News Robelis Despaigne vs Waldo Cortes-Acosta set for UFC St. Louis on May 11

[The_Renaissance]

Well, I mean Rob's a Taekwando guy. I didn't really expect him to have good punching technique.

Honestly, his striking was trash. If Waldo can just sit there covered up against the cage, block everything and laugh about it and egg him on, then it's pretty obvious that Rob's striking is pretty useless unless he's fighting absolute bums.

Yeah he got mugged off didn't he, all throughout the fight really. Eye opening performance.

 

[Tweak896]

I don't even know if he looked like a world beater on the feet lol.

He'd only fought cans who had no clue how to strike. Even Waldo isn't some great striker, but after Rob's initial big flurries, even he was laughing at Rob's shit tier punches and calling him on.

Rob not getting subbed doesn't say much. If he was fighting someone who is a good grappler and good at subs, which Waldo is not, he'd have been lucky to get out the first round.

We don't know, he flatlined his first opponent, but it was a great setup for that moment. He looked pretty good on the feet and confident, very not confident on the ground. If Ngannou can learn TDD, so can any big guy. We'll only know when we get to see an opponent who wants to stand with the guy.

 

[Safton]

We don't know, he flatlined his first opponent, but it was a great setup for that moment. He looked pretty good on the feet and confident, very not confident on the ground. If Ngannou can learn TDD, so can any big guy. We'll only know when we get to see an opponent who wants to stand with the guy.

I dunno, different stratospheres IMO. I think people misremember Ngannou being "exposed" by Miocic. Francis had already shown the ability to grapple at at least a fundamental level prior to fighting Stipe. He had stuffed the majority of the takedowns attempted against him in the UFC by the likes of Henrique, Mihajlovic, Hamilton, Overeem, and Blaydes prior to getting to the title fight. He also submitted Hamilton and had a history of taking dudes down on the regional scene and submitting them prior to turning into this ridiculous KO artist. Stipe just put on a really educated and high-level performance against him that others up to that point hadn't been able to match. Yeah, Ngannou's defensive grappling leveled up after the Miocic fight but even before that it wasn't a zero... and he was also in his physical prime at 31 years of age at the time before going on to train at a great gym.

With Despaigne, you're talking about a dude who's about to be 36 and insists on training with Alex fucking Nicholson of all people despite the fact that he's in South Florida, i.e. the Mecca of amazing MMA gyms to choose from. He had never even been given the chance to show off his defensive grappling before and the first time he did? He fell way, way short of the mark. And this wasn't Karl Williams or Valter Walker or Mo Usman or some other person with a reputation for being an oppressive wrestler & top game sort of guy... it was fucking Waldo. And for all people making excuses about how "Acosta is the more seasoned MMA fighter and he was just showing the value of having a well-rounded game and more experience in this sport!" That... doesn't really track. The entire narrative surrounding Acosta ever since he entered the UFC is that he's a one-dimensional boxer who relies overmuch on either flicking his jab or loading up on massive, telegraphed fastball punches. He's never learned how to deal with low kicks, doesn't have a kicking game himself, has gotten outwrestled before, and prior to the Despaigne fight he had never completed a single TD inside the Octagon (attempted only one, mind you). Waldo is fresh off a performance against Arlovski (who belongs in a nursing home at this point), where he looked absolutely awful and every bit the unrefined, raw "prospect" himself.

So to have Despaigne getting exposed by a dude like that... it's not promising for his trajectory if you ask me. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he'll be able to catch and chin a few more guys if he sticks around. Especially if they're strikers. He is fast and hits like a truck. I also wouldn't be surprised if this loss lights a fire under him to channel some of that Olympian athleticism into his endeavors in shoring up his grappling -- especially if he puts in time at ATT or Kill Cliff (where he should already be...) But I just don't see him amounting to much in the long term.

That's fine, though. I only ever wanted fun Prelim bangers out of the guy, lol. Give him Diniz or one of the Tafa brothers next for all I care.

 

[Human Bass]

We don't know, he flatlined his first opponent, but it was a great setup for that moment. He looked pretty good on the feet and confident, very not confident on the ground. If Ngannou can learn TDD, so can any big guy. We'll only know when we get to see an opponent who wants to stand with the guy.

Ngannou always had decent wrestling/grappling. Ask Blaydes

 

[Tweak896]

Ngannou always had decent wrestling/grappling. Ask Blaydes

I need to rewatch his earlier fights, I never really saw his wrestling too much until the Stipe fight. Looking at stats quickly it looks like he was taken down 4x in his fights before Stipe, but looks like there were alot more attempts he defended. Maybe TDD is sort of a skill some people have or don't.

 

[Tweak896]

I dunno, different stratospheres IMO. I think people misremember Ngannou being "exposed" by Miocic. Francis had already shown the ability to grapple at at least a fundamental level prior to fighting Stipe. He had stuffed the majority of the takedowns attempted against him in the UFC by the likes of Henrique, Mihajlovic, Hamilton, Overeem, and Blaydes prior to getting to the title fight. He also submitted Hamilton and had a history of taking dudes down on the regional scene and submitting them prior to turning into this ridiculous KO artist. Stipe just put on a really educated and high-level performance against him that others up to that point hadn't been able to match. Yeah, Ngannou's defensive grappling leveled up after the Miocic fight but even before that it wasn't a zero... and he was also in his physical prime at 31 years of age at the time before going on to train at a great gym.

