Bleacher Report - Articles by Travis Fellows

Another One Bites the Dust: Josh Hendricks Reportedly Ousted from UFC

Travis Fellows — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:41:19 -0500

Recently news came out of the AKA camp that John Fitch was not going to be keeping his contract with the UFC. A few other names were also put on the chopping block, some fates still in the hands of the executioner Dana White, others not so lucky to be with the organization.

One name, however, comes from a different camp, and is a relatively unknown name: Josh Hendricks, a longtime training partner of Randy Couture and a fighter out of Extreme Couture. Hendricks made his octagon debut against the feared Gabriel Gonzaga. Gonzaga destroyed Hendricks with his knockout power he is well-known for.

Hendricks, having an impressive 15-4 record outside of the octagon, will have to remain outside it for some time. He was outclassed and looked out of shape in his fight with the Brazilian. His contract was subsequently pulled and torn up. Sending him packing and looking for action elsewhere.

Fitch in talks about leaving, Hendricks gets axed, Christian Wellisch also gets his plug pulled. It makes one wonder how much longer Cain Velasquez and Josh Koscheck will be around, seeing as how their names are on the chopping block.

One also wonders who else could possibly get their contract pulled? If top stars like KOS and Fitch can get put up there along with people who are supposed to help the weakest division in the UFC, is anyone safe?

Could the loser of GSP vs. Penn 2 actually be in risk of losing his contract? While highly unlikely, given the current cuts the UFC has made already it does make one wonder.

A Hero and an Accused Villian Headline A Mixed Day For MMA

Travis Fellows — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:16:54 -0500

UFC's Goran Reljic Heard Car Crash in Sea, 'I Dove Into the Water and Punched the Window'

Today we have more details, as told to UFC.com by Reljic's manager, Zoran Saric:

"Even suffering a severe lower back injury, and without any training and exercise in the past month and a half he risked everything, jumping under cold water and helping save lives," Saric told UFC.com Thursday night. "When I spoke with him earlier today, he said "I wasn't even thinking about my injury or about myself, I just dove into the water and started punching the window; there was only one thing on my mind, to save them."

Good thing Reljic has enough punching power to break a window.

In the newspaper article, Reljic is quoted as saying, "The only satisfaction I get is that both young men are alive and healthy, I don't need any praise, I simply did what anyone one would have done in that situation."

I'm not so sure that anyone would have done the same thing in that situation, but it is good to know that if your car crashes into the Adriatic Sea, you've got a good chance of emerging unscathed—as long as Goran Reljic is around.

Front page on AOL

It's nice to see someone who fights being reflected in a positive light. UFC fighter risks his own life to save someone else. It does numbers for the stereotyped bar room brawler some people still think fighters are.

Also in MMA news

I read an interesting article this morning on Jason Chambers. The host of "Human Weapon" who is a mixed martial artists, and trains at 10th Planet Ju Jitsu with Eddie Bravo.

Jason was arrested on suspicion of rape. He was later released when there was insufficient evidence, but the damage was done by saying he was arrested for being a rapist.

I must say, we go from a life saver, to a rapist, to insufficient evidence to prosecute him. A very interesting day for MMA.

An Ode to the Head-Squeezer

Travis Fellows — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:59:08 -0500

Anyone who has any grappling experience should appreciate this article.

You’ve had a long day. You fought your way through a day of work. You tolerated your co-workers. The bills are piling up. The grass is getting long. Your car needs inspecting. But don’t worry—tonight is your training night. A few hours of grappling will make it all feel better.

You get to the gym. You stretch and talk fighting with your training partners. Your coach comes in and starts class. You warm up. You learn a new series of techniques. You drill the new moves.

You’re feeling good. This is what you needed—to unwind, to relax. Free roll is coming, your favorite part of class. Your coach starts pairing people up. He hasn’t matched you up yet, though, and the possibilities are quickly dwindling.

Then it happens. He sticks you with the head-squeezer.

The head-squeezer trots your way, tightening his white belt, a dopey grin on his face. You know he’s not talented. You know he’s not strong. You know that as soon as your head is within reach, he’s going to latch on, like a toddler desperately clinging (distraught, crying, and pathetic) to his mom’s leg in a day care parking lot.

You shake hands, thinking that maybe this time will be different.

You drop back, scooting in to pull guard. He walks forward on his knees. He reaches for your head, that son of a bitch. You manage to pull guard, but he lunges forward, catching your head in a guillotine. He’s in your guard; there’s no way that he can finish the choke from that position, but he squeezes anyway.

Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.

You shuck the arm, but not before your neck is strained and knotted. At this point, you are mildly perturbed. You want the arm bar, badly. This is a matter of honor now.

You drag the arm, swivel the hips, and pass the leg over his face. He stacks you, hard, to defend the arm bar.

Flower sweep.

He locks his hands together, fighting the extension of his arm. He swing his legs up, trying to scissor your head. He misses the first time and kicks you in the face. Not to be discouraged, he tries again. His foot clips your jaw again. You reach across his arm to set up your favorite grip break. He writhes and bucks. This time, his foot smashes into your ear.

