Author: Darren Wong

Georges St-Pierre Should Be Fighting More Frequently

After seeing Georges St-Pierre dominate round after round over the last four years, it’s easy to look down the roster and say that he’s pretty much unbeatable. Because of that, we find ourselves doing nothing but waiting for Nick Diaz, because it …

After seeing Georges St-Pierre dominate round after round over the last four years, it’s easy to look down the roster and say that he’s pretty much unbeatable. 

Because of that, we find ourselves doing nothing but waiting for Nick Diaz, because it seems so obvious that nobody in the UFC could possibly beat St-Pierre.

This is the wrong attitude to take. St-Pierre should be fighting more frequently, regardless of the lack of a true No. 1 contender.

 

Why They Fight ‘Em

Last weekend we saw top five welterweight Thiago Alves fall to defeat against the largely unheralded Rick “The Horror” Story. 

Few people saw the upset coming, but the truth is that when fighters actually fight each other, these kinds of upsets happen with a higher frequency than you could possibly expect.

For years, Fedor Emelianenko was thought to be the greatest fighter of all time, and people assumed that he’d just keep winning.

What his doubters rightly said is that although Fedor had been undefeated for a long period of time, he hadn’t been fighting elite competition frequently.

Fabricio Werdum looked like the exact kind of fighter Emelianenko should beat up until Werdum triangle choked him in just over a minute.

One fight later, Fedor loses to Antonio Silva, a guy most people thought Fedor would easily knock out with faster and more dangerous striking, but Fedor lost decisively.

What we should take from Fedor’s decline is not that Fedor was overrated, but that when you fight frequently against top-level competition, there will be danger.

The same thing is true with Georges St-Pierre. It’s not about handpicking a tough opponent. Put him in enough fights and he’s going to find himself in some tough ones.

Dana White is often quoted as saying that UFC Champions fight the best of the best three times a year.

St-Pierre has fought the best, but he certainly hasn’t fought that frequently.

St-Pierre hasn’t even fought three times in a year since 2007, and given his current trajectory, 2011 won’t be any different.

 

Conclusion

St-Pierre doesn’t need to fight Anderson Silva to build his legacy. He just needs to keep on knocking down whoever the UFC puts in front of him, and if he does so, the knockouts and highlight-reel performances will come.

And if he loses, at least he went down fighting the best of the best three times a year.

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Is Nick Diaz Really a Big Threat to Georges St-Pierre?

If you ask most fans of the sport today, they’ll tell you that Nick Diaz is the biggest threat to Georges St-Pierre’s welterweight throne.But is that truly the case?Fans will say that Nick Diaz offers a threat to St-Pierre because Diaz is dangerous bot…

If you ask most fans of the sport today, they’ll tell you that Nick Diaz is the biggest threat to Georges St-Pierre’s welterweight throne.

But is that truly the case?

Fans will say that Nick Diaz offers a threat to St-Pierre because Diaz is dangerous both on the feet with his boxing, and off his back with his vaunted Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

I disagree.

Diaz is perhaps the most interesting challenger to St-Pierre, but that’s only because St-Pierre has already seemingly faced the kind of “wrestler with knockout power” that most though was dangerous, but proved not to be in the case of Josh Koscheck.

There are two bad assumptions here.

First of all, while we haven’t exactly seen St-Pierre against a fighter quite like Diaz, we’ve most certainly seen St-Pierre dominate high level BJJ practitioners on the floor.

BJ Penn is a far more accomplished BJJ practitioner than Diaz, but he offered St-Pierre absolutely nothing once the fight hit the floor. Jason Miller was thought to be a tough matchup for St-Pierre on the floor, but GSP ran roughshod all over Miller’s guard.

On the other side of the debate is Diaz, who despite a 10-fight win streak, has faced not a single credible grappling/wrestling threat during that span. While Diaz was in the UFC, he faced lots of great grapplers (though none nearly as good as St-Pierre) and came up short on nearly every occasion.

So despite the fact that they haven’t faced each other, we know exactly how well St-Pierre does against fighters who can’t wrestle, and until Diaz proves differently, we’ve got lots of evidence of how well Diaz does when facing a guy like St-Pierre, who can take him down whenever he wants.

The second bad assumption is that St-Pierre cannot be beaten by a wrestler with knockout power.

While it’s true that Koscheck had no success against St-Pierre, Koscheck isn’t all that great of a striker to begin with.  Koscheck has one punch, the looping overhand right, and when St-Pierre prepared for that punch, Koscheck had nothing left to offer on the feet.

However, when Koscheck focused on his wrestling, we did find that St-Pierre had a very difficult time in taking him down.  Koscheck spent mere seconds on the floor in their rematch, and even Jon Fitch was able to stuff many of St-Pierre’s takedowns even after the beating he took in the first round.

With fighters like Jake Ellenberger and Anthony Johnson, who are both far more credible threats on the feet than Josh Koscheck, it seems to me far too early to write off the idea that a good wrestler with knockout power isn’t still the most likely type of fighter to beat St-Pierre.

