Howcome Islam was able to headshot KO Volk but Yair wasn't able to?

[Xoleth]

I do agree he combines punches with kicks well.

But for some reason, Islam seems awkward with striking still. Maybe because he is flat-footed.

Whereas Yair is this flashy, dynamic kicker who can do roundhouse to the face quickly

He is flat-fooded, but his kicks are strong.

Another argument: Yair was afraid of being taken down.
I don't think Islam had this worry.

Also, my two uneducated cents: these flashy kicks work very well now and then, on fighters who are tired and who have bad defense. Few fighters can use them very well: Wboy, Yair, Raymond Daniels, MVP.
Yet, Wboy only had a spinning kick KO vs Ellenberger and a head kick KO.
Yair had a flying knee and a head kick KOs in his career.
MVP had a tornado kick in his first MMA fight.
Daniels had several of them, but in KB and against weaker opponents.

My point is... these types of kicks rarely happen and usually not against top competition.

 

[surgeyou1]

Take down threat keeps those hands lower.

 

[ExitLUPin]

Howcome Khabib was able to knock down Conor but Eddie wasn't able to?

(Yellow belt thoughts)

Isn't Eddie supposed to be a better boxer/striker than Khabib?

Takedown threat babyboi. Imagine when you dont even have to be worried about an entire aspect of fighting.

Elite sambo fighters like Khabib and Islam when theyre going up against someone like Volk or Conor they dont even have to worry about grappling b/c they know theyre not threatened there. Theyre much more free and can setup strikes wont see coming due to TD threat. Islam barely even shot a TD and the one he did was a half hearted attempt.

Khabib stood with Conor for an entire round. Eddie got dropped 5 times in 7 minutes or something.... This doesnt mean Khabib is a better striker than Eddie. This is MMA babyboi. And power of sambo.

 

[Harlekin]

Headkicks through guard just happen
Volk
Poirier
Just this year, there are hundreds of other examples

It just means the other guy was better that night.

 

[ExitLUPin]

Headkicks through guard just happen
Volk
Poirier
Just this year, there are hundreds of other examples

It just means the other guy was better that night.

Should note it happens in MMA a decent amount. In kickboxing with the big gloves it almost never happens.

 

[ThereIsNoSpoon]

A couple of things:

MMA fighters are bad at defending kicks. A good defense against kicks would simultaneously block middle/high kicks without guessing where it's aimed. This is still a sport where calf kicks made half the roster limping and dumbfounded.

Yair has no boxing or wrestling so Volk was getting out of range when he threw his kicks, or countered them because there was no threat of a TD.

He obviously respected Islam's boxing and TD too much after the last fight, he never tried to close the distance once, and once Islam got a comfortable range with Volk being passive and slow, he was kicking at will.

A full camp would sharped your reaction time and reflexes. Volk was a two steps behind from the start.

 

[daniel san]

Luck? Bad preparation? Unexpected? Strikers who face great wrestlers are sometimes outstruck by the wrestler simply because they are too prepared for the takedown. Yair's takedowns aren't a threat, and to put it bluntly, Yair isn't exactly a fighter of legendary skills and was getting his ass handed to him by Korean Zombie except for 1 second at 4:59 of round five.

 

[JustBreed]

I do agree he combines punches with kicks well.

But for some reason, Islam seems awkward with striking still. Maybe because he is flat-footed.

Whereas Yair is this flashy, dynamic kicker who can do roundhouse to the face quickly

He's not particularly fast or flashy, but he seems to have killer timing and a good read on people

 

[humdizzle]

Yairs only threat is the head kick. That's why. Volk had nothing else to worry about with him.

 

[SuperAlly]

Lets see, why was Islame able to do it while Yair wasn't?

Maybe because Volk accepted the fight on 11 days notice, coming directly off the couch after surgery, the birth of his daughter and making a lot of cooking + beer videos for Youtube, all while Islame knew since February that he would fight on the AD card and had time to recover, prepare, train and then just slip into a fight camp?

Islame said himself that he trained this kick many months for Charles, suggesting his preparation (not fight camp) started after Ramadan, giving him like 4 months to work on certain aspects of his game.

Your shtick is lame.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

Short notice fight so he wasn't fight ready

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

(Yellow belt thoughts)

Isn't Yair supposed to be a better kicker than Islam?

Volk was able to scare Yair with takedowns, but couldn't against Islam.

 

[ryun253]

Maybe islam and his coaches did there homework and saw a hole in volks defence after the first fight?

Max also hurt Volk with a headkick, he just tries to block it with 1 hand Islam did a good job of conditioning Alex with bodykicks as well

 

[Hypetrainofthemonth]

Isn't MMA supposed to be literally "expect the unexpected"?
No martial art should be overlooked.
Also, Islam did kicks in the first fight so it wasn't completely brand new.

Does this mean that Yair could have grapplefucked Volk because he wouldn't expect it from him?

Possibly, yes.

 

[Zarathustra611]

Has Volk ever fought another top title holder/contender on <2 weeks notice ?

Maybe he was 2% off and Islam is just that good?

 

[andgonsil]

Islam actually threw a body kick that's the secret

 

[ArmanHypeTrain]

Yair was actually starting to get the kicking game working before Volk hit him with that flying headbutt. Yair also got wrestlefucked by geriatric Frankie Edgar so Volk implemented that gameplan to start

 

[Prex32]

when you`re out of the groove (proper camp) you get sloppy in there
you become delusional and pay the price

 

[Dirty Frank]

Lets see, why was Islame able to do it while Yair wasn't?

Maybe because Volk accepted the fight on 11 days notice, coming directly off the couch after surgery, the birth of his daughter and making a lot of cooking + beer videos for Youtube, all while Islame knew since February that he would fight on the AD card and had time to recover, prepare, train and then just slip into a fight camp?

Islame said himself that he trained this kick many months for Charles, suggesting his preparation (not fight camp) started after Ramadan, giving him like 4 months to work on certain aspects of his game.

 

[Dirty Frank]

when you`re out of the groove (proper camp) you get sloppy in there
you become delusional and pay the price

Not having a proper camp makes you delusional?