If Diego “The Gun” Nunes isn’t a gamer, I don’t know of any fighter that qualifies as a gamer.He delivered a 15-minute walk through fire for Mike Brown at UFC 125, he’s one of the few guys that admits he would not duck his teammates, especially since o…
If Diego “The Gun” Nunes isn’t a gamer, I don’t know of any fighter that qualifies as a gamer.
He delivered a 15-minute walk through fire for Mike Brown at UFC 125, he’s one of the few guys that admits he would not duck his teammates, especially since one of his teammates, Jose “Scarface” Aldo, holds the throne, scepter, cape and crown in the UFC Featherweight division, and on top of all of that, he gets an exciting veteran in Kenny Florian on Saturday.
Florian is a skilled fighter with technical punches, a good Muay Thai game that we have not seen in a while—mind you, he has not fought since UFC 118—and some excellent jiu-jitsu that he can use in the wink of an eye, but he’s going up against a vicious Nak Muay in Nunes.
Like Florian, Nunes has a notable Muay Thai game, and he incoporates his Brazilian jiu-jitsu into his fighting style, and if he wants to beat Kenny Florian at UFC 131, he must implement his striking game early on Florian.
If he gives Florian a chance to land any of his clean punches, he will eventually find himself backpedaling and close to getting finished by Florian, and if he lets Florian take him down at will, he’ll be inviting Florian to end his win streak and his UFC stint quite early.
From the opening bell, he should be looking to hit Kenny with everything from leg kicks on the outside to elbows against the cage, wearing Florian down and gassing him out until he’s primed and ready to have his night shut down by force due to any weapon in Nunes’ arsenal.
If the fight goes into Kenny’s world, no problem for Nunes just as long as he’s patient and capitalizes on any opportunity to do damage to Florian on the ground—and Kenny does have a weakness on the ground if he’s against someone that can effectively control him and neutralize his BJJ game, which Nunes is.
Kenny Florian is no slouch, but he’ll find out the hard way that Diego Nunes was the guy Florian should’ve ducked when he dropped to featherweight, and if Florian needs a reason why he should’ve ducked Nunes, Nunes will give him a few reasons and then some this Saturday.
When people discuss who is best striker is in the UFC heavyweight division, many will say that Junior Dos Santos is that man. There is little reason to disagree, as Dos Santos has racked up 6 straight wins inside the Octagon with all but one fight endi…
When people discuss who is best striker is in the UFC heavyweight division, many will say that Junior Dos Santos is that man. There is little reason to disagree, as Dos Santos has racked up 6 straight wins inside the Octagon with all but one fight ending before the final bell due to his powerful striking.
His opponent at UFC 131 is Shane Carwin, who is also known for his powerful punches that have sent four of his five opponents in the UFC home in the first round. Carwin may not be known as a technical striker, but the results of what his hands can do cannot be disputed.
When I compare these two dominant strikers, I come to the conclusion that I have to give the advantage to Shane Carwin for a few reasons.
Dos Santos has exceptional power in both of his hands. “Cigano” has dropped Gilbert Yvel and Gabriel Gonzaga with hard left hook shots. He put Roy Nelson and Fabricio Werdum to the mat with the right uppercut. Though it would be wise to throw leg kicks, neither JDS or Carwin tend to use them.
Now where is the weakness that makes me believe that Carwin has the advantage?
It lies in his hand placement and the style of punches JDS throws against his opponents. Dos Santos comes in and drops his hands when he throws his punches, and the style of strikes he usually throws are wide and sometimes loopy shots.
The reason Carwin is so effective with his striking is that he throws very heavy straight punches. In all of his fights, with exception to the Frank Mir fight where he landed multiple uppercuts, he has knocked down all of his opponents with a straight right hand.
Dos Santos also has shown that during his fights, he has a very tall stance, which leaves his head and chin exposed. Though he has done a good job at getting his hands up from his chest, where he usually hangs them, he hasn’t fought any real type of boxing-style strikers.
Carwin, on the other hand, keeps his chin tucked near his chest, uses his shoulder as a shield to the right hook and his hands are up by his face. This enables Carwin to stay pretty defensive from all types of strikes but most importantly allows him to counter-strike quickly with those straight punches he throws.
What I have noticed in watching fights with Dos Santos is that his opponents have not been well versed in striking defense. Struve, Cro Cop, Yvel, and Gonzaga have all been susceptible to being knocked out. His most impressive knockout was against Fabricio Werdum, but it makes you wonder if he can knock out a well rounded striker, as he couldn’t put Nelson away.
Carwin has shown that whatever he touches seems to fall down quickly. It has resulted in multiple first round stoppages or some of the ugliest fetus position defense ever witnessed. The only real time he has been threatened on his feet was when he ate a huge shot from Gabriel Gonzaga only to rebound and knock out “Napao” seconds later on a counter punch.
