Rockhold vs Romero Post Fight Analysis - Coach Zahabi

[@t.r3400]

More videos, Coach Zahabi. You have no clue of how much we appreciate your videos!

[@CoachZahabi]

Are You Intoxicated? Thank u for the comment!! Will keep them coming!

[@MrVirtuezzz]

Haha, the account name and picture that you replied to makes this short conversation hilarious

[@ET-xn4zs]

Continue with those analysis and this channel is gonna blow up coach, keep up the good work 👊

[@CoachZahabi]

Thank u

[@devonsinclair6994]

Leading up to the Rochold fight Romero was saying he learned a lot from the Whitaker fight. And the only difference I've seen in the Rockhold fight is that Romero made no attempts to use his wrestling what so ever. If you watch Romero's fights you will realise that when he takes people down they get back up straight away and as good as a wrestler Romero is he doesn't have the ability to keep guys down. I think Romero is aware of his stamina issues and has identified that most of his wins come from striking and wrestling drains his energy a lot and maybe the reason he gasses in fights. From now on I think he will only use his wrestling to keep the fight standing and use all his energy on the stand-up where he is very good.

[@ashbash986]

Love these breakdowns. Please do one on Ortega x Edgar. Also, Rockhold x Romero outcome makes Romero x DC seem like a really intriguing matchup. I think I'd rather see that than DC x Stipe.

[@TheLockon00]

I was thinking the same thing about Romero versus Cormier.

[@panoloustas2173]

.

[@zachm6832]

Okay but DC is a heavyweight and Romero is a freaking middleweight lol

[@obliviox]

Firas is amazing such an MMA Genius and amazing fighting mind, so insightful and observant what a great coach. 10x more knowledgeable than anyone currently covering MMA period wish he was on the UFC broadcast but that is selfish, i know he is busy creating the best fighters in the world and training future champions!

[@obliviox]

Also wish we could get Firas on joe rogan podcast! Lets comment to joe!!

[@josephramirez557]

We know GSPs work ethic, technical skill, and athleticism are legendary BUT would we still have GSP and his legacy w/o the fight IQ of Firas and the great training resources an excellent city like Montreal offers??? I would probably say GSP wouldn't have quite been as effective as he is today and has been throughout the years w/o such a great Coach,Fight Team, Gym, and City behind him. I love GSP man, I really do. He's so classy and makes the sport look good with his awesome attitude and tactful style in the media and his clever startegy and highlight reel laden fights and how he drops knowledge from time to time to all us lesser mortals who train for fun out here BUT GSP and Stipe (Spider Silva, Jon Jones-you know that rare tier of "In a league of their own" athletes like what Jerry Rice is to NFL WRs and Michael Jordan is to NBA SGs) are the literal GOATs in their divisions because of brilliant teams, coaches, and a great local community behind them(Tier 1 and 2 sized metros offer training and development opportunities other places DONT have). I would LOVE to see GSP fight Tyron Woodley this year-that intense fight he had years back with Josh Koscheck was brilliant-they were at each other the whole time, legendary fight in my eyes. Woodley is like a more refined version of Koschek and with all the years of training behind GSP and his natural cleverness/brilliant eye for strategy he will only find even better ways to advance to his objective in a fight against anyone now like how he mandhandled a bad ass like Mike Bisping-still, I know ANYTHING can happen to either one of them if they do fight. It will be the biggest MMA test either GSP or Woodley will ever see in their entire life's when they do fight each other because nobody's better among the Welterweights than those two-they are the best, it's the absolute truth and would be the pinnacle of combat sports for Welterweights.

[@ashwinnair4816]

Firas, can you do the pre and post fight analysis for PPVs and important fights more often?Love to hear your technical analysis as it makes the fight more interesting and helpful for my betting as well,Big fan ,keep up the great work brother

[@CoachZahabi]

Ashwin Nair thank u and yes will definitely try!

[@justsayok5137]

U should do more of these videos. Missed your videos

[@ThePleds]

JustsayOK agreed

[@stereosonix2000]

Awesome work sir, Keep it up!

[@ricwell209]

Very Good Unbiased assessment of the fight

[@JeffCfreeradiorevolution]

Awesome breakdown Firaz! Look forward to more of these!

