In Praise Of Rashad Evans (for two rounds)
by mason_beer on Jan 5, 2010 4:54 PM EST
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PrintRashad Evans is a weird fighter. In his two career-defining victories against Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin he decided to run away from his roots and fight as basically a striker, was losing both fights but then won with two pretty vicious KOs. Last saturday against Thiago Silva, Evans clealry had learned his lesson that he needs more than stand-up after being taken apart like few fighters have before by Lyoto Machida. Everything about Evans for the first two rounds was outstanding. Even his walk-in entrace we saw a focused and calm fighter stalking to the cage rather than jumping up and down screaming. His takedowns were great, he changed levels in his striking, and he rushed in. He wore Silva down and had him completely confused for two rounds.
The third round was strange because Rashad is a fighter that, as KenFlo says, finishes fights. He finished Lambert, Salmon, Liddell, and Griffin. Whatever happens in his fights, Rashad finishes strong so I think its a testament to how incredibly tough and dangerous Thiago Silva is. But Silva's inability to finish Evans I believe was due to all the grind of the previous two rounds, and that is the fighter Rashad Evans needs to be to regain his title.
I'm not a Rashad Evans hater, I love the way he fights and I think he's a cool dude. Silva was a good fight for Evans because in some ways Thiago is a poor-man's Rampage Jackson. Silva is a dangerous strike, tough in the clinch, and has good technical boxing. Jackson is an excellent boxer with heavy hands. He's a fearless fighter who's fought the best and can go on an on (five round fights agains Hendo and Forrest, a three round brawl with Jardine). For Rashad to win that fight, he needs to fight like the Evans of round 1 and 2. Head-movement, takedowns, pushing forward, and striking from different levels. Jackson does his best work against fighters with a looping striking style like Wanderlei and Liddell. What Thiago is better at then Rampage is fighting off his back, as clearly Silva showed his BJJ background by getitng off the mat so many times.
Make no mistake, Rashad Evans can beat Rampage Jackson and the first two rounds of his fight with Thiago Silva showed us how.
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Head Movement
I know it’s been said before on this site, but throwing your head around wildly isn’t exactly effective head movement.
I’d love to see a judo chop on head movement (and footwork). I love the ground game and understand the intricacies, but find myself bored to tears by a lot of fights that are primarily striking battles. A lot of this has to do with my time training BJJ. I simply don’t understand what’s going on technically when a fight is on the feet.
I recognize obvious things like the fact that Houston Alexander looks like his neck is fused straight up when he fights, but can’t figure out much more than that.
…oh… and what the hell are angles? I’m a terrible MMA fan.
by cmsove on Jan 5, 2010 9:49 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I completely agree, I’d love to see somewhat of a breakdown of proper striking. I don’t completely understand proper and effective head movement but I do know that just throwing your head around isn’t it. Angles in striking can be created from throwing your punches from different places and at different levels. The straight right or the overhand or the hook can come from different angles if you throw the punches from different levels and vary at what point you begin the punch. I’m sure there are so many people out there who can explain it better and actually have more insight into it, but that’s what I could come up with quickly :)
Effective Head Movement
Examples:
A. Silva, of course, and I’m not simply referring to his Griffin fight. He just has killer reflexes . . . that can not be taught. It’s like a pro basketball player with a serious quick first step, blink once and you’ll be left alone defending no one.
Super examples of great head movement:
- Ali, arguably the best.
- The real Mike Tyson, I’m talking about the young kid trained by Cus D’amato.
- Roy Jones Jr.
- Pernell Whitaker.
Honestly very few MMA fighters has displayed good defensive striking, they appear to be comfortable with absorbing blows to the head. Why, I don’ t know.
Happy Holidays and A Happy New Year
by VeeisAnimated on Jan 6, 2010 3:17 PM EST up reply actions
What about BJ?
