Sean's Strickland biggest weaknesses

[PEDRO IVO RUSSO MIRANDA]

I'm not gonna cry about the results, but I scored both figths to Sean, against Cannonier and against Dricus.
But anyway, I think he have 4 big problems in his figth style.

1 - He's a pointstyle fighter.
Unfortunately he Ins't a knockout artist and probably will never be.
Counting with the judges is just bad, you've never know how they are scoring.

2 - Lack of diversity in his strikes.
Sean's straight punches are top tier and it open a lot of paths to him, but i feel like he don't exploit them.
I think some Hooks and Uppercuts could be very beneficial to him.

3 - Lack of urgency.
Strickland have his pace, and doesn't change it, no matter how the figth was going.
He should put more aggression sometimes.

4 - parrying punches.
OK, I know its ankward saying that one of his best things is a weakness, but if you watch his figths in 0.5x you probably will agree with me.
He blocks a lot of punches, but live I think you couldn't distinguish what really lands and what he have parryed.
And how i mentioned before, he's a point style fighter.
sometimes the judge can count a blocked punch as effective strike and I can't blame them, its really hard to judge such a thing live.

I think he can have another shot winning 1 or 2 figths, let's see if he can fulfill those holes in his game.

What'd you think about ?

 

[Vergilius]

A lot of what he does is top tier, but yeah, he probably needs a couple more weapons... maybe just one would be enough: if he had hard leg kicks in his arsenal, that could derail aggressive opponents and allow his cardio advantage to shine in later rounds...

Still it's impressive how he's put it all together in recent fights after looking like a journeyman for much of his career.

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

I agree with all of the above. His defense is amazing but his actual style is a bit point-fighty and feels like sparring. Lots of jabs, straights and hooks but no power shots or combos. Rarely does he kick outside of teeps and the occasional leg kick to mix it up. No wrestling, no grappling, no submissions.

When he's down, he doesn't show any urgency and just keeps doing what he is doing.

I think like Holly and Ronda, Sean just had the right style to beat Izzy on the right night. His defense is always going to give him a chance to win and outpoint guys but you need more than that at a high level and to stay champion.

 

[JonnyBonesPharmacist]

Fighting. He looks like he was in a 5 round sparring session. Jab, jab, jab, jab some more

 

[Dionysian]

That is his ceiling. Saying a guy that has absolutely perfected an aggressive sparring-type style over the course of 20 years up until winning a belt with it should reinvent himself as a brawler is silly IMO.

If I was Eric I'd change nothing honestly. Telling a pressure point fighter guy with an immaculate jab and 1-2 and top tier defense to now all the sudden do less of your absolute best weapon (straight punches) while being more offensive swinging for the fences and, oh by the way, also being more defensive at the same time = a bit silly honestly.

 

[IronGolem007]

I'm not gonna cry about the results, but I scored both figths to Sean, against Cannonier and against Dricus.
But anyway, I think he have 4 big problems in his figth style.

1 - He's a pointstyle fighter, unfortunately he Ins't a knockout artist and probably will never be.
Counting with the judges is just bad, you've never know how they are scoring.

2 - Lack of diversity in his strikes.
Sean's straight punches are top tier, and it open a lot of paths to him, and feel like he don't exploit them.
I think some Hooks and Uppercuts could be very beneficial to him.

3 - Lack of urgency.
Strickland have his pace, and doesn't change it, no matter how the figth was going, he should put more aggression sometime.

4 - parrying punches.
OK, I know its ankward saying that one of his best things is a weakness, but if you watch.his figths in 0.5 you probably will agree with me.
He blocks a lot of punches, but live I think you couldn't distinguish what really lands and what he have parryed.
And He's a point style fighter, sometimes the judge can count a blocked punch as effective strike and I can't blame them, its really hard to judge such a thing live.

I think he can have another shot winning 1 or 2 figths, let's see if he can fulfill those holes in his game.

What'd you think about ?

There is nothing "top-tier" about Strickland's striking.

His right hand is an absolute joke, he turns his elbow over and actually strikes with his thumb, and inside of his fist, rather than straight across the knuckles. A right cross your elbow should be out in your palm down. When Strickland throws rights they are looping in his thumb is pointed at the floor. Wonky, and lame AF, IMO.

Also, even his jab isn't that big of a deal. Go rewatch Round 4 and 5. His jab is pushed-out, slow AF, almost pawing.

When he throws his joke of a right hand, he's looking at the floor.

It was actually laughable, at the very end, because both guys were throwing sloppy, telegraphed looping right hands, both "hiding their heads" and looking at the floor, with both missing badly. It was almost a comedy watching the very end.

I do agree Sean has got a pretty good defense, but his striking is mediocre, slow and predictable.

But his overhand rights, while looking at the floor, are bottom-level amateurish, and nowhere near the realm of "top-tier."

 

[Ares Black]

His biggest weakness is that he is good but not great. He did have a great performance against Adesanya.

 

[2004 account]

I like sean but I agree

 

[Harlekin]

I'm not gonna cry about the results, but I scored both figths to Sean, against Cannonier and against Dricus.
But anyway, I think he have 4 big problems in his figth style.

1 - He's a pointstyle fighter, unfortunately he Ins't a knockout artist and probably will never be.
Counting with the judges is just bad, you've never know how they are scoring.

