UFC 129 Fight Card: Randy Couture and the Top Game Planners in MMA

UFC 129 St. Pierre vs. Shields is upon us and when I look at this stacked mixed martial arts card I can't help but see that some of the key matchups on the evening will pit some of the most notorious and best game planners in the game right up against each other.

In many ways, you can say that the UFC was pioneered on game planning as Royce Gracie was the first to show us that standing and or brawling with a much stronger, meaner foe in Shamrock or Kimo, or Severn back in the earliest days of the UFC is not the best game plan to have as a smaller man.

With that in mind, let's have a look at who I consider some of if not the top game planners in MMA today.

Fighters who game plan and then execute the best and often come out on top.

10. Lyoto Machida

"The Dragon" went on a 15-fight winning streak between 2003 and 2009 before losing two tough ones in 2010.

He beat the likes of BJ Penn, David Heath, Tito Ortiz, Thiago Silva, Rashad Evans and Shogun Rua during that streak with his game plan of Machida Karate movement and striking.

Don't stand still or stay straight and get hit hard and strike quick, with deceptive power.

9. Chael Sonnen

As evidenced in his fight with Anderson Silva, and Nate Marquardt before that, Chael Sonnen can game plan to beat the best and sometimes, execute to victory.

I give him a nod for never really being out of a fight going in.

He prepares to give himself a shot and his mouth and side show is all part of it.

In the ring, it is a wrestling-based, bully you from the top game plan.

8. Jake Shields

When you go on a run through the likes of Yushin Okami, Carlos Condit, Paul Daley, Dan Henderson and Martin Kampmann, and you continually get doubted due to appearances, you know you are strategizing better than anyone out there.

Shields is that guy, and once again he gets to game plan himself through a title fight on April 30th.

Shields uses his strength, determination and his jiu-jitsu to cause panic and error and gain a submission from the top.

7. Rashad Evans

He may be gone now but Rashad Evans has learned a few things from being in the Jackson MMA camp.

He knows how to game plan to win and execute that plan in the hottest moments.

Wins in many ways sums up Evans career this far and again, a wrestling-based but well-rounded arsenal has him confident he can beat you many ways.

6. Mauricio Rua

Despite the popular opinion that Shogun goes out and bangs his Muay Thai at all costs, Shogun is a cerebral, game-planning fighter.

As evidenced often by necessity in the old Pride tournament style multiple fight evening days, Shogun can and has won his fights by game planning his striking to pinpoint efficiency.

He will explode and spend his energy when he smells blood, but until then, he is picking you apart, step by painful step.

5. Frankie Edgar

When you have to fight for everything you get, and you are often the physically smallest in the fight, yo ubetter come up with and have a solid game plan.

Frankie Edgar knows who he is and what he can do at all times, and he executes that to a tee to your face.

His mastery of his own stand up prowess is the reason why he can game plan as he does, but try to move in and bully this guy and you soon find out you may have bit off more than you can chew.

Edgar is deceiving in his explosive power and his two solid wins over B.J. Penn cemented that in 2010.

4. Anderson Silva

If you ask Anderson Silva he would probably tell you that he rarely game plans before his fights.

When you see his mastery of imitating styles and details in different fighters games you can tell that this man does his homework on other fighters.

Silva game plans to knock you out, or does he?

Sometimes we have seen him to game plan to entertain himself with his footwork and dance moves in the Octagon.

The truth is is that wins over every single beast in and around his weight class says that he game plans his ferocious muay thai and jiu-jitsu to end you.

3. Cain Velasquez

Cain Velasquez at 6'1" inches and 244 pounds is usually the smaller fighter when hanging with the big boys in the heavyweight division.

He always game plans for survival through experience in his life. 

From his solid boxing and dirty boxing game plan against Big Nog, to his masterful beating of Lesnar both standing and on the ground, the champ knows how to quickly dominate to his strengths inside the cage.

I look forward to the game plan to come against JDS in his first defence of his title.

I can't help but feel he will try to rely on the wrestling strengths of his game.

Either way, history says that Velasquez will dictate and execute to near perfection. 

2. Randy Couture

The Natural is legendary for going into a fight seemingly with no chance of victory and game planning and executing fights of such beauty and wonder that he is the Hall of Famer he is today.

His historic victories from Belfort 1, and Rizzo 1 and 2 through the Sylvia, Liddell and Ortiz have proven time and time again that nothing works better to buck the odds than to have a better game plan than the opponent.

I always look forward to Couture's fights, to see if and how he is going to pull it off this time.

He is the best there is at taking an opponents weakness or weakest part of their game and imposing his own will into that game. 

He can do it all, and that is why he can game plan that way.

If he had done it versus Lesnar and Big Nog for wins, I would have him at No. 1.

1. Georges St-Pierre

Another fighter who has been trained in the Jackson fight camp, Georges St-Pierre is a true and tested mixed martial artist.

He is a firm believer in the martial way that says you must game plan your opponent and exploit every single weakness that he has in his game.

St-Pierre has been labelled to be boringly good at times at how he can so obviously target and attack and opponents most vulnerable hole, and win time and time again, without really being taken to troubled waters by anyone.

When you are as well rounded and highly skilled in as many aspects of MMA as St-Pierre is, you have the confidence to go back to the game plan time and time again.

He may have met his game planning match in Shields at UFC 129, and we will see if he can once again use his athletic stand up and wrestling combination to subdue the Gracie fighter.

Enjoy the fights fans!