Bleacher Report - Articles by Jay Bandu

Should People Care That Tito Ortiz is Back?

Jay Bandu — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:25:40 -0500

Former Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz will be returning to the Octagon after departing from the company in March of 2008. Ortiz was one of the more dominant champions in recent history with five successful title defenses and an overall record of 15-6-1. What many remember about Ortiz is not necessarily his fights but the pre- and post-fight antics of Ortiz.

To put it simply, Ortiz was a jackass.

Ortiz is the fighter that after completing his fight proceeds to pantomime digging a grave and burying his opponent. He has a rude and cocky personality that most often than not, he didn't back up. He also is the guy that gave Ken Shamrock the finger while Shamrock was approaching him to shake his hand and congratulate him on his victory.

All that aside, the title of this article poses a question and the answer to the question is YES.

Although Ortiz acted questionably in the past this last Saturday night we watched an interview with him during UFC 105. The usual cocky Ortiz was replaced by a more humble and respectable one. It may be his new found father hood but whatever it is it may be proof that a new and invigorated Ortiz has found his way back to the UFC.

Ortiz mentioned his surgically repaired back as well as his new tougher training schedule for his upcoming fight with Forrest Griffin. He also displayed a cool confidence stating that although Griffin is a good fighter, he feels he is the better one. Although I never was a fan or Tito's, the interview gave me the impression that Ortiz is taking this final chance at glory very seriously.

I am also led to believe that his rehabilitated body will hold up better in rematches with the likes of Griffin and Rashad Evans. Impressive victories over Griffin and Evans will be proof enough that he still is the dominant fighter he once was. Ortiz also boasted a new found set of submission skills which proves he is ever evolving.

Regardless of the outcome, I will enjoy seeing if Tito's polite pre-fight hype is justified or not.

Technical Breakdown: UFC 105

Jay Bandu — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:51:39 -0500

UFC 105 fulfilled all promises in providing an entertaining night for all of us watching at home. Tonight we saw a variety of fighters who used a wide variety of skills to finish their fights.

This article is to break down how and why each fighter won or lost their respective fights.

Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley

Many of us said that TUF season 9 winner Ross Pearson was thrown into deep waters against tough competitor Aaron Riley. Pearson proved he can contend in the UFC coming up with a TKO victory due to Doctor stopage (Cut).

Pearson started the first round by bringing the fight to Riley with a mix of various strikes. Riley seemed tight and uncomfortable while Pearson was clinching and hitting him with knees, punches and elbows.

To start off the second round, Pearson seemed to have Riley's timing down and pegged him with power shots. Midway through the round Pearson catches a jumping knee and ends with a flurry and Riley emerges with a bad cut very near his eye.

When the fighters separated, the referee called the doctor who ended up calling the fight.

In reality, the cut was pure luck, however, if it didn't happen Pearson would have continued to control the fight and would have won either an Unanimous decision or TKO stoppage anyway.

Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jared Hamman

Little is known about either fighter. The fight was shown on TV basically to fill up space. Hamman started to bring the fight to Gustafsson with punches in bunches. Gustafsson was back pedaling and accidently poked Hamman in the eye.

Right after the Referee break, Gustafsson lands a perfect shot up the middle between Hamman's hands and dropped him. A follow up barrage of ground strikes ended the night for Hamman.

James Wilks vs. Matt Brown

The first round was very close with Brown trying to stay on the outside and land strikes while Wilks was trying to stall by holding Brown against the cage and taking him down. The first round left with Wilks on top being that he scored on the one takedown he achieved.

The second round started off with Brown coming out throwing punches and high kicks which he uses to bait Wilks into shooting for a takedown. A properly timed Flying Knee left Wilks on his back defending a ground and pound attack from Brown.

Brown utilized the Muay Thai clinch landing knees while Wilks pushed him up against the cage. Brown appears to be the better grappler constantly reversing positions and defending well against takedowns.

Another flurry by Brown drops Wilks to the ground. After a reversal by Wilks, Brown locked in a Triangle Choke right as the bell sounds.

In the third round, Wilks looks very tired but still throwing strikes. After a brief exchange against the cage, Wilks seems to go for broke with a tight Kimura arm lock.

Brown rolls through at an awkward angle to alleviate the pressure and after another shuffling of positions, Brown winds up in the full mount position. Wilks no longer having any strength to defend intelligently is forced to turtle up and lose the fight.

Andre Winner vs. Rolando Delgado

Delgado started off the fight by using his reach advantage to catch Andre Winner with leg kicks and long jabs.

Delgado appears to be making only one mistake, which is leaning out too far with his left punches. When anyone does that, it leaves him open to either a Right hook or Overhand right.

Using the latter, Winner knocks Delgado down but lets him get up. After some minor clinching and striking, Delgado leans out too far and Winner capitalizes using the same overhand right and ending the night very early for Delgado.

Delgado lost the fight because he failed to take the fight to the ground against a very dangerous striker.

Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang

The fight starts off with both fighters trying to find the range of their respective strikes. Kang lands a overhand right that led us to believe that Bisping learned nothing from his previous fight.

Bisping, however, shows his new found Jiu Jitsu skills by defending well against Kang's attempts to pass guard and land strikes. Kang briefly attains full mount but Bisping used perfect hip escapes to control Kang's upper body.

The second round starts of with some basic striking and Bisping shooting for a takedown. The attempt is successful and Kang finds himself on his back underneath a hail of ground and pound by Bisping.

Kang quickly gets cut and decomposed but gets back to his feet. After two more takedowns and more punishment, Kang is finished.

Bisping won this fight because he stayed very busy when he was on top position and landed more damage in one minute than Kang did his whole time in top position.

When Kang was in top position he took his time, and really attempted to pass half guard too much, when he really should have been raining down strikes.

Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy

Swick goes right toward Hardy attempting to take him down. Hardy found an opening and caught Swick with a hard right that wobble Swick a bit. Hardy must pack a lot of power in those punches, because Swick looked visibly off his game.

