Maybe boxing isn't his sport if he thinks it's alright to hit a man when he's down. In boxing, hitting people when they are down is seen as an act of cowardice. In MMA that kind of behavior is not only accepted, it's praised. The guy is strong and tough, and he can knock people out with one punch. I could see him being in a Joe Rogan Highlight video. The fact is, the guy is a danger to the athletes he's up against. He definitely plays by the "win at all cost" rule book. Boxing is a sport where the fighters should have enough respect for one another to let eachother get back up. If he wants to hit people when they are defenseless, he needs to call Dana White.
I give him the benifit of the doubt - the DQ was rightous but I am not going to say that AA did it on purpose, the same way I am not going to say that Dirrell "slips" when under pressure.
Off his back he would be screwed, does not seem very flexable and he is a bit slow standing up so he could be kept at bay with leg kicks easy. Great power though.
Yeah, but his stand up looks relatively slow compared to guys like Dirrell who are excellent athletes and are very fluid boxers. In contrast, in MMA he would look must better on his feet relative to his level of opposition.
Nah, not really his hand speed which is fine. His foot speed is pretty ****ing bad. But in his boxing he does not have to worry about getting hit far away and closing the distance fast in MMA if he goes up against either a guy who wants to take him down or plans to kick the crap outa his legs he either has to be able to sprawl fast or close the distance quickly to get his punches off. Either way. I don't think he would be the best canditate for mma. Although he would badly ruin any guy who he caught with the tiny small gloves.
Did you miss Dirrell landing those left hand leads from a distance and then quickly moving out of the way? Nobody in MMA that I can think of has that kind of speed and quickness. I think his stand up is legit for MMA, it's just that he obviously would need some ground work. But his physical strength will help him tremendously. As you saw with Mir and Carwin, they didn't even go to the ground, they just slammed each other into the wall. I have no doubt in my mind if Abraham has his opponent against the wall like that, it could very easily be lights out.
You do not need to be quick moving in and out when throwing kicks. You can just be out and negate the range of punches, and unless either the guy misjudges the range of the kick so AA could counter or the kick was slow enough so he could move outa the way there would be no need for the other guy to move out of range. Physical Strength and the ability to use it are two very different things. AA does not have a wrestling background so using the analogy of the Mir Carwin fight does not fit exactly. As Carwin used his wrestling control. The same sort of way that Randy Coture despite being much weaker and 50lbs lighter could push Lesnar up against the fence due to his control. No doubt he would be able to beat some guys at 170lbs but he does not have good footspeed at all which would be his biggest downfall imo, as you need quick feet and legs to sprawl or move outa the way of kicks. Which can just ruin your day trying to box a good striker.
If he tried mma he would be an idiot to initiate a clinch because he'd be risking getting taken down and losing fast. His plan should be to be no closer than punching distance at any time. Still, as I've said before, if he used anything like his boxing stance he'd get kicked/or taken down and subbed or beaten to a pulp. Two different sports...
You also said Toney would get subbed or beaten to a pulp with his stance as well. Is there any type of stance that won't get subbed and taken down immediately? If anything, Abraham's stance most closely resembles MMA fighters because he is often squared up. And of course it's reasonable to say he would get subbed, but I don't see why he couldn't work on his wrestling game just as wrestlers have been forced to work on their stand up. Wasn't Carwin initially a wrestler?
No me either. I can totally understand why he thought dirrell may have been ducking. ESPICIALLY in the middle of a fight where he didn't have time to step back and say "Hey...perhaps he is on a knee and not in the middle of a duck."
The ref had no choice but to dq Abraham, as he hit Dirrell while he was down. I still can't believe how everyone commentating bought that acting job. I saw he was faking from the start. It looks almost as if Dirrell mouths "he hit me" before starting his overdone charade. In response to this thread, Abraham doesn't seem any better suited for mma than the next boxer. Should Roy Jones have switched to mma after his first bout with Montell Griffin?
