Madadi and Duffy
Joe Duffy is a massive lightweight with a vast array of weapons at his disposal. Particularly, Duffy is a high quality pugilist who combines this art with a Black Belt in Taekwondo and Brown and black belt in Brazilian and Japanese Jiu-Jitsu respectively. Predominately Joe is a striker who uses his standup first while always having that spectacular grappling in his back pocket. If we're talking analogies, Duffy is packing a magazine-fed, rotating-lock bolt air cooled AR-15 on the feet while simultaneously carrying a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber snubnose double-action duty revolver in his ankle holster. That's "just in case" Plan B of course. Plan B has resulted into nine wins via tap-out to cap off 13 of his 14 career finishes.
The cunning and docile ginger utilizes his deceivingly stoic demeanor to lull the opposition into a false sense of security before ruining them with the type of Irish violence that would make the IRA stand up and applaud.
Basically, Duffy looks so calm and sanguine, like the opposite of a man who cashes his checks off the back of breaking the bones of another man. That said, do not confuse a lack of hype and intensity for what is composure and confidence. Though Duffy is not as aesthetically frightening and intimidating as a prime Mike Tyson, that doesn't mean he can't end your night with a lightning quick strike of badassery vertical or horizontal. For reference see, Clarke, Mitch.
Utilizing every bit of his 76" reach, the Irishman employs a confusing striking stance as he is very free with his left hand often letting it dangle near his knees while gluing his right to his jaw. Additionally, he accentuates his unique posture by tucking his chin and crouching over with an acutely wide stance and markably bent knees that allow him to spring into his strikes thus amplifying the power to which they land.
Nevertheless, as good as Duffy's striking and grappling is, his one liability remains his takedown defense. This was exploited by Dustin Poirier recently and can very well see the same thing this weekend given the fact that Reza is an even better wrestler than Poirier is.
Madadi is a full inch taller, though he gives up the same unit in reach and most disconcerting is the fact that he is a decade older than Irish Joe.
Let's save ourselves some time here and not let me start breaking down the Madadi striking attack. Ostensibly it is all used as a smokescreen to set up his chain wrestling. I mean, Madadi does have serviceable boxing, but there is little imagination to his game as it is fairly rudimentary and he is at a significant disadvantage on the feet vs. the Irish pugilist. This fight comes down exclusively to how well each man can succeed with the wrestling. Can Reza implement it? Can Joe negate it? This is 90% of what will tell us who leaves victorious.
While the accolades are there, Madadi doesn't have the same skills of most American amateur wrestlers. That said, Madadi is a grinder of the highest caliber and has been grappling his whole life. A gritty bulldog, Reza has competed in wrestling since he was a teenager. Specifically, Madadi was wrestling before music was digital, phone booths, were on on every corner and owning a pager was the shit. Wrestling was good for Reza and he was good at it as he won the 2002 and 2003 Swedish championships and participated in both the Greco-Roman and Freestyle disciplines.
When Madadi is able to get his wrestling going he can wear on you better than a Kardashian can wear a handbag. A handbag that was the possibility purchased by Mad-Dog himself on the black market.
At any rate, after mulling over copious footage, I still see a lot of holes in the Duffy takedown defense. Holes that can be exploited by a really good wrestler like Madadi.
Poitier absolutely made Joe Duffy's life miserable with wrestling and I can see MadDog having similar success. Not only do I believe that the odds are out of whack here, but I actually believe Madadi is going to win this fight outright.
So long as he doesn't get reckless and get clipped on the way in, I believe this fight goes the distance and Madadi does enough to win a unanimous decision. Remember, not only is Madadi a good wrestler, but he also is a purple belt in Brazilian jujitsu.
What's more, when a fight goes past the opening stanza, Duffy is a modest 50% as he has only picked up victories in two of the four contests with such criteria.
Finally, Reza is grimy as fuck — like a Michael Chiesa or Dan Kelly — and over performs due to toughness as he did against the much better fighter in Michael Johnson.. Duffy will really have to beat him down to get him to quit and I don't think he does so. Madadi has good wrestling, good cardio, and lots of heart. Meanwhile, I seen a bit of quit in Duffy when Poirier started to put the screws to him. Reza could make this an ugly fight and I can see Joe mentally checking out again.
At these odds I am definitely making a moderate play on old Handbags.
Reza Madadi to defeat Joe Duffy by UD