MMA (and Kali Tudo)

[Crafty Dog]

Concerning last night's UFC fights:

A) There was Kenny Johnson, right behind BJ during the walk to the cage;

B) That opening shot that deeply rocked Sanchez, took the stuffing out of him. Quite a remarkable testament of fighting spirit and conditioning that he finished the fight;

C) Analyzing the fight from the point of view of Trigg 101 and 102 --am I the only one who saw some real oddities there?

D) Love Clay Guida's fighting spirit, but I did not see him fighting with too much IQ last night-- he reverted to his Rocky Balboa school of closing structure; whatever happened to the Crazy Monkey he used to such good effect a few fights ago?

E) I forget who it was (Kenny Florian?) who assayed converted a leg kick into a leg wrap takedown. Nice high level move-- it's one we look to do in Kali Tudo, but from along the t-bone line with a machete kick instead of a round kick; we find it easier to accomplish this way.

[Crafty Dog]

PS: Classic moment when Guida, drenched in blood as the doc searched through his hair to find the cut in his scalp, belched longly, loudly, and unconcernedly.

[The Phalanx]

Diego Sanchez a Brown Belt in BJJ trying to take down BJ Penn was hilarious... You just don't do that to a phenom like BJ, you won't succeed... Then again Diego had no business fighting someone like BJ... He's not at that level...

[eskrimakaliarnis.com]

Who is at that level at that weight? Loved his fighting spirit as CD mentioned. I am unsure why he kept going for BJ's leg time and time again when it blatantly wasn't working.

Clay is one of my favourite fighters. That was before I learnt he had a 42ft RV and just drives around training at different places! Love his attitude.

[Crafty Dog]

Naturally given my training friendship with Kenny Johnson (see the thread about our upcoming Kali Tudo training camp for details) and his ongoing training relationship with BJ, I will tend to point out that maybe Kenny helped BJ develop the sound anti single-leg game he displayed.

I would also off that getting knocked out for an instant, and almost for the fight, tends to be a really lousy way to start a 5 round championship fight. To my thinking, getting badly rocked as he did in the opening seconds had lasting consequences on his performance throughout the fight.

That said, to me it was a tremendous oddity that right leaded Sanchez NEVER circled right against left leaded Penn.

Good point about the weight class-- this is the weight at which BJ belongs. His explorations at higher weights were not natural to his body.

[bluesbassist]

BJ's first round knockdown was pretty sweet. He slips right while using his lead hand to clear Diego's lead hand then delivered a money right.

I thought it was interesting that BJ rarely had his lead leg outside of Diego's lead leg and many if not most of BJ's attacks were between Diego's hands. But with Diego constantly circling left he was just moving himself into BJ's power shots.

I loved BJ's single leg counter: stuff the head and block with the hip. I have a DVD with Paul Sharp showing this same counter but I'd never seen it so well executed in a pro fight.

[The Phalanx]

Makes me wonder... Is BJ Penn or will BJ Penn go down as the best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter ever?

[Crafty Dog]

Going on an abrupt tangent-- I found this quite funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jvVObjQwwE&feature=player_embedded

[PG Michael B]

Makes me wonder... Is BJ Penn or will BJ Penn go down as the best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter ever?
Perhaps in his weight class...but I think Rickson will hold that honor. I have made oodles of cash off of BJ though.....hell the decimation of Sanchez is providing for a lovely XMAS gift buying session...LOL...I new Sanchez was gonna get whacked...I picked the round perfectly..YEEHAW thanks BJ....that's why I love MMA...screw the tactics...some easy cash to be made if you know how to lay your coin.

Crafty the clip was funny as hell....the movie is great in and of itself though.

Merry Xmas locos

[eskrimakaliarnis.com]

Yep - the wagering does sure make it interesting.

In the UK BJ returned just a 25% profit on the original stake so IMO no value was to be had there.

I took Mir at a 50% profit for a few pesos and am extremely happy how that fight turned out.

