Haye and Vitali sign the praises of Dos Santos' boxing.

[LordZardoz]

I know every time someone tries to box in the UFC, Rogan is quick to point out how the fighter needs to throw more kicks, but I really don't agree with this. Muay Thai/Kickboxing has more than proven it's effectiveness in MMA, but I think pure boxing can be still be very dangerous. There's something to be said for being elite at one specific style. Sure, Dos Santos might be able to mix in a bit more kicks, but he won the heavyweight title by being the best boxer in the sport. If it's working, why change?

The longer you are a champion, the more your style will get picked apart. In his own way, Dos Santos is every bit the one trick pony that Palhares is. You absolutely know he will try to get a victory by face punching. I concede that as far as 'one trick' attacks go, high level boxing is pretty damn flexible and versatile, and he compliments it very very well with his hand speed and movement. It also works in his favor that there are very many heavyweights who like to think they are high level strikers because they can hit hard enough to annihilate most people they come across.

So lets take it as a given that Dos Santos has enough movement, cardio, and takedown defense that no one is going to be able to take him down in the first or 2nd round and that he hits hard enough that after one or two failed takedowns, most opponents do not want to get close enough to try it again, and they let Dos Santos pick them apart. I would still expect that someone with good Kickboxing or Muay Thai would be able to pick away at Dos Santos with leg kicks and teeps, and would have enough striking defense to avoid having their skull caved in. And as athletic as Dos Santos is, he does slow down, it is just that normally his opponent is damaged enough that they slow down more. I am thinking that a viable attack to defeat Dos Santos is the heavyweight version of the Condit vs Diaz fight.

Dos Santos does not necessarily need to start throwing more kicks, but he does need to diversify his attack a bit. Somehow I do not think he is going to be working takedowns into his attacks any time soon.

END COMMUNICATION

[Guilty]

I know every time someone tries to box in the UFC, Rogan is quick to point out how the fighter needs to throw more kicks, but I really don't agree with this. Muay Thai/Kickboxing has more than proven it's effectiveness in MMA, but I think pure boxing can be still be very dangerous. There's something to be said for being elite at one specific style. Sure, Dos Santos might be able to mix in a bit more kicks, but he won the heavyweight title by being the best boxer in the sport. If it's working, why change?

I completely agree. If you have the best boxing and are good enough at every thing else to ensure all of your fights end up being a boxing match, why change it up?

[flarg]

The longer you are a champion, the more your style will get picked apart. In his own way, Dos Santos is every bit the one trick pony that Palhares is. You absolutely know he will try to get a victory by face punching. I concede that as far as 'one trick' attacks go, high level boxing is pretty damn flexible and versatile, and he compliments it very very well with his hand speed and movement. It also works in his favor that there are very many heavyweights who like to think they are high level strikers because they can hit hard enough to annihilate most people they come across.

So lets take it as a given that Dos Santos has enough movement, cardio, and takedown defense that no one is going to be able to take him down in the first or 2nd round and that he hits hard enough that after one or two failed takedowns, most opponents do not want to get close enough to try it again, and they let Dos Santos pick them apart. I would still expect that someone with good Kickboxing or Muay Thai would be able to pick away at Dos Santos with leg kicks and teeps, and would have enough striking defense to avoid having their skull caved in. And as athletic as Dos Santos is, he does slow down, it is just that normally his opponent is damaged enough that they slow down more. I am thinking that a viable attack to defeat Dos Santos is the heavyweight version of the Condit vs Diaz fight.

Dos Santos does not necessarily need to start throwing more kicks, but he does need to diversify his attack a bit. Somehow I do not think he is going to be working takedowns into his attacks any time soon.

END COMMUNICATION

I think takedowns are a better secondary form of attack for Junior and a more likely one. He's shown us plenty of times that he's wrestling savvy. He's not going to be able to beat someone with truly fantastic kicks by trying to throw kicks of his own.

[PITTFOX]

He threw some kicks against Gonzaga and Yvel IIRC. I think he is just making sure he isn't opening himself up to being taken down, so he's been stick more to using his hands.

