UFC 214 Jones vs Cormier II

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Apr 16, 2011
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Yeah not knowing the opponent is the big thing there. I just take that as Woodley was increasing his training workload in the hopes of fighting at 213. He ended up fighting at 214, so he'd have fluctuated his training load at times. What I take from it is that Woodley had a bit of time advantage only because he fought before Maia did.

Maia had the advantage of being the challenger and always thinking about how to beat the champ. After Maia beat Masvidal he'd be thinking and planning on how to beat Woodley whether he ended up getting the shot next or not. Woodley wouldn't be as locked in on Maia because as the champ he couldn't be 100% sure who is next.

This is completely overanalysing it by me haha. In the end I think it was a completely even playing field, but that the short preparation time was worse for Maia than it was for Woodley just because of the way they match-up.



Good stuff as usual from BJJ Scout here. Mentioned how Maia only had 5 weeks to prepare and how it would have been hard to change his approach much in that time. Also said how Maia used to clinch a lot more in the past and only really did that at the very end of the fight. Would have been nice to see Maia attempt some throws/trips from a clinch. Maia's gone away from that as he's worked on shooting in on the legs of late. That's a shame because he had a lot of success at MW with takedowns from the clinch and at WW his size could help him.

You never know if you don't try it:

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Jul 22, 2010
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Good point, i've seen him as getting a little too one-dimensional in the last year or 2 with his snatch single leg takedown that seems to be his plan A & B these days, he switches to the double once it's up against the fence but he used to have a much more dynamic arsenal of takedowns in the centre of the octagon, the predictability 'can' play into the hands of his opponent. But of course, having the pedigree of Damien Maia - he'd back his techniques over any foresight and predictability advantage his opponents might hold.
 
Apr 16, 2011
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I think fighters just get caught up in what they're doing and go away from some other stuff that they do well at times. You get really good wrestlers that are working on their striking and then they don't even try to wrestle sometimes. Sometimes it's trying to be more well-rounded that ends up making you more one-dimensional in your fights. And sometimes trying to be more well-rounded hurts you. Some good strikers try to wrestle more and it takes away from their strengths as they look to be more well-rounded.

Early UFC career Maia was more willing to pull guard and work off of his back. Over time he realised that wasn't a great idea given how MMA is scored. He also figured out what works best in MMA grappling over time. Now when he pulls guard he doesn't look to stay there for long as he's always looking to end up on top, whether it's with a sweep or basically shooting a takedown from his knees/back to get on top.

He also became K-1 Maia for a while. I think it's pretty overstated. And in the end him working on his striking has helped him a lot. His recent success at WW is built on advancements in his game through striking fundamentals. His pressure footwork is really good and gets him in position to work his takedown game, and his straight punches are pretty good and feinting helps him plenty when fighters bite on them. His wrestling has improved but his striking has too, and a lot of people don't recognise that. It's all based on forward movement which makes it all the more baffling that Woodley didn't try to pressure more.

I think Maia said that he focused on his wrestling a lot after the Anderson Silva fight. Againt Silva he couldn't get close enough to clinch, pull guard or shoot takedowns effectively. Since then he's improved with shooting in for takedowns and how effective his guard pulling is, but has gone away from his clinch takedowns over time.

Skimmed through some of Maia's early UFC fights this morning. Sonnen was really prepared for Maia shooting in on him and working from his guard, but got completely surprised in the clinch. Maia/Jason MacDonald was a great fight. Really good back and forth grappling in that fight for a while. In the 1st round MacDonald popped his head out of a triangle choke and quickly took Maia's back. One of Maia's arms was caught in MacDonald's hooks. Maia defended the RNC sublimely. Turned so that MacDonald didn't have the choke and ended up mounted for a brief moment before regaining half guard. Maia/Herman was such a nasty finish. Ended up a mounted triangle with Maia punching Herman a few times in the head as he was going out from the choke.
 

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I feel so bad for Cormier. He fought pefectly up until that high kick. Even though he fought perfectly he was well on his way to losing a decision imo. I've seen people say that Cormier was clearly up 2-0. There's nothing clear about it. A lot of MMA fans seem to completely ignore body work. Jones was destroying Cormier's body. Jones did that in the first fight too and some fans said Cormier's cardio was terrible. Nah, get your body battered like that and you won't be looking good in the 4th and 5th rounds. Jones was clearly winning the 1st round until Cormier landed some good shots late. Still probably not enough to steal it. 2nd round was close and could go either way. More likely Jones 2-0 than Cormier 2-0 imo. Jones was taking over in the 3rd before the high kick and I don't think Cormier had much hope of winning rounds 3, 4 or 5.

