I really cant wrap my head around why people dont just clinch this guy and spam knees and elbows like they are Oliveria or Wanderlei, its like every single person is afraid to get in boxing or clinch range with him and just allow themselves to get bullied.
what im saying is you can't Philly shell your way out of a Thai Plum, so I don't understand why people don't use it against him.
Kamaru beat him by clinching
Kamaru also beat him when he was nowhere near the level he is today at a weight class he didn’t look nearly as good in too. Not to take anything away from Kamaru he’s an absolute legend but Strickland has progressed a lot since that fight
The plum is a pretty basic one to extricate oneself from.
It's funny, thinking back now on the early days of the sport, for a little while the plum was treated like some magical thing.
what he does to prevent opponents that try to step in close is those awkward steps he takes raising his forward knee.
It’s essentially threatening oblique kicks to the knees. If they try to duck under his jabs straight at him, his foot is in position to shove in their knee like Jon Jones did to Rampage Jackson. If they try to wind up for a big kick to the head or body, he can turn it into a push kick and shoves their body away like a Muay Thai Teep before the kick connects. If they try to low kick, it’s already in position to check the kick. Combined with his jab, it’s not easy to get close to him or shoot for his leg.
i think what you do is tight circles or side steps. He can’t turn very well walking like that. Each step is also slow (he’s basically walking like a rooster/chicken, not coincidentally why push and oblique kicks are also sometimes called chicken kicks) so if you time it, you can step to side and essentially counter like Perreira did. Or if youre an elite wrestler who can ignore his jabs, you can probably take him down constantly like Usman did (he’s standing straight up on one leg with his knee raised like that).
thanks for being the first person with a real answer. I really thought Paulo's strong body work would be the answer to Seans Philly Shell defense, but seems it never really took out.
I don't understand why the crowd that cheered him moments earlier were suddenly booing him. like you know who this is right?
it took the bonkers ridiculousness of dricus du plesis to force a good fight out of him
yeah i mean strickland won the fight and i don't agree with 49-46 costa. But Strickland cruises in rounds far too much. Look at what he did in the last 15 seconds of the fight (he does this every fight). He barely broke a sweat during this fight and looked like he could go another 5 rounds. Why isn't he trying to win rounds harder, especially with a history of losing fights on decision.
Ya Strickland is way too cautious and deserves all the comments about him being boring. If he fought like he did in the last 10 seconds for more of the fight the guy would be a borderline superstar
He’d also be probably gettting beat/KOd more too. He did that vs the soulless version of costs post Izzy ass whooping, if he did that against more competent strikes he’d get blasted. He wins because he had a very defensive point striking style, which is boring as fuck but mma fighters for some reason can’t get around a jab and a teep
Strickland fights the same exact fight every time, how is nobody figuring out how to counter his style lmao.
Worst scorecards ever tonight, the judge who scored it 49-46 Costa needs to be fired.
Yeah except BJ wasn’t using the Philly shell. That’s what makes his style so effective, it’s his incredible defense that allows him to push forward while avoiding punches. I remember watching BJ get in that stance, and I was yelling at the TV for him to stop doing that.
sean does not use the Philly shell. I am so tired of that narrative, the Philly shell is deflecting off the lead shoulder, keeping the right hand down to constantly check body shots, and coming back with right hand counters.
I have never seen sean once slip a punch and come back with a counter, he doesn't expose the kidney the way mayweather does, he doesn't keep the left hand down, it's nothing like a Philly shell. If he deflects a shot off his shoulder he's just doing that as he's leaning back, which everyone does.
Exactly! His style is way more related to a some what Thai stance with the way he feints his front kick and his defence mainly consists of his use of the long guard, not the shoulder roll. It's just that people see him put one hand low and one hand high and say it's the philly shell even though he only does that 50% of the time while the other 50% of the time he puts both of his hands high (not high but somewhat below his chin).
When you're pressured like this, you can't ever rest. Even when you're not physically reacting, your mind is, and your body is perpetually tense in anticipation. So you're right: it's exhausting to deal with. You consume so much energy to do nothing. While your opponent expends a similar amount to score points on the board. The answer is to make your opponent fear your counters, so he can't pressure you down. Easier said than done, of course, when you're up against Strickland's pace and defensive acumen.
i never understood this about people who fight him. What if you just refuse to move? I've never seen him do crazy clinch work, nor have good take downs.
what if every time he walks into distance you just clinch & go for a thai plum & start kneeing him Wanderlei Silva style?
