MMA-URLS

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Two exciting lightweights coming off high profile losses to the division's elite stepped into the cage last night (May 15, 2012) hoping to rebound and return to form at UFC on Fuel TV 3 in Fairfax, Virginia, but only one man would actually pull it off. That man was Donald Cerrone. His opponent, Jeremy Stephens was having his 14th UFC fight despite being just 25 years old, but that didn't matter to "Cowboy" who absolutely had his way with the Alliance MMA fighter over the course of three rounds. So how did Cerrone avoid Stephens one-punch knockout power and fluster the "Lil' Heathen?" And what happens next for both lightweights?Follow me after the jump for our Donald Cerrone vs. Jeremy Stephens UFC on Fuel TV 3 post-fight review and analysis: Right away, Cerrone looked to establish his leg kicks. The Greg Jackson-trained fighter has some of the best leg kicks in the lightweight division and he began pounding away at Stephens' lead leg early. As he gained confidence, Cerrone started stepping further and further inside so as to throw the kick with even more ferocity throughout the fight. With Stephens worried about the leg kicks, this opened up plenty of opportunities for "Cowboy" to go to work with his terrific punching combinations as well. Cerrone utilized his reach brilliantly, keeping Stephens on the end of his straight punches and leg kicks for three straight rounds and as the fight wore on, he got more and more confident. That's when the taunting started (see above picture). Stephens' left eye began to swell up bad, getting repeatedly blasted with uppercuts, jabs and straight punches and he could never find a home for that vicious one-shot power of his. Time and time again, Stephens swung for the fences but hit nothing but air. He has that ability to change a fight with one strike, but Cerrone did a terrific job of avoiding it and constantly forcing Stephens to play defense. When Stephens would put both hands up to defend his head, Cerrone would drop down with punches to the body and then finished off nearly every combination with another leg kick. By the end of the third round, Stephens was getting staggered with every kick to his lead leg and he was on rubbery legs. Hell, Cerrone even mixed in a couple takedowns just to keep Stephens even more off balance. In the end, Cerrone emphatically scored a 30-27 clean sweep across the boards on all the scorecards, earning an easy unanimous decision. For Jeremy Stephens, it simply wasn't his night. He wasn't ready for Cerrone's wide arsenal of attack and he showcased his current limitations pretty badly. When he can't score with his big power strikes, he has trouble getting any offense in at all as he doesn't jab much and most of his other attacks are very ineffective. Stephens got beat from bell to bell last night for 15 minutes and his face told the story of the fight. He was a mess. I'd like to see him face someone along the lines of Tony Ferguson, Nik Lentz or perhaps John Alessio in his next fight. For Donald Cerrone, this was a masterful performance. He did everything perfect from his striking to his wrestling to his defense. He never gave Stephens an opportunity to get comfortable and he just put a hurting on him for 15 straight minutes by mixing up his attack and really taking out his legs, which likely sapped a ton of "Lil' Heathen's" power and maneuverability. This was the Donald Cerrone that fans were hoping to see against Nate Diaz at UFC 141. If he'd fought like he did last night, it might be him who's getting the next title shot instead. With his emphatic showing, it's evident that Cerrone needs a big fight. The fight that makes the most sense would be a lightweight battle against fellow WEC veteran Anthony Pettis as both men are in relatively similar situations at the top of the division and Pettis also needs a high caliber opponent while waiting for a potential shot at the belt down the line. If that doesn't work out, perhaps he can face Edson Barboza (if Barboza beats Jamie Varner) or maybe Gray Maynard if he gets past Clay Guida. For complete UFC on Fuel TV 3 results, including blow-by-blow, fight-by-fight coverage of the entire event as well as immediate post-fight reaction click here, here and here. So what did you think, Maniacs? Were you as impressed with Cerrone's dominance as I was? What did you think of his ability to completely fluster and neutralize Stephens' power? Where did this performance rank him in the lightweight division now? Sound off!

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If you missed that excellent striking display that was showcased during UFC on FUEL TV 3's co-headlining bout between Donald Cerrone and Jeremy Stephens, here's a video from Fox Sports to get you updated. Related: Korean Zombie Vs. Dustin Poirier Fight Video Highlights | UFC On Fuel TV 3: Results And Post-Fight Analysis Since a minute of footage isn't enough, here's more details on the fight from our live blog of the event: Jeremy Stephens vs. Donald Cerrone - Round 1 - Stephens gets in the first shot, a little left hand counter. Big right by Stephens gets in also. Hard leg kick by Cerrone. Interesting tactical battle early. Hard leg kick by Stephens. Body kick by Cerrone. