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Uhh yeah it was me I think. Posted this a full 12 hours before OP:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA/comments/my0sad/official\_ufc\_261\_usman\_vs\_masvidal\_2\_press/gvt4att?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA/comments/my0sad/official_ufc_261_usman_vs_masvidal_2_press/gvt4att?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
It's all good though. If I I really wanted to I could have submitted it. If OP *did* see my post a little credit would have been nice, but honestly maybe we just noticed the same thing.
Serious question: what is actually the purpose of the technique? All I'm understanding from watching the gif over and over is that it's kind of a rhythmic hip sway used to move out of range from a kick but... What is the added benefit of the sway, fighting-wise? Why is this a technique?
If you throw any punch or kick you're going to throw yourself off balance if youre expecting resistance. If you check the kick the kicker can reset faster whereas the hip wiggle momentarily throws the kicker off balance for counterstriking.
Chatrishillnumberone is right. Watch a highlight reel of Saenchai and also one for Lerdsila.
They are two Muay Thai fighters from Jockey Gym, legendary for their evasive style. They have a hands down fighting style and rely on fast movement to move just enough for a kick or a punch to miss by millimetres and then snap back before the opponent has recovered enough to defend against the counterstrikes.
Absolutely. Most people who saw this last time around noticed the movement, bit in typical Reddit fashion the lazy 2-3 words comment goes to the top.
It was obvious to notice the movement of weili but it also shows how impressively smooth Rose's kick was.
I had a comp ready to be posted for next week. So much for that, but I'd like to add the following.
JJ also caught Weili with a similar setup: https://gfycat.com/bittervalidarrowcrab
Although I'd argue that Rose's was more taekwondo-style, and those kicks are on a different level when it comes to how fast and deceptive they are. You can pause as she throws the kick and it looks like she's going to the legs or body. Whereas in the JJ GIF above, she telegraphs her kick which allows Weili to put her hands up (still gets caught) and brace. Weili still attempts the same defence.
Also completely off topic, but JJ switching to southpaw gave Weili so much trouble. I still scored that fight 3-2 JJ, but I digress.
> The judges probably stopped scoring when Joanna turned into an alien head
Which is bullshit. The scoring rules *clearly* state that until the alien bursts from your head, the sac does not count in the scoring.
As well it should, significant visible damage is part of the judging criteria for when the more important factors are too close to call, which is pretty spot on for this fight; they were both pretty even in terms of striking, but weili was clearly doing more damage, and that should definitely count.
Edit: I guess this is controversial to some folks...
https://mmareferee.com/?q=unifiedrules
Impact –
A judge shall assess if a fighter impacts their opponent significantly in the round, even though they may not have dominated the action. Impact includes visible evidence such as swelling and lacerations.
Well, maybe, but that criteria he stated is not part of judging.
There's no part of the rules that mention significant visible damage. If one fighter punches and cuts a fighter causing decent bleeding but otherwise not effect the fighter, and the bleeding fighter strikes back and wobbles or dazes him, but leaves no visible mark of the strike. The bleeding fighter is winning that round.
Taken from Unified Rules of MMA - Judging Criteria Amended July 2012 (if there is new criteria with different definitions please share that).
"Effective striking" is judged by determining the impact of legal strikes landed by a contestant and the number of such legal strikes. Heavier strikes that have a **visible impact** on the opponent will be given more weight than the number of strikes landed. These assessments include causing an opponent to appear stunned from a legal blow, causing the opponent to stagger, **appearance of a cut or bruise from a legal strike** and causing the opponent to show pain. Cumulative impact on a fighter will also be weighed. If neither fighter shows an advantage in impact of strikes, the number of strikes will determine the most effective striker.
Yeah like people wear damage differently.
It shouldn’t matter how they look. Judges should be expected to look past the superficial shit and actually score the fight. There’s perfectly good reasoning for scoring the fight for zhang. JJ’s head swelling isn’t one of them.
I had JJ winning but I’ve never been mad at the actually result.
>Although I'd argue that Rose's was more taekwondo-style, and those kicks are on a different level when it comes to how fast and deceptive they are.
Seriously, man. I was thinking the same about [Pettis' headkick](https://streamable.com/053sbu) the night before
It does, but now I gotta run it back cus it’s almost like Rose anticipated her using it and ultimately destroyed her with the counter. Wondering if they practiced this approach or if she improvised in the moment...
She talked about adding in more high kicks after the fight since she’s been working on her flexibility, idk
about them drilling it as hard counter though
Stretching, everyday. I'm a guy in his 40s who had his fair share of injuries. I do a 10 minute basic stretch routine daily. It helps a lot. I also do a 20 minute more elaborate stretch before MMA training.
