I blame Randy. Well, I usually associate blaming someone with doing something wrong, so I don’t think that word is entirely accurate. The problem is every fighter who has ever seen glory in their career think they can go in and wreck shop in their early-mid 40’s. What makes the whole situation worse is that hungry upstart organizations are more than willing to throw a washed up former champion into their cage because freak shows still sell tickets. Ask anyone who has a decent knowledge of Japanese MMA. While I always enjoy a brutal knockout, it starts to get sad watching a senior citizen getting ragdolled around the cage. Although, I’m not going to lie… I was totally laughing while Ken Shamrock got his legs demolished by a slightly less way-too-past-his-prime Pedro Rizzo. So we should boycott local freak shows involving fighters who need a Rascal to get to the cage, because… well, ok… just don’t act like they are making another run at the belt…

So with the Ending of the NBA finals and the unfolding of the first stage of the 2010 World Cup, I have been completely sports saturated for about the last month. I go through the same mental progression that I do every NBA playoffs and I am reminded of the pure unbridled anger I can be overwhelmed with by watching the completely blind and ambiguous process they call “officiating.” Speaking of officiating, after watching the USA vs Slovenia game, I wasn’t sure which was worse: the refs or the b-movie level acting we see from players throughout the entire sport. While I really enjoy both these sports I couldn’t help be reminded of how mind-shatteringly awesome the concept of finishing an opponent is. If you’re down an unthinkable amount of points, or getting destroyed in the eyes of the judges, you always have that chance to tell them all where to stick it, and finish the fight. In other sports, no matter how bad the ass beating (except in some cases in baseball when the coach says “ehhhhh, screw it, lets just go get a drink, I’m done getting raped for the day.”) you have to let the clock finish out, and prolong the painful embarrassment for the losing team. A fighter may have the best game plan and conditioning in the world, but that all amounts to a heaping pile of horse excrement if you get KTFO in 17 seconds. In team sports there is never one score that ends it all, shuts the game down and calls a clear decisive winner. Sure there are always the last second shot attempts, but if its tied, then you had the whole game time before that point to change it to NOT be tied up. In combat sports, very often there is no opportunity to come back after getting wrecked and recover, no 2nd and 3rd shot at it; In things like MMA, Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing/boxing, sometimes when you go down you can’t make a comeback. They’ll remind you of that when you wake up.

So this is somewhat of a continuation of another recent post that was titled, “Are You Really That Surprised?” and it discussed how many fighters seem to completely ignore certain obvious holes in their game. Well, that is only one side of the training-for-the-big-picture coin. Always trying to be the most well rounded fighter possible is a constant challenge in both MMA and Jiu Jitsu, and falling short of this goal leaves holes on the defensive end. There is an equal epidemic on the offensive end as well. If you’ve patched up the gaping holes in your defensive wall, its now time to bolster your offensive push AND finish, and with a realistic mindset. At the top level, you need to realize that most of these guys (and gals) are incredibly resilient. If you think you are just going to execute your game plan instantly with 100% guaranteed success, and without brutal resistance, you are either overly confident, haven’t fought someone of adequate ability/skill, or are in for a rude awakening. That or you’re a freak like Shane Carwin and you just eat people’s faces off in no longer than 3 minutes. It’s nice to see someone come in with the plan of feigning interest in a striking exchange and then executing a strong and deliberate successful takedown. But this is where I often find myself frustrated with many fighters. You have your man on the ground and in a dominant position; now do something about it. I even see this in jiu jitsu/grappling tournaments, specifically in no-gi competitions. You’ll see a real solid wrestler come in and beat lower class guys by just take downs and pins for points. *yawn* Sorry, back to my original point. You did the work and got your opponent down, but at the top levels of MMA and BJJ, when a guy is still fresh and gets taken down, he/she is going to take you for a ride trying to get to their preferred position. What this means, is you need to be prepared to match the pace, no matter what the level is set at, when implementing your plan. I have seen time and time again fighters whose game plan is to drag their opponent down and unleash some smash and bash from the top. Sounds like a good plan to me, but so often we see fighters get frustrated, distracted, or even gassed because their opponent actually uses wrist control, or has excellent guard retention. Train for that and so much more. If you want to take them down, be ready to either break them in half or put their teeth through the mat. Granted, also at this level of fighting comes excellent defensive skills and survival knowledge. Finishing an opponent is never as easy a task as the greats make it look, but if you train a game plan to end the fight as hard as you did to get the fight where you want it, you will finish.

