snoozer

First off, I think Tommy has alot of raw potential. His strength is unbelievable and I'm looking forward to how he developes as a fighter. However, after watching his two fights I get the impression that when he has his man down and out, he seems reluctant to pull the trigger. Yesterday against Ben he was quite aggressive until he was on top of Ben and in control. This was also evident against War Machine where instead of finishing him off, he baby slapped him about a million times.

Is Tommy afraid to go for the kill? What do you guys think?

Nosbig

Yea I think it's a phobia. All joking aside I think that maybe by the time he gets a takedown his arms are tired or something and he can't throw good strikes.

Where'stheCrow?

He hasn't learned that killer instinct yet, but that has been said about many other fighters on past seasons of TUF. Luke Cummo comes to mind from season 2. If he continues to work hard, sooner or later he will develop the mindset to finish the fights.

Nosbig

Cummo? He was an animal, if I remember correctly he finished both his guys on the show.

Where'stheCrow?

Cummo dominated Torres for the UD but he should have finished it. Torres was out of it but Luke didn't jump on him like he should have. Dana called out the whole house I think but he mentioned Cummo in particular about finishing fights. Cummo is an animal and I enjoy watching him fight.

mma17

Tommy has good wrestling. Do I think he will ever be a force in the welterweight division? No. Top Ten? Definitely not. He doesn't have the raw striking talent. He has the wrestling talent but he is the kind of guy who just will never develope an explosive effective striking game which is crucial for any fighter. I think he could learn the submittion game because it is a natural progression from wrestling but he needs way better striking which I don't think he can ever get just due to the way he is built. He's not very naturally explosive with his strikes and that's the kind of thing you can't learn.

Nosbig

You're right he didn't finish torres, if tommy learns more jj he will do better.

davidm724

I don't think you can learn instinct. He just needs to get over it and unleash. He seems to have the power when he's against a bag, but we see zero striking skill from him. If he wants to take a guy down he needs to let go, and what better time than while hovering over his opponent? He probably didn't want to stand and strike with a guy who has a 7.5 inch reach advantage on him, but he did nothing on the ground. At least pass guard. Jeez.

Biowza

I think it's a bit unfair to judge him this harshly after only seeing two of his fights (unless you have seen more). The guy is only 23, he has a ton of time to learn all sorts of different aspects of MMA. The way I see it, he has excellent wrestling and insane power, this is a great base for him to become something big in MMA.

__________________

DropKick

I don't think he's scared to finish, I just don't think he's learned how yet. He really needs to learn the submission game, in his fight with War he should have went for an armbar when he had the mount. War was sticking his arms out like he wanted Tommy to grab one. He could have easily finished it there. A lot of wrestlers seems to have problems finishing though when they first get into MMA. He's got the physical tools to be successful, I just think it's a matter of learning better technique. He almost got subbed twice in the fight with Ben and War almost choked him out, that's a pretty good indicator that he should start training some JJ. Good thing for him he's strong enough to power out of the submission attempts. I just wonder how he'd do against a world class Jui Jitsu guy.

Also, he hasn't fought anyone with good or even average TD defense. He was able to take those guys down pretty much at will. What would he do against someone that has good wrestling and could stop his takedowns? If he satys at 170 he's going to have to work on it cause the Welter Wieght division is stacked with good wrestlers.