Until Diaz beats a wrestler like a Josh Koscheck or a Jon Fitch, there’s no real reason to expect that he stands even the slightest chance of beating St-Pierre.

Meanwhile, it’s silly for St-Pierre to wait for Diaz. The winner of next month’s fight between Anthony Johnson and Nate Marquardt is a more credible threat than Diaz right now, and given how inactive St-Pierre has been in recent years, the UFC should book that kind of fight rather than keeping St-Pierre waiting for some imagined savior to emerge.

That’s unless they’re ready to make St-Pierre fight Anderson Silva.

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UFC 130: 10 Thoughts Following Jackson vs. Hamill

When a much-anticipated main event like Edgar vs. Maynard 3 falls by the wayside, it’s tough for an event to ever really live up to the expectations.Still, UFC 130 featured big knockouts, rising contenders, and generally some very interesting perform…

When a much-anticipated main event like Edgar vs. Maynard 3 falls by the wayside, it’s tough for an event to ever really live up to the expectations.

Still, UFC 130 featured big knockouts, rising contenders, and generally some very interesting performances.

Quinton Jackon didn’t exactly set the cage on fire, but making up for his efforts were Brian Stann, Travis Browne, Gleison Tibau and others.

Aside from the performances themselves, UFC 130 will also provide a fairly large shakeup in the divisional rankings with top 10 ranked fighters like Jorge Santiago, Miguel Torres, and Thiago Alves all coming up short.

Here are the top thoughts and repercussions following UFC 130.

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UFC Should Reconsider Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans, Quinton Jackson a Bad Choice

Following UFC 130, Dana White reiterated that regardless of Quinton Jackson’s lackluster performance against Matt Hamill, Jackson is still deserving of a title shot.A win over Lyoto Machida alone would be enough to make most fighters deserving of a tit…

Following UFC 130, Dana White reiterated that regardless of Quinton Jackson‘s lackluster performance against Matt Hamill, Jackson is still deserving of a title shot.

A win over Lyoto Machida alone would be enough to make most fighters deserving of a title shot, but in this case, Rampage simply isn’t the best option for the UFC.

Although Rashad Evans is currently set to fight Phil Davis later this summer, the UFC has scrapped fights before to make a better fight, and they should do that in this case, because right now Evans is the best option for the UFC.

 

Why Rampage Shouldn’t Get A Title Shot

Quinton Jackson is without question one of the best light heavyweights in the world, but although he dominated Matt Hamill, he didn’t finish him where Jon Jones utterly destroyed him.

Jackson’s other recent victory over Lyoto Machida was also a bit lackluster, and in that case, many fans felt like Machida did more to earn the victory than Rampage.

Before that, Jackson lost to the aforementioned Evans, and didn’t look particularly good in defeat.

But more than just his in-Octagon performances, it’s what Jackson has done outside the Octagon that makes him a bad choice as a title contender.

 

Is Rampage Jackson Still A Big Draw?

It is generally assumed that Quinton Jackson is still a big draw, but I’m not entirely sure.

Jackson’s fight with Lyoto Machida didn’t do particularly well, and if trending numbers are accurate,  UFC 130 will do only a mediocre number at best.

Part of the problem is that Rampage’s questionable motivation doesn’t exactly make people want to see him fight anymore.

Rampage doesn’t care about winning the belt as much as he cares about making money, and has said that he’ll retire once he makes as much money “acting” as he does fighting.

Rampage is a terrible actor, but as long as Jackson gets offered acting gigs, his focus isn’t going to be on fighting.

Aside from not focusing on fighting, Rampage’s efforts to actually promote his fights have been pretty half-hearted as well.

Before the Machida fight, Rampage was on Craig Ferguson’s show calling Machida boring.  Calling your opponent boring is never a great way to promote a fight.

At last week’s post-fight press conference when Jackson was given a chance to hype a potential fight with Jon Jones, he had almost nothing about a man who has courted controversy with his clashing “I am the chosen one” and “son of a preacher man” personas. 

If Jackson can’t come up with one witty thing to say about Jones, he doesn’t deserve his reputation as a comedian, or as somebody who is good at promoting fights.

Although Jackson did a big number when he fought against Evans, most of the credit for that goes to Evans who was really the source of the better quips, one-liners, and insults.  Evans’ characterizing Rampage as an Uncle Tom alone probably added 100,000 buys, while all Rampage could muster up was that Evan’s breath stinks.

 

Rashad Evans Is The Better Option

Unlike Jackson, Evans has a legitimate grudge with Jones that seems to have fans jazzed, if nothing else, to see one of the two fighters get knocked out.

Given a little help from a UFC Primetime series, such a fight should easily do a big number on pay-per-view.

The UFC is risking that possibility by putting Evans against a very dangerous fighter in Phil Davis.

There is a very real possibility that Davis beats Evans by using his superior wrestling, and even if Evans wins, the outcome could very easily be a ho-hum decision that does nothing to make people believe in Evan’s chances against Jones.

If Evans wins by knockout, a fight with Jones would be even more appealing, but is the risk really worth the potential gain?