[@mmaking8664]

Please make this more frequently coach, we love this, and im coming to Montreal soon as a postgrad student. Hoping to train in Tristar very seriously

[@marcokazama3558]

Merci firas très bonne analyse

[@theangrycheeto]

Thanks for getting back to this series. Keep up the great work, coach!

[@jamessparrow8836]

Thanks Coach Firas! Your analysis is so detailed and strategic; you really exemplify the truth of how great fighting is more about the mind and mentality of the fighters. I heard Yoel walks around at 220, what do you think a Yoel Vs DC looks like?

[@tupilwesinyangwe5098]

Thank you coach Zahabi. You are the best. Romero's style is a scary one, one minute he is moving like a 2 year old baby and then boom! the other guy is down.

[@lowlowseesee]

you should definitely throw the link to the pre fight analysis in the description of this vid when you can. thanks for your work yo

[@rosewoodcoaccountants8607]

Coach, great vid, can you have a little box in the corner of the screen so when you highlight some of the pros or cons of the fighters that we can see exactly what you are referencing. Otherwise a fantastic analysis as always. May God bless you.

[@jordillatzer]

Coach, I would like to ask 2 things about the fight. I noticed that the first round was fought at a "kick boxing" distance while second and third were fought at "boxing distance". Don't you think that Romero damaged Rockhold legs with his checks? It looks to me that he had a strategy for that. The second question is related to Romero punching Rockhold legs throwing hammer fists, I had never seen that. What was the main goal of Romero? Was he trying to make Rockhold change the point of attention? It was very weird. What is the technical explanation? Thank you in advance for your analysis and your channel.

[@larryoso]

I think rockhold knows that he has an issue when backing up, but he's just too arrogant and thinks that he won't get clipped

[@Gemminttrading]

Thank you for taking the time to give us your perspective on this fight. I think Luke's chin has got a little bit soft over his recent fights. I like Luke and I hope to see him battle back. Not much talk about Romero missing weight now that the fights over. Could the weightcut been more devastating for Rockhold? Does one of the fighters walk around considerably heavier? Same question - who had to cut more weight, do you know? Thanks... I shared on Twitter

[@Richard-Espanol]

Always enjoy these breakdowns coach. Thank you

[@htsoon3912]

You should do these analysis more often, I love them.

[@saucepanification]

romero is more like one out of fifty million type athlete. dude is a freak.

[@ybench5871]

at 40 years old ?????!?

[@sesstv4960]

At 40yrs old that is freak

[@svenislav896]

I love Yoel, but he's juiced to the tits man. He's just used to dealing with USADA and has more advanced doping techniques coming from the Olympics so they can't catch him

[@rvnwy7261]

Svenislav Psn Josh Barnett was juiced to the tits since he was a teen, it still didn't make him explosive or fast like Yoel Romero. Steroids only enhance what is already there. If you gave steroids to Nate Diaz, he wouldn't become that much faster, or that much more explosive. Its just not in his genes, hes a slow twitch athlete. Yoel is built like a fucking jaguar, he has a small gas tank, and uses small amounts of energy in short bursts. The fact that he may take steroids doesnt take away from his athleticism, that's pure genetics.

[@saucepanification]

For sure there are not too many 40 year old dudes look like Yoel. Firas said he was one out of a million which would literally translate to there be 7000 guys with Yoel's athleticism. One in 50 million translates to there being 140 guys with Yoel's athleticism. Either way Yoel is a freak.

[@belakranians7896]

I noticed that Romero started making his punches much sharper round 3, for example before round 3 when Romero had him against the fence you can see he wasn't hitting Rockhold with the same sharp powerful shots as he did in round 3. Now the question is was it his strategy to just kind of hang in there and feel Rockhold out and find his timing and holes and only go 100% sharp and powerful for the holes in Rockholds game when he was ready in round 3? I believe this does 2 things 1. Normally when a fighter keeps attacking the fighters weaknesses the fighter is able to adjust to defend, because of this Romero didn't want to show Rockhold what he was planning on finishing him with until he was ready to completely explode and take him out. 2. Luke also got a feel for Romero's timing and speed, and Romero changed that. So while Romero found Luke's timing and went for the kill, he changed the timing, speed, and sharpness of his own attack so it would be that much harder for Luke to defend Romero. What do you guys think?