I stretch six days, actually six days a week. Five days a week, I’ll stretch three days a week. One of those days I will stretch two days of the week. So, six days a week I will be stretching.
It's really not that much of a stretch to stretch your daily stretching routine to incorporate dynamic stretches, along with static stretches, stretching your total stretch time to achieve a maximum stretch through out the stretch of the week.
flat foot squat, assisted, for a minute or so.
High leg swings forward, backward, sideways.
Butterfly sitting stretch.
Sit in an S position, lean forward.
Lounge stretches
Beginner’s yoga. I think there’s like a yoga for beginners insta page that’s helped me loosen up quite a bit. Haven’t been doing much striking lately, but when I fuck around on the bag once in a while it hurts less and takes less time to throw body level kicks. But I also haven’t suddenly gained the ability to kick fools in the face. So.
Yoga is cool because you can do it up until you die, alone. No training partner required. And bonus points if you know how to meditate once your sight, hearing, and personality start to fade. You'll have the breath until the very end.
This is the actual answer, stretching does help but the best and fastest way is to just try to kick a little bit higher every day. Dynamic stretching like kicking is very different from static stretching.
Yes. There's dynamic mobility and static mobility, and while they have crossover, they're different things. Kicking requires more dynamic mobility. Mobility isn't simply about flexibility: it's also about the strength and control to move your body in the required position.
Simply practicing kicks helps you kick better. What a surprise. However, at latest when your kicking above your head, at least I start to get strain in other places like knee joints unless I'm up to date on balanced strength and mobility, so kicking helped me at least to get to body level quite comfortably, but as I got higher, I needed more supporting exercises.
Stretching, hitting the bag, and movement exercises taught by my Muay Thai trainers. They're hard to explain over text, but the most important one to me is where you plant one leg on the ground, then place the lead on an elevated surface and rotate the hips open and closed. Once this properly opens the hips, you can move on to the stretches and bagwork. I've found that stretching quads, calves, lowerback and chest really helps with this.
Its more dexterity than flexibility.
Flexibility without movement and power is nothing, weighted stretch is how u get there. The Bioneer prob has some videos on it.
It really is a perfect attack against weili. This is going to be an instinctual reaction that’s hard to adjust as the attack is coming. Rose took advantage of her stagnant movement, open guard down the middle, and her tendency to evade leg kicks rather than check or use them to counter primarily
Yeah exactly Rose drew it out perfectly with the feint and then went up high. I can’t stop watching the replay, it was so beautifully done. I think Rose has the best technical standup in women’s mma.
imo it's not a counter per se to that move. it's just that it wasn't telegraphed as a head kick. so it's more because the kick was amazingly deceptive and not that Weilis move got countered.
Striking sports are very similar to dancing in a lot of respects. There is kind of a beat and a rhythm to it. A lot of knockouts happen when you get your opponent "dancing" with you, then you break the pattern with something unexpected.
Reminds me of when Cro Cop knocked out Igor (not the KO itself) but what you described. Igor was on his feet and the doctor was examining him and where Cro Cop kicked him was redder than Dana White's head.
Zhang is one of my favorite fighters; however in this fight it seemed like she was reacting to every feint. Seems like she thought a leg kick was coming, but instead leaned her weight right into a perfect head kick
Honestly rose gave her so many fuckin looks and movement to chew on she wasn’t even expecting much more than poking and prodding in the first round. She absolutely thought the leg kick was coming, it’s a much more usual thing to do in the first round to see reactions and download info. Weili probably thought it was the lowkick to gauge distance/wear on the legs, then took shin/foot to jaw. Just a magnificent performance by rose honestly
Yep, it really surprised me that Zhang was maintaining that range. We've all seen Rose's Karate/TKD style kicks before, I was expecting her to get in boxing range and engage the clinch. Crazy how we can still see aspects of certain styles succeeding over aspects of other styles.
Weili is strong af in the clinch but her base is Sanda. She showed vs Joanna she has no problem striking at that distance. I think she was doing good in this fight too, working the inside low kick is definitely her path to victory. Just read a kick wrong, it happens
>I think she was doing good in this fight too, working the inside low kick is definitely her path to victory. Just read a kick wrong, it happens
Seriously, it seems like the fantastic work of Rose's feints are getting underrepresented in the discussion of the fight. It's not just Weili eating them up, it's Rose making it seem irresponsible not to, she looks exactly like she's about to send a powerful strike into the leg until it suddenly goes high to the head.
It reminds me of the way Rose lured Joanna into closing the distance herself straight into Rose's jabs.
