Struggles at cruiser? Against who? Briedis? Well Briedis is a legitimate great with brutal power and Opetaia took everything he could throw and beat him pretty convincingly twice. Opetaia’s chin is proven beyond doubt. And he’s the best CW on the planet by the length of my johnson (which is pretty long).
I wouldn't say it was that convincing, Bredis was a decade older, inactive both times and both times after he shook the rust off he took over the fight and had Jai backpedaling to hear the final bell. Let's just be honest.
Well one of us is being honest. When Briedis fought Opetaia the first time he was fighting about once a year. There was a 8.5 month break between Opetaia and his previous fight, not at all inactive when you look at Briedis career. 2) He never got close to KO’ing Opetaia in either fight. Jesus, in the first fight he smashed Opetaia’s jaw but still couldn’t sit him down. I agree that he landed good shots late in both fights but he never got close to a KO. Not once. Also, the last I checked, championship fights go 12 rounds. What about the first 8-9 rounds in both fights? Are we selectively omitting those?
He struggles physically, as in he has already had his chin broken twice: this is not normal. I am saying that he is physically not up to the task of having a sustained and successful career at heavyweight, but that the skills to do so are there. IMO, he will go up and win a lot of good fights, but then as he exits his physical prime he will start taking losses against guys he should not be.
Zuffa has CBS. That would be a solid fight. Why not do that one? And for that matter, what HW's does Zuffa have? Nothing says Opetaia has to bulk up to fight lesser HW's at HW. He can just not do a water cut, probably show up at 210ish.
I don't know why he would be kicking himself He got a fight with another title holder in the division, something that has been eluding him He is getting more US exposure on Paramount along with the Zuffa/UFC crossover coverage We don't know what might be lined up for him after this fight. I think its way too early to determine if this move was a mistake or not