Fedor wasnt knocked out-Herb Dean's premature stoppage robbery-Dana compliments Heb

I watched the fights live and Jones didn't have solid defensive fundamentals, just flash that required raw physical talent. But that's not to say that he was without technique which is what you seem to think we're implying. It wasn't like he was an unskilled fighter that got to where he was by virtue of fleet feet and superb reaction time, no, he had his own technique much like Ali. He COULD pull straight back from punches, he COULD get away with never bringing his hands up, he COULD just leap in with right hands at will without ever bothering to shoot a lead.

That wasn't an illusion or the result of cherry picked opponents, he was so good that he could fight by his own rules and win. He had his own style and there was a method to the madness but like Ali it contradicted everything in Boxing 101. The thing is, Boxing 101 is designed for people who aren't supreme athletes.

The reason fundamentals exist is because they're a template for the average man to do something the most efficiently. The average man can't fight smartly on his feet without paying more attention to defense than offense because he simply isn't quick enough to strike first without being struck multiple times in return. Ali and Jones had such physical gifts that their technical brilliance was tuned completely to offense with their speed and reflexes taking up the slack for the lack of gloves-on defense that the typical fighter needs. When their physical gifts lessened to the extent of being equal to an "average boxer" that style didn't work anymore and they started getting hit. Ali could take plenty and Roy could take none.

And I don't believe Roy ever had good punch resistance. While it is highly debateable due to the sparse amount of footage we can find of prime Roy being hit cleanly, the fact that the lights were going completely out by the time we did see it happen tells me that he never had a Chin. Oh, and Lou Del Valle was a clear indicator that if his Jaw wasn't glass in his prime it certainly wasn't iron.

 

Again watch those fights. He's very comfortable in the first fight but Nogueira is much more active in the second and puts Fedor under sustained pressure until the headbutt. The third fight Fedor keeps it standing, staying away from Nogueira's guard.

 

Well....this thread took a turn

 

Did I ever say he was submitted? You said it was a sign of his mental decline that he slipped up inside Werdum's guard when he had managed to avoid doing so inside Nogueira's. My point was that actually in the second fight Nogueira had Fedor in all sorts of trouble inside the guard and that until the headbutt Emelianenko was in real danger of losing the fight. He then kept the third fight standing.

Its a myth that Nogueira never put Fedor under pressure inside the guard - for whatever reason Nog was too passive in the first fight but after a close shave in the second fight, Fedor knew better than to dive into guard. For whatever reason he forgot that lesson against Werdum.

 

Mistake yes, simple sub, no

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhWQ3ztSPN4[/ame]

 

Because he made a similarly bad mistake in the second Nogueira fight and only escaped due to the clash of heads. Your original statement made it sound like Fedor had spent three fights inside Nogueira's guard without ever being in trouble and that's not true.

It'd be like if I said - Gray Maynard has proven that he's brilliant at jiu-jitsu because he avoided being submitted by Nate Diaz despite going three rounds with him. Whereas we all know that Maynard deliberately kept the fight standing throughout that fight because he was nervous about Diaz's submissions. Emelianenko did great work inside Nogueira's guard in the first fight but its not true to imply that he did the same in the second and third.

 

Basically a step by step through the submission

Of course it's a HUGE mistake by Fedor jumping back into guard, no doubt he could have avoided it. But the second time he did it was check mate. As Fedor was trying to escpae the 2nd triangle Fabrico had Fedor's arm trapped and started to apply pressure at the elbow by extending his hips. This forced Fedor to pull his head back away to try and escape this, but he just moved deeper into the triangle allowing Werdum to sink it in tighter. Somebody who know's BJJ better than me correct me if Im wrong, but I think I got the basics

 

Yeah these Gracie Breakdown videos are great. A real eye-opener. The one they did for Lesnar-Mir II was great.

 

Aint seen that, will check it out now :thumbsup