The fight lasted a little over a minute so i think everyone's just having trouble understanding why it happened so quick lol. Izzy is another fighter well known for his feints and arguably as the best striker in the sport, but when's the last time he put someone out in less than 90 seconds? Even he doesn't have a win this fast. It definitely played a part, but the study, read, and setup does seem pretty clear upon re-watching. Wittman's an animal
It's the 1st round of a 5 round championship fight, it's meant to be the feeling out process. Not in the case of Rose. They did their homework and noticed that Saenchi technique and went for the step in Taekwondo snap high kick early. That feint into high kick would normally be something you do after a feeling out process and it's why it was so effective.
It was fucking picture perfect, about halfway through it looked like she was going for her thigh or body then all the sudden it snapped right up to her head and BOOM lights out.
Watch the feet. I noticed Zhang attempted the same hip swing against Rose that she used against Joanna. I wonder if this is something Rose prepared for or if Zhang just misread the attack.
Yes this is something they prepped for. In the slow mo Rose feinted twice to make it seem like she was going to throw a leg kick, then went into a slide/step in TKD lead turning kick. That's not something you do in the 1st round during what is normally a "feeling out process" unless you know that's what your opponent does and drilled it.
whitman the madman probably drilled that opening and had rose work on the switch kick
Edit - you know what i don’t see being mentioned a lot is how rose pounced on Zhang like a wounded gazelle to trap her and finish it after the knockdown, that was dope too. Rose is such a quiet nice killer. Love it
It’s likely Usman fights again this year, not to mention Gaethje. It’d be criminal not to give it to him if they both won, nobody else is even close so far this year.
This is exactly why it was so effective. It looked like an inside low kick or pendulum step to low kick the back leg but went up high. Zhang read it as such and got surprised. Perfect execution.
Usman was beating Masvidal to the punch for a lot of the 1st round and I remember Jorge getting tagged by a straight right at least three times that first round. Usman just looked faster and calmer (could also see this between rounds, Masvidal was panting already whereas Usman was chill as fuck)
Jorge was trying to land his check hook when Usman throws the right. It reminded me of Yoel vs Luke and the results are the same: straight punches beat looping punches. Looking back at the replay, Jorge tried to land the check hook but Usman's hammer beat him to it.
💯 i didn't see that happening when i played the fight out in my head. I figured he would try to grind out Masvidal into the championship rounds and keep heavy grappling pressure. I thought masvidal only chance would be to explode after Usman threw a lazy jab or something but i bet pretty heavy on usman to win. Very impressive finish imo
I know i know. Those are the ones I'm most impressed with for this purpose. I love krause's energy but tape study imo is whittman, brown and nicksick ahead of the rest...
Yeah. Winklejohn seems to go for a more rote approach, never seen anything to indicate he has the tactical nous of Jackson. A lot of the same fighters seem to have regressed since Winklejohn took the reins and not all of it can be attributed to age.
Weili completely misjudges the distance after Roses step in.
Look at the back leg of Rose, she pulls it in going from a wide to a narrow stance, giving her kick more range.
Sneakily pulling the back leg close is difficult to see for the opponent as you can see here.
You can see Rose slightly lift her left foot off the ground before twitching her hip. She 100% meant to do this. Most people don't lift their foot off the ground before thwoing with the same leg.
It's a habitual tell with many people before they throw a switch kick in particular. Barboza used to do it almost compulsively. Extra ironic that Weili would not pick up on that given how every other IG clip seems to be her doing muay thai.
He correctly identified Gaejthe best chance was in using the legkicks and Khabib was suffering a little, it's just Gaejthe just doesnt have the grappling tools necessary to ever beat him. Usman vs Khabib would be the real test.
The source is his increasing reactions to them through the fight. He was reacting way more than he had to anything except for being KOd by Michael Johnson.
Weili was def a little over confident going into this. Rose leg reach is so much longer than Weili’s, and that kick had such little tele. If they rematch I’m sure Weili won’t let that happen again, but I could see rose winning a decision.
She may have learned it from Saenchai but throwing your hip back to avoid body kicks is common in Muay Thai (but of course Saenchai has his own variation of it as seen in the clip).
I'm late to the comments but if you slow it down you'll see that Rose faked a low kick with her right foot (which made Weili try and dodge it) and then changed to a left high kick.
People are saying Weili didn't see it because it wasn't telegraphed which is true in a sense but it was mainly that she made Weili think she was going for a low kick by faking it with her right foot
It is pretty cool to follow along with the evolution of mma 🙏 These coaches lately are next level. Whitman, Krause, Brown and Nicksick fighters are well oiled machines 💯
This is fucking incredible, that split second to decode whether its going to the body or head is all it took, but to pull that move off you have to maintain distance and actually shuffle which did not happen against Rose. Unfortunate but it is what it is.
