We live in what people like to call an information age. Every day we are bombarded with so much new information that we can’t help but learn new things. And with this new information, one might think that we’re all getting more informed.
But it turns out that ignorance is a constant. Every time some new set of facts destroys an old bastion of ignorance, the explosion flings ignorance in every direction so that people can start saying new stupid things.
Case in point: UFC 82: Pride of a Champion this past Saturday night. Anderson Silva, the reigning UFC middleweight champ defended his title against the former (because the promotion died) Pride welterweight (middleweight: 183 lb.) and middleweight (light heavyweight: 205 lb.) champ Dan Henderson. Even though Silva was much bigger, a much better striker, and a more accomplished submission grappler, fans of the Pride Fighting Championships picked Henderson to win, and claimed all over the internet that his two appearances on the Olympic wrestling team and his two Pride belts meant that he was going to walk over Silva.
And while that doesn’t seem terribly outrageous to an outsider, it makes absolutely no sense in mixed martial arts (MMA). Let’s break down why, and bust up some pockets of ignorance:Greco-Roman Wrestling is an amazing sport, and many of the techniques used by wrestlers are directly applicable to MMA: takedowns, takedown defense and grappling are three of the most important skills an MMA fighter needs. And when it comes to takedowns, very few people can stand very long with Dan Henderson. But the problem is that wrestling isn’t a combat sport. While there are a lot of combat elements, and while wrestlers are definitely tough people, the point of the sport is not to injure or submit an opponent. Wrestlers are playing for points or position. There are no striking or submission techniques taught in wrestling.
That’s not to say that there aren’t a lot of successful wrestlers in MMA. In fact, it’s just the opposite. But the wrestlers who make it to the top of the sport do so because they cross-trained with some kind of striking (Muay Thai, boxing) or submission grappling (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Judo) techniques. The wrestlers who don’t are the kind of boring fighters you see far too much of: taking their opponents down time after time without damaging them. Sean Sherk is a prime example. Matt Hughes on the other hand has trained heavily in BJJ and is an exciting fighter with good ground and pound and better submission skills. But while Hughes makes good use of his wrestling in MMA, it’s in a supporting role to his submission and striking game. The takedown sets up the submission, but the takedown isn’t the submission.
Thus, Henderson’s Olympic-caliber wrestling gave him an opportunity to set up his other skills, but Henderson isn’t a great Jiu-Jitsu fighter, nor is he a great striker. People make a big deal out of his “unorthodox striking,” but what they really mean is that he’s awkward and slow with his punches, has poor boxing defense and gets by on strength and a good chin.
As for his Pride belts, that’s a bit of a story. The now-defunct Pride Fighting Championships was home to many of the top-ranked fighters in MMA. but it’s now been established that the Yakuza - the Japanese Mafia - were a joint owner of the promotion, and that at least one fighter was asked to take a fall. That’s not a huge scandal in professional sports, but it makes it impossible to know how many other fights may have been rigged. What we do know is that Pride never tested its fighters for drugs or steroids (except two shows in Las Vegas), and that many of their superstars have failed to perform once coming to the UFC with its more rigorous testing.
In addition, it has been widely recognized that the referees and judges at Pride events were prone to both nationalism and racism in their judging. A gaijin competing against a Japanese fighter needed to win by knockout or submission, because decisions most often went to the hometown fighters.
With all of that in mind, it’s hard to put any stock in the record of any particular Pride fighter. Anderson Silva went 3-2 in Pride, but hasn’t gone past the second round in his last 6 fights in the UFC winning decisively by knockout or submission each time. Quinton Jackson was 12-4 in Pride and lost twice to Wanderlei Silva when fighting for the Pride middleweight (205 lb.) championship. Wanderlei lost in both of his fights in America with drug testing, once to the smaller Henderson, and once to Chuck Liddell, the former UFC champion who lost decisively to Jackson. The performance of Pride fighters coming to the U.S. has been poor overall, but the unevenness in their performance is the most telling factor: obviously there were things affecting who won and lost in Pride that aren’t factors in the UFC. With the success of Silva, Jackson and Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, there were obviously great fighters in Pride, but something was fishy.
This is not to suggest that Henderson is a cheater or a steroid user. It just makes it impossible to know for certain why he was winning, or why other fighters he faced won or lost.
But the end result of all of this is that Silva defeated Henderson in the second round by rear naked choke. He looked much better on the feet, avoided any real damage when on the bottom during the first round, landed devastating blows in the second round, and exposed exactly how bad Henderson’s submission defense was while working for the choke. In short, he completely dominated Henderson.
