Blades should retire. He is 30...not 22

[Prince Nephilim]

After taking follow up shots like that, I wouldn’t even blame him. He got absolutely blasted while being blacked out.

 

[moosaev]

Honestly he just does not have it, he is taking some serious damage. On paper he has all the skills to be great but he just does not have the fight iq.

He is tailor made to beat Lewis and Nganou but he has no power and he really is not a great wrestler.

Cain/DC are great mma wrestlers Blades is not. He has the credentials but he is not built like a HW mma wrestler.

I don't think he has anything to offer the sport. He will clearly never be great.

Jack of all trades

He needs to retire.

30 at heavyweight is like being 25 in other divisions. Lots of time left, Overeem has gotten his lights turned off a dozen more times than Blades and still fought fairly competitively until age 40.

 

[The XL]

Yesterday showed to me how good DC really was, especially at HW. Lewis is very hard to take down and hold down, and is dangerous as fuck at all times, and DC with a bad back at nearly 40 years old took him down and subbed him with ease.

 

[FIGHTING TALK]

Bad day at the office? TS says simply quit your job unless you are 22.

 

[Mma23]

His chin could be better, and his transitions on TDs can be improved, but the guy is very well-rounded. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him become champ one day. Wrestlers usually have the most longevity in the sport.

Yea...wrestlers who wrestle. Not get knocked out stiff by Ngannou and Lewis

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

Honestly he just does not have it, he is taking some serious damage. On paper he has all the skills to be great but he just does not have the fight iq.

He is tailor made to beat Lewis and Nganou but he has no power and he really is not a great wrestler.

Cain/DC are great mma wrestlers Blades is not. He has the credentials but he is not built like a HW mma wrestler.

I don't think he has anything to offer the sport. He will clearly never be great.

Jack of all trades

He needs to retire.

He has 3 losses bro. Just 3.

 

[FIGHTING TALK]

Yesterday showed to me how good DC really was, especially at HW. Lewis is very hard to take down and hold down, and is dangerous as fuck at all times, and DC with a bad back at nearly 40 years old took him down and subbed him with ease.

It’s fruitless trying to compare injuries, however Black Beasts back was just as bad if not worse than DC’s for their fight.
His back seems better now.
You might worry for his knees though watching him base absurdly wide to plant and throw bombs in the pocket. As memorable as his KO finish was he has to address adopting too wide a base. He can KO from a base that’s shoulder width apart, no need to widen it as far.

 

[WHITE ANDERSON]

the thing is that there aren't any washed up PRIDE guys to build a fighter's resume in 2021

so these guys have to fight young contenders sooner

it was easy for cain to look good against a washed up nog, but the suport has evolved bro

 

[capnlarge]

He's a good HW and those are in short supply

 

[Small Town Andrew]

He will never be the same after getting KOed like that again.

He will be gun shy on his takedown and striking out of fear of getting countered.

Unless UFC matches him up with bums he is about to lose another fight or 2 before being cut.

 

[TheGreatA]

30 for heavyweights, is like 22 for the rest.

Arlovski and Overeem were obliterated numerous times, but they're still hanging around.

 

[Knght384020]

Derrick Lewis also KOed Volkov who is pretty top tier for HW.
Anyone can get caught IMHO.
Not enough to retire.

He should fight til 35 and then see where he's going from there.

 

[Dorkman]

Nah, unless he's suffering cognitive issues the guy shouldn't feel like he has to retire at all. He was doing very well in the fight. Had derrick on the backfoot for much of. Lewis has some of the biggest killshot power the division has seen. Blaydes is a legit top 5 heavyweight.

 

[Huligani]

Lol ts look at overeem and arlovski to name just a couple

Yeah, Blaydes has only been KTFO'd once. Both his Ngannou losses were by TKO, and no one else has beaten him. Overeem and Arlovsky have each been KTFO'd countless times.

 

[joeson]

Well he did just lose, so yes, he was never any good and should retire. After that win, BB is obviously the GOAT and would beat Jones, Stipe and Ngannou on the same night.
That being said, BB is lucky to even be in this spot. He should have retired after he got subbed by DC and definitely should have retired after getting TKOd by JDS, who should retire himself after getting KOd.

Come to think of it, everyone in the division besides Gane should retire. They have all lost at some point.

 

[EnthusiastCultivator]

He needs to take a year off. HW is a weight class where age really doesn’t matter that much, he’s probably got a good 5 years of his athletic prime left in him.

Perhaps Blaydes vs Oleinik? Makes sense to me, you can bill it as match of the fallen or something

 

[Pain4Pain]

Yea...wrestlers who wrestle. Not get knocked out stiff by Ngannou and Lewis

Well it’s definitely not the division where people cut weight for a size/strength advantage. For that reason I think we’ve never seen someone takedown and control people like Khabib/GSP in the HW division. Stipe had success against a green and fatigued Ngannou though.