If you saw Saturday’s welterweight bout between John “Doomsday” Howard and Thiago “Pitbull” Alves you know how good Alves looked in that fight. Alves, with weight issues no longer a factor, displayed some amazing technical striking reminiscent of what was seen earlier that morning on the other side of the world at the K-1 World GP 2010 Final in Tokyo.
Alves did not only use striking, he scored some big takedowns and showed a well-rounded game, but it was his stand-up where he really shined. Howard stayed in the fight though, taking everything “Pitbull” threw, and always remained one big shot away from ending it.
Howard admitted in an interview with ProMMAnow.com (www.prommanow.com) on Monday that the leg kicks he took from Alves played a big factor in his loss:
“I can’t take anything away from him; he fought a great fight. I wasn’t close to being knocked out. He caught one of my kicks and dropped me with a straight right, but I recovered pretty fast. But those front leg kicks took it out of me. It was a learning experience. He showed why he’s a top ten … top five fighter in the world. — I’m going to get back in there and work on all my skills … checking leg kicks, wrestling, [and] Jiu Jitsu. I’m just focused on improving right now.”
The loss should be a very good learning experience for Howard, who has strong knockout power, but at this point, lacks the same technical precision that Alves showed.
It is interesting to note Howard mentioned “checking leg kicks” as one of the things he plans to work on. Yes, that would be quite a good idea, especially if he ever plans to rematch Alves.
Check out John Buhl’s complete interview with “Doomsday” here: “Exclusive: John Howard looking to improve after UFC 124 loss to Alves“.
You’ll be back John. It was just a bad style match up for ya.
Hopefully he gets someone like Bang Ludwig or Nick Osipscak next.
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