[@solomonking328]

Could you add some mma gear to the back ground. Could use some visuals... just an easy improvement suggestion. Also. What gear would you recommend to the community. Thanks Firas. I try to watch everything you teach. A living guru

[@DimMakTen]

Thank you for taking your time to share your brilliant insight. I cant believe im just finding this chanel! Rockhold looked horrible during the weigh in event. His lips were a huge indicator that I recognize from wrestling weigh ins, i think his coach advised him to keep the sunglasses on. If u watch the post weighin interview, he could barely get words out. I feel he was badly compromised. And his brain was surely not hydrated appropriately 24hrs later, which didnt help at all with those Atom bombs the soldier of god was droppin.

[@ricardowashington4447]

Great analysis, Coach. Keep it going. I think that even though we did not see a takedown in this fight, we did see wrestling make a difference in 2 ways. 1) The takedowns and combos off of takedowns that Yoel is known for were likely a factor because Luke had to be aware of the possibility of them. I think that Luke was checking his actions by that in the second round. That plus the hypnotic slow slow EXPLODE slow slow pace of Yoel likely added to the confusion that Luke seemed to display. 2) Yoel's explosive power is similar to what we see from other wrestlers who have learned to strike. Tyron is a good example. Wrestlers have been training since high school or earlier to refine their kinetic chains for explosive power. If they translate that into delivering punches from their core rather than shots, carries, tosses, hip outs, etc etc, the result can be a punch that is fast and chained well.

[@Themindofreyrey]

Coach Firas, I’ll be going to Toronto later this year. How can I set up a BJJ private lesson with you?

[@hardeepjohal6693]

I found this channel nd subscribe really good content

[@Mrgt-q1i]

Yo Coach there was some talks about you being a guest on JRE ? Are you going and bte phenomenal post fight analysis

[@ehmt-19]

Short and sweet, thank you for your incredible knowledge Sir!

[@cheapshic]

on point analysis. i still remember when you predicted weidman beating romero and it would be wiedmans time

[@IvanGarcia-mh5nh]

Great insight, keep it coming Firas. I also believe that 205 could be a great move in Rockhold's career. Nothing to lose really.

[@marcogarcia4696]

One of the best fighting coach in the mma world

[@DJRUBOSS]

Always high quality content coming from Firas.

[@user-vr4ng7hv1y]

Hey ! I know you studied philosophy at UdeM (where I'm currently studying philosophy). There's a question I always want to ask, but I never know on which video to ask it; so here it is : you seem very influenced by Ancient philosophers, notably Aristotle for your definition of virtue and Marcus Aurelius for the discipline. I wondered if my assessment is correct (that you preferred Ancient Philosophy to, say, Foucault, Derrida, Wittgenstein, etc.) and who is the one philosopher that you enjoy the most ? I would also like to salute the fact that you made philosophy a way of life instead of just a discourse. I would like to do the same in the future.

[@TR-gg5nt]

My kind regards from Toronto, thank you coach for the review. Love Yoel's style

[@jimmytua4768]

Can you do a vid on heavy bag work? Like what you want to hear and do to it? How it can help supplement your skills on top of sparring. The purpose behind it. Basically a beginners training 101.

[@patrickjohnston2839]

Thanks again for the excellent post fight analysis! I agree with everything you said. Brendan Schaub seems to think Romero has no technique, not getting any better and says he caught Rockhold behind the ear which is why the fight ended. He said Rockhold is the best MW and got smoked by Whittaker in their first fight. Thoughts?

[@patrickjohnston2839]

*meant to say Brendan is telling everyone that Romero got smoked by Whittaker in their first fight. Why is this guy always soooo wrong about his assessments? Could it have something to do with CTE

[@Alex24998r]

Thanks Firas, for your honesty and sincerity. You are one of the best coaches- if not The Best in all of MMA. Too bad there is not a Tri Star Gym in Toronto under your franchise, I would join it tomorrow if it were so.

[@j.j.k2073]

It was nice that you didn't go through other peoples questions. There are lots of questions I don't care to hear answer to. However what you personally talk about is always interesting.

[@SoopaflyKZ]

You did not mention that Yoel's leg was also damaged. Do you think that if Luke had played a little bit different game, clinch more and wrestle, he would eventually wear Yoel out and submit him?

