Werdum is arguably the best BJJ fighter in the world. He's improved his striking in recent years, but BJJ is his strength. Miocic showed him what boxing is like.
JDS beat Stipe before, and Werdum. I'd pick JDS over anyone in the heavyweight division today except maybe Cain or Overeem. Overeem deserves the next title shot. How would a Miocic / Overeem fight go? Overrem is vulnerable to this kind of one punch knockout power, but he has a different kind of fighting experience as a world champion kickboxer. This fight would be boxing vs kickboxing unless it goes to the ground.
Werdum is one of the most improved fighters over the past few years. What the hell was he thinking just charging chin first at Miocic like that? TFK
Explain the science behind the sport you are participating in effecting the sturdiness of one's chin. TFK
well, fighting with the chin up in the air while flailing aimlessly tends to reduce the sturdiness of one chin. What a terrible performance by Werdum. To be honest, I never really believed the narrative about how he improved his stand-up so much (some said he could beat Overeem standing up ::), but he's defintively better than that.
I picked Brown, so I was more wrong than both of you. I was wrong about Brown and Werdum. My other predictions for the night were accurate.
It's funny how MMA fans talk about these guys having all these exotic skills and being more 'real' fighters than boxers, but whenever I watch a highlight of the last big fight its some guy flailing and jumping around til he or she gets ktfo by an arm punch. He Ray Robinson'd this bum.
Boxers wear bigger gloves but since it's all punching they get hit clean a lot. Someone who makes it to the top or near the top in boxing has to have a somewhat reliable chin. In MMA the punches are so dangerous and seldom and there's so many ways out, guys can make it to the top without really having their chin tested consistently. A lot of these guys were always KO's waiting happen. Experienced accomplished fighters like this wouldn't get KO'd with unimpressive punches as consistently in MMA if they had good chins.
Cain Velasquez would beat any pro boxer in the world in a no rules fight. "No rules" meaning one on one with no weapons. Cain would make Tyson Fury his bitch. Fabricio Werdum dominated Cain and choked him out with his jiu jitsu. He does have exotic skills that don't compare to boxing. Stipe Miocic winning was a victory for boxing. Other fighting styles win and produce champions too.
Miocic / Overeem seems like the fight to make, but Cain is the next guy in line after Overeem. He hasn't actually won a fight yet since he lost the title. JDS looked excellent in his last fight. I'm hoping he gets another big win or two and gets another shot at the title.
Look at the history of boxers vs MMA wrestlers in MMA fights. A heavyweight boxer would have a puncher's chance. He'd probably just get one chance. Cain would shoot for the takedown immediately and get it. His takedowns rarely get stopped in the UFC, where guys spend their whole careers training to defend against them. It's over once it hits the ground unless his opponent has extensive grappling experience. Cain got knocked out with one punch from JDS. Anything's possible. He wouldn't have tried to stand and box that long if it weren't for the years of experience JDS has in defensive wrestling.
Boxers have much better timing, accuracy, and power in their punches than these scrubby cage wrasslers that Cain has been fighting.
They'll get one chance to land something big while he's going for the double leg. If they can learn how to stop takedowns from an elite wrestler, if they learn how to fight in the clinch and keep it standing, that's when their boxing skills could take over the fight. Learning how to stop Cain's takedowns isn't easy. Most people can't do it with a lifetime of training in MMA.
