Bloody Elbow's analytic coverage of UFC Fight Night: Gonzaga vs. Cro Cop 2 in Poland.
This April 11, 2015 Joanne Calderwood and Maryn Moroz look to open up the action with their own fireworks at the Venue Kraków Arena in City Kraków, Poland.
The Match Up
Women's Strawweight Joanne Calderwood vs. Maryna Moroz
The Odds
Women's Strawweight Joanne Calderwood +240 vs. Maryna Moroz -600
3 Things You Need to Know
1. Joanne Calderwood is loved by a lot of MMA fans, but is she more than just an adorable Scottish accent?
Calderwood is an interesting MMA figure; she's absolutely adored by MMA fans. It's total high school love too. Where the affection has cosmic meaning, each stare a poem, and each smile its own Valentine's day card. But is she more than that? I'm in the minority. Not in terms of how awesome her demeanor is, but in terms of how far she can go. For reasons that I suspect can only be explained by puppy love, fans think she ran away with that bout with Seohee Ham, and apologies; but it was not an easy win, and that was not ruination. Calderwood had a lot of trouble settling into her range striking, and being the slow starter is something to watch out for in the future. Nonetheless, skepticism is not the same thing as indictment. She has a skillset that will take her places.
2. Who is Maryna Moroz? Read this paragraph to find out.
Moroz is a 23 year old from the Ukraine inexplicable nicknamed "the iron woman", nevermind all of the contradictory connotations it has to a 23 year old in principle. There's little to tell except that she has a pretty good female training partner in Iryna Shaparenko who is 19 years old. With her go getter chops on the ground, Moroz can be seen as a prospect in project clothing. While not a threat to Calderwood, she should nonetheless be taken seriously.
3. Barring a complete meltdown, there's no reason Calderwood shouldn't make this one quick and easy.
One of the reasons why I tend to be a little skeptical is that Calderwood is so raw on the ground. The division is starting to get a modicum of identity, and I fear that once that happens; Calderwood's ground game will become more pronounced. Her mechanics were downright dreadful against Kagan, and I couldn't imagine her withstanding Carla Esparza's ground attack (Joanna Champion made her look bad, but Esparza was pulling off wrestling tricks that most women would have totally been dominated by).
However, there's no doubt that she's brilliant on the feet. While she's a bit of a slow starter, once her rhythm gets going, she deftly switches between traditional Muay Thai, and something a little more conservative at range. A funny thing I notice when watching her is that her power doesn't seem pronounced in the early going; it's not until she warms up that she seems to really commit to her striking; when she does, she is not just deceptively powerful, but just flat out powerful.
Moroz doesn't keep much of a guard on the feet. She has one of those bad grappler habits of feeling like loose striking allows her the flexibility of effective shooting. While she's incredibly capable on the ground, and even has a little Rousey in her (4 of her 5 wins are by armbar), I don't see how she doesn't get punished on the feet unless Calderwood starts out slower than usual, and isn't able to defend her takedowns. She should, however, so she will.
Prediction
Calderwood by TKO, round 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment