As ugly as Guida made that fight, I blame Maynard. Maynard's strength is wrestling. Why is he trying to out box someone he is having trouble hitting? That made no sense. Maynard should have been closing the distance, and fighting for the take down every time he got there. I honestly think Guida won that fight, and I hate it when people win fighting that way. Guida imposed his game plan on Maynard, and all Maynard had to show for it was an angry face. Why would Maynard continue to try to out box a fighter he was capable of out wrestling?
Cerrone is another option for Maynard. Personally, I like Diaz/Maynard and Cerrone/Pettis. It gives Nate a chance to avenge his loss and settle the tie between the two, and a very fan friendly fight in Cerrone/Pettis.
Maynard couldn't catch him trying to box him. This is mma, and wresting is Maynard's strong suit. Maynard should have gone to what he does best when he was having trouble with Guida's bull****.
Well Rek when someone takes 4 or 5 side steps every time you take one foward, to be fair to Grey it's pretty hard to close the distance and shoot Clay did a nice ****** Ali shuffle though
Too add to that I dont see how Grey could have forced the fight when Clay refused to engage beyond a pawing jab. If Clay wasnt in punching range then he certainly wasnt in range for a double shoot Clay's movement constantl forced Grey to keep his weight on his back foot, pivoting just to keep him in eye sight. Typically for a double you want either your two feet square to maximise the drive forward to push the shoulders through or push off from your front foot. Maybe at most your could criticises Grey's plodding footwork :conf the best Grey could have hoped for was a leaping ankle pick or a low single, and the percentage that he would end up face down in the mat like someone had tipped over Stephen Hawkins wheelchair greatly out weighed the rewards of attempting to put Guida with his back to the mat
I don't think we saw Maynard's best effort in trying to close the distance. I think that last night's fight was an example of what sometimes happens when grapplers try to pick up something new. Guida had some luck mesmerizing Gomi with his hair a few fights ago, and now it looks like he is building on this strategy. Maynard's training footage looks like he has been working on his hands even more. What we ended up getting was two wrestlers in a bad striking match.
I think you are being a little harsh on Grey, what we ended up with was one guys trying to make it a striking match and falling to get the TD for reasons I have stated. Criticise Clay, but TDD isnt one of his weakness', he dealt with Grey pretty well when Maynard was in range for an effective shoot
I do think Gray could have changed things up when he realized the act Guida was putting on, but as for for wrestling Gray might have a bit of an advantage but Guida's a solid wrestler also so Gray thought his advantage would be in his hands. gray did go for a couple td's but he couldn't "catch" Guida in one. Gray's prob is that he is flat footed and that allowed Guida to run away at will and Gray had to walk him down even tho a few times he took 2-3 strides in order to catch him.
Clay is a wrestler, so getting him down isn't exactly 1,2,3; but I wanted to see more of a struggle. I'm sure we all did. I think Guida showed up prepared to face an aggressive Maynard, and wanted to wear him out and look to stop him late. I think Maynard was also wary of tiring against Guida, and elected to box him. I am being a bit unfair towards Maynard, but that is because I was pulling for him to win after Guida fought the way he did. Hell, I was pulling for Guida before the fight started. That **** turned me against him. I'll be more objective. Guida should have turned up the counters a little more when it became apparent that Maynard was not going to go all out to close the distance. The fight would have become more interesting had he done so. I just wasn't focusing on what Clay should be doing to win after turning against him.
Yeah Id agree, maybe if Grey had pushed the pace with shoots earlier he'd have more success with a TD. But if he'd gone for broke earlier he probably couldnt beat Clay in the cardio game. As I said the distance wasnt there for the shoot, and I think you are right with Grey being concerned with his cardio, that was pretty obvious but Clay is pretty difficult to figure out, at least for a limited guy like grey