Werdum vs. Browne: A Lesson in Mind Games
Fightland Blog
By Jack Slack
Fabricio Werdum versus Travis Browne
I'll say it right now. Fabricio Werdum might just be the savviest MMA heavyweight I've ever seen. For five rounds he battered Travis Browne from pillar to post, and kept finding new ways to do it. He's a decent sport—he'll shake his opponent's hand after staredowns and weigh in—but he'll get inside their head better than anyone who goes in for all the pushing matches and forehead to forehead staredown nonsense.
Whether it was the pointing at the floor or his opponent, the kip up from the mat, the inviting his opponent to get in his guard, or shouting “ten seconds” and throwing his hands out as he heard the hammer in the third round, before flurrying on a confused looking Browne for those remaining seconds. Werdum gets under his opponents' skin and makes them unsure of just what to do with him.
The first thing to note is that Fabricio Werdum has a cast iron chin. He did a great job of overwhelming Browne for the most part, but he took some heavy shots on route. In the first he ate a flush right hand, tried to take Browne down and got shucked off. Checking his face for blood (a nice way to tell someone was clipped harder than they're letting on) Werdum ducked as Browne came in on him and flopped into deep half guard.
In perfect Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira fashion (and this is something Nogueira did to a young Werdum years ago), Werdum popped out the back door and came up to take Browne down. Browne survived admirably from the bottom, got wrist control, turned away and stood up. As much as we're going to praise Werdum's striking, Browne at all points was able to survive on the ground against Werdum, both of these men seem a tremendous leap from the model of the standard, one dimensional heavyweight.
Unlocking Muay Thai
Something which is abundantly clear in Fabricio Werdum is that the potential of the Muay Thai / kickboxing game on the feet has been blown open by his incredible skill and confidence on the ground. He doesn't need to worry about when to kick and when not to, and that is incredibly enviable.
The secret to Werdum's performance throughout the fight was that everything came off of the 1-2. Just as Cain Velasquez will throw a jab, an overhand and duck into anything that he is doing, Werdum's 1-2 leads the way and he builds off of it.
When Browne defended or covered up, but kept his elbows good and low to protect his body, Werdum would clamp his arms on a double collar tie around Browne's guard.
Essentially this gave Browne inside position on the clinch, but it allowed Werdum to land his knees to the body and attempt them to the face even of a 6'7 opponent. You can keep the opponent from doing much if you pinch your elbows together around their arms when they keep their elbows in. Then Werdum would break and flurry with punches.
When Browne was aware of the clinch and began trying to bring his hands up to deal with it, Werdum would throw his punches, and then kick the body. Body kicks are so tremendously under-rated in mixed martial arts. It's hard to blame Browne for gassing so hard when you count the number of strikes to the midsection he absorbed while his hands were elsewhere. I was completely unsurprised when I heard the news today that Browne sustained a broken rib in the bout.
And Werdum could do that because he was totally unafraid of the takedown. Or at least, that is the image that he portrayed. Who knows if it is mind games? We saw Alistair Overeem easily hold Werdum flat in the guard when he finally obliged the Brazilian on the ground. No-one knows how much of Werdum's game is mind games and how much is confidence. But he was able to stand on one leg, in an incredibly precarious position, and look into Browne's eyes as if to say “what do you plan to do with that?” And it worked! Browne dropped the leg and gave up a free punt at Werdum's standing leg.
While Werdum's overall performance was stellar, the kidology was by far the most entertaining and enlightening aspect. When Browne clipped Werdum with a high kick (as he did a couple of times throughout the fight), Werdum would drop his hands and play that it was daft to attempt it, and Browne wouldn't try again!
But when Browne ate a body kick and played it off, Werdum immediately went back to the body.
It was like watching someone playing a game with their younger brother, and not quite explaining all the rules properly until he exploited them. Nowhere were the mind games more obvious than in Werdum's now infamous kip up.
A kip up is something you will have seen in kung fu flicks, and at one point in time (around the time of the ninja craze, and before we all knew about the beautifully versatile technical stand up) was considered as a real way to get up in fights. It's energy consuming, it's not combat effective, and Werdum did it entirely to dishearten Browne further, then he ran in with his hands, Browne covered up, and Werdum landed two more free body kicks for his efforts.
There are still holes in Werdum's striking. He leaves openings as he charges in behind his 1-2, with both hands away from his face, and a guy with a solid counter left hook (Junior dos Santos or Mark Hunt) could leave him cold on the mat for doing that, but he rarely went in so aggressively before he clearly had Browne tired. It would be fascinating to see the rematch with Dos Santos now that Dos Santos isn't just an unknown whom Werdum wants to test his herky jerky striking on.
Simply put, the fight between Travis Browne and Fabricio Werdum was a lesson in mind games, and how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu mastery opens up the striking game. I have no idea how Werdum will fair against Cain Velasquez, or how much cause Velasquez has to fear Werdum's guard, or how well Velasquez's incredible cardio holds up under someone who will strike the body and legs repeatedly, but I do know that it has all the potential to be an incredible match up, and that Werdum seems to genuinely be growing even in lengthy lay offs.
http://ift.tt/1eVWVf1
Fightland Blog
By Jack Slack
Fabricio Werdum versus Travis Browne
I'll say it right now. Fabricio Werdum might just be the savviest MMA heavyweight I've ever seen. For five rounds he battered Travis Browne from pillar to post, and kept finding new ways to do it. He's a decent sport—he'll shake his opponent's hand after staredowns and weigh in—but he'll get inside their head better than anyone who goes in for all the pushing matches and forehead to forehead staredown nonsense.