[@BJJSubArtist]

Awesome breakdown Coach Zahabi, really enjoy these videos. I would attribute a lot of Romero's discipline to lack of pressure from Rockhold, nowhere near the forward, attacking pressure that Whittaker put on him. I'm not sure Rockhold going to 205 is going to help him, weak defense (when pressured, goes straight back), that chin up and hands down, way too often. Also going to be hit a lot harder, imagine Oezdemir getting a clean shot on Rockhold's chin? In any case, keep up the great work!

[@jimmytua4768]

I would have liked to see Whitaker vs Rockhold. I think Whitaker has the best left hook in that division and that seems to be Luke’s Achilles heel right now. I’ve never Rockhold deal with a karate/boxing hybrid style. I know Whitaker is a extremely hard guy to outmuscle. Do you think Luke would have imposed himself in the ground despite Jacare not being able to?

[@jonnyw82]

Luke’s left leg was looking extremely shaky in the last two rounds. When planting his foot back down after a kick you could see him struggling to find his footing. Wonder if he was hurt bad by leg kick or check and wasn’t able to use his kicks effectively.

[@jonnyw82]

Got it, that explains it. That took away a major weapon for sure. Thanks.

[@TheUFCVeteran]

Awesome stuff, can't wait to hear this!

[@McFasty3924]

Great assessment. I think that weight cut really hurt Rockhold (he looks ash grey in an interview moments after) I suspect dehydration has a few lasting effects on your 'mental quickness' and it kinda bothered me that he did not even attempt to grapple. The way I see it is this: Romero is basically a sawn off shotgun that you keep dropping on the floor. It's a scary, scary thing. So why not directly address this and do the unexpected back at him. Literally the second he comes in with one of his mad flurries, shoot and you have the whole length of the octagon to take him down. I know he is an elite wrestler and can explode back to his feet, but this still takes energy - ALOT of energy with a guy of Rockholds top game control and pressure. You probably eat a few strikes in the mouth nose area, again impacting your cardio and disheartening you, however tough you may be. Judges will see it too which is nice. Rinse and repeat, sap his energy and hopefully finish the fight on the ground where the explosive strikes are not the problem anymore (You know, the thing the MMA has established as a very successful strategy which Luke is more than capable of). Much as it can be frustrating to watch, Curtis Blaydes has the right idea against hunt. He established (with some risk) right away that trading strikes with someone as accurate, sneaky and experienced as mark hunt is not particularly intelligent. Is it a pride thing for Rockhold to stand and trade with Romero? I'm just some random dude, but you would think he or his coaches would not want to approach the fight this way. As Firas says, the front kicks etc certainly could get the job done, but there is still all that risk of a blazing left cross etc. Amazing fight! I had the rounds scored the same way Coach, keep making these videos please!

[@Malouco]

Mike Sloan dude Whitaker was getting dropped after cutting weight but now he takes shit like nothing. I theorize that it takes a while to redistribute the re-intake of water so all fluids including the brains are back to balance bc guys who cut have more fragile chins. Just conjecture on my part.

[@drazzzpoppp5022]

Larry Medina i agree man.these people are draining themselves n destroying their health for years trying to fight at lower weightclass.if u gonna lose u might as well lose showing up somewhat happy n healthy to a fight then drained lookin like corpse day before n still get ktfo

[@Gbari7]

@ Mike Sloan I see what you're saying, but isn't what you described Weidman's strategy?

[@Crapweeds]

When Rockhold backs up he always shuffles backwards to keep his strong side forward. Is it more important to maintain your strongest guard or to cover the distance when fighting an explosive guy like Romero?

[@t.kupincanada6093]

I live in thunder bay ontario and i hope one day i can come to tristar and train.

[@hanoitripper1809]

I live in New Zealand and I would also love to visit Tristar

[@arama0010]

Me too brother

[@mehdimehdav2854]

Je suis français et j'aime beaucoup tes video .. est ce que tu pourrai les sous-titres ?

[@wessex8031]

Mehdi Mehdav vous pourrais apprendre l'anglais😅 sorry if messed up french, im spaniard.

[@mehdimehdav2854]

Wessex Yes Amigo I Tried 😂

[@andrewSUN17]

Romero was just basically defending, watching, studying and taking all of the best Luke could give, conserving energy and then deciding when to explode...a wise fight approach...

[@putrariskiadi1906]

alwaysss loooovveeee to hear him talking!!! inspiring coach!!! I want him to speak about Khabib's fight

[@coriosaba9445]

you are great at this dont stop

[@delatroy]

Most impressive thing about Romero imo was his cardio. He was able to sustain his explosions and maintain great defence. Freak of nature to see that combination.

