Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Strategy is one of the aspects that seems to be discussed least by the MMA media. On one hand, it seems puzzling – few sports have as much need for insightful strategic analysis as ours. On the other hand, it is somewhat understandable, given that we often only see the results of strategy rather than the formation of it.

MMA seems to me to be inherently more strategic than many other sports. I use the term ‘strategic’ in a somewhat technical sense – insofar as what you do can affect what other players should do, an activity becomes more (or less) strategic. For example, hundred meter sprinting is technically not a strategic game – one athlete running is a certain way does not affect how fast the other athletes run (at least not that much). No matter what happens, the goal is to run those 100 meters as fast as possible, and how fast you run, how you pace yourself, etc. don’t affect how the other runners complete the same 100 meters. Basketball is quite a strategic game – whether you want to play zone or man to man will depend on the other team’s ability to hit from beyond the arc. Whether you want the game to be fast paced or slow depends on whether you’re leading or not, and by how much.

Yet nevertheless, even a complex sport like basketball is not as strategic as ours. In basketball, at the end of the day, the winner is the team that has more points – and so for offense, your goal is always to score as many points as possible, and for defense, your goal is to stop the enemy from doing the same. In MMA, there is not only one way to win. Broadly speaking, there are three ways to win, by submission, by KO, by decision. In detail, each fighter has a dizzying amount of techniques to go to in order to finish a fight – submissions while mostly occurring on the ground, can sometimes be done standing. Kos, mostly on the feet (or on the ground after a fighter gets KOed) can be achieved from guard, from side control, and any other of the plethora of dominant positions. There’s even been a KO by a guy on bottom (go search for the video). Decisions are decisions, but certainly it seems that judges can be swayed by specific types of attitudes and performances displayed within the cage. Diego Sanchez and Leonard Garcia (x10) come to mind.
Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured: Jake Shields will be competing against GSP this Saturday for the UFC Welterweight strap, but we must not forget how dominant he was as the Strikeforce middleweight champion.

As we continue trudging along the 2 month stretch without a Strikeforce event, there are more and more rumors and news updates about Strikeforce that are being released. This week, I’ll go with a summary of the happenings in the Strikeforce world that are being overlooked as we approach a record breaking event in UFC 129, and give a short preview of UFC 129 since the former Strikeforce Middleweight champion is competing.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a copious watcher of MMA, I’ve begun to notice that there are certain archetypes of fighters. I’m not just talking about styles, though fighting styles certainly play a large part. It many cases, it goes beyond that, to the point where these various types of fighters seem to share the same strategies and mindsets as each other. This can often lead to predictability, in a sport where being unpredictable is a huge advantage.

Also interesting to note is that these archetypes often don’t fit the top echelon of fighters in the sport. This may be because the best fighters learn to cast them off, or it may just be that as with many other pursuits, the outstanding ones just don’t fit the stereotype.

The WrestleBoxer

The wrestleboxers are probably the best known archetype – you know who I’m talking about. Until recently, these guys filled up the UFC lightweight division, and were all vying for a shot at BJ Penn. Typically these guys start out as more or less pure wrestlers with sloppy striking. As they develop their striking games, they may score a FOTN bonus by staying standing and fighting sloppy to a decision against some other wrestleboxer. For some reason, they fall in love with their striking, even though it’s still subpar, and stop taking people down. Generally speaking, the more successful of this class of fighters have more power. Eventually, the wrestleboxer loses a fight because he tried to stay standing against a better standup fighter, and learns how to mix it up (sort of). ‘Mixing it up’ normally involves standup for half the round, followed by a takedown attempt or pressing up the cage the steal the round. These guys also rarely throw kicks, and when they do, it’s one of those weak leg kicks that go straight to the Cecil People’s ‘Leg kicks don’t finish fights’ foundation.

List of fighters in this class: Sean Sherk, Ben Henderson, Eddie Alvarez, Scott Jorgensen, Demetrious Johnson, Manny Gamburyan, Diego Sanchez, Josh Koscheck, Ryan Bader, Matt Hamill

Best in Class: Eddie Alvarez, Ryan Bader
Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured: A superfight between Light Heavyweight champion Dan Henderson and Heavyweight star Fedor Emelianenko is supposedly in the works.

Strikeforce has taken a 2 month hiatus from any sort of event, but there is still plenty of information about Strikeforce in the news. Earlier, there were rumors that Jim Miller would be Gilbert Melendez’s next opponent in Strikeforce, but those rumors were quickly dispelled. However, there are still plenty of rumors still circulating now that are worth taking a look at.

Read the rest of this entry »

To go with my article last week, I’m going to discuss techniques that I think are drastically overused (and often performed badly) in MMA. Seeing these techniques used badly will often throw me into a fit of rage, and I’ll ground and pound the floor until my elbows are scraped and my fists are bloody.

Alright, I’m exaggerating. But seriously, it annoys me every time I see a fighters execute these techniques without any sense of timing or form. Unfortunately, it’s rather hard to find gifs of failed techniques, so instead I’ll give examples of appropriate usage of a technique.