Swick pushed the action against the fence, looking to take Hardy down. Finding it ineffectual, Swick moves to a clinch which finds both fighters throwing knees and punches to the body.

The second round Hardy lands a big left hook followed up by a right hand which wobbles Swick. Hardy makes a tactical error in attempting a takedown, and Swick's great defense keeps the fight standing.

In the latter part of the round, Swick appears to have Hardy's timing down, catching some left hooks of his own. Hardy landed shots of his own that seemed to be more effective, being that Swick still seemed a little wobbly on his feet.

In the third round, Hardy definitely appears to have the upper edge, constantly keeping Swick on the back pedal.

Swick fights back like a true warrior; however, Hardy's shots seemed to take too much out of him. Hardy also showed a a solid chin by shaking off anything Swick threw at him.

Hardy caught Swick with hard shots while he was coming in and prevented Swick from doing to much to him. Swick used a bad strategy in keeping the fight against the fence and not keeping it in the stand up realm using his kicks to maintain his range and distance.

Hardy will be the first British fighter to challenge for a title and has earned the right to do so.

Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera

Vera started the fight intending to finish it. After a flurry of a kick and four punches which hurt Randy a little bit Randy took the fight against the fence.

Randy held Vera against the fence the whole round landing knees to Vera's thighs and an occasional punch to the face. Vera found himself on the ground during the round but got back up to his feet without taking too much damage.

Second round Vera attempts to put Randy away while Randy attempts to take the fight to the cards where he will likely win. After a restart due to inaction by the Referee Vera lands a head kick followed up by a body kick that drops Randy.

Randy managed to control Vera in his guard, and the action gets restarted again. Randy gets a hold of Vera and realizes that he has to do a little bit more work to win the fight now.

Randy starts landing some punches while clinched against the fence. The second round ends with Vera looking a bit worn out due to the constant grappling against the fence.

Third round is much of the same. Everytime Vera gets distance he tries to strike and put Randy away, while everytime Randy can he will hold him against the fence.

Randy throughout the fight had Vera against the fence for about 12 minutes of the 15 minute fight and achieves one takedown. Vera aggressively clinches for 45 seconds and gets a takedown of his own against Couture.

Not too much damage taken by Couture while he works to get back to his feet. The fight ends and Couture gets an undeserved Unanimous Decision win.

Randy won this fight because the judges believe holding a guy against a fence and kneeing his legs is more effective than strikes. In my opinion the two takedowns from each fighter cancel each other out.

I also believe the judges should give more points to a knock down than to the stalling tactics that Randy used. The fights are scored on effective striking, grappling, aggression and octogon control.

Randy won the octogon control; however, Vera won the aggression being that he was trying to finish the fight. Vera also had more effective strikes and the grappling was even. Vera should have won this fight but unfortunately he got robbed.

Two great things will come from tonight's events.

1. We get to see GSP beat down Dan Hardy.

2. We get to see Machida knock out Couture.

Little-Known Fighter Bio: Anthony "Rumble" Johnson

Jay Bandu — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:42:56 -0500

The welterweight division of the UFC is very rich in talent. With a champion like Georges St-Pierre and top-three contenders like Jon Fitch, Mike Swick, and Josh Koscheck, and it's easy to see why.

Throw in Thiago Alves, Dustin Hazelett, Dan Hardy, Marcus Davis, and Matt Hughes, and it's just as easy to see why a relatively inexperienced fighter such as Anthony "Rumble" Johnson was kept on the back-burner for so long. Johnson is an up-and-coming young fighter who, in about a year or so, could very well be contending for the championship.

Johnson was a JUCO College National Wrestling Champion in his younger years, but since then he has trained under the tutelage of Strikeforce fighter Cung Le. His mix of reverse wrestling with sharp, crisp striking remind many people of a much younger Chuck Liddell.

With an 8-2 professional record consisting of six knockouts, he is definitely showing the potential of turning out to be one of the best.

His first three fights were against unknown fighters in small shows. He got his big break replacing an injured Steve Bruno against Chad Reiner. Thirteen seconds into the fight, Johnson had already won his UFC debut with a spectacular striking display and knockout victory.

He was not so lucky in his next showing, succumbing to a rear-naked choke to gatekeeper Rich Clementi. A first-round knockout win over TUF runner-up Tommy Speer seemed to have Rumble back on track; however, he was derailed by a loss to Kevin Burns following a controversial poke to the eye.

After taking some time off to get surgery on his damaged eye, Johnson came back to knock out Burns in the third round of their rematch, a fight that was on its way to winning Fight of the Night honors.

Rumble kept the momentum going by also knocking out tough fighters Luigi Fiorvanti and Yoshiyuki Yoshida. After every single one of his fights, he displayed nothing but class in either congratulating the victor or praising his opponent when he came out on top.

What many don't know about Rumble is that he is one of the taller fighters in the division, at 6'2". On top of that, he is also rumored to weigh in at about 215 pounds before he begins to cut weight. This is a huge advantage due to the fact that Rumble never appears to be slow or drained out in his fights.

Having a strength advantage that big over his opponents will pose a huge problem considering that the champion in the weight class also boasts a tremendous size and strength advantage over the rest of the division.

Rumble is now going to be facing his toughest challenge to date by facing top fighter Josh Koscheck. A win over Koscheck probably will not catapult him into the title picture yet, but it would put him very close.

Also with a fighter this talented, the potential matchups can never end. Johnson will be able to put together very competitive and exciting fights with almost anyone in the top five of the weight division. Imagine an amazing standup war with Thiago Alves, or an amazing back-and-forth fight with Mike Swick.

Rumble holds a huge advantage in the striking department over Koscheck, who really only has one effective punch. A win over him should make things a lot more interesting in the welterweight division, not to mention buy some time for GSP, who is currently nursing a groin injury.

We shall see what the future has in store for Rumble. He is taking this fight on very short notice being that he last fought on Oct. 24.

