Why was Aldo incapable of clean knockouts?

[Hassan Mouzine]

this shit is getting out of hand. just because somebody doesnt ktfo people like poatan or ngannou, doesnt mean they are pillow fisted or 'slightly pillow fisted'.

aldo wasnt a headhunter that had 1 or two tricks. he was multi-faceted and could and would hit his opponent with a diverse range of weapons. when he got older he started to box more and kick/knee les, but he still wasnt a head hunter and fought smart.

ask his opponents if aldo is pillow fisted and they will laugh at you. yet on sherdog it becomes a forum thread

 

[NoSmilez]

Probably a timing issue with his boxing. He is really explosive. He dropped a few people in his career but never knocked out out with his hands.

Maybe he isn't heavy handed. Some people are just heavy handed. You can tell when they hit the bag even if they aren't particularly fast.

 

[Substance Abuse]

When you look at the very top guys you have to account for some selection bias. Like Robert Whittaker gets called pillow-fisted from time to time, and although he might not be the hardest puncher he's certainly able to put guys out. It's more that the fighters he's facing are guys at the top of the sport who very rarely get finished. Aldo too has been a top guy for a long, long time. If he'd spent more time facing prelim level opponents you can bet he'd have many more knockouts.

That Whittaker narrative is fucking tired. Proof?

Vettori eats 241 total strikes against Cannonier, doesn't get finished or even dropped for that matter. Whittaker doesn't finish him despite soundly outclassing him and hurting him multiple times? He's a point fighter.

Gastelum is known for an iron chin and has never been finished by strikes in 27 fights. Whittaker outstrikes him 169 to 70 but doesn't finish him. He's a point fighter.

Cannonier has never been finished at Middleweight, was knocked down by Bobby who also broke his arm and soundly beat him, but Whittaker didn't get the finish. He's a point fighter.

Till has 23 career fights and has never been finished by strikes at Middleweight. Whittaker beats him, lands more strikes at 100 to 50 and drops him. No finish? He's a point fighter.

Whittaker's last five opponents not named Israel Adesanya have fought 138 times in their careers. If you include Adesanya it's 165. They've only been finished by strikes five (six if you include Israel) total times in their careers.

Damn point fighter.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

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.

You have a big problem with nuisance comparing Benson to Aldo in punching power.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

That Whittaker narrative is fucking tired. Proof?

Vettori eats 241 total strikes against Cannonier, doesn't get finished or even dropped for that matter. Whittaker doesn't finish him despite soundly outclassing him and hurting him multiple times? He's a point fighter.

Gastelum is known for an iron chin and has never been finished by strikes in 27 fights. Whittaker outstrikes him 169 to 70 but doesn't finish him. He's a point fighter.

Cannonier has never been finished at Middleweight, was knocked down by Bobby who also broke his arm and soundly beat him, but Whittaker didn't get the finish. He's a point fighter.

Till has 23 career fights and has never been finished by strikes at Middleweight. Whittaker beats him, lands more strikes at 100 to 50 and drops him. No finish? He's a point fighter.

Whittaker's last five opponents not named Israel Adesanya have fought 138 times in their careers. If you include Adesanya it's 165. They've only been finished by strikes five (six if you include Israel) total times in their careers.

Damn point fighter.

People don't think, that's the main problem, Whittaker fights a bunch of guys known for their iron chins but people want to call him pillow fisted. Aljo gets 2 near finishes against Kattar who has only been finished 2 times in 31 fights so obviously Aljo wasn't trying to finish. It's a bunch of people looking at a small portion of the whole picture acting like they figured out something everyone else missed.

 

[Substance Abuse]

People don't think, that's the main problem, Whittaker fights a bunch of guys known for their iron chins but people want to call him pillow fisted. Aljo gets 2 near finishes against Kattar who has only been finished 2 times in 31 fights so obviously Aljo wasn't trying to finish. It's a bunch of people looking at a small portion of the whole picture acting like they figured out something everyone else missed.

The threads on the front page the last week have been pure dookie for the most part, lol.

 

[Duck Dodgers]

Not the hardest puncher, but he essentially KO’d Mendes at the end of the first round (well, after the round) in their second fight. And he dropped Font quite a few times.