Now, you’re upset.

You’re a nice guy, but a nice guy can only take so much. You launch into the grip break and stretch out the arm as hard and as fast as you can.

With a bit of agony, he taps. Your neck is sore. Your face is sore. Your jaw is sore. Your ear is sore. Your relaxing night of training is ruined.

Anyone who has been training for more than a few months has probably been in the vice-grip crush of a head-squeezer, and it frustrates you for these reasons:

1. The head squeeze does nothing more than slow you down and strain your neck. It’s more likely to create a nagging injury than it is to get a tap or set up a new position.

2. The head squeeze creates a stall. Since the person squeezing is not working for anything else, and the person in the squeeze is too stubborn to tap from something so moronic, rolling comes to a halt. You only have so much time to train, and you don’t want to waste half a round for him to finally let go.

3. The fruitless discomfort is aggravating and disrespectful. You know that he’s not trying a technical move and is simply trying to hurt you enough to get you to quit. You don’t mind tapping to a kimura or to a knee bar or even to a well-executed pressure knee ride. You respect controlled and strategic attacks. You don’t respect someone trying to juice your head like it were an orange. You try to be technical and courteous; you expect your training partners to do the same.

Moral of the story: Don’t be a head-squeezer. You won’t make friends that way.

The Great Brazilian Spider

Travis Fellows — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:23:25 -0400

Perhaps one of the most deadliest creatures on earth comes from a little place in South America known as Brazil. The Wandering Spider is noted by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most venomous spider in 2007 and is responsible for the most human deaths by any other spider, including the popular Black Widow.

This, however, is not the spider I wish to discuss. The spider I am referring to stands in at 6'2" and weights in around 185.

Anderson "The Spider" Silva (a fitting nickname) stands alone atop of the UFC's middleweight division. Since joining the UFC in June 2006, he has become one of the top fighters in the world.

In his first UFC fight, the UFC did what they normally do with top prospects, threw him right into a pit with one of their most credible and dominating dogs. While many people dislike Chris Leben because of his stint on the first TUF, it's hard to argue with a record like his (15-1 at the time of their fight).

It looked as though Silva was being fed to a man who was working his way to a title shot. Silva made short work of the TUF alum, beating him within a minute of the first round. He then moved on to face then Champ Rich Franklin (20-1, 1 no contest at the time of there fight), and it was predicted that Franklin would rip threw Silva like he had been doing to most of the 185 division; Silva stepped into the fight and three minutes later had UFC gold around his waist.

Silva went on to defend the title an impressive three times; it would have been four, but Travis Lutter failed to make weight.

Silva has dominated the division so badly that UFC execs actually asked Rich Franklin, who stands at 24-3 and one no contest, to move up to the stacked Light-Heavyweight division, because, due to the domination Silva has done to him, and rightfully so, why have someone pick apart the up-and-coming 185er's like Franklin can, just to get his face rearranged by the likes of Anderson Silva.

Since Anderson Silva won the title back in 2006, there's been one question: Who is going to beat him?

Many thought perhaps Rich Franklin was having a bad day. When they met for a second time, however, Anderson gave Rich a much worse day to remember. I believe we have all seen the pictures of Franklin's nose doing a 80-degree turn in the middle.

Enter Travis Lutter. You can say what you want about him not making weight; the fact is, he weighted in at 187 for his first weigh in. ONE POUND OVER WHAT HE HAS TO WEIGH IN AT!!! Then, two hours later, and this you can get down his throat for, he weighted in at 186.5, when he has to weight at maximum 186 pounds.

Lutter is the only man in years that can claim to winning one round. In the first round of Lutter vs. Silva, they came out and traded some punches, and then Silva slipped up and ended up on his back. The round was Lutter's.

This was the first moment I noticed something wrong with Silva's game. His wrestling game. He is excellent in the scramble; he's excellent at standing back up, using his Jiu-Jitsu to stand back up, and is probably the best striker in MMA in terms of a whole game, not just punches or kicks.

Silva came out in the second round and clearly was the dominating force, but for Lutter to last two rounds, no once since pretty much Silva's Pride days can claim that, until Lutter stepped into the equation.

Next, look at the triangle Silva used to finish him off, to me it didn't look too tight, I honestly believe Lutter tapped due to strikes, not a choke, he was clearly pushing his shoulder in there, using his arm to create some space so the blood could still flow to his head and he could think.

This is what made me question Silva's Jiu-Jitsu; it also shows his ground game is much weaker than his stand up. In fact, if we look at his current record, which stands at an impressive 22-4, he has 13 knockouts and just four submissions, which becomes more interesting when you look at his loss record where two of his losses came from submission, one from a decision, and one for a DQ for an illegal kick.

His current test this month is Patrick Cote. Some people claim Cote is going to shock the world; that he's going to knock the Spider out of its nest. I honestly think these people need to get their heads examined.

