Side lines

Watching a fight is always easier than actually fighting. But recently, one of the best fighting minds seemed to be lacking ideas in a UFC main event.

Daniel Cormier fought Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title. It will also the third time they were sharing the octagon. In their first encounter, DC knocked out Miocic in the first round. The second fight went differently with Miocic scoring a knockout in the fourth round. The trilogy was concluded with a unanimous decision in favour of Stipe Miocic. The third fight, however, was disappointing. People asked me who I thought wound win. I said repeatedly that if DC wrestles, he wins, but if it stays standing standing Miocic gets the win. This is based on DC’s wrestling pedigree; DC was at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics for wrestling. Then this is where it gets frustrating…

DC is one of the best fight analysts in the sport – he breaks down fighters and fight plans better than almost anyone else. During commentary, DC has some great insights into what fighters are trying to do or what they should do. However, it seemed this fight IQ eluded him in his UFC heavyweight title fight. This may have happened in part due to the first two fights. In the first fight DC noticed that Miocic left an opening after a clinch and he took advantage of that by clinching, breaking away, and landing a perfect right hook to get the knockout. In the second fight DC was doing well on his feet but Miocic adjusted nicely and started throwing body shots which caused DC to drop his hands allowing Miocic to eventually get to the head and finish the fight. Out of the three fights there has been very little wrestling. DC got success with takedowns but seemed to put them on the shelf.

In the most recent fight, DC went for one takedown and got success with it. Stipe, though, managed to get back to his feet within 30 seconds. Then he went for the clinch like in the first fight and had some success with the right hand. Miocic adjusted and in these clinch exchanges grabbed DC’s right wrist stopping the punch on the break. Then it seemed that DC ran out of ideas. He would do a head lock and get an arm around the back of Miocic’s neck. Then walking him to the cage, but he did nothing with this. From my wrestling knowledge a head lock is not a good idea, if you head lock a good wrestler you will be purchasing a free ticket to slam city. The thing that makes DC’s striking effective (from his previous fights) is based on the threat of the takedown. This is because he when he started off as a heavyweight, wrestling was the key to his victories. He would punch, get to a high-crotch takedown slam and them, usually getting the win through control or submission. Against Miocic, though, DC just stopped wrestling. Which, to me, is crazy. If he was commentating on that fight, he would be calling for the takedown. Even if he didn’t get the takedown it puts uncertainty in the mind of the opponent which creates openings.

Credit has to go to Miocic, though, as he is the most successful heavyweight in UFC history, based on title defences. Miocic does things to make DC’s life as difficult as possible but at the end of the day with the exception of the fight against Ngannou, Miocic keeps fights standing. This means that DC knew that is where Miocic is happiest and wants to keep the fight standing. You would think that DC would think to get Miocic out his comfort zone and take him down. For DC, taking Miocic down is the smart fight. There are two main reasons for this: 1) DC is an Olympic level Wrestler. 2) When you stand against any heavyweight in the UFC, you are one punch away from being knocked out. Miocic is not a submission fighter and would struggle on his back, the worst place for any MMA fighter.

This means that DC could make Miocic think a lot more. His thought processes would be caught between DC going for the punch or going for the takedown. This opens up the striking, which in turn, opens up the takedown. If DC got Miocic down he could wear him down which plays a role in slowing down his striking. The way I see it, there is no real downside to DC going for the takedowns. I am sure when he watches the replay, he will be very disappointed in himself for being rather one dimensional in his fight.

For someone who has a great fight brain and is one of the most successful fighters in UFC history, he came up short big time on the biggest stage. This was DC’s last fight win lose or draw. With age comes experience and it seems that DC forgot the formula that got him most of his wins. Yes, he has had some knockouts – 10 knockouts out of his 22 wins in fact. But these have been set up with the threat of his wrestling. I firmly believe that if DC reminded Miocic to respect his wrestling (with takedowns) then the fight would have gone the other way.

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor