UFC heavyweights Frank Mir and Alistair Overeem are a combined 1-5 in their past six bouts, but according to UFC president Dana White, their UFC 169 encounter may not have their jobs on the line.
At the UFC 169 media scrum, White refused to say e…
UFC heavyweights Frank Mir and Alistair Overeem are a combined 1-5 in their past six bouts, but according to UFC president Dana White, their UFC 169 encounter may not have their jobs on the line.
At the UFC 169 media scrum, White refused to say either fighter would be cut from the promotion with a loss, according to MMA Weekly’s Erik Fontanez:
Dana won’t commit to win-or-go-home scenario for Mir-Overeem.
Mir, a former UFC heavyweight champion, has fought an incredible 22 of his 24 professional fights inside the Octagon and is one of the most respected veterans in the sport.
With that being said, he has lost three in a row to top-tier talent in Junior dos Santos, Daniel Cormier and Josh Barnett, and none of the bouts were particularly competitive.
He got his shot at JDS, the heavyweight champ at the time, at UFC 146 in May 2012 after Overeem failed a pre-fight drug test for elevated levels of testosterone, per MMA Junkie.
Prior to coming up short in the title bout, Mir had won three in a row, including a “Submission of the Year” performance when he broke fellow decorated grappler Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s arm with a kimura at UFC 140 in December 2011.
As for “The Reem,” the hulking heavyweight improved his unbeaten streak to 12 in a row when he TKO’ed ex-UFC champ Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 in December 2011.
However, since then, the Overeem hype train has derailed, as he has suffered two devastating knockouts since returning from his suspension for the aforementioned failed drug test.
“The Demolition Man” was well in control of his bouts with Antonio Silva at UFC 156 and Travis Browne at UFC Fight Night 26, respectively, but he ended up on the wrong end of come-from-behind KOs on both occasions.
Fighters remaining on the UFC roster after four consecutive losses are quite rare, though Dan Hardy and Yoshihiro Akiyama are recent examples to show that it is possible.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
(Farm Boy Strength: No can defense. Photo via Getty.)
In the brief history of the UFC, there have been a handful of submissions so unique, so brilliant, so positively Raven that they became synonymous with the fighters who dared attempt them in the octagon. That a sport as old as jiu-jitsu is still capable of evolving and expanding its techniques is a credit to the dedication and inventiveness of the modern mixed martial artist, and a fact that has led to many a thrilling moment inside the cage.
Recently, UGer Tycho made the painstaking effort of cataloging and graphing every single submission ever executed in the octagon by frequency. Not wanting to let such a thorough and digestible work simply come and go, we decided to focus on the rarest of rarities, the aforementioned “signature” submissions, and rank them according to brutality, ingenuity, and of course, brutality. Enjoy.
#5 – The Hughes Headlock (a.k.a “Dave Schultz Front Headlock”)
(Farm Boy Strength: No can defense. Photo via Getty.)
In the brief history of the UFC, there have been a handful of submissions so unique, so brilliant, so positively Raven that they became synonymous with the fighters who dared attempt them in the octagon. That a sport as old as jiu-jitsu is still capable of evolving and expanding its techniques is a credit to the dedication and inventiveness of the modern mixed martial artist, and a fact that has led to many a thrilling moment inside the cage.
Recently, UGer Tycho made the painstaking effort of cataloging and graphing every single submission ever executed in the octagon by frequency. Not wanting to let such a thorough and digestible work simply come and go, we decided to focus on the rarest of rarities, the aforementioned “signature” submissions, and rank them according to brutality, ingenuity, and of course, brutality. Enjoy.
#5 – The Hughes Headlock (a.k.a “Dave Schultz Front Headlock”) (Photo via Getty. Full fight video here. Technical breakdown here via BloodyElbow.)
Coming off a lackluster decision over Matt Serra at UFC 98 and a TKO over the…let’s just say outmatched Renzo Gracie at UFC 112, the common conception was that Matt Hughes had entered the “fun fights” phase of his career. The former welterweight kingpin was nearing 40, a relic of the “olden age” of MMA, and had eaten a couple of tough losses to champion Georges St. Pierre, all but closing the door on his hopes for another title run. Although Hughes’ grappling credentials could never be called into question, he was simply being left in the dust by the younger generation of more “complete” MMA fighters taking over the welterweight division.
