What makes Strickland a top fighter?

[spooNN]

Good fighter but a bit passive and defensive style. He seems too content with just putting the jab out there and cruising. A little more killer instinct and he would entertain more with probably many more finishes.

 

[orca]

great wrestling defense
cardio
great striking

 

[Reach Finesse]

He's the Mayweather of MMA...defensive point fighter who needs the loudmouth to hide his boring style

 

[djason1988]

Simple, his defense, mental fortitude, and his jab and front kick. He's extremely difficult to hit clean, almost never overextended or rushes in, and his straight strikes deter most fighters from rushing him. It's simple, but extremely effective.

 

[Wormwood]

His reaction time and defense seems above average at the pro mma level for sure.. I’m sure anyone who has ever sparred can attest to the fact that even if you have great offense, having crap defense and reaction can diminish any advantage you thought you had relatively quick. His leg checks seem almost instinctive at this point due to countless hours of sparring. Doesn’t answer your question ts, but my input nonetheless.

 

[Conor Strickland]

I don't consider Strickland a "top" fighter; he's a gatekeeper-level fighter, whose unique style exploited Adesanya.

That's right, the Style-Bender got bent by Strickland's style <45>

Strickland had his 15 minutes, but he will never become Champion again.

At best, Strickland is mid-level.

He will never become champion again? You do realize that he just had a split decision and arguably won by most people, right? <45>

 

[TheRassler]

He's the Mayweather of MMA...defensive point fighter who needs the loudmouth to hide his boring style

the worse type of fighters are the ones who talk the most shit and then shows up only to point fight to a decision.

 

[fortheo]

Great defense everywhere and a great jab can go a long way.

 

[jsbx45]

Great defense, 'cuz it ain't his offense

 

[UFCIsNOTRigged]

Stricklands opponents all have an incredibly difficult time landing clean head shots which is due to his elite striking defense. He is always able to move his head just slightly out of the way which frustrates opponents and causes them to over-swing and miss big. His jab is consistent, incredibly accurate, and quickly marks up the faces of opponents. At first its just annoying to deal with but once opponents get hit with enough of them their eyes start to swell up and their vision becomes impaired.

The way to beat Sean is with forward movement and agressive offense; his opponents only succeed when they are willing to take shots to deliver their own. Elite opposition like Jared Cannonier & DDP were able to figure this out early enough in their fights and make the necessary adjustments before they fell behind too much on the scorecards.

It is a simple style for sure but has proven incredibly effective.

 

[leatherf4ce]

You don’t have to be a finished to be elite.

 

[deanambrose]

I don't consider him elite. I will say that I underestimated his striking defense which is very good tho. Still - Adesanya's bout was 100% on bad showing of champion than Sean's godly performance like some of you are saying.

What I think of top 15 fighters of MW division :

MIDDLEWEIGHT
DDP - Champion - A level - must prove himself further to be considered elite. Undefeated.

1 Sean Strickland - A level, must prove himself further to be elite. Has 'good loses' - fights with DDP and Cannonier could go either way. Against Poatan he fought stupid, possibly wanted to prove himself striking with the best or because of pressure of boring fights from fans.
2 Israel Adesanya - S level so elite, must prove that it was only off night against Sean, if not - he lost a step making him past prime.
3 Robert Whittaker - S level. Elite but like Izzy - could lost a step, must fight someone (scheduled against Costa) to determine his 'state'
4 Jared Cannonier - A level. Very good but not elite.
5 Marvin Vettori - A level. Very good but not elite.
6 Paulo Costa - A/B - Costa is weird one. He can have a war with Romero but then have off night with Israel and then losing to Marvin.
7 Brendan Allen - B level evolved to A. Entered his prime most likely. Ceiling unknown. Still improving.
8 Roman Dolidze - B level. Could be higher.
9 Khamzat Chimaev - Unknown potential. Very unstable performances.
10 Jack Hermansson - B level, most likely met his ceiling
11 Nassourdine Imavov - B level, most likely nothing more.
12 Paul Craig - B level - one trick pony. Should have stayed at LHW IMO.
13 Anthony Hernandez - unknown ceiling.
14 Chris Curtis - C level. Not so good. Overranked.
15 Caio Borralho - very good prospect. Hard to tell his ceiling. Must prove himself.

