Aldo is definitely not unhittable. Hominick, Florian, and Edgar were able to tag him.
I think the Hominick fight was the anomaly for Aldo, he's never looked like that in any of his other fights. I like Mark and all but it seemed Aldo was drained or sick or whatever. Florian's performance was pretty underated imo, he kept Aldo off his riddum but using his range to clinch but i dont recall him actually really landing flush much? The Edgar fight was closer also than i think people gave Frankie credit for but i guess Frankie still landed, Aldo just landed more and harder? I guess Aldo isnt up there with Anderson, Machida, Cruz then in terms of defense or not getting hit?
Aldo is definitely not unhittable. Hominick, Florian, and Edgar were able to tag him.
I think the Hominick fight was the anomaly for Aldo, he's never looked like that in any of his other fights. I like Mark and all but it seemed Aldo was drained or sick or whatever. Florian's performance was pretty underated imo, he kept Aldo off his riddum but using his range to clinch but i dont recall him actually really landing flush much? The Edgar fight was closer also than i think people gave Frankie credit for but i guess Frankie still landed, Aldo just landed more and harder? I guess Aldo isnt up there with Anderson, Machida, Cruz then in terms of defense or not getting hit?
Good points.
I think Aldo's defensive prowess is more a consequence of his dynamic offensive game. His striking is so technical and vicious and his output so high that you really can't get anything off. However once his output starts to wane, he starts getting tagged more (see the Edgar and Hominick fights).
I would never claim that Aldo's striking defense is a weakness, but at the same time I don't think it's elite.
I think that's a good way to put it but Aldo also showed some sick head movement vs Hominick who is a pretty precise, technical striker. I dont think Hominick had encountered that kind of movement before.
Aldo is definitely not unhittable. Hominick, Florian, and Edgar were able to tag him.
I think the Hominick fight was the anomaly for Aldo, he's never looked like that in any of his other fights. I like Mark and all but it seemed Aldo was drained or sick or whatever. Florian's performance was pretty underated imo, he kept Aldo off his riddum but using his range to clinch but i dont recall him actually really landing flush much? The Edgar fight was closer also than i think people gave Frankie credit for but i guess Frankie still landed, Aldo just landed more and harder? I guess Aldo isnt up there with Anderson, Machida, Cruz then in terms of defense or not getting hit?
Good points.
I think Aldo's defensive prowess is more a consequence of his dynamic offensive game. His striking is so technical and vicious and his output so high that you really can't get anything off. However once his output starts to wane, he starts getting tagged more (see the Edgar and Hominick fights).
I would never claim that Aldo's striking defense is a weakness, but at the same time I don't think it's elite.
Head Movement
Slip and Rip
Moar
The times he did take shots from Mark, they were either jabs, or shots he was willing to take to set up more powerful shots of his own, like this
Mark is a really good boxer/striker, and Aldo worked him over hardcore on the feet, outside of a few jabs that Rogan got a raging boner about. All while clearly being off/slower than normal in that fight.
I don't think he is up there with Anderson/Machida, but he certainly is right there on the next tier to me. You are both right that he does slow down later, or at least he did vs Mark. Who else has even landed significant strikes on Aldo on the feet? Not many.
Aldo is definitely not unhittable. Hominick, Florian, and Edgar were able to tag him.
I think the Hominick fight was the anomaly for Aldo, he's never looked like that in any of his other fights. I like Mark and all but it seemed Aldo was drained or sick or whatever. Florian's performance was pretty underated imo, he kept Aldo off his riddum but using his range to clinch but i dont recall him actually really landing flush much? The Edgar fight was closer also than i think people gave Frankie credit for but i guess Frankie still landed, Aldo just landed more and harder? I guess Aldo isnt up there with Anderson, Machida, Cruz then in terms of defense or not getting hit?
Good points.
I think Aldo's defensive prowess is more a consequence of his dynamic offensive game. His striking is so technical and vicious and his output so high that you really can't get anything off. However once his output starts to wane, he starts getting tagged more (see the Edgar and Hominick fights).
I would never claim that Aldo's striking defense is a weakness, but at the same time I don't think it's elite.
Head Movement
Slip and Rip
Moar
The times he did take shots from Mark, they were either jabs, or shots he was willing to take to set up more powerful shots of his own, like this
Mark is a really good boxer/striker, and Aldo worked him over hardcore on the feet, outside of a few jabs that Rogan got a raging boner about. All while clearly being off/slower than normal in that fight.
I don't think he is up there with Anderson/Machida, but he certainly is right there on the next tier to me. You are both right that he does slow down later, or at least he did vs Mark. Who else has even landed significant strikes on Aldo on the feet? Not many.
"I don't think he is up there with Anderson/Machida"
That's the only point I was trying to make. Aldo's complete striking game is top 3 in MMA, and so obviously his striking defense is very good, but it's not quite upper echelon (IMHO).
I don't think you'll ever see Aldo pull an Anderson vs Forrest or a Machida vs Rashad (where they were absolutely unhittable), but at the same time, you'll never see those guys systematically destroy somebody on the feet like Aldo did vs Faber.
Jones is also very good defensively, by virtue of his crazy reach and the fact that he's very fundamentally sound.
In the modern Jon Jones era (post-Bonnar and Gusmao), I can only think of 3 truly significant strikes that landed on his face - Machida's straight left (which is my SN), Rashad's head kick, and Rashad's overhand right. That's pretty impressive considering the competition he's faced.
He hasn't faced anyone that can test this claim. He also got tagged a few times by Fitch, IIRC.
He's incredibly explosive though, the High performance was very impressive. I'm not sure his explosiveness translates to defense, and he hasn't faced a striker yet.
I'd be interested seeing him fight Alves, but Lawler would do (as he's available).
