Machida Versus Mousasi: Post Fight Thoughts

Here in North Carolina it is 1:22 am.  Well past my bed time.  But I just finished watching Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida's masterful performance against Gegard Mousasi and sleep will have to wait.  Prior to the fight, I wondered if their styles would make for an exciting match or a boring one.  The answer, for me at least, was neither.  It was both interesting and frustrating to watch.  I was never bored, but I was rarely excited.

The exciting parts were courtesy of Lyoto, who was great.  He did his thing, and stuck to the karate style that has brought him so much success.  Gegard, on the other hand, barely threw the left jab that had been so effective against Ilir Latifi.  And while he threw some good leg kicks, he didn't throw nearly enough of them.

Of the two fighters, Lyoto is the one who fought with urgency.  Though he danced around the cage as always, avoiding danger, he also blitzed with chain punch combinations, flying knees, and skull-splitting head kicks.  Gegard seemed content to throw an occasional left hook, an occasional right cross, and an occasional leg kick--even when it was obvious to everyone that he was way behind on points.

With that being said, I do have a couple positive things to say about Gegard's performance.  First, I thought his reversal from half guard in the fourth round was pretty sweet.  It gave him top position and a rare opportunity to inflict damage on the karateka.  Props to Machida, though, since he nullified Gegard's ground-n-pound which is something few other fighters have been able to do.

Prior to the fight, Gegard was considered to have a pretty solid chin.  The consensus was that he could take a punch.  After the fight, there is no doubt.  Machida hit him with the same round kick that put Mark Munoz to sleep, and Gegard didn't blink.  Later in the same round, Machida hit him again--this time with the instep of his foot instead of with the shin--and Gegard shrugged it off like it was little more than a mosquito bite.  The man may have the best chin in the business.

But his versatility and ability to adapt to his opponent, something which I had written highly of in this week's blogs, was nowhere to be seen.  Gegard did the same thing for five rounds.  Even though Machida was beating him on the feet, Gegard rarely shot in for takedowns.  And, again, I am confused on why he didn't throw his jab more often.  I can only chalk it up to Machida's elusiveness.  Perhaps Mousasi never felt like he was in range to use it.

With all that being said, congratulations to Lyoto Machida.  Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort had better start designing game plans now to face the karate master, because he is almost certainly going to receive a title shot.

As for Gegard, he'll still be a stern test for other middleweights and light heavyweights, but I hope he reviews the fight, sees that he should have fought with greater urgency, and does so in the future.  It's often been said that he looks bored in the cage.  Well, tonight he fought like it.

Until next time.

UFC Fight Night 36: Under Card

I'll be honest.  There's a lot of names on the under card that I'm not familiar with.  Guys who fight in international markets that I don't have easy access to.  For those guys, it doesn't make sense for me to make a fight prediction.  My general rule of thumb is that I have to have seen a man fight before I will make a prediction on whether or not he has what it takes to win.

So that leaves me with a predicament.  You see, of the 22 fighters on the under card, I've only seen 9 of them fight.  Less than half.  So I'll only make a handful of predictions here.  If you've been reading my blogs this week, you know that I am spitting in the eye of popular opinion by predicting that Gegard Mousasi will win a decision over Lyoto Machida.  I think Mousasi's jab, leg kicks, ability to adapt to his opponents and his ability to stay cool under fire will make the difference in a close fight.

Machida, being a fan favorite (and hometown hero), may be gifted an undeserved decision.  Stranger things have happened.  After all, Machida was given a decision win over Shogun Rua in their first fight even though it was pretty clear that Shogun deserved the win.  We shall see.

How about Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza versus Francis Carmont?  This is an interesting fight.  Carmont is HUGE for the middleweight division.  At the weigh ins yesterday, he looked much bigger than Jacare.  Plus, Georges St. Pierre--former pound for pound great and UFC welterweight champion--has dedicated every day of training camp to Carmont.  In other words, Carmont should look better than he ever has, and that's saying something because he looked pretty darned good in his last fight dominating Costas Philippou.

But he's facing a juggernaut.  Jacare is one of the greatest jiu-jitsu competitors of his generation, having won the world championships 5 times--3 at Open Weight!  So he is used to dealing with bigger guys.  Plus, he has a submission victory over Marcelo Garcia, who many consider the greatest jiu-jitsu competitor in history.  He had those skills before he made the transition to mixed martial arts.  Now he has developed a complete skill set.  His striking, for instance, is much better than it was a few years ago.  In his last fight, he blitzed Yushin Okami with punches against the cage.  Not only is he striking accurately, he is striking with a ton of power.

What a frightening proposition: one of the greatest submission fighters on the planet becomes one of the greatest strikers on the planet, too.  Think about that for a moment.  I wouldn't want to face that guy.  Now to be clear, I am not saying that Jacare is one of the greatest strikers in the sport, but I am saying that he has the potential to become one.  And if he does, I'm sure the top ten middleweights won't look forward to facing him, either.

My prediction: Jacare wins by unanimous decision.

Now let's discuss Joe Proctor versus Cristiano Marcello.  Both of these guys are alumni of The Ultimate Fighter.  Neither of them won that tournament, and both of them are coming off losses and long layoffs.  Marcelo will be fighting in front of a home-country crowd in Brazil, so he should be super hyped to perform at his best.  Proctor trains with Joe Lauzon, so he should be well prepared.  I've seen both of these guys fight several times, and Proctor has appeared the more durable, determined fighter.  Because of that, I pick him to win a decision.

My last prediction will be for the Charles Oliveira versus Andy Ogle fight.  Ogle is a hard-nosed British banger who brings a high level of intensity into the cage.  He is yet another alumni of the Ultimate Fighter.  Officially, he has fought 3 times in the UFC, but he lost 2 of those fights.  All 3 fights have gone to a decision.

Charles Oliveira caught my eye when he finished Ultimate Fighter winner Efrain Escudero back in September 2010.  Since then, he has been inconsistent, losing to Cub Swanson, Jim Miller, Donald Cerrone and Frankie Edgar, but getting some respectable wins against another Ultimate Fighter winner, Jonathan Brookins, and Eric Wisely.  Even in his losses, he has shown glimpses of the undefeated fighter who beat Escudero.  Because of that, I think he'll win.  In fact, I think he'll catch Ogle in a submission in round 3.

