Fedor Emelianenko's 'Fight IQ' Fails Him Against Fabricio Werdum
It's clear that Werdum is a very dangerous submission artist. Also, historically, Fedor's biggest fights against BJJ stylists are his trilogy with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He won the first of those fights by leaping into Big Nog's guard and devastating Nog with brutal ground and pound from the top. At the time this was seen as an audacious and daring approach since Nogueira was and is one of the most dangerous submission artists in MMA history.
In fact, Nogueira has a considerably higher finishing rate than Werdum. But the key difference, aside from the Nog fights happening in a ring, were that Nogueira tends to rely on sweeps from his back, not exclusively, but often. He's also got shorter legs than Werdum. Clearly Fedor misjudged some things last night.
Dan Henderson Wins the Trip Takedown BattleIn fact, Nogueira has a considerably higher finishing rate than Werdum. But the key difference, aside from the Nog fights happening in a ring, were that Nogueira tends to rely on sweeps from his back, not exclusively, but often. He's also got shorter legs than Werdum. Clearly Fedor misjudged some things last night.
Hendo's trip takedown is another common counter to the outside leg-cover: O Uchi Gari. Feijao once again goes for the rudimentary outside leg-cover trip and winds up just putting his weight on Hendo's hips again--really poor game-planning considering his opponent is a Greco specialist. Hendo keeps his center of gravity under Feijao, and as Feijao tries to drive forward into the trip, Hendo just steers the attacking leg clockwise with his own thigh. Feijao continues forward while his lead leg is yanked off to the right, and he goes down hard. Feijao winds up on his back because he never had control of the clinch in the first place.
SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson