UFC 137 will feature two heavyweights on two-fight losing streaks, as Mirko Cro Cop will be facing Roy Nelson. Mirko Cro Cop is on the tail end of his career, and many fans want to see him retire without taking any more injury. He’s been kn…
UFC 137 will feature two heavyweights on two-fight losing streaks, as Mirko Cro Cop will be facing Roy Nelson. Mirko Cro Cop is on the tail end of his career, and many fans want to see him retire without taking any more injury. He’s been knocked out three times in the UFC.
Roy Nelson entered the UFC with two straight knockout wins, but then quickly lost two lopsided unanimous decisions. His OK skill set is largely hindered by his poor athleticism, and he has suffered against strong competition because of it.
Both fighters need to win this fight, and both will leave it all in the cage. Will Cro Cop win and vindicate himself of his past UFC losses, or will Roy Nelson end the storied career of Cro Cop in violent fashion? Only one fighter can be victorious.
On Saturday, fans were treated to a stacked card. Two championship fights were featured, in which José Aldo retained his belt by besting Kenny Florian by unanimous decision, and Frankie Edgar rid himself of Gray Maynard with a fourth …
On Saturday, fans were treated to a stacked card. Two championship fights were featured, in which José Aldo retained his belt by besting Kenny Florian by unanimous decision, and Frankie Edgar rid himself of Gray Maynard with a fourth round technical knockout.
The two bouts were largely standup affairs, and showed off the striking abilities of the two champions. How do Aldo and Edgar’s striking compare with the striking of other champions? Read to find out!
I will be the first to say that Jones defeated Rampage handily. I actually thought Jones would take Rampage down much more easily, and dominate him more from top position. My prediction was a 3rd round TKO, but in the end, I’m not surprised by a …
I will be the first to say that Jones defeated Rampage handily. I actually thought Jones would take Rampage down much more easily, and dominate him more from top position. My prediction was a 3rd round TKO, but in the end, I’m not surprised by a 4th round submission.
But, just like when Jones beat Bader and an injured Rua, his hype has once again gone over the top. His striking and wrestling are both being called the best at light heavyweight. Some are even calling him the current P4P best fighter in the UFC.
His wrestling is great, but it isn’t the most proven at light heavyweight and his striking is truly being overrated.
His natural length and size gives him odd advantages that are tough to prepare for, but his style will stop being a mystery. Even in his last fight, his spinning elbows didn’t come at unpredictable times, and he telegraphed his sidekicks very badly.
Rampage is a solid striker, but has always had trouble with unorthodox fighters and strikers who utilize kicks, and it showed. He couldn’t deal with the telegraphed sidekicks of Jones, and was almost constantly kept at a range because of it. Other top light heayweights wouldn’t have this problem.
Remember the Machida Era? His style was called perfect. Between his phenomenal takedown defense, hard-hitting counter strikes and incredible evasiveness, people thought his style had no weakness. The attitude toward Jones now is very similar to the attitude toward Machida before he fought Rua. Just like there were always fighters who could beat Machida, there are fighters who can beat Jones.
Evans might be the one to beat Jones. His wrestling is some of the best at 205 and he has trained with Jones before. He is the fighter with the most experience at overcoming Jones natural size and reach.
Or maybe Machida. Machida’s takedown defense is better than Jackson’s, and he’s a more dangerous striker who is better at covering distance. His movement is also better, and he would not simply stand still and be nailed with sidekicks.
Jones is a champion, and currently a top pound-for-pound fighter. But has he really looked more dominant than GSP, Silva and Aldo? Has he even looked more dominant than Cain Velasquez?
Jones is great, but he’s not the P4P best and needs to prove himself before being placed so high above the other champions in perceived ability and ranking.
In a shocking upset, Luke Rockhold beat Ronaldo “Jacaré” Souza by unanimous decision and won the Strikeforce middleweight belt.Rockhold’s superior conditioning, good standup, and wrestling background were able to thwart Jacaré’s offensive…
In a shocking upset, Luke Rockhold beat Ronaldo “Jacaré” Souza by unanimous decision and won the Strikeforce middleweight belt.
Rockhold’s superior conditioning, good standup, and wrestling background were able to thwart Jacaré’s offensive.
Jacaré simply couldn’t keep the high school wrestler down and work his jiu-jitsu. As a former BJJ world champion, this was probably very frustrating for him.
Pure BJJ practitioners who transition into MMA often have problems dealing with wrestlers. Wrestlers spend a larger percentage of their training learning to stand up and avoid being taken down than BJJ practitioners do learning to take their opponents down and hold them down.
After Jacaré lost, many fine gentlemen on the internet commented on the weakness of jiu-jitsu, and proclaimed that wrestling was more important than the ground game or the standup in MMA.
I don’t think this is true. A pure wrestler will never become a champion. The days of one-dimensional fighters being successful are long past. A fighter also needs to have great standup or a great ground game.
Dominic Cruz, Frankie Edgar, GSP, Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez didn’t just become champions because they are some of the best wrestlers in their respective divisions. They are also some of the best strikers.
That being said, it should be noted that there are far fewer BJJ practitioners who develop elite striking than there are wrestlers who do so.
