Rampage-Rashad

Jesus you have no clue. You are a waste of time.

 

Because you can refute it right? I'm not saying Rashad is a lock to win but he has a great chance, contrary to what the attitude is around here. It's not even a punchers chance either. If he comes in with the right strategy he can easily defeat Shogun who is not invincible.

You're probably the same crowd who thought the Machida era had arrived:laughing:

 

::::::

 

DEAL!!!! ::

 

There is no reason in the world that Rashad can't beat Rua. Rashad's wrestling and take downs are no joke due in large part to how fast his hands are. If you look to defend his take downs, you might get cracked on the chin.

If Rashad fights Rua with the same plan and determination that he fought Silva and Rampage, he can beat Shogun. If Evans can limit the standing exchanges with his grappling and ground control, a decision for Sugar isn't that much of a stretch.

 

That's all I'm maintaining. In fact, I'd actually pay the whole 50 bucks to watch this matchup. It is intriguing and will decide a championship.

 

Can you tell Rashad is spending time training with GSP? He is starting to look like GSP in the cage. And the Machida fight has made Rashad a more strategic fighter. Good for him.

 

Rashad is facing a much more versatile striker. Rua can go upstairs or downstairs with devastating effect. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rashad win the first round, but he gasses and that will happen faster due to the leg kicks, pressure, and movement that Rua will give him...along with the constant possibility of getting knocked out standing. Rashad actually tires himself out with a lot of wasted movement.

Rashad will try to take him down early and often. It won't be as easy as it was against Rampage. In fact, Rashad is a harder fight than Rampage for Rua at this point, but Rua's striking game has more facets and I'd wager he'll win a 4-1 decision over Rashad if Rashad can avoid getting knocked out.

 

Keep in mind this is the same Rua that gassed against Griffin and Coleman. Most people would conclude that his lack of cardio was related to his injury. That might be true but it also has alot to do with the grueling nature of grappling versus the type of fight he saw with Machida. In a grueling grappling match, which Evans would love to initiate, I think Rua will gas faster than Evans.

By the way, what makes you say Rua will be more difficult to take down than Rampage. Jackson has one of the best anti-takedown rates in the UFC. And Rua didn't do much to stop a 900 year old Coleman from taking him down. I disagree with your point here.

Rua is a difficult fight for anyone at 205. My problem is how easily everyone dismisses Rashad's chances. Rashad is obviously concentrating much more on his shots and takedowns now as evidenced by how good they looked against Silva and Jackson.

Rashad has the ability in terms of his speed and explosiveness to win boring, grappling/ground & pound type of matches with anyone in the division including Rua. He also has the high chance of being knocked out.

It's a good fight in my opinion.

 

Rua had multiple surgeries and injuries in recent years and couldn't train properly (knee surgeries and appendix surgery). If you can't train properly, you're gonna gas.

 

Dude, he had appendix surgery right before he knocked Machida out. I don't think that counts in an excuse for his gassing against Griffin or Coleman.

The knee surgeries were before the Coleman fight. He gassed with Coleman because it was a grueling fight in my opinion.

We will see.

 

Not true. Rua had knee surgery after the Griffin fight.

 

Which was before Coleman as I said. What did I say that wasn't true?

 

Nothing. The point is that he hadn't been training all out for quite some time, years even...because of the numerous injuries. The guy seems injury prone but he also seems to have left that in the past. He went 5 full rounds in the first Machida fight and then definitely improved afterwards.

He's way better now than he has been in years.

 

Oh, sorry. I was thinking the first Coleman fight.

 

I'm guessing this was in reference to my "Rashad will likely go for Rampages legs like his teammate Jardine did." Or that he needs to make sure he checks Rashads kicks to the legs. My prediction was Rampage ko which was wrong. That was my opinion on the fight and given as much trouble as Jardine gave Rampage taking his legs away. I personally thought it would be the Rashads plan. It wasn't and Rampage was all out of gas when he finally connected and couldn't capitalize.

HOWEVER given the fact that Rashad is not the same since his ko loss or his conditioning really isn't that great (being as he keeps getting caught late). The odds are stacked against him pretty bad. He's in against another puncher (Thiago and Rampage were and they both stunned him bad in the 3rd which he narrowly survived) with 2 other things going against him. Rds 4 and 5 with someone that can clearly maintain pressure.

 

My bad. :doh: