Happy New Year: A Little Taste of Last Year

Sorry I haven't been as active over the break. I will say that I enjoyed UFC 79, despite some of my favorite fighters from the good old days underperforming (damn you, Soa Palelei). I also enjoyed the M-1 Global event, though I wish JZ might have been able to offer us the fight of the year with Aoki.

I have a collection of moments in a year that has been a roller coaster ride for many fans of the greatest sport in the world, but before I get to that, which I'll try to get out tomorrow, I want to give you guys something fun to celebrate the New Year.

A friend of mine linked me this post I made before thanksgiving and I realized I hadn't put it up on the blog for you guys.

To put it in context, this is a bit I did after Jeff Lacy came out with his outburst against MMA. I enjoyed writing this alot, and I hope you guys like it as much as I did. Happy New Year.

Are you f*cking kidding me? Jeff Lacy is a credible source on boxing?

First, the guy's an idiot. Second, all of his comments are only aggravating an argument that could be made so much better.

Any boxer that wants to bring up Maywether vs. De La Hoya as an example of why MMA is an inferior sport is an idiot. I watched the fight, and usually I can appreciate boxers for their hands and head movement, but both of them proved to be complete p*ssies in that fight. Great competition comes from having two guys who want to win, who want to finish and who want to really show how great they are, not who want to line their pockets.

Boxing is a better sport because there's more money in it? No!

The international boxing market has fallen apart, while international MMA continues to grow at a speed no other sport in the world can keep up with. Boxing continues to be a waste of time and talent because guys with lots of potential would rather make money than actually fight.

Then there are all of these ridiculous boxing contracts. De La Hoya gets to pick the color of Floyd Maywether's shorts and gloves? That's a disgrace not just to the sport of boxing, but to anyone who associates themself with being a "fight fan."

Then you have guys like Valuev who continue to put on raucous displays against opponents that are hand selected by Don f*cking King. At least for Hong Man Choi to get a title, he's got to fight real opponents (and I'm not just talking about Fedor, I'm also talking about Jerome LeBanner, Semmy Schilt and some of the other great guys he fought in K-1).

Honestly, I wish I could say boxing was dead, so that I could ignore it, but instead it's just flopping around like a fish out of water, gasping for air. It can't die quickly enough. It makes me sad to say that some of the great eastern European fighters I grew up watching, like the Klitchko's, are part of a sport that is falling apart, and I have as must respect for the guys that realy fight in boxing as I do for the guys in K-1, but the vast majority of boxers are killing this sport. It can't even just be blamed on the promoters and shady managers any more.

I've done enough talking about boxers as inferior athletes, because they are. They don't condition themselves to perform as wide a variety of tasks or endure as much punishment as an MMA fighter. If you want to see what I have to say about that, here's a quote from one of my old posts:

"Obviously, your new, so I'll be gentle.

None of the guys you have seen in MMA punch for sh*t? What about:

Fedor Emelianenko
Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Mark Hunt
Andrei Arlovski
Tim Sylvia (in his younger days)
Aleks Emelianenko
Sergei Kharitonov
Igor Vovchanchyn
Randy Couture
Chuck Liddell
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
Wanderlei Silva
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
Rich Franklin
Anderson Silva
Denis Kang
Georges St. Pierre
BJ Penn
Takanori Gomi
Joachim Hansen
Hayato Sakurai

That's just off the top of my head. A handful of those guys are, or were, professional boxers. If you don't think they can punch, you obviously have no idea what a punch looks like.

You see, the difference between these guys and boxers is that they can do other things. Bas Rutten even proved that a boxing stance was useless in MMA (and, thus, a streetfight) when he had Duane Ludwig pound on Jens Pulver's more traditional boxing style.

Boxers have come over, but they rarely make it up the top ranks. If you want to know what I mean watch PRIDE's Butterbean v Ikuhisa Minowa. You have to know submissions and wrestling, and that's not just something you can pick up over night. It's much easier for a wrestler (who can control the pace of the fight and where it goes) to transition to MMA than a boxer, because a wrestler has much more applicable skills in MMA.