With all of that being said, I fully expect Shane Carwin to win this matchup with Junior Dos Santos. I really believe that this fight will remain standing and that Carwin will not have to take the fight to the ground because of the many holes that Dos Santos has in his striking defense.
In addition to the power of Carwin, it seems like he has been very diligent with his cardio training as he will be well under the heavyweight limit of 265 pounds. So I fully expect to see the best version of Shane Carwin, who should be very hungry after being so close to winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship only to have the opportunity slip through his fingers.
With majority of their MMA triumphs gone the short route, Mark “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Munoz or Demian Maia can notch another finish–at the expense of the other.The powerful ground-and-pound specialist Munoz (10-2 with five wi…
With majority of their MMA triumphs gone the short route, Mark “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Munoz or Demian Maia can notch another finish–at the expense of the other.
The powerful ground-and-pound specialist Munoz (10-2 with five wins by KO and one by submission) is coming fresh from a first round KO victory over C.B Dolloway just last March 3.
On the other side, top-of-the-line Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert Maia (14-2 with eight wins via submissions and two by KO’s), with his last three conquests coming by unanimous decisions, is itching to tap somebody out inside the octagon again.
And he wants to scratch it badly with the decorated wrestler.
So, should Munoz avoid the ground game like an allergen? Same as Anderson “The Spider” Silva who “effectively” showboated and danced way from Maia’s ground game invitation en route to retaining the UFC Middleweight Title?
On the contrary (if we are to give the former NCAA champion the benefit of the doubt), Munoz claims to “welcome the ground game as well…BUT (all caps mine) at the same time I’m going to fight where I want to fight, not where he wants to fight. And if I do get there I’m going to scramble back to where I want to be.” (The Beautiful Mind of Mark Munoz by Frank Curreri, June 09, 2011.)
I sense a contradiction here, and my interpretation of “where I want to be fight” and where Munoz is going to “scramble back to” is none other than the stand-up game.
His game plan apparently is to keep the fight standing and try to one-up his frequent training partner and UFC Middleweight King by knocking out Maia.
As of recently, fighters have realized that a good way to win fights is to lay on their opponents and kill time, scoring a 10-must round for barely “fighting at all.” Some people call this tactic “lay and pray,” some call it a more appropriate name, “w…
As of recently, fighters have realized that a good way to win fights is to lay on their opponents and kill time, scoring a 10-must round for barely “fighting at all.” Some people call this tactic “lay and pray,” some call it a more appropriate name, “wrestling”, but I call it “boring.” Wrestlers in the limelight are killing the sport of MMA, by winning fights doing the bare minimum they need to win the fight. Some may disagree with what is being said, but not many people find Jon Fitch to be an exciting fighter, albeit his last fight wasn’t awful.
With Anderson Silva set to face off against Yushin Okami in August and Georges St-Pierre set to square off with Nick Diaz in October, the great pound-for-pound debate is set to rear its head again. The pound-for-pound rankings are one of the most excit…
With Anderson Silva set to face off against Yushin Okami in August and Georges St-Pierre set to square off with Nick Diaz in October, the great pound-for-pound debate is set to rear its head again. The pound-for-pound rankings are one of the most exciting and controversial debates within the MMA community.
There are many problems that exist within the debate, and these involve fighters that fight in different organizations, strength of competition and the ability of fighters to finish fights. However, the main problem with pound-for-pound rankings is that they are completely hypothetical.
The true meaning of the rankings is to objectively look at each fighter’s skill set and try to determine who would win if both fighters were the same size. Trying to determine these rankings is easy in certain cases.
If Brock Lesnar weighed 155 pounds, would he be able to beat Jose Aldo? The answer to that question would be a resounding no. However, in some cases the lines are somewhat blurry and a deeper analysis is called for.
We begin to take a closer look at each fighter’s record as well as who they have beaten and how. Sometimes, we are even lucky enough to have two fighters that are only one weight class apart, and the opportunity arises to put together a dream fight.
This brings us to Anderson Silva and GSP. While it is up for debate who is the clear cut No. 1, there is almost no debating that these two men are the consensus No. 1 and No. 2 fighters in the world.
Personally, I believe the nod goes to GSP. While I understand that he hasn’t shown the ability to finish anyone since UFC 94 when BJ Penn’s corner threw in the towel after the fourth round, I still believe he has been the more dominant fighter, and his skill set is the one that has given Silva the most trouble over the years.
While Silva has had plenty of highlight-reel finishes, he has also looked very human at times in his tenure in the UFC. He was taken down and controlled by Travis Lutter, Dan Henderson and was also on the receiving end of a brutal beating by Chael Sonnen.
