Fighters are afraid to lose their position and the fear holds them back. Two observations from last night's fights:
1. Swick turned it on STRONG after his point deduction.
2. Marquardt's DDT at the end of the third round.
Fighters are being trained to do just enough to win, and only when fear or frustration sets in do they start treating it like they are in a fight, not a competition.
Those aren't the only two examples of the last few weeks. Many fighters are afraid to gas so they won't go 100% until the final 10 seconds of each round. Standup between many fighters looks like a typical Chute Box sparring session.
Fear of losing the money keeps them from going all out.
Bisping summed it up: he had worked so hard to get to the UFC that he was afraid of losing and that fear held him back from performing. Now he's over the fear and you can tell he's fighting to end fights.
In the old days you couldn't have that fear. You might get your teeth bashed in if you didn't go 100%.
No offense Luke, but few fighters fight to just go out and finish someone and that's what makes Wanderlei Silva so fun to watch. He goes out there with the "end the fight" mentality. Sure, that plan doesn't equal wins when you don't go in with that strategy, but he will win over fans. Some of us fans are fans of the action and not so much the wins/losses.
No offense Luke, but few fighters fight to just go out and finish someone and that's what makes Wanderlei Silva so fun to watch. He goes out there with the "end the fight" mentality. Sure, that plan doesn't equal wins when you don't go in with that strategy, but he will win over fans. Some of us fans are fans of the action and not so much the wins/losses.
Marquardt was landing heavy strikes standing and on the ground that whole fight, that did a lot more than his piledrive (which could and probably should have had him DQ'd).
Marquardt was landing heavy strikes standing and on the ground that whole fight, that did a lot more than his piledrive (which could and probably should have had him DQ'd).
I agree. What stood out to me, though, was the amount of energy he had left. It was obviously in frustration. I think with a guy like that you could train him to unleash that within the fight and you wouldn't have to worry about the judges.