Randy Couture Must Lose For the Future of MMA

Jay Bandu — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:43:00 -0500

Randy Couture has done things in the sport that many thought were impossible. He is still a consensus top-10 heavyweight at the age of 46. He was one of the only two men to win two titles in two different weight classes in the UFC. He is also headlining the main event this Saturday night against Brandon Vera.

However, he is one of the most overrated fighters in MMA today.

Let's take a look at his career. Couture won his first four professional fights by beating Tony Halme, Steven Graham, Vitor Belfort, and Maurice Smith. He then lost the next two fights to Enson Inoue, Mikhail Illoukhine. His next four fights were wins over Jeremy Horn, Ryushi Yanagisawa, Kevin Randleman, and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, before losing to Valentijn Overeem.

When he fought Kevin Randleman he won the Heavyweight title. He successfully defended the title twice against Pedro Rizzo. The first fight with Rizzo had many people thinking it could have gone either way. He then lost that belt to Josh Barnett, who was confirmed to having steroids in his post-fight urinalysis.

Couture's next fight was for the vacant heavyweight title against Ricco Rodriguez, which he lost because he submitted to strikes. After a drop down in weight class to 205, he beat number one contender Chuck Liddell and champion Tito Ortiz. He then lost the belt he just won to Vitor Belfort because of a cut. He turned around and avenged the loss and won back his title, only to lose his belt again to Chuck Liddell.

A win over Mike Van Arsdale put him back in line to fight Liddell for the championship. However, Liddell knocked him out for a second time, and he retired from the UFC. The retirement doesn't hold up too long, because he came back shortly after to beat Tim Silvia for the heavyweight championship. He successfully defended the belt against Gabriel Gonzaga. After a long period of contract disputes with the UFC (during which other fighters fought for the interim title), he lost his official UFC title to Brock Lesnar.

So let's look at the numbers.

After 26 professional fights, Couture compiled a mediocre record of 16-10. Seven out of his 16 wins came by decision, with nine out of his 10 losses involving the fight being finished in some way or form. Out of his 15 title matches, he only has three successful title defenses and an overall 8-4 record.

It is understandable that the UFC continues to ride the Couture hype train for as long as possible. It is respectable to pay homage to the fighters that got your organization up and going. That is why they have a Hall of Fame. The longer the UFC holds on Couture, the longer another young, deserving fighter is being suppressed.

The budget doesn't allow for the multi-million dollar promotion of Couture as well as promoting young, up-and-coming fighters. Besides monetary issues, there has been a consistent decline in his performances since his second fight with Liddell. Including the second Liddell fight, he went 3-4, being knocked out three times. His win over Gonzaga was pure luck due to the fact that Gonzaga broke his nose and got gassed.

There are many other fighters that the UFC can promote rather than Randy. I also feel that he should not be rewarded with the idea of another run at the Light Heavyweight Title just because, as the commercial states, "he wants to". The Light Heavyweight division is stacked with the most talent, and Couture has in no way earned the right to even think about a title shot. The fight world is mostly a "what have you done for me lately" industry, where although he put up fairly entertaining fights, he isn't winning them.

UFC, it is time to move on.

Slaying The Dragon: The Key to Soundly Defeating Lyoto Machida

Jay Bandu — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:37:10 -0500

Lately there has been a lot of discussion about Lyoto Machida. He has proven to be a very intricate puzzle for the Light-Heavyweight division of the UFC.

In his first 15 MMA fights, he has been a very difficult target to hit and a striker with a 65 percent accuracy.

In his 16th MMA bout, however, he has been hit more times in those five rounds than he has in all of his combined fight put together. So why did Shogun have success when every one else failed?

To understand how to beat Machida you must first understand how Machida fights. He uses a Shotokan Karate style that no one really has seen before. He is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and has some Muay Thai and Sumo wrestling skills.

He also utilizes multi-directional movement, obtuse angles, and great blocking skills to avoid any strikes thrown at him. He is a counter striker, he waits for you to miss or react to his feints and then strikes back.

The karate part of his game is not new, however most mixed martial artists do not incorporate karate into their training. Being that they don't, they won't know how the timing is of the incoming strikes.

They also will not know the proper angles to engage a real good karate fighter. Machida is not only a karate fighter, but also one of the best in the world.

The most important part of his game is his Sumo wrestling. Sumo wrestlers are excellent at stopping the forward momentum of takedown attempts. They also like to redirect your own kinetic energy against you to take you down.

They incorporate trips into their grappling to keep their opponents off balance. The single most important trait that all sumo wrestlers have is that their legs are very strong.

Machida's movement seems to be the trickiest part of his overall game. Karate practitioners like to use back-foot pivots and obtuse angles when they fight.

Machida is a southpaw fighter meaning he stands with his right foot forward and his left back. Any time you throw a punch at him he pivots on his back foot which will switch him into an orthodox stance, he then takes a couple steps back and next thing you know your punch is nowhere near its intended target.

So how does one effectively fight against something like this?

Since Machida is not a conventional fighter, conventional tactics will not work against him. Most fighters, when they see Machida move the way he does, will automatically try to move at a steeper angle than he is to cut him off.

That is a very foolish idea because just as easily as he pivoted the first time he can do it again only this time he will be in prime position to attack. Fighters need to actually move at an opposite angle than he is so that they are in a good position to either block the counter coming in or attack back.

Did you every notice karate fighters circling each other and anytime one switches his stance the other does so as well? A big part of Karate is action and reaction. Machida is constantly moving backward so you move forward, if he goes left you go right and then attack.

To effectively take him down is actually not that hard. Conventional double leg takedowns and single leg trips will not work. Those techniques rely on forward momentum, which we already know Sumo stops very well.

The way to do it is actually go to a body lock. Start going forward so that he meets you with the some force of his own to stop you. Once you feel the pressure back, you can redirect his motion against him and either use a throw or a simple leg trip.

Easier said than done.