Although a change would be kinda lousy for Davis, there is plenty of time to find him a new opponent, and Lyoto Machida is currently waiting in the wings.

 

Conclusion

Rampage Jackson needs to get passionate about fighting and promoting a fight before he’s deserving of a title shot.

He also needs to put on a performance that convinces people that he’ll be anything more than easy pickings for Jones.

Until those things happen, Evan’s grudge with Jones should be more than enough to sell a big fight in October if the UFC is willing to scrap one single signed fight to make a much bigger one.

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UFC 130 Aftermath: Realistic Expectations for Frank Mir Are Needed

Dana White had harsh words for Frank Mir following UFC 130, saying that he was not happy with Mir’s performance for the second consecutive fight.While Mir’s fight with Roy Nelson might not have been the most exciting fight in Mir’s career, White was si…

Dana White had harsh words for Frank Mir following UFC 130, saying that he was not happy with Mir’s performance for the second consecutive fight.

While Mir’s fight with Roy Nelson might not have been the most exciting fight in Mir’s career, White was simply too hard on Mir.

The fight itself was actually pretty exciting in the early going.

Mir and Nelson were engaging in wild exchanges with Nelson trying to land right hands, and Mir trying to land clinch knees to the head.  Mir landed a bunch of heavy shots that would have ended the night if it wasn’t for Nelson’s tough chin.

The fight was also a pretty grueling and competitive one when it became a wrestling match.

Clinch fighting often doesn’t look like much, but it’s extremely tiring, especially when you’re pushing around a 260-pound man for 15 minutes.

Still, in the immediate aftermath, Dana White called the fight “borderline embarrassing.”

I disagree.

 

Realistic Expectations for Frank Mir

Frank Mir fought just about as well as you can expect Frank Mir to fight.

Mir has powerful strikes, but he’s not fast enough or technical enough to be able to stand and trade in the pocket.

As such, his striking attempts are going to come from range or in the clinch, and in fits and starts.

Mir is also not a great wrestler, so when he attempts to take somebody down, he’s going to have to spend a lot of energy doing so, and it’s not always going to be pretty.

At the present time it should be pretty easy to see that Mir isn’t going to be able to beat guys like Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez. Despite Mir’s recent dedication to strength and conditioning, he’s simply not on the same level as those guys athletically.

That doesn’t mean Frank Mir is irrelevant.

Mir is still a top-10 heavyweight.  He just isn’t a top-three guy.  In order to appreciate what Mir can do, (which is a lot) we need to accept that fact and move on.

There are still tons of interesting fights for Mir that could be entertaining or relevant.

Mir is a great challenge for up and coming contenders like Brendan Schaub or perhaps even a Travis Browne. He’d also be a worthwhile opponent for any other top-10 opponent.

Once people accept the fact that Mir doesn’t need to be able to win the belt to be relevant, people might finally start to enjoy his fights instead of saying, “he’d still get destroyed by Lesnar,” every time he fights.

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UFC 130 Aftermath: Matt Hamill Was Always an Overrated Wrestler

At various times in his UFC career, Matt Hamill’s wrestling has been described by UFC personalities as elite, Olympic-level, and world-class.  Among his wrestling achievements are a gold medal, and two national wrestling championships.  After…

At various times in his UFC career, Matt Hamill‘s wrestling has been described by UFC personalities as elite, Olympic-level, and world-class.  Among his wrestling achievements are a gold medal, and two national wrestling championships.  After watching Quinton Jackson easily stuff all of Hamill’s takedown attempts, it’s safe to say his abilities as a wrestler were overrated.

But if you’ve been paying any attention, you’ll know that they always were overrated.

Matt Hamill was a Division III wrestling champion.  It’s not like he was ever the best wrestler in his weight class, or even the third best.

There are two whole bigger and better divisions above Division III.

Matt Hamill may not even be a national-level wrestler, let alone a world-class one.

Hamill never wrestled at the Olympics.

He wrestled and won his medals at the Deaflympics.  That’s a far smaller pool of talent in America, let alone the rest of the world where resources spent on handicapped athletes are far more limited.

Not to take away from what Hamill has achieved as a wrestler and MMA fighter, but his credentials simply don’t stack up as elite or world class, and to say so is simply lying.

In that respect, UFC promoters and personalities like Joe Rogan should take some of the blame for hyping up Matt Hamill as this elite wrestler who could possibly beat Rampage Jackson.

But as promoters and hype generators, this is their job.

It’s not their job to point out that even if Hamill’s wrestling was on that elite level, Jackson has already held his own against elite wrestlers in the past, like Kevin Randleman, Dan Henderson, and Matt Lindland.

In this case, the UFC threw us a bone and told us as much anyway.

It takes about 5 seconds to run a Google search and find Matt Hamill’s Wikipedia entry.

Any MMA fans who were shocked or disappointed in Hamill’s efforts have only themselves to blame for being lazy and getting themselves overhyped over a match where the final outcome of victory and defeat was about as predictable as they come.

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