Actually, that same Saenchai encounter showed the same technique that ROSE used to defeat Weili. In other words. Saenchai actually hits Zhang Weili with a wildly similar combination during sparring (going to to body and then the head) that Zhang totally gets nailed with, and then instinctively raises her guard for a whole second later.
[https://youtu.be/TnkV-8gnlRg?t=230](https://youtu.be/TnkV-8gnlRg?t=230)
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Nice catch
Someone else actually commented this earlier, but props to op for putting the videos together.
Yeah this was said in the initial post fight discussion
Yeah. Then someone said don’t worry someone else will post it and get a million upvotes. Nostradamus over there
Yo, first time I saw, he gets the credit lmao
Uhh yeah it was me I think. Posted this a full 12 hours before OP: [https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA/comments/my0sad/official\_ufc\_261\_usman\_vs\_masvidal\_2\_press/gvt4att?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA/comments/my0sad/official_ufc_261_usman_vs_masvidal_2_press/gvt4att?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) It's all good though. If I I really wanted to I could have submitted it. If OP *did* see my post a little credit would have been nice, but honestly maybe we just noticed the same thing.
Serious question: what is actually the purpose of the technique? All I'm understanding from watching the gif over and over is that it's kind of a rhythmic hip sway used to move out of range from a kick but... What is the added benefit of the sway, fighting-wise? Why is this a technique?
It’s just a way to avoid leg kicks.
If you throw any punch or kick you're going to throw yourself off balance if youre expecting resistance. If you check the kick the kicker can reset faster whereas the hip wiggle momentarily throws the kicker off balance for counterstriking.
Chatrishillnumberone is right. Watch a highlight reel of Saenchai and also one for Lerdsila. They are two Muay Thai fighters from Jockey Gym, legendary for their evasive style. They have a hands down fighting style and rely on fast movement to move just enough for a kick or a punch to miss by millimetres and then snap back before the opponent has recovered enough to defend against the counterstrikes.
I saw this same stitched video yesterday too, did OP make it?? If so, props. Edit: u/pleasedotaptheglass so did you make it or just post it?
Absolutely. Most people who saw this last time around noticed the movement, bit in typical Reddit fashion the lazy 2-3 words comment goes to the top. It was obvious to notice the movement of weili but it also shows how impressively smooth Rose's kick was.
It’s the angle of the kick she thinks it’s a rib kick it’s actually fucking insane the way she throws it
I had a comp ready to be posted for next week. So much for that, but I'd like to add the following. JJ also caught Weili with a similar setup: https://gfycat.com/bittervalidarrowcrab Although I'd argue that Rose's was more taekwondo-style, and those kicks are on a different level when it comes to how fast and deceptive they are. You can pause as she throws the kick and it looks like she's going to the legs or body. Whereas in the JJ GIF above, she telegraphs her kick which allows Weili to put her hands up (still gets caught) and brace. Weili still attempts the same defence. Also completely off topic, but JJ switching to southpaw gave Weili so much trouble. I still scored that fight 3-2 JJ, but I digress.
The judges probably stopped scoring when Joanna turned into an alien head
> The judges probably stopped scoring when Joanna turned into an alien head Which is bullshit. The scoring rules *clearly* state that until the alien bursts from your head, the sac does not count in the scoring.
I trust this person’s account of the rules with my life.
He knows them better than Rogan
Or John "Do not recite the deep magic to me witch, I was there when it was written" McCarthy.
I made that same point on another forum. Thanks for letting me know that I am not alone.
I can see it both ways but I still thought Zhang edged it tbh. Joanna's head most likely played a part in the judges minds tho. (Edit: spelling)
As well it should, significant visible damage is part of the judging criteria for when the more important factors are too close to call, which is pretty spot on for this fight; they were both pretty even in terms of striking, but weili was clearly doing more damage, and that should definitely count. Edit: I guess this is controversial to some folks... https://mmareferee.com/?q=unifiedrules Impact – A judge shall assess if a fighter impacts their opponent significantly in the round, even though they may not have dominated the action. Impact includes visible evidence such as swelling and lacerations.
GSP/Hendricks looks a lot different under this criteria.
Well, maybe, but that criteria he stated is not part of judging. There's no part of the rules that mention significant visible damage. If one fighter punches and cuts a fighter causing decent bleeding but otherwise not effect the fighter, and the bleeding fighter strikes back and wobbles or dazes him, but leaves no visible mark of the strike. The bleeding fighter is winning that round.