Shogun showed us some success in his fight with Machida, enough success to lead many people to believe that he really should have won the decision that night. What he didn't do, however, is admit that he only utilized half of his game plan.

Shogun went into the fight wanting to stand ready at all times for a counter attack. He also wanted to take the legs out from the champion and use that to his advantage to take the fight to the ground. Once on the ground, Shogun wanted to use ground and pound and submissions to score points and work towards finishing the fight.

Unfortunately, when these two meet again, the fight will still yield the same results.

A very bad thing happened to Shogun. He met with success. He believes he should have won the fight and will not make many adjustments when he begins training for the rematch. Machida, however, will not be fighting the same way. He also will be going back to basics because his father got upset at how many times he'd been hit in his fight.

It will be interesting to see the game plans people come up with to use against Machida.

Technical Breakdown: Lyoto Machida Vs. The Light Heavyweight Division

Jay Bandu — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:54:09 -0400

Lyoto Machida is the most perplexing opponent anyone can have in MMA today. He uses a very unorthodox fighting style, one that allows him to stay out of the range of your attacks while being able to strike you anywhere he want.

When opponents try to close the gap he swiftly dodges away and counters. He is stronger and faster than he looks, and does not have any weaknesses in his overall game.

Lately the question has been who has the tools to launch an effective strategy against Machida and defeat him?

The Light Heavyweight division in the UFC is very rich in talent as well as diversity. No two fighters are alike and besides Machida no one else has appeared truly dominant in the weight class.

I am going to breakdown his potential opponents and tell you why no one will be able to beat Machida.

Mauricio Shogun Rua

Shogun is a very deadly striker. He is recently coming off wins over Mark Coleman and Chuck Liddell. Most of the wins in his career come by way of KO of TKO and his victims include, Quinton Rampage Jackson, Akihoro Gono, Allistair Overeem, Ricardo Arona and Cyrille Diabate.

He is very versatile he has stopping power in both hands and has devastating kicks.

However when fighting Machida he has no advantages. Machida is faster and more accurate with his strikes. Not to mention that Shogun is a Muay Thai fighter and the only way he can close the gap would be lunging punches or jumping kicks. Those simply will not work on Machida.

Shogun does not possess the tools to take down Machida. There are also a lot of questions about Shogun's Conditioning. He had two knee surgeries so compared to the 100 percent healthy Machida this fight is not even a contest.

Quinton Rampage Jackson

Rampage is one of the most dangerous fighters in the division. He has the ability to KO anyone with almost any punches he lands. His wrestling is very underrated and he loves to ground and pound.

If you try to submit him with a triangle or armbar he ends up slamming you on your head. Rampage is ruthless and almost never stops coming forward.

Unfortunately fighting Machida would be a very bad matchup. Rampage is highly susceptible to kicks and knees. Machida excels at both.

Rampage's striking is mostly boxing. His only way to close the gap is lunging punches. Which Machida will easily slip past. He can try to fake a punch to the body and swing for the head but Machida will easily be three steps away by the time he starts swinging.

If he were to clinch with the Dragon, it will lead him to get taken down. When he fights Machida he has a punchers chance. However the longer the fight goes the chance will be diminished due to Machida's punishing leg and body kicks.

Rashad Evans

Rashad is a very overrated fighter. There are few fights where he dominated from start to finish. He gives away the first round to develop his strategy. He has decent wrestling skills. His boxing is good and he has a lot of explosive speed.

He also fought Machida before. Machida KO'd Rashad in the second round giving him his first loss in his career.

Rashad has the explosive speed necessary surprise Machida and land a few strikes on him. The reason he won't be able to use it effectively is because he telegraphs what he is about to do.

He will duck his head a second before he shoots for the takedown. His leg muscles twitch when he is about to lunge in to strike. Machida is an Eastern Martial Artist. Since he was four years old he was taught Clairvoyance. He will watch your body.

Subtle muscle twitches or movements give away what you are planning to do. Rashad is too crude of a fighter to be effective against Machida.

Forrest Griffin

Forrest goes in to fight. He doesn't care who you are he will fight you the same way. He doesn't stop coming forward. He has great kicks and is great in the clinch. His ground game is decent and he has a pretty good chin.

We all saw what happened when he fought Anderson Silva. Rumors from Blackhouse is that during sparring sessions Lyoto Machida always comes out on top of Anderson Silva. Forrest also stated that he does not want to fight Machida.

Luiz Cane

Cane is a solid fighter with good stand up and a good ground game. His last win over Steve Cantwell was a solid effort but he looked like he had some conditioning issues.

He is another fighter that although as good as he is, will not be effective in closing the gap with Machida. He is a little to slow. Machida will dance around him and end up KO'ing him pretty easily.

So who can beat Lyoto Macida? Out of the whole division Jon Jones has the best chance. Jones is very unpredictable and has great wrestling. He is one of few fighters who uses a spinning back elbow effectively.

However he should not fight Machida. He needs a lot more experience and the UFC can actually hurt this guys career by rushing him into a title shot. He needs two solid years of fighting three fights a year against decent competition.

The reason I say this is because Machida needs to be beaten on his feet first. Once he is demoralized in the stand-up department he will look towards his jiu-jitsu. Which is his weak point.

Jon Jones' strong point is his ground game. Although he has effective striking it does not mean he has good striking. He loses his balance slightly when he kicks. His punches sometimes start from the wrong foot.

He swings too wildly and fighting like that against Machida will end in you getting KO'd.

Just ask Thiago Silva.

Two to three years from now Jones will be able to truly contend for the title. Anytime before then will be very bad for the future champion. Until then there is not a single person in the division that can seriously threaten Machida.

Critics Shut Your Mouths, The Spider's Web Is Still Intact

Jay Bandu — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:28:24 -0400

Anderson Silva is the best fighter in the world. He has finished eight opponents in the Octagon as well as win 9 straight fights in the Octagon. That is something that no one else has ever been able to do. Despite these accomplishments, people have been doubting his motivation and saying that he was overrated. They are basing this mostly on his previous fight with Thales Leites.

