Comments on: Famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach not a fan of Fedor’s standup

By: Mike Reilly

Mike Reilly — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:29:35 +0000

To me this is like a hockey coach saying he is not impressed with Eli Manning’s skateing

THEY ARE TWO DIFFERENT SPORTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: neijia

neijia — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:39:46 +0000

@Jackyl, yes exactly. Mir’s punches were crisp and clean. The “running” someone referred to was good, controlled, attacking, forward movement, nice kick and punch combos, with a game plan to keep knocking Nog down (which worked beautifully).

In contrast, what has Arlovski been doing? Fairly boring boxing. How is that gonna work against Fedor? I don’t see it. I hope Freddie and Arlovski have changed the plan… As to Fedor being too aggressive??? There are several fights where he goes backward and forward, watching out for certain strikes such as CroCops left high kick. What is he talking about? Just good hype.

Fedor’s response “Sometimes it is a trainer’s job to point out weaknesses in his fighter’s opponents. And sometimes it is a trainer’s job to convince his fighter that his opponent has weaknesses. We will see.” says it all.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Nihendo

Nihendo — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:30:46 +0000

Freddie is a smart guy. Just by circulating rumors that Arlovski can compete at the highest levels of HW boxing is a great way of getting at Fedor’s confidence with his striking skills. I would think that it was said mainly to get into Fedor’s head and make Fedor think while he is punching. Fedor is offensive and reacts when he is striking if you can get him to think before he throws a punch and act defensive you gain the striking advantage. Freddie is a smart guy.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: s00nertp

s00nertp — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:40:52 +0000

Boxing is boring. To me is is about as exciting as watching bowling.

Finding a guy who can stay at the top of his weight class that can beat the finest challengers who could be the best in a particular field of wrestling, grappling or punching. THAT is freaking exciting.

Sure boxing is a “fighting sport”, but I dont really associate it with MMA at all. Do people do that with Field hockey vs Ice hockey? vs Street hockey? I am glad fewer and fewer people put the two together. Most people I know who watch boxing would never watch MMA and vice versa.

If Andrei wins, he will shock he world, that is for sure.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Tyler

Tyler — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:39:32 +0000

LOL! “neijia” says ” Mir’s striking was stunningly spectacular”.
Yeah if you think running straight forward at full speed while throwing punches is great striking then yes it’s spectacular.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Jackyl

Jackyl — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:17:11 +0000

Someone above was totally smoking crack during the Mir/Nog fight. Mir was standing at range and picking him apart the whole time. He sure as hell wasn’t blindly moving forward just swinging wildly. The wild swinging is a problem I think a lot of MMA fighters have. Even the ones considered “good” strikers. They tend to not keep their elbows tucked and seem to punch at their targets instead of through them. While it’s true that you have to be aware of takedowns and kicks. It’s also pretty clear when a guy is standing with you, it essentially becomes a boxing match. This is where proper punching technique comes in. A good example is Rampage’s knockout of Wanderlei Silva. I believe Goldie or Rogan made a comment about him working with Ricky Hatton’s coach while at the Wolf’s Lair. If you watch Rampage land the knockout blow, you will see it is a perfectly thrown punch. Elbow tucked, full weight behind. A perfect hook. I think you will see a lot more MMA fighters enlisting the help of pure boxing coaches. I think this is great and we will see strking (punching) that is a lot more clean and closer to form.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: b

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:06:47 +0000

Tim thought his standup was a lot more technical the Fedors and look how that turned out.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: ctownhood

ctownhood — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:00:30 +0000

Fedor’s standup is not flawless by any means..but it is effective. And even if Arlovski’s hands are better….Fedor is better in every other department.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: neijia

neijia — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:59:12 +0000

Did you guys watch the same Mir/Nog fight I did? Mir’s striking was stunningly spectacular. I don’t recall the last time I saw such great kickboxing in mma, especially in HW, and especially when thinking of a particular fighter as primarily a grappler. Sam did a great writeup here on this site: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2008/12/28/the-biggest-star-to-emerge-out-of-ufc-92-try-frank-mirs-striking-coach/, but I disagree that Mir didn’t look like K-1 caliber. I thought he looked that good if not better.

If you can find a video, look at the .2 sec gap between his hi/lo and lo/hi combos. Also look at his leading uppercut that seemed to land at will. His game plan to continually knock down Nog but not engage on the ground was great. I think that night’s Mir could give even Fedor a hard time. Arlovski’s past boxing since he toned down the wild approach just looks boring and unpredictable, probably easy for Fedor to pick apart, even if Fedor’s style is supposedly not “technical” from a pure boxing pov.

Arlovski is actually a champion Sambo grappler as well. I just can’t see him in quite the same league as Fedor. On the ground, the psychological component is probably there. He may think “Fedor is an even better grappler”, so the better holes to look at are striking holes since anyone can “get caught”. Unless Arlovski is retooled as dramatically as Mir (who retooled with KICKboxing, not just boxing), though, he’ll have a hard time finding these supposed boxing deficiencies. Still, I can’t wait to see this fight.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Tyler

Tyler — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:48:15 +0000

LOL “truth” I don’t think Arlovski will be striking like Mir now. Which was run straight ahead full speed while punching. The people who think Mir was striking excellent vs. Nog are crazy. Nogueira has just fallen far from the stud he was three or four years ago.

Like or Dislike: 0 0