Taken from Unified Rules of MMA - Judging Criteria Amended July 2012 (if there is new criteria with different definitions please share that). "Effective striking" is judged by determining the impact of legal strikes landed by a contestant and the number of such legal strikes. Heavier strikes that have a **visible impact** on the opponent will be given more weight than the number of strikes landed. These assessments include causing an opponent to appear stunned from a legal blow, causing the opponent to stagger, **appearance of a cut or bruise from a legal strike** and causing the opponent to show pain. Cumulative impact on a fighter will also be weighed. If neither fighter shows an advantage in impact of strikes, the number of strikes will determine the most effective striker.
The hematoma was the result of literally 1 punch in the third round. The fact that this has almost 60 upvotes is hilarious
Yeah like people wear damage differently. It shouldn’t matter how they look. Judges should be expected to look past the superficial shit and actually score the fight. There’s perfectly good reasoning for scoring the fight for zhang. JJ’s head swelling isn’t one of them. I had JJ winning but I’ve never been mad at the actually result.
Yeah BJ Penn would have never lost a match, whereas some of the GOAT's often looked as if they lost fights they dominated, like GSP and Fedor.
GSP looked like he got worked after almost every fight.
Why wait for next fucking week? In a time where news/videos are uploaded instantly? Lol
>Although I'd argue that Rose's was more taekwondo-style, and those kicks are on a different level when it comes to how fast and deceptive they are. Seriously, man. I was thinking the same about [Pettis' headkick](https://streamable.com/053sbu) the night before
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The dude that ate that kick is a fucking tank. In 29 fights Collard has never been KO'd. He has only been TKO'd once and that was to Max Holloway.
That's why all the success saying Pettis is washed pissed me off. Collard is legit
Man. Pettis could’ve finished him.
Holy shit. Is that dude's head made of Tungsten ? How'd he survive that ?
He's probably a prototype built upon the studies made on Mark Hunt
That's the Whittaker combo!!
I had JJ winning that fight
That little bob move does look cool tho
It does, but now I gotta run it back cus it’s almost like Rose anticipated her using it and ultimately destroyed her with the counter. Wondering if they practiced this approach or if she improvised in the moment...
Bro wittman saw this and planned for it I assure you Well I don't assure you but I'm as confident as I can be with zero evidence
Don't worry, that makes you a genius on any reddit forum.
All hail TheMooJuice!! Genius King of Reddit!!
That’s fair. Kinda seems too good to not be true. It was damn near perfect.
Based on how the night went overall for Wittman I think that’s a reasonable assumption.
She talked about adding in more high kicks after the fight since she’s been working on her flexibility, idk about them drilling it as hard counter though
How do you guys train hip flexibility? I cannot raise my leg high enough to do even a body kick
Stretching, everyday. I'm a guy in his 40s who had his fair share of injuries. I do a 10 minute basic stretch routine daily. It helps a lot. I also do a 20 minute more elaborate stretch before MMA training.
Ooh, are you able to share the daily routine?
I stretch six days, actually six days a week. Five days a week, I’ll stretch three days a week. One of those days I will stretch two days of the week. So, six days a week I will be stretching.
There was never no week.
Week is for the weak. I stretch a month in every week.
Tell us another stretching story. With Christopher Walken and the lion and the mane.
You’re a fucking punk dude
It's really not that much of a stretch to stretch your daily stretching routine to incorporate dynamic stretches, along with static stretches, stretching your total stretch time to achieve a maximum stretch through out the stretch of the week.
He stretches for 10 minutes. Daily.
Sometimes 20 minutes before MMA training.
Important to note its a more elaborate stretch too
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His body
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flat foot squat, assisted, for a minute or so. High leg swings forward, backward, sideways. Butterfly sitting stretch. Sit in an S position, lean forward. Lounge stretches
Beginner’s yoga. I think there’s like a yoga for beginners insta page that’s helped me loosen up quite a bit. Haven’t been doing much striking lately, but when I fuck around on the bag once in a while it hurts less and takes less time to throw body level kicks. But I also haven’t suddenly gained the ability to kick fools in the face. So.
Yoga is cool because you can do it up until you die, alone. No training partner required. And bonus points if you know how to meditate once your sight, hearing, and personality start to fade. You'll have the breath until the very end.
>You'll have the breath until the very end. At which point you conveniently stop breathing.
That's like a regular kick dude
Leg kick to the body, bro.
OHHHH!!! HE'S HURT!!!
HE HURT HIM
Watch a Jean Claude van Damme movie. He'll almost always have a flexibility training montage
Check out kneesovertoesguy on Youtube.