One of my first posts over 6 months ago, which was aptly named “Cardio,” I ripped into top tier fighters who never address the issue of making sure their gas tank is large enough to go 3, let alone 5 rounds without looking like an awkward sleep walking adolescent. Well, making sure you have enough wind to make it through the whole match is one thing; Making you’re cardio into a soul-crushing weapon to introduce your opponent to the dark side of combat sports is totally different. It’s not a perfect example, but a good recent showing of this can be seen in the Frankie Edgar upset over BJ Penn. The insanely talented former Welterweight and former Lightweight champion used to pretty much follow the belief that he didn’t need to push his cardio simply because of his natural talent. Well he learned that the hard way before, and since his complete dismantling at the hands of the side-show, circus-level freak of an athlete GSP, he had gotten so much better. But as the Texas boy in me would say, “Better ain’t good.” At the other end of the cardio spectrum was Frankie Edgar. His debut shocked the diehard MMA and UFC crowd when he upset Tyson Griffin with a decision. His cardio is unrelenting. He was able to stand up and do alright with Penn, yes that was a HUGE factor in the fight, but the underlying difference was his near endless gastank. Penn was able to keep up a damn good pace the first 2 1/2 rounds, as he normally does and which is normally plenty to put someone away, but this time it didn’t. As Penn began to fade slowly, Edgar looked like he was starting the first round… and looked that way for all 5 rounds.

The point is this. If your opponent’s cardio is adequate, but yours is godlike, you can not only gas your opponent that much faster, you can make them give up mentally long before you put them out of their misery.

So I have to show this fight, which is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. I must preface this by saying I have to hide the fact I spent years a big Matt Hughes fan. As a matter of fact I would say he is one of a few fighters (out of like 8-10) that made me the crazy MMA fiend I am today, and one of the main reasons I began training grappling/BJJ. No matter how you feel about him as a person, for a significant period of time (about 4 1/2 to 5 years) He was arguably the nastiest Welterweight on the planet. The funny thing is, after he bested Renzo and Royce, he understandably isn’t the favorite amongst the Gracies crew. My academy, heart, and second family is with Relson Gracie Austin… You can see the conflict of interests. So everything aside, this fight is one of my all time favorites and is a great example of this whole post. Matt Hughes vs BJ Penn 2:

I never get tired of seeing Rampage eat kicks…

It has been a decade now since the implementation of The Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, and over those ten years we have seen the competition and the ability of its warriors transcend to another level. The set of rules that the US (and most of the west, and increasingly in the east) sees as the ultimate laws of MMA were created during a time when that kind of unrestricted combat was viewed as completely taboo and agreeing to such rules was the underground MMA community’s way of saying “OK, we’ll conform.” The rules were not created by fighters, instead they were drafted by a bunch of suits who basically set the limitations of a sport they knew nothing about. One move is illegal because it seems brutal, while another vastly more damaging and violent action is allowed. Here is my point: Mixed martial arts is the complete art of fighting, no matter what the position. For the sake of the continued perfection of MMA as a form, all the specific disciplines that comprise it, and the progression of the science of fighting as a whole, there needs to be some rule changes. For this first installment, I will start with a technique made very popular in the very first UFC fight (Gerard Gordeau vs Teila Tuli), and honed up through the PRIDE Years; The Soccer Kick.

