Hey guys,
Last night was a pretty exciting event so I had trouble picking a fight to break down. I was going to look at Pickett vs Jabouin because they both had some great moments but I wanted instead to have a look at Stefan Struve. I got a lot of questions as to why he gets knocked out a lot and if I think the improvements in his game have been as great as commentators suggest. I hope I answered a few of them in this piece!
Hope you don't mind clicking the link and as always all feedback is much welcomed!
Cheers,
Jack
It's hard not to like Stefan Struve; he's humble, classy, a great finisher and he often comes back from adversity. He is also one of the few heavyweights who routinely comes into his fights in the kind of physical shape to fight more than two rounds; something which is admirable in a sport where heavyweights gassing is somehow an acceptable occurrence. With his knockout of Stipe Miocic, Struve has finished four opponents in a row and Dana White speculated that the winner of the fight would be the number 5 or 6 heavyweight in the world. Unfortunately Stefan Struve, despite picking up several impressive finishes in his recent run, has shown very little improvement in the skills that have been letting him down his entire career. Despite having an 84 inch reach Stefan Struve still fights as if he believes he is a foot shorter.
In February I wrote an article at Head Kick Legend called "The Trouble with Stefan Struve", outlining the difficulties that Struve had utilizing his reach. The powers that be at SBNation have opted to delete said article so I have no scruples over repeating myself in today's article.
Here is what I had to say about Struve in February:
"The true hole in Struve's game and what is stopping him from achieving greatness is his refusing to fight as tall on the feet as he does on the ground. Stefan Struve is not a small target, and while he possesses the joint longest reach in the UFC, he consistently fails to use it. A drought of strong jabs is not the only ailment in Struve's striking though; he over-commits when he gets any attack going..."
"Struve's desire to constantly walk in is not the way a man with an 84 inch reach should fight, he smothers his punches and exposes himself."
"Against better punchers, Struve's inability to use his reach has proven more costly to his career and his cognitive faculties. Now heavyweight champion, Junior dos Santos is a puncher who does not typically use his jab all that well (excluding his match with Carwin) and prefers to throw thudding straight rights, left hooks and right uppercuts. He should have found a nightmare in Struve's reach and ground wizardry, but instead was allowed to walk in on the big Dutchman and throw his hands comfortably. It is one thing to excuse this loss as Junior Dos Santos is now the heavyweight champion - but there is nothing magical about Dos Santos that allows him to wade through the gulf of distance in which Struve can hit him but he cannot hit Struve. Struggling under pressure in the stand up as he often does, rather than attempt to tie up, Struve made the mistake of attempting to cover up. In 4oz gloves covering up is not a great move anyway, but Struve's long arms work against him as he covers up, it is almost impossible or a man of Struve's length to put his gloves on his head without bowing his elbows out a foot in front of him and allowing punches looping around behind them."
The main flaws that I indentified in Stefan Struve's striking were that:
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He lacks a jab that earns the respect of his opponent.
- Rather than moving, he covers up in defence.
- He routinely attempts techniques that put well in range of his opponent and are easy to catch, counter or avoid.
All of these flaws were on display amply last night despite Struve's eventual stoppage of Miocic.
Lack of a respectable jab
It is hard to pinpoint a specific image or gif to illustrate Struve's lack of a jab but it is certainly true that if Struve had a respectable jab the entire dynamic of his fights would change. Excellent examples of Struve's lack of a competent jab are his inability to outstrike men such as Dave Herman and Roy Nelson. These men are not good strikers but they were allowed to look great because they could stand in their range and do whatever they want with Struve doing little to answer them. Roy Nelson is an excellent example as he simply ran at Struve while Struve did nothing to stop him. Even competent strikers such as Junior Dos Santos and Pat Barry should never have been able to trouble Struve as much as they did without at least being punished while walking through the gulf of distance between the end of their reach and the end of Struve's.
Every single one of Struve's UFC losses can be attributed entirely to him allowing opponents to get in almost on top of him on the feet, where his long limbs are ineffectual. When Struve does jab, he rarely puts much force behind it because he is either tentative or hasn't invested the time in building a powerful jab with his considerable bodyweight behind it. Notice here, against Stipe Miocic, on one of the few ocassions Struve throws his jab, it doesn't even concern Miocic who simply fires at Struve as he pulls the jab back.
1. Struve throws a backhand jab, flicking it out and leaning with his upper body, rather than stepping into it with his weight. Struve's range is off and he fails to commit so the punch simply glances off Miocic's face.
2. Miocic follows Struve's hand as it comes back low (this is where Roy Nelson caught Struve with an overhand and put him to sleep).
3. Struve realises what is happening as Miocic connects a strong right hook to the body.
4. Struve assumes his covering up posture as Miocic gets into close quarters punching range.
