What are some fights that stand out for completely mysterious and bewildering game plans?
I’m not talking about fights where a fighter displayed low fight IQ or didn’t follow a gameplan. I’m talking about fights where, based on what we heard from the fighter and the coach between rounds, the game plan just didn’t seem to make sense.
One that will always stand out to me is Shields v. GSP. Shields was clearly losing. After round 3 or so, he asked whether he should pull guard. Gilbert said, iirc, “not yet.”
Pulling guard was a great plan B for Jake if he couldn’t get Georges down. What was the plan? Why did Gil say not yet? When did he think the appropriate time was?
Martin Kampmann vs Thiago Alves via Submission (guillotine choke) round 3, 4:12.
Alves was winning on the score cards and with less then a minute left in the fight his corner yelled to go for the takedown, he fell right into a guillotine.
The Diego being cornered by the Ribeiro bros against Penn "attempt 55 consecutive failed takedowns and have the corner yell for more takedowns" always baffled me.
You have a cardio-heavy athlete who clearly cant take his opponent down but has 5 rounds worth of fight in him. You gotta change it up.
Maasiai - Martin Kampmann vs Thiago Alves via Submission (guillotine choke) round 3, 4:12.
Alves was winning on the score cards and with less then a minute left in the fight his corner yelled to go for the takedown, he fell right into a guillotine.
To me, this is an example of horrible (all-time bad, in fact) fight IQ. I doubt it was the game plan. But, definitely an all-timer for worst decisions.
The Diego being cornered by the Ribeiro bros against Penn "attempt 55 consecutive failed takedowns and have the corner yell for more takedowns" always baffled me.
You have a cardio-heavy athlete who clearly cant take his opponent down but has 5 rounds worth of fight in him. You gotta change it up.
What other options do you think Diego had?
Honestly, Imanari rolls wouldn’t have been the worst plan-b. Granted, BJ probably smashes him from top, but Diego could create some scrambles.
The funny thing is that I don’t think what happened to Rousey is a mystery at all. She spent all her time training boxing, but her game plan was ultimately, “grab a hold, throw, arm bar.” As she moved away from her judo training, her ability to impose that game plan diminished. Thus, all she had was HEAD MOVEMENT! HEAD MOVEMENT!
^wrestlers have a bizzare complex where they feel like they have to strike due to all the work their coaches put in with them.
Ive seen guys refuse to shoot and slug it out over 2 straight rounds who could easily get the takedown and then BOOM one missed parry and it's over.
Think about Gaethje using gnp instead. Slick wrestling then just unloads on people. He would take such little damage and could have such a long career
Worth noting that Gaethje has had a better career than some far more heavily decorated wrestlers who adopted more wrestling heavy styles–e.g. Lance Palmer and Darion Caldwell.
Same with Romero.
The question with both guys to me isn’t why they don’t add a ton more wrestling. It’s why they don’t use it just a bit more to open up their standup.
Granted, they both do use it in ways similar to Chuck–they don’t need to worry about being taken down so they can unleash hell on their feet.
The funny thing is that I don’t think what happened to Rousey is a mystery at all. She spent all her time training boxing, but her game plan was ultimately, “grab a hold, throw, arm bar.” As she moved away from her judo training, her ability to impose that game plan diminished. Thus, all she had was HEAD MOVEMENT! HEAD MOVEMENT!
From what I remember she said her knees were shot, so she never wrestled. She also seemed to follow Holly or shoot in straight like the bull and matador one in gifs. She needed to cut Holly off, and then clinch, but I didn’t hear anything like that out of Edmond.
Giant Silva was more of a joke mention, but I remember watching him and saying WTF? I don’t speak Portuguese so I have no idea what his corner said.
The funny thing is that I don’t think what happened to Rousey is a mystery at all. She spent all her time training boxing, but her game plan was ultimately, “grab a hold, throw, arm bar.” As she moved away from her judo training, her ability to impose that game plan diminished. Thus, all she had was HEAD MOVEMENT! HEAD MOVEMENT!
From what I remember she said her knees were shot, so she never wrestled. She also seemed to follow Holly or shoot in straight like the bull and matador one in gifs. She needed to cut Holly off, and then clinch, but I didn’t hear anything like that out of Edmond.
Giant Silva was more of a joke mention, but I remember watching him and saying WTF? I don’t speak Portuguese so I have no idea what his corner said.
100% re: Ronda.
The thing is, I don’t think she ever really had to develop an effective game plan. Until Holly, every fighter squared their hips up and gave Ronda the clinch.
Her coaching staff should have seen this coming and – like AKA has done with Khabib – worked on the gaps in her wheelhouse. Instead, they tried to turn her into a boxer.