[@TurboPersonalTraining]

I want to swing by your gym one day. Great stuff coach.. minwan int?

[@gregadamd1399]

Nice video bro. Do I ask questions on the comment thread or your email?

[@cambo6911]

Great breakdown as always coach! Luke made a couple mistakes but I see some of his improvements and IMHO he should iron out these mistakes & make one more run for the belt. Hooft can definitely help him work these mistakes out. Poor lateral movement, hanging out in the pocket, too upright in his stance, a little too stiff and eager, doesn't initiate clinch for takedowns and needs to follow game plan a little more strictly, are a few things I think should be put under the microscope. In lew of the criticism, Lukes' striking looked more crisp and he had improved timing. I like how he was using his jab. Sometimes he would step in with it, other times he would arm pump it as a range finder then step in with an off time straight left. In spite of his poor defensive lateral movement, he showed improvement with cutting & creating angles but Yoels' rushes are usually straight line forward so defensive lateral movement is key here. I think Luke can do it, I hope he makes another run at the belt. Or simply retire. IMHO the world is Lukes' oyster.

[@darrellporter5858]

Thanks coach. Keep em comin!

[@yybr85712]

Great analysis Firas. Thank you. I was quite surprised Luke lost so violently. I thought Luke's kicks and length would give Yoel trouble. I guess Yoel's power is just too much. I do think Luke's chin is a little susceptible. If not before, then certainly now. Anyway. I hope Luke comes back. It would be great to see him in a grappling tournament. It might help his confidence.

[@honeybadgerdavid663]

Is that right hand check hook less powerfull in a "southpaw vs southpaw" fight?

[@Osealey]

What kind of adjustment would Romero need to make to beat Whittaker? I don't know but I think he could do the next time around.

[@DuncanTheHighlander]

Master Firas what's your opinion on maybe a contributing factor to Rockholds movement is that he's fairly high in his stance? Been trying myself to work on having lower hips

[@CoachZahabi]

Duncan The Highlander yes I agree

[@madlipzjagd5378]

Yoels abillity to parry almost every shot was amazing.

[@madlipzjagd5378]

Well...thats enough for me. Don´t think that lot of other fighters can do the same. While he is parrying he is not using any energy and he has time to read Luke.

[@madlipzjagd5378]

Right, he loses all 5 rounds doing this....but his goal is exactly what he did. He had time to read Luke, and based on Lukes tendencies(leaning back to avoid punches) he could explode on him and knock him out. And the way he looked in the 3rd round, he could have done the same thing in the 4th, easy.

[@madlipzjagd5378]

Luke had to put real pressure on Romero, like Whittaker did.

[@theangrycheeto]

When will Rockhold learn not to leave his chin up, move back in a straight line towards the cage and leave his chin wide open when he throws that hook/check hook? It's getting a little ridiculous how predictable it is. You just feint, he throws his hook, leaves his chin open and you catch him with the overhand. But I'm sure he's trying his best to work on those things. Rockhold has seem to have forgotten that it was his grappling that won him the title, that got him the title shot and etc. People say that he has a glass chin but I think his chin is alright. I just think his defence is extremely porous. That open stance, hands out, chin up style gets him into trouble. He used those leg kicks really well in that southpaw vs southpaw configuration though. But holy hell, he battered Romero's legs.. I'm surprised he didn't notice how compromised Romero was and how he didn't try to capitalize on it by dragging him to the floor.

[@zGJungle]

I agree with you 100 percent, I believe his chin is average, it's the fact that he leaves it hanging out there side ways both after throwing the hook and when just back pedalling away from attacks, very predictable and surely some thing Hooft needs to make a priority.

[@theangrycheeto]

zGJungle ZG I mean when Bisping knocked him out, there was some semblance of an argument for a weak chin but Yoel Romero could knock out a tree. His glancing strikes land like power strikes- even with compromised legs.

