Originally Posted by Squirrelfighter
The thing about his guard is he leaves his hands wide open, almost completely stiff. It actually looks quite rediculous (and this is coming from an admitted Shields fan).
I know I've thrown a punch and my hands haven't reacted quickly enough to close before my fist gets there and its more of a lazy finger slap. Its mostly due to muscle fatigue in the forearm. Now imagine if one kept their hands completely open.
Look at it this way. Is it A) Shields is an abysmal stand up fighter who was fatigued and threw a wild stiff punch but didn't close his fist properly, or B) This wildly innaccurate and abysmal stand up fighter managed to land with one finger along as tiny a target as GSP's eye. A is infinitely more plausible than B.
I guess I can see how it can happen but he should have been penalized for that. There is no place in MMA for strikes like that. What is to stop more fighters from open hand paws to the eye. If you can't beat em blind em I guess.