Whether it was the pointing at the floor or his opponent, the kip up from the mat, the inviting his opponent to get in his guard, or shouting “ten seconds” and throwing his hands out as he heard the hammer in the third round, before flurrying on a confused looking Browne for those remaining seconds. Werdum gets under his opponents' skin and makes them unsure of just what to do with him.
The first thing to note is that Fabricio Werdum has a cast iron chin. He did a great job of overwhelming Browne for the most part, but he took some heavy shots on route. In the first he ate a flush right hand, tried to take Browne down and got shucked off. Checking his face for blood (a nice way to tell someone was clipped harder than they're letting on) Werdum ducked as Browne came in on him and flopped into deep half guard.
In perfect Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira fashion (and this is something Nogueira did to a young Werdum years ago), Werdum popped out the back door and came up to take Browne down. Browne survived admirably from the bottom, got wrist control, turned away and stood up. As much as we're going to praise Werdum's striking, Browne at all points was able to survive on the ground against Werdum, both of these men seem a tremendous leap from the model of the standard, one dimensional heavyweight.
Unlocking Muay Thai
Something which is abundantly clear in Fabricio Werdum is that the potential of the Muay Thai / kickboxing game on the feet has been blown open by his incredible skill and confidence on the ground. He doesn't need to worry about when to kick and when not to, and that is incredibly enviable.
The secret to Werdum's performance throughout the fight was that everything came off of the 1-2. Just as Cain Velasquez will throw a jab, an overhand and duck into anything that he is doing, Werdum's 1-2 leads the way and he builds off of it.
When Browne defended or covered up, but kept his elbows good and low to protect his body, Werdum would clamp his arms on a double collar tie around Browne's guard.
Essentially this gave Browne inside position on the clinch, but it allowed Werdum to land his knees to the body and attempt them to the face even of a 6'7 opponent. You can keep the opponent from doing much if you pinch your elbows together around their arms when they keep their elbows in. Then Werdum would break and flurry with punches.
When Browne was aware of the clinch and began trying to bring his hands up to deal with it, Werdum would throw his punches, and then kick the body. Body kicks are so tremendously under-rated in mixed martial arts. It's hard to blame Browne for gassing so hard when you count the number of strikes to the midsection he absorbed while his hands were elsewhere. I was completely unsurprised when I heard the news today that Browne sustained a broken rib in the bout.
And Werdum could do that because he was totally unafraid of the takedown. Or at least, that is the image that he portrayed. Who knows if it is mind games? We saw Alistair Overeem easily hold Werdum flat in the guard when he finally obliged the Brazilian on the ground. No-one knows how much of Werdum's game is mind games and how much is confidence. But he was able to stand on one leg, in an incredibly precarious position, and look into Browne's eyes as if to say “what do you plan to do with that?” And it worked! Browne dropped the leg and gave up a free punt at Werdum's standing leg.
While Werdum's overall performance was stellar, the kidology was by far the most entertaining and enlightening aspect. When Browne clipped Werdum with a high kick (as he did a couple of times throughout the fight), Werdum would drop his hands and play that it was daft to attempt it, and Browne wouldn't try again!
But when Browne ate a body kick and played it off, Werdum immediately went back to the body.
It was like watching someone playing a game with their younger brother, and not quite explaining all the rules properly until he exploited them. Nowhere were the mind games more obvious than in Werdum's now infamous kip up.
A kip up is something you will have seen in kung fu flicks, and at one point in time (around the time of the ninja craze, and before we all knew about the beautifully versatile technical stand up) was considered as a real way to get up in fights. It's energy consuming, it's not combat effective, and Werdum did it entirely to dishearten Browne further, then he ran in with his hands, Browne covered up, and Werdum landed two more free body kicks for his efforts.
There are still holes in Werdum's striking. He leaves openings as he charges in behind his 1-2, with both hands away from his face, and a guy with a solid counter left hook (Junior dos Santos or Mark Hunt) could leave him cold on the mat for doing that, but he rarely went in so aggressively before he clearly had Browne tired. It would be fascinating to see the rematch with Dos Santos now that Dos Santos isn't just an unknown whom Werdum wants to test his herky jerky striking on.
Simply put, the fight between Travis Browne and Fabricio Werdum was a lesson in mind games, and how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu mastery opens up the striking game. I have no idea how Werdum will fair against Cain Velasquez, or how much cause Velasquez has to fear Werdum's guard, or how well Velasquez's incredible cardio holds up under someone who will strike the body and legs repeatedly, but I do know that it has all the potential to be an incredible match up, and that Werdum seems to genuinely be growing even in lengthy lay offs.
http://ift.tt/1eVWVf1
Statistics: Posted by jitsubr — Apr 22. 2014, 19:02 — Replies 1 — Views 8
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