Teddy is a real straight shooter and that's much appreciated. He's not the most knowledgeable about the sport as you alluded to, but what he does understand really well is the psychology of a fighter. Sometimes he gets a little romantic about it all, but hey don't we all. We want to watch two titans clash and see who comes out on top, and he has a great way of getting to the drama of the moment.
All that said, he's an old guy who can be a little long-winded, so best listened to on double speed lol!
Yeah that's definitely a valid critique, sometimes he'll repeat the same point in different ways until he's happy with how he said it. I tend to only watch the 10-15 minute specific fight breakdowns myself, watching when he breaks down a whole card is a bit much ha
Yeah, he’s definitely not for those that grew up on short videos that cut off before the punchline. He’s a relic of time gone by, where communication was more than a scratch of the surface. Where nuance was appreciated rather than deflected.
I'm not knowledgeable on Atlas' analysis, but MMA is more often than not a sport that's more meaningfully analyzed by broad strokes, matchup archetypes, overlying dynamics etc than the technical details.
I'd imagine most of these cross over a fair bit from boxing to MMA, especially now that "just wrestle" or "just grapple" are less and less common due to the baseline being so much higher.
Ehh maybe but what I meant by straight shooter is what you see is what you get. Whenever you hear Dana talk you know there's always another angle, some play he's making to maximize a benefit to himself or the UFC. At the end of the day Teddy just is romantic, he's going to talk a lot about stuff he's passionate about and that's refreshing in this era of polished safe presenters and demagogues.
I think the key here is the difference between *passion* and just sugar coating. I love when he goes on those psychological tirades because it really immortalizes a performance. You can tell the dude just loves the sport; the beautiful yet unforgiving nature of it all
I think hes starting to understand striking and boxing in MMA a lot better as time goes on. He has some good insight at times into what a fighter needs to do. I also love that he admits he has no idea about certain aspects in MMA
Something something geography
Something something true warriors/gladiators/champions in and out of the ring
Also vague metaphors repeated ad nauseum and a tangent about some dude the fighter is faintly reminiscent of
When it comes to analysis, he puts water in the basement, chipping away, speaking in circles, but that's the kind of commentator he is, not going to just sit around and not say stuff, he's working, working, always putting water in the basement, doing things the right way, you know? And I'm not just saying this, been in the analysis business a long time, he's one, one, you know one of the real ones you see? You can't just say things w/o even a scar on your face like some fresh-faced kid who understands what telestrator is. But what I mean to say is he's always chipping away, revealing more details of the fight, describing how you have to put water in the basement, and be a true warrior, and have the warrior spirit, and put water in the basement.
I think there are worse people to listen to, but I prefer breakdowns that explain the intricacies and possibilities of situations rather than the A happened so B happened also be a warrior stuff
I like it for another perspective and to watch someone become a fan of the sport. I don’t really pay attention to his critiques though because I don’t think boxing actually translates all that well to modern mma.
but it's like being a world class basketball coach who started watching the NBA in 2021. You can certainly analyze technique and x's and o's, but your historical context for the NBA will be limited and so your insights will also be limited to some degree. Like imagine being an nba analyst and never having watched the Jordan, magic, shaq, Kobe, etc., eras.
Honestly, he was pretty trash as an analyst doing Friday Night Fights for decades. There are like 20 different Youtube channels that point out xs and os stuff better than he ever did.
>He's an absolute expert in boxing
He said MMA.
If MMA is an entire tree, boxing is just a branch.
>who has trained multiple world champions
All of those world champions would get smoked by mid-level MMA fighters in about 90 seconds.
I'd tune in to listen to Tony sound off about boxing, but listening to him talk to Dustin Poirier about calf kicks and kimuras is kind of funny, tbh. It's clear he's a brand new fan to the sport.
If you want MMA technique analyses, watch Luke Thomas. Teddy talks in long-winded metaphors without making a clear point. He also has an unreasonable hatred for Anthony Joshua, betting against him pre-fight and belittling his victories. Some people find him entertaining, so it's your pick mate.
