Does Prime Rockhold beat Strickland?

[Egészségére!]

The Rockhold that beat Jardine finishes Strickland in round 1

 

[pankrat]

Hard to say. Luke was very good and dangerous on the ground but his TDs weren't that great. Not sure how easily he could take Sean down and keep him there. On the feet, Luke never had good boxing but made up for it when he was young with a good kicking game, footwork, maintaining distance and athleticism. But he was chinny (see Belfort fight). OTOH, while Sean has much better boxing than Luke, he doesn't have one-shot KO power. So it's hard fight to call. I think the Strickland who just beat Izzy and at the top of his game probably wins...other versions of Strickland, like the Cannonier fight, I don't know. Interesting toss up fight IMO.

In the feet, I definitely favour Strikland.
It comes down to whether Rockhold can get Strickland on the ground, and people underrate Luke in that sense because he often looked to strike but he actually had some very good tricks and physicality to get people down.
Took down Weidman or Kennedy, and treated Branch as a ragdoll from the clinch. And its not like Strickland's TDD is very tested vs physical MWs.

 

[The XL]

I don't think a flash KO like Serra is a good comparison at all for beating arguably one of the Top 3 strikers ever at MW in a 5-round fight. That said...we mostly learned how Sean's Philly Shell and kicking defense were really optimized for Izzy....not sure how he does against other Top MWs yet. How would a Cannonier rematch look, for example?

Sean still might not do great vs very explosive power punchers like Cannonier or Pereira but Rockhold sure doesn't fit that bill.

I'm not sure this version of Sean is better than peak Rockhold, but he matches up with him extremely well. And at this level, matchups matter a lot

 

[mkt]

Took down Weidman or Kennedy, and treated Branch as a ragdoll from the clinch. And its not like Strickland's TDD is very tested vs physical MWs.

Yeah, the lack of good grapplers leaves a lot of questions about these hypothetical matches. In the past we had Chael, Weidman, Kennedy, Luke, Jacare, etc. Neither Sean nor Izzy or other top MWs have had to face guys like that in their primes. People always bring up Brunson, but a 40-something year old Anderson Silva stuffed and avoided Brunson's TDs about as well as prime Izzy did.

 

[chinarice]

The Rockhold that beat Jardine finishes Strickland in round 1

Why? There is nothing at all similar about Jardine and Strickland other than they both like to stand and throw hands? Keith throws a bunch of kicks. Sean does not. Sean's hands are much, much better.

Akin to me saying the Sean that thoroughly outclassed Izzy finishes Luke in round 1.

 

[Egészségére!]

Why? There is nothing at all similar about Jardine and Strickland other than they both like to stand and throw hands? Keith throws a bunch of kicks. Sean does not. Sean's hands are much, much better.

Akin to me saying the Sean that thoroughly outclassed Izzy finishes Luke in round 1.

I wasn’t comparing Jardine & Strickland’s styles or how they match up with Luke

that fight was probably the beginning of prime Rockhold who I think would easily beat Strickland today

 

[The XL]

Luke took down Weidman late in a grueling fight after he tried a spinning kick. Sean doesn't get tired and doesn't do stupid shit like that. He'd be in his face boxing in a phone booth which Luke is absolutely horrendous at. And he's the same guy who got knocked completely silly by pillow fisted Bisping

 

[Skarsgard]

Strikeforce Luke can compete with Anderson in that time period, imo. Strickland will be a cakewalk as Luke can kick/fight forward unlike Izzy.

Strikeforce Luke squeaked by Tim Kennedy and got gifted a decision against Jacare.

 

[michi972]

Rockhold via ground game

While I rank prime Rockhold highly I think Strickland is a bad matchup for him. Sean's boxing is too much for him and Rockhold's offensive wrestling isn't good enough to use his ground game.

 

[pankrat]

Luke took down Weidman late in a grueling fight after he tried a spinning kick. Sean doesn't get tired and doesn't do stupid shit like that. He'd be in his face boxing in a phone booth which Luke is absolutely horrendous at. And he's the same guy who got knocked completely silly by pillow fisted Bisping

As if Sean was the wreslter Weidman, is, tired or not tired.
Luke would look to stay in kicking range or the clinch, and once in the clinch, he can definitely surpride Sean and get him in the ground.

 

[pankrat]

While I rank prime Rockhold highly I think Strickland is a bad matchup for him. Sean's boxing is too much for him and Rockhold's offensive wrestling isn't good enough to use his ground game.

Rockhold's offensive wrestling is good. It might not be great, but its very good.
Why should we assume Strikcland's TDD is great anyways?

 

[storeybuckle]

Strikeforce Luke picks him apart from start to finish.

I just don’t see it! Maybe it’s recency bias?! Strikeforce Luke no slouch though!

 

[michi972]

Rockhold's offensive wrestling is good. It might not be great, but its very good.
Why should we assume Strikcland's TDD is great anyways?

I wouldn't say do, he's got good clinch takedowns, but nothing special, his singles and doubles are non-existent. Strickland has great tdd. Usually when Luke gets to use his ground game it's either from knockdown or counter against opponents takedown. Strickland chooses to box. Rockhold only chance is to land with kicks.

I think there was no fluke in Rockhold vs Weidman, fight was even and Rockhold is a great scrambler. Weidman is a better stylistic matchup than Sean

 

[mkt]

Why? There is nothing at all similar about Jardine and Strickland other than they both like to stand and throw hands? Keith throws a bunch of kicks. Sean does not. Sean's hands are much, much better.

Akin to me saying the Sean that thoroughly outclassed Izzy finishes Luke in round 1.

Not only that, but Rockhold beat an older, washed post-UFC Jardine. Jardine was always chinny, but the version who beat Forrest was a lot better than the one in Strikeforce. The most impressive thing about that fight was that Jardine managed to have a draw with Mousasi (thanks in part to a point deduction) in his prior fight...and Luke almost never KO'd anyone with his hands. But still, this was the same Jardine that had recently had a 5-loss streak....not comparable to prime Sean in any way.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

If anyone says "no", they owe it to themselves to ask whether their answer was different a month ago. It probably was. Now, maybe with new information (e.g. the Izzy bout) comes a different answer. Or, recency bias. But an intelligent person will at least that.

I doubt he beats 2015 Luke, or Chris, or Machida. Just one AH's opinion.

 

[pankrat]

I wouldn't say do, he's got good clinch takedowns, but nothing special, his singles and doubles are non-existent. Strickland has great tdd. Usually when Luke gets to use his ground game it's either from knockdown or counter against opponents takedown. Strickland chooses to box. Rockhold only chance is to land with kicks.

I think there was no fluke in Rockhold vs Weidman, fight was even and Rockhold is a great scrambler. Weidman is a better stylistic matchup than Sean

Rockhold got in the clinch with Dave Branch and tripped him right into full-mount. Branch is a pretty solid, big MW. It's not like any mediocre MW can get in there and ragdoll him like that. And that wasnt even Rockhold prime.

For the majority of fights, Luke looked to strike and didnt even chase the TD.

Not saying Strickland is easy to take down, but why we should take for granted his TDD is great? How many great TD artis he defended against to state so?

 

[cburm]

Sean by tko or decision

 

[Brood]

If Usmans tda and cardio abuse made him go turtle mode Imagine what a prime Rockhold could do.

Weird comparisson. Usman had great cardio and wrestling, Rockhold not so much.

 

[cburm]

I think urine weisman would be a harder fight style wise rockhold had shit striking when it counts and bad iq sean has tdd and hands and pressure

 

[Ibm]

100% yes