I knew Anderson Silva was going to look for a submission in his UFC 117 bout with Chael Sonnen when the middleweight champ walked out to the Octagon in a gi instead of his usual sweats. After all the shit talk Chael directed towards Silva’s BJJ black belt, a submission victory made sense. But I didn’t think that it would take Silva until the fifth round to finish the fight. I certainly didn’t think that Silva would be down four rounds by that time. To his credit, Chael was harder to catch than Silva (or I) expected.
Still, there’s a lot of chatter on the net about how Chael supposedly exposed a flaw in Silva’s game. What I saw was Chael again demonstrating a well known flaw of his own; his aggression in the guard leaves him vulnerable to submissions, particularly to the triangle. Chael’s eleven losses include seven submissions, four of which were triangles - and Nathan Marquardt was close to pulling off a come from behind triangle victory towards the end of his loss to the Team Quest wrestler. The point is, Chael tends to leave himself vulnerable.
I like Chael, he’s one of the more interesting ground n’ pound fighters in MMA. He’s a master of promotion, quick to deliver witty sound bites. “The Most Interesting Man in the World” promo videos featuring Chael that the UFC released to hype the match with Silva are by far the most entertaining and memorable UFC marketing campaign to date. Compared to Jon Fitch , another wrestler with a dominant g n’ p game, Chael is much more active in the guard. Even though Chael has 15 wins via decision compared to Fitch’s 13, Chael leaves the impression that he’s the more exciting fighter, the guy who’s always trying to end the fight. He just needs to remember to watch out for the submissions at the same time.
On a negative note, I was surprised that Chael tried to balk at the submission. He tapped, Silva loosened his vice grip that was about to break Chael’s arm, and for a moment Chael tried to feign ignorance at why his arm was not broken. Fortunately, the fight was stopped anyway but I think acting you didn’t tap is rather classless. Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida
I’m afraid I must join the chorus of crow eaters this morning, as I admit I was among those who felt pretty certain that Matt Hughes was going to lose. In doing so, I was likely joining everyone in the world other blood relatives of Hughes. This fight is a textbook case for why you should never ever bet on MMA. Anything can happen. In this case, what happened was a front headlock, a wrestling move that becomes a carotid choke similar to a guillotine with a flip of the wrists and a twist of the torso.
Blowout Cards vs. the World
I've seen Blowout Cards plastered on the backside of a few MMA shorts lately and this has to be the worst branding since Condom Depot. Anything named Blowout shouldn't be plastered over a butthole, unless you forever wish your name to be associated with farts. I'm not in marketing but I'm pretty sure most companies (novelty'gag companies aside) wish to avoid having their products associated with farts. Blowout sells sporting memorabilia cards, so I'm guessing the fart imagery isn't where they want to be.
Amir Allam vs. Alexandre Riberio
10th Planets' Amir Allam took on ADCC champion Alexandre Riberio at the recent Grapplers Quest 32-Man World's Best Grappler Challenge held at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California. Amir, whose 240-60 lb. frame belies his flexibility and speed, faced Riberio in the first round of the tournament, losing 9-0 in a valiant effort. This was Amir's first professional grappling contest.
That’s a fundamental principle of jiu-jitsu, one that Eddie Bravo likes to say will never change. If you violate that rule, you are giving your opponent a triangle or an armbar.
What a horrible way for Fedor Emelianenko’s decade of dominance to come to an end. Fedor wobbled Fabricio Werdum and sought to end the fight by following the BJJ champ to the ground into his guard. He kept swinging with the hand outside the guard while leaving the other hand inside the guard. Oops. Fedor pulled out of the initial arm bar attempt only to reinsert his arm while he continued to try to smash his opponent from the guard. Double oops.
It’s not that Fedor made a mistake so much as that he made such a simple mistake the defies logic because Fedor has perhaps a stronger claim than anyone else to the title of greatest pound for pound fighter ever. His undefeated streak of 31 wins is unparalleled, albeit asterisked. The asterisk is because of a recorded loss that was due to a cut caused by an opponent’s illegal blow. The fight was part of a tournament and as Fedor was unable to continue, tournament officials opted to declare his opponent the victor for the convenience of the bracket. That’s a loss due to administrative error, which is why most people agree it shouldn‘t count. But even if you do count the loss, Fedor entered his fight with Fabrico Werdum on a 26-win streak. No one is even close to achieving that sort of record and it will likely go down as the benchmark by which a fighter’s greatness is measured (outside of Dana White‘s mind, of course).