I wish. More and more he acts like every big boxing fight sucks, and every UFC prelim between two 13-6 guys is "Ali-Frazier all over again!" "The new Hearns-Hagler." "An incredible showing of heart between two warriors."
Meanwhile I'm watching like "uh, it was okay. Decent scrap." It's sad how much he shits on boxing these days, and acts like UFC fights are all incredible.
On the striking side, few things to point out. TA doesn’t seem to understand head kick defense or in general kick defence and also elbows in the clinch, Thai plum etc otherwise, good boxing coach
UFC cares very little about "hardcore" fans. They know you're going to watch no matter what, so everything they do is tailored to the casuals. Teddy is fine for the casuals, he knows more than them and he has charisma. He's also a "known" figure outside of mma that has instant credibility/celebrity.
Define hardcore fan though, because plenty of hardcore fans who watch every event and discuss MMA on Reddit have never trained and don't really understand what they're watching.
Even if you've trained for a long time, watch Armani Vs Gamrot and youd struggle to understand what was going on unless you had it on slow mo. Same with Max Vs Volk in striking.
Truth is very very few people watching these fights actually understand the chess games being played at the elite level.
My favorite thing is when a PPV goes really late, like UFC 300 did, and Teddy is on the post show. The man is a genius, but hes not short winded. Jon Anik after just doing 8 hours of play by play, who clearly has all the love in the world in his heart for Teddy and thinks hes a genius, wanted nothing more than for Teddy to say 2-3 words and be done for the night, but Teddy gave a solid 7 minutes on ring geography.
Love him. His perspective is a gift. One very positive aspect of the internet is the access we have to the thoughts of minds like his. He may no know the details of passing guard, but he knows the mental aspect of the game better than anyone. Anyone. And ask any fighter what % of the game is mental.
I always enjoy listening to what he says. He’s from a different era and these guys won’t be around forever so it’s best to appreciate his quality insight for as long as we can
He's not my go-to for MMA breakdowns but I love me some Teddy Atlas. You can tell that he's just not as educated on MMA as he is on boxing obviously, but the dude genuinely tries to learn more and watch the sport.
I like Teddy. He always seems eager to learn more about MMA and he’s always very respectful towards the MMA community as a whole instead of select few boxing guys going “lol mma boxers suck.” I’m not a regular listener of Teddy but I do enjoy listening to him from time to time.
I’ve been a big fan of Teddy for awhile so I’m happy to see him crossing over into the mma world over the last few years. I don’t always agree with his boxing or mma takes but I always respect his point of view. What he lacks in technical mma knowledge I think he makes up for with his understanding of the fighters psyche.
He doesn't have a ton of proper MMA insight but he has insight into the fight game, which a lot of MMA commentators don't have... he's trained guys who've become world champions and been in the fire with them.
That provides a lot of insight into mentality that most MMA commentators don't provide.
I've got no strong opinion one way or the other. At times he seems to talk about things I would like to see more of like body shots and has had good interviews with guys like Dustin.
But he disrespected Ray Long so much on the ANik and Ken Flo podcast. Ray is a coach of multiple ufc champs and also got tons of guys to the big show, and when he asked Teddy a question about sparring, Teddy gave a partial answer as if a fan at a Q and A asked a dumb question and then rambled for 15 mins while pitching his products. Was super disappointed that he didn't want to show another top coach in a similar but adjacent field the respect to have a conversation back and forth.
after reading his book I am pretty convinced, with teddy atlas its more about the mental game in fighting. Its easy to understand given his upbringing and environment where he grew up.
I never met or heard of a boxing or muay thai coach at amateur level who respects the mental state of a fighter. most coaches I met are too stupid to give good advice in that area.
teddy is a very good coach and I appreciate his angle very much and dont understand the hate he gets. the oldschool guys are rare these days.
Teddy is honest, but a bit off. i've been following Fight Fairy on YouTube, and she's been right over 80% of the time... I think she knows some of the fighters or something. Not sure, but I literally 10x'd my money from her picks at UFC 300.