No that was not the most exciting fight in the world. But coming from someone who has watched the UFC from the very beginning he did his job well that night. The point of the matter is that if you are a contender that is fighting someone like Silva, you better be there to rip the title from his hands. The champion proved himself against his last 8 opponents. You are no body and you have to bring the fight to the champ. If someone does not do that then is it the champion's fault? No it is not.

Forrest Griffin did not fight the light heavyweight champion but he did fight the Pound for Pound champion of MMA. Like a true contender he came out and brought the fight to the champ. Anderson did what he does best and knocked Forrest out. Not only did he knock him out he demoralized him and made him quit. All in the first round. The shots that he hit Forrest with were jabs not power shots. Forrest also realized that his kicks were not effective when Silva caught one and almost knocked him senseless. He also saw that Silva was moving backwards and his hands were down at his hips.

At the end of the fight Silva caught Forrest with a jab to the nose and Forrest fell down and waved Anderson off himself. The referee was not going to stop the fight because Forrest was still lucid enough to continue fighting. Forrest gave up. The fighter with the biggest heart in the UFC wanted no more to do with the best fighter in the world. The fight could have lasted a lot longer and gave us a better show. Is that Anderson's fault too? I think not.

The Dragon Vs. The Spider: Potentially The Best Fight MMA Can Offer

Jay Bandu — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:49:30 -0400

Lorenzo Ferttittta recently made an announcement stating that if two fighters refuse to fight each other they will be released from the UFC. Many believe that this statement is aimed at AKA fighters Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick who are three of the top five Welterweights in the UFC and also refuse to fight each other.

Rashad Evans and Keith Jardine are also top ten Light Heavyweights who train with each other and refuse to fight each other.

Although those would be interesting fights to see, it is hard not to notice that the announcement comes close to Anderson Silva's second fight in the Light Heavyweight division. Sitting on top of the division is Lyoto Machida who is a former training partner of Silva's.

Both used to train at Blackhouse MMA in Brazil but the gym has since been disbanded. Anderson Silva has also stated that he believes Lyoto Machida to be the rightful heir to the Light Heavyweight throne and he willl not impede that from happening.

Being that Machida and Silva are two of the best pound for pound fighters in the world it is highly doubtful that if they insist on not fighting each other Dana White will simply release them from the UFC.

Also being that they are true competitors they will not want to be released from the biggest and most stable MMA organization in the world. This will lead us to conclude that it is a matter of when and not if whether these two fight or not.

It is also in the UFC's best interest that these two fight sooner rather than later due to the fact that Anderson Silva only has a handful of fights remaining on his contract before he is believed to retire.

This fight is good for the UFC and for MMA in general because the fact that both of these fighters are undefeated in the UFC and Machida is Undefeated in his career so far.

Besides the fact that both of them have yet to lose, they both seem to be problems that other fighters cannot solve. The fact that they used to train together and know better than anyone else what the others weaknesses are. They spent hours in the gym working out each others faults and helped make each other two of the best fighters in the world today. This intriguing possibility will happen sometime in 2010 and will be rated as the best fight of the year.

Of all the possible future match ups out there this has the best potential for breaking attendance records and PPV buy records than any other fight. So everybody cross your fingers and hope that Silva dispatches Griffin quickly and Machida does the same to Shogun. Quick TKO wins will help make this happen much sooner.

Griffin-Evans-Rampage: UFC's First Main Event Triangle!

Jay Bandu — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:04:51 -0400

One of the things that makes boxing a great sport is its Triangles. No, not the submission move. What I am reffering to is three fighters each having a win over the other.

For example, Vernon Forrest defeated Oscar De La Hoya, and Ricardo Mayorga then defeated Vernon Forrest. Most people would think that Mayorga would be a better fighter and beat De La Hoya, however Oscar knocked out Mayorga in the sixth round of their fight.

Three fighters, who were top of their game, each losing to the other proves the depth of the sport, and the talents of the fighters involved. This is also not a single case. Most recently in boxing, there was a Cotto-Mosley-Margarito triangle, as well as a Taylor-Hopkins-Pavlik triangle, to truly show the depths of boxing.

To the best of my knowledge, UFC has yet to have a major triangle amongst main event fighters. There were many back-and-forths, and trilogies, but never a real triangle.

Forrest Griffin upset the champion Quinton Jackson for the light heavyweight championship last year. Following that fight, he suffered a third-round TKO loss to contender Rashad Evans.

At the conclusion of the 10th season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show, Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans will be facing off for the No. 1 contender spot for the championship.

If Jackson defeats Evans, it would complete the triangle, and it would do so in the main events of the UFC. This would be the UFC's biggest selling point in how the sport evolved, and how there is much more depth and talent involved than there has ever been.

What It Takes to Be a Real Fighter Pt 3: Mental Aptitude

Jay Bandu — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:49:15 -0400

There are two other parts to this article: physical aptitude and skill set. While those two are extremely crucial ingredients to making a great fighter, I feel that someone’s mental aptitude can make the difference.

One of the many things Martial Arts teaches you is that the mind is your most powerful weapon. Often enough, despite a fighter having great skills and physical tools to win the fight, he loses it in his mind before he steps into the ring.

I am splitting this topic up into three categories: Confidence, Determination, and Fight IQ.

Confidence

Being a confident fighter is very important. When you are confident about yourself and your abilities, then you will end up executing a better game plan during your fight. When a fighter doubts either himself or his capabilities, he tends to hesitate in his fight. A split second hesitation is all that is needed to lose a fight.

Another thing about confidence is that when you truly believe that you will win a fight, you will not be scared to try something new that you were working on. Confidence will lead to an increased aggression that might earn you a knockout. It will also prevent you from becoming unraveled if your opponent gets a successful flurry or exchange.