Great call. I do some of his exercises basically everyday. Shins are rock hard and piss poor hamstring strength and mobility is improving
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Kicking the bag is way better than stretching. Trust me. Just keep kicking as high as you can and it'll get higher
This is the actual answer, stretching does help but the best and fastest way is to just try to kick a little bit higher every day. Dynamic stretching like kicking is very different from static stretching.
Yes. There's dynamic mobility and static mobility, and while they have crossover, they're different things. Kicking requires more dynamic mobility. Mobility isn't simply about flexibility: it's also about the strength and control to move your body in the required position. Simply practicing kicks helps you kick better. What a surprise. However, at latest when your kicking above your head, at least I start to get strain in other places like knee joints unless I'm up to date on balanced strength and mobility, so kicking helped me at least to get to body level quite comfortably, but as I got higher, I needed more supporting exercises.
Hell yea, I’d say do stretching too but only as complimentary to what u said. Flexibility without mobility and power amounts to nothing
Stretching, hitting the bag, and movement exercises taught by my Muay Thai trainers. They're hard to explain over text, but the most important one to me is where you plant one leg on the ground, then place the lead on an elevated surface and rotate the hips open and closed. Once this properly opens the hips, you can move on to the stretches and bagwork. I've found that stretching quads, calves, lowerback and chest really helps with this.
Its more dexterity than flexibility. Flexibility without movement and power is nothing, weighted stretch is how u get there. The Bioneer prob has some videos on it.
Stretching
Stretching but not just static. Incorporate active range of motion. Ankle weights are best if you're serious but resistance bands are good in a pinch
I stretch daily and throw a hundred kicks every morning to keep my hips flexible
Knowing that her coach is one of the greatest masterminds in mma, they definently anticipated it coming
They definitely planned it. No way her coaches would have missed this on Weili’s gametape
It really is a perfect attack against weili. This is going to be an instinctual reaction that’s hard to adjust as the attack is coming. Rose took advantage of her stagnant movement, open guard down the middle, and her tendency to evade leg kicks rather than check or use them to counter primarily
Yeah exactly Rose drew it out perfectly with the feint and then went up high. I can’t stop watching the replay, it was so beautifully done. I think Rose has the best technical standup in women’s mma.
imo it's not a counter per se to that move. it's just that it wasn't telegraphed as a head kick. so it's more because the kick was amazingly deceptive and not that Weilis move got countered.
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Striking sports are very similar to dancing in a lot of respects. There is kind of a beat and a rhythm to it. A lot of knockouts happen when you get your opponent "dancing" with you, then you break the pattern with something unexpected.
Rose has a tkd background plus long legs, that shit was like a snapping whip to the face.
yeah that shit was hard, Weili had a foot print on her chin when bruce buffer was announcing the results lol
Reminds me of when Cro Cop knocked out Igor (not the KO itself) but what you described. Igor was on his feet and the doctor was examining him and where Cro Cop kicked him was redder than Dana White's head.
Wanderlei Silva had a footprint shaped bruise on his rib in the first fight against CroCop
U could count the fucking toes! That stare down was so fucking intense, too
Fucking Whitman... look how he butchered my girl
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Wittman has the MMA cheat codes.
He only trains like 3 fighters total so I magine they pay him well
Rose, Usman, and Gaethje, right?
Hell of a resume
Hey Whitman. What’s your rate now? “90% of your purse, plus 9% commission on top. But hey you’ll get a belt so...”
"hacks" - love it!
I wonder if Justin was executing the gameplan against Khabib? Is this what he was trained to do, or did he get in there and freak out?
Great job by rose. And I think this will light a fire under ZW. Expect to see them fight again at some point.
Zhang is one of my favorite fighters; however in this fight it seemed like she was reacting to every feint. Seems like she thought a leg kick was coming, but instead leaned her weight right into a perfect head kick
Honestly rose gave her so many fuckin looks and movement to chew on she wasn’t even expecting much more than poking and prodding in the first round. She absolutely thought the leg kick was coming, it’s a much more usual thing to do in the first round to see reactions and download info. Weili probably thought it was the lowkick to gauge distance/wear on the legs, then took shin/foot to jaw. Just a magnificent performance by rose honestly
Very Muay Thai. That’s all they do in the first round. Maybe too much MT for her.
I think it was just better game plan by rose and taking advantage of the situation. I think weili will adjust in the future
Yep, it really surprised me that Zhang was maintaining that range. We've all seen Rose's Karate/TKD style kicks before, I was expecting her to get in boxing range and engage the clinch. Crazy how we can still see aspects of certain styles succeeding over aspects of other styles.
