Re: Looking into the future: UFC Heavyweight division
These are my thoughts on the contenders in the HW division as it is now. I was initially making a post on Shane Carwin and it just expanded from there. It's long and I'm not the best writer but here are my thoughts:
Shane Carwin is overrated and his win against Gonzaga really wasn't that impressive to me. Gabriel Gonzaga consistently makes mental mistakes in the Octagon that costs him fights. That is his M.O. and he did it in his fight against Carwin. He had Carwin rocked on the verge of getting ko'd and he inexpicably decided to take Carwin down instead of logically finishing him off standing which allowed Carwin to recover then he walked in swinging wildly with his hands down after Carwin got up and got dropped. When Gonzaga doesn't do something stupid, he's a force but his problem is he does something stupid in every loss that ended up costing him. It is what he does.
As for Carwin, his sole bright spot outside of his wrestling is his power. However he's slow in every aspect and his defense is suspect. I don't see him as the future of anything. He's only going to get slower since he's in his mid to late 30's if I recall correctly.
Cain Velasquez has the goods but unfortunately he has that wrestling mentality. Hold them down and don't take chances. At least thats what the "wrestling mentality" looks like to me. Too many wrestlers have problems finishing fights. He faced his first true contender in Cheik Congo and the holes in his stand up got exposed. He had a distinct advantage on the ground but that wrestler came out of him. He should have been able to submit Kongo at the least. I also think he could have knocked him out on the ground if he went all out with the ground and pound but he didn't. He's going to be good but who knows if he'll ever become elite. If you want to be considered elite, you have to be able to finish fights against opponents who you dominate. Bottom line. He still has a lot of potential but his win over Kongo was as disappointing as it was dominant.
Frank Mir is unathletic and his stand up has never been impressive. His sole bright spot is his submission skills which are significant but one can't be one dimensional in MMA and really be successful against elite competition. I personally think his fight against Brock Lesnar is going to go the same way as the first one did except the ref won't save him and he will not be able to catch Lesnar again.
Brock Lesnar has power and explosiveness that can't be taught or developed. As long as he keeps working and improving, its going to take someone with great skills in at least two areas or a fighter as physically imposing as him to beat him. He's too powerful, big and explosive to get beat any other way imo.
Cheik Congo needs to work on his ground game significantly or at at least get to the point where taking him down and holding him there takes a great amount of energy. The way he got taken down and held there in his last fight was just not good at all.
Who else is there? Pat Barry is athletic and a very good striker but his last loss was just an embarassment. He'll come back but just making the mistake he made is almost inexcuseable.
A great prospect or two should come out of TUF 10.
Right now Brock is on top and I personally don't see who is going to beat him if he works hard and he doesn't Pat Barry himself. It'll be interesting to see how Nog comes back. If he looks anything like he did against Mir then its probably time for him to retire.
I wrote way more then I intended to. Thoughts? Comments?
These are my thoughts on the contenders in the HW division as it is now. I was initially making a post on Shane Carwin and it just expanded from there. It's long and I'm not the best writer but here are my thoughts:
Shane Carwin is overrated and his win against Gonzaga really wasn't that impressive to me. Gabriel Gonzaga consistently makes mental mistakes in the Octagon that costs him fights. That is his M.O. and he did it in his fight against Carwin. He had Carwin rocked on the verge of getting ko'd and he inexpicably decided to take Carwin down instead of logically finishing him off standing which allowed Carwin to recover then he walked in swinging wildly with his hands down after Carwin got up and got dropped. When Gonzaga doesn't do something stupid, he's a force but his problem is he does something stupid in every loss that ended up costing him. It is what he does.
As for Carwin, his sole bright spot outside of his wrestling is his power. However he's slow in every aspect and his defense is suspect. I don't see him as the future of anything. He's only going to get slower since he's in his mid to late 30's if I recall correctly.
Cain Velasquez has the goods but unfortunately he has that wrestling mentality. Hold them down and don't take chances. At least thats what the "wrestling mentality" looks like to me. Too many wrestlers have problems finishing fights. He faced his first true contender in Cheik Congo and the holes in his stand up got exposed. He had a distinct advantage on the ground but that wrestler came out of him. He should have been able to submit Kongo at the least. I also think he could have knocked him out on the ground if he went all out with the ground and pound but he didn't. He's going to be good but who knows if he'll ever become elite. If you want to be considered elite, you have to be able to finish fights against opponents who you dominate. Bottom line. He still has a lot of potential but his win over Kongo was as disappointing as it was dominant.
Frank Mir is unathletic and his stand up has never been impressive. His sole bright spot is his submission skills which are significant but one can't be one dimensional in MMA and really be successful against elite competition. I personally think his fight against Brock Lesnar is going to go the same way as the first one did except the ref won't save him and he will not be able to catch Lesnar again.
Brock Lesnar has power and explosiveness that can't be taught or developed. As long as he keeps working and improving, its going to take someone with great skills in at least two areas or a fighter as physically imposing as him to beat him. He's too powerful, big and explosive to get beat any other way imo.
Cheik Congo needs to work on his ground game significantly or at at least get to the point where taking him down and holding him there takes a great amount of energy. The way he got taken down and held there in his last fight was just not good at all.
Who else is there? Pat Barry is athletic and a very good striker but his last loss was just an embarassment. He'll come back but just making the mistake he made is almost inexcuseable.
A great prospect or two should come out of TUF 10.
Right now Brock is on top and I personally don't see who is going to beat him if he works hard and he doesn't Pat Barry himself. It'll be interesting to see how Nog comes back. If he looks anything like he did against Mir then its probably time for him to retire.
I wrote way more then I intended to. Thoughts? Comments?
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