UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Lobov

wonderfullife

Clive wrote: »

Generally speaking a second corner should be quiet. They feed information to the first corner - times, things they may have not seen etc. The first corner should be the voice the fighter hears. Between rounds the first corner gives the technical information and instructions, the second corner may give some encouragement, time permitting.

First corners are first for a reason. The exception is where they may be say a striking corner and a grappling corner and they shift roles as needed.

Corners have much more information coming to them than we do at home. They can hear the impact of a checked kick, see the tightness around the eyes that indicates pain, notice opportunities that are allowed to pass and get feedback from the fighter.

Owen is an excellent analyst and corner, who knows Artem inside and out. Every piece of information I heard him give (admittedly I don't pay that much attention) was spot on.

I agree with nearly all you said.

The only thing I'll say is I absolutely LOVED the corner work at UFC 202 from the lads, it's one of the best examples I've ever seen.

John, Owen, Dillon and Conor Wallace all worked seamlessly in tandem. They almost never shouted over each other, the advice was relevant and calm, it was Exhibit A in how to do it.

John was vocal when the fight went at short range.
Owen was vocal when Conor was at kicking distance.
Dillon very vocal during clinch exchanges.
Conor Wallace called for 1-2's and jabs.

In between rounds, John did lead cornering and Owen calmly gave technical advice on set-ups.

All I'm saying is last night it was a one-man show in the corner, and whilst Roddy is excellent, I'd have liked John and Queally to be in the corner alongside him. 3 pairs of eyes are better than 2 pairs and 2 voices in between rounds is better than one.

Like, just my opinion man

pappyodaniel

Cub Swanson by KO/TKO

Why wasn't JK at ringside?

Clive

wonderfullife wrote: »

All I'm saying is last night it was a one-man show in the corner, and whilst Roddy is excellent...

You're going back on yourself now, first you said that Owen didn't or couldn't adapt on the fly, now you're saying he just needed an extra pair of eyes.

Again the reality is different to theory, when you have a large team, not everyone is available every night. John was on holiday, Peter has a fight in Russia. Any team that is overly reliant on one or two coaches has a built in expiry date. Usually the fighter themselves will select the second corner for all sorts of reasons.

Mellor

Artem Lobov by Submission

pappyodaniel wrote: »

Why wasn't JK at ringside?

wonderfullife

pappyodaniel wrote: »

Why wasn't JK at ringside?

He was in Ireland after just getting back from Australia. I'll never ever know why he didn't just fly direct to Nashville from Sydney instead. Nobody likes long haul flights, I get that but meh what better way to round off an epic holiday than a fight in Country Music Central....

Clive wrote: »

You're going back on yourself now, first you said that Owen didn't or couldn't adapt on the fly, now you're saying he just needed an extra pair of eyes.

Again the reality is different to theory, when you have a large team, not everyone is available every night. John was on holiday, Peter has a fight in Russia. Any team that is overly reliant on one or two coaches has a built in expiry date. Usually the fighter themselves will select the second corner for all sorts of reasons.

There's no contradiction is there? I feel Owen is an excellent coach and it was a valuable learning experience for him and for Richie Smullen, to get a feel for a big fight night. I don't think it's contradictory to say John's experience in the corner might have added to what adjustments they could have suggested for Artem or that Owen might not have spotted every adjustment necessary?

Mind you, Rumble demonstrated you can have the best advice in the world from your corner and it's no guarantee a fighter can/will follow it anyway.

SBG is heavily reliant on one or two coaches though for the highest level fights. Sure you've got up-and-coming Coaches like Paddy, Blaine, Sergey, Richie Smullen, even my good friend Richy06 would make an excellent corner man if he wanted to but as far as big fight nights go, they're heavily reliant on John and Owen still. They've by far the most experience on the big stage.

Clive

I hate going back to nit pick through people's posts, but what you said initially was:

wonderfullife wrote: »

The corner arrangement was fairly poor, Richie is a great guy but he was a deer in headlights and barely said a word. Roddy is fantastic but he kept calling for pull-counters when they clearly weren't working yet didn't call for more leg kicks.

Cub's leg was in ribbons yet Artem all but abandoned that strategy when he truly needed to double up on it. It should have been leg-kick-city all the way. That's the job of a corner to assess what's working and what's not working.

That's quite a way from John might have added something or Owen might have missed something.

As for being reliant or one or two corners, no SBG aren't. Do the same people crop up again and again, yes. Are they the only people who can do the job, no.

Being a corner isn't like being a fighter, "big stage" experience happens virtually instantly. Once you've done one show with big lights, big music and big egos trying to make your fighter dance to their production tune, the UFC is no different, just a bit more red tape.

wonderfullife

Clive wrote: »

I hate going back to nit pick through people's posts, but what you said initially was:



That's quite a way from John might have added something or Owen might have missed something.

As for being reliant or one or two corners, no SBG aren't. Do the same people crop up again and again, yes. Are they the only people who can do the job, no.

Being a corner isn't like being a fighter, "big stage" experience happens virtually instantly. Once you've done one show with big lights, big music and big egos trying to make your fighter dance to their production tune, the UFC is no different, just a bit more red tape.

Clive, with all due respect this is a debate I can't win!

You're a friend of John's and an SBG Coach, so you're far better placed than me to give an informed opinion. I'm just an insomniac fan.

I'll stick to my guns that I feel John should have scheduled/adjusted his flights to go to Nashville, because Richie Smullen can't replace the experience/knowledge John would have brought to the table.

By the way I have watched some of your Grapplepalooza videos!

Gamebred

Cub Swanson by KO/TKO

Raging Al aint a happy camper, fair play to him calling Dana and the UFC out.

Gamebred

Cub Swanson by KO/TKO

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTRkit5Bl-C/?taken-by=as_shopped_as_it_gets_

Gamebred

Cub Swanson by KO/TKO

Didnt like Stann coming over in this before the result is announced.

wonderfullife

Gamebred wrote: »

Didnt like Stann coming over in this before the result is announced.

To be fair, it was clumsy but I think Stann mistakenly thought Artem knew he clearly lost. Fighters usually know themselves if they've lost or not. He just assumed Artem knew he got beat.

Anyone like Stann?

John_D80

Deleted User wrote: »

Anyone like Stann?

Yeah absolutely. I like him on the mic and he seems like a decent guy as well. Podcast he did with Joe Rogan was very very good.

Gamebred

Cub Swanson by KO/TKO

I know it was obvious he lost but let him hear the decision ffs have some respect, I like Stann too for the most part met him before him and Dan Hardy were gents, hate the ''greatest living american'' line Anik uses non stop lick arse.