We have seen a lot of fighters fight better fights when they earn their confidence during the fight. Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin had confidence issues while fighting Tito Ortiz. Midway through the fight they saw that they deserved to be in the ring with their opponent, and can actually do some major damage. Both fighters then showed a huge improvement and almost won their fights.

Georges St. Pierre was not feeling very confident when he fought Matt Hughes for the first time. This resulted in a slight mistake which cost him the fight. Since then, he worked on that issue and walks into the ring every single time knowing he is going to win. Chuck Liddell once said “I don’t go into every fight planning to knock the other guy out. I just know that it’s going to end that way.”

Those examples from a few great fighters show that confidence is an important thing to have when you are a fighter.

Determination

It is not very hard to motivate yourself on fight night. The fight is already there, and it is not very hard to fight in front of many fans and on television. It is very hard to motivate yourself to go train. No one is there to watch you and no one cheers for you. Most fighters deal out a lot of punishment when fighting. While training, however, they end up taking a lot of it.

You need to be mentally strong so that you actually show up for training. Besides actually showing up, you need to be able to push yourself harder, faster and longer than the other man. It is difficult to push yourself, but we have seen the difference work ethic makes in a fight. Georges St. Pierre Vs. BJ Penn II was a very good example. While BJ was taking a week off, St. Pierre was in the gym working hard so that he could win. You can’t train that.

Besides pushing yourself in training, you must be mentally strong enough to be able to push yourself in a fight. When you lost the first two rounds and are too tired to even breathe coming out for the third round, it's a hard thing to do.

Having the determination to come out for that third round and fight your fight might get you the knockout win. George St Pierre did that after taking a beating in the first round of his first fight with BJ Penn. Although he did not knock him out, he ended up winning by a split decision.

After a loss it is even more important to be determined enough to get back into the gym and keep training so that you can win your next fight. After a loss your confidence suffers a lot and it is twice as hard to do it. But only the truly great ones have the inner strength to keep working hard so that you may win your next fight.

Fight IQ

This is something that can be trained. Although it takes a lot of time to work certain techniques into your instincts, it has been done before. A great fighter knows where his strengths are, and knows which techniques will win him the fight. He knows when to do what and how to avoid his opponent’s strengths and attacks.

Lyoto Machida is a very good example of this. He knows that striking is his strength and he will not hesitate to use his advantage against his opponents. He will prevent take downs because being on his back may be his weak point.

George St. Pierre is also a very good example. He utilizes his fight IQ to negate his opponent's advantages and impose his will. He prevented Matt Hughes from taking him down, took Matt Serra down right away, and clinched BJ Penn till his arms were too tired to be effective.

In conclusion, these three criteria will differentiate an average fighter from a great one. Hopefully some of the people reading my series of articles will appreciate the great ones a little bit more for the hard work they put in to entertain us.

What It Takes To Be A Real Fighter Part 2: Skill Set and Training

Jay Bandu — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:30:04 -0400

What it Takes to be a Real Fighter: Part 2 – Skill Set and Proper Training.

There are a lot of good fighters out there. It seems that they have a natural instincts, reflexes and talent for the sport. Not too long ago there were a few champions fighting in the UFC that did not have a rigorous training program. However, because of this almost all of them encountered someone who worked harder than they did and lost their titles.

Once again I am not bashing any fighters out right now, but two names come to mind. Matt Hughes and Frank Mir were both very dominant in their weight classes yet at the time they seemed to not take the training part of it very seriously mainly due to lack of competition that made them do so. Hughes was unbeatable until a young up and comer named BJ Penn came along and upset him for the 170lb championship due to the fact that although he was in great shape he was not evolving and learning new skills.

While Frank Mir never officially lost his belt, by his own admission he said most weeks he would get by with only one to two hours of training per week. When he recovered from his accident he learned the hard way that due to MMA becoming more popular the other fighters in his weight class were a lot better trained than he was and he cannot continue to go on the way he used to. What makes both of these guys’ great fighters is that they got themselves a rigorous training program and a good training team and got themselves back to the top of their respective divisions.

There are many different theories as to which way are the most effective. For example most fighters choose to do it by “sessions”. Usually anywhere from 10-15 per week ranging in the different styles of MMA due to them still working other jobs to finance their life and training. Although there is nothing wrong with this, training is fairly expensive and most fighters do not make more than 30-50k per year from fighting, however it can only take you part of the way.

The truly great fighters understand that this is their way of life. They have the mentality that fighting is there plan A and most do not have a plan B because they make plan A work. There is a saying “Go hard or go home”. At sometime in your career you should make a decision whether you truly want to get serious in this sport or whether it is not for you. Every one has their starting point but the truly great ones treat fighting like it is their job so every day they train and they train for a good portion of the day.

With that said, when asked to name a great fighter what names would most likely come out? Georges St.Pierre, Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn come to mind. We have all watched their UFC countdown specials and seen only a portion of what their days are like. Their jobs are to be fighters so they train all day every day. Most of the fighters on that list are in shape to fight a 3 round fight at any given time.

It is important to touch on all the aspects of your fighting style every day. Traditional martial artists woke up every day and practiced the same moves day after day month after month. The reason for that is that over time the moves get imprinted into your muscle memory and when it comes time to use it, it is already like second nature. Doing this will allow you to react to something with little or no thought at all.

Certain fighting styles are a little more effective than others, however if you choose to be a master of only one realm of fighting you will fail. The two main realms of MMA are Stand up and The Ground Game. A world class Muay Thai striker cannot be effective when he is on his back on the mat and the best wrestler in the world will find a hard time getting a necessary takedown if he gets kicked unconscious.

Great wrestling or other ground based skills are important in a great fighter’s repertoire. Wrestlers have the ability to dictate the pace and realm of the fight. If they are getting outclassed striking wise they can take their opponent down and end the fight in their “home field”. If they are outclassing their opponents they will also prove difficult to takedown and will continue to win the fight. This also however can lead to stalemates and very boring fights. With discussing wrestlers I have to make this statement, if you do not entertain the fans that pay your salary than you are not a great fighter.

