Surprisingly, I had never watched any of his fights before the one against Maia. I just heard he was an undefeated prospect, and was actually a betting favourite.
Watching the fight against Maia, I thought that he was fast and powerful and had decent striking technique, but still has a long way to go in terms of his grappling skill (which is surprising since he's a "wrestler" and 31), given how easily Maia handled him.
I then went back and watched his fight against John Howard, which he won decisively, but after a vicious strike to John's nuts in the 2nd round. In spite of that foul, John was still competitive and threatened standing, tagging Ryan several times, as well as managing to take Ryan down and reverse him a few times.
Now, John Howard was on a pretty good run up to that fight, but he dropped the next 2 after that. The other fights LaFlare has had, have been against cans (no offense). He also hasn't finished a fight since joining the UFC.
So having said that, how good is he really? In hindsight, his rise as a contender seems to have been manufactured over a steady stream of cans, with one legit win, that could easily have been a No-contest.
Watching the fight against Maia, I thought that he was fast and powerful and had decent striking technique, but still has a long way to go in terms of his grappling skill (which is surprising since he's a "wrestler" and 31), given how easily Maia handled him.
I then went back and watched his fight against John Howard, which he won decisively, but after a vicious strike to John's nuts in the 2nd round. In spite of that foul, John was still competitive and threatened standing, tagging Ryan several times, as well as managing to take Ryan down and reverse him a few times.
Now, John Howard was on a pretty good run up to that fight, but he dropped the next 2 after that. The other fights LaFlare has had, have been against cans (no offense). He also hasn't finished a fight since joining the UFC.
So having said that, how good is he really? In hindsight, his rise as a contender seems to have been manufactured over a steady stream of cans, with one legit win, that could easily have been a No-contest.
