Kos and Diego - Fell in Love with The KO Feeling

Matt Hamill is another

 

They probably made more money getting the KO... MMA is wanting to me pushed in that direction for its excitement.

 

That;s the problem with some of these modern mixed martial artists. They start trying to "evolve" by training in the various disciplines - but they don't evolve as part of natural growth. Fight to your strengths - let the evolution happen as it comes. When you have top flight wrestlers and jiujitsuans trying to stand and trade like third rate kickboxers - then you have a problem.

 

It was a great fight and a great upset stop bitching.

 

This is why I love Maia, He is pure BJJ. He evolves his BJJ game. I truly believe that Wrestling has left BJJ as far as being dominant ground game. The only way for pure BJJers to catch up is to evolve their game. Master the art like Maia has, or Rickson before him. BJJ should be enough in MMA, but it has to be great. Average BJJs with average kickboxing aint going to cut it.

With Maia he believes in the art, perfecting and honing it like boxers hone their skill. Unlike all these other fighters who are so sloppy in other forms just because they need to be "well rounded". Perfect a damn art and use it. Add to it but dont try to be a jack of all trades.

 

Are we talking receiving or dishing out here??

 

The Diego fight I thought was real good, I would have loved to see both of them work on the ground abit more. Just the few minutes combined in all three rounds there were a few reversals and postion changes both ways. I'd like to have seen more of that.

The Kos fight, well Kos is just an arrogant ***** who thinks he is the best wrestler and now he thinks he is the greatest striker. He got what was coming to him in the striking game as well as he got it from GSP in the wrestling department. Unfortunately for him he won't get it and he will continue to think his wrestling is good enough to not have to train hard in anymore and his striking won't evolve any better then it is now.

 

Well, I don't know if he still does, but, Diego used to train with De La Hoya, so I'm sure he is feeling confident with his striking and wants to show it off a bit. He looked really good when he fought Luigi.

Kos comes from a primarily striking camp. I don't think that has much to do with, but I think it adds to it. I think the primary reason that Kos is trying to get in there and look for the KO is because I think he got A LOT of criticism for his "lay 'n' pray" style.

I've noticed a lot of ground fighters have been looking to strike lately, look at Sherk, Tyson Griffin, BJ, Kos, Diego.

Although GSP is the complete opposite now! Lmao.

 

I agree I said it about Kos after the Thiago Alves fight and even somewhat after the GSP fight.

The GSP fight was understandable, GSP was coming off the loss to Serra and Kos thought maybe it was a sign of a bad chin, which does not seem to be the case, and he tried to take GSP down but got outwrestled.

Against Alves it was twice as bad, because he barely tried to take him down, and when he did he didn't get it. Now, some people will just think "well, he tried it and it didn't work" which is true, but the reason it wasn't working is because he had not been dedicating his training to it and wasn't really sticking with that gameplan 100%.

Now the Thiago fight is worse to me, because he might actually stood a better chance against GSP with a standing gameplan because GSP's wrestling and grappling are so amazing and Kos is a better striker than Serra, so I can understand devoting most of his training to striking if he genuinely thought it was his best shot of winning.

Against Thiago however, no matter how much he trained standing, he was almost certainly going to be battered on his feet, and even if he wasn't standup striking is obviously the best part of Thiago's game. Had Kos put in the training to tune up his wrestling he may have been able to get that takedown he tried for.

On the whole I do agree with the idea that too many good wrestlers are overlooking their overall grappling game to increase their striking. It works for some; Rashad right now and Chuck during his long run, but Rashad still is willing to engage in offensive wrestling, and Chuck made the change to his style gradually over time and even now seems willing to wrestle offensively again, plus Chuck had just supernatural power that let him know he could finish it with one shot.

Look at Randy and Fedor, both become very proficient strikers over time but they never stopped earnestly training and improving in their Wrestling backgrounds, Judo/Sambo in Fedor's case. GSP as well, he still makes sure to improve things like his guard by going to Brazil when he almost never actually has to use his guard in a fight, but he knows he may have to, and yet at the same time making sure he becomes a better wrestler even though he may be the best in MMA at the moment.

 

True. A lot of fighters have done this.

First one that comes to mind is Arlovski. Used to use his Sambo a lot, but then became a good striker.

 

He didnt have a choice. His stand up was shockingly bad. Problem is they learn to how to do one thing and neglect the other.

 

I hear he never listens to his trainers.:verysad