The Myth Of The Perfect Fighter

OUCH

 

Last Saturday UFC Light Heavyweight champ Jon Jones successfully defended his title against a very game Vitor Belfort. The talk of the MMA community has been Vitors near world crushing arm bar of the champ. This isnt the first time Jones grappling skills have come into question. When he fought Brandon Vera he lazily left his arm open while in Brandon Veras guard. Vera threatened to take it, but never followed through. He paid for his oversight with a shattered orbital bone courtesy of “Bones” battering ram-like elbow. After that fight I went on for days about how a more aggressive and savvy fighter would rip his arm off and beat him with it. What I (and many fight fans) overlooked is that Jones still won, and he did so in rather brutal and convincing fashion. Even today, after submitting Vitor Belfort people are still talking about how Jones needs to work on his Jiu Jitsu. That’s true, as fighters should constantly work to improve and add weapons to their arsenals. But what some people aren’t examining is Vitors gameplan (which was solid through the 1st round) and how Jon Jones has ended the majority of his fights, which is by submission. First of all, Vitor has never been an offensive grappler. He has almost always used his grappling defensively to avoid submissions and get back to a place where he can use his greatest weapon, which are his fists. No one was expecting Belfort to be that aggressive off of his back. He and the Blackzillians deserve credit for not only coming up with a gameplan that surprised Jones, but one that exploited an obvious weakness in his game. Jones, on the other hand did what he has done time and time again. He listened to his coaches and made the necessary adjustments to his game and ended up with his hand raised and the belt around his waist.

We expect fighters to be perfect, fans often buy into the rhetoric of certain fighters not having holes in their games. Jon Jones is part of a “new breed” of fighters. He is incredibly well rounded, but he is not now and never will be better than everyone he ever fights in every area of fighting. What makes him and a select few others great is their ability to not let their opponents exploit their weaknesses.  Anderson Silva isnt a good wrestler. Chael took him down at will, but he’s been taken down by lesser fighters in the past. There is likely no amount of training that Silva can do to get better than someone that has been wrestling since the age of 5. But what he did was make sure he acquired a skill that nullified the advantage wrestlers have against him. He is absolutely deadly off of his back. There are questions about Junior Dos Santos Jiu Jitsu skills, but good luck trying to get him on his back. His footwork and quickness are too good. He’s beaten Frank Mir, Roy Nelson and Fabricio Werdum. Those are 3 of the best heavyweight grapplers in all of MMA. No one can make the argument that he’s a better grappler than them.

The perfect fighter does not exist. Preventing someone from imposing their game is a highly underrated part of the fight game. Someone will always be better than you at something. But MMA is a game of chess. Strength and skill isnt enough to make you elite.

 

The Peoples Champ

The Peoples Champ

Saturday night at UFC 141 in Rio, Featherweight champion Jose Aldo successfully defended his title against Team Alpha Male wrestler Chad Mendes in what many (including myself) consider the finest performance of his very young career. It was clear from the opening bell that Mendes had no answer for Aldo. Once we realized that the challenger was unable to take the champ down into his world, you got the feeling you were watching a vicious predator stalk its prey.  Mendes biggest strength and only means of escape from certain death, was his speed and athleticism but that was completely nullified by Aldos brilliant onslaught of technical violence. Every takedown was denied and every leg kick was returned with much more ferocity. Mendes was doomed, and late in the first round he finally met his fate. After commiting himself to taking Aldo down against the cage the champ unleashed a devastating knee. Mendes was left unconscious.

What took place next is one of the most electrifying moments in MMA history…

Flying high on the adrenaline of the moment Aldo ran out of the cage and  into the crowd to be embraced. As the crowd went into a frenzy Aldo was hoisted onto the shoulders of his fellow Brazillians. We weren’t just watching a fighter celebrate a win, we were watching a star being born. We witnessed a country put a man who is from the worst parts of that nation be embraced like a national hero. The moment that crowd erupted they poured their hopes and dreams into him. Most of us will never achieve that level of success, when you’re from where Aldo is your chances of succeeding are even more slim and when you consider that, what this young man achieved is even more impressive. He represents thousands of urban youth that will probably never make it out of ghettos all over the world. Nothing was ever given to him, he worked his way up using his athletic gifts and work ethic.