 

[PlayTheGame]

The level of competition he faced in his prime has a lot to do with it.

His (arguably) weakest opponents at 145 were Stephens and Moicano, and he put away both. Chances are, he would've one-shot dudes like Cody McKenzie too, but he never faced them.

 

[arcadeperfect]

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.

Barboza's kinda similar in that regard. Obviously he's starched guys with kicks and knees, but for a super explosive guy he's never put guys away with 1 punch just like Aldo.

 

[Tweak896]

Funny how many people seem hurt from the accusation that Aldo doesn't have power. He was more of the kind of fighter to put the heat on guys until they melted, which is a perfectly acceptable style. He wasn't exactly weak where guys could walk through his shots, but he also didn't bite down to throw punches. I think his TDD and leg checking relied on being light on his feet. It is sort of strange for an explosive guy to not have a KO from a punch though, but his style worked.

 

[Milenkovic]

Pretty sure Max said the hardest person to ever hit him was Aldo

 

[blaseblase]

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.

Aldo hit a helluva lot harder than Bendo

 

[Conor Strickland]

Take his punch and find out

This

 

[fortheo]

Max used to say Aldo hit him harder than anyone else. Maybe he's changed his opinion, though.

 

[achoo42]

but for arguments sake what do you call his finish of Manny Gamburyan if not a KO by punches?

Blasting shots on the ground until someone is out is not the same as Topuria landing a single flush shot and slumping his opponent.

KO rate drops drastically at lower weight classes.
Do you even math bro?

Plenty of 145ers/135ers have at least one clean knockout by punches.. Even a notorious pillowfist like Holloway has two. Aldo has none.

You have a big problem with nuisance comparing Benson to Aldo in punching power.

Aldo hit a helluva lot harder than Bendo

And yet they have the same amount of one-punch knockouts.

For the record, I never compared Bendo's punching ability to Jose Aldo. Someone said that Aldo drops people and I responded that Bendo also drops people, so it doesn't mean much on its own.

ask his opponents if aldo is pillow fisted and they will laugh at you. yet on sherdog it becomes a forum thread

I think you all are missing the point. Nobody said Aldo wasn't powerful, or wasn't explosive. What I'm saying is that for how hard he was visibly slamming missiles into his opponents, he probably should have at least one or two clean KOs by punches.

 

[OleBuffalo]

The level of competition he faced in his prime has a lot to do with it.

His (arguably) weakest opponents at 145 were Stephens and Moicano, and he put away both. Chances are, he would've one-shot dudes like Cody McKenzie too, but he never faced them.

I can’t remember if McKenzie was a late notice vs Mendes, but if not, the fact that Cody McKenzie got thrown in there with Mendes who’d just fought Aldo for the belt is hilarious matchmaking

 

[taugrim]

This thread is garbage.

Prime Aldo was a terror on the feet. Blistering leg kicks (back before calf kicks became the thing), explosive knees, and power & accuracy in his hands with those sharp hooks to the head and body.

Aldo obliterated then-WEC champ Brown, mauled Faber leg to the point where it was a blimp, finished Manny, then went on a run against UFC names such as Florian, Frankie, and especially with Mendes, who was a beast in his prime. Aldo faced incredibly stiff competition in his run as 145 champ.

You have a big problem with nuisance comparing Benson to Aldo in punching power.

Do you mean nuance?

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

This thread is garbage.

Prime Aldo was a terror on the feet. Blistering leg kicks (back before calf kicks became the thing), explosive knees, and power & accuracy in his hands with those sharp hooks to the head and body.

Aldo obliterated then-WEC champ Brown, mauled Faber leg to the point where it was a blimp, finished Manny, then went on a run against UFC names such as Florian, Frankie, and especially with Mendes, who was a beast in his prime. Aldo faced incredibly stiff competition in his run as 145 champ.


Do you mean nuance?

Yes, phone autocorrected to wrong word.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Benson lacked power

He wasn’t a huge puncher but he wasn’t pillow fisted. He is one of the only people to drop Nate Diaz with a punch.

 

[fizzlehiss]

Aldo rocked multiple people, and most notably he rocked Max. I think his lack of power comes from lack of good technique and not being able to line up his strong punches. Everyone can punch really hard, but it is all about being able to deliver those hard punches to their target.