[@ashwinchidambaram4100]

Do you think that check hook is very predictable he does it every time someone pressured him

[@misosoric3368]

considering both of their's physique, when comparing romero and ngannou, do you think ngannou should take a closer look at romero's fluid style and consider adopting it. i know that ngannou is not nearly as good a wrestler as romero is but romero doesn't utilise his wrestling that much...he mostly knocks people out...so do you think it would be smart for francis to attack in waves just like romero does

[@parakram7689]

Hey coach. Romero did the badr hari esque striaght counter for the lead hook

[@sandeepathwal4188]

Lets not 4get he DIDN'T make weight....so that may b y he looked much fresher then Rockhold That few xtra pounds MAKE a lot of difference Great work dude...keep doin wot u do.! Nuf love 4rm the UK

[@marcusaurelius2773]

Why no TDs, coach? LR's BJJ is very high level, no? Or he would have been stuffed? Can GSP TD Romero? I guess the answer is yes: who can't he TD? Was it a strategic error for LR to not put Romero on the mat or at least try? LR seemed outgunned on the feet - and thus it was futile to engage in that range.

[@philosophyexplained]

HI MR ZAHABI, DO YOU THINK ROMERO CAN DEFEAT WHITTAKER IN REMATCH. WHAT ARE HIS ADVANTAGES AGAINST WHITTAKER? AND WHAT SHOULD BE HIS GAMEPLAN?

[@MrJikosta]

hi Firas Kifak :) well...dunno if you agree with me, but i still believe Rockhold is the best middleweight at the moment, despite losing to romero, and taking bisping lightly....he just has a few issues that he needs to work on. this is his second knockout that came from his left side...bisping cracked him with a nice left hook...and so did romero with his haymaker... moreover, up till now i couldn't figure out what was his gameplan going into this fight..and i was really surprised he didn't throw any body kicks like he did with Weidman...luke is scary on the ground, and shouldn't be afraid to be taken down... awaiting your comments habib...tc

[@xmikex902x]

He has used his ground game more, but good luck trying to use it against Romero. He was probably waiting for Romero to tire then try to take him down, but you’re not gonna keep a fresh Romero down. Although maybe he should’ve clinched with him to try and work Romero’s cardio. Rockhold should’ve also pressured Romero as soon as he finished exploding to not let him rest. But yeah, Prime Rockhold needs to be able to use his grappling.

[@ronaldseal7554]

A blow to the temple area may not knock you out but I'd say it's a great place to target to set the knockout up. I've been hit there before by punches that didn't even have tremendous force but they still dazed me to the point of tunnel vision. If it wasn't just a sparring session I could have been in trouble lol

[@ElectricHorseman66]

Hi Firaz, As soon as I saw Rockhold baking up in a straight line and get stucked on the fence I thought he was going to get ko on that fence. What if Rockhold had circled out and found better angle for the counter?

[@CoachZahabi]

Francis Roussel exactly but easier said then done.

[@ElectricHorseman66]

Tristar Gym, As a coach of top fighters isn't something you wanna drill, especially when facing a guy known for his explosive attacks?

[@LeGaben]

Don't forget that in the Witthaker fight Romero tried take it to the ground a bunch of times. His cardio might have taken a hit from that and not only the push kicks. This might be why he didnt try to wrestle Luke at all this time.

[@user-li8qh4tv9t]

Can you do something about the line up of your beard? Then I can try to watch this video

[@TheBnm120]

Also Romero blocked many shots But why no wrestling from Rockhold?

[@r.nathansinclair9909]

I was wondering about Luke’s chin during the Branch fight. Yes, I thought he would have angled off or side stepped. His footwork doesn’t match his check left hook. To take a page from Connor’s whipping torso and head with the left and right hooks is flawless. Have a look at some of his warmup drills. The big question is why didn’t Luke kickbox him? He threw the question mark kick once and was so effective and created distance. I’m sure it wasn’t because of Romero’s takedowns because of how well Rockhold rolls and reverses position when going to his back. It would be an amazing rematch and I think it might happen down the road. Much love and support from Vancouver Island, 🙏 and congrats to the toughest welterweight alive...and NEW WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION...Rory McDonald. 😍

[@alinajafi4038]

hey coach, where can I post questions that you would answer in your next videos? should I post here??

[@donniedoesdishes]

great video saw alot of the same things seems every fight rockhold gets a bit slower even though he seem a bit smoother then in the branch fight

[@matthewlaplant8919]

If Rockhold moves up to 205 I would be interested in seeing him and Gustafson go at it. Similar footwork and movement between them.