He slips punches beautifully, moving his head just enough to dodge the shot, and lining himself up perfectly for a counter
Rampage will knock him out
Been saying it since they had their staredown, will keep saying it until it happens. Rashad wants to box him and he won’t do very well at it.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
That’s exactly what I thought during the 3rd round. When Silva caught him and couldn’t finish him the only thing I could think of was how Rampage would’ve destroyed him. I can see Evans doing the same thing he did in the first 2 rounds, but what surprised me was how little he did after his takedowns. His takedowns were absolutely explosive, but then there was no follow up on the ground. If he does that to Rampage I can see the same thing happening only that if Rampage catches him like Silva did, Rampage will finish the job.
there is a reason Silva did not knock him out
Evans used wrestling and pressure to tire Silva out . . . I firmly believed the reason Thiago couldn’t finish him off was because he was tired.
Though I will say this, Rampage doesn’t tire. His fights with Forrest and Henderson prove that. I will pick Rampage to win this fight given the choice, but Rashad has as good a chance to win as anyone else. He finished off Griffin when Rampage couldn’t.
thiago absolutely was tired in the final frame. he knew he had evans hurt, but stopped and took a huge breath instead of going for the kill.
by sadface on Jan 5, 2010 10:39 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I think Rashad had a good game plan to win a professional MMA contest. That said, he didn’t win a “fight”.
how is that true? if the “fight” had taken in the back alley of the club with a hard ass concrete floor, some of those takedowns should have knocked out or at least severely damaged Thiago Silva.
They weren’t in a back alley….wtf?
It’s true because in the fight we watched, not the one in your fantasy, Thiago did the most damage, tried to finish the fight and didn’t shy away from exchanges. As a person watching a fight, it seemed clear Thiago won. Just as clear as Rashad won a MMA contest (which really is the goal).
by Chris Barton on Jan 6, 2010 12:14 PM EST up reply actions
When Evans uses his wrestling like he did in this fight, he turns into a point-fighter. He was scared to try anything on the ground because he’d get swept, so he would maintain position until Silva got up, then get him back down. He did little more than his Stevie Wonder head movement standing…
Judging criteria has to take takedowns and positional control into consideration and Silva did very very little to earn any points the first two rounds. If Silva had mustered up any aggression early, he would have won the fight. I don’t really think Evans did a whole lot to win the fight, but Silva did exactly enough to lose it.
Rashad isn’t going to beat Rampage via points. The hatred is gonna kick up again and he’s not gonna sit there and muscle him w/ takedowns and wear him down for the judges to see. He’s gonna shoot for a KO to try to embaress him. There’s a lotta pride on the line, it’s not JUST for a win.
He knows better. If he wins by utilizing the takedowns to gain points, Rampage is just gonna call him a “bitch” and verbally abuse him all over the internet. And because Rampage has a strong er fanbase, they’ll hate Rashad even more screaming that he never beat him, he just tackled him.
Unless Rashad works his hand speed again, he’ll get KO’d like he should’ve been against Silva (dammit Silva and your back injury!). And judging by his wins, they were all by a counter punch so it doens’t say much for his stand up.
I’m a huge Evans fan so I hope for 3 rounds he just takes Rampage down and GNP for the win if he can. Silva is very good on the ground so it didnt surprise he kept getting up. Rampage I dont think will be able to get up at easy.
Evans tko round 2
I disagree
Page has very stout wrestling & takedown defense. Rashad will not be able to take him down as easy as Thiago.
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'09 is the year of the FW's.
by ElliotMatheny on Jan 5, 2010 11:28 PM EST up reply actions
Exactly. Also Rampage will be very rested not having fought in over a year, assuming he’s 100% healthy and will have several pounds on Rashad I think this fight stays on the feet and that’s not a place where Rashad has much chance of winning this fight. He’ll probably end up looking something like this:
I don’t think a long layoff helped Rashad any against Silva. Instead, he looked a bit slower, and wore down more quickly than usual. And now Rampage will have to recover from getting lazy and fat in Hollywood, and may not be at his best. Meanwhile, Rashad knows he was lucky to escape with a win, and should be motivated to work hard. He didn’t seem impressed with his performance against Silva at all. So while I know Rampage’s takedown defense is pretty awesome, I think Rashad’s still going to be able to out work him, land a better volume of strikes, avoid trading in the pocket, and wear him down. Jardine survived against Rampage, Rashad should do a lot better than that.
by Kwisatz Haderach on Jan 6, 2010 1:49 AM EST up reply actions
You people are forgetting Page's standup defense
some of the best there is
I'm the best ever. You're the most average in a minute.