One huge problem with critics of this rule is that they truly believe this lovely approach to kicking a downed opponent in the face/head is significantly more devistating than someone being kicked in the dome while they are standing or leaning against a cage or turnbuckle. It is also one of those moves that weak-spined individuals would call “dirty.” To those people, I say put your 1950’s housewife apron back on because you’re burning your casserole. It’s fighting, not cricket; you’re there to destroy your opponent anyway necessary, until they stop moving or the ref has to pull you off them. If the person you are fighting is stupid enough to post up on all fours or on their knees while you’re standing next to them, then they’re asking for it. You never saw Minotauro get soccerkick KO’d or stomp KO’d (thats a post for a different day…), did you? No. . I don’t know about you guys, but even with my mostly submission-centric mind, if I was in a fight and I knocked/drug down my opponent and I got up to my feet before him… I would kick that person in the face. Sounds like a pretty efficient, effective, realistic fight strategy to me, what do you think? Sounds like combatants in MMA should be allowed to kick their downed opponent’s head… like a soccer ball…

Here are some great soccer kicks for your enjoyment! Starting with that Oh-so-famous, tooth-shooting kick of Gordeau’s… And yes, that is a very young Shogun down there too…

Ahhhh… the infamous double title night. A definite upside of a card with two fights for the belt is the chance to compare and contrast two different champions. Both Anderson Silva and BJ Penn have been in that constantly argued top 5 pound-for-pound fighter list for a while, but after last night there may be a slight adjustment of that list, and how these two fighters are viewed by the fanatic MMA community. Thank you UFC 112 for making things interesting. So let’s take a chance to look over the do’s and the don’ts that were shown by both the lightweight and the middleweight champions (and their respective opponents).

BJ Penn

Do’s: He used his counters perfectly and for the first half of the fight really played the part of aggressor. I also think this was BJ’s best fight so far in terms of curbing his tendency to run his mouth and come off as pompous, and I think it allowed him to be more focused mentally going into this fight.

Don’ts: First off, let me say this… BJ Penn’s cardio isn’t his Achilles heel anymore, but its not a strength either. Against a guy with an endless gas tank like Edgar, that can make for a very long evening. Yet, this was not the deciding factor in his loss of the belt. At some point, I believe about halfway through the 3rd round, Penn lost his shine. In the past we’ve seen this kind of thing from BJ, particularly in his lack of cardio capacity (reference his rematch with Hughes, one of my favorite all time fights), but this time it was a case of The Prodigy gassing out his will.  Granted, keeping track of Edgar’s movement was most likely extremely taxing, it appeared Penn was mentally exhausted. This is something we do not see from a George St. Pierre or a Lyoto Machida, for example.

Frankie Edgar

Do’s: Edgar and his camp came up with an excellent and precise plan, and Frankie executed it perfectly. At no point did he over extend his hands, or get lost in the sauce of boxing with a guy like BJ. Edgar also proved he is a master of angles, and at no point did he simply back straight up, or come straight in, and he never gave Penn a good angle to connect a clean shot. Frankie is a very level headed combatant, and maintaining that is what is required of a champion.

Don’ts: One thing I noticed that Frankie should keep in mind is when he backs out of a failed shot attempt he sticks his head out and down, perfect height for a knee or well placed upper-cut. Just saying.

Anderson Silva

Do’s: Use of a stomp-kick approach for slowing grapplers. Head movement is impeccable as always.

Don’ts: Where do I begin? Well it’s really just one thing. Showboating. Showboating to the point where it inhibits Silva’s ability to not just finish fights, but to fight period. People KNOW he is arguably one of the best striker/counter-strikers out there, and hence they are not going to come running in flailing wildly (if they’re smart). So if they don’t play directly into his strongest realm, he mocks them and refuses to fight them at all. There is no honor in winning this way, and his mocking antics reflect poorly upon all other fighters and combat sports as a whole. Just like Fedor not fighting a top 5 fighter since 2005, if Anderson keeps dancing through challenges like this, his P4P ranking will take a slight dip… if it hasn’t already.

Demian Maia

Do’s: Well honestly its hard to say, because of Anderson’s dancing. What we DID see though, came out at the end when he was tired of all Silva’s antics, said “screw it,” and went in swinging for the fences. As the Chechen terrorist in Team America said, “you have balls. I like balls.” Sure he ate a few punches, but he didn’t get wrecked, and the best part? He landed some shots. Maia definitely has the heart of a warrior, and as long as he keeps working everyday on his striking, we could see many more great fights from this 32 year old submission guru. Let’s have him choke Chael again!

Don’ts: Just keep working on your hands and your movement, and you’ll be just fine Demian.