The percentage of MMA fighters with wrestling backgrounds who become elite strikers far exceeds the percentage of MMA fighters with BJJ backgrounds who become elite strikers. When a fighter with a wrestling base fights one with a BJJ base, the wrestler more often has the better standup.
One would think that BJJ fighters and wrestlers would have the approximately same level of technical striking, since neither discipline intuitively leads into striking.
And yet, the percentage of BJJ fighters who develop good striking is lower than that of wrestlers. There is a simple explanation for this: quite frankly, wrestlers are harder workers than BJJ fighters across the board. They are more willing to train extensively in an alternate style, and more willing to adjust their own style properly to MMA.
This is in part because high school and college wrestling is physically grueling and weeds out people unwilling to do hard work early. Only the mentally strong remain.
BJJ isn’t so physically grueling and it’s training is comparatively lax. For this reason, BJJ practitioners have a harder time adjusting to the intensive workouts and training sessions MMA requires of fighters.
This is not to say no BJJ fighter can work hard. BJ Penn, Demian Maia, Jose Aldo and the Nogueira brothers are all hard workers and have all found reasonable success. But most BJJ practitioners aren’t such exceptionally hard workers.
Wrestlers won’t continue to dominate the rankings because their style is better suited for MMA than any other style.
They will continue to dominate the rankings because they work the hardest. It’s that simple.
That said, a fighter of any base can become great. Jacaré’s loss is a reflection of his own shortcomings, not the shortcomings of jiu-jitsu. A fighter’s abilities and work ethic are more crucial to his success than the style he happened to be brought up in.
With UFC 134 in the books, all eyes are pointed toward Jon Jones’ first title defense at UFC 135.He was originally slated to face Rashad Evans at UFC 133, but that fight was scrapped when Jones thought he had to have surgery on his hand. Evans en…
With UFC 134 in the books, all eyes are pointed toward Jon Jones’ first title defense at UFC 135.
He was originally slated to face Rashad Evans at UFC 133, but that fight was scrapped when Jones thought he had to have surgery on his hand. Evans ended up signing up to fight Phil Davis instead, and Jones signed up to fight Rampage just two events later.
Will Jones handle Rampage the same way he handled Rua and Bader before him, or will Rampage put an abrupt end to the Jon Jones hype train with his first knockout in years?
Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira impressed Saturday night, when he defied expectations by beating up-and-comer Brendan Schaub.What’s more, is he did it by brutal first-round knockout.Schaub was seen as a candidate for the top contender slot, and hi…
Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira impressed Saturday night, when he defied expectations by beating up-and-comer Brendan Schaub.
What’s more, is he did it by brutal first-round knockout.
Schaub was seen as a candidate for the top contender slot, and his loss catapults Nogueira back into contender status.
In the UFC, Nogueira has actually performed fairly well. He won the interim heavyweight belt from Tim Sylvia, and he’s only lost to Mir and Velasquez, two top five fighters in the heavyweight division.
If the timing were different, a rematch with Mir would be the match to make. He was hugely injured going into the first fight, so a rematch after he has regained full health and scored a first-round knockout would be appealing.
Unfortunately, the timing doesn’t make that feasible.
Frank Mir is the closest heavyweight to a title shot after JDS right now, and a loss to Nogueira would confuse the title picture greatly.
Nogueira probably wouldn’t fight JDS, and was so recently knocked out by Velasquez that that fight would lack appeal.
But there’d be no other top heavyweights coming off a win and I’m sure Dana White and Joe Silva would try to avoid this scenario.
Instead, the UFC should give Nogueira a fight against someone who isn’t quite so close to a title shot. Brock Lesnar is the most likely possibility.
What the UFC shouldn’t do is put Nogueira in gatekeeper status. Frankly, he’s too good for it.
Before this most recent fight, most people would have Schaub ranked as the No. 6 heavyweight in the UFC, only behind the four horsemen and Frank Mir. He was probably going to get the next title shot, or at least be in a No.1 contender fight with Mir.
Nogueira just beat Schaub, took his place in the rankings, and is in a similar place that he was.
He isn’t primed for a title shot, but he’s a clear notch above most of the fighters below him. The hype surrounding him right now is as good as it has been in a while, and it would be foolish to waste him on lower-level heavyweights.
Overeem is expected to fight at UFC 140. As the former Strikefroce heavyweight champion, he could probably get to a title shot in just one UFC win. A top contender fight with Frank Mir makes the most sense.
Elsewhere in the division, Schaub would probably end up fighting Carwin, since they’re both coming off losses and neither can instantly ascend to contender status again.
I personally think that Big Nog’s victory helped improve the division. A loss for Schaub doesn’t wipe him out completely from the heavyweight picture, whereas that’s exactly what a loss for Nogueira would’ve done.
With his win, a name has been added to the list of heavyweight contenders.
Expect the next year to be a very interesting year for heavyweights. Velasquez and Dos Santos will have their fight, Overeem will make his entrance, Lesnar will make his return, and each contender will try to close the perceived gap in skill between the top two heavyweights and everyone else.
That being said, it should be noted that there are far fewer BJJ practitioners who develop elite striking than there are wrestlers who do so.