So that's it, folks.  Fights start in a few hours.  Be sure to tune in and enjoy!

Until next time.

The Beauty and the Heart Break

"How do you watch that stuff?" 

If you're a hardcore fan of combat sports (mixed martial arts, boxing, kick boxing, etc.), you've been asked this question before. Sometimes a friend, or maybe a fellow worker, will ask it after you've told them, "Sorry, can't go out on Saturday. I'm watching the fights." Regardless of why they ask you, the question is hard to answer. I usually mutter something about how combat sports cater to a man's primal self—which makes me look and feel like some sick masochist. And unfortunately, some combat sports—boxing, for instance—are renowned for their casualties. Fans are most often asked, "How can you watch that stuff?" right after a boxer dies from ring injuries. And though, statistically, more people are injured in football, soccer, hockey and auto-racing, that doesn't help ease the guilty feelings we find creeping into our conscience. After all, combat sports are the only major sports in which the goal is to hit another man (or woman) until he stops hitting back. In mixed martial arts you could also choke them unconscious or bend their limbs to the point of snapping. Unless they tap. It makes us wonder, why do we watch this stuff? 

But there is more to it. 

A combat sport—at its best—is two men imposing their wills on one another. It goes beyond a mere match of skill or strength. It is a contest of desire. When all else is equal, the fighter who wants it more will be the one who ultimately has his arm raised in victory. This is one reason why we get frustrated when a fighter backpedals for an entire match. If only he threw more punches! If only he tried a bit harder! If only he wanted it more. Or when we watch a lay-n-pray artist hold his opponent down for three rounds without once committing to a finish. He's obviously got some skills, we say. After all, he's taking his opponent down at will. Why doesn't he try to finish him? The answer, of course, is that he doesn't want to win as much as some other great athletes want to win. He doesn't give his all. He doesn't impose his will. 

Maybe fear has something to do with it. What happens to a man's confidence after he's been knocked out? Who knows what kind of torture he's endured in the gym? Maybe he's been hurt badly, and fears that throwing caution to the wind is too reckless. It leads to trouble. It leads to pain. Maybe that's what holds him back in the last rounds of a fight in which he is hopelessly behind on points and only a finish can salvage victory. 

He knows and we know that in no other sport can a man go from winning handily to losing utterly, lying crushed, senseless, unconscious at the feet of his opponent, with all sense of pride ripped from him. One punch, one choke is all it takes. And herein lies its beauty. One can find—even in a bout between two talentless, free swinging club fighters—a certain beauty in sacrificing caution, in giving one's all in an effort to separate a man from his senses, knowing that any error in timing can result in one's own abject humiliation, incapacitation, and yes, even death. 

You won't find that in football. Sure, a team can come back from 30 points down and miraculously win in the fourth quarter. But the team can't accomplish that in one play. Same with basketball or tennis or any other non-martial sport you can imagine. There are comebacks. Underdogs do win. But you won't ever find the equivalent of a one punch knock out win for a man who was losing every second of every round up until he landed the big one. A home run is cool. A slam-dunk is nasty. But a knock out is deadly. 

Some fans question their love for the sport after they've seen an awful decision. We've seen a couple of those in recent years. Whether or not you believed Georges St. Pierre deserved the win against Johnny Hendricks, you had to wonder why the judges felt Timothy Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao. Some of us were ready to hang up the gloves, so to speak. I'm never watching another fight, we said. It's all crooked anyway. Why bother? 

But inevitably, we are drawn like moths to a flame. And we realize that even when it breaks our hearts—when a good fighter is robbed, when a promoter screws his fighter out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, when two top guys in a division can't fight because they work for rival organizations, when a fighter dies in the ring—we will stick around for those moments that can be found no where else. We stick around, hoping to see another Ali/Frazier, a Griffin/Bonner, or a Frye/Takayama. It is in fights like these where the beauty of this sport holds us spellbound. We'll sit through a hundred Kalib Starnes/Nate Quarry fights just for the chance to see one Chuck Liddell/Wanderlei Silva. 

We may not know what to say when someone asks us, "How do you watch that stuff?" We could talk to them of why we watch, of the excitement we feel when contemplating great match-ups. We could tell them it's the possibility of seeing something great, something beautiful, and perhaps they'd understand—I've converted a few—but then again, we may only be wasting our breath. "There is nothing beautiful about two men beating each other up," they say. 

But they are wrong.

Machida VS Mousasi Part 3: Who Wins, and Why.

Now that we've looked at both fighters and some of their biggest fights, it's time to look at how they match up against one another.  As they say in combat sports, styles make fights.  It's the reason why Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier always brought out the best in one another.  Because their styles seemed engineered to give the other one problems.

Let me explain.  Muhammad Ali was the consummate boxer, the guy who could dance around the ring, always just an inch away from his opponent's punches, and pepper them with jabs.  He could also sprinkle in hooks and crosses, and dart away before they could respond in kind.

Joe Frazier was a tank with good head movement and a howitzer left hook.  He was able to wade through his opponents' jabs and make them pay with brutal body blows and fight-ending head shots.

Every time these guys fought each other, the result was sensational.  Ali did his thing.  Frazier did his thing.  And both knew they had been in a fight.

Machida and Mousasi also have unique fighting styles.  But will their styles combine to make a great fight, or a stinker?  Let's look closer.

Machida fights the way a chess master plays chess.  He seems to constantly analyze his opponents and reacts immediately to their mistakes.   He is a counterstriker at heart, looking to play defense until he spies a weakness.  But then he attacks.  And his attacks have provided mma with some of the most sensational knockouts in history.  Make no mistake, though he is a defense-minded fighter, his offense is as good as anyone's.

