He actually fel for the feint and got cracked with the shot that set it up. What looked good about him was his strength in pushing off, moving from, and stuffing takedowns.. Problem was very obvious in his defense, lack of head movement in favor of offensive bursts.. Wanderlei, who isn't exactly known for his great striking defense looks a hell of a lot better at protecting and anticipating shots. At best, he fell for the feint and didn't see the cross coming, hardest shots are the ones you don't see coming right..? He showed solid takedown defense even if the rest of his defense is elementary for being considered a striker.. Worst. He has no punch resistance, and will be destroyed by any wrestler with a decent chin and decent punching power themselves. He goes in against a bonafide striker, he's TOAST.. Well, lets hope his chin is better than that, and lets hope that this was a youthful mistake, that he goes and hones his defense and doesn't take on Arlovski syndrome.
Silly comments on Duffee. He looked very dominant and a great prospect until that one punch. Most guys would have been out of there by then but Russow hung in there and landed. Duffee's chin seems to made of glass. You can pick holes in his game but I think they are stupid holes. The guy was busting him up. Everytime Russow tried to hold, Duffee threw him off and kept busting him up. All I wonder if Duffee knew his chin was so bad. I was thinking him vs JDS would be insane battle blow for blow but with a chin like that JDS would ensure sleepy time.
The guy was dogtired. It appeared he was very anxious and nervous in the early round and keen to impress. He see's himself as a striker and yet seems to have fallen in love with his hands/power and threw hardly any kicks at all bar one high kick in the first round. Duffee is talented for a big man no question. But he's hype train has been derailed somewhat and his inexperience has shown badly. The kid got KO'ed because he was fighting on fumes and breathing heavily inbetween rounds because he was putting so much on every shot and yet still couldnt KO Russow.
I understand what your saying, but I think the flaws we saw in the Russow fight are enough to go sour on him as a top prospect. First of all, his cardio. After an excellent start his performance started to dip by the end of the first round, and in the second and third rounds his workrate had slowed to a crawl. He was actually fortunate that Russow was in a similar condition. An opponent with more in the tank could have really capitalised. Secondly, despite his 7-second knockout, he's not a top striker. He doesn't have the skills of a Junior Dos Santos, a Pat Barry, or a Cheick Kongo. Unsurprisingly, as he gassed, his striking got sloppier and sloppier. Worst of all for a big time striker, he got KO'd. Nothing worse than getting beaten at your own game in MMA. Duffee may have resisted Russow's takedowns easily enough, but there are far better wrestlers in the UFC heavyweight division than Russow. The jury is still out on how he will deal with them - especially as the fight wears on. Third, we could be looking at another Arlovski as far as his punch resistance is concerned. I don't see a heavyweight striker with bad cardio, average technical skill, a weak jaw and loss to 4/1 underdog becoming a contender anytime soon. Fortunately for Duffee, at 24 years old, time is on his side.
This fight really was a 'Tale of Two Chins'. I can think of other heavyweights who would have been put to sleep with half of what Russow took. On the other hand, that slow as hell cross really shouldnt be ko'ing anyone with a decent chin. Yet another prospect with a glass jaw.
I am struggling to think of another occasion where a fighter (boxing, MMA, whatever) has lost so much credibility so quickly. He has gone from being a big, scary and intimidating monster to a laughing stock with an impressive physique and that's about all. I should imagine a whole host of UFC Heavyweights who would have been anxious about fighting Duffe, will now be fighting to be first in line to tap his face and put him to sleep. It's not as if that other guy was a puncher, that hammer fist was embarrasing! Imagine him against Carwin, Velasquez or even another Teletubby like Roy Nelson. Primo Carnera anyone?
People expected too much purely because of the way he looked. To be fair his performance was fine. But he's clearly a guy who's in love with his power and believed the hype. If he wasnt putting so much on every shot he wouldnt have been so knackered by the last round to get KO'ed with a shot like that. Rookie mistake simple. Duffee will be back.
I disagree. If his chin was solid, I would be impressed. I do not think cardio was an issue like many. I think he got tired but before the ko I thought he'd learn from this fight and the experience would teach him to pace himself better. Even when he got tired he did not go straight legged. He stayed seated and was still going quite hard. Physically bullying Russow too. He slowed, this is natural but nothing that couldn't be very easily addressed. Considering how muscled he is and how hard he was going I was suprised he was puffing after 1 round. I think his striking looked good. His footwork both for punching technique and movement was decent. I saw a boxing based that he could grow off of into great things like combo's and bodywork. Come on, the guy was switch hitting for crying out loud. He was switch hitting like a middleweight let alone a 250 pound beast. In the beginning I saw jabs shake Russow to his core. I saw some good take down defence but obviously his grappling credentials are still in question versus the elite. Though Russow seemed to have some decent grappling ability from his last fight. He controlled the opponent totally. Arlovski is a good comparison. I don't see the weak cardio and poor punching technique. I agree he got tired but he wasn't falling all over the place exhausted. I think his punching showed a bright future. I hope he can come back though his chin was pretty bad. It's not that he got stopped but it is the way he got stopped that I always look at. After getting caught, his body shut down. I always look at HOW a guy goes down. We saw different things. I think people have been harsh and their comments are nitpicking. I was really looking forward to seeing him again because I thought he had insane potential with that size, strength, power, speed, explosiveness etc
