Why was Aldo incapable of clean knockouts?

achoo42

achoo42

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Jose Aldo was such a skilled and explosive striker, he should have been knocking out people left and right with his hands but most of the time he's knocking people out cold it's from a knee.

I actually cannot recall a single fight of his where he is sparking someone out cold with a punch.

This is no knock on Aldo because he's one of my favorite fighters of all time but I get the feeling that someone who is almost purely fast-twitch muscle should have more KO power. Was he slightly pillowfisted?
 
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I think he hit fairly hard at 135. Flopped rob font all around and had moraes trying to avoid his power. It wasn’t super crazy but it was solid power. He dropped multiple people at 145 too so I wouldn’t say pillow fisted. His fight with Chad the 2nd time was a war. Him and Chad hit each other with bombs. Still one of my favorite fights of all time. He also had max tentative and was bombing him in the first fight. You could tell Max didn’t like it, the speed, but also the power.

Just because you don’t possess the touch of death™ aka one punch ko power doesn’t mean you are pillow fisted
 
Definitely not pillow fisted, but in his younger years even during what you would call his prime he lacked technique which certainly took away from some of his power. Later in his career was when he transformed his self into more of a boxer and he started hurting more guys with punches, including Holloway who has one of the best chins in the sport's history
 
biscuitsbrah said:
I think he hit fairly hard at 135. Flopped rob font all around and had moraes trying to avoid his power. It wasn’t super crazy but it was solid power. He dropped multiple people at 145 too so I wouldn’t say pillow fisted.
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Benson Henderson dropped people too but he couldn't put them away. People call Bendo pillowfisted because he was so athletic and yet wasn't KOing anybody.

I think Aldo, as you said, had solid power but based on how explosive and technical he was it feels like he should have been a KO machine like Topuria or O'Malley where they can put someone's lights out with a good combo.
 
achoo42 said:
Benson Henderson dropped people too but he couldn't put them away. I think Aldo, as you said, had solid power but based on how explosive and technical he was it feels like he should have been a KO machine like Topuria or O'Malley where they can put someone's lights out with a good combo.
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Benson wasn’t pillow fisted either? He just wasn’t a good boxer…
 
He wasn' the hardest hitter, but he did put one of the hardest hits on one of the hardest hitters on 145
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biscuitsbrah said:
Just because you don’t possess the touch of death™ aka one punch ko power doesn’t mean you are pillow fisted
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My entire point is that he should have had that kind of power based on how fast and hard he was launching his punches. The fact that he doesn't makes it feel like his punches are cushioned in some way—not literally, but that's where the term pillowfisted comes in.

Seriously, does any other fast-twitch striker have zero one-punch knockouts?

Even Max Holloway who has been accused of being pillowfisted and is nowhere near the fast-twitch guy Aldo is, has two touch of death knockouts over Justin Gaethje and the Korean Zombie. Bobby Green knocked out Grant Dawson. Nick Diaz knocked out Lawler. Condit has his too over Dan Hardy.

How are all these guys getting touch of death knockouts and Aldo isn't?
 
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achoo42 said:
Benson Henderson dropped people too but he couldn't put them away. People call Bendo pillowfisted because he was so athletic and yet wasn't KOing anybody.

I think Aldo, as you said, had solid power but based on how explosive and technical he was it feels like he should have been a KO machine like Topuria or O'Malley where they can put someone's lights out with a good combo.
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He was technical overall but his technique specifically with regard to his punches was never all that. He threw a lot of loopy arm punches and a lot of times when he'd hurt guys he'd get overly excited and just swarm guys with a bunch of inaccurate punches just hoping the ref will step in instead of striking with deadly precision like the ground and pound you'd see from silva
 
GolovKing said:
He was technical overall but his technique specifically with regard to his punches was never all that. He threw a lot of loopy arm punches and a lot of times when he'd hurt guys he'd get overly excited and just swarm guys with a bunch of inaccurate punches just hoping the ref will step in instead of striking with deadly precision like the ground and pound you'd see from silva
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Far less technical guys than Aldo have been able to spark people out just on virtue of being athletic—think Michael Johnson, Jeremy Stephens, Cub Swanson—and Aldo is one of the most naturally athletic and explosive fighters in MMA history. He should have at least one clean knockout with his fists even if just a lucky punch.
 
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achoo42 said:
My entire point is that he should have had that kind of power based on how fast and hard he was launching his punches. The fact that he doesn't makes it feel like his punches are cushioned in some way—not literally, but that's where the term pillowfisted comes in.

Seriously, does any other fast-twitch striker have ZERO one-punch knockouts?

Even Max Holloway who has been accused of being pillowfisted and is nowhere near the fast-twitch guy Aldo is, has two touch of death knockouts over Justin Gaethje and the Korean Zombie. Bobby Green knocked out Grant Dawson. Nick Diaz knocked out Lawler. Condit has his too over Dan Hardy.

How are all these guys getting touch of death knockouts and Aldo isn't?
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So if Aldo knocks Johnny Martinez dead do we write him off the list?
 
I don't think power was his best attribute, however he was super fast and accurate, and he had amazing reflexes. I think he had more power in his leg kicks than his hands, but sadly he stopped throwing leg kicks when he came to UFC, but in WEC he threw them constantly and they were powerful.
 
Leinster Rugby said:
Moicano, Stephens, Zombie and Manny from recent memory.

not one-punch ko's but definitely enough to say he sure as fook aint pillow fisted
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Don't get me wrong, he's an extremely athletic and explosive guy. That just makes it more of a mystery why he doesn't knock anyone out cold when other less explosive fighters do.

I mean the fact that two of the fights you listed are standing TKOs. Stephens is a liver shot which doesn't require power to drop someone, and Manny is from ground and pound.
 
achoo42 said:
Far less technical guys than Aldo have been able to spark people out just on virtue of being athletic—think Michael Johnson or Cub Swanson—and Aldo is one of the most naturally athletic and explosive fighters in MMA history. He should have at least one clean knockout with his fists even if just a lucky punch.
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Aldo is far less aggressive than those guys, and their punch technique wasn't worse if you're looking at it solely from the standpoint of punching with power. Most of their kos were against scrubs too
 
GolovKing said:
Aldo is far less aggressive than those guys, and their punch technique wasn't worse if you're looking at it solely from the standpoint of punching with power. Most of their kos were against scrubs too
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Dude Cub Swanson is the definition of looping arm punches. At least when Jose Aldo flurried, you can see him putting his hips into each punch:

 
achoo42 said:
My entire point is that he should have had that kind of power based on how fast and hard he was launching his punches. The fact that he doesn't makes it feel like his punches are cushioned in some way—not literally, but that's where the term pillowfisted comes in.

Seriously, does any other fast-twitch striker have ZERO one-punch knockouts?

Even Max Holloway who has been accused of being pillowfisted and is nowhere near the fast-twitch guy Aldo is, has two touch of death knockouts over Justin Gaethje and the Korean Zombie. Bobby Green knocked out Grant Dawson. Nick Diaz knocked out Lawler. Condit has his too over Dan Hardy.

How are all these guys getting touch of death knockouts and Aldo isn't?
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I get what you’re saying. Dude was an athletic specimen. When was the last time you saw anyone come at Aldo like those guys though.
Maybe his hands and knuckles aren’t as big. Which plays a huge role in KO power. All I know is Aldo hit hard
 
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