2 - Lack of diversity in his strikes.
Sean's straight punches are top tier, and it open a lot of paths to him, and feel like he don't exploit them.
I think some Hooks and Uppercuts could be very beneficial to him.

3 - Lack of urgency.
Strickland have his pace, and doesn't change it, no matter how the figth was going, he should put more aggression sometime.

4 - parrying punches.
OK, I know its ankward saying that one of his best things is a weakness, but if you watch.his figths in 0.5 you probably will agree with me.
He blocks a lot of punches, but live I think you couldn't distinguish what really lands and what he have parryed.
And He's a point style fighter, sometimes the judge can count a blocked punch as effective strike and I can't blame them, its really hard to judge such a thing live.

I think he can have another shot winning 1 or 2 figths, let's see if he can fulfill those holes in his game.

What'd you think about ?

1 and 2.
He still could learn proper punching technique for his right hand. His right hooks look terrible and are telegraphed

3. He upped the pace in the 3rd to 5 and in the 5th he threw 99 punches upping it again.
He has great cardio, but get on that fucking chair man!

4. That's a problem with those judges. Most of them are OLD and have bad vision.
There should be strict tests for eyesight and a lot more young judges.

 

[DougieJones]

He has no power, that's his #1 problem. He hit Dricus with over 9000 punches the other night and didn't wobble him once

 

[tymikeson]

Imo he needed more of a sense of urgency in round 4.

He looked content to just parry ddps shots and not be the aggressor.

He did not have the body language of wanting to fight to the death

But perhaps DDP was just too strong for Sean to move forward.

He lost because he was not the effective aggressor imo.

 

[PEDRO IVO RUSSO MIRANDA]

That is his ceiling. Saying a guy that has absolutely perfected an aggressive sparring-type style over the course of 20 years up until winning a belt with it should reinvent himself as a brawler is silly IMO.

If I was Eric I'd change nothing honestly. Telling a pressure point fighter guy with an immaculate jab and 1-2 and top tier defense to now all the sudden do less of your absolute best weapon (straight punches) while being more offensive swinging for the fences and, oh by the way, also being more defensive at the same time = a bit silly honestly.

I wouldn't change anything too, like I have said, I scored those figths for him.
But something definitely steals the victory from his jaw's.
And his style is sometimes hard to judge, I can't tell live if he Parry's the punch or if he lands straight in his face.
Judges seems to dislike fighters who walk back (even landing punches), unfortunately you need to play following the game rules (even the unwritten ones)

 

[PEDRO IVO RUSSO MIRANDA]

1 and 2.
He still could learn proper punching technique for his right hand. His right hooks look terrible and are telegraphed

3. He upped the pace in the 3rd to 5 and in the 5th he threw 99 punches upping it again.
He has great cardio, but get on that fucking chair man!

4. That's a problem with those judges. Most of them are OLD and have bad vision.
There should be strict tests for eyesight and a lot more young judges.

I know 4 is a judge problem.
But if almost all judges are counting your Parry's as effective strikes for your opponent, + being a pointfigther, he will continuously losing close decisions.
I'm not saying it is bad technique, but that style could not be the best for MMA rules, maybe If the judges could review some moment's to gave a properly judge it could work better for him.

I'm gonna repeat, I scored it 4-1 Strickland against dricus and 3-2 against Jared, but judges can't see replays and have to give his takes live.
UFC will not change his judges or rules, and I think its sad cause Strickland should have defended his belt if the judges have watched it with more attention.

 

[ComfortablyNumb55]

Sean easily won the 5th after he started throwing the right.

No clue why he waited so long.

 

[Dionysian]

I wouldn't change anything too, like I have said, I scored those figths for him.
But something definitely steals the victory from his jaw's.
And his style is sometimes hard to judge, I can't tell live if he Parry's the punch or if he lands straight in his face.
Judges seems to dislike fighters who walk back (even landing punches), unfortunately you need to play following the game rules (even the unwritten ones)

To be fair Sean almost never walks back. Kudos to DDP for being able to reverse that.

 

[potatoReloaded]

I agree with all of the above. His defense is amazing but his actual style is a bit point-fighty and feels like sparring. Lots of jabs, straights and hooks but no power shots or combos. Rarely does he kick outside of teeps and the occasional leg kick to mix it up. No wrestling, no grappling, no submissions.

When he's down, he doesn't show any urgency and just keeps doing what he is doing.

Interestingly or not, it goes along my idea that spending so much time in the gym (which Sean does, apparently more than most) can lead your brain to go into sparring session mode in the fight.
It's almost like the exact antithesis of Khamzat, who goes into fights with a blitzkrieg in mind for the first minutes.

 

[Dyson350]

Sean is a one trick pony really. Great jab, great defense, and good takedown defense. He needs to mix it up more if he wants to be and stay successful...with that said I am glad as fuck he lost because his fights arent that fun to watch unless the opponent makes it a fight.

 

[DarthChen731]

Biggest weakness is he doesn't really adapt. Opponent either adapts to him or gets gassed.

 

[Local Plata]

He turns every fight into little more than a hard sparring session. Makes it almost impossible to have clearly judged rounds.

 

[Motivated BJ Penn]

Dunno why he abandoned the teep and should have thrown more straight rights instead of that ugly ass haymaker arm punch he does