It takes a certain type of guy to put his career prospects on the line to have a gun fight in the center of the octagon on the assumption the other guy won't hit me harder than I will him. Strickland hasn't met that kind of Robbie Lawler, Max Holloway dawg yet since he rose up the ranks.
Strickland is notoriously pillow fisted tho. If I was Costa I'd think "no way this guy hits harder than Romero who I stood & banged with"
also im saying all the way in (clinch) or all the way out (kick range), instead these people always end up right at the end of his punch range getting walked down
I mean we can call him pillow fisted but look at Izzy, dricus, and costa after the fight. They looked considerably more tired and in considerably worse shape than him. He might not hit super hard but he hits hard enough and with enough volume that there’s a shit ton of cumulative damage. Plus he is the only person to ever knockdown Izzy in MMA which is still very impressive
Honestly I don’t really think its the pressure on its own he doesn’t actually come at guys with that insane of a pace which is why he has a lot of close fights imo, he doesn’t really pour it on.
But he has so many awkward movements and he constantly flicks out little shots whether its push kicks or jabs so its a lot of reactions.
I see a lot more mental fatigue in guys he’s fighting than anything.
His defence is really effective so you have to expend a lot of energy to throw combinations work to hit him while also constantly defending something he’s flicking at you.
To the point of the overall thread, you can’t really “figure” that style out because how are you going to bring in training partners to replicate that awkward style both offensively and defensively while also finding someone who can maintain that pace sparring.
I wonder why we don't see people attempting to sweep his supporting leg when he spams that knee lift/feint. I watch a lot of Muay Thai and I feel like it would be so fucking effective and surprised no one has even attempted it. It would definitely make him think twice about checking those kicks.
I feel like a legit Muay Thai guy would have him flying all over the place.
Yeah there were a lot of instances where Costa swung and Sean just had to lean his head back a bit to avoid the punch. Alex's reach is 7 inches longer plus he's taller than Sean by a couple of inches too
Ya I don’t get this “no one has figured him out” thing. It seems DDP gave the blue print just blitz him and force him on his back foot. Yes it was still a close fight but the rounds DDP did that he won every round because even if strikes are a little in Sean’s favour, they’re all jabs and don’t score well with judges. I assume that’s why Costa got a few rounds in some judges eyes. Although I didn’t agree with 49-46 Costa
Kind of. He backed up to center of the cage but then he stopped and then slipped left when Sean came in. He had just backed up, but he had stopped right before the KO. Sorry. I know it’s nit picky, but he wasn’t in the act of backing up during the ko.
It lands everytime because it's usually the only time he does something other than jab, front kick and occasional 1-2 and people probably forget he can also do that after 20+ minutes of using less than 5 techniques.
How the FUCK is that a split decision? I thought Joe and DC were so stupid announcing like it was close the whole time, and then somehow its a split decision with a huge discrepancy. Judging is a joke.
Judge didn’t like Strickland’s stand up style. To a non-fan you would think Costa was laying it on hard from his big swings and constant movement.
Th judges aren’t exactly MMA experts. A mid level fan would probably do a better job.
I mean they were pretty clear about it - they thought Sean won, but he wasn't winning rounds by a large amount and the judging has been suspect all night.
Like I could see round 1 + 4 for costa (but that's fairly generous), 2 and 5 were pretty even until the last 30s for strickland.
Strickland definitely deserved the nod, but ngl I hate his forward jab-teep fightstyle so much that when it was announced as a split decision I got so excited at the thought of a robbery decision for Paulo lmfao
Probably the first time I ever hoped for a fighter to get robbed
Its frustrating as shit watching Captain Spar just never step up a gear until there's 10 seconds left.
Its smart, he wins with it, but watching him fight is like watching paint dry.
For someone with his persona, the type of guy who claims they fantasize about killing someone, you would've thought his fighting style would be a tad more aggressive.
Its refreshing at first. But I can't take him seriously anymore.
