Bleacher Report - Articles by CJ Daconta

Anderson Silva Could Crush Fedor Emelianenko

CJ Daconta — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:27:04 -0400

I have always had my opinion that if Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko fought, Silva would win, but he really hadn't done anything that impressive to back up my claim.

Well, after watching Forrest Griffin get absolutely dominated in such a brutal fashion, there just wasn't any doubt in my mind: Silva could crush Fedor.

It all boils down to how ungodly Silva is as a striker. When you can put your hands down, dodge blows like a Jedi, and then do a straight backpedaling punch that sends your opponent to the ground, you know you're good.

Fedor has always been heavy-handed, but he has never been a great technical striker. A perfect example was his bout with Andrei Arlovski, who was clearly getting the better of the striking—that is, until he put his big glass chin in front of Fedor's fist. This wouldn't be the case for Silva.

It absolutely amazed me how Silva was ducking around Forrest's punches, then to pop up and punch him and bring Forrest to the ground. It was insane; it looked like he wasn't even trying. He just was like get outta here BOOM.

Anderson Silva is now at the top of my p4p list. I would love to see the superfight between Silva and GSP, but I have a feeling GSP would lose. Silva is going to be much, much bigger; this will be like a super Thiago Alves but with a BJJ ground game.

Lyoto Machida Proves Me Right

CJ Daconta — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:27:27 -0400

Well It has been awhile since Machida won the belt, but I coudln't help smiling when he yelled, "Karate is back!" I remember thinking Lyoto is a testament to everything I have been preaching about for the future of MMA. It just took me this long to get off my lazy butt and write this article.

I had said that fighters that have been training in martial arts since they were a child would come to the sport with something different and effectives. They would not be coming in at their 20s learning the basic Muay Thai, Wrestling, and BJJ.

These kids will have been training in something like Aikido or Kalarippayattu since they were kids and they will adapt it to work well in a Cage.

For the longest time everyone has been saying, the reason you don't see any other forms of Martial arts in MMA is because they are in in-effective and useless. There is no way that someone who has learned such an odd form of fighting would ever survive in a ring.

Well Lyoto, someone who has been training in Karate all his life, a sport that many had labeled useless since the more sport oriented martial arts fighters seemed to steam roll over them, came in and dominated in all his fights keeping a perfect record.

If Lyoto could adapt his traditional Karate to work in the ring and excel at it, what is stopping someone who has trained in something like Ninjitsu to do the same and adapt his skills to work in the cage.

I still believe that MMA will get to the point where fighters will not only be good at three basic styles, but several styles, and some of them way out there in nature.

Not Enough Devotion: MMA Fighters Not Putting in the Time to Be the Best

CJ Daconta — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 12:49:25 -0500

MMA is said to be a sport where anything can happen; well, for the past three years it has basically been the same thing. A takedown here, a submission there, and a straight punch that sends an opponent on the floor.

I have said this before, but it's true. MMA has not branched out to the hundreds of other styles that are out there.

Now everyone is gonna be like "they are proven in effective, etc., etc., etc." Have you ever seen a master in an martial art style that has been doing it since they were a child? They are amazing; they do things that just seem inhuman and they seem so confident in what they do will bring an attacker down. They know when and were to pull off the moves that they have drilled all their life in real combat because of years of training and learning.

Watch an episode of Human Weapons and check out some of the old masters of Karate and Taekwondo. I would never pick a fight with any of them; they would destroy anyone, no matter how physically fit.

What about Iron skills that every intense Kung Fu master has trained in? Is MMA filled with a bunch of pansies that they cant handle jamming their fingers into rocks, or letting their instructors hit them with bats? Think about a fighter who has mastered Iron hand skills, his fists would be just as big as Brock Lesnar's and twice as hard!

Research about Shaolin monks, and not the BS stuff on wikipedia. Most of them have been training since they were 5, and by the time they are 20 they have mastered at least a couple forms of iron skills, and have also been fighting several other kung fu masters in honor bouts. Those men are in some of the best physical and mental shape ever, they are in a state that no MMA fighter has ever achieved.

