Tiffany van Soest vs Ashley Nichols - Lion Fight [full video]

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

 

You can see the fight here: http://dai.ly/x3pgz8f

[WaffleNinja]

Another good win for Tiff Time Bomb!

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

I was surprised that Tiffany looked like she struggled in the clinch, after looking like she had improved in that area vs Alldis. Ashely's clinch really wasn't all that sophisticated, mostly just a basic plumb grab and turn, but almost every time they locked up she had the advantage.

I was also impressed with Ashley overall, not only her skill set, but also her size. She's fought much smaller than this, but it didn't really look like the size mismatch I anticipated. Eventually Tiffany just wore her down with all the multiple strikes, but for a time there (I think in the 3rd round?) I felt there was an opening for her to win the fight. It wasn't what I expected.

[WaffleNinja]

I was expecting Ashley to be better in the clinch because I have seen fights of hers in Thailand so I assumed she had done some clinch training there, while Tiffany I have only seen fight in the West and she probably didnt have access to advanced clinch training.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

I was expecting Ashley to be better in the clinch because I have seen fights of hers in Thailand so I assumed she had done some clinch training there, while Tiffany I have only seen fight in the West and she probably didnt have access to advanced clinch training.

 

Really, just because you train in Thailand doesn't really mean you train well in clinch at all, especially as a female, and certainly not advanced clinch. Ashley's clinch looked fairly rudimentary - physically strong, but basic - to me. Sylvie had a very hard time finding clinch instruction or training her first two and a half years here, even though she pushed for it. It takes a long time to develop clinch. After Tiffany lost to Caley in the clinch, and Caley is one of the best female clinch fighters in the world, principally because she's trained it for years, it looked like she had paid attention to this weakness in the Alldis fight. But now I'm not so sure. In any case, it's something that surprised me in the fight.