I used to be a "Professional" gambler / internet tipster on obscure soccer leagues for a few years. Now I just bet beer money to make the UFC more watchable. And you know how cheap beer is in the P.I :)

[Crafty Dog]

Some NSW language:

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/5751467/

[Crafty Dog]

Nice armbar by Sly at 1:25 LOL

[punisher73]

His original BJJ coach doesn't think too highly of Penn anymore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bxiDcz1Nr0&feature=related

[Raw_Prime]

Some NSW language:

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/5751467/

Great! Actually overheard a similar convo with my Sifu.

[robertlk808]

His original BJJ coach doesn't think too highly of Penn anymore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bxiDcz1Nr0&feature=related

When was that footage shot? Was that right before BJ fought Renzo at Aloha Stadium?

[selfcritical]

Diego Sanchez a Brown Belt in BJJ trying to take down BJ Penn was hilarious... You just don't do that to a phenom like BJ, you won't succeed... Then again Diego had no business fighting someone like BJ... He's not at that level...

Your BJJ credentials are generally going to have little to do with your takedown defense. And normally, doing what diego did is EXACTLY how BJ gets beat. Prior to this fight, anyone who tried to take down BJ (even guys with mediocre takedowns like matt serra) would eventually do so with enough attempts, because BJ tends to use his physical attributes to defend the shot instead of solid wrestling technique. Usually the "just keep on trying to take him down until he gets tired" bit works. This time he didn't get tired.

[selfcritical]

Makes me wonder... Is BJ Penn or will BJ Penn go down as the best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter ever?

He is very good, but I doubt it

1) he's not active in BJJ competition. People have kept on getting better at BJJ, and I'm not terribly certain he would still win the mundials if he competed today. Guys like Demain Maia, fabricio werdum etc are still competing in worlds and ADCC, and thus swim in a shark tank of other elite BJJ competitors moreso than BJ

2) Doesn't have a very dangerous guard. This one isn't because of ability, it's mentality. BJ doesn't attack from guard when he's on his back. Go back and watch BJ's fights. Now count the sub attempts when he does get put on his back. Then how many of those you think were close to getting sunk in(in my opinion the answer is 1)

BJ penn is fan-****ing tastic, but he doesn't exemplify all aspects of BJJ in competition. His Jiu jitsu mainly comes out like so knockdown with punches- get top position- pass guard- take back- RNC. And he's great at it, but he isn't showing the whole rainbow of subs like a maia or so on.

[punisher73]

When was that footage shot? Was that right before BJ fought Renzo at Aloha Stadium?


I believe so. Not sure though.

[Crafty Dog]

UFC prices, the unevenness of fight cards, and my budget are such that I don't pay for watching all by myself. Fortunately I have a neighbor who always watches and with 3-4 friends to share the cost, the price comes down for each of us quite a bit. Unfortunately my neighbor's 50th birthday party was on Saturday and he went to Vegas to watch the fight.

Bottom line: I didn't see the fights on Saturday night. Would someone be so kind as to give me the run down? I am interested to hear descriptions of Rashad vs. Rampage, not because of the soap opera of it (as good fun as that has been) but for a description of Evans striking game. I have a reason for asking, but will leave it out for now so as to not lead any responses.

[eskrimakaliarnis.com]

Fortunately for your neighbor you mean :laugh:

I watched on the weekend as I enjoyed the TUF series banter between the two.

Rampage didn't get going until the 3rd round. Right at the start of the fight Rashad "bull-rushed" him and tagged Rampage pretty good, staggering him into the fence. He employed a "Hit and run" strategy for his striking whenever he could using great footwork, timing and speed. The fight from then until the 3rd was pretty boring IMO with Rashad controlling Rampage against the fence. Maybe the early hit got inside Rampage's head and he realized he couldn't rush in (he couldn't catch him) and to respect Rashad's power.

In the 3rd round Rampage caught him with the only solid punch he landed all night and Rashad went down. Rampage swarmed with G n P and the ref almost stopped it. Rashad battled to his feet and looked wobbly. For some unknow reason (and he blames "Ring Rust") Rampage did not rush him and allowed Rashad to recover. Bad Mistake. As soon as he had he took Rampage down and did some brutal G n P of his own. Rampage survived and the fight ended standing with both men swinging at the buzzer.