[Onion]

Vitali will be changing his tune once he catches wind of JDS saying he could KO them with 3 months training.

[Best80smovieRAD]

And this is why Overeem screwed us all over, there was never any damn chance for Mir and Overeem at least would of provided us a fight


DAMN THE HORSE MEAT!!!!!!

[RPD]

JDS isn't a "one trick" pony in the sense he can only do one thing good. He has unparalleled take down defense and the times someone has taken him down he's stayed there for a total or what 3s COMBINED? This means anyone fighting him HAS to fight his fight. The only person I think that will give him problems is Cain, only because he's fast too AND mixes it up.

As Pit said, kicks open you up to take downs. Ask Big Foot about how kicks work against someone with good take downs. I still need to see a gif of that, it was such a sick take down by Cain.

[LordZardoz]

JDS isn't a "one trick" pony in the sense he can only do one thing good. He has unparalleled take down defense and the times someone has taken him down he's stayed there for a total or what 3s COMBINED? This means anyone fighting him HAS to fight his fight. The only person I think that will give him problems is Cain, only because he's fast too AND mixes it up.

As Pit said, kicks open you up to take downs. Ask Big Foot about how kicks work against someone with good take downs. I still need to see a gif of that, it was such a sick take down by Cain.

I fully concur that JDS has excellent takedown defense. I will even concede that his level of reported skill in BJJ is good enough to keep him from being trivially submitted if he should ever be caught on the ground in the future. However, I still insist that Dos Santos is a 1 trick pony. This is in no way the same as me saying that Dos Santos is a crappy fighter or can be trivially defeated.

The fact that Dos Santos's one dimensional attack is to punch people with his fists does not make him less of a one trick pony. I must concede that at his demonstrated level of proficiency with that attack, it is a very versitile mode of attack, but it is still one dimensional. In previous threads about Palhares, Rousy or Shinya Aoki, or Jon Fitch, I have argued that being a 1 trick pony is not necessarily a massive detriment as long as you have a very strong defensive game to back it up, and if your generally able to force the fight into your favored domain. Clearly Dos Santos can do exactly that.

Dos Santos is a beast but two opponents have been able to stand up to his striking and take him to a decision. In both the Carwin and the Nelson fight, Dos Santos had slowed down considerably by the 3rd round. I fully expect that unless Dos Santos adds a decent secondary attack to his game that someone is going to simply try to stay defensive for a few rounds and take him deep while using whatever gameplan they find most effective to diminish the effectiveness of Dos Santos' boxing attack.

At this point in time, I expect that there are two UFC heavyweights who could defeat Dos Santos if Dos Santos insists on trying to box, and possibly a two more who have a decent shot depending on circumstances of the fight.

Cain Velasquez: Yes, he lost before, but he more or less got caught. But Cain is fast, he has a very good gas tank, and he is very comfortable in striking. Also, his takedowns do not suck. I think he can take Dos Santos deep and get him tired, getting a finish in the 3rd or 4th round.

Alistair Overeem: Dos Santos is an excellent striker with good power, excellent technique, and obscene speed. Overeem is very possibly better with obscene power, and better technique, and a more diverse set of attack options. If Overeem can avoid getting caught with a bad amount of ring rust, I think he can hold up through Dos Santos's striking and very possibly just outstrike him.

Daniel Cormier: Most likely outcome is that Dos Santos can dictate distance with his footwork and light up Cormier and get a 1st or 2nd round knockout. But while Dos Santos has excellent takedown defense, I do not think he can stuff a takedown from an olympic level wrestler. On top of that Cormier's striking is improving very quickly.

Mark Hunt: Mark Hunt is the slower version of Overeem, though I expect that he is much more durable. If Dos Santos actually decides to take Hunt down and submit him, he could do so easily. But if he decided to box against him, he is taking a big damn risk.

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[osss]

Stfu that was a bullsh*t misquote turned title by helwani

[osss]

^ @ onion