So with all of that information out in the open, MMA fans will be prepared the next time a former Pride fighter or an accomplished but not well-rounded wrestler shows up in the UFC, right? Well, maybe. But there are already new stupid things going around:
I’m doing the best I can to correct these issues, but it’d be great if everyone could just spend a few minutes each day figuring out what he or she is ignorant of so that the rest of us wouldn’t have to waste time telling them. Thanks.
Well, I only managed to correctly pick 5 out of the 9 fights, but it turns out I did about as good a job as the bookies, so I don’t feel too bad.
As mentioned, I got to take my first trip to Hooters. I had a sandwich that was labeled “Probably Iowa beef” which I should have taken as a warning, and it was disgusting. Maybe the menu should read, “probably meat.” They were showing fight on plenty of TVs and you could kind of hear the play-by-play over the crowd, but as usual it’s the people that let you down. Our waitress seemed like a nice kid, but she was really dumb. Like criminally dumb. Like I expected her to set down our drinks upside down dumb.
There was an idiot sitting in our line of sight (sporting some very prominent man-boobs) that seemed really upset that people would root for Anderson Silva against Rich Franklin. When Rich came out he yelled, “Amurica! Whooooo!” and when Silva came out (to much applause from the local crowd) he booed. When the crowd quieted I said loudly, “Don’t boo until after he gets done kicking Rich’s ass.” Sadly, I don’t think he heard me.
Speaking of which, Silva completely destroyed Franklin. At the end when he had him up against the cage, Silva was mixing kicks, knees and punches in one of the most devastating displays of punishment I’ve ever seen. It looked like he was dismantling a toy or something. Hopefully Franklin will go back to teaching or something, because he’s just not in the same league as Silva. For fun, here’s a clip of Silva knocking out Tony Fryklund with a standing elbow. Ouch.
It was also a bad night for Franklin’s Jiu-Jistu coach, Jorge Gurgel, who spent two rounds on the ground eating leather. I’m gonna suggest that Rich get back any money he paid this guy until Gurgel can prove he knows what a closed guard is.
Brandon “The Truth” Vera let me down with his 3 round dirty dancing session with Tim Sylvia. Vera’s kicks looked great, but he didn’t seem like he had a game-plan for handling Sylvia’s reach advantage other than to hug him for 15 minutes. Evidently the truth is dull.
Stephan Bonnar proved that steroid abusers can have cardio too, surviving a rear naked choke attempt to make it into the second round where he bea the crap out of Eric Shafer on the ground.
Speaking of steroid abusers, former professional “wrestler” Brock Lesnar was on the PPV to announce that he’d signed with the UFC. For those of you who don’t watch grown men play dress up to act out childish melodramas, take a look at this awesome picture of Brock. That’s one unfortunate penis-looking tattoo between his boobs. And it’s also good evidence of why steroid use should come with a lifetime ban from all sporting events. Even if that gorilla stops filling his veins with human growth hormone today, do you think that extra hundred pounds of muscle might give him an unfair advantage in the future?
Anyway, it was a pretty good night of fights - what did everyone else think?
My favorite Habs fan and I are heading out for my first trip to a Hooters to check out the fight in an hour or so, so I guess I should make my picks for the fight official. Without further ado, my quick, lousy, uninformed picks, this time in a sentence or less:
Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva
Dana White has taken the unusual step of requiring Rich Franklin to have an ordained catholic priest in his corner in order to perform last rights in the second round: Anderson Silva by heart stoppage.
Tim Sylvia vs. Brandon Vera
Brandon Vera’s only chance of getting hurt in this fight is if he twists his ankle doing his sumo-inspired surfer victory dance after finishing Tim Sylvia in the third.
Kalib Starnes vs. Alan Belcher
Kalib Starnes (a Canuck, I think) was so annoying on The Ultimate Fighter that I’m sure he’ll have Alan Belcher tapping out before the referee introductions are finished.
Eric Schafer vs. Stephan Bonnar
Stephan Bonnar is probably off the steroids this fight, but I’m sure he didn’t lose the muscle: Eric Shafer sees stars in the second.
Yushin Okami vs. Jason MacDonald
In a boring fight for what may be the number one contender slot in the Middleweight division that will mercifully remain unshown, Yushin Okami outlasts Jason (Canuck!) MacDonald for the decision.
Josh Burkman vs. Forrest Petz
Burkman wins beats Petz because somebody cared enough to give him a Wikipedia entry.
Jason Black vs. Matt Grice
Ditto for Black beating Grice.
Demian Maia vs. Ryan Jensen
This time the more talented but as-of-yet un-Wikipedia’d Brazillian Maia beats Ryan Jensen.
Alvin Robinson vs. Jorge Gurgel
And we stick with the Brazillian to round out the fight: Gurgel beats Robinson by submission.