Great stand up skills are also important, whichever style you choose is not that important just that what ever you do choose make sure you do it well. Most fans love seeing two world class strikers face off because they know that most often than not someone is going to fall. The pace of these fights is usually higher and the results are always pleasing. However nothing is more frustrating than seeing someone so good in this realm of fighting being taken down and made completely ineffective for three rounds.

Truly great fighters train in both realms and make sure that wherever the fight goes they know what to do. During the fight they find a way to win. Georges St. Pierre is the best example of this in my opinion. He is constantly training in both realms and will find your weakness and exploit it to defeat you.

Another important facet of training is to have a good solid team. Teammates with a good camaraderie will push each other to improve and teach each other new techniques. The Ultimate Fighter show proves that it is more effective to work closely with people with the same type of mindset as you and have similar goals. No one will help you if you do not help them in turn.

Having a good solid team to help you train can prepare you for anything that can happen in the ring. Sparring is the best way to test techniques and find out what your strengths and weaknesses truly are. The great fighters train with the best guys in the world so that they can constantly be pushed and they can constantly improve themselves.

In conclusion I hope you can almost recognize which fighters in the sport right now are truly great. I personally do not see why any fighters would not take this important part of their career seriously. I don’t understand when someone says “I need to make sure I peak for this fight”. The truly great fighters are always in the gym and always in peak condition to fight. To me there is a clear line of separation between real fighters and pretenders.

What It Takes To Be a Real Fighter: Part I: Athleticism

Jay Bandu — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:36:23 -0400

Part One: Physical Aptitude

I am not known to write many articles on this forum. I mainly joined because I enjoy reading about my favorite sports as well as discussing events with passionate fans.

My main reason for writing this is because recently I have noticed an influx of fighters that have some of the tools necessary to potentially be a fighter however I watched them fail due to not having other necessary tools to carry them out.

This article is written not to bash any fighters currently out but to help recognize the truly great ones for how great they actually are.

Before I get into the actual article I would like to tell you a little about myself, mainly so that you know that I am speaking from years of experience in combat sports.

At the age of six my father and grandfather realized that I needed a little extra discipline in my life to prevent me from taking the wrong path in life.

I was enrolled in Tae Kwon Do and Judo classes as a result. I originally had an immature point of view on the sports thinking they were only about hurting other people. I thank my respective masters for bringing me into the light as to what Martial Arts are really about.

My Judo sensei taught me that my first priority is to avoid the fight. My Tae Kwon Do sensei taught me that what he is teaching me can seriously injure and untrained opponent and that it is not to be taken lightly.

I rose to the rank of Black Belt in both disciplines by the age of 14. I was now entering high school and a new sport was introduced to me. I unwillingly got involved in an altercation with another student who attempted to attack me and I utilized a judo technique to bring him down until a gym teacher walking by came and split us up.

The kid was one of the varsity wrestlers in our school and about 30 pounds heavier than me. The gym teacher was also the wrestling coach. He approached me a week later and asked me to join the team.

I wrestled for all four years in high school at the varsity level. Although I wasn’t considered one of the state’s elite I managed to win two district titles. Academics was never my strong point so after high school I trained in boxing and Jiu-Jitsu.

I am now training in Ninjutsu, which is mainly teaching me clairvoyance and the art of anticipating what your opponents next move is based on subtle muscle movements.

Now I will get onto the actual article. There are what I believe to be three parts necessary to be a complete fighter: Physical Aptitude, Skill set/proper training, Mental Aptitude. This article will cover the first one Physical Aptitude and it will also be divided into parts as well such as: athleticism, endurance, and core strength.

Athleticism

To me it is defined as being able to be very proficient in any sport with minimal practice. This is a touchy subject because many people don’t realize the amount of athleticism required to be a great fighter. It is also debated as to which sport requires the most athleticism.

When asked that question many people will answer one of the common mainstream sports such as Soccer or Basketball. I disagree with both due to the fact that your average man is able to play both sports for hours while he is only able to fight for minutes.

A lot of people mainly think that having great core strength and endurance alone will get the job done. However that has been proven wrong on many occasions, due to one of the other factors that will be discussed in my future articles on this subject.

Athleticism can lead to extra flexibility, speed and explosiveness that make the difference between a win and a loss. I was told while growing up that when everything else is equal the better athlete will find a way to come out on top.

Endurance

This really cannot be measured. It is simply described as someone being able to push themselves longer, harder and faster than the common man. Unlike athleticism this can be trained.

My wrestling coaches used to make us live wrestle nine two-minute periods every day followed by a 45-minute conditioning period followed by a jogging session of about two miles so that we would be able to keep a high pace without tiring during our matches.

This proved to be sound judgment because I noticed cross country runners will run seven or eight miles daily for a 3.1 mile race.

Aside from training extra hard, proper diets and breathing is compulsory. If you train extra hard and eat nothing but greasy burgers and hot dogs all the time your conditioning will reflect that. With breathing it is proper to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth at a slightly higher rate than your normal rate of breathing.

Endurance is a key factor to being a great fighter because of many reasons. No one likes watching a fight go into late rounds and seeing both fighters tire and throw sloppy strikes or see the action lull. It is easier to get knocked out with your mouth open, something that can be easily prevented with endurance.

Also it is very possible to outperform a tired opponent and win a close decision should that be necessary. When the fight is to close to call many judges will give it to the fighter who looks the least tired of the two.

Core Strength

This doesn’t pertain to any particular muscular groups just generally how strong you are relative to your body stature. Having big pretty looking muscles does not necessarily mean you are strong.

Most people also overemphasize training the wrong muscles. Although it is important to have a healthy amount of muscle mass all over your body your key muscles should be your neck, back, shoulders, triceps, hips, abdominals and your legs.

Most think that punching power comes from the chest. It actually starts from the balls of your of your feet through your hips and upper body into your shoulders. The triceps muscles expand and contract when your arm opens and having strong triceps also means you can throw punches faster and in more quantity.