That was, of course, until Hughes was paired up against Ricardo Almeida at UFC 117. While “Big Dog” was no spring chicken himself, he was a younger, faster fighter riding a three fight win streak over the likes of Matt Brown, Kendall Grove, and Charlie Manson-impersonator Matt Horwich. He was also a highly-touted third degree BJJ black belt and ADCC bronze medalist, which made it all the more impressive/improbable when Hughes managed to choke him unconscious with a front headlock in just over 3 minutes.
The technique, which Josh Barnett would immediately confirm as “The Dave Shultz Front Headlock,” was popularized by, you guessed it, 1984 Olympic gold medalist Dave Shultz, as well as his brother Mark. The Shultz brothers became so notorious for the headlock that during the Los Angeles Games, Shultz was warned by referees each time he even dared to wrap him arms around an opponent’s neck. Here’s a video of Shultz being penalized for the move at the ’84 Games.
In his post-fight interview at UFC 117, Hughes told Ariel Helwani that the move was “something he used to use all the time in college wrestling” as well as “something Ricardo had probably never seen.” While Hughes would drop his next two bouts via KO and retire from the sport, his shocking win over Almeida proved that you can never count Country Breakfast out.
#4 – The Mr. Wonderful (a.k.a “The Philmura”)
Phil Davis may catch flack for his grappling-heavy, decision-prone style, but one of the benefits of being a four-time NCAA All American who’s built like a Greek statue is the ability to (occasionally) finish fights based on his size and strength advantage alone. Case in point: Davis’ inverted hammerlock of Tim Boetsch at UFC 123.
Dubbed “The Mr. Wonderful” by an astounded Joe Rogan in the post fight interview, the submission is best explained by BloodyElbow’s S.C. Michaelson:
It’s clear that Davis realizes he won’t be able to get a traditional kimura on Boestch for all of the obvious reasons.because at one point Davis pulls his trapped leg out of half-guard and mounts Boestch (which barring massive upper body strength from Davis, won’t finish the sub). He chicken wings the “kimura” arm with one hand (a la BobBacklund) which shows incredible strength as he is doing a bicep contraction against Boestch’s tricep contraction in trying to control the arm and we all know the tricep is the stronger muscle. While doing this, he snakes his right arm in-between Tim’s legs and just rolls him off his back and makes him perpendicular to the ground. This allows Davis the chance to wretch around there and grab his other arm (still controlling Boestch’s arm) in the proper kimura grip and pull. PISTOL GRIP.
With one arm over Boetsch’s shoulder holding the Hammerlock, Davis snakes his other arm under Boetsch’s waist and shuffles to get a second grip. Based on his position it’s too akward for Davis to get a figure-4 frame up so he would have to double grip and pull the arm up and away to get the tap.
For his effort, Phil Davis would not only walk away with an incredible victory, but an $80k “Submission of the Night” bonus and a placement on many fans Top Submissions lists for 2010. Not bad for a so-called “lay-n-prayer.”
#3 – The Pace Choke (a.k.a “The No Arm Triangle”)
(Photo via Getty. Gif of the finish here. Technique breakdown here.)
Probably one of the more overlooked washouts in MMA is that of Nick Pace, a once-promising bantamweight who was booted from the UFC back in 2011 after failing to make weight in 2 of his 3 octagon appearances. One of his weigh-in snafus resulted in an uninspired decision loss to Miguel Torres at UFC 139 and his release from the promotion. The other resulted in one of the trickiest submissions ever pulled off inside the octagon.
In his first UFC appearance at the TUF 12 Finale, Pace was matched up against fellow WEC vet Will Campuzano, who is no stranger to weigh-in mishaps himself. In the third round of a fight that the New Yorker had been steadily controlling, Campuzano dove into Pace’s guard looking to deliver some punishment. Pace immediately took advantage of this fatal error, locking in what at first appeared to be a triangle choke. However, a quick adjustment of the arm would leave MMA livebloggers, as well as Joe Rogan, grasping at straws to name the technique that cause Campuzano to suddenly tap. Was it some arm/leg triangle combination? A bastardized omoplata attempt gone wrong, then right?
Some people will insist that they’d seen the “pillory choke” in a BJJ tournament prior to The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale. They’ll tell you it had a slightly different grip, or included an arm, or they’ll point to a video so grainy it could double as a sasquatch sighting. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter because no one pulled it off in MMA, especially not on its biggest stage, until Nick Pace tapped Will Campuzano.
#2 – The Von Flue Choke (a.k.a “The Shoulder Choke”)
(Brent Weedman hits a picture perfect Von Flue Choke on J.J. Ambrose at Bellator 62. Technique breakdown here.)
