Gegard Mousasi in the UFC...

At 205 in the UFC, he'd get wrestle****ed by a lot guys. For that reason, he'd be barely top 10 if that IMO. After Strikeforce is dissolved, dude needs to go back MW or find a camp with good wrestlers for him to train with if he wants to make it in the UFC.

 

Clutching at straws or giving you facts?:think

 

Rashad could not handle Machida's striking despite his wrestling pedigree, you really cannot dismiss great strikers like this, even though there are a few examples to the contrary I know.

I think Moussasi has what it takes to compete with the top 5 in the UFC

 

Strikers have to earn the right to impose their striker on a wrestler by having decent takedown defense. Machida providing he stays active and doesn't allow himself to be backed up against the cage has some of the best takedown defense in the division. Which after is not surprising because along with karate he comes from a sumo background.

 

This is true, but his KO potential cannot be discounted. He also needs to improve working off his back because he will be in this situation a lot if he starts fighting the elite.

 

No young man, clutching at straws that the wins he mentioned, though decent, is an indication that Gregard can hang tough in the UFC

Do I have to keep correcting you? It's very boring :tired

 

So you are saying that Balabu and Lombard are not UFC caliber fighters? Why not?

 

Babalu is/was and I acknowledged it as a good win in this thread. Jury is still out on Hector imo

And I just looked back and the orignal reference was to Cyborg, Kang and Melvin

 

Gegard isn't small. I met him at last years SENI and he was slightly taller than me and im 6ft 1. His frame is that of a Light Heavys too. Although like you say i think he should stay at 85 simply because h has no problem making the weight.
Gegard has good stand up but his TDD is atrocious. Definitely gives Silva a few problems on his feet.

 

you say he has no problem making 185 thats not what I read, he moved up because he said it was too difficult to continue making the middleweight limit.

by the way should I make a list of fighters who dont have good wrestling who are champions. it is a fault but one that can be overcome.

 

I think you'd struggle to make one of current champions. The only one in the two main US promotions is really Silva who's had his three trickiest matches in the UFC against menwho have been able to take him down.

Other than that you have Jose Aldo who's shown pretty good takedown defense and five wrestlers in the UFC. In Strikeforce Melendez, Souza, Henderson all have good to great wrestling. Overeem and Diaz have yet to defend against a wrestler so we can't say either way.

The same is true even in Bellator where four out of the seven champions are Division I westlers while Alvarez and M'Pumbu have good wrestling (well judo in M'Pumbu's case) as well.

Its quite possible that Anderson Silva will be the last long-term champion in MMA history to suck at wrestling. Just the way the sport is evolving.

 

gonna get wrestle-****.

 

I basically agree I think wrestling is important, but Mousasi will probably never have great wrestling but he still can improve upon that.

remember he didnt take any damage from the bottom against Jardine, and didnt take all that much damage(less than he dished out) from King mo. He is not vornable in that way he just needs to remember MMA rules favour wrestlers so TDD is important not to allow his opponents to build up points scoring takedowns.

Room for improvement yes, he is still pretty young and could benefit from training more with wresters (I know he was training with gsp for a time, but he needs to place more effort into this)

by the way Will good post.

 

it also annoys me that upkicks are still illegal to a downed opponent. Upkicks are a big part of mousasi's strength.