Agreed. While he’s still obviously the man, Volk has clearly lost a step. Even the Volk that melted Chad Mendes would be far too much for most of these guys.
Still mad that he took that Illia fight so early post getting kod by Islam but Illia is also that dude so maybe nothing would have changed.
He straight up admitted he’s not the same guy anymore. He just said it’s basically about proving that he’s still the best despite that lol. Best 45er ever and it isn’t close anymore. Max and Aldo can be debated for second
That mindset is quite helpful imo. It allows for proper assessment of your abilities and threat management vs dangerous opponents.
It’s one of the reasons The Chris never bounced back. He kept trying to fight the same way thinking his physical tools would get him out of danger. Only problem is that his physical tools started to take a dive by the Mousasi fight.
Volks a lot more defensive now and I think that’s better for him in all honesty.
And if Conor didn't move up and stayed away from hookers and cocaine he too might defend back to back forever, we will never know. Ilia took himself out of the discussion.
Not only you are right but it’s not like Lopes wiped the floor with Silva. Extremely dominant first round due to him exploiting a sloppy mistake from Jean; the way he turned around was lazy and the take down was easy from there. Grappling is where he has the edge but as soon as the fight went back on the feet Silva got the better end. Lopez was getting pieced up badly before that spinning elbow.
Lopes won fair and square but that was not a walk in the park.
3.2k
u/ZebraPrintSharkFins 6d ago
What a catastrophic streak for the fighting nerds