MW has some good fighters but it's strong side is unranked hungry fighters like Shara, Kopylov, Olek, Pereira, Ikram who have very good chances against ranked guys making it better division than WW for example which is quite weak right now.

 

[J'Ghasta]

His spirit. What other champion or ufc fighter period drives around filming himself challenging random drivers to street fights on the side of the road. What other fighter has challenged David Goggins to a spar just so he can break him. What other fighter showed up to embarrass that fat fake youtube self defense bullshido master by shoving him into his counter. What other fighter had the balls to say trans is a mental illness on Trudeauian soil. He just brings a different energy.

 

[mudrubble]

Watching him fight, I have a hard time discerning what makes him elite. He's clearly able to compete with the best and Im sure its a case of , I dont have sophisticated enough an eye to gauge, but what makes him so good?

He doesnt kick, wrestle, have a dynamic arsenal of moves. He doesn't seem unusually athletic, agile, or defensive. His boxing looks pedestrian to me, with no head or lateral movement, with the exception of his seemingly effective jab which frankly looks kind of slow.

In no way am I bashing the guy because he was champion material, but what I am I missing?

I think what he does better than any fighter I can remember is to maintain eye contact and not flinch from strikes. Not saying he never flinches or looks away - I know he sometimes does. But he braces for impact way less than most fighters, easily. He stays VERY focused on his target no matter what they are doing.

And that leads to landing that jab repeatedly. He also doesn't get hit as much as others would because he sees what's coming at him so well.

These probably both arise from his training style of frequent hard sparring - he doesn't "get up" for fights. He shows up and fights like he does every single day. It's all another day in the office for him. Even takes losses better than most. He just likes fighting.

I think a lot of it comes down to that mind state - loving actually fighting, and not flinching away from the hard parts of it. Being ready to wade in and avoid getting hit while going forward.

 

[KOPPE]

Its the Philly Shell style. most mma strikers are not equipped to deal with that.
add good cardio and tdd to the mix and ur unbeatable.

 

[BangBang]

He's kind of like Obi Wan Kenobi. He never had the most raw talent just like Obi Wan never had the most force potential but through hard work , hours of training and dedication they both focused on mastering and polishing various aspects of their game and ended up becoming very well rounded fighters capable of taking on all kind of elite opponents.

And for fuck sakes i feel like a complete nerd after posting this but to my defense i watched Episode 3 on cable a couple hours ago so..

LOL

 

[TrueBias]

Defense wins championships

Thank god that's not true 100%

 

[TriangleMonkey]

Sean spars so much he made whatever the fuck he does work really good somehow

 

[marvinparsons]

He basically can't be hit, or at least it is extremely hard to hit him flush. Whether it is to his legs, body or head. He's hard to take down/keep down. He has excellent cardio.

So right there you have a guy that is going to fight on his feet and barely gets hit, and doesn't tire out. All he has to do is land jabs, use his defense, and he wins the fight.

It's not exciting or varied, but it doesn't have to be.

Downfall is that his strikes don't have much power so all fights go the distance where his weak strikes might not be scored favourably. There's also a risk in any 5 round fight against top guys, even with his great defense, that he gets flatlined with a power shot.

 

[Nihongi]

He's kind of like Obi Wan Kenobi. He never had the most raw talent just like Obi Wan never had the most force potential but through hard work , hours of training and dedication they both focused on mastering and polishing various aspects of their game and ended up becoming very well rounded fighters capable of taking on all kind of elite opponents.

And for fuck sakes i feel like a complete nerd after posting this but to my defense i watched Episode 3 on cable a couple hours ago so..