Buentellos says Kongo "not going to want to stand"

LOL Wolfy, yeah that all arm punch, not looking was perfect.

Kongo is going to take Paul down and beat him into submission. I don't see this being close.

LA not understanding the concept of a lead overhand right is a bit shocking to me considering how avid an MMA fan he is. It is an age old boxing techique, though not every boxing trainer even teaches it. It is however one of the more natural punches to throw, especially for shorter fighters like Matt Serra, who throws it almost constanty. You are putting too much into the fact Mir's eyes weren't on Kongo's head the entire punch. Brown used essentially the same shot over Garcia, only looking after he landed, Rashad also looks and moves his body away during the exchange with Liddell. Liddell is famous for this same punch. A good example is the bout against Alistair Overeem. It is one of my most common and favorite punches in my arsenal. It has less risk than other power shots because even if they throw an inside counter your head is probaby out of the way anyway. When Mir saw his stance was how he envisioned it from the tape, he launched a missle and landed it exactly where he had aimed, just like he practiced. All MMA fights require "luck:, that was training and skill as much as anything else.

I think you're taking too much from the fact his eyes weren't locked on Mir every second of the technique. From that range the body movement required makes the lack of eye contact more likely, but less of an issue. It looks nicer when you keep your eyes on your opponent but in that situation, not doing that isn't as dangerous as it is at other times, and doesn't inherently relegate the technique to "hail mary" status.

Quote :

My favorite and one I have seen a lot of boxing KO's from, is basically if you imagine the picture posted above but with the guy on the right much farther to the left. In other words, slip the cross and kind of duck down to your left, under the cross or to the left of it and let your right hand fly as you slip past. Excellent leverage and you've outflanked him.

[quote]In MMA, you see a lot of huge looping punches that could losely be described as overhands, but it looks more like a hail mary style punch (the guy usually ducks his head, looking at the ground and firing the shot like an angry rainbow of death and destruction). It's the methodical skilled strikers, or the ones with freakish attributes that have the killer overhands.[/quote]

Here are some guys who both have trained in it talking about it from a bullshido discussion on the overhand right. Looks like a hail mary, but contains skill. This punch is designed that way LA, and throwing it was part of the game plan.


Bringing this back to the original topic : Mir was able to easily exploit Kongo's defense with a single no look overhand right. This indicates his standup defense has been overrated as I have long thought. Kongo's striking was exposed.

Kongo is a misunderstood fighter. He is physically very strong and athletic, with devastating power and typically has been very durable. It is widely believed he is a horrible wrestler to the point he has almost no skill on the ground at all, but I feel this is a public misconception. Against fighters like Cain his wrestling is a weak point, but against anyone not an elite NCAA wrestler he would probably be very very difficult to take down. ADCC finalist and grappler by trade Mustapha Al Turk had no chance of taking him down. On the flip side, his striking is seldom questioned and taken at face value as the best in the UFC, or world class to the point of being K1 level. I don't think it is close to that crisp defensively. Kongo would get murdered in K1. The reality of his striking is he needed illegal knees to get past a rapidly fading Crocop, and couldn't beat CC with skills from striking range. Technique for technique, Kongo doesn't earn that win, the best on his record.

A prime CC, who was a real K1 level striker, would have destroyed Chieck Kongo and done so brutally.