[GlasgowKiss]

I'm sure he was playing possum on one of the wobbles. He backed away then did a pretty over the top wobble that looked fake to me, think he was trying make Moicic reckless and have him him charge in.

[Sports_Nerd]

Originally Posted by Canadian Psycho

You're right. He wasn't wobbled on multiple occasions. I and others here imagined it all

I'm not writing Struve off. Though I'm certainly not dubbing him the P4P most underrated fighter (whatever that means) either.

I wouldn't say you imagined it, but I think you came in with certain expectations, and those expectations coloured your perception of what you saw.

I just watched the fight again, and here are the only instances I found where Struve appeared to be in momentary trouble:

With about 1:30 left in the first:



Miocic catches Struve under the shoulder, and Struve, who was in the act of throwing something gets pushed off balance. John Anik thought he was hurt too, but that was nonsense.

You'll also note this happened after Struve landed cleanly. I actually think this was the turning point of the fight.

With about 2:10 left in the second:



This is a legit headshot, but Struve wasn't in any real trouble. Miocic moves his hand out of the way and throws a short arm punch which catches Struve by surprise. He rolls with it and tries to reset. You see that even as he's running away he's looking at Miocic. He cleanly avoids the next two punches, smiles, and gets back into his stance.

I made another gif for a beautiful flurry he landed about 30 seconds later (before the slip) but the file is a little over 6 megabytes and too large for this host.

Now, the big guy's striking defense is a work in progress, to put it generously, and a whole bunch of Stipe's strikes landed, or were at best partially blocked, but Struve was never in that much danger, and offensively he chains punches together very nicely. his punches quickly, and from a lot of angles. He's become very dangerous in the stand up, and almost no one is going to want to go to the ground with him.

[mastodon2222]

Originally Posted by boatoar

Struve has a 84.5 inch reach, whereas bones has an 84 inch reach. Or so I thought, but a quick google search shows they both hang at 84.5

That's a normal reach for someone 6'11", but freakish for someone who's 6'4".

[mastodon2222]

Originally Posted by osmium

I don't have any faith in the guy; he fights stupidly. His BJJ is his best asset and he barely ever tries to use it. Based on the skills they possess I would agree with you he is the better fighter and should win this fight. You just know he is going to try and turn it into some wild brawl for no reason though.

I agree that Struve has one of the lowest fight IQ than in anyone in the game. Ive seen him trading punches at close range with shorter guys too many times- dumb. He needs to find a good coach who can make the most of his height and skill set.

[boatoar]

Originally Posted by mastodon2222

That's a normal reach for someone 6'11", but freakish for someone who's 6'4".

Absolutely correct. Someone was saying Bones was longer is all. Proportionally longer by far, but equal as far as wingspan vs wingspan is concerned.

[Sports_Nerd]

I love the fact that in this thread a lot of people are essentially saying Struve Should fight more like Hathaway, and in the other thread people are basically saying the opposite thing.