Jason Von Flue was never what you’d call a “top tier” fighter, going 1-2 in the octagon and 14-12 overall before retiring from the sport in 2009. Of course, that didn’t stop the TUF 2 alum from immortalizing his place in MMA History with genius submission of Alex Karalexis at Fight Night 3 back in 2006.
Perhaps the greatest aspect of the Von Flue Choke is its setup. Equal parts defensive and offensive maneuver, the choke is meant to counter a common grappling mistake among inexperienced MMA fighters: Holding onto a guillotine choke for too long. The Von Flue Choke at its primarily level serves as a counter/escape from a guillotine, requiring the guillotined fighter to obtain side control before applying a ridiculous amount of shoulder pressure to his opponent’s throat. Should his opponent still hang onto the guillotine, it’s goodnight Irene.
That the choke requires your opponent to make such a mistake is the main reason why the Von Flue choke is such a rarity in MMA. Even after getting choked out in the third round of their Fight Night 3 battle, Karalexis had to ask the referee “what happened?” before accepting how quickly the momentum had shifted in Von Flue’s favor. In fact, the only other occasion we can recall a Von Flue Choke actually working was at Bellator 62, when welterweight Brent Weedman tapped J.J. Ambrose using the technique (gif above).
Von Flue would never be able to recapture the glory of his UFC debut, unfortunately, dropping his next two contests before reemerging on Cung Le’s highlight reel under the Strikeforce banner later that year. A follow-up loss to Luke Stewart would see him exit Strikeforce and Von Flue would go 2-4 in his next 6 fights before retiring. Karalexis wouldn’t have a much better run of things, either.
#1 – The Mir Lock (a.k.a “The Modified Shoulder Lock”)
Of the five “signature” submissions achieved in the UFC, it would be hard to claim that any of them looked more painful than Frank Mir‘s shoulder lock, a.k.a The Mir Lock, a.k.a the modified shoulder lock. Executed on poor, poor Pete Williams at UFC 36, the Mir Lock is essentially what would happen if you were to get your arm caught in a conveyer belt at a factory that produces bear traps.
Set up from the full guard, the Mir Lock is actually a judo move (according to Mir himself) that starts by securing an overhook on your opponent’s arm and taking advantage of their instinct to pull said arm out of said hook. Once the sap attempts to do so, the bottom fighter shifts their hips, secures the gable grip, and contrary to common belief, pulls (not twists) away, forcing his opponent to tap or have their lat shredded into tissue paper.
The submission stands as the fastest in the heavyweight division to this day (no, Oleg Taktarov’s work at UFC 6 does *not* count). Mir would win four out of his next five fights, and go on to secure the record for most diverse submission wins in UFC History (with 6 different holds). Williams would announce his retirement immediately after the loss, and though the fight would mostly be forgotten by the new wave of MMA fans, his eternal slice on the golf course would serve as a constant reminder of the Mir Lock and all of its destructive glory.
UFC 8 tournament champion Don Frye has once again graced fight fans with his “Predator Predictions,” this time picking the winners of UFC 169, which takes place in Newark, New Jersey next Saturday.
The main card of the February 1st event kicks of…
UFC 8 tournament champion Don Frye has once again graced fight fans with his “Predator Predictions,” this time picking the winners of UFC 169, which takes place in Newark, New Jersey next Saturday.
The main card of the February 1st event kicks off with former WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie Varner taking on Abel Trujillo, with Frye predicting Varner to take out the dangerous striker.
In a flyweight contest, Frye believes “The Tasmanian Devil,” as he calls him, Ali Bagautinov will defeat John Linker in a bout that could have serious title implications.
The Arizona native then really turned it on when guessing what will happen in the three featured fights of the evening, beginning with a heavyweight scrap between Frank Mir and Alistair Overeem.
“Alistair, your nickname is ‘The Reem‘ … really?,” Frye asks while smoking a cigar and sipping a glass of unidentified, brown-colored hard alcohol. ” … (Mir), you say your favorite technique is submissions. That’s a little vague, don’tcha think? That’s like saying your favorite drink is the next one. Make up a name, even if it’s something you can’t pull off. The average fight fan won’t know.”
Eventually, after commending UFC matchmaking Joe Silva on the pairing, Frye goes on to choose Mir as the winner—which he decided on after flipping a coin hidden in a lady companion’s bra.
In a featherweight title tilt between UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and Ricardo Lamas, Frye initially mistakes the challenger for TV star Lorenzo Lamas, best known for the 1990s TV series Renegade.