I would seriously bet on a Shaolin monk in a fight against a MMA fighter any day. Who is better, the MMA fighter with maybe 10 years of practice, or a monk who has practice 17 years of fighting and mind control?

That is another thing that sets apart great martial artists like Bruce Lee and a lot of the older masters from MMA fighters, they don't just physically know what to do, but their mind knows what to do and why to do it. They are in a state of complete and total calm and understanding. Have you seen an MMA fighter who just seemed like he doesn't care about a fight?

There are so many different philosophies out there about fighting and whats effective. Many people believe just because it's not simple means it's ineffective. There are moves in such techniques like Mizongyi, Long Fist, or Bak Fu Pai that just sound devastating, yet it takes such concentration and understanding to pull off that it is branded instantly useless. Well, what if someone did master those moves and used a Mizongyi Fajian punch and sent his opponent six feet across the mat?

How about instead of learning to get out of submissions, how about learning to not get into submissions? Several martial arts teach about not letting your energy get the best of you and to always control everything you do so that way you never let your energy put you into a bad position, aka get into a submission.

I'm not saying that everything can work, but I am saying there is so many other things that can be put into MMA. There is something else out there besides Muay Thai, wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu that can be even more devastating, yet no one has put the time in to find out.

Wouldn't it be cool to see two fighters going at it and then one of them suddenly swing their arms in some classic long fist moves and just bash the opponent in the temple with a hard back fist? Or to have a fighter do a boxing head bob under a punch and do a snake fist to the liver and end a fight that way?

Fighters need to take that chance and spend the time training in something new. Bruce Lee spent years looking at several martial arts and several training methods and look what he became, basically a god among fighters.

I just recently got a book that is basically a giant encyclopedia of martial arts. It has opened my eyes to how much MMA doesn't have, and what could be really useful in a match if only someone would come along and master it.

You know if one person mastered a new style and came in and started dominating in the ring, everyone would start to do the same. Look at BJJ, no one knew about that, then Royce dominated the fights and then suddenly its mandatory to have some form of BJJ training in order to survive a MMA bout.

MMA in the Future: Just Where Is This Sport Headed?

CJ Daconta — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:18:49 -0400

Like all sports, MMA will continue to evolve and athletes will be changing what they do. Today, MMA is merely a mixture of kickboxing and grappling, but that will change. Eventually fights will become extraordinary displays of martial abilities that no other sport has ever seen.

These changes will start when MMA becomes more popular—when MMA becomes a huge hit like boxing was back in the day. This will spur younger generations to start learning how to fight in MMA bouts at a much earlier age.

Fighters will then have a lifetime of experience in learning MMA, as opposed to, say, three to five years. A major problem with today's fighters is that most of them are in their late 20s or 30s. This is too late in a person's life to be devoting time to something so new and difficult to pull off.

Starting at a younger age will give fighters time to learn the basics and later perfect moves and techniques that have never been seen in a ring. Fighters will be performing attacks that were once seen as too showy or ineffective to actually work in a real match.

I am not talking just kicks and new punches, but submissions and take downs will be completely revolutionized. Flying arm bars, or just instant submissions that happen as soon as a fighter hits the ground.

Ground and pound will be revolutionized also. With opponents flat on the floor, pressure points and other sensitive areas on the body will be wide open for strikes to cause opponents extreme pain and this could potentially end a fight.

Not to sound cheesy, but I believe that eventually fighters will get so good at martial arts that fights will actually look like the exciting Kung Fu movies we love to watch. We will have fighters who have trained in martial arts their entire lives, and not just in Muay Thai, BJJ, and wrestling, but in several styles mastering at least five to seven different martial art styles.

This sport has a lot of room to grow. I am not saying these changes will be instant, but I think this is exactly where this sport is heading.

MMA: Same Thing Every Time

CJ Daconta — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:44:45 -0400

MMA is said to be the most unpredictable sport in the world. Well, nowadays it is very predictable.