Even if you're a boxer in MMA, you can't win a fight with just boxing. There's more than just hands in boxing. You have to deal with the added dimensions of leg-kicks and clinches that your opponent can hit you in, in addition to the constant threat of being taken down.

I've been saying this for a long time:

Show me a boxer who can take leg-kicks from Mirko CroCop...

Show me a boxer who can hurt Mark Hunt standing up...

Show me a boxer who can avoid a takedown from Mark Coleman...

Show me a boxer who can defend a submission from Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira...

Show me a boxer who can get off of his back with Fedor Emelianenko pounding his face in...

... and that guy'll be great in MMA. He, however, has not shown up and does not, in the real world, exist.
Simply put, Jeff Lacy is a dumbass, as so is anyone who doesn't give MMA fighters the respect they deserve as athletes and as warriors."

To finish, I'd like to add:

F*ck boxers... I'm going to eat some Turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving.

See you all in January.

TUF Finale: Hot and Cold

The overall tone of the fight wasn't set by the main events, as it usually is. The two main bouts between top lightweight contenders Clay Guida and Roger Huerta and Ultimate Fighter finalists Mac Danzig and Tommy Speer were interesting fights, but the rest of the card was, for the most part, not.

While I will say that I expected more from Tommy Speer than was displayed, I knew how the fight was going to end (though I hadn't anticipated it being so short). Danzig, the more experienced and more agile fighter, choked Speer out in about two minutes.

The fight between Huerta and Guida was the best fight on the card, and the two fighters went to war. Huerta eventually won with a choke in the third round.

While the card was full of exiting submissions, most were like the one in the Danzig fight, coming early and not really giving us the chance to see a war. Here are the results from the other fights:

Jonathan Goulet chokes out Paul Gorgieff in the first.
Roman Mitchyan finished Dorian Price with an ankle lock submission in the first.
Matt Arroyo submitted John Kolosci with an armbar in the first.
Troy Mandoloniz KO'd Ritchie Hightower in the first round.
Ben Saunders beat Dan Barerra unanimously on the judges scorecards.
Goerge Sotiropolous choked out Billy Miles in the first.
Jon Koppenhaver TKO'd Jared Rollins the third round.

WEC's Next Big Event: WEC 31

The WEC is starting to look suspicious. After all, the UFC has had a handful of cards that have not had a single title fight, and barely a high profile matchup. Now, UFC fans are considering themselves lucky if they are getting a single title shot.

So where does the WEC get off putting three title fights on their upcoming card. It is, really, about putting together a high quality product for the fans, but also doing their best to get some serious attention while promoting some of their less famous fighters.

The biggest matchup on the card is the first title defense of undefeated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu machine Paulo Filho (15-0-0). Some fans rank Filho as the number one fighter in the world at 185 pounds, and nobody has him ranked outside of the top three. He's set to fight UFC veteran Chael Sonnen (19-8-1) who, as a wrestler, provides nothing that Filho hasn't seen before in an opponent, but really offers Filho the opportunity to show his strengths as a grappler while also facing an opponent who can't simply be written off as a nobody. Really, the matchup is to further introduce American fans to the style of fighting they can expect from the WEC, display the dominance of Filho and give the main even on the card some notoriety.

The most interesting fight on the card is the match between current WEC featherweight champion and resident organization animal Urijah "The California Kid" Faber (19-1-0) and Jiu-Jitsu legend Jeff "Big Frog" Curran (28-8-1). Curran is a long time veteran of the sport and his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu chops and experience will prove an interesting test for Faber, who has been no less than devastating in his three fights in the WEC, where he has yet to hear the bell ending the first round.

Both of those fights will provide most of the draw, but the great unknown champion of the infant WEC organization is the lightheavyweight champion working lower in the card: Doug "The Rhino" Marshall. While little is known about Marshall (6-2-0) as a fighter, because he has only had 8 fights, all have been in the WEC, so he is established in the organization and may become the first big star brought up in the organization. The WEC certainly has a good deal riding on Marshall, but his opponent, Cuban Ariel Gandulla (4-0-0) isn't considered a serious threat to his title, because he only won his title shot by a split decision.

Still, the lighter weight classes for which the WEC is fast become noticed, are set to provide an interesting backing for the quickly expanding lightheavyweight division, and the installation of Filho as champion of the middleweight division shows that the WEC is serious about expanding it's ranks of champions from the bottom up. So expect the announcement of some heavyweight contracts in the next six to ten months, and the emmergence of a belt in about eighteen.

The WEC is going to really put some pressure on and may put together a show that makes MMA fans drawn in by the publicity behemoth that is the UFC start turning to smaller options and the quality of fights they are seeing in the UFC start diminshing.

It's almost as though WEC is offering a challenge to its big brother cagefighting organization:

If you're not going to give people title fights, we will.

And I'm excited to see what will happen

Inside Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Lyoto Machida

Even with the drop of Matt Serra on the UFC's upcoming UFC 79 card, there are still some promising matchups. Of all of these matches, it seems like the one with the least history might be the most entertaining.

On a card that includes the third installment of Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes and the promising war between striking legends Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell, the most promising looks to be the fight between "The African Assassin" Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (4-1-0) and Lyoto Machida (11-0-0).

Machida is an undefeated, promising fighter who has already worked himself into title contention by beating Sam Hoger, David Heath and Kazuhiro Nakamura by decision. His shotokan karate backround is something unconventional in the sport, and presents alot of problems for the very technical strikers in the division.

Sokoudjou, though, is not a conventional striker. He exploded on to the scene in a way that no one expected him to, being signed by Pride Fighting Championships as a stepping stone opponent for the return of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. In that fight, Sokoudjou did the unthinkable, and became the first man ever to stop either of the Nogueira brothers, knocking Rogerio out in 23 seconds.

In his second fight, he fought another Pride veteran in Ricardo Arona, who was another ground fighter expected to give Sokoudjou's judo backround a test, but the fight never got that far. Sokoudjou put Arona to sleep at the two minute mark in their fight.

Of all of the matchups on this card (including the dynamic matchup of Hughes v St. Pierre and the much anticipated matchup of Silva v Liddell) Sokoudjou and Machida is going to be the most interesting.

For starters, it is Sokoudjou's first fight in the UFC, and the "Octagon shock" fact has been pretty tough on some of his fellow Pride veterans who have come to the organization. There's the question of whether Machida will be able to capitalize on his surroundings and control Sokoudjou.

Then there is the issue of Machida being the first real standup opponent Sokoudjou has faced on a major event card. After all, Arona and Nogueira were both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters.

It should be an interesting matchup, I'm personally taking Sokoudjou on his ability to finish fights (something that we haven't see from Machida in his last 3 matches), but it will definitely be a war and Machida's karate always makes for an exciting fight.

Tito Ortiz: Sometimes Bad is Good

Of all the fighters in the sport of mixed martial arts, by far the most controversial and most polarized is Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz, and he seems to get attention inside and outside of the cage, regardless of who his opponent is. He's been in open conflict with the Lion's Den, single handedly smashing the upper echelon of the gym and gaining fame and fortune (and a porn-star girlfriend) in the meantime.

At the beginning of his career, Ortiz seemed to be simply a shadow of mixed martial arts heavyweight legends like Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman, trying to use the groundnpound style of fighting that the men had perfected. Ortiz made his debut at UFC 13 in the tournament style that was popular during the period.

While Ortiz TKO'd his opening opponent, Wes Albritton, with the explosive groundnpound for which he would become famous later in his career, he dropped his second fight to Guy Mezger when he got caught in a guillotine choke by the more experienced Mezger. (On top of two UFC's matches at UFC's 4 and 5, Mezger had competed in almost twenty matches in Japan's Pancrase organization) The fight would be a lead up to the long standing conflict between Tito and the Lion's Den gym that Mezger represented.

