Fedor's plan in the boxing seemed to be to make space to slow the pace and anticipate Rogers stepping fwd to engage and time him with a counter overhand right. He tried this 3 times:
1) At start of the fight, which resulted in Fedor running straight into Roger's jab. Looking at replay, the power of the jab was mostly Fedor running into it clean.
2) Later in first round, overhand right counter missed, but follow up left hook rocked Rogers.
3) Middle of second round Fedor anticipated Rogers stepping forward and landed the clean overhand right, resulting in KO.
Post fight Rogers talked about letting his hands fly, but outside the first jab every time he stepped forward into punching range he got clinched, taken down, ate a combo or got rocked/KO'ed. IMO he should have stayed on the outside with jabs as long as he could to outpoint Fedor.
Good comments. I agree about what Fedor's gameplan was but am now wondering whether he ever has a gameplan for his fights. He seems to do the exact same thing every time. Luckily, his skills in all aspects of the game make up for his lack of surprise. It seems that every opponent can be confident as to what he's going to do but no one is good enough to beat him at doing those things.
good post. i agree for the most part, but i dont think brett is skilled enough to "stick n move his way to a victory over an opponent as talented as fedor.
I think brett best shot at winning was using his size and strength and just bumrushing fedor, going all out in the first minute.. This would be the best strategy for carwin also imo.
Brock on the other hand as enough athletisim and skill where he could fight a more strategic battle and hope to get the w.
I don't know if Rogers has the stick and move skills, but I'd be curious as what would have happened if Arlovsky skipped kicking and flying knees and sat on the outside throwing only 1-2's. Despite his glass jaw, he might have had a shot outpointing Fedor.
Fedor's defensive boxing is actually really good. His offense is pure brawling, pretty sloppy but with an unorthodox approach and unorthodox punching techniques that catch guys. I've heard there's a Soviet style of boxing that throws long hooks, I'd be curious to learn more about this and compare it to what Fedor does.