Why would you expect Felipe to "smash" him after Adam defeated him in the Pan Ams final a year ago

Because Felipe is a very very good competitor, on paper he outclasses Adam he has beaten people the Adam hasn't and won worlds. It really does highlight how competition works. Also shows that Adam is quite special in his game. @@vibovitold

@@user-zi7kp8un3s yeah, well - Leandro Lo (RIP) won the worlds like 10 times, give or take, and Adam choked him out....(meanwhile Felippe lost to Lo). of course Adam isn't the top dog in his division, i know he's not however, I'd say he has reached the top TIER... where he may still lose to the best of the best and it happens, BUT he's so close to the top that it's very unusual for him to get "outclassed" or "smashed" anyway, the level at which these guys are is beyond my imagination. i sparred with Adam at a seminar a few years ago (i was a brown belt then, nothing special - decent). it goes without saying he obliterated me, hardly a surprise - but i saw some actually good competitors who could run circles around me getting smashed just the same :) it looked like he couldn't even feel any difference. that was impressive

Yeah I agree I think Adam has fixed a lot of mistakes in the past years, I think we will see him at the top soon@@vibovitold

Maybe Lucas Leite helped Adam a lot.

His game is virtually perfect at this point.