This isn’t boxing where fighters are protected in their development phase because their marketability suffers drastically once a fighter suffers a loss or two. MMA fighters rarely preserve their undefeated record past ten fights. Four impressive fights in a row and any fighter is likely going to be in a title fight or at least propelled into the title mix where they will have to fight serious competition. Former WEC Bantamweight champ Miguel Torres won 20 in a row before suffering his first defeat, then won another 17 before dropping two in a row. Diego Sanchez had a nice run, winning 19 fights before Josh Kosheck derailed Sanchez’ messianic visions in a dominant decision. Anderson Silva is on a thirteen win streak since losing to Yushin Okami via disqualification after kicking his opponent while he was down. John Hathaway, with a 14-0, comes to mind as someone with a strong streak but his last fight against Diego Sanchez was his first high profile test.
UFC 114: Ring Rust
The fans booed Rashad Evans after his unaminous decision victory over Rampage Jackson at UFC 114. Usually when a crowd boos a decision it’s because they disagree with the judges. The boos that resulted from Rampage’s loss were born from frustration that the more popular fighter had failed. Rashad won convincingly, leaving the majority of fans to wonder – along with Rampage himself – WTF just happened.
What happened is that Evans used his speed intelligently, moving in to strike then moving out before he could get hit – similar in substance if not in style to Machida. Evans worked his takedowns and maintained a fast pace that began to fatigue his opponent. He owned the first two rounds without a question.
Yet Rampage came extremely close to winning the fight in the third round. Evans crumpled under the force of a powerful right. Rampage followed him to the floor and delivered four straight unanswered and undefended blows before Evans regained his composure enough to assume something resembling defense. Rampage was probably just a blow or two away from having the fight called in his favor before the recovery.
Somehow Evans weathered the assault, although he was still wobbly when he got to his feet. Why Rampage didn’t charge in to finish is a question he’s probably asking himself today – one that will probably continue to haunt him until his next fight. Rampage looked like he was going to win at least the third round but he let Evans recover enough that the wrestler was able to score enough points to still win the third round.
Ring rust happens. Rampage has had a lengthy break thanks to jaw surgery and his role in the movie version of the A-Team. A fighter’s cardio is never as good as it should be his first fight back. Or so it seems. But we're all looking forward to the rematch. He may have lost the fight but the boos show that he still maintained the support of his fans.
Bring Back Paul Daley
Paul Daley demonstrated extremely poor sportsmanship when he sucker punched Josh Kosheck less than 30 seconds after their UFC 113 bout had ended. It was absolutely uncalled for and deserving of some form of censure. But maybe banning Daley from the UFC forever is a bit much.
We’re talking about a fighter, right? Fighters have a tendency to hit people. I know, the line between thug and legitimate professional mixed martial artist must be held sacrosanct and perhaps we could say that Daley’s real crime is that he’s blurred that line for a sport that is still viewed suspiciously by the mainstream establishment, a sport that is still illegal in several states. But banned forever seems a bit much; forever is a very, very, long time.
Furthermore, Daley manned up and was seemingly sincerely in acknowledging that he was completely out of line. While it seems strange to applaud contrition, it’s not something that we see too often.
Compare Daley’s actions to Babalu Sobral’s extended anaconda choke of David Heath at UFC 74. Babalu not only held on to the choke for at least four seconds after Heath clearly tapped, he did so even as referee Steven Mazagatti was attempting to pull Babalu away from his opponent. Worse, he stated in an interview immediately after the fight that Heath deserved it. Yet Dana White did not ban Babalu for life.
Or consider the Jake Shields/ Nick Diaz/ Nate Diaz/Gilbert Melendez-vs-Mayhem Strikeforce brawl that broke out shortly after Shield’s victory over Dan Henderson. Shields actually initiated the chaos by shoving Mayhem – who had clearly been sent into the cage to fish for a rematch by the promotion. Dana White made it abundantly clear that he was still interested in Shields despite his role in that fiasco. White has also shrugged off calls that Nate Diaz be punished for something that happened within another organization.
Here’s what it boils down to: a gifted fighter who still needs to work on his takedown defense but otherwise has a solid game made a mistake. Not only is Daley a gifted fighter, he’s also a gifted promoter – holding a Photoshop contest to make fun of Kosheck was hilarious. Plus, he’s really a nice guy – unless you’re someone he’s fighting.
Surely MMA fans lose more than they have to gain by such an empty token punishment. So I encourage everyone to ask the UFC to bring back Paul Daley. Hit Dana White and the UFC up on twitter, facebook, clog their emails, and hold up signs at events. It’s rare that fans can actually help a fighter – this time perhaps they can.