Mousasi is also an analyst inside the ring.  A man who relies less on instinct and more on strategy.  Like Machida, he is a thinking man's fighter.  He can mold his strategy around his opponent.  Now, that sounds like a simple thing.  But in a real fight, it seems to be one of the most difficult things for a fighter to do.  Often, strategy flies out the window the moment you're punched in the face.  Then you fall back on instinct and on what you're most comfortable doing.  Brawlers brawl.  Wrestlers wrestle.  Jiu-jitsu guys pull guard.

Mousasi doesn't.  When he fought superior strikers such as Melvin Manhoef and Mark Hunt, he took the fight to the ground almost immediately.  When he faced Ilir Latifi in his most recent fight, he knew that Latifi's best chance against him would be to throw bombs or to get on top of Mousasi and ground-n-pound him.  So Mousasi kept him on the end of his jab throughout the fight, and turned his face into hamburger.

Again, that ability is in short supply.  Fighters who can mold their strategies--and stick to them even when things get rough--have seen great success.  Georges St. Pierre, for instance, has done this for most of his career.

But can Mousasi adjust to Machida?  Jon Jones did.  After losing the first round, he changed his strategy and left Machida lying unconscious on the canvas.  Though Shogun Rua also finished him, he didn't really adapt his style to Machida's.  Rather, he imposed his own style.  Machida was the one who couldn't adapt.

This begs the question: will Mousasi need to adapt?  

It seems the answer is, whether he needs to or not, he is already adapting.  Rumors abound that Mousasi brought in a karate master (who has beaten Machida in karate) to train with to prepare for this bout.  This shows Mousasi is taking the fight seriously.  Depending on how closely this karate master's style replicates Machida's, Mousasi shouldn't be surprised by any of Machida's karate-based attacks on Saturday.

As for Machida, he will likely enter the Octagon with the same strategy he normally uses: keep it on the feet, make his opponent miss, capitalize on mistakes, and maybe sprinkle in some takedowns and submission attempts for good measure.  

If Machida focuses on takedowns, submissions, and ground-n-pound, Mousasi may be in some trouble.  May.  King Mo was able to take him down at will, but did little damage.  Other fighters, like Denis Kang and Jacare, took him down and paid for it.

Machida may be best served by simply using his karate-based attack.  Mousasi is no slouch in the striking department (he boasts an undefeated kickboxing record), but other than in training, he has never faced a guy like Machida.  Machida, on the other hand, has faced guys with good kickboxing-based stand-up.  Only Shogun Rua, who employs a more muay-thai style than Gegard, has clearly beaten Machida on the feet.

But I don't know if Machida has ever faced a jab like Gegard's.  Having a traditional martial arts background myself (though not even in the same galaxy as Machida's--who would curb stomp me in 3 seconds flat), I remember struggling to adjust against guys with a solid jab and boxing background.  In traditional martial arts, we rarely see a sharp, crisp jab popping us in the face.  We see far more backfists and sidekicks in point fighting.

But Machida has been fighting in mixed martial arts for a while now.  Though he started his martial arts career with karate, he has seen and faced a wide variety of styles.  He shouldn't be too surprised by anything Mousasi throws at him.  Again, the exception may be Gegard's jab, which may be the best at 185 pounds.

Something else that may factor into the fight is Gegard's reach.  He has a 76 inch reach, one of the longest Machida has faced.  Jon Jones, of course, had a much longer reach.  Now, some fighters are tall but they fight small.  They prefer to fight on the inside of their opponent even though they could hit them from a distance.  Gegard is not one of those guys.  He sometimes stays right at the distance that works best for him.  Against the shorter Latifi, he kept him at the end of his jab and rarely allowed him to close distance without either popping him with a jab or a cross, or moving out of range.  It was high-level stuff.

Machida, too, makes a practice of fighting at a distance that works for him.  He is notoriously hard to hit.  And he covers distance, perhaps, better than anyone at 185 pounds.  When he sees an opening, he blasts forward to engage, whether he's 3 feet or 9 feet away.  It doesn't matter.

This style often rattles and frustrates Machida's opponents.  Rashad Evans, for instance, seemed to get frustrated.  Then he started making mistakes.  He dropped his hands, started talking smack, and left himself open for Machida's cobra-like strikes.

Mousasi, on the other hand, never seems to get rattled.  Latifi started to jaw at him in Sweden, which made the pro-Latifi crowd roar their approval, but Gegard stared straight through the theatrics and simply kept pounding the late replacement with jabs.  Talk all the smack you want, Gegard doesn't care.  It bores him.  

Much has been made about that bored demeanor.  At times, he looks almost disinterested in the fight, like he's waiting in line at the DMV.  But that disinterest is seen on his face only.  His hands and feet tell a different story.  While his face says, "I couldn't care less," his hands say, "I care, and I'm going to show you how much I care by punching a hole through your face."  We can all rest assured that Mousasi will care on Saturday night.  This fight is the most important of his career.  A win catapults him to the top of the line at 185.  A loss, especially a bad one, will make even more fans wonder what all the hoopla was about.

So who will win?

The smart money is on Machida.  He has faced the better competition.  He has fought in the UFC for years.  He has been a UFC champion.  He has been the consensus number 1 guy in the world.  Mousasi hasn't.  Plus, Mousasi is coming off an injury and the longest layoff of his career.

But I think Mousasi is going to win.

It's a gut feeling more than anything else.  If I had to point to something that will make the difference, it would be to Mousasi's ability to adapt and to change strategy.  I would also point to his reach and his amazing jab.  I believe that jab is going to cause problems for Machida.  Additionally, Gegard has good leg kicks.  If he can use them the way Rua did against Machida, then he could eke out a decision victory.

And I do think this one goes to a decision.  Unless Machida gets reckless and gets caught by a submission, I think he'll survive to the end.  And Mousasi has shown an iron chin, so I don't think Machida knocks him out, either.

Either way, it is an interesting fight.  It may not turn into an exciting fight, since analytical fighters sometimes cancel out one another's offense, but it should be fun to watch from a strategical perspective.

Who knows, maybe they will surprise us.

Until then, keep your hands up and come out fighting.


By the way, do you like short stories?  If so, check out my collection.  It's titled "Big Blue" and is a mix of horror and pulp fiction, available in both paperback and Kindle edition.

Machida VS Mousasi Part 2

I guess the first time I read about Gegard Mousasi (pronounced Gay'-guard Moo-Saw'-see) was after he upset fan favorite Denis Kang in the Dream 2008 Middleweight Grand Prix tournament.  At the time, Kang was one of those guys that many expected to be a world champion some day.  He had insane experience and wins over some of the best guys in the sport.  By contrast, the 23 year old Gegard had kept busy since turning pro at the tender age of 18, but his biggest win had come over Hector Lombard, and he had already suffered two defeats--both by armbar.

Though Kang was coming off a knockout loss to Yoshihiro Akiyama, most expected him to get back on the winning track against Mousasi.  Indeed, he was only a few fights removed from a 23 fight winning streak that saw him go undefeated for more than 3 years.  During that streak, he defeated one of the two men to have beaten Mousasi--Akihiro Gono.  So again, most of us expected Kang to handle the young Armenian-born fighter who trained in the Netherlands.

And in the first minute of their fight, it looked like he was going to.  They exchanged a few punches, which Kang seemed to get the better of, and then Kang shot for a takedown, got it, and immediately started working a kimura on Mousasi's right arm.  But Mousasi seemed unworried about the armlock, unworried that he was on his back and that one of the best fighters in the business was on top of him.  He simply went to work, smacking Kang's head with left-handed punches and driving his right knee into the exposed left side of Kang's face over and over again.  Most of the knees only grazed Kang, but they got his attention.  After a minute and a half of them, Kang released the kimura and tried to land some ground-n-pound.  This allowed Mousasi to free himself from Kang's half guard.  As Kang stood to get leverage on some of his punches, he learned what many other would learn in the future:

Gegard Mousasi has long legs.  And even from his back, he will kick you in the face.  Mousasi launched one upkick after another.  These were like horse kicks.  Kang didn't like them at all.  To get past them, he dropped into Mousasi's open guard and threw a reckless right hand at Mousasi's face.  The punch missed, and Mousasi snatched the arm and simultaneously wrapped his legs around Kang's neck.  The move Mousasi had just slapped onto Kang was called a triangle choke, and Kang wasn't getting out of it.  Mousasi squeezed tight.  Seconds later, Kang tapped.

Here is the YouTube video of their fight.

Mousasi's next fight was against Dong Sik Yoon, who had defeated veteran Shungo Oyama in the quarterfinals.  Yoon was probably best known in the states as having lost to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson a couple years earlier, but when he faced Mousasi, he was on a four fight win streak against good competition.  Though Mousasi would defeat him by unanimous decision, Yoon would later earn a victory over future Strikeforce champion and current UFC contender, Tarec Saffiedine--so Yoon was no bum.

Beating Yoon put Mousasi in the tournament finals held a few months later.  To win, he would need to defeat not one, but two fighters in the same night.  And first up was not just any fighter.  It was Melvin Manhoef.  For those of you unfamiliar with Manhoef, he is a monster trained in the Dutch style of kickboxing.  Heading into the Mousasi fight, he was riding a 5-fight win streak (all by knockout) and had just destroyed all-time great, Kasushi Sakuraba.  Though the odds makers had Mousasi listed as a slight favorite, there was no question who Dream felt was the bigger draw.  Mousasi walked to the ring first with little fan fare.  Manhoef, on the other hand, made a real production of the ring walk.

When the giant monitors separated to reveal the fighter, he was standing with his back to the audience, facing a behemoth of a trainer who was shouting into his face.  Ring announcer Bas Rutten quipped, "Wish he had a microphone, eh?"  When Manhoef finally turned to face the audience, he looked ready to punch through a mountain.  He wore a studded dog collar with a chain link leash held by his trainer.  Then he smiled.  The smile seemed completely out of character for the guy who just seconds ago seemed ready to commit multiple homicides.  But then he did something even more strange for the moment.  He danced.  He danced all the way to the ring, the bright, wide smile never leaving his face.  By the time his trainer removed the dog collar, Manhoef's smile was gone.  He entered the ring and glared at Mousasi, who simply stood there, looking relaxed and almost bored.

When the bell rang, Mousasi quickly demonstrated why he was the slight betting favorite.  He wasted no time trading hands with the lethal kickboxer.  Instead, he closed distance and shot for a takedown.  Manhoef sprawled expertly, but couldn't free himself from Mousasi's grasp.  Moments later, Mousasi had another triangle choke locked up.  Manhoef, having little ground skills, had no chance to escape the choke but one.  And he tried.  Manhoef hoisted Mousasi above his head and carried the man's full weight for several steps before slamming him to the canvas.  Many fighters would have soiled their shorts if the guy they had locked in a triangle was strong enough to stand up and walk around the ring with you hanging from their shoulders, but Mousasi, again, was composed, and simply took the extra opportunity to cinch on the choke a bit tighter as Manhoef carried him.  When Manhoef slammed him to the canvas, Mousasi was unaffected.  He kept squeezing, and Manhoef had no choice but to submit.

So in short order, Mousasi had upset the fan favorite and now found himself in the tournament final.  But who would he have to face?  None other than Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza.  Jacare, which means Alligator in Portuguese, was the odds on favorite to win the tournament.  And not by a little, either.  Jacare is one of the most decorated submission grapplers in history.  He is a 5-time world jiu-jitsu champion.  5 time!  Three of those 5 championships he won at open weight, which means he had to face guys who were much bigger, heavier and stronger than he was.  He is one of the few men to hold a submission win over Marcelo Garcio, who is considered by many to be the greatest submission competitor of all time.  That's right.  Jacare submitted the best submission guy in history.  Let that sink in for a moment.

That same night, Jacare made short work of Croatian striker, Zelg Galesic, tapping him with a quick armbar in the first round to make it to the finals.  Being a long fight card, both finalists had an almost four-hour weight between fights.  By the time both men were back in the ring staring across at one another, they were fresh and ready to put on a great fight.  When the bell rang, Mousasi took a low stance, hoping to be able to better defend Jacare's inevitable takedown attempts.  It didn't help.  

