Is Junior Dos Santos a one dimensional fighter?
- Thread starter Nastycrow
- Start date
Sort of.
Attacking wise, he clearly prefers using his hands.
But he's not someone who doesn't have any wrestling or jiu-jitsu. We've seen him shoot takedowns a couple times & get people down.
He's like Liddell, he's a better striker than pretty much everyone in the division, so he tries to keep the fight standing.
No knees, no kicks, no elbows, no gnp... I think he really needs to open up and change a bit his game.
JonnyRico said:
He's only needed one aspect of his game to be successful in his career, but I don't see reason to doubt he has more in his arsenal. Perhaps a loss like this will bring out a more well-rounded approach to Junior's style.
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I hope so
He's lost one fight in UFC. Until people are easily able to shut him out over and over then I will say no. There are very few guys(Cain is the only one that has ever came to mind) in the HW division that would give him serious problems.
His striking and TDD are so good in terms of mma that he's fine. He's still a threat to anyone and will consistently be a top guy for years go come.
He just ran into a guy that is not your typical HW in Cain. Dude is a workhorse, has energy for days and is about as well rounded as you can get.
I don't think he is..Nobody should judge the rest of his game because he couldn't stop a takedown or get a submission.Since when is Cain easily to submit or easy to avoid his wrestling?..He's been beaten once in the UFC(by decision) So what! He's a bjj blackbelt,good tdd,good boxer and still young with many more to learn..JDS is far from one dimensional IMO..
coreymb said:
He's lost one fight in UFC. Until people are easily able to shut him out over and over then I will say no. There are very few guys(Cain is the only one that has ever came to mind) in the HW division that would give him serious problems.
His striking and TDD are so good in terms of mma that he's fine. He's still a threat to anyone and will consistently be a top guy for years go come.
He just ran into a guy that is not your typical HW in Cain. Dude is a workhorse, has energy for days and is about as well rounded as you can get.
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Ok but the fact is, he is the only champion that is self centered in just one aspect of his game, even if that works for him. All the champions are usually much more well rounded.
And I am wondering if this past fight was a stepping stone for other fighters to exploit in some way, JDS's holes.
BrainBT said:
I am wondering if his excellent striking and power is everything he needs to be champion again, and stay on top in the future.
He barely uses his legs. And he is never looking for a takedown, despite he claims his jiu-jitsu is "very good".
What do you think?
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Your poll is limited in responses because he is not a one trick pony because he uses elements of all aspects of combat in his fights well. And considering that defense is 50% of any fight, his grappling defense is very balanced and well skilled.
Considering that he gets off his back so well, and has great understanding of how to prevent takedowns, by definition has the technical skills and understanding of a well rounded fighter.
He uses all of his skills to force the fight where he has the most dominate skill, his hand speed and power. He uses grappling in reverse, so to answer your question in one short word, no.
BrainBT said:
Ok but the fact is, he is the only champion that is self centered in just one aspect of his game, even if that works for him. All the champions are usually much more well rounded.
And I am wondering if this past fight was a stepping stone for other fighters to exploit in some way, JDS's holes.
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I don't think it matters. ABC0331 laid it out real nice.
I don't think he has any major holes in his game though and I don't think he is one dimensional, I think he is well rounded enough and with Cormier almost moving down for sure, who else is going to be able to do what Cain did? Junior will be at or near the top for quite some time.
abc0331 said:
Your poll is limited in responses because he is not a one trick pony because he uses elements of all aspects of combat in his fights well.
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sorry but I don't get what you mean with "elements of all aspects". he is almost a boxer with mma gloves.
He has the ability to get up quick, but that has more to do with his size, strenght and "fear" of being on the ground, than with any kind of skill or technique.
The way he usually escapes from takedowns is like a cat escaping from the water.
That's how I see it.
coreymb said:
I don't think it matters. ABC0331 laid it out real nice.
I don't think he has any major holes in his game though and I don't think he is one dimensional, I think he is well rounded enough and with Cormier almost moving down for sure, who else is going to be able to do what Cain did? Junior will be at or near the top for quite some time.