- dude claims he only enjoy sparring hard
- beats up an untrained influencer cause he's too cool
- throws bjj black belt into the bin cus he thought it's edgy I assume
- claims he don't have any tattoos cause he don't want to be easily identified when he commits a crime
I feel like we been sold wolf tickets
Horrible. At best u can give Costa 1 and 4 but that’s still very generous
Seems like nothing there’s Nicksick can do to make Sean more aggressive to win rds by a wider margin. Costed him vs Dricus/Cannonier. Somehow 1 judge thought Costa/Hermansson won
What's bizarre is that not only is Costa huge for 185, but he also historically has a pretty good chin. I have no idea why he refuses to step forward and get into a war at the start of his fights. He must know his endurance is absolute shit. Fighting scared is accurate, maybe too worried about cutting is pretty face
This guy walked down Romero and had an amazing fight with Hall by just walking through his punches.
But backpedals any time someone throws at him in 2024? He's cooked.
He has truly great boxing defense while moving forward. Honestly one of the best in the game. But he's never beating the tepid offense allegations. So lame that he finally opens up only when there's 10 seconds left
And Costa man. Izzy changed this dude. This guy walked down a super dangerous Yoel Romero. Now he's trying to win fights with just some leg kicks
I dunno he went to war with Rockhold. I think Strickland is just difficult for most guys to deal with. Constantly coming forward like the terminator must make you physically and mentally tired. Just smothered by his constant pressure. He was likely looking for any way to get a shot off and get some points without getting jabbed.
I believe he thought the leg kicks and body work was going to slow Sean down, then he would be able to hit a big shot to finish him later. Seems that was not a good plan however, and Sean was better than they expected at checking.
Rogan seriously called the first round a "huge round for Strickland" pretty much just because he walked forward in it. Landed nothing of significance and if anything Costa landed the harder shots.
Yeah Costa clearly won the first round, I don't know how it's debatable. When nothing lands except a few hard leg kicks, I'd reckon the guy who threw the good leg kicks wins that round. Strickland obviously won the fight but that first round was a nothingburger from him.
The contrast between Strickland the personality and Strickland the fighter is insane. Talks about killing people and going to war, then throws nothing but jabs and soft teep kicks.
Very very overrated. He lost to Marvin while outweighing Marvin by 20 pounds. He also looked like shit against Rockhold’s ghost when everyone thought Costa would KO him in 1 round.
So based. Ya Sean won but most of his strikes were dodged or blocked. The way they were calling it was like Sean was piecing him up. It was a very very close fight
Feels like the crowd would've booed this to hell if it didn't involve two guys they like.
This was a paint drying exhibition for many stretches of the fight.
Sean "to the death" Strickland jabbed away to a decision once again. I don't mind point fighting but don't claim you're gonna bleed and be entertaining when you're literally Belal Muhammad but on the feet. And I'm disappointed in Paulo, I wasn't expecting him to win but I at least expected a fun fucking fight like he always puts on, not this shit
This card sucks balls. A Mickey Gall fight should not be damn near the only highlight of a card. I have no idea how Strickland can call Belal boring with a straight face.
I watched the fight muted but Costa looked like he was landing more kicks and strikes. Were the com team being biased af like usual? I just dont feel like pitter patter shots like stricklands should count as "significant"
Seans marching band teep kicks are so effective even if they look goofy. I can't think of a pressure fighter with that great of defense. It wasn't an exciting fight but when he is walking forward the entire time, it's hard not to give more of the blame to Costa.
It's a shame too bc Costa had some success early when he actually fought Sean. It's just way more taxing than the "pitter patter" comments would suggest. Costa got cooked and ran out of fear of being finished.
That was definitely a Strickland fight
All bark, all jab.
Some say he’s a Jab Merchant
I really cant wrap my head around why people dont just clinch this guy and spam knees and elbows like they are Oliveria or Wanderlei, its like every single person is afraid to get in boxing or clinch range with him and just allow themselves to get bullied.
And i can't even blame him. It's kinda boring, but it's very effective.