Cormier fought the fight he needed to win but it wasn't enough. He couldn't get stuck in the clinch for long periods at a time because Jones would win there over time. He stayed on the outside and tried to enter the pocket and take advantage there. He did that well but it was way easier for Jones to land consistently. Jones being so much longer had easy opportunities to land strikes while Cormier had to work really hard to land his. Jones looked a lot better at range than he has in the past. I think that's due to more work with Gibson and less with Winkeljohn. His fundamentals looked sounder from distance and he wasn't throwing random weird s**t that you often get from Winkeljohn trained fighters. He also kicked through Cormier with that high kick rather than just kicking to reach Cormier as Winkeljohn's fighters often do.

Here's Cormier 3 years ago talking about being susceptible to left high kicks:

Rumble went on to have success both times with them and then Jones did what he did yesterday.

Woodley/Maia was hilarious. Maia did his best but Woodley's too strong, too fast and too good a wrestler. I cut Woodley some slack against Thompson because that was a tough stylistic match-up. Maia was an easy one for him. I did find it pretty funny that Maia defended the Woodley forward explosions better than Thompson did despite being a worse striker and less athletic.

Woodley/his team must really overthink things. Woodley would have done much better if he pressured Maia whenever possible. Backing up allowed Maia to look for takedowns and throw strikes. When Woodley was pushing Maia back Maia couldn't look for takedowns. Maia's takedown game only works when he's pressuring. He could only throw strikes and he was forced to so that Woodley wouldn't just charge at him. That would have opened Maia up over time and made it much easier for Woodley to land more often and do more damage.

Some of those rounds were so close and it was completely unnecessary for Woodley. I think Woodley won all 5 rounds but 2 judges gave Maia a round lol. A Woodley/Shields rematch would probably be just as unnecessarily close as it was the first time if they fought tomorrow. Shields isn't really a better striker than Maia but he's a higher volume one.

I absolutely love MMA, I've been watching it for quite literally 21 years. I've dabbled in almost every discipline you could think of and when I'm not working on games or gaming I'm watching MMA or listening to analysis etc. I like to think I know my s**t and can get a bit elitist, I can admit that...

I used to read this board a bit but long since avoided it because almost every 2nd post was drivel by people who watched 5-6 big cards a year.

Been scouring threads. You, my friend have reinstated my desire to get back involved in discussion. You have a very keen, analytical mind with your grasp on MMA and I like it. I'm sure I won't agree with you on everything but its refreshing to see some great insight.

Cheers man.
 
I absolutely love MMA, I've been watching it for quite literally 21 years. I've dabbled in almost every discipline you could think of and when I'm not working on games or gaming I'm watching MMA or listening to analysis etc. I like to think I know my s**t and can get a bit elitist, I can admit that...

I used to read this board a bit but long since avoided it because almost every 2nd post was drivel by people who watched 5-6 big cards a year.

Been scouring threads. You, my friend have reinstated my desire to get back involved in discussion. You have a very keen, analytical mind with your grasp on MMA and I like it. I'm sure I won't agree with you on everything but its refreshing to see some great insight.

Cheers man.
McGregor is the P4P greatest MMA and boxing proponent in history! :drunk:

Am I doing it right? ;)

If you plan to stay around I'd suggest avoiding the Mayweather/McGregor thread then.
 
https://www.mmafighting.com/2017/8/22/16187202/jon-jones-failed-drug-test-at-ufc-214

Jon Jones failed a drug test in relation to UFC 214.

The longtime UFC light heavyweight champion tested positive for a banned substance in an in-competition USADA test in relation to his fight with Daniel Cormier on July 29 in Anaheim, Calif., and has been provisionally suspended, sources told MMA Fighting. In that bout, Jones defeated Cormier by third-round TKO to regain the UFC light heavyweight belt.

BOOM.

He's such an idiot. He should have known he'd be under a lot of scrutiny from USADA after his checkered history with substances, performance enhancing and non-performance enhancing.
 

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