who else is impressed with koschecks take down defence??looked good

I was more impressed with the way he defended the back of his head with his right eye.

 

i think its needed to mention that he also took gsp down
wich is rare

 

No shocker to me I figured he would have trained his wrestling real good. Koscheck is a 4 time All American for a reason.

 

Not surprising to me at all. The guy had one of the best collegiate wrestling records ever, and he held his own against GSP the first time around.

 

nope

 

I was. It is a huge accomplishment to stop any GSP takedowns.

But on the other hand I think it shows the brilliant game planning of GSP.

GSP knew Koscheck didn't think GSP could outwrestle him in the first fight, so he developed his game plan around outwrestling Kos, while Kos spent his training camp working on his striking, which was wasted since he was on his back most of the fight.

In the second fight GSP knew Kos would be working hard on his wrestling because Koscheck thought "well, I didn't take his wrestling seriously; I'm the better wrestler, I just need to train it back to my best." So GSP spent most of his game plan and training on his standup, mostly his boxing. Kos spent his game plan on his wrestling to get it back to it's best. GSP knew this would happen and spent his game plan and training camp on working on mostly defensive wrestling and striking, mostly boxing.


It shows that GSP is a step ahead of his opponents in terms of strategy, as well as being the better fighter in a vacuum.

 

could'nt have said it any better myself

 

Yea he did good but gsp really improved his striking. That jab is the key of the fight. Koscheck couldn't get too close cuz of gsp's jab.

 

I'd say GSP's lack of takedowns was actually a sign of what Kos did wrong in this fight. He was so afraid of leaving himself open to a takedown that he rarely tried to aggresively close the distance standing.

Very smart move by GSP to predict Kos was going to be waiting for the counter and working on dominating him with the jab to make sure it was never going to be there for him.

Its a similar problem to Alves and BJ the second time I'd say, like Kos there guys who are used to dominating fights and tried to dominate GSP when in reality there best chance at sucess was to take more risks early while they were fresh and hope to land something big.

 

I dont think he's striking changed that much. His strategy though was excellent. GSP closed Kos's eye in the first round with nothing more than a well timed rapier jab. Kos simply had no answer for it as he's striking from a purist perspective leaves alot to be desired. He rarely moves his head and wasnt fast enough to parry GSP's punches nor could he see them from his left side.

 

How hard was GSP trying, when his standup was working so well?

 

Early on he was fresh and then he didn't engage much. It's hard to attack people who are fresh or being too defensive.

I bet GSP is disappointed that another opponent has survived.

 

GSP didn't really improve his striking, he just used it... I get it, you forgot what it looked like, it has been a while.

Honestly though, his striking has always been technically leaps and bounds above almost everyone in the UFC, the problem is he doesn't have huge power. Also, the only place anyone stands a chance of beating him is in a striking match...

Still, it was nice to see him use it again.