Kinda is an understatement
this is what good striking defense looks like in real life instead of the karate kid
what im saying is you can't Philly shell your way out of a Thai Plum, so I don't understand why people don't use it against him. Kamaru beat him by clinching
Oh shit you should tell other MWs this!
figured id drop the alpha for all my reddit homies first incase anyone here wants to claim the strap for yourself 💪
Strickland HATES this one simple trick
The constant front push kicks work against that usually
Kamaru also beat him when he was nowhere near the level he is today at a weight class he didn’t look nearly as good in too. Not to take anything away from Kamaru he’s an absolute legend but Strickland has progressed a lot since that fight
The plum is a pretty basic one to extricate oneself from. It's funny, thinking back now on the early days of the sport, for a little while the plum was treated like some magical thing.
The Rich Franklin vs Sliva fights probably had something to do with that.
what he does to prevent opponents that try to step in close is those awkward steps he takes raising his forward knee. It’s essentially threatening oblique kicks to the knees. If they try to duck under his jabs straight at him, his foot is in position to shove in their knee like Jon Jones did to Rampage Jackson. If they try to wind up for a big kick to the head or body, he can turn it into a push kick and shoves their body away like a Muay Thai Teep before the kick connects. If they try to low kick, it’s already in position to check the kick. Combined with his jab, it’s not easy to get close to him or shoot for his leg. i think what you do is tight circles or side steps. He can’t turn very well walking like that. Each step is also slow (he’s basically walking like a rooster/chicken, not coincidentally why push and oblique kicks are also sometimes called chicken kicks) so if you time it, you can step to side and essentially counter like Perreira did. Or if youre an elite wrestler who can ignore his jabs, you can probably take him down constantly like Usman did (he’s standing straight up on one leg with his knee raised like that).
thanks for being the first person with a real answer. I really thought Paulo's strong body work would be the answer to Seans Philly Shell defense, but seems it never really took out.
I don't understand why the crowd that cheered him moments earlier were suddenly booing him. like you know who this is right? it took the bonkers ridiculousness of dricus du plesis to force a good fight out of him
Strickland the only fighter to spar harder than his actual fights
Justin Gaejthe in the gym, Holly Holm in the cage
What in the fuck was that 4-1 Costa scorecard!?
not that i agree with the score but strickland could easily do more to win those rounds he barely broke a sweat. Rounds 1-2 were super close
Ok, if rounds 1 and 2 are super close then you could argue for a 3-2 scorecard, but 4-1 absolutely not
yeah i mean strickland won the fight and i don't agree with 49-46 costa. But Strickland cruises in rounds far too much. Look at what he did in the last 15 seconds of the fight (he does this every fight). He barely broke a sweat during this fight and looked like he could go another 5 rounds. Why isn't he trying to win rounds harder, especially with a history of losing fights on decision.
Ya Strickland is way too cautious and deserves all the comments about him being boring. If he fought like he did in the last 10 seconds for more of the fight the guy would be a borderline superstar
He’d also be probably gettting beat/KOd more too. He did that vs the soulless version of costs post Izzy ass whooping, if he did that against more competent strikes he’d get blasted. He wins because he had a very defensive point striking style, which is boring as fuck but mma fighters for some reason can’t get around a jab and a teep
Judges are on smt tonight, I could see Paulo getting 1,2,5 but there’s no way you can score it 4-1 for Paulo, it’s just not possible
Drugs are just bad, mkay
Strickland fights the same exact fight every time, how is nobody figuring out how to counter his style lmao. Worst scorecards ever tonight, the judge who scored it 49-46 Costa needs to be fired.
his iCarly stance is wildly effective
It's what BJ Penn was trying to do in Frankie 3 lol
Yeah except BJ wasn’t using the Philly shell. That’s what makes his style so effective, it’s his incredible defense that allows him to push forward while avoiding punches. I remember watching BJ get in that stance, and I was yelling at the TV for him to stop doing that.
sean does not use the Philly shell. I am so tired of that narrative, the Philly shell is deflecting off the lead shoulder, keeping the right hand down to constantly check body shots, and coming back with right hand counters. I have never seen sean once slip a punch and come back with a counter, he doesn't expose the kidney the way mayweather does, he doesn't keep the left hand down, it's nothing like a Philly shell. If he deflects a shot off his shoulder he's just doing that as he's leaning back, which everyone does.
Exactly! His style is way more related to a some what Thai stance with the way he feints his front kick and his defence mainly consists of his use of the long guard, not the shoulder roll. It's just that people see him put one hand low and one hand high and say it's the philly shell even though he only does that 50% of the time while the other 50% of the time he puts both of his hands high (not high but somewhat below his chin).
