I don’t find the split decision in favor of Michael Bisping that perplexing; the Brit had fought cleaner and hit Leites with multiple combinations even when walking backwards. Nor would I disagree with people who believe Leites won; the lanky Brazilian was advancing most of the fight and landed the only true damaging shots.
But Thales Leites nearly beat Michael Bisping despite having some gaping technical flaws. The fact that they are so simple to fix yet he is allowed to possess them after five straight wins in the UFC is infuriating.
- Dropping the hands after punching
Everyone knew Leites’s striking was sloppy, but no one realized how bad it was until his fight with Tim Boetsch.
Tim Boetsch has a lot of good qualities: he’s strong, he hits hard, he’s relentlessly aggressive and he has a fantastic chin. I’m saying this because I don’t want to come off like I hate the guy when I say no polished striker should get caught by Tim Boetsch on the feet; he doesn’t have enough variety and isn’t agile enough to trouble those whose defense remains even passable.
Yet Leites got caught repeatedly because after each combination he would drop his hands near his waist.
Because Bisping couldn’t hang in the pocket with a power hitter like Leites the results were far less pronounced. As both fighters tired however it was clear that Leites’s post combination defense was horrendous. Before anyone exclaims “but it’s the fifth round he’s tired!” I want to point out that Leites kept his hands high before the combination, only dropping them after he started swinging.
Leites may not have been knocked out but volume of strikes is accounted for by the judges. It’s upsetting to think that he may have walked away with this fight handily if he just kept his hands up.
- Cutting and then Nothing
To Leites’s credit he managed to get Bisping to the fence quite frequently despite the latter being one of the better movers in the division. To Leites’s deduction is that he was almost never able to do anything with it.
Watch Leites cut off the ring but then let Bisping escape without taking much damage.
There was a combination of things that contributed to this. Leites’s winging style put him off balance allowing Bisping to escape as long as he slipped the first punch. Plus once Leites got Bisping to the fence he’d plant his heels into the ground to begin his power punching which meant he was always a step behind his opponent if the latter decided to circle.
Leites barely landed any meaningful punches yet the judges still had trouble deciding. When he did land it was clear Bisping couldn’t hang with him for long. Watching Leites repeatedly corner Bisping and then fail to do much is like watching a child stand in line for an ice cream and, when he reaches the counter, go to the back of the line without buying and do it all over again.
- Where’s the jab? Actually, where’s anything?
Thales Leites has a 78” reach and some real power in his hands. Those two natural attributes, when properly complimented with skill and experience, have produced great fighters like Semmy Schilt, Thomas Hearns and Tim Sylvia.
Yet Leites wastes these talents by opening up almost every combination with a winging right or left hook and only mixing in an uppercut during a combination. They were easy to see coming even before he tired in the last two rounds.
That gif is clearly one of the more egregious instances but re-watch the fight and count how many of Leites’s combinations start with a winging left or right hook to the head. They were telegraphed enough that Bisping was able to dodge many even without getting his timing down and by the end of the fight he was slipping and countering easily.
Leites has the tools but he just doesn’t use them. He has a thunderous leg kick that clearly bothered Boetsch and Bisping but refused to throw a Dutch combination which would have produced substantially more damage (especially with his length). His body kicks and punches had a good connection percentage yet a man holding a live firecracker would still have enough fingers leftover to count the number he actually threw.
Andrey Koreshkov showed the potential of length and power combined with variety at Bellator 140 on Saturday. He doesn’t mix it up anywhere near as frequently as I’d like yet his sporadic spinning kicks and body punches were enough to keep champion Douglas Lima from countering him when he did throw head shots.
I don’t know if Thales Leites can ever be a truly elite fighter. His punches are powerful but winging and despite being an ace on the ground he doesn’t seem to understand how to wrestle very well in the clinch.
But he could have beat Michael Bisping, which is saying something. Pity he beat himself.