Patrick Cote has a decent record, standing at 14-4. I ask why someone like that would need to be on TUF Four, which was all about comebacks, if he's such a knockout artist, as people claim him to be.

Lutter made short work of Cote, and Silva, I'm convinced will make even shorter work of him at UFC 90. I wish him the best of luck; I think he has a shot—he can rock Silva—but I don't feel this is likely at all.

The purpose of this article, though, is not to glorify Silva or make him appear indestructible. It's to show who in the UFC I honestly believe stands a chance at beating him.

As I stated before, Silva's ground game might be good, but he's a stand-up fighter; he prefers to use his extensive Muay Thai background to dominate his opponents with knees, elbows, kicks, and precision punching.

On top of that, his stand up includes a solid defense work. He makes more head movements to dodge punches than almost every other fighter in the UFC. He moves in and out, blocks punches, and moves his head so much he could stand a solid career as a professional boxer (Roy Jones Jr. look out). However, Anderson Silva needs to look out for these people:

1: The first person he needs to be on the lookout for is "The Count" Michael Bisping. Since Bisping has dropped to the 185 division, he hasn't had the hardest of tests, until recently, when he has to face off against the heavy-handed Chris Leben. Bisping came onto TUF Three under the coaching of Tito Ortiz. With his dominant background as a wrestler, he dominated most of his opponents on the show, using ground and pound, tutored by Ortiz, who is himself a master of the ground game. Bisping fought at 205 for a number of years; however, he was never a solid light heavyweight. When he met up with Matt Hamill (who he actually beat, like it or not. I thought Hamill had that fight, however look at the judges, two American judges gave the decision to Bisping and the single UK judge gave it to Hamill) who pushed him around and out wrestled him for three rounds. He then met up with Rashad Evans, who also is a champion wrestler, who, just like Hamill, pushed Bisping around for three rounds, but in a more convincing fashion. Since his drop to 185, he's looked very impressive and insanely fast (not that he wasn't fast at 205, but I feel he's gotten faster). His speed, combined with his wrestling experience, proves he could very well hand Silva his first loss in the octagon and his first loss in years.

2: The next person to discuss is Yushin Okami. Okami holds the last victory over Silva (it's okay Anderson, we all make mistakes). Okami has very impressive striking and is a world class BJJ fighter. He competed in the ADCC in 2007, losing to Demian Maia (who went on to win that tournament). Since joining the UFC, he holds several wins, most of which sadly come from decision, but we will see what he can do. He was supposed to meet with up with Silva at UFC 90, however a broken hand stopped him from competing. He is currently slated to fight Dean Lister at UFC 92, and we can only hope after that he meets up with Silva.

3: Demian Maia, whom I just mentioned above. Maia won the 2007 ADCC championship at 77-87KG, he holds countless victories in BJJ, including a Brazil championship and several state championships inside Brazil alone, an ADCC Championship (he was runner up in 2005 as well), and Super Challenge Champion. On top of his BJJ championships, Maia is well versed in Judo, as well as Karate and Kung Fu (which adds to his stand up game in a very unique style). Since joining the UFC, he has finished all three of his fights and won Submission of the Night honor along with it. He has a very impressive record of 8-0, with one fight going to a decision and six submission victories.

4: Dan Henderson: Yes, Henderson and Silva have already met, I wasn't too convinced that Silva had beaten him. Dan did a very good job in the first round, and going into the second he looked gassed out and was submitted there (this being Anderson's first submission, I believe he actually gained from a submission and not strikes). Since that fight, Henderson came back to dominate Rousimar Palhares in a very convincing fashion. He has also publicly stated he found the weakness in Silva's game and is going to exploit it when they meet back up. Henderson is currently slated to meet Rich Franklin at UFC 93, which they will be headlining (If someone could tell me at what weight they will be fighting at, I would love to know).

5: I'm going to end it with two fighters, who, honestly, I just want him to fight. The first is TUF winner Kendall Grove. While I honestly don't think he bring anything to the game, he stands a better chance at beating Silva than Cote does, and it would be interesting to see what Silva would do against him. Maybe he could actually show a ground game. The last person I'll list as No. 5, because they're equal in my eyes is Amir Sadollah. While he is relatively inexperienced, he impressed me a lot on the season. He came from a Muay Thai back round, with no professional MMA experience, and he dominated the competition, facing off against a wrestler, then a striker, and finally someone experienced in both. He was the underdog every time and came out victorious, including when he was fed to C.B. Dollaway and pulled off an arm bar not only once but twice. Amir, being a stand-up artist with an impressive Muay Thai record, has submitted almost all his opponents on TUF. While his experience is lacking, I would like him to be one of Silva's final opponents before he supposedly retires.

Agree or disagree: it's on you. I merely stated how I feel about him as a fighter. I love watching him fight, he makes very impressive knockouts, and he has dominated the 185 division with his stand up and his ability to get back standing. However, I feel those fighters who can out-wrestle him and get him down will possess a very serious chance of beating him in a convincing fashion.