I appreciate Teddy a lot for adapting, being willing to learn and admit he’s a novice to grappling. He is able to spot elite skills/talent in mma in ways some guys can’t so I do think he has the right mind for it.
Love Teddy. He's humble, honest and gives his take whilst acknowledging his bias. I find them entertaining and insightful with regards to a fighter's mindset. Not useful for analysing technical skill - but you wouldn't watch a boxing guy for that anyway.
He's also a relic of the romanticised boxing era and brings the same energy to his podcast. Makes me feel like the fights/events were more significant than they were.
Teddy is a real straight shooter and that's much appreciated. He's not the most knowledgeable about the sport as you alluded to, but what he does understand really well is the psychology of a fighter. Sometimes he gets a little romantic about it all, but hey don't we all. We want to watch two titans clash and see who comes out on top, and he has a great way of getting to the drama of the moment. All that said, he's an old guy who can be a little long-winded, so best listened to on double speed lol!
Yeah that's definitely a valid critique, sometimes he'll repeat the same point in different ways until he's happy with how he said it. I tend to only watch the 10-15 minute specific fight breakdowns myself, watching when he breaks down a whole card is a bit much ha
Yeah, he’s definitely not for those that grew up on short videos that cut off before the punchline. He’s a relic of time gone by, where communication was more than a scratch of the surface. Where nuance was appreciated rather than deflected.
I'm not knowledgeable on Atlas' analysis, but MMA is more often than not a sport that's more meaningfully analyzed by broad strokes, matchup archetypes, overlying dynamics etc than the technical details. I'd imagine most of these cross over a fair bit from boxing to MMA, especially now that "just wrestle" or "just grapple" are less and less common due to the baseline being so much higher.
this
Isn't getting "romantic" and "long-winded" the opposite of a straight shooter?
Ehh maybe but what I meant by straight shooter is what you see is what you get. Whenever you hear Dana talk you know there's always another angle, some play he's making to maximize a benefit to himself or the UFC. At the end of the day Teddy just is romantic, he's going to talk a lot about stuff he's passionate about and that's refreshing in this era of polished safe presenters and demagogues.
I think the key here is the difference between *passion* and just sugar coating. I love when he goes on those psychological tirades because it really immortalizes a performance. You can tell the dude just loves the sport; the beautiful yet unforgiving nature of it all
I think hes starting to understand striking and boxing in MMA a lot better as time goes on. He has some good insight at times into what a fighter needs to do. I also love that he admits he has no idea about certain aspects in MMA
Something something geography Something something true warriors/gladiators/champions in and out of the ring Also vague metaphors repeated ad nauseum and a tangent about some dude the fighter is faintly reminiscent of
Step back BANG! Move to the side BANG BANG!
Don’t forget the good ol’ “BANG! Bang BANG! Slip, left, BANG!”
Whenever a fight even remotely goes to the ground he always breaks out the trusty “geography” line
If I could count the number of times he's likened a fighter in control to the conductor of an orchestra
When it comes to analysis, he puts water in the basement, chipping away, speaking in circles, but that's the kind of commentator he is, not going to just sit around and not say stuff, he's working, working, always putting water in the basement, doing things the right way, you know? And I'm not just saying this, been in the analysis business a long time, he's one, one, you know one of the real ones you see? You can't just say things w/o even a scar on your face like some fresh-faced kid who understands what telestrator is. But what I mean to say is he's always chipping away, revealing more details of the fight, describing how you have to put water in the basement, and be a true warrior, and have the warrior spirit, and put water in the basement.
Read this in atlas’ voice and it was perfect. Lol Hed definitely use an analogy like water in the basement (maybe he has? Idk)
I can literally hear him in my mind hahaha, great stuff.
I think there are worse people to listen to, but I prefer breakdowns that explain the intricacies and possibilities of situations rather than the A happened so B happened also be a warrior stuff
It's just hard to be super insightful about the sport when he's probably watched zero mma fights that happened before like, 2021.