Fighters only do certain things; there is never ever any change in what I see in matches. The same take downs, face punches, and submissions. There is just no variety in the sport anymore.

Back when the Gracies owned UFC, MMA as a sport was being revolutionized. Coleman had revolutionized the idea of "ground and pound." Wrestlers had created "sprawl and brawl."

With every new event came some form of change in the way people fought in MMA.

Well today that is gone; everyone follows the same beaten path to victory. MMA fighters only learn to do Thai boxing, Ju Jitsu, and wrestling. And that is it.

There are hundreds of martial arts styles out there in the world, and MMA seems to have been limited to only three. Now I do admit that these are the most effective, but there are other styles that can contribute to this sport.

Kung Fu has a long list of fighting styles; styles like Wing Chun, or Xingyiquan, that have several principles and moves that could fit in nicely with MMA.

Wing Chun masters are absolutely amazing up close; this would be perfect if someone was backed up in a cage.

Taekwondo with its incredible head kicks would be a great addition to an MMA fighter. The leg is much more powerful than the fist. With a lot of practice, those ineffective kicks could end up in the mouth of your opponent.

There are many martial arts that each have their strengths. Personally, I believe that all fighting styles are equal, and that someone taking an unorthodox style as Silat could completely beat someone taking wrestling.

It is all about training and commitment. Muay Thai, BJJ, and wrestling are very easy and practical styles.

Kung Fu and taekwondo take years to actually master, are styles where a practitioner would have to do moves over and over to actually make sure in a real fight that it would be perfect.

I am not saying that these are better than the main three. I am just saying they can be just as effective, but it takes more commitment and training to get good in these styles.

The most exciting and favorite fighters are those that bring something new to the table. Many people love to watch Karl Pariysan fight, just because he does something different. He is a Judo practitioner and does sick throws that make everyone go, "What the???"

Matt Hughes was very exciting because he had the strength to pick a person up and slam them back down to the ground. Slamming people is a rare occurrence in the ring, but when it happens it always leaves a crowd screaming.

I just want to see someone that brings something different to the octagon. It bothers me that no one has even tried to come into the ring with something new.

If MMA doesn't keep changing, then I could see people getting just as bored with this sport as they do with boxing.

Yes, I did publish this article twice, but I am tired of having no one read my articles because it is buried under everyone else's. Rampage happened to get arrested the day I wrote this so it was mobbed under 20 Rampage arrested articles.

Ref/Judges Decision: The Killer Of MMA

CJ Daconta — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:35:38 -0400

Ref decision or judges decisions are the main problem for all sports that are not determined by set scores. Where the decision of points is based on judges and out of the hands of the competitors.

In sports with goals, like soccer or football, the athletes have a clear and defined way to get a point, either the ball is in the scoring region or not.

Sports like MMA or Taekwondo, one judge may see one thing, but another might not and thus points are not awarded or are awarded for faulty decisions.

This problem is seen in almost all combative sports, especially in MMA. MMA has a huge problem with its scoring system, especially with its ground rules. Here is a perfect example.

How do you score someone who is attempting many submissions from the bottom, but never gets any and the top guy stays in the top position and gets in some hits?

Does this mean that the guy on top still scores higher? What if that guy on top does not get any hits but stays on top, does he still score higher? There is no clear answer to this problem, and this is why it is always said, "Never let it go to judges decision."

Refs in MMA have the same problem.

There is always that thought, "When should a fight/decision be called in the refs eyes?" Like in the fight with Lytle, shouldLavigne have stepped in and stopped that fight since Lytle looked like a cool aid fountain, or was it justified for him to continue?

(it should have continued, cuts should never be a problem personally)

I believe that one day, judging in such events will become error free, most likely because of better technology. Taekwondo is taking major steps in that region and making all of their scoring done by automated chest gear.

I don't know what it will take for this to happen in MMA, but it pains me to see a fight that goes to the decision that is extremely controversial and leaves everyone screaming "What the??"

Ultimate Fighting Champsionship: On a Crusade for the World

CJ Daconta — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:44:12 -0400

The UFC is aiming to eventually spread to the entire world, making MMA the most popular sport under a giant empire controlled by the UFC company.