What the UFC (and sports in general) needs is more Jose Aldos and fewer athletes attempting to be the “heel” to market themselves. Aldo has become one of the biggest stars in Brazil by being genuine, humble and winning convincingly. Jose Aldo is the true peoples champ.

Strikeforce: Fedor vs Henderson picks.

 

Fedor Emilionenko vs Dan Henderson

Despite winning his last 2 fights in convincing fashion, Dan Henderson still has a lot of convincing to do. Unfortunately, thats not going to be possible against Fedor. Henderson doesnt posses any of the skills needed to put Fedor in trouble. No world class BJJ or gorilla strength. There isnt a single place where Henderson is better than Fedor. I know some of you may be thinking about Hendo’s wrestling, but he hasnt relied on that skill in years. He’s turned into a brawler lately, which plays right into Fedors strenghths IMO. Once Hendo starts to lose the striking game he’ll try to take Hendo down, and much like a lot of the MMA community he’ll get reminded that Fedors real strength is in the grappling department. Henderson will get submitted here.

Marloes Conen vs Miesha Tate

I was going back and forth with this fight, but then I decided to re-watch Coenen vs Carmouche, eventhough Coenen was able to come back and win that fight, her weakness was exposed. Coenen will have a nice advantage in the stand up department but Tates superior wrestling is the key to this fight. Tate is also savvy enough on the ground to avoid Conens slick guard game. This fight is going to go five rounds, which is probably best for Coenen since she’s been the more active fighter as Tate had to sit out with an injury. Tate will spend the first 2 or 3 rounds of this fight dominating Coenen with her wrestling, but after she gasses she’ll get caught in a submission.

Robbie Lawler vs Tim Kennedy

Robbie Lawler is known for ignoring the grappling side of MMA, but I dont think that will matter much in this fight. If Kennedy had a bit of trouble taking Melvin Manhoef down, he may have trouble dragging Robbie to the mat. Kennedys stand up relies on technique and solid combinations, Lawlers relies solely on brutal, vicious and disgusting KO power. Kennedy may find early success here by staying on the outside with solid footwork and technique, but its hard to avoid Robbies power for 3 rounds. All he needs is one punch. I know Im in the minority here, but Im going with Robbie Lawler by TKO.

Paul Daley vs Tyron Woodley

Tyron Woodley will be great one day, but not today. He’s a big, strong and talented wrestler with some decent punching power. The problem for Woodley is that Paul Daley has stuffed takedowns from wrestlers who are much better than he is. Daley is one of the few strikers in MMA whos punching power is matched with fantastic technique and precision, not to mention the fact that he’s just fought better people in bigger fights. Woodley is being thrown to the sharks here, he’s not ready. Daley by TKO

Scott Smith vs  Tarec Saffiedine

I like Scott Smith, but his heart has always been bigger than his actual skill set. After you take so many beatings, heart isnt enough to beat people with actual skills. He might put up a good fight here early, but wont be able to resist his urge to get into a brawl. The minute he gets careless (and he will) Tarec will take him down and submit him.

You Know Whats Awesome? Minutiae

take the time.

 

 

While sitting around and thinking about my 2 loves. Metal and MMA. I started trying to think of any similarities they share. I was only able to think of one; Minutiae. These hobbies fit me because I can get obsessed and tangled in the smallest details of things I love. Just listening to metal wasnt enough for me, once I realized how amazing it was I wanted to hear…all of it. I used to scour the depths of the internet for rare mp3s for what felt like days at a time, foregoing the possibility that I could download a computer destroying virus. All that mattered to me was being able to immerse myself in the music. While the other kids in my class where taking tests I was drawing band logos on my test paper. The fact that I was failing the class never crossed my mind, I just had to make sure that godamn “S” in “Sepultura” had the correct number of thorns on it. Other kids book bags had books in it, mine had my discman and about 40 CDs. I carried them EVERYWHERE. I studied the cd booklets, learning who produced each album and which bands thanked other bands. It was an obsession. But where I differed from other metal heads was that I lacked pretentiousness, I constantly walked around trying to get my friends to love what I loved so much. It was always my dream to become an A&R rep at a record label and scout the world for talent to share with everyone. In my mind metal was for everyone, I thought it was great when one of my favorite bands sold more than 2 albums. If I burned someone a CD and they didnt like it I always wanted to know why so I could take what they told me and find them some they WOULD like. I was convinced that if they gave it a chance they’d love it as much as I did.

