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Flaws in Holly Holm's Striking Technique

2K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  systemdnb 
#1 ·
I've said Holly Holm has basic and fundamental flaws in her striking technique that get exploited when she fights high level strikers like Valentina Shevchenko and Germaine De Randamie. I'll try to elaborate on why I think this is true.

The main flaw I think Holly has is in the way she moves her feet. Footwork is Holly's biggest flaw & the main area De Randamie and Shevchenko consistently out-technique Holly in a way that allows them to consistently win rounds over her.

If we're discussing movement, first it might be good to define differences between good footwork and bad footwork. What are traits of both?

I would say good footwork & movement is defined by minimizing the amount of time someone's foot spends in the air when moving, adjusting or re-positioning. As long as someone's foot is in the air, they can't use it to redirect, move or generate power in strikes. One goal of technique with footwork is to minimize this.

Watching fighters with very good technique like Demetrious Johnson or Fedor Emelianenko, one might notice that no matter how much they move, their feet are almost always on the ground. Always ready to re-direct, move or generate power for strikes. Very seldom are their feet in the air. This gives them a huge advantage over opponents.

Example, Fedor. Watch how many adjustments he makes with his feet. No matter how much he moves, his feet seem as if they're always on the ground, always ready & in a position to make the right move.



I couldn't find any good Demetrious Johnson gifs. But if you ever watch him fight watch his feet. If there's any advantage he has over his opponents his footwork and technique have a lot to do with it.

Ok. Now Holly Holm. Notice how much time her feet spend in the air when she's moving & how far off the mat her feet get when she takes a step.





I would say that's bad technique and a good part of the reason why Germaine and Valentina beat her.

Whenever Holly's foot is in the air, 3 inches off the mat she's not in a position to generate power in her strikes or move. That's the flaw in her technique that give De Randamie and Shevchenko an advantage when they fight.

It isn't the only flaw in Holly's kickboxing technique. But it is the most obvious and blatant one imo.

...

Long story short, whenever someone's foot is in the air they can't
-Generate full power in their strikes
-Redirect or move to another position

Good technique in footwork implies minimizing the amount of time feet spend in the air when moving.

:thumbsup:
 
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#2 ·
Holly is also only capable of striking as a counter fighter. Her pre-Rousey fights showed this as she was unable to impress against fighters on the back foot, often missing badly and ending up in the clinch. She made very few adjustments against Shevchenko, using her stomp kicks to no avail constantly, and she telegraphs a lot of her techniques before she throws them.
 
#3 ·
Actually, it starts from her stance, and everything from her footwork to her punch mechanics & strike selection flow from there.

Let's look at Holly's stance



Look how far forward her head is, and also how she has most of her weight forward on her front leg. She can't effectively push off her rear leg or lean forward to extend a jab and get some snap on it, nor can she get good weight transfer and power on her rear hand. When she throws her power hand she either drags her back leg along and loses power & range or she has to do a shift and step her back leg forward into an orthodox stance. This is why Holly's punches often come up short and she has to use forward shifting blitzes to get into range to land.

With her weight so far forward & her bent over stance, the only power punch she can throw is the lead hook. She can't do uppercuts, left hooks, or a left straight without first stepping her feet to adjust her stance or running forward and falling into the punches. If she tries to throw a left hook, straight, or uppercut, there's no weight transfer on it so it has little power (unless you run face first into it) and it also breaks her balance & stance as her back foot drags forward. This is why her punch selection & setups are limited to the right hook and the forward running left-right blitzes.

Which brings us to footwork and distance. Holly's preferred distance is on the outside, she wants to be at a range where you have to take a step in to get into range. Problem there is that Holly's stance forces her to take 1-2 steps first before she can touch her opponents with anything, she can't just step in with a punch or sneak her front leg forward into range, she has to step in first, then step in again with the punch. This is slower & telegraphed, and gives good strikers like Shevchenko plenty of time to either get out of range or setup counters.
 
#4 ·
I'm gonna give Holly the benefit of the doubt as she looked pretty average against two top tiered strikers who stood in the pocket. It takes someone with power, great movement, or matrix style striking to dispose of these type of fighters. Personally I'm not a fan of those cuz it's easier to stand there and wait then counter. That's why I found the Anderson fight against Brunson interesting cuz he was the one attacking and controlling the octagon. Once he got in close enough Brunson would initiate the takedown attempt.

I think if Holly implemented a takedown, gnp plan it would elevate her game.

I agree DJ has some of the best foot work along w/ Cruz. For heavyweights I'd say JDS, The Reem, and Hunt. Hunt's fight against Kongo is a prime example. He's always in line for a KO shot.
 
#5 ·
She couldn't land anything on miesha tate of all people in 5 rounds, that right there should tell you she isn't a good striker.
 
#6 ·
Maybe I didn't do a passable job of breaking this down.

I'll try one more time.

If I can't explain it decently, I'll give up. :thumbsup:



Watch Holly's rear foot ^ when she's backing away from Ronda. In the time Holly is backing up, what percentage of the time would you say her rear foot spends in the air?

Its probably fair to say Holly's rear foot is in the air 20%-50% of the time she's moving backwards. This means 20% to 50% of the time Holly's retreating she couldn't throw a strike if she wanted to. Her foot isn't in position. It also means 20% to 50% of the time she's moving back, she couldn't change direction because her foot is in the air, and being in the air there's nothing to push off of.

Another thing to consider is if Anderson Silva or another striker with good technique was moving backwards the way Holly was. Their rear foot probably wouldn't be off the ground more than 5% of the time. The bouncing step Holly uses is something someone would expect to find in amateur competition. There are pros like Stephen Thompson and some karate guys who use bouncing steps. But their technique of using it is completely different from Holly's.

If you saw Holly Holm vs Germaine De Randamie, you might have noticed two things that happened consistently in that fight.

#1 Germaine consistently hit Holly with her right hand and Holly was never able to counter it. This is because of holly's sloppy foot movment & her feet being in the air a large percentage of the time. There were a lot of sequences in the fight where Germaine had both her feet planted firmly on the ground when Holly was moving sloppily with her bouncing steps. Germaine was in a position to land her right hand and Holly, having one foot in the air couldn't counter. This happened over and over in the fight with Germaine landing a clean right hand and Holly never being able to get in a position to counter.

#2 Germaine consistently made Holly look slow and flat footed. This was due to Germaine's better technique with moving her feet.

Anyways, what I'm saying here isn't rocket science. These are basic fundamentals everyone should know & be aware of.

Yet somehow. That. Doesn't. Seem. To. Be. The. Case.
 
#7 ·
really good stuff imo, i think you really broke it down; i think holm heart athleticism and her workrate allow her to mask the holes in her game, if your big strong fast and busy enough at some point you will experience a measure of success against very good fighters and alot against the avg/below avg types.

i tink holms biggest problem is a lack of iq and an inability to adjust on the fly, she seems to be the type who can't grow past a certain apoint tech and someone who has a hard time figuring out what to do if the plan a) doesn't work; even if its obvious to everyone else she follows the gameplan to a fault and has paid a huge price in three straight fights as a result.
 
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