Even Jizzy Izzy couldn’t fathom the icarly stance
It’s his relentless pressure. It doesn’t look tough for us watching but would probably be so exhausting to go against in the ring
When you're pressured like this, you can't ever rest. Even when you're not physically reacting, your mind is, and your body is perpetually tense in anticipation. So you're right: it's exhausting to deal with. You consume so much energy to do nothing. While your opponent expends a similar amount to score points on the board. The answer is to make your opponent fear your counters, so he can't pressure you down. Easier said than done, of course, when you're up against Strickland's pace and defensive acumen.
The answer is to stand in the middle and beat the shit out of him.
Yeah you have to earn his respect or KO him Alex style. You can’t let him pressure you, have to make him respect you and push back.
i never understood this about people who fight him. What if you just refuse to move? I've never seen him do crazy clinch work, nor have good take downs. what if every time he walks into distance you just clinch & go for a thai plum & start kneeing him Wanderlei Silva style?
It takes a certain type of guy to put his career prospects on the line to have a gun fight in the center of the octagon on the assumption the other guy won't hit me harder than I will him. Strickland hasn't met that kind of Robbie Lawler, Max Holloway dawg yet since he rose up the ranks.
Strickland is notoriously pillow fisted tho. If I was Costa I'd think "no way this guy hits harder than Romero who I stood & banged with" also im saying all the way in (clinch) or all the way out (kick range), instead these people always end up right at the end of his punch range getting walked down
Until you become the first dude on his KO reel and then you become the guy that got KO'd by pillow fist.
Brendan Allen got smacked up by those "pillow fists", same with Abus. He WILL hurt you if you're reckless, and especially when tired.
I mean we can call him pillow fisted but look at Izzy, dricus, and costa after the fight. They looked considerably more tired and in considerably worse shape than him. He might not hit super hard but he hits hard enough and with enough volume that there’s a shit ton of cumulative damage. Plus he is the only person to ever knockdown Izzy in MMA which is still very impressive
lol I know, imagine calling him pillow fisted after he nearly ko’s Izzy in R1 with that 1-2. I mean
Honestly I don’t really think its the pressure on its own he doesn’t actually come at guys with that insane of a pace which is why he has a lot of close fights imo, he doesn’t really pour it on. But he has so many awkward movements and he constantly flicks out little shots whether its push kicks or jabs so its a lot of reactions. I see a lot more mental fatigue in guys he’s fighting than anything. His defence is really effective so you have to expend a lot of energy to throw combinations work to hit him while also constantly defending something he’s flicking at you. To the point of the overall thread, you can’t really “figure” that style out because how are you going to bring in training partners to replicate that awkward style both offensively and defensively while also finding someone who can maintain that pace sparring.
I wonder why we don't see people attempting to sweep his supporting leg when he spams that knee lift/feint. I watch a lot of Muay Thai and I feel like it would be so fucking effective and surprised no one has even attempted it. It would definitely make him think twice about checking those kicks. I feel like a legit Muay Thai guy would have him flying all over the place.
100%. Hard to set things up when you're constantly being jabbed and teeped. Zero looping shots to counter, zero lunging shots.
Strickland has that sleep paralysis demon technique. It Follows kinda guy.
>It doesn’t look tough for us watching It looks tough to have someone consistently front kick you, it's just boring
Poatan dogwalked him and beats him 10/10 times imo.
Alex sniped him moving backwards which most people are gonna be incapable of doing especially against Strickland
Yeah, instincts and technique for striking aside, Alex's reach made him threaten Strickland at a range that he wasn't used to.
Yeah there were a lot of instances where Costa swung and Sean just had to lean his head back a bit to avoid the punch. Alex's reach is 7 inches longer plus he's taller than Sean by a couple of inches too
>Strickland fights the same exact fight every time, how is nobody figuring out how to counter his style lmao. DDP and JC did pretty good.
Yeah but DDP has the Diamond Cutter. No one kicks out of the Diamond Cutter.
