed. That being said, Jacare still managed to force the clinch and, quite frankly, Whitaker forced an amazing escape/scramble. After that, Jacare was in the same position, getting overwhelmed by Whitaker managing the distance and cracking him with shots from the outside. He really had no answer for Whitaker's timing. As he got rocked, Jacare actually did a remarkable job of recovering and staying in the fight. He never gave up.
Rewatch the footwork from the opening bell. Jacare was at a serious disadvantage in the standup from the bell.
Honestly, I felt like he looked more "deflated" in his last fight, than this fight. It's not super drastic, but he definitely looked different in his last couple fights, to me. Especially in his neck.
Phone went retarded. He just didn't have the same control or strength on the ground when he got Whitaker down. He doesn't look the same at all. Lost his power