A few years ago I asked my girlfriend why she didnt like metal, she said “its too much, it just sounds like static’. I told myself that she just wasnt paying close enough attention, I tried to get her to close her eyes and REALLY listen, but it didnt work. I came to realize that to love metal as much as I do you need patience. I just wasnt going to be able to convince the kids that listen to The Used that they need to drop what they’re doing and listen to the latest Enslaved album. Metal isnt for everyone, and no matter how hard I sell it, everyone isnt going to buy.

When I got into MMA, I approached it with the same obsession, but with a different mindset. While I do believe that every sports fan can learn to love something about MMA I also realize they all wont take the time to do so. While theres beauty in every detail of BJJ I opt to focus on the beauty of 1 on 1 competition and how much athleticism and intelligence it takes to compete at the highest level when explaining why I love MMA to my friends.  As much as I respect and love Mike Wilbon, no one is going to convince him to take MMA seriously. What we may be able to convince doubters to do is appreciate and respect the competitors. Maybe Im naive, but I truly believe that once someone understands what these fighters go through for their craft, they’ll eventually take the time to find the beauty and art in the minutiae of Mixed Martial Arts.

It Ends The Same Way It Began…

I bet he hopes this moment lasts forever

Sadly, that day is one of the only positive memories I have of my relationship with my father. We’ve both tried to get to know eachother, but failed miserably. I dont think either of us have the energy to try again, we’ve relegated ourselves to the occasional text and speaking only on birthdays and fathers day. Not only did I give up on my father after that day, but I gave up on MMA for a long time too. I got tired of begging my father to buy more “ultimate fighting” tapes for us to watch together and I moved on. Every once in awhile my brother and I would talk about Royce and try to figure out how he was choking all those people out, but eventually I forgot about MMA. For years my obsession with metal carried me. I spent all my time on internet message boards discussing the merits of black metal and debating whether or not one could look past Varg Vikernes views on race and just enjoy the music he made (the answer is no, in case you where wondering).

That obsession carried me through life until about 3 years ago when I came across the all Anderson Silva episode of UFC Unleashed while bored and flipping through the channels at 1 o’clock in the morning. I thought to myself “They’re still doing this?! How can it even be on TV?”. To my surprise the sport was almost completely different than I remembered. I started to think of my father and thought about changing the channel, but the more knees Anderson Silva threw into Rich Franklins body the more into it I got. After that fight, I was hooked. I stayed up all night reading about all the fights and fighters I missed throughout the years. I spent hours reading about Frank Shamrock, Rich Franklin, BJ Penn, Jens Pulver and Matt Hughes. I couldnt believe I missed so much. I hated that I gave up something I loved for what felt like nothing.  Because I was older I was able to look at these fighters with more respect. It was no longer about the blood thirst or seeing someone get KO’d. I got into the technical aspect of grappling. I learned to appreciate a good submission or takedown as much as a well placed punch that leads to a brutal KO. These fighters are no longer super heroes to me, they are hardworking and talented human beings who often come out on the losing side of things despite working hard and “leaving it all in the cage”.

I dont just get entertainment from these fights, I find MMA to be extremely inspiring and beautiful. Its one on one. In a fight you’ve got no one to depend on but yourself, no team to fall back on during a fight. To me, MMA mimics life. You train, work hard and prepare to risk everything for a win. Whether you win or lose, sometimes you leave bloody and hurt. But you leave knowing you tried. You walk out with your head held high. And although the relationship between my father and I feels like its ended in a draw, I tried.  If these fighters have taught me anything its how to lose gracefully. I’ve  learned not to let the loss of my relationship with my father define me. Through my fathers mistakes I’ve learned how to be a better father to my future children. I’ve learned to make sure they’re better prepared for their fight in the cage of life than I ever was.