Overhand Right

I see this punch thrown entirely too much. Especially lower down on the UFC card, when you have two guys who are terrible at striking but just want to ‘put on a show’ for the fans. Too many times in my life have I seen a guy throw this punch and miss it by a foot. What’s even more irritating is that fighters persist in throwing in, as if over the course of the fight their arms will magically elongate because they sacrificed a couple of goats to Chuck Liddell’s spirit the night before. Chuck’s not dead, and sacrificing things in his honour will NOT help you fight like him.

I understand that if you ‘cover up’ in boxing gloves, you’re more or less safe from the overhand right, but the same is not true in MMA gloves – and thus the overhand right is more effective in MMA than in boxing, and thus should be used more. It’s definitely an effective weapon in MMA. Nevertheless, fighters who don’t know how to set it up or when to throw it should just stop using it. I’m sick and tired of seeing guys take turns winging overhands at each other and both totally missing.

Here’s what an overhand right should look like. It’s not perfect, but it lands and KOs the other guy, so it’s not like I can complain.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured: Diaz lands brutal body shots, which lead to Daley’s demise in the fight.

Last Saturday’s Strikeforce card was odd in a few ways. It only had 4 fights on the main card, there was a televised appearance from Dana White and Lorenzo Fertita, and it was the first major Strikeforce event under the Zuffa banner. There were also ads shown for UFC 129, and a printed ad on the floor of the cage, but seeing a Strikeforce ad during UFC 128 was much stranger. The fans saw a show they were used to (minus the pyrotechnics during fighter entrances), but evidently operations were much different backstage.

Read the rest of this entry »

Whilst watching Eddie Alvarez’s (pretty good IMO) performance on Saturday night’s Bellator card, I was reminded of how rarely I see body shots used effectively in MMA. Off the top of my head, I can count on one hand the fighters that I remember consistently using body shots as a weapon in their arsenal. That got me to think – what techniques in MMA seem to be strategically sound, but go underutilized?

Body Punches

Nick Diaz Does good work to the body

Since I started off the article with it, I guess this has to be my first choice. Whilst going to the body is perhaps not as effective in MMA as it is in boxing (because fights are shorter, so there is less time to accumulate the damage/wait for the effects), it’s remarkable how few good body punchers there are at the top level of MMA. The fighter that comes to mind immediately when I think about good, digging body punches is Nick Diaz. Diaz knows that he finishes fights not based on one punch KO power, but accumulation of damage, and is happy to go to the body to open up the head.

So why don’t we see good, workhorse like bodyshots in MMA like we do in boxing? I think there are a few reasons. Firstly, the smaller gloves make the head that much more attractive – it makes KOs easier to score; it also makes defending head punches more difficult. Secondly, throwing powerful punches to the body requires the attacking fighter to be closer than if he were attacking the head – this is more dangerous in MMA because it makes it easier to get clinched/taken down.
Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured: Justin Wilcox celebrates after his TKO stoppage of Rodrigo Damm.

It is a safe assumption that when one tunes in to a Strikeforce event, they will see top fighters that keep a fierce pace and make entertaining fights. The Strikeforce Challengers series is no exception, and up and coming fighters get to display their skills and gain new fans, win or lose. With the fights broadcasted to plenty of viewers via Shotime, lesser-known fighters have the opportunity to go out and provide entertaining fights, and make fans want to see them again. Strikeforce Challengers 15 had some great fights and made fans keep certain fighters in their minds.

Read the rest of this entry »

After having a rather rough week involving two midterms, three assignments and no sleep, I’m too beat to offer my usual longwinded self indulgent posts about my perspectives on the sport.
Instead, today I’ll offer up a short and obvious post about some of the perverse incentives that exist in MMA.

I’ll start by making an assumption about the sport. Firstly, I assume that in every MMA fight, the goal is to simulate what would happen in a ‘real’ honorable fight. MMA has rules, time limits and rounds to protect fighter safety and to make the sport television ready, but the underlying ideal is that if two fighters face off against each other, the one who wins in the MMA match would also win in a no time limit, single round contest with minimal rules (think early UFCs).

Here are some of the rules and regulations that give fighters incentive to do things that they wouldn’t otherwise do in an actual fight.
Read the rest of this entry »

In the aftermath of UFC 128, it was all I could do not to write another sad, tearful emofest about how another one of my fighting heroes was completely destroyed. Shogun, I’ll support you till the end, train harder and come back better. That’s all I have to say about that. There was another thing that was bothering me after UFC 128 though – how Jon Jones’ long reach seemed insurmountable to all of his opponents thus far, and by extension, how long reaches seem to carry a large advantage in MMA, larger than in both boxing and kickboxing.

From a striking perspective, in combat, there are three main archetypes of fighters. There are boxers, who prefer to stay on the outside and pick opponents apart. There are brawlers, who pretty much swing wildly and hope something lands. And then there are infighters, who press forward, using adequate head movement and defense to get inside and throw compact punches in close.

In both boxing and kickboxing, I can name fighters who are representative of these various styles at the highest level. Muhammad Ali and Semmy Schilt are the boxers. Guys like Mayorga and Mark Hunt (in K-1) are typical of brawlers for their respective sports. Joe Frazier and Mike Zambidis are classic in-fighters.
Read the rest of this entry »