And NEW UFC Welterweight Champion of the World.....Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy!
by slapjaw ackrite on Jan 7, 2010 12:21 AM EST up reply actions
need edit button
as far as waist up :)
I'm the best ever. You're the most average in a minute.
And NEW UFC Welterweight Champion of the World.....Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy!
by slapjaw ackrite on Jan 7, 2010 12:22 AM EST up reply actions
Naw I’m not forgetting it, and Rampage’s boxing defense is superb, no argument. I’m definitely not predicting that Rashad will knock him out or anything. Just that Rashad will win as long as he can avoid getting knocked out, which he should be able to. I don’t think Rampage will be sharp for that fight, and probably won’t get going until Rashad’s already won a round from him. We’ll see, but it’s hard to picture Rampage rededicating himself to the sport and getting better. I think he’s past his prime, mainly because he doesn’t seem that interested or hungry anymore.
by Kwisatz Haderach on Jan 7, 2010 1:03 AM EST up reply actions
Well
Rashad is a notoriously slow starter, which he seemed to fix against Silva, but Thiago has poor defensive wrestling IMO.
It all depends on how motivated Page is, it’s his fight to lose
Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.
'09 is the year of the FW's.
by ElliotMatheny on Jan 7, 2010 5:54 AM EST up reply actions
IMO
the reason that Rashad gassed was that it’s too physically demanding for him to use his wrestling against guys that handily outsize him. Rashad is basically just a blown up MW, and he would do much better @ 185, where he wouldn’t have to work in overdrive just to play to his strengths (wrestling).
Page will knock him out if he doesn’t correct some very serious fundamental deficiencies in his standup.
Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.
'09 is the year of the FW's.
Rashad is basically just a blown up MW, and he would do much better @ 185, where he wouldn’t have to work in overdrive just to play to his strengths (wrestling).
Well, at least until he ran into this guy:
Well, yeah haha
Anderson tends to shitkick guys who can’t finish. And while Evans has finished guys with strikes (Salmon, Chuck, & Forrest coming to mind), he basically was getting handily outstruck by both before then, and was able to land that 1 good shot to put them out. He’s an athletic dude, & he hits hard for sure, but he has some serious fundamental problems with his striking which Andy would expose just like Machida did
Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.
'09 is the year of the FW's.
by ElliotMatheny on Jan 7, 2010 5:49 AM EST up reply actions
i credit Thiago’s suspect conditioning more than “rashad’s grinding over the first two rounds”…..Rashad did little if nothing from the top. evidence? he landed 3 strikes total from the ground. three. hardly what i’d call grinding ala GSP, Sean Sherk or some of the other ground monsters.
Gatti. Dekkers. Pele. Aoki. Kang. Vanderlei. Basillio. Harry Greb.
by theworldsoldestsport on Jan 6, 2010 10:46 AM EST reply actions
Evans Wrestling vs. Rampage
Hmmm . . .
Didn’t we already see what a well-trained Rampage looks like against an Olympic caliber wrestler for 5 straight rounds?
Happy Holidays and A Happy New Year
for real
people seem to let their dislike of Rampage (and other fighters) cloud their view of fighters abilities.
I'm the best ever. You're the most average in a minute.
And NEW UFC Welterweight Champion of the World.....Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy!
by slapjaw ackrite on Jan 7, 2010 12:35 AM EST up reply actions
Exactly
Anytime someone talks Rashad’s wrestling over Jackson, this is the fight I think of. I wasn’t even a Rampage fan when I saw that fight, and I was looking forward to Hendo smothering him… I can still remember the feeling of my heart sinking. That was some seriously impressive control on Jackson’s part, and if the right Quinton Rampage Jackson shows up, Rashad’s going to take a hard loss.
Point taken, but...
I thought he lost that fight.
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