Under the Gracie family, UFC was done in the United States with competitors really only from the US and Brazil, with very little foreign competitors from Europe or Asia.

The UFC had held events in Japan, where MMA was highly publicized, but Japanese fighters didn't do so well, and no further events were held there.

Even when UFC was brought into mainstream America with Spike TV and the Ultimate Fighter series, there was still a lack of foreign fighters.

However some foreign fighters did make a splash into the UFC, like Arlovski and several Canadian/UK competitors, forever changing the UFC in the worlds view.

With the arrival of several popular UK fighters, the UFC had events being held in the UK, reaching the new fan base created there, where the events were met with major enthusiam, securing the UFC in the UK for good.

The UFC then bought Pride, which was seen as their biggest competitor at the time, in 2007 and began to switch many of its greatest fighters from Pride to the UFC, bringing in a larger diversity of fighter ethnicity.

When Many top Canadian fighters began to appear into the UFC like Sam Stout and GSP, UFC took advantage of that and brought an event to Canada, where it was a huge success, breaking records in attendance.

To help bolster the UFC's expansion into the world, as of May 2007, over 36 other countries are now running showings of the UFC, and bases were set up in the UK targeting European Audiences.

With the worldwide programs, many new fighters are joining the UFC from places like southern Europe (Alessio Sakarai), and more Asian fighters are coming from other places besides Japan, like the Korean fighter Dong Hyon Kim.

When the WEC made it big by getting a regular showing on the channel VS, it became the UFC's biggest competition.

However, seeing a chance to further its holds into the MMA world, on Dec 12th WEC was bought out by Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, further removing its competition.

There are other smaller organizations like DREAM, but if the UFC continues its rapid expansion into the world and take overs of its competition, then is it too rash to say that it will not be long until MMA is dominated by the UFC Empire?

Elite XC Fix: Kimbo Slice Wins a Rigged Match

CJ Daconta — Sat, 31 May 2008 17:27:32 -0400

May 31, The Elite XC event on CBS was rigged for Kimbo Slice to win. James Thompson was set up to lose that fight from the beginning. So much hype and money was put into Kimbo Slice for this event that losing would be a major upset that EliteXC was not willing to take. So to make sure he won this fight, they gave him an opponent that has lost his last two matches, when more capable fighters like Brett Rogers were out there land willing to fight him.

Thompson was clearly at a disadvantage in the stand up game taking several good punches to the face and looked like he would be knocked out, but he took down Kimbo every time and got around Kimbo's so called ground game and gained the upper hand in the fight. In the second round, Kimbo was pinned against the cage receiving elbow after elbow to the face. They may not have been very strong, but none the less, Kimbo was not defending himself just getting bashed in the face. The ref should have stepped in at that time and called the match for a TKO in favor of Thompson, but he didn't. Then in the Third round, Thompson is hit with a punch by Kimbo that bursts a cyst on his ear from a case of cauliflower. The match was stopped, even though Thompson was still standing and still moving on his feet. This comes as a shock to me, especially since in UFC 83, Michael Bisping was continuously kneeing Charles McCarthy in the face, and it wasn't until Charles actually fell to the ground when the fight actually stopped. The only time blood is cause for a stoppage is when it is in the eyes. The bleeding was no where close to the eyes, and unless James Thompson has HIV or some infectious disease ,if so he shouldn't be fighting anyway, then there was no reason to stop the fight.

Unless there is some medical reason that he had to stop fighting because of his ear, then that fight was clearly rigged. They have destroyed the face of MMA, especially on PRIME TIME TV. This is no longer a sport, this was BS pro wrestling match with the fights outcome already planned. Everyone who is watching MMA for the first time is now thinking, so this is what MMA is all about.

I still believe that Kimbo is a backyard brawler with his one skill of throwing a punch. Even against second rate fighters he struggles. Put him against a real fighter from the UFC like Frank Mir or Randy Coulture and watch him be demolished by people who are professionals.