[baconCrunch]

buakaw fought very similar to the last time with sato
he himself even said that punches are more effective vs sato than kicks
buakaw was obviously confident he could win with his right
in the previous fight and this one, buakaw has had a difficult time landing the hooks becuase of the reach/distance disadvantage


but the biggest difference was a couple factors
- sato has his left guard high, buakaw has difficult time landing his right straight
- sato mixes the punches more with the lowkicks
previously sato mainly used his lows, as buakaw countered well with his punches.
this time, sato also adds the uppercut in his punch arsenal.
- sato outworked buakaw in the last rd. better cardio.
he is notorious for having a high workrate, but he doubled the pace the 3rd round. buakaw was visibly fatigued, which tends to leave you open for a lot of things.


and ultimately
sato lands perfect knee into buakaw's solar plexus. buakaw halts his movement. and sato follows up with the right punch square on buakaw's chin from his blind side.

[Chute Stomp]

I though Buakaw looked sloppy as hell. He kicks about a 10th as much as he used too. he needs to stick to his bread and butter.

[bVlgari]

Originally Posted by Chute Stomp

I though Buakaw looked sloppy as hell. He kicks about a 10th as much as he used too. he needs to stick to his bread and butter.

His bread and butter have always been his kicks. Since his last GP win he got too confident in his hands, that's also the reason for the Masato loss.

[baconCrunch]

Originally Posted by Chute Stomp

I though Buakaw looked sloppy as hell. He kicks about a 10th as much as he used too. he needs to stick to his bread and butter.

don't think so

sato has never lost to any opponent in a kicking game
and that includes the great kaolan, chalmsak, dieselek, and a host of other top ranked thais including buakaw

vs sato
buakaw should stick to his punch + lowkick game
he just got outdueled tonight, lots of it has to with the above

[bman1828]

i can't belive he didn't come into the match with a better game plan. fighter have to learn and adapt. as stated he had similar problems last match.

[CPH]

I think you are spot-on baconCrunch. I always thought that a number of Sato's losses in MAX were due to him not trusting his hands enough - it's nice to see him doing it at last. After seeing this fight, I was also thinking back to the fights with Chalmsak and Kaolan. People should really watch those fights to see what Sato is about.

As for Buakaw: The comments I read before seeing the fight were that Buakaw looked unmotivated, slow, took too many risks... This is not what I saw. I saw the same Buakaw as the last time. Great timing/execution, total focus and determination. He just came up short against a hellish opponent. This is what people are not getting: Sato is a top fighter. And saying that Buakaw should simply 'kick more', 'fight smarter' or 'fight like he did in 2004' are really taking Buakaw and his camp for dummies.

[Bas Rutten Gear]

Originally Posted by Chute Stomp

I though Buakaw looked sloppy as hell. He kicks about a 10th as much as he used too. he needs to stick to his bread and butter.

I agree. When the fight first starts I asked myself "Is Buakaw sick?" as he didn't look at all like his normal self.

Before he would devastate guys with his push kicks, low kicks, and switch kicks. He has been trying to box WAY too much in his fights and I think it is evident that he needs to get back to what works after his fights with Masato and Sato. Even the Kraus fight showed that he had lost a step or two.

[meng_mao]

Originally Posted by CPH

As for Buakaw: The comments I read before seeing the fight were that Buakaw looked unmotivated, slow, took too many risks... This is not what I saw. I saw the same Buakaw as the last time. Great timing/execution, total focus and determination. He just came up short against a hellish opponent. This is what people are not getting: Sato is a top fighter. And saying that Buakaw should simply 'kick more', 'fight smarter' or 'fight like he did in 2004' are really taking Buakaw and his camp for dummies.

Buakaw has always been a slow starter who answers instead of going on the attack from the bell. I think Sato was cruising to a decision even without that hell knee, since he won the first round on work rate alone. I just wish Buakaw had come up to speed a little sooner.

If there was one thing that BPP could have done to keep Sato from tallying so many damage points, it'd be to block those uppercuts. The rest of his defense was put together fine by round 2, and he was just barely missing with so many punches.

Still, all the credit to Sato for taking it and dishing it out. I like his dangling 1-2 and knee combo. It's very slick.

[ouchpouch]

Great post baconcrunch. I watched the fight on TV but i didn't see the knee at all until a replay. I was wondering why Buakaw staggered for a moment.

Originally Posted by Bas Rutten Gear

I agree. When the fight first starts I asked myself "Is Buakaw sick?" as he didn't look at all like his normal self.

Before he would devastate guys with his push kicks, low kicks, and switch kicks. He has been trying to box WAY too much in his fights and I think it is evident that he needs to get back to what works after his fights with Masato and Sato. Even the Kraus fight showed that he had lost a step or two.

But as Buakaw said before he had problems kicking against Sato. He can't exactly just go back to his bread and butter against Sato considering Sato himself is a MT Stylist and has competed with other top Thais. Buakaw had the right mix in '06, but then i didn't think the other fighters were expecting him to have improved his hands that much. But now 2 years on the other fighters have improved-so has Buakaw but last night Sato ko'd him and rather impressively.

[Lightfoot]

From what I saw Buwakaw was staggering before the knee.

It looked to me that in the tie up before Sato landed the knee, there was an accidental headbutt that snapped Buakaw's head back. After that he seemed dazed and confused and stoped defending himself, which lead to the big body shot and the ko punch.

Can anyone who has the fight recorded confirm/deny?