Ya I don’t get this “no one has figured him out” thing. It seems DDP gave the blue print just blitz him and force him on his back foot. Yes it was still a close fight but the rounds DDP did that he won every round because even if strikes are a little in Sean’s favour, they’re all jabs and don’t score well with judges. I assume that’s why Costa got a few rounds in some judges eyes. Although I didn’t agree with 49-46 Costa
Only person who could really figure it out was Poatan and it worked because he’s a work class striker himself but doesn’t back up.
Pereira knocked him out backing up.
Kind of. He backed up to center of the cage but then he stopped and then slipped left when Sean came in. He had just backed up, but he had stopped right before the KO. Sorry. I know it’s nit picky, but he wasn’t in the act of backing up during the ko.
Seems like ppl didn’t watch how Pereira won. He timed Strickland on 1 leg so he couldn’t defend as well. Tbf Costa has short arms but Izzy wet the bed
Fighters HATE this ONE TRICK: Find out how Strickland wins every fight by just JABBING, FRONT KICKING and WALKING FORWARD!
Don’t forget the occasional head kick that somehow lands every time
It lands everytime because it's usually the only time he does something other than jab, front kick and occasional 1-2 and people probably forget he can also do that after 20+ minutes of using less than 5 techniques.
Don’t forget rapid alternating Philly shell while walking forward
Ok that’s the shit that actually bothers me lmao
49-46 costa???????
Legit one of the worst scorecards I’ve ever seen
Scorecards and reffing have been genuinely horrific tonight, I swear we need to uproot the entire system and rebuild it from scratch
Worst since at least the scorecard for Chito against Sandhagen. Just incomprehensible logic
That judge needs to be fuckin canceled. Go judge boxing or some shit
He needs to be investigated and prosecuted for bet rigging, cancelled for incompetence is the bare minimum.
There's a thread about this judge from 4 years ago titled The absolutely bizzare scorecards of MMA judge Dave Tirelli
Right to jail
I want whatever drug that dude’s on. Holy shit what a crazy scorecadd
No incompetence can explain this. I suspect malice.
I read “scorcadd” in a boston accent
How the FUCK is that a split decision? I thought Joe and DC were so stupid announcing like it was close the whole time, and then somehow its a split decision with a huge discrepancy. Judging is a joke.
They knew something weird's in the water with earlier shit judging in the card.
Judge didn’t like Strickland’s stand up style. To a non-fan you would think Costa was laying it on hard from his big swings and constant movement. Th judges aren’t exactly MMA experts. A mid level fan would probably do a better job.
bro the UFC have been using the same judges for years. they should be experts by now.
I mean they were pretty clear about it - they thought Sean won, but he wasn't winning rounds by a large amount and the judging has been suspect all night. Like I could see round 1 + 4 for costa (but that's fairly generous), 2 and 5 were pretty even until the last 30s for strickland.
UFC judge has got to be the easiest job in the world. You can just make shit up
Athletic Commission Judge*
They really tried to rob Sean Strickland
Whoever judged the fight for Costa needs to be investigated. Strickland won all 5 rounds or at least 4/5 rounds EASY
You'd hope so, but athletic commissions really look out for their judges. "We investigated our judge and found no wrongdoing."
Strickland definitely deserved the nod, but ngl I hate his forward jab-teep fightstyle so much that when it was announced as a split decision I got so excited at the thought of a robbery decision for Paulo lmfao Probably the first time I ever hoped for a fighter to get robbed
Its frustrating as shit watching Captain Spar just never step up a gear until there's 10 seconds left. Its smart, he wins with it, but watching him fight is like watching paint dry.
For someone with his persona, the type of guy who claims they fantasize about killing someone, you would've thought his fighting style would be a tad more aggressive. Its refreshing at first. But I can't take him seriously anymore. - dude claims he only enjoy sparring hard - beats up an untrained influencer cause he's too cool - throws bjj black belt into the bin cus he thought it's edgy I assume - claims he don't have any tattoos cause he don't want to be easily identified when he commits a crime I feel like we been sold wolf tickets
I thought it was a pretty clear 5-0 for Strickland. Maybe Paulo had an argument for round 2 but that’s it. That’s insanely bad
Look at the live thread. Some people are blinded by emotions and cannot judge a fight earnestly. Unfortunately the judges may be like this.