Ortiz took a break after losing to Mezger, partly to recooperate from the mental damage of a loss and partly to really hone his groundnpound and learn to defend submissions like the one that Mezger had caught him in.

Ortiz returned to the sport more than a year later, in December of 1998, to fight Jeremy Screenton in West Coast No Holds Barred. Ortiz TKO'd screenton in 16 seconds, and would quickly be resigned by the UFC.

At this point, Ortiz really began to exploit his charisma, which many credit with helping the expansion of the sport more than anything else. He began to hype his fight with Jerry Bohlander, a teammate of Guy Mezger's, making it an issue of revenge for his loss and verbally attacking Lion's Den coach Ken Shamrock. While the Lion's Den fighters did not take him too seriously, when Ortiz TKO'd Bohlander after fourteen and a half minutes, they started to get a little upset. While Shamrock had yet to become vocal, Mezger took some open offense to Ortiz's comments and requested a fight with Tito.

In Tito's second UFC fight since his return, he hyped up his fight with the Lion's Den even more, and the UFC put together one of the earliest high-profile grudgematches in the sport: the rematch between Tito Ortiz and Guy Mezger. While the hype on paper did little for long time hardcore fans, the new fans that Ortiz managed to bring in with his charisma and open disrespect for much more seasoned fighters left many long term fans hoping Mezger would put him in his place for the second time, and many new fans wondering if this kid from LA was really as tough as he said he was.

The fight with Bohlander was also the debut of what would be one of Tito's many calling cards in later year. His gravedigger finish had already become noticed by some fans, but the addition of the victory t-shirts that would become the subject of alot of arguments among hardcore fans and fans who loved the flare came after Bohlander, when he donned a shirt that said: "I just fucked your ass."

Ortiz finished Mezger even quicker than he had finished Bohlander, cutting near 15 minutes down to around 10 and picking up another TKO on his record.

The t-shirt after this fight read: "Gay Mezger is my bitch." and it pissed Ken Shamrock off enough that he began to address the conflict himself.

In his next fight he would get the opportunity for a really, really dangerous opponent, as he was matched up with UFC middleweight (a title that, at that time, was 205 pounds) champion Frank Shamrock, the blood-brother of Lion's Den leader.

Frank had already become a legend in the Pancrase organization that had really brought his blood-brother into the spotlight and it was a fight that Tito hyped up like it was Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston, saying that it was time for the young up-and-comer to bring the sport into the new age.

The fight, though, didn't go like Ali vs. Liston at all. Shamrock stopped Ortiz with strikes in 4:42 of the fourth round of their title fight.

In what some would call the lone show of respect in Ortiz's career, he put on a Frank Shamrock t-shirt after the fight.

Shamrock left the UFC due to a contract dispute shortly after, vacating his title. Ortiz (the only fighter to last more than one round in the Octagon with Shamrock) was named an immediate contender. His opponent was to be Japanese MMA legend Wanderlei "The Axe-Murderer" Silva, who had started to make a name for himself in the Japanese upstart at the time, the Pride Fighting Championships." Silva had also already had a few fights in the UFC.

Tito beat Silva in what would be the first decision win of Ortiz's career, staying on top of Silva and pounding him with elbows for five rounds.

His next fight would be the beginning of his major tear in the UFC, as he finished Yuki Kondo two mintues into the first with a vicious neck crank.

The t-shirt has become one of the most notable sayings, not just from Ortiz, but in all of MMA: "RESPECT: I don't earn it; I just fucking take it."

Ortiz would continue to dismantle all of the fighters put in front of him as he slammed future 185 pound champion Evan Tanner for a 32 second win and stopped Australian Elvis Sinosic with a cut from his elbows at 3:32 in the first.


Above: Highlight reel of Ortiz in his prime as the lightheavyweight champion.

After Ortiz fought Russian warrior Vladimir Matyushenko, winning against by decision, a match was lined up with Lion's Den head Ken Shamrock. Some of the newer Ortiz fans, who had drawn in with his charisma and explosiveness, didn't know of the old rivalry between the two fighters, but Ortiz made sure to let them know.