Jacare shot in at Mousasi's legs, and though Mousasi tried to sprawl away from the jiu-jitsu wizard, he could not stop "The Gator" from clamping on.  For the second time that night, Mousasi found himself being hoisted above another man's head and carried across the ring.  And for a second time that night, he found himself being slammed to the canvas.  But this time, he didn't have a choke already cinched up.  No, this time he was the guy doing everything in his power to avoid being submitted.  Right away, Jacare started working to improve position.  From the top--or the bottom, for that matter--Jacare is an absolute beast, able to find submissions where few can.  For the fans watching live, it seemed just a matter of time before Jacare found one and was crowned tournament champion.

But then Jacare learned what Denis Kang had learned earlier: Gegard Mousasi kicks like a horse from his back.  Jacare pulled free from Mousasi's guard and then leaped at him, throwing a right handed haymaker.  But Mousasi smashed him with an upkick while Jacare was in mid-flight.  The kick knocked Jacare unconscious and left him lying limp on top of Mousasi.  

With one kick, Mousasi had pulled off an incredible upset and won the Grand Prix tournament!

Here is the whole video of the fight.

Now keep this in mind: to this day, Jacare is one of the most feared competitors in the sport.  In fact, he is fighting this Saturday on the very same card as Mousasi.  Since coming to the UFC, Jacare has looked like a juggernaut.  And Mousasi knocked him cold.

Mousasi followed up that performance with a quick submission win over K1 champion, Mark Hunt.  Like Jacare, Hunt has since made it to the UFC and has had a career resurgence, notching big wins against Stefan Struve and Antonio "Big Foot" Silva (fight of the year candidate).  In a stand-up fight, Hunt would probably wreck Mousasi.  When they fought, he outweighed Mousasi by close to 50 pounds.  But Mousasi took him down easily and secured a kimura armlock in the first round.  You can see the fight here.

Next up for Gegard was Renato "Babalu" Sobral, who is probably most famous for having been viciously knocked out twice by Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell.  All the same, Babalu was a fearsome opponent with a ton of high-level experience.  Though most expected Gegard to win, I don't think they expected him to do it so easily.  Within seconds, Babalu was on his back trying in vain to defend against Gegard's ground-n-pound.  But try as he might, he could not keep the "Dream Catcher" from putting him to sleep.  Mousasi hit him with several punches that left Babalu staring off into space, removed from consciousness.

Just three months later, Mousasi stood across the ring from a name that will be familiar to any of you who read my last post.  The name was Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.  He had lost to Lyoto Machida a few years earlier, and to Babalu in his previous fight.  Though the hype train had stopped running for Sokoudjou by this time, many still believed in his potential.  Some even predicted a return to the form that saw him destroy top-10 fighters Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona.  This was not to be.  Mousasi proved too strong for the Judo black belt, and in the second round he forced the referee to stop the fight lest his vicious ground-n-pound permanently injure his once super-hyped opponent.

The trip above is representative of Gegard's creative fighting instinct.  That trip led to his gaining top position and, of course, to his brutal ground-n-pound.  You can see the whole fight here. 

The next month, Gegard faced mixed martial arts pioneer, Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge.  Goodridge was long-in-the-tooth by the time Mousasi fought him, but he still possessed bone-crunching knockout power.  If that was of any concern to Mousasi, he didn't show it.  He strode confidently from his corner and traded strikes with the veteran before hitting a double leg takedown.  From top position, he gave Goodridge a beating, prompting the referee to stop the fight.  Goodridge immediately jumped to his feet to protest the stoppage, but in truth, he hadn't been defending himself.  You can see for yourself here.  Oh, and if you'd like to see some great knockout clips, just click this highlight reel to see why Gary was once considered a very bad man.

This dismantling led to Mousasi being paired against NCAA Division II National Champion wrestler, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, for the Strikeforce 205 pound championship.  This fight was one of the strangest I've ever seen.  King Mo was able to take Mousasi down anytime he wished.  Mousasi's takedown defense was so bad, it almost appeared like he wanted King Mo on top of him.  For five rounds, King Mo took Gegard down over and over again.

But that was all he did.

King Mo wasn't able to inflict any damage on the Armenian-born fighter.  For his part, Gegard stayed busy, slapping King Mo with strikes from the bottom, but never managing to lock up a submission or to hurt King Mo.  After 25 minutes, the judges gave Lawal a unanimous decision.  Though he had lost for the first time in four years, Mousasi did inflict more damage than his opponent did.  In fact, he left Lawal's face a swollen mess.

Swollen face or not, Mousasi still lost that fight.  His hype train came to a screeching halt after the loss, and, in my opinion, is one of the main reasons people aren't as excited to see him face Lyoto Machida this weekend.  Since then, he has rattled off seven straights wins without a loss.

Last April, he finally made his UFC debut and won a decision over late replacement, Ilir Latifi.  While most expected him to easily finish Latifi, especially considering that Latifi took the fight on short notice, I thought he looked great.  Mousasi's jab was masterful.  He used it the way a fencing champion uses his sword.  By the third round, Latifi's face was a plate of spaghetti.  Latifi won a moral victory for having taken the beating without getting knocked out, but make no mistake, Mousasi dominated the fight and probably would have finished it with a couple more rounds to play with.  

You can see the fight here.

It's been 10 months since that fight, which represents the longest layoff of Mousasi's career.  The layoff likely also contributes to the lack of buzz about this fight.  As they say, out of sight, out of mind.  But I have a feeling everyone will remember him after Saturday night.

Tune in next time when I explore the two fighters' styles and how they match up.  I'll also predict a winner.

Until then, keep your hands up and come out fighting.

By the way, do you like short stories?  If so, check out my collection.  It's titled "Big Blue" and is a mix of horror and pulp fiction, available in both paperback and Kindle edition.

Machida VS Mousasi Part 1 (with knockout clips)

Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever been super excited about something that everyone around you didn't consider a big deal?  Well that's how I feel about this fight.  For me, Machida versus Mousasi is one of the most intriguing match-ups we will see this year.  And I'm trying to determine why this fight isn't generating more buzz.  Because in my mind, it should be front page news.  ESPN should be covering it, interviewing the fighters, their trainers, their close friends--do they have pets?  Let's interview them, too!

The winner of this fight should be the consensus number one contender at 185 pounds.  The champion, Chris Weidman, who is coming off back-to-back wins against the greatest of all time, Anderson Silva, will be facing Vitor Belfort shortly.  The winner of that fight will almost certainly face the winner of this fight.  That means this fight between Machida and Mousasi is of paramount importance.  We could be watching the next middleweight champion.  So again, why does it feel like no one cares?

Is it because Lyoto Machida and Gegard Mousasi are relatively unknown?  Well, that may apply to Mousasi, who has spent most of his career outside of the UFC, but that doesn't apply to Machida.  Machida is a well-known commodity who has fought a number of big name opponents over the years.  In fact, he had generated a ton of buzz long before ever being signed to the UFC.  Why was that, you ask?  Because as a young prospect, he had already beaten several UFC notables such as former middleweight champion Rich Franklin (and this was before Franklin won the title), former 170 pound champion B.J. Penn, and The Ultimate Fighter standout Stephan Bonner.  When he finally made it to the UFC, hardcore fans were drooling all over themselves anticipating how he would do against the best of the best.  His first three fights in the UFC were not electrifying (he won all three by unanimous decision), but in those fights he displayed something that had never been seen in the Octagon before.  He displayed what a world class practitioner of karate who had also trained extensively in jiu-jitsu and takedown defense looked like.  And it looked good!  His opponents were befuddled.  They could not adapt to his rhythm.  All of their punches fell short.  Their takedowns were stuffed.  Their kicks sliced through the air, but missed the elusive karateka.

Let me tell you why this was so ground breaking.  Prior to Machida, karate did not have a favorable reputation for effectiveness in the octagon.  In the early UFCs, where most of the competitors were not cross-trained, the karate guys usually lost to the guys versed in ground fighting (jiu-jitsu, wrestling, sambo, etc.) or to the guys versed in combat sport striking (muay thai, boxing, kick boxing, etc.).  Over the years, some champions like Georges St. Pierre claimed a karate base (meaning they began their martial arts training with karate but then branched off and studied other fighting arts as well), but St. Pierre's fighting style was far more wrestling based than karate based by the time he was fighting for world titles.  Machida was the first competitor to utilize a karate-first style successfully.

When it was announced that Machida's fourth fight in the Octagon would be against Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, fans went nuts!  The message boards at Sherdog and The Underground were filled with threads about the fight.  Sokoudjou was coming off giant wins against two of the best 205 pounders in the world: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona.  And not only had he beaten those top ten guys, he knocked them out.  Cold.  There was enormous hype surrounding Sokoudjou.  Many expected him to catch Machida with a bomb and put him to sleep.  But that is not what happened.  Instead, Machida's point-fighting defense proved too difficult for Sokoudjou.  Like everyone else, he couldn't hit what he couldn't catch.  Machida was only in the line of fire long enough to blast Sokoudjou with quick counter strikes, and then he was gone, like a ghost.  In the second round, Machida landed one of those laser beam punches and then showed the world that he was more than a one-trick pony.  He slapped on a tight arm triangle choke and submitted Sokoudjou!

At that point, the mma world was officially in love with Lyoto Machida.  Not only could he pick apart opponents with karate, he could also choke them unconscious!  This catapulted him into the most high-profile fight of his career (up to that point): a goodbye match against the always-in-the-news, UFC badboy, Tito Ortiz.  This was supposed to be Tito's last fight in the UFC.  Tito's public arguments with UFC President, Dana White, were the stuff of legend.  Consequently, Dana did Ortiz no favors by matching him against Machida.  Dana could have, and some argued should have, given Tito an easier fight as a going away present.  After all, Tito had been the standard bearer for the UFC for years.  Indeed, there was a time when Tito was the face of mixed martial arts for most North Americans.  Some believed he deserved better.  Throwing an old, ring-worn Tito Ortiz in against a young, hungry Lyoto Machida was seen in many circles as throwing Tito to the wolves.  And that is pretty much what we saw on May 24th, 2008.  Tito lost every second of every round except for the end of the third round, when he caught Machida in a triangle choke.  For a moment, it looked as if Tito would shock the world!  But Lyoto slipped out of the choke and went on to dominate the rest of the fight.

Lyoto's next match was against a man who has been in the news quite a bit this past week: Thiago Silva.  For those of you who missed it, Thiago Silva was arrested this week for allegedly attempting to shoot his ex-wife and her new lover.  Some reports state that he also threatened to shoot everyone at the new lover's jiu-jitsu school.  Details are fuzzy at the moment, but it does appear that he had a standoff with SWAT officers before finally being taken into custody.  The UFC immediately fired Silva and Dana White said he would "never fight again" in the Octagon.  But in January of 2009, Thiago Silva was an undefeated monster of a man.  He had finished all four of his UFC opponents and all but one of his nine pre-UFC opponents.  And he did so with a gusto rarely seen in the sport.  At times, it looked like he really enjoyed hurting his opponents.  If anyone was born to be a fighter, it was Thiago.  He looked like the guy who was only happy in the heat of battle, only happy when stalking prey and smashing them.

Going into the fight, fans were split on who would win.  Both men were undefeated.  Both men brought formidable skill-sets into the Octagon, and both men looked unstoppable.  But Lyoto needed less than a round to show the world that Silva was indeed stoppable.  Machida dove into Silva's guard with a reverse punch that had everything behind it, and he knocked out Silva with that punch.  It was a sensational performance--the kind of performance that left no doubt that he was worthy of a title shot.  By all accounts, he was the most deserving contender to face new champion Rashad Evans, who had recently knocked out Forrest Griffin to win the title.

I could write at length about Rashad Evans.  His career has been up and down.  His story is a fascinating one that played out on The Ultimate Fighter--where he competed as a heavyweight!--and continued in the UFC.  But that would be too much of a digression.  Suffice it to say that Rashad Evans was an undefeated champion when he stared across the cage at Lyoto Machida.  He was a crushed, brutalized former champion when he left the cage.  Machida hit Rashad with a perfectly timed left hook that folded the champion in half.  The disfigured, brain-addled picture of Rashad's face as he lay crumbled on the canvas remains one of the most frequently Photoshopped images on the net--at least on mma sites.  Here it is for those of you who have never seen it:

And here is the GIF of the knockout:

Crazy, right?  That's what Machida did to an undefeated champion.  As you might expect, this caused a planet-wide breakout of Machida fever.  Joe Rogan famously declared, "Welcome to the Machida era!"  And at the time, it truly felt as if the Machida era would last forever.  Who could possibly have the tools necessary to stop the master karateka?  Surely it wouldn't be Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (pronounced Hoo'-uh, by the way), who had lost his first foray into the UFC, and then struggled against a past-his-prime Mark Coleman before knocking out an also long-in-the-tooth Chuck Liddell.  Rua didn't look like the same man who wrecked top competition in Pride years before.  This Rua looked like a shadow of his former self.  Most expected Machida to easily defeat his fellow countryman.  Rua would merely be the first notch on Machida's belt, the first of many title defenses.

But someone forgot to tell that to Rua.  Shogun harnessed the essence of what had made him so great when he burst onto the scene in Japan, winning the 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix, which was, at the time, the most prestigious event any 205 pound fighter could hope to win.  He seemed unaffected by Machida's elusive karate style.  Over and over again, Rua slammed his shin into Machida's leg like a baseball bat.  Indeed, he seemed to win most of their exchanges.  Not only had he solved the Machida puzzle, he presented one that Machida was unable to solve himself.  After five rounds, most expected ring announcer Michael Buffer to shout, "...and NEW champion!"  But he didn't.  He shouted, "...and STILL champion: Lyoto 'The Dragon' Machida!"

Some called it the worst decision of the year.  Machida had defended his title, but few considered it legitimate.  UFC President Dana White was one of those who felt that Rua deserved the victory, and he scheduled an immediate rematch.  Seven months later, Rua would not leave it up to the judges.  He knocked out Machida and it took him less than a round to do it.

And just like that, the Machida era was over.

He had to start over again.  His first fight after the loss was against former champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, star of The A-Team and all around bad mama jama.  Here is a photo of Rampage from the movie:

Their fight was highly anticipated because the world wanted to see how each of them would do after having lost their last fights.  Rampage had just lost to nemesis Rashad Evans (remember him?) after having coached against him in a season of The Ultimate Fighter.  Though he hadn't been knocked out the way Machida had been, he wasn't truly competitive, either, except for a brief moment when he caught Rashad with a punch, had him hurt, but was unable to finish him.   

On November 20th, 2010, Machida fought Rampage in the main event of UFC 123.  In a lackluster affair that saw neither man hurt, Machida received a visit from old man Karma himself, and lost a decision.  Most thought he won the fight.  Even Rampage quipped, "That dude whooped my [butt]."  

Suddenly, Machida had lost two straight.  The man who had appeared unbeatable now looked like he would be in danger of losing his UFC contract if he didn't win his next fight.  He had to turn things around in a hurry if he didn't want to lose his job.  The UFC matched him against the legendary Randy Couture.  And turn things around he did.  Machida landed a leaping front kick to Couture's face that left the fabled warrior unconscious.

With one electrifying kick, Machida had reignited fan fever.  No one could stop talking about the win, and just like that, Machida found himself, not only back in the good graces of the UFC, but back in a title fight!  This time against the young, undefeated Jon Jones, who had brutalized the man who knocked out Machida: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.  That's right, Jon Jones had beaten the man who had beaten Machida.  Brutally.  And now Machida would face his conqueror's conqueror.  Say that five times fast.

Machida gave a good account of himself.  In fact, he is the first man to have won a round against the reigning champion, Jon Jones.  After the first round, many fans wondered if Machida's style was too complex a problem for the champion.  Few men had been able to adapt successfully to Machida's karate style.  Perhaps Jon Jones would be the same.  But Jones showed why he is a great champion.  In the second round, he closed the distance, pushed Machida up against the cage, caught him in a standing guillotine, and choked him unconscious.  When he let go of the choke, Machida collapsed lifelessly to the canvas.

Once again, Machida would need to bounce back from a humiliating defeat.  He did so immediately against The Ultimate Fighter Winner, Ryan Bader.  Bader looked to bully Machida the way Shogan Rua had, but he learned that doing so requires split-second timing and a cast iron jaw, because Machida caught Bader with a perfectly timed counterpunch as the Arizona wrestler bullrushed him.  It was yet another breathtaking performance by Machida.

But Machida followed up that brilliant performance with with two not-so-brilliant performances.  In fact, some would describe them as boring.  The first was a split-decision win against certain Hall-of-Famer Dan Henderson, the second was a controversial loss to wrestling stand-out, Phil Davis.  Like I said, neither fight did Machida any favors with fans or with the UFC brass.  No one knew what to expect from Machida.  Should they expect the guy who could knock you out with a perfectly timed counter strike or the guy who would run circles around you and rarely engage in anything significant?

This gave Machida reason to reinvent himself once again.  He had began his career as a pudgy heavyweight.  Then he had dropped some pounds and looked in great shape at Light Heavyweight (205 lbs).  But Machida figured he could shed a few more pounds.  20 pounds, to be precise.  So that is what he did in October 2013.  He successfully made the cut to 185 pounds and faced his friend and training partner, Mark "The Filipino Wrecking Machine" Munoz.  

Which Machida showed up?  The knockout artist or the guy who danced around opponents without actually fighting them?  I'll let this clip answer the question:

As you can see, Machida looked amazing.  The weight cut didn't seem to have any negative affect on him.  In fact, many thought he looked better than ever.  And that was his last fight.  This weekend, he fights again.

If he were facing just an average UFC fighter, I would still be excited to see Machida fight.  The above clips demonstrate why.  When he is on his game, Machida is one of the most dangerous fighters on the planet.  But he isn't facing just anybody.  He is facing Gegard "The Dream Catcher" Mousasi.  And like Machida, when he is on his game, he is one of the baddest men on the planet.

Check out my next post, and I will show you why.  Until then, touch gloves and come out fighting.


Do you like short fiction?  How about horror fiction?  Pulp fiction, too?  Then check out my collection of short stories on Amazon.  It's titled Big Blue, and I think you'll like it.

UFC 169: My Thoughts

Wow, this didn’t turn out the way Dana White and the rest of the brass at the UFC headquarters wanted it to.  Of the 10 fights at UFC 169, 8 of them went to a decision.  That’s a record.  One the UFC surely didn’t wish to set.  Casual fans--and many hard core fans--want to see finishes.  They want to see wicked knockouts and bone-snapping submissions.  UFC 169 gave those fans only two finishes.  One was sensational.  The other was frustrating.

Let’s talk about the sensational one first.  Abel Trujillo knocked Jamie Varner cold with a right hook that looked like it would have dented a two-inch thick steel plate.  Varner bounced off the canvas like he had been shot, completely lacking any sign of life.

Varner had his moments before eating that right hook.  In fact, he had Trujillo hurt and dazed.  By fight’s end, both men looked drunk, their punches wide and looping--easily avoided by someone who wasn’t foggy with brain trauma.

It was the kind of performance that would win no awards for technique, but it delivered drama and excitement in a big way.  The knockout was unforgettable.  Abel Trujillo’s highlight reel, from now until forever, will be headlined by that murderous right hook demolition of the former WEC champion.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I encourage you to watch it.  There is little doubt that it will be on everyone’s top knockouts of 2014.

Now let’s talk about the other one.  It came in the main event of the evening.  The rematch between new undisputed champion and surging Alpha Male, Urijah Faber.  Barao caught Faber with punches in the first round, had him rocked, jumped on the fallen fighter, and repeatedly smacked him with light hammer fists.

Referee Herb Dean, one of the best in the business, told Faber to "Show me something."  To which Faber gave him a thumbs up with one hand while clinging onto Barao’s leg.  That "something" wasn’t enough for Mr. Dean, who stopped the fight, awarding a technical knockout victory to Renan Barao.

I have mixed feelings about the stoppage.  Part of me would much rather a fight be stopped too early than too late, and the line dividing the two is a nebulous one.  On top of that, the risk for a fighter goes beyond simply losing a fight.  It could mean losing their life.  Deaths have occurred in combat sports.  It’s one of those things we don’t like to talk about, but is a real possibility when a goal of the sport is to knock out your opponent.  Simply put, when a brain bounces off its skull, bad things can happen.

With this in mind, I have a hard time faulting Mr. Dean for stopping the fight. After all, Barao had rocked and dropped him twice with rocket right hands.  Urijah Faber’s safety was Herb Dean’s top priority.  He acted accordingly.

But another part of me hates that he stopped the fight.  Urijah Faber is a world class fighter.  He is one of the most durable guys to ever fight at 135 pounds in the UFC.  And he was fighting for the undisputed championship of the world.

Of.

The.

World.

The stakes don’t get any higher.  Consequently, you let that man go out on his shield.  He is an adult with a ton of professional experience.  He knows the risks.  All fighters do.  And while fighters often have to be saved from themselves--since many refuse to quit regardless of the beatings they absorb--they also have to be given a chance to turn things around, especially in a title fight, and especially when they are still conscious, still grabbing their opponent’s leg, and still clear-headed enough to give the referee a thumbs-up.

Faber could have helped his case by doing more than holding on and giving a thumbs up.  Had he been jockeying for position or firing back at Barao, we wouldn’t be talking about an early stoppage.

With that being said, I don’t feel the stoppage was horrible, but I do wish Herb had let it go a bit longer.  I still think Herb Dean is great at his job.  No referee can be expected to get it right every time out. I’m quite sure I would make many worse calls than Herb or any other referee has made.  Being a referee is likely one of the most thankless jobs in mixed martial arts.  My hat’s off to him for doing it and--far more often than not--doing it well.

So how about the battle of heavyweights?  Alistair Overeem won a 3 round decision over Frank Mir.  While it didn’t surprise anyone that Overeem earned a victory, it did surprise many people that he didn’t finish Mir, especially when considering how many more strikes Overeem landed than Mir did.  As hard as Overeem hits, and as brittle as Mir’s chin has sometimes appeared, most expected Overeem to win by knockout.

Instead, Overeem played it safe and didn’t go for the kill.  Afterwards, he called out Brock Lesnar, who doesn’t even fight for the UFC anymore.  This, as you might expect, drew the ire of UFC president, Dana White, who said Overeem gave "a crappy performance, in my opinion."

Though it was hardly the demolition many expected, it’s hard to fault Overeem’s safety first game plan.  Another loss would have likely meant his UFC run was over.  Other fighters have done the same thing.  What’s more, fighters will continue to do this for as long as the UFC continues their practice of releasing fighters after a few losses rather than allowing them to finish their contracts.

It makes for scared fighters.  They are not scared of fighting, of getting hurt, or of being humiliated in front of the whole world--they are scared of losing their jobs. And after hearing Dana White’s comments, Overeem should be scared.  He’ll need to keep winning if he wants to stick around.  Otherwise he’ll be following in the footsteps of fellow K1 and Pride veteran (and former opponent), Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic, whose UFC run was less than spectacular and led to his return to kickboxing.

Overall, UFC 169 will likely be remembered as one of the worst UFC pay-per-views of the year.  For me, however, it was pretty darned good.  Not because the fights were great, but because I correctly predicted the winner in every fight on the main card.  Not too shabby, eh?  Keep that in mind the next time you’re wagering on the fights.  You may wish to make a pit-stop at the old MMA Booth before laying down your hard earned money.

Until then, check out my short fiction collection, Big Blue.  Available in paperback and Kindle digital edition.  It has thrills, chills, and spills.  Plus, if you don’t like it you can always use it for target practice.

Until next time, touch gloves and come out fighting.

Billy Joe Booth