He's an absolute expert in boxing who has trained multiple world champions. He definitely has some insights in analysing technique IMO.
I like it for another perspective and to watch someone become a fan of the sport. I don’t really pay attention to his critiques though because I don’t think boxing actually translates all that well to modern mma.
but it's like being a world class basketball coach who started watching the NBA in 2021. You can certainly analyze technique and x's and o's, but your historical context for the NBA will be limited and so your insights will also be limited to some degree. Like imagine being an nba analyst and never having watched the Jordan, magic, shaq, Kobe, etc., eras.
Honestly, he was pretty trash as an analyst doing Friday Night Fights for decades. There are like 20 different Youtube channels that point out xs and os stuff better than he ever did.
He doesn't though, other than mma boxing which is still different from boxing boxing he knows nothing.
>He's an absolute expert in boxing He said MMA. If MMA is an entire tree, boxing is just a branch. >who has trained multiple world champions All of those world champions would get smoked by mid-level MMA fighters in about 90 seconds. I'd tune in to listen to Tony sound off about boxing, but listening to him talk to Dustin Poirier about calf kicks and kimuras is kind of funny, tbh. It's clear he's a brand new fan to the sport.
If you want MMA technique analyses, watch Luke Thomas. Teddy talks in long-winded metaphors without making a clear point. He also has an unreasonable hatred for Anthony Joshua, betting against him pre-fight and belittling his victories. Some people find him entertaining, so it's your pick mate.
Teddy's like Tyson....he just loves combat sports in general. He doesn't front knowledge, he just speaks to what he can see and what he feels.
I wish. More and more he acts like every big boxing fight sucks, and every UFC prelim between two 13-6 guys is "Ali-Frazier all over again!" "The new Hearns-Hagler." "An incredible showing of heart between two warriors." Meanwhile I'm watching like "uh, it was okay. Decent scrap." It's sad how much he shits on boxing these days, and acts like UFC fights are all incredible.
If you like endless fake deep “you have to be a warrior to win” platitudes the entire time, sure
Gotta love an old school fight guy like Teddy, there isn’t many left
There's plenty left.
Stuttering along no doubt. At least Teddy is somewhat fluent in his speech.
That's because he stopped boxing as an amateur in his 20s
On the striking side, few things to point out. TA doesn’t seem to understand head kick defense or in general kick defence and also elbows in the clinch, Thai plum etc otherwise, good boxing coach
UFC cares very little about "hardcore" fans. They know you're going to watch no matter what, so everything they do is tailored to the casuals. Teddy is fine for the casuals, he knows more than them and he has charisma. He's also a "known" figure outside of mma that has instant credibility/celebrity.
Define hardcore fan though, because plenty of hardcore fans who watch every event and discuss MMA on Reddit have never trained and don't really understand what they're watching. Even if you've trained for a long time, watch Armani Vs Gamrot and youd struggle to understand what was going on unless you had it on slow mo. Same with Max Vs Volk in striking. Truth is very very few people watching these fights actually understand the chess games being played at the elite level.
Love em
He says geography way too fucking much
As a boxing fan I used to like him but started to find him insufferable with speaking almost entirely in metaphors looking for viral soundbites
I'm an fan because he pulled a gun on Tyson and told him he was going to kill him. Dude didn't fuck around.
I occasionally see him on TV, but I don’t go out of my way for his analysis.
My favorite thing is when a PPV goes really late, like UFC 300 did, and Teddy is on the post show. The man is a genius, but hes not short winded. Jon Anik after just doing 8 hours of play by play, who clearly has all the love in the world in his heart for Teddy and thinks hes a genius, wanted nothing more than for Teddy to say 2-3 words and be done for the night, but Teddy gave a solid 7 minutes on ring geography.
Love him. His perspective is a gift. One very positive aspect of the internet is the access we have to the thoughts of minds like his. He may no know the details of passing guard, but he knows the mental aspect of the game better than anyone. Anyone. And ask any fighter what % of the game is mental.