That was my recollection though I had a few San Migs and a few glasses of Matador last night ;)

Rashad was good value for the win. IMO he showed tremendous heart to get through the 3rd round and then give it right back to Rampage. Not the most exciting fight you'll ever see but I'd like to see a re-match for sure. I was impressed with Rashad and his un-orthodox erm "Monkey style" he adopted in the stand-up.

Sherdog has good reviews though I wrote mine from a (hazy) recollection heh heh

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Evans-Bests-Rampage-at-UFC-114-24789

Simon.

[Crafty Dog]

What happened in the UFC on Saturday night? I heard Rashad outpointed Rampage. How did his striking game look? Was there anything distinctive about it?

[PG Michael B]

The entire card in my opinion was a snooze fest....The Ramapge and Evans fight garnered boos through out. They hyped the game with so much smack talk, firing up the fans on the 4 part build up aired on SPIKE...then delivered a ho-hum wrestling match. Evans controlled the game throughout using his superior wrestling...laying on top of Jackson for the most part deliverying what appeared to be pitty pat punches to keep the referre from standing it up, where Jacksons power might have prevailed....Jackson clipped Evans in the third and it appearred he dropped him..but if you look close enough it was more like Evans was shooting into Jackson and caught an inadvertant knee...Jackson got him against the cage and tried to deliver some hard punches (don't understand why when the elbo would have been choice)...Rashad covered up maybe getting hit twice in the entire melee against the fence. Evans then reversed the playing field and the fight went back to their feet where Evans again double legged Jackson gained side controlled and rode him till the final bell....all three judges scored it 30-27. The other fights were same same..Bisping out boxed Dan Miller in a play it safe, keep him at distance game...Miller didn't even try to shoot, which would have been his best chance...so much for his exhaulted BJJ skills..LOL>>>never saw any of them.

This UFC was a snooze fest and the main even thsould have been a mid fight level scenario, not a main event. I personally wasn'timpressed with Jackson (looks like his better days are behind him) and Evans is to me boring as watching paint dry. I understand that it is a sanctioned fight where rules and regulations are the key and game plans are honed and deliveredd (s0metimes)...but this was horrific to watch. IMHO the night would have been served better watching re-runs of EMERGENCY!....

[eskrimakaliarnis.com]

I agree it was not very entertaining fare.

What was DEFINITELY worth a 2nd look was "Robocop" lookalike Mike Russow's knock out.

He was fighting an absolute beast (Todd Duffee) and took a pounding for 2 rounds until he pulled a devastating punch out of nowhere and knocked him out. Unbelievable.

http://images.dailyradar.com/media/uploads/mma/story_preview/2009/06/01/ufc_signs_heavyweight_mike_russow_debut_slated_for .jpg

dead or alive you're coming with me....

[arnisador]

I'm just looking forward to seeing Rampage Jackson in The A-Team soon!

[Crafty Dog]

Via the folks involved with our PPV deal I got a free fourth row seat in the VIP section at the UFC on Saturday. I was about 8 seats diagonally from where Dana White was sitting , , , and in front of a older looking than expected Hugh Grant. The only thing louder than the music and the roar of the crowd that I can remember were some Jefferson Airplane concerts I went to some 40 years ago , , ,

Some so-so fights and some very good ones. I was not surprised by BL getting his assed decisively kicked. He flinched when hit decently one time by Carwell, and survived to win only because Carwell, who was used to KTFO all his opponents early, gassed. As scary as BL looks (I sure would not want to fight him with less than a shotgun!) CV was only about 25 pounds smaller i.e. big enough to not get manhandled. BL opened with a big "I am going to kick your ass right now" surge; I was impressed with the look of utter composure on CV's face as he opened the range from the first clinch.

What I suspected after BL's fight with Carwell was confirmed IMHO. He is such a big scary guy that he never has been tested by getting really hit-- and when he does get hit, he is not emotionally prepared for it.

It will be very interesting to see how BL responds to this loss. Getting caught in a foot lock by Frank Mir is one thing-- trainer Erik Paulson can show him how to solve that. Getting your face split open presents a very different question.