[@CoachZahabi]

Mr. LaPlant that would be amazing

[@willkey7372]

How is it Romero is improving and Luke is not?

[@conorfrancis6611]

Whittaker has potential to be champ for a long time i think, great video Zahabi

[@DustyC75080]

Rockhold had something wrong with his right knee. It was wrapped in his prefight videos and when asked abt it fight week, he wouldn't confirm or deny. Notwithstanding, Luke made the weight, Yoel saved 3 lbs of energy depletion. Luke looked like it was a rough cut too, he's a lean, massive 185er/middleweight. He'll go to 205/LHW now. Luke didn't fire many body kicks, his best single strike to me. Facing a fellow lefty, his body kick became a right body kick, and he wasn't throwing it (knee injury?) like normal, although it's usually a left. He wasn't himself, but Romero landed a heavy shot, gotta tip your cap. Those traps (trapezius) though, sheesh. Tks Firas, see ya bud.

[@EagleTrue]

Luke push kicks are just to poke, not to really damage his opponent

[@jessewallace12able]

Have you ever fought dude?

[@rustman888]

He looked in such great shape because there was no pushing of the pace by Rockhold.

[@omarraymundo7475]

Watching them grapple would’ve been awesome !!!🥋🙏😌

[@parakram7689]

Tristar Gym you trained bobby knuckles well

[@erniee88]

Did anyone else see Romero use his arms to take his body weight while walking down the stairs after the official weigh ins? Also his open workout was a salsa dance instead of his usual routine. I think he could have been hiding a knee injury all along. I also felt he was also a little more flat footed in this fight. What an athlete though so much explosive power

[@toprightchannel3080]

TRT Vitor vs Yoel Romero?

[@bestgirl3380]

Rockhold was able to strike often, straight down the middle, Romero had a lot of movement, engaged Rockhold more, and disengaged when necessary, but he got hit with a lot, but according to the scorecard, Rockholds strikes, though landed moer, were not as significant, which I agree with. In the 2nd round it was impressive when he pushed Rockhold to the cage, I enjoy that combo a lot, lol, 1,2,1,2 while walking. Then in the 3rd round, Rockholds time was up. First time watching Rockhold though, he did well!!

[@janosaldroun6560]

As soon as I saw Luke go straight back when Romero blitzed I knew Luke would lose. You pointed out his defense movement before the fight and that's what I think lost him the fight.

[@lordbutterbean7868]

Would that same shot have knocked out Whittaker?

[@Dottor_J]

Whittaker has way better boxing than Luke. He wouldn't get caught by that left hook. Also Bobby in 170 is a completely different fighter, less skilled and drained by the weightcut

[@lordbutterbean7868]

Muslim Lover of Peace Man Crazy looking back on it to think Wonder boy Ko’d Bobby Knuckles in like 3 mins (no disrespect 2 Wonder boy I think he’s 1 of the best strikers in MMA) and I know Romero fucked his knee in the 1st minute and Whittaker still beat him and stuffed most of his take downs, that’s the sort of beast Whittaker is, cant wait till there rematch

[@lordbutterbean7868]

J I concur makes sense as to the fact he’s still undefeated as a Middleweight

[@lordbutterbean7868]

Muslim Lover of Peace Man 😂 Is it even possible to break Yoel? I think not

[@AW-xv7dq]

How do I get a Tristar tanktop? T shirt?

[@CoachZahabi]

Campy Camp coming soon I promise!!

[@zGJungle]

Luke and DC share the same defensive tactic of backing up with their upper body leaning heavy left and head hanging out there

[@hikmatkhan8034]

That was a good foyt. This is a good post foyt analysis! Thanks a lot coach! Same scoring as you. Rockhold should just come to tristar and learn some humility from gsp, rory , you + others... and work on some defense + boxing . Thanks again coach.

[@DownloadDeX]

Luke Rockhold never sees left hands. Go watch the first round of the Machida. The second Bisping fight was also a left hand KO. This fight is atleast the third time. Its like he has no plan to fix it.

[@RegieFilho]

The impression I always have from Luke's fights is that he doesn't have a good upper body - low body connection. In my opinion, his kicks are sitting more on the opportunistic side than on the crisp end of the spectrum. Romero looked really wiser in this fight.

[@izukumidoriya3188]

Yoel I feel is a guy who doesn’t have a large output compared to other fighters. But when he does something, he completely destroys his opponent.