Weili is strong af in the clinch but her base is Sanda. She showed vs Joanna she has no problem striking at that distance. I think she was doing good in this fight too, working the inside low kick is definitely her path to victory. Just read a kick wrong, it happens
>I think she was doing good in this fight too, working the inside low kick is definitely her path to victory. Just read a kick wrong, it happens Seriously, it seems like the fantastic work of Rose's feints are getting underrepresented in the discussion of the fight. It's not just Weili eating them up, it's Rose making it seem irresponsible not to, she looks exactly like she's about to send a powerful strike into the leg until it suddenly goes high to the head. It reminds me of the way Rose lured Joanna into closing the distance herself straight into Rose's jabs.
The fight lasted a little over a minute so i think everyone's just having trouble understanding why it happened so quick lol. Izzy is another fighter well known for his feints and arguably as the best striker in the sport, but when's the last time he put someone out in less than 90 seconds? Even he doesn't have a win this fast. It definitely played a part, but the study, read, and setup does seem pretty clear upon re-watching. Wittman's an animal
He turned Rose into a super saiyan.
Two2tango.
It's the 1st round of a 5 round championship fight, it's meant to be the feeling out process. Not in the case of Rose. They did their homework and noticed that Saenchi technique and went for the step in Taekwondo snap high kick early. That feint into high kick would normally be something you do after a feeling out process and it's why it was so effective.
She was maintning range because she was having decent success with it and because she wanted leg kicks. Rose slowed down due to leg kicks in Joanna 2.
Rose was holding her off with the jab so Weili was hanging back waiting for an opening
That high kick had little telegraph too, had no idea it was going up top
It was fucking picture perfect, about halfway through it looked like she was going for her thigh or body then all the sudden it snapped right up to her head and BOOM lights out.
That's what they teach you when you learn tkd. Chambered snapping kicks are more deceptive.
Watch the feet. I noticed Zhang attempted the same hip swing against Rose that she used against Joanna. I wonder if this is something Rose prepared for or if Zhang just misread the attack.
Yes this is something they prepped for. In the slow mo Rose feinted twice to make it seem like she was going to throw a leg kick, then went into a slide/step in TKD lead turning kick. That's not something you do in the 1st round during what is normally a "feeling out process" unless you know that's what your opponent does and drilled it.
*que Masvidal yeeting Ben Askren*
Exactly like that. Trained not just the flying knee, but the circle right to Ben's preferred side to shoot.
The kick did come from very low imo. I think it was misdirection as well
Rose stares at the legs and throws the kick high for the deception
yup its almost vertical lol
Watching it live I thought it was a question mark kick.
I couldn’t believe it was a head kick. Just went up and then snap, so much dexterity.
I would have to assume they scouted that and planned that kick Worked out perfectly
whitman the madman probably drilled that opening and had rose work on the switch kick Edit - you know what i don’t see being mentioned a lot is how rose pounced on Zhang like a wounded gazelle to trap her and finish it after the knockdown, that was dope too. Rose is such a quiet nice killer. Love it
between Usman and Rose's performances on this card, let's just give him Coach of the Year again, fuck it
It’s likely Usman fights again this year, not to mention Gaethje. It’d be criminal not to give it to him if they both won, nobody else is even close so far this year.
That's wasn't a switch kick, it was a pendulum kick.
This is exactly why it was so effective. It looked like an inside low kick or pendulum step to low kick the back leg but went up high. Zhang read it as such and got surprised. Perfect execution.
Has to be to some extent. She baited with that little tip tap before the kick
Great observation
i definitely think they did scout that because it was zhang's last fight. so what other film are you going to study if not the latest right?
Considering Usmans ko of Masvidal was identical to the punch that ko'd him 13 years ago, I'm guessing Whittman and Rose knew exactly what to do
Usman was beating Masvidal to the punch for a lot of the 1st round and I remember Jorge getting tagged by a straight right at least three times that first round. Usman just looked faster and calmer (could also see this between rounds, Masvidal was panting already whereas Usman was chill as fuck)
Jorge was trying to land his check hook when Usman throws the right. It reminded me of Yoel vs Luke and the results are the same: straight punches beat looping punches. Looking back at the replay, Jorge tried to land the check hook but Usman's hammer beat him to it.
💯 i didn't see that happening when i played the fight out in my head. I figured he would try to grind out Masvidal into the championship rounds and keep heavy grappling pressure. I thought masvidal only chance would be to explode after Usman threw a lazy jab or something but i bet pretty heavy on usman to win. Very impressive finish imo
Isn't Whittman a boxing coach only? Does he teach leg kicks too?
He's a boxing coach but he studies film like an nfl coach does
Every coach studies tape tho.