At the end of the day, Frye was unable to look past Aldo’s 16-fight win streak, though he recognized “The Bully” as a dangerous opponent.
Finally, in regards to the main event bantamweight title fight between RenanBarao and Urijah Faber, Frye couldn’t resist taking a shot at Barao‘s originally scheduled opponent, Dominick Cruz.
“He (Barao) has to plan to fight a moving target, with a brain and a personality…not his original opponent, the zombie,” Frye said while mimicking a zombie walk in his chair, throwing robotic-looking punches.
Admitting he is a Faber fan, Frye predicts that “The California Kid” will win his first UFC title, citing his knockout power, noted submission game and superior physical conditioning.
UFC 169 at the Prudential Center kicks off with their preliminary fights at 6:30 p.m. next Saturday, February 1st.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
It’s no secret that there’s been talk of a Brock Lesnar UFC return over the past few weeks.
In that time, both the MMA and pro wrestling worlds were abuzz with talk of the former champion returning to the cage.
Lesnar did return, but it was to the WWE,…
It’s no secret that there’s been talk of a Brock Lesnar UFC return over the past few weeks.
In that time, both the MMA and pro wrestling worlds were abuzz with talk of the former champion returning to the cage.
Lesnar did return, but it was to the WWE, and at once the UFC talk was dismissed as a publicity stunt.
He wasn’t coming back. He isn’t coming back.
Yet the rumor won’t die. It’s a testament to the interest people have in him—this commitment to wondering whether or not “Brock won’t be back” actually means “Brock will definitely be back.”
If it’s what people want to talk about, then we all have to talk about it.
Here are five fights for him if he somehow ends up back in the Octagon.
We’ve all seen traditional martial arts demonstrations, those cool (but still mildly goofy when you sit back and watch them objectively) exhibitions where guys kick, punch, throw and twirl around to show off how awesome their style is. Jon Jones and Fr…
We’ve all seen traditional martial arts demonstrations, those cool (but still mildly goofy when you sit back and watch them objectively) exhibitions where guys kick, punch, throw and twirl around to show off how awesome their style is. Jon Jones and Frank Mir took it upon themselves to do something similar but with mixed martial arts.
The light heavyweight champ and former heavyweight champ have been touring the globe in recent months to promote their upcoming UFC bouts at UFC 171 and UFC 169, respectively (if you’ll remember, Mirko Cro Cop complained about Jones, Mir and Alistair Overeem stealing some of his thunder at the Legacy 2 event in Russia). Amidst the festivities, the duo found time to engage in an impromptu demonstration of their martial arts skills by punching, kicking and rolling around in the back room of the Moscow Maxim bar.
The video, as you likely noticed, is above.
Jones is booked to face Glover Teixeira at UFC 171 in Dallas, Texas on March 15. Mir, meanwhile, is scheduled to face Alistair Overeem at UFC 169. Both fights are well-hyped and highly anticipated. The two both train at Greg Jackson’s MMA. Mir actually served as Jon Jones’ assistant coach on The Ultimate Fighter season 17, functioning as Team Jones’ primary Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach.
Because of that, don’t expect the match to come to fruition in reality. Also, keep an eye out here in case a full version of the video surfaces (it likely lasted at least a little bit longer than 12 seconds).
UFC 166 figures to featured an instant classic for the main event as Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos look to settle the score in their rivalry. Most figure the fight will end with either a JDS knockout or Velasquez dominating on the judge’s scorec…
UFC 166 figures to featured an instant classic for the main event as Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos look to settle the score in their rivalry. Most figure the fight will end with either a JDS knockout or Velasquez dominating on the judge’s scorecards. Either way, the odds are there won’t be much controversy in the cage; something that couldn’t be said at UFC 164.
Prior to Anthony Pettis dethroning Benson Henderson as UFC lightweight champion in the main event, an entire arena erupted in boos for one man in particular. He wasn’t a fighter, coach or even an athlete from a rival sports team being shown on the big screen. No, these boos (along with the flooding of message boards) were focused on MMA referee Rob Hinds.
To review, Hinds was the official for the UFC 164 co-main event, a heavyweight bout between Josh Barnett and Frank Mir. The fight started quickly with both men going toe-to-toe with one another. Eventually, Barnett got an advantage and pushed Mir against the cage. It was here where Barnett worked his dirty boxing, eventually landing a knee that sent Mir sprawling to the canvas.
Hinds quickly jumped in to call the fight, but Mir and the fans didn’t seem happy with the decision.