With Despaigne, you're talking about a dude who's about to be 36 and insists on training with Alex fucking Nicholson of all people despite the fact that he's in South Florida, i.e. the Mecca of amazing MMA gyms to choose from. He had never even been given the chance to show off his defensive grappling before and the first time he did? He fell way, way short of the mark. And this wasn't Karl Williams or Valter Walker or Mo Usman or some other person with a reputation for being an oppressive wrestler & top game sort of guy... it was fucking Waldo. And for all people making excuses about how "Acosta is the more seasoned MMA fighter and he was just showing the value of having a well-rounded game and more experience in this sport!" That... doesn't really track. The entire narrative surrounding Acosta ever since he entered the UFC is that he's a one-dimensional boxer who relies overmuch on either flicking his jab or loading up on massive, telegraphed fastball punches. He's never learned how to deal with low kicks, doesn't have a kicking game himself, has gotten outwrestled before, and prior to the Despaigne fight he had never completed a single TD inside the Octagon (attempted only one, mind you). Waldo is fresh off a performance against Arlovski (who belongs in a nursing home at this point), where he looked absolutely awful and every bit the unrefined, raw "prospect" himself.

So to have Despaigne getting exposed by a dude like that... it's not promising for his trajectory if you ask me. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he'll be able to catch and chin a few more guys if he sticks around. Especially if they're strikers. He is fast and hits like a truck. I also wouldn't be surprised if this loss lights a fire under him to channel some of that Olympian athleticism into his endeavors in shoring up his grappling -- especially if he puts in time at ATT or Kill Cliff (where he should already be...) But I just don't see him amounting to much in the long term.

That's fine, though. I only ever wanted fun Prelim bangers out of the guy, lol. Give him Diniz or one of the Tafa brothers next for all I care.

I definitely overlooked Ngannou's career before Stipe regarding his wrestling. I always thought he was a total noob on the ground considering how new he was to MMA when he joined the UFC.

Maybe you're right about Despaigne, I didn't like how he was essentially a paraplegic the moment he hit the ground. It's one thing to get taken down and another to be held there the whole round. Had no idea about who his coach was but that sounds terrible. I wish guys who are high level strikers would just get stuck in Dagestan gyms or something for a whole year training grappling. It's really unfortunate if we can't even see what this guy can do because every one of his opponents are just going for takedowns. You would just think a former olympian would just be wired different and know exactly how to excel at anything they do in life, just from how much discipline they have alone.

 

[Human Bass]

I need to rewatch his earlier fights, I never really saw his wrestling too much until the Stipe fight. Looking at stats quickly it looks like he was taken down 4x in his fights before Stipe, but looks like there were alot more attempts he defended. Maybe TDD is sort of a skill some people have or don't.

Not only tdd, Ngannou already had 1 or 2 wins by submission before the UFC. Can you imagine Despaigne getting any kind of submission?

 

[The_Renaissance]

Despaigne vs either Austen Lane or a Tafa brother is definitely next isn't isn't? Probably the former.

 

[xhaydenx]

We don't know, he flatlined his first opponent, but it was a great setup for that moment. He looked pretty good on the feet and confident, very not confident on the ground. If Ngannou can learn TDD, so can any big guy. We'll only know when we get to see an opponent who wants to stand with the guy.

See, I kinda reckon ewe do know.

Sure, he flatlined Josh fast, and the 3 before him as well, but literally everyone he'd fought were cans.

And I don't think he did look good on the feet. Doesn't seem to know how to throw a proper punch, doesn't set up any of his kicks. It seems to be all just brute force right from the start with this guy, and if that doesn't work, he doesn't know what to do against anyone half decent on the feet.

I mean, Waldo was just sitting there against the fence, using a basic guard to stop everything. If his striking was so world class, Rob should have been able to do something in those situations, and yet he was completely useless to the point that Waldo was laughing at him and egging him on. It wasn't like Waldo was even threatening tds. he was just standing there, leaning back and blocking.

Rob's striking didn't even look UFC HW level, and that's saying something haha.

 

[Tweak896]

Not only tdd, Ngannou already had 1 or 2 wins by submission before the UFC. Can you imagine Despaigne getting any kind of submission?

That's a good point, highly unlikely.

See, I kinda reckon ewe do know.

Sure, he flatlined Josh fast, and the 3 before him as well, but literally everyone he'd fought were cans.

And I don't think he did look good on the feet. Doesn't seem to know how to throw a proper punch, doesn't set up any of his kicks. It seems to be all just brute force right from the start with this guy, and if that doesn't work, he doesn't know what to do against anyone half decent on the feet.

I mean, Waldo was just sitting there against the fence, using a basic guard to stop everything. If his striking was so world class, Rob should have been able to do something in those situations, and yet he was completely useless to the point that Waldo was laughing at him and egging him on. It wasn't like Waldo was even threatening tds. he was just standing there, leaning back and blocking.

Rob's striking didn't even look UFC HW level, and that's saying something haha.

Maybe I just was hoping a giant HW would be good especially an olympian. I think another factor is he probably knows how bad he is on the ground that it effects his standup game.

 

[Gigaton Punch]

What an all time exposal this was
Waldo is not good if you lose to him, you have major problems

 

[Ares Black]

Despaigne vs either Austen Lane or a Tafa brother is definitely next isn't isn't? Probably the former.

I vote for Robelis Despaigne vs Jhonata Diniz. Watch it turn into the ugliest grappling match of all time.