Career Forecasting: Joe Fields

In this piece, I will take a young/raw/inexperienced prospect. I'll break down the said fighter and give my prediction on the career trajectory of the highlighted fighter, Joe Fields.

I'm the flyweight division's biggest fan, so I was looking forward to watching Fields. I knew of him because of his last fight but I took a deeper look. As a pro, he initially moved up to 135 his first two fights but did move back down to 125. I will say I think he's better suited at 135 because he looks better in my opinion. His competition as an amateur has been lackluster but did fight better guys as an amateur. The best guy he fought was Connor Walsh which he lost a split decision to.

I found myself kinda bored watching Fields. He has a lot of finishes but doesn't really chase the finish. A lot of his submissions come from his opponent's shooting and him taking advantage. His knockouts come from counters. Fields does do his best work on the mat even if it is off his back. His takedown defense has held up mostly but when taken down he hasn't stayed there long. Fields has a good rubber guard and being so flexible he's been able to use submissions to escape and get an offensive position. Fields is good once he takes the back as I'm surprised he only has one RNC finish. I like that he can control on top and follow what his opponent does.

I've liked the way Fields has gotten takedowns. He's good in the clinch with knee traps. He's also good at shooting in and switching to an outside trip. Fields just don't have good traditional wrestling and with what he does do it's nothing special. As he fights better guys they won't just accept being taken down or shooting lazy shots. I worry most about Field's striking defense. The first thing I noticed when watching tape was how wide apart Fields holds his hands. That mixed with him having a big ole head isn't a good mix. He's been dropped before and he will get slept eventually for sure.

Overall, as soon as Fields takes a loss he'll string together more losses. At 125 he doesn't have the speed, cardio, footwork, and technique to go far. Even at 135 he'd do better but still not sniff the UFC.