I'm not going to say he doesn't have a glass jaw but Garbrandt was KOd in this last fight because he threw the game plan out the window thinking he could blast TJ out of there early, swinging in the pocket flat footed with almost zero head movemen.t
I totally agree. Moraes came over from WSOF with lots of hype but the bubble burst when he was outpointed by Assuncao, after which Moraes was immediately dismissed as a can-crusher. In reality it was a close fight and Assuncao is an elite fighter who is virtually unknown because the UFC apparently hates him. Moraes might go on to become the masterpiece of the Mark Henry-Ricardo Almeida collaboration. His fight with TJ should be massive. In terms of intrigue and merit, its almost comparable to Khabib vs. Tony or Holloway vs. Ortega. unfortunately mma has become celebrity obsessed, so the fight will probably end up on big Fox or will struggle to crack 250,000 buys on ppv.
Cody's hype was built on his title win against Cruz and his victory over Tomas Almeida. His victories over Augusto Mendes and Mizugaki were nice to look at, but Mendes-despite his ADCC credentials-is barely UFC caliber, and Mizugaki has basically been target practice for years. Almeida looked like a "can't miss" commodity before losing to Cody. He was a nasty finisher with a beautiful mix of boxing and muay thai that, as we found out, didn't include much defense. He was also a high level brown belt with an aggressive ground game. Despite his eye-popping strengths, Almeida appears on track to become a new Erick Silva. With that in mind, Cody finds himself in the position of being a former world champion who has to prove he was ever truly world class. Was he as brilliant as he looked against Cruz, or was Cruz burnt out and low-energy (like he looked). Cody needs two solid wins before he's even discussed in the world title picture imho.
That's the logic of the situation; however, logical thinking doesn't always prevail where UFC is concerned. UFC and Dana think very highly of Cody -- Cody is basically one of Dana's pet projects -- so I assume Cody will be afforded every opportunity to get back in the title picture.
Very well put. Cody I think lacks the intelligence and humility to truly go back to the drawing board and assess things. a win or two and all of the arrogance and delusion will come flying back. He'll remain a top contender for a couple of years because will fall just short of tasting gold again.
Agreed. I think the turmoil at TAM will further hurt his ability to rebound. Where there's smoke there's fire, and the fact that TAM has gone through so much coaching drama clearly indicates some kind of disfunction. The Duane Ludwig drama get's the most attention, but people forget that Martin Kampmann ran for the hills after a very short time as their head coach. And I think Kampman would have been an awesome fit. I'm also pretty sure Mark Hominic passed on the job as did Kenny Florian. And then Justin Bucholtz gets sacked after doing well with Cody and Cynthia Calvillo. Since Bucholtz left, Cody, Calvilo, Josh Emmett, Joe Benavidez and Jamie Moyle are all on losing streaks. Seems like Faber is a poor manager. Imagine applying for a job as a Financial Analyst where one of your predecessors left on poor terms with an ensuing war on social media, his replacement dipped out after six weeks, the next two candidates declined the job, and the next guy got booted after less than a year. Oh, and the company is operating at a net loss.
Cody is talented but just has zero fight IQ and nor ability to make tactical adjustments. Dude waded forward with his chin in the air onto 3 consecutive telegraphed counter right hands from Dillashaw.
Assuncao is brilliant. He's improved vastly from the extremely one dimensional BJJ fighter he was in WEC, reminds me of the improvements Werdum made in his career. He's a top notch fighter for sure(just one of many reasons why BW is the most talent rich division in the UFC) I had Moraes edging it, but as you said it was a very tight fight.