Now Tito was the champion and Shamrock was the challenger, but many saw the future UFC Hall-of-Famer Shamrock as a god of mixed martial arts, and some referenced the fight Tito had had with Ken's brother as what would probably end up happening in this fight.

Ortiz would beat Shamrock when his corner threw in the towel at the end of the third round, but it would be Ortiz's last fight in the Octagon for a year.

Severe personal problems forced Ortiz to leave the UFC, and some of the stories are more myth than fact (some involve him wrapping a car around a tree, some involve overdoses and drunk bar fights).

Ortiz returned to the UFC after almost an entire year off in September of 2003 to fight interim champion Randy Couture. Couture was a former heavyweight champion (and currently holds the heavyweight strap) who came down to 205 for different challenges.

Couture would outclass Ortiz in a matchup of a Division I national champion and a Junior college warrior. It was clear that Ortiz was not the same fighter, or at least that the sport had gotten away from him a little bit.

Ortiz would then drop his next fight to another DI wrestler (though not national champion) in Chuck Liddell, when he was stopped for the first time since his fight with Frank Shamrock almost five years before.

His next fight was more of a stepping stone fight then anything else, when Ortiz beat Canadian Patrick "The Predator" Cote.

The UFC then set up a matchup of former champions, matching Ortiz against Brazilian warrior and UFC legend Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort. Belfort made a war of the fight, taking Ortiz the judges scorecards, but two of the judges overruled the third and gave the fight to Ortiz.

After being declared the winner, Ortiz would make the first political statement of his career; his t-shirt didn't insult Belfort (a fighter who had been one of the most dominant in the sport for the prime of his career), instead it read "Bring Home Our Troops!"

Ortiz's next fight would also end in a split decision, when he beat Forrest Griffin in what would prove the most controversial win of Ortiz's career, a decision that is still questioned today.

With the clear impossibility of passing Ortiz off as a serious title contender, regardless of his charisma, the UFC management set up another match with Shamrock. Ortiz won easily.

Though there was some minor controversy that might have been overlooked, Ortiz took another fight with Shamrock, and the third fight resembled the second in an order of deja vu with extra elbows.

While Ortiz's recent career has included a tough second loss to then 205 pound champion Chuck Liddell in his title shot and a draw with Rashad Evans that Ortiz might have won without a point deduction, Ortiz remains one of the greatest champions in the sports history and a definite candidate for the hall-of-fame.

M-1 Announces First Matches For It's New Year's Eve Card

Russian based M-1 Global organization has announced the first two bouts on what looks to be the best card of New Year's Eve, now that the UFC no longer has a title fight occurring on their upcoming card.

The first two bouts were set up when M-1 and K-1 Heroes agreed to cooperate to put together the best card possible, and they have announced that the venue for the fight will be the world class Saitama Super Arena, the home of many Pride Fighting Championship cards over the years. The move is, without a doubt, a move to show the Japanese fans how serious they are about offering a quality product.

The first bout announced was for two time K-1 Lightweight tournament champion Gesias "JZ" Calvancante to take on legendary lightweight and master of the triangle choke Shinya Aoki. While this is a fight between two athletes that most American fight fans don't understand the value of, Calvancante and Aoki are both in good position to move to the top oof the world lightweight rankings, with the liquidation of Pride, the recent loss of former #1 man Takanori Gomi and the steroid scandal surrounding UFC Champion Sean Sherk. It will be a fight that puts even more on the line than just a W or an L, it's also about who is the best 155 pound fighter in this new M-1 organization and, while there is no belt on the line yet, there is alot of value on this fight.

Calvancante is coming off of his second consecutive win of the K-1 Heroes tournament, where he defeated Vitor "Shaolin" Ribiero to take the title. Calvancante is currently sitting at the top of the mountain of K-1's lightweight MMA division.

