Monday, August 12, 2013

The UFC releases Sheila Gaff

The German website Ground and Pound reported this afternoon that after two losses, German fighter Sheila Gaff has been released from the UFC. It wasn't so much that Sheila lost two fights but that she looked ill prepared in both fights. One rumour that made the rounds was that she switched trainers after the first loss. I don't know if that is true but it's always difficult to change horses in the middle of the stream and then immediately accept a fight. The other thing I heard was that her trainers were unable to get a visa to get into Brazil. Obviously that puts her at a disadvantage. There will be speculation about if Sheila should drop to 125. In the past she has fought at 125, 135 and 145. She's not saying what she will do but that's not her biggest problem. Sheila has knockout punching power. But that's all she has. And a one dimensional fighter can only go so far if the fighter has too many holes in other areas. I don't expect her to ever be a grappling or jiu jitsu whiz. But she needs to work on her takedown defense. In both of her UFC fights, she was too easy to take down. She had the same problem when I saw her a few years ago. If she doesn't improve in this area, her punching power won't mean much. She's still young so she has plenty of time.

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