Having a strong neck will prevent your head from being knocked around easily and will also mostly prevent a knockout. Hips and abdominals and back go closely with the ground game the stronger you are in those areas the harder you will be to hold onto the ground. Also having strong abdominals will prevent career ending back injuries.

Lastly your legs are important because they are simply the workhorses of your whole body. Whether it is circling the ring, throwing strikes, attempting a takedown, or attempting to prevent one strong legs make all those that much more effective.

The stronger your legs are the more speed you will have and more power in your strikes and etc.

In conclusion you can see why this remains such an important part of combat sports. Although it can be possible to have great skills if you are not physically able to carry them out you might as well not have them. Being in great physical shape also prevents injuries and possibly a career ending one.

I hope I explained all of this as clearly as possible, as it is so much information. In about a couple of days I will be writing the other two parts of this article. Until then, I hope you guys enjoyed.

Top Three UFC Contenders By Weight Class

Jay Bandu — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:53:30 -0500

I wanted to write this article because I have been watching UFC from the beginning, and I love the way the sport evolved and what it has become now.

I would also like the debate that this will stir up, and I would love to hear your thoughts. I will take all serious comments into consideration and revise and rewrite the article for the beginning of next year. Keep in mind one thing, I believe that if a fighter is coming off a loss he should start back from the beginning and work his way back up the ladder.

155 lbs (Lightweight)

1. Kenny Florian

Kenny has come a long way since his appearance on the TUF show. Although he lost in a dominating fashion to Sean Sherk, he hasn't lost since. He has upped his conditioning, and Muay Thai skills. He goes out to finish every fight, which always makes him a fan favorite. I believe he deserves a shot at the title next due to his current win streak, the level of competition he beat, and how easily he beat them.

2. Sean Sherk

I am very biased against fighters who do not finish fights. I do not believe someone holding someone else on the ground is winning a fight. However, when Sherk faced Griffin last fight they did not go to the ground at all. He out worked Griffin standing up, and has a decision win over Hermes Franca.

3. Roger Huerta

This is a guy who can work his way to being a champion. No one has conditioning as good as him, and with dominating wins over Leonard Garcia and Alberto Crane he’s earned this spot. I am not only considering the win itself, while fighting Crane Roger showed that he is a cerebral fighter thinking three steps ahead (evident when he looked up at the big screen to throw back elbows).

Fighters to watch for: Phillipe Nover, Junie Browning, Nate Diaz and Gray Maynard

170 lbs. (Welterweight)

1. Thiago Alves

Alves is at the peak of his career right now. Great conditioning, striking, and an ever improving takedown defense have gotten him pretty far. After finishing Karo Parisyan, Matt Hughes and dominating Josh Koscheck, this is an obvious choice.

2. Dustin Hazelett

He has great standup and amazing submissions. He has many “Submission of the Night” awards and is not afraid of taking risks to sink in some of the submissions. With wins over Josh Burkman, Tamdan Mcrory and Jonatan Goulet, he should clinch this spot.

3. Mike Swick

Swick is another fighter who came a long way from his original TUF appearance. His only loss is recent years is to Youshin Okami. He is a solid fighter who delivers solid performance. He is undefeated at 170 lbs. and holds wins over Josh Burkman, and Marcus Davis.

Fighters to watch for: Marcus Davis, Amir Sadollah, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanches. (The only reason I did not rank those two is due to the fact that Koscheck recently lost to Alves and Sanches would have met the same fate.)

185 lbs. (Middleweight)

1. Patrick Cote

Cote is the only person to go to the third round with the current champion, and proved to be the hardest to finish. Solid striking ground skills and chin earn him this spot. He’s also helped because of his current win streak and performances in past fights.

2. Michael Bisping

Unbeaten at 185lbs, Bisping should be the next No.1 Contender soon. With impressive wins over Chris Leben and Jason Day, he is easily one win away from gaining that status. He also had a great run at 205 with his only loss coming at the hands of Rashad Evans.

3. Demian Maia

Maia is currently undefeated, and riding a four fight win streak against solid competition. Seamless transitioning jiu jitsu will bring this fighter to the No. 1 contender spot soon.

Fighters to watch for: Nate Marquardt, Kendall Grove, and Dan Henderson should he chose to come back to 185.

205 lbs (Light-Heavyweight)

1. Rashad Evans

Evans is the most underrated undefeated fighter. The only blemish on his record was the ridiculous draw to Tito Ortiz. His other claims to fame are his KO over the “Iceman”, and his decision win over Michael Bisping.

2. Lyoto Machida

Although I would like to see him fight more, he earns this spot with dominating wins in the UFC over likes of Ortiz, Sokoudjo, and Nakamura. He trains with Anderson Silva and I have seen him get the better of him during their sparring sessions.

3. Wanderlei Silva

He is a great striker and has a killer instinct. Coming off a knockout win over Jardine this is an easy choice for me to rank him No. 3. I attribute his loss to Chuck Liddell to being away from the octagon for so long.

Fighters to watch for: Matt Hamill, Chuck Liddell, Quinto Jackson

265 lbs (Heavyweight)

1. Anotonio Nogeira

Nogeira has some of the best ground skills in the division, and patience like no other. His wins over Heath Herring and Tim Sylvia put him in this position. Also, his is the other half of the Heavyweight championship right now.

2. Frank Mir

Mir has the second best ground skills in the division, and is the only man to defeat Brock Lesnar so far. The only reason he is not No. 1 is due to his two losses to Cruz, and Vera.

3. Randy Couture

You can never count him out. Although he should retire soon, no one else in the division can come close to testing him. He proved he still has it by beating Tim Sylvia and, surprisingly, taming Lesnar before the fight ending punch.

Fighters to watch for: Cheick Kongo, Cain Velazquez, Gabrial Gonzago, and Fabricio Werdum.

Let me know what your thoughts are guys this is my first of what should be many articles.