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JBJ for example. Future Hw. Even The Reem has a powerful GnP and the ability to take down almost anybody, brute force style
BrainBT said:
He has the ability to get up quick, but that has more to do with his size, strenght and "fear" of being on the ground, than with any kind of skill or technique.
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I think that's where you have it all wrong. He's got excellent technique in terms of his ability to keep the fight standing and being able to get up quickly. This is something that is easy to see. I mean, look at the Cain fight for prime example. Besides for round 2, Junior was able to nullify Cain's takedowns pretty well. Size and strength will only get you so far. I also don't think he fears being on the ground, it's just he's more comfortable standing and rightfully so given how dangerous has proven himself to be when he lets his hands do the talking.
BrainBT said:
JBJ for example. Future Hw. Even The Reem has a powerful GnP and the ability to take down almost anybody, brute force style
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We'll see when Jones moves up, he still wouldn't have an easy time with Junior. As for Reem, he's dangerous early and then fades. He'd have a shot, but Junior would be favored. Junior's speed cause Reem fits as well.
Seems to me like you're under-rating JDS's ability a bit. His defensive wrestling is very good (one fight doesn't make me forget his 9 previous UFC fights). Before fighting Velasquez the 2nd time, he was easily beating everyone he faced with his boxing, and he was fighting some of the best fighters in the division.
Spud said:
Seems to me like you're under-rating JDS's ability a bit. His defensive wrestling is very good (one fight doesn't make me forget his 9 previous UFC fights). Before fighting Velasquez the 2nd time, he was easily beating everyone he faced with his boxing, and he was fighting some of the best fighters in the division.
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I am not underrating his abilities.His striking could be good enough to put him on the top. But let's be real. The reason for him not showing all his tools is not exclusively because he feels confortable with his striking.
In his past fight, he showed he has no "plan B".
What happens at the highests levels of sport is that when you don't have a "plan B", and your brain doesn't have well polished automatisms to react and adapt, you will tend to do the same you always do by default, and your game finally will collapse.
And in my opinion, that's because of a lack of confidence in that tools. You can train them in the gym, but displaying your game inside the cage is WAY different than sparring with your buddies.
For example, he could use some ground game to finish barely ko'ed opponents to "practice" in previous fights.
He's only ever needed a plan B once, why would you change your plan in a fight if it's working?
Guys like Demian Maia used to take a lot of s--- for trying to strike rather than utilise their biggest strength (in his case his jiu jitsu).
Guys like Anderson Silva & Jose Aldo almost always look to keep the fight standing, and it works well for them. (Having said that, their striking is more diverse).
Spud said:
He's only ever needed a plan B once, why would you change your plan in a fight if it's working?
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That's the point.
You always must have a plan B when things go wrong.
You can't leave it all to your presumed dominance, because one day, that could change.
He got outboxed, and that was the end.
His corner was just talking him between rounds about "courage, will, heart". What gameplan is that? That speaks for itself
There wasn't much of a chance for a plan B. It's not like he was in there alone & chose not to do something differently, he was gassed and had Cain constantly coming at him.
Even if he didn't take as much punishment in the 1st 2 rounds as he did, any plan B against Cain would just be a different striking strategy. Junior isn't good enough to take Cain down, I don't think anyone in the HW division is good enough to regularly get him down.
Junior and him camp will evaluate his performance, work out what went wrong & come back better. If he fights Cain again, I've no doubt that he'll still be trying to keep the fight standing. However, I also think he'll come in with better cardio (he clearly struggled with Cains pace) and he'll use different tactics when striking, even if they are mainly boxing tactics.
Regarding his corner, we don't hear everything that they tell him between rounds. Junior has spoken before about him gameplans for Cain (the first time) and Mir, he seems to be a smart fighter with a smart camp behind him.
I think part of the problem here is that you seem to see "boxing" as one gameplan, when he can have multiple gameplans while the fight is standing.