On the other hand, ever since being stopped by Matt Serra at UFC 69, St-Pierre has dominated everyone that he has fought, and the outcomes of his fights have never been in question. While finishes are important, thoroughly dominating someone for a full 15 or 25 minutes leaves no doubt as to who the better fighter is.
A potential showdown between the world’s two best fighters has been mentioned by fans for several years now. The goal of that fight would be to determine who the world’s true No. 1 fighter is.
However, that logic is flawed, and that fight would only determine who the No. 1 fighter would be if St-Pierre were to emerge victorious. While both men would weigh in at 185 lbs, Anderson is the only one out of those two men to be a true 185-pounder. St-Pierre noted that before his fight with Jake Shields that he was walking around at 194 lbs while Anderson usually cuts to 185 from 215.
This is a 20-pound difference between the two, and if Silva were to win it would leave the door open for people to argue that when two very talented men square off, the bigger fighter will win.
This same scenario was present when St-Pierre fought BJ Penn. Both men are tremendously talented, but when BJ weighed in at 166 lbs, that was his actual weight, and he did not have to cut weight. This weight advantage was clearly evident when St-Pierre was able to repeatedly take BJ down and not let him get up.
While I do believe that St-Pierre is the better fighter, it would have been a much more interesting and maybe even more competitive fight had the two men weighed the same.
Pound-for-pound rankings will always be a hot button topic in MMA and a fun thing to talk about. Everyone has their own opinions, and it’s interesting to hear different points of view on who people believe is the world’s best fighter.
However, pound-for-pound rankings remain problematic because it’s purely speculation. We also need to be wary in certain situations when fighters from different weight classes square off. If the smaller fighter wins then they can claim to be the better pound for pound fighter, but when the larger man beats the smaller man, it does not necessarily prove anything.
Just like BJ Penn vs. Georges St-Pierre did not determine who the better pound-for-pound fighter is, neither will St-Pierre vs. Silva.
At UFC 131 this Saturday in Vancouver, perennial lightweight contender Kenny “Kenflo” Florian will fight in his first ever match at 145 pounds, a featherweight tilt vs. former WEC fighter Diego Nunes.It will be Florian’s UFC-record fo…
At UFC 131 this Saturday in Vancouver, perennial lightweight contender Kenny “Kenflo” Florian will fight in his first ever match at 145 pounds, a featherweight tilt vs. former WEC fighter Diego Nunes.
It will be Florian’s UFC-record fourth weight class, after previously competing at 185, 170 and 155 pounds.
Florian decided to drop down in weight for a number of reasons. First, the UFC’s lightweight division was becoming crowded with the WEC merger, especially with the addition of contenders like Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis.
With the division getting clogged up in talent, Florian’s place in it was becoming unclear.
Second, after losing to Gray Maynard at UFC 118 in a No. 1 contender’s bout, Florian was all but assured a career as a 155-pound gatekeeper, especially after Dana White said he “choked” in big fights.
Florian, after all, had two cracks at the lightweight title previously, losing to Sean Sherk at UFC 64 and B.J. Penn at UFC 101.
And third, Florian dropped down for the challenge to satisfy his inner desire to become a champion.
Although he remains adamant he wants to be the lightweight champion one day, chances are that opportunity has passed him by. So he has set his eyes on the Jose Aldo’s 145-pound belt instead.
Although it isn’t set in stone, Florian may very well be next in line to Aldo’s strap. On a fairly recent episode of “MMA Live,” Florian (an analyst on the show) asked White if he would get a title shot were he to dispatch Nunes, to which White replied, “probably.”
It does make sense.
The featherweight division is shallow, as Florian is already the most recognizable fighter in it, even though he hasn’t fought at the weight yet. With Florian’s name value, the UFC could potentially promote Florian and Aldo as the main event on a pay-per-view.
The other thing is, there aren’t many contenders at 145 pounds right now. With the unbeaten Chad Mendes hooking up with Rani Yahya, the No. 1 contender’s spot is up for grabs.
If Florian can defeat the 16-1 Nunes—who, by the way, is Aldo’s teammate—he would be more than deserving. But that’s a big if.
Nunes is no walk in the park. Down on the scorecards to former WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown in his UFC debut back in January, Nunes battled back with a busted-up eye to win a split decision.
His excellent kickboxing skills and stellar Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu make him one of the top dogs in the world at 145 pounds.
Florian is walking into dangerous territory this weekend. Should he defeat Nunes, he will likely get the next title shot. But if he loses, his career will be sent into limbo.
Not good enough to contend at 145 or 155 pounds, and already 35 years old, Florian would need to seriously rethink his MMA career should he fall to Nunes.
This is his last shot.
Florian’s career will be made or broken with his weight cut at UFC 131.
If Diego “The Gun” Nunes isn’t a gamer, I don’t know of any fighter that qualifies as a gamer.