After UFC 200, what does Jose Aldo's masterful defensive performance tell us about the role of fundamentals and adaptability in MMA?
Fundamentals, guessing and reading
What are fundamentals, when it comes down to it? Boiled down and reduced, combat sports fundamentals could be described as “actions where you don’t have to guess what your opponent will do.” High-percentage sounds more professional as a descriptor here, but sometimes I think it’s better to be simplistic.
“Guess” is also a word I deliberately chose, over the more positive-sounding “read”. When someone lands something like a flying knee on a ducking opponent the natural response is to nod.