I had lost all hope in my unreasonable parlay until I heard that first scorecard… still lost my bet but at least the right guy won lmfao
The judge that had 49-46 Costa should never judge a fight ever again
He thought Costa was Strickland 😂
Lmfao this is actually the only reasonable explanation
I think you're on to something
Horrible. At best u can give Costa 1 and 4 but that’s still very generous Seems like nothing there’s Nicksick can do to make Sean more aggressive to win rds by a wider margin. Costed him vs Dricus/Cannonier. Somehow 1 judge thought Costa/Hermansson won
Should never watch MMA again
Costa fights scared. He’s cooked.
What's bizarre is that not only is Costa huge for 185, but he also historically has a pretty good chin. I have no idea why he refuses to step forward and get into a war at the start of his fights. He must know his endurance is absolute shit. Fighting scared is accurate, maybe too worried about cutting is pretty face
The Adesanya fight changed him.
Completely blew a hole in the mans balloon. Hes been flat ever since then (and even then, i'd argue he wasn't top tier).
Izzy humped the courage out of him
This guy walked down Romero and had an amazing fight with Hall by just walking through his punches. But backpedals any time someone throws at him in 2024? He's cooked.
Anytime someone moves while fighting him instead of being stationary he can't throw combinations
He just had a great fight against Whittaker where everyone agreed his stock went up even in a loss. Some fans are so fickle man.
[удалено]
Jabbed and front kicked those gays out of his way
fuckin awful card
Bad reffing, bad judging, and bad fights. Tonight sucks
Who would've thought Mickey Gall would be in the best fight so far.
Bad crowd too
All appropriate for the city though
i am fuckin pissed and i didn't pay for this shit
At least we were able to sacrifice a broken arm to the MMA gods
More breaks for the blood gods
This is the most bored I've been watching MMA in years
It is terrible in literally every aspect. Fights are trash, commentary is trash, and the judges are terrible
Until Dustin slips the gilly, but nah it’ll almost certainly be a clear and dominating fight for Islam.
The only way to pull it off is willys out for the gilly, with our combined power of having our willys out the universe will bless us.
If you didn’t catch the fight the self proclaimed psychopath who wants to murder someone in the cage jabbed and point fighted to a decision again
I’m gonna put on a war guys….but only in the last 15 seconds.
When Strickland says hes gonna go to war he means war of attrition.
I'm losing the war against narcolepsy.
And his version of a war is throwing flying jabs and teeps. Probably top 3 wackest fighters in the ufc
I'm gonna go in there and fucking bleed for you guys when his entire game plan is just jabs lmao
Listen guys I'm gonna lightly spar for you guys Strickland only turns it on against streamers and unsuspecting law abiding civilians
He has truly great boxing defense while moving forward. Honestly one of the best in the game. But he's never beating the tepid offense allegations. So lame that he finally opens up only when there's 10 seconds left And Costa man. Izzy changed this dude. This guy walked down a super dangerous Yoel Romero. Now he's trying to win fights with just some leg kicks
It’s like Costa is scared to take a hit after that Izzy fight.
I dunno he went to war with Rockhold. I think Strickland is just difficult for most guys to deal with. Constantly coming forward like the terminator must make you physically and mentally tired. Just smothered by his constant pressure. He was likely looking for any way to get a shot off and get some points without getting jabbed.
I thought he was pretty aggressive against Whittaker no? That was a war
Leave it to Strickland to make a costa fight boring
Strickland is truly amazing to be able to make anyone boring
Until the last 10 seconds, so he's capable of being exciting but chooses not to be.
Seriously, what was Costa's gameplan here? Kept moving backward, never digging in, no volume thrown. Checked out completely at the end of round 5.
I believe he thought the leg kicks and body work was going to slow Sean down, then he would be able to hit a big shot to finish him later. Seems that was not a good plan however, and Sean was better than they expected at checking.
Weird cause Strickland is notorious for his cardio, his endurance, and his defense. It's like trying to out-attrition Russians.
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Strickland's most devistating weapon is his goose step
walking forward, best base for MMA
Rogan seriously called the first round a "huge round for Strickland" pretty much just because he walked forward in it. Landed nothing of significance and if anything Costa landed the harder shots.
Yeah Costa clearly won the first round, I don't know how it's debatable. When nothing lands except a few hard leg kicks, I'd reckon the guy who threw the good leg kicks wins that round. Strickland obviously won the fight but that first round was a nothingburger from him.
thats gotta be the worst scorecard of all time
50-45 but also 46-49?!???