Hinds is a veteran being the third man in the cage, and he spoke to Bleacher Report MMA about the now-notorious decision.
“I expected this matchup to be an aggressive, no nonsense fight…Sometimes you can sense the end over a period of time. This time it was immediate. Mir was taking punishment in the clinch. No problem there. It was when Barnett’s knee connected on Mir’s temple. Mir briefly lost all neurological control and collapsed with no possible sign of any defense.”
I asked Hinds to give fans (and myself) a little bit of insight into the thought process when something like this happens. After all, it’s not easy to make a judgment call to step in while two heavyweights are battling it out in the matter of a few seconds.
Is Mir conscious/unconscious? Maybe partially conscious. Maybe not.
Is he facing Barnett or facing the floor? Face toward the mat.
Are Mir’s arms, legs or body in any position to intelligently defend himself? Palms and forearms were facing down. Arms were loosely above his head. Not protecting his face or head. Legs straight out with no foot, knee or leg between him and Barnett. Body turned to the side angling toward the mat.
What is Barnett’s position to finish? Is it a striking position or is he going for submission? Barnett was postured up, had knee on body with his arm cocked to do more striking damage to a defenseless Mir.
As you can see, there’s plenty going on upstairs when Hinds made the call. Fans were up in arms over an early stoppage but at least this call wasn’t as glaringly bad as some other calls.
Some fans argued that, “Hey this is Mir’s thing. He drops to the ground and gets his opponent to come to the ground with him.” I’m not inclined to believe that was Mir’s strategy as he collapsed to the canvas and neither does Hinds.
“In No. 3, if Mir would have shown any signs of fighting back, defending himself or at least in a position to offer some resistance after that brutal knee, the fight would have continued,” he said. “Mir showed none of those signs.”
Another thought coming from this fight was the fact Hinds likely did Mir (and his brain cells) a favor by jumping in right away. We’ve seen Mir be on the wrong end of some vicious beatings (Brock Lesnar) and thunderous knockouts (Shane Carwin, Junior dos Santos). Mir’s questionable chin has failed him in the past but it wasn’t on Hinds’ mind the night of the fight.
“Prior knowledge of fighters is helpful as a referee, but should not be the determining factor in making a decision,” he said. “Every situation is different. Mir’s previous fights have nothing to do with the next. If a fighter is medically cleared to compete, they get the same chance as every other athlete.”
After the fight was called Mir rose to his feet to protest the stoppage and the fans erupted with boos. It’s an environment few can relate to but it’s nothing new to Hinds.”
“I stood by this call 100 percent at the time (and still do). Protests are part of all sports. That’s what we sign up for. If you’re not prepared for that and are not confident in your abilities, maybe this isn’t the position to be in… I am confident in my decision making, regardless of what’s going on around me. An arena can be intimidating and can affect the mindset of an unconfident or newer/inexperienced referee. This was a very good call.”
I will give Hinds credit on the fact he appears to be the type of person to own up to their mistake. It’s become a routine for officials in other sports to stand by their calls even when they’re so obviously wrong.
“If I would have made a mistake or realized that I did something wrong, I would definitely lose sleep over it,” he said. “I take this position seriously, have a lot of pride in what I do and constantly put a lot of work into my craft.”
Improving his craft as an official in the cage no doubt requires a lot of work without much payoff. Nobody notices the referee in a fight unless something controversial happens. Even though it can seem like the referee gets put on an island by himself following a controversial call, Hinds explains that’s not the case.
“Whenever decisions are made, the officials who truly care will consult with one another and get different perspectives on the same situation. It’s very helpful for the growth of an official. There is a lot of peer support.”
It’s good to know the officials will pick the brains of one another following a fight. Just like we have three judges at different sections of the cage, it’s helpful to have another set of eyes in a different position to explain what happened.
Still, it’d be easy to let something like this get to you. But Hinds explains it’s always a mindset of “on to the next one.”
“Bout to bout, event to event, I do not bring my previous performances into thought,” he said. “That time has passed. To me, it’s a continuous evolution and learning experience. I tirelessly review as much footage as I can and break down my (and other officials’) performances so I can be better with every event.”
Fans may have not liked the call immediately after it happened (I was one of them), but after seeing the replay, it’s hard to say that Hinds’ call was a bad one. Mir was face first and limp on the canvas. Not only was Barnett in prime position to deliver a few follow-up punches that would’ve scrambled Mir’s brain cells like Sunday morning breakfast, the outcome of the fight at the point wasn’t in question.