Aoki has been inactive since his fight with Pride back in April, immediately before the organization was bought out by the UFC. He has, though, fought in DEEP in a grappling match, where he showed the dominance of his Tobukan Judo.

This is more than just a classic grappler/striker matchup, as JZ brings a very interesting style of striking and groundnpound along with some versatility in submissions, and Aoki has shown some improved striking along with one of the two best submission games at 155 pounds. (the other comparable fighter is UFC top contender BJ Penn)

The other fight is Japanese organization DEEP's contribution to the card, of their champion Hidehiko Hasegawa, who will fight MMA staple and veteran of every major organization, Hayato "Mach" Sakurai. Sakurai is a warrior who's history in the sport intersects with every major organization, and Hasegawa is a fighter who has a great deal of fame in Japan. While Hasegawa's name isn't one American fans hear to often, it's one that is well known in Japanese MMA circles, where DEEP is one of the most established organizations (basically the Japanese equivalent of King of the Cage, or World Extreme Cagefighting).

If the Sakurai v Hasegawa matchup is setting the tone for the undercard of the fight, it is clear that M-1 is serious about rounding up as many top tier fighters as they can from smaller Japanese shows, especially one's like DEEP and K-1, which already have long histories and strong rosters. These could all make for a very solid event, and make it worth throwing a party to watch live MMA in the afternoon so we can catch the New Years Eve card.

Stylized Striking: The Difference Between Muay Thai, Boxing and Brawling

The best part of MMA is it's diversity as a sport, even in it's individual elements there are distinct classes of fighters. Standing up, there are dozens of classifications of strikers, from the old school karate fighters like UFC 1 competitor and runner-up Gerard Gordeau to San Shou masters like Strike Force middleweight Cung Le. Over the years, these fighters have been streamlined to fit a few standard profiles (though some, like Le, are exceptions). Those molds are the Muay Thai striker, the boxer and the brawler. While these can be broken up into even smaller sub-divisions (clinch fighters, counter-punchers, stalkers, etc.) these three basic molds make a pretty solid umbrella for the modern striker.

Some fighters, like Brazilians Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, are viceral Muay Thai strikers, who work well in open range, where they use leg kicks and straight punches to wear opponents down, or in the clinch, where they use knees to their opponents body and head to end fights.




Muay Thai is actually a more recent development than boxing and brawling, coming in when top quality fight coaches like Marco Ruas started using Vale Tudo fighting as a way of employing classic Muay Thai striking techniques, like the thai clinch, knees to the body and shin kicks. Over time Muay Thai and the Vale Tudo (or "anything goes") philosophy has expanded to include stomp kicks to downed opponents and it's current fighter base includes UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.



Boxers started off slow in MMA, being thoroughly dominated as the result of a lack of ground skills, but it was quickly coupled with submission fighting and solid wrestling fundamentals to provide what is really a more street fight realistic style of employing the hands. While it still stays true to many of the technical philosophies of boxing, true boxing has sort of fallen out in MMA with the slowing careers of it's most well known employers, including former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver.



Since the decline in it's use, it has still become an important fact in MMA, especially for ground based fighters who want to improve their head movement and hand skills. While they employ a more open bodied stance to help them deal with leg kicks and stay ready for the takedown, they use many traditional training points and basic drills. Current notable boxing-based strikers in the sport include Pride heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and top UFC heavyweight contender Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.



Brawling has always been a popular style, ever since the rugged earlier days of the sport when it was popularized by one punch warriors like Tank Abbott. While the practical aspect of brawling is questionable, fighters with the ability to take a punch and utilize their heavy hands have always been successful brawlers. It has fallen off the major event cards, because the sport has become more technical, but it is still a staple of smaller shows.



Great brawlers throughout history are easy to find, from the Tank himself to Mike Bourke and Bobby Hoffman, to even lighter weight fighters like Joe "Diesel" Riggs.



The sport will continue to develop and the smaller styles, like the Croatian and Dutch kickboxers, will always have their representatives, but for know the sport's standup seems to be pretty heavily dominated by these three breeds of fighters.