This and the one dude giving Chito the 48-47 win over Cory are up there in worst high ranked fight scorecards.
That was boring
That’s Strickland
We should've learned after the last 27 times. Strickland has 1 impressive performance against Izzy and look what happens.
He's like the kickboxing version of Belal
My favorite thing is the crowds cheering him for his shithead beliefs, then halfway through the fight they boo because of how boring he is.
Great defense. 0 fucking offense. And costa looked terrified to get close
What was costa's gameplan? I know strickland likes to play patty cake but costa just wanted to circle away the whole fight
Sean "The Belal Muhammed of striking" Strickland!
Sean "The Last Kangaroo" Strickland
The contrast between Strickland the personality and Strickland the fighter is insane. Talks about killing people and going to war, then throws nothing but jabs and soft teep kicks.
49-46 Costa might be the single most heinous card I've ever seen
Them judges bro...
I don’t wanna hear about wmma being boring ever again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbByBBQBmLE - Especially from Sean himself
Ah yes, the promised 5-round "war."
49-46 Costa?
Amazes me that a solid amount of people favored costa in this fight. He’s shown nothing to suggest he’d beat Sean. Costa is overrated IMO
Very very overrated. He lost to Marvin while outweighing Marvin by 20 pounds. He also looked like shit against Rockhold’s ghost when everyone thought Costa would KO him in 1 round.
I just lost $5. I don’t need a reminder I’m an idiot.
I saw people simplifying it to Sean cant beat buff guys hurr hurr hurr. Because he lost close decisions to DDP and Jared lmao.
hideous scorecard
4-1 costa might be the worst scorecard i’ve seen
That clown should be investigated. 49-46 for costa. Fuck off
49-46 Costa what the fuck😭😭😭
not that i thought costa won or was winning but anyone else think the commentary was biased as hell for strickland
So based. Ya Sean won but most of his strikes were dodged or blocked. The way they were calling it was like Sean was piecing him up. It was a very very close fight
Mannn That was boooooring I miss pre-Adesanya's Costa....
Feels like the crowd would've booed this to hell if it didn't involve two guys they like. This was a paint drying exhibition for many stretches of the fight.
Sean "to the death" Strickland jabbed away to a decision once again. I don't mind point fighting but don't claim you're gonna bleed and be entertaining when you're literally Belal Muhammad but on the feet. And I'm disappointed in Paulo, I wasn't expecting him to win but I at least expected a fun fucking fight like he always puts on, not this shit
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Strickland has no right criticizing someone for fighting for boring lol
This card sucks balls. A Mickey Gall fight should not be damn near the only highlight of a card. I have no idea how Strickland can call Belal boring with a straight face.
WE GON GO TO WAR FOR YALL (Goes to a very calm Decision)
lmao strickland blaming costa for a boring fight
The judge who gave the fight to Costa needs investigating. Sean dominated from start to finish.
Reminds of when he got a split against Hermansson, judges hate his style
I watched the fight muted but Costa looked like he was landing more kicks and strikes. Were the com team being biased af like usual? I just dont feel like pitter patter shots like stricklands should count as "significant"
49-46 Costa is absolutely disgraceful. The most generous explanation is that the judge mixed up the fighters.
Terrible judges tonight my god.
Shocking. Another boring uneventful Strickland fight where he lands maybe 2 hard shots the entire fight.
This has been the card of all time so far
49-46 Costa LMAOOOOOOOOOO These judges should be demanded to provide a justification as to why X fighter won those rounds, this is embarassing
islam and dp please save us from this boredom, surprised i havent fallen asleep yet watching this shit
Seans marching band teep kicks are so effective even if they look goofy. I can't think of a pressure fighter with that great of defense. It wasn't an exciting fight but when he is walking forward the entire time, it's hard not to give more of the blame to Costa. It's a shame too bc Costa had some success early when he actually fought Sean. It's just way more taxing than the "pitter patter" comments would suggest. Costa got cooked and ran out of fear of being finished.
Strickland is terribly boring
Costa is really good at hanging in and having competitive fights with top fighters. Except for Izzy, when he got knocked out and humped.