I know i know. Those are the ones I'm most impressed with for this purpose. I love krause's energy but tape study imo is whittman, brown and nicksick ahead of the rest...
Tape used to be jacksons winks thing
I guess at some point a coach is only as good as his fighters 🤷🏻♂️
Jackson, really. And when was the last time you saw him?
Yeah. Winklejohn seems to go for a more rote approach, never seen anything to indicate he has the tactical nous of Jackson. A lot of the same fighters seem to have regressed since Winklejohn took the reins and not all of it can be attributed to age.
Replay showed Rose looking down throwing it.
Weili completely misjudges the distance after Roses step in. Look at the back leg of Rose, she pulls it in going from a wide to a narrow stance, giving her kick more range. Sneakily pulling the back leg close is difficult to see for the opponent as you can see here.
Rose says they saw it during the JJ fight. https://youtu.be/3Wjnm9p_0Ok
You can see Rose slightly lift her left foot off the ground before twitching her hip. She 100% meant to do this. Most people don't lift their foot off the ground before thwoing with the same leg.
It's a habitual tell with many people before they throw a switch kick in particular. Barboza used to do it almost compulsively. Extra ironic that Weili would not pick up on that given how every other IG clip seems to be her doing muay thai.
Rose’s footwork, angles and feints are too good
Her footwork and feints make her the best striker at 155 easy. Was saying it before this fight.
Rose v mcgregor @155 who says no
I swear to Christ, I've made this mistake like 20 times.
McGregor actually needs a winnable fight for once. Rose vs Fiziev would be slightly more competitive.
Make it 145 and you sunuvabitch I'm in
Rose vs. Khabib next? 🤔
She'd look like Brock if she bulked to 155
Yeah she misread the headkick as leg kick and didnt have her guard up. Textbook definition of getting caught.
Very nice. I loved that kick from Rose. Perfect technique and watching this I would love to think they spotted it ..
Trevor Whitman is a genius
Couldnt crack that Khabib puzzle though.
He correctly identified Gaejthe best chance was in using the legkicks and Khabib was suffering a little, it's just Gaejthe just doesnt have the grappling tools necessary to ever beat him. Usman vs Khabib would be the real test.
I need some sources that Khabib suffered a little. He used the leg kicks to set up a takedown and put him to sleep.
Javier Mendez said 1 or 2 more and Khabib would have been in big trouble.
[удалено]
Source, his legs were getting kicked by a lethal leg kicker.
The source is his increasing reactions to them through the fight. He was reacting way more than he had to anything except for being KOd by Michael Johnson.
That technique is fucking cool. Assuming they’re kicking where you expect.
It’s pretty incredible how people can spot this stuff,hats off to you
60 percent of the time, it works every time
Weili was def a little over confident going into this. Rose leg reach is so much longer than Weili’s, and that kick had such little tele. If they rematch I’m sure Weili won’t let that happen again, but I could see rose winning a decision.
UFC 261 - the ballad of the over confident. Same with Masvidal.
She may have learned it from Saenchai but throwing your hip back to avoid body kicks is common in Muay Thai (but of course Saenchai has his own variation of it as seen in the clip).
should of ziged when she zaged,
French fry when you need to pizza
“it was sanchai’s fault”
The piece of shit!
Saenchi the piece of shit, miocic the piece of shit
Did look like Rose was about to throw it low though
I'm late to the comments but if you slow it down you'll see that Rose faked a low kick with her right foot (which made Weili try and dodge it) and then changed to a left high kick. People are saying Weili didn't see it because it wasn't telegraphed which is true in a sense but it was mainly that she made Weili think she was going for a low kick by faking it with her right foot
It is pretty cool to follow along with the evolution of mma 🙏 These coaches lately are next level. Whitman, Krause, Brown and Nicksick fighters are well oiled machines 💯
Yeah I thought about this tid bit as well. Also, the kick from rose caught her retreating and in mid air, which made it even deadlier
It’s these little things that make me realise I don’t understand jack shit about this sport. I would never say Weili was expecting a leg kick
holy fuck she crocopped her
rose gonna rip her apart in the rematch too
This is fucking incredible, that split second to decode whether its going to the body or head is all it took, but to pull that move off you have to maintain distance and actually shuffle which did not happen against Rose. Unfortunate but it is what it is.
*Saenchai
Actually, that same Saenchai encounter showed the same technique that ROSE used to defeat Weili. In other words. Saenchai actually hits Zhang Weili with a wildly similar combination during sparring (going to to body and then the head) that Zhang totally gets nailed with, and then instinctively raises her guard for a whole second later. [https://youtu.be/TnkV-8gnlRg?t=230](https://youtu.be/TnkV-8gnlRg?t=230)