Early last year, I profiled a lot of the up and coming light heavyweight's in the UFC and Luiz Cane was one of the guys I mentioned. I've always been a fan of the guy and the way he fights because he puts it on the line. However, I've always been vocal about his ability to eat punches from his opponents with his face as it was always a concern of mine as he progressed up the ranks. He was known for his aggressiveness and ability to take punishment while dishing out his own, but that strategy hasn't worked in his past two fights.
He was absolutely obliterated by Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the first round. Of course is an accomplished striker in his own right. Cane fought Cyrille Diabate this past weekend and got cold cocked again in the very first round after dropping Diabate earlier in the fight.
We have seen nothing from Cane except aggressiveness and power punches. We haven't seen him shoot for any takedowns or use his blackbelt level BJJ in any of his fights that I recall.
The guy is only 29 years of age and only has 13 career fights, and almost all of his fights have ended in the first round win or lose. So he hasn't taken an incredible amount of damage physically. However, one must ask where does Cane go from here? He fights in the deepest division in all of MMA and it's full of guys with KO power just like him. The difference is that he has zero defense abilities.
It'll be interesting to see who they match him up with next. It will definitely be a must win fight for him and the UFC is steadily pushing these youngers guys to the forefront. Do you guys think it's possible that Cane can altar his game plans and strategies at this point, or is he a purebred brawler?
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