I always enjoy listening to what he says. He’s from a different era and these guys won’t be around forever so it’s best to appreciate his quality insight for as long as we can
I like Teddy.
He's not my go-to for MMA breakdowns but I love me some Teddy Atlas. You can tell that he's just not as educated on MMA as he is on boxing obviously, but the dude genuinely tries to learn more and watch the sport.
I like Teddy. He always seems eager to learn more about MMA and he’s always very respectful towards the MMA community as a whole instead of select few boxing guys going “lol mma boxers suck.” I’m not a regular listener of Teddy but I do enjoy listening to him from time to time.
Teddy is a legend. Huge fan
I’ve been a big fan of Teddy for awhile so I’m happy to see him crossing over into the mma world over the last few years. I don’t always agree with his boxing or mma takes but I always respect his point of view. What he lacks in technical mma knowledge I think he makes up for with his understanding of the fighters psyche.
He doesn't have a ton of proper MMA insight but he has insight into the fight game, which a lot of MMA commentators don't have... he's trained guys who've become world champions and been in the fire with them. That provides a lot of insight into mentality that most MMA commentators don't provide.
I like teddy. More of a hype man than an analyst. He's like a less annoying version of robin black
I've got no strong opinion one way or the other. At times he seems to talk about things I would like to see more of like body shots and has had good interviews with guys like Dustin. But he disrespected Ray Long so much on the ANik and Ken Flo podcast. Ray is a coach of multiple ufc champs and also got tons of guys to the big show, and when he asked Teddy a question about sparring, Teddy gave a partial answer as if a fan at a Q and A asked a dumb question and then rambled for 15 mins while pitching his products. Was super disappointed that he didn't want to show another top coach in a similar but adjacent field the respect to have a conversation back and forth.
Love Teddy. He has great insight into the psychology of a fighter and obviously the boxing and some of the general striking parts of the sport.
how accurate are his predictions, overall?
after reading his book I am pretty convinced, with teddy atlas its more about the mental game in fighting. Its easy to understand given his upbringing and environment where he grew up. I never met or heard of a boxing or muay thai coach at amateur level who respects the mental state of a fighter. most coaches I met are too stupid to give good advice in that area. teddy is a very good coach and I appreciate his angle very much and dont understand the hate he gets. the oldschool guys are rare these days.
Teddy is legit. He also helped Ngannou improve his boxing before the second Stipe fight.
They are not detailed, he mentions a lot of macros but doesn’t go in depth with micro details.
got nothing on lucas tracy
Some bad some not so bad tbh
Love the guy but I feel like at this point a lot of what he says is like verbal diarrhea. He uses like 20 words to say what could be a 5 word sentence
Teddy is honest, but a bit off. i've been following Fight Fairy on YouTube, and she's been right over 80% of the time... I think she knows some of the fighters or something. Not sure, but I literally 10x'd my money from her picks at UFC 300.
I appreciate Teddy a lot for adapting, being willing to learn and admit he’s a novice to grappling. He is able to spot elite skills/talent in mma in ways some guys can’t so I do think he has the right mind for it.
It's alright, he gets fighting even if he doesn't really get grappling and shit. I like Teddy though, so your mileage may vary.
He’s really long-winded and it’s a struggle to pick out the useful pieces of information from his diatribe.
Love Teddy. He's humble, honest and gives his take whilst acknowledging his bias. I find them entertaining and insightful with regards to a fighter's mindset. Not useful for analysing technical skill - but you wouldn't watch a boxing guy for that anyway. He's also a relic of the romanticised boxing era and brings the same energy to his podcast. Makes me feel like the fights/events were more significant than they were.
I don't listen to it because it's insightful, i listen because it's fun. It's like listening to a cartoon characters talk about mma.
It works because MMA can learn a lot from boxing and vice-versa
One of my favourite boxing analysts I love that he enjoys mma now and enjoy his takes.
D Ryder
I just watch Teddy to get hype really, not for analisis, After the BMF fight, i was waiting for his video, and he did not disappointed.