UFC 211: Miocic vs. dos Santos 2 - Page 9

Doubt Woodley is going to move backwards nearly as much as he usually does. He's not going to be in there vs a Rory or a Condit or a Thompson...pretty aggressive strikers who, in a way, forced him to back up because they at least had the ability to light him up in space in the center. Something Demian clearly can't do. Could see Woodley doing it a little just for the purpose of trying to time Maia's shoot with a knee or uppercut but I mean...he doesn't really throw a lot of either of those

Actually, when I think about it Woodley barely won against a really weak Gastelum at that time in a 3 round fight. Surely he has become better since then, but Maia is better than Gastelum as well, except Gastelum probably has a much better punch game though. Then again as far as i remember, Gastelum couldnt get a TD and played on the feet and thats why he lost... been a long time cant remember

On May 16 2017 08:32 iakim322 wrote: Doubt Woodley is going to move backwards nearly as much as he usually does. He's not going to be in there vs a Rory or a Condit or a Thompson...pretty aggressive strikers who, in a way, forced him to back up because they at least had the ability to light him up in space in the center. Something Demian clearly can't do. Could see Woodley doing it a little just for the purpose of trying to time Maia's shoot with a knee or uppercut but I mean...he doesn't really throw a lot of either of those

Woodley sure shouldnt back down, but most fighters cant just change the way they fight overnight, after all they have been doing it all their lives, especially "woodley type" of fighters who heavily rely on their athleticism, so If Maia were to press forwards I would expect Woodly to be way more trigger happy but still backpedaling.

I think Maia sould take a page of Werdums book and develop a very loose kick-heavy striking game but not falling in love with it and losing sight what makes you good like Dong Hyun Kim did.

On May 16 2017 05:28 cariadon wrote: Rooting for Maia. Maia should just throw himself on the mat and work from there. Woodley looks scared as fuck when against the cage and he just goes on rampage from there. I don't know how to expect Maia to walk him down because he isn't threatening much other than takedowns from what i've seen.

And why exactly would Woodley go there? That's only way Maia can win.
I also want Maia to win tho.
Maia is one of my favorite fighter as a person... and woodley is the exact opposite lol

On May 17 2017 04:51 Baalim wrote: Show nested quote + On May 16 2017 08:32 iakim322 wrote: Doubt Woodley is going to move backwards nearly as much as he usually does. He's not going to be in there vs a Rory or a Condit or a Thompson...pretty aggressive strikers who, in a way, forced him to back up because they at least had the ability to light him up in space in the center. Something Demian clearly can't do. Could see Woodley doing it a little just for the purpose of trying to time Maia's shoot with a knee or uppercut but I mean...he doesn't really throw a lot of either of those Woodley sure shouldnt back down, but most fighters cant just change the way they fight overnight, after all they have been doing it all their lives, especially "woodley type" of fighters who heavily rely on their athleticism, so If Maia were to press forwards I would expect Woodly to be way more trigger happy but still backpedaling. I think Maia sould take a page of Werdums book and develop a very loose kick-heavy striking game but not falling in love with it and losing sight what makes you good like Dong Hyun Kim did.

He tried that



Maia tried to play the striking game a bit more and had pretty poor results. Seems like he's hellbent on the constantly shooting takedowns the entire fight. Thing is, if he doesn't get to rest on your back for 3 minutes every round he gasses badly. He was gassing horribly against Masvidal then was allowed to rest for like 3 minutes in round 2 when he pulled guard and Masvidal stupidly didn't pull away and got reversed into a TD. Then again Masvidal stupidly threw a high kick in round 3 which got him taken down. I feel that was Masvidals fight to win, he was stuffing all the poor TDs in round 2 and Maia was super gassed, but stayed in Maia's guard way too long.

Against a guy like Woodley who isn't gonna give up easy takedowns that allows him to rest, I expect him to be defcon purple gassed by the 2nd or 3rd round, like he was with Rory. He was so tired he could barely stand up.

In his last 5th round fight he was so tired he laid on his back for like 2 minutes of the round refusing to get up and got a point taken lol.

On May 17 2017 20:29 Stim_Abuser wrote: Show nested quote + On May 17 2017 04:51 Baalim wrote:   On May 16 2017 08:32 iakim322 wrote: Doubt Woodley is going to move backwards nearly as much as he usually does. He's not going to be in there vs a Rory or a Condit or a Thompson...pretty aggressive strikers who, in a way, forced him to back up because they at least had the ability to light him up in space in the center. Something Demian clearly can't do. Could see Woodley doing it a little just for the purpose of trying to time Maia's shoot with a knee or uppercut but I mean...he doesn't really throw a lot of either of those Woodley sure shouldnt back down, but most fighters cant just change the way they fight overnight, after all they have been doing it all their lives, especially "woodley type" of fighters who heavily rely on their athleticism, so If Maia were to press forwards I would expect Woodly to be way more trigger happy but still backpedaling. I think Maia sould take a page of Werdums book and develop a very loose kick-heavy striking game but not falling in love with it and losing sight what makes you good like Dong Hyun Kim did. He tried that Maia tried to play the striking game a bit more and had pretty poor results. Seems like he's hellbent on the constantly shooting takedowns the entire fight. Thing is, if he doesn't get to rest on your back for 3 minutes every round he gasses badly. He was gassing horribly against Masvidal then was allowed to rest for like 3 minutes in round 2 when he pulled guard and Masvidal stupidly didn't pull away and got reversed into a TD. Then again Masvidal stupidly threw a high kick in round 3 which got him taken down. I feel that was Masvidals fight to win, he was stuffing all the poor TDs in round 2 and Maia was super gassed, but stayed in Maia's guard way too long. Against a guy like Woodley who isn't gonna give up easy takedowns that allows him to rest, I expect him to be defcon purple gassed by the 2nd or 3rd round, like he was with Rory. He was so tired he could barely stand up. In his last 5th round fight he was so tired he laid on his back for like 2 minutes of the round refusing to get up and got a point taken lol.

Well kicking at punching distance is awful I'm not saying he should try to strike with strikers more like training a lot on long distance kicks, flashy spinning kicks and anything thats not normally done because of the dangers of being taken down, those stuff can easily give him rounds if the opponent refuses to engage and close the distance.

But yeah I agree that its a good matchup for Woodley the most likely scenario is that he stuffs all the takedowns and Maia gasses hard, hopefully Woodley will KO him in later rounds and doesnt cruise to a 3rd super boring title fight

On May 16 2017 07:57 Baalim wrote: Show nested quote + On May 16 2017 05:28 cariadon wrote: Rooting for Maia. Maia should just throw himself on the mat and work from there. Woodley looks scared as fuck when against the cage and he just goes on rampage from there. I don't know how to expect Maia to walk him down because he isn't threatening much other than takedowns from what i've seen. lol I dont know what you mean by throw himself on the mat lol, he has to take woodley down, woodley is not going to jump on his guard obv. And Maia can walk him down because Woodley doesnt hold ground and cant punch while moving backwards so he moves backwards trying to create a collision Machida style, but without the timing and setups but Maia is stiff and slow and has no head movement so theres a pretty good chance he gets Knocked the fuck out if he doesnt use his arms properly to block those bombs

That's exactly what i mean. Throw himself on the mat. Why do referees stand fighters up anyway? Why isn't just laying there a viable strategy? :D
Something weird has to happen for Woodley to be taken down. Even if he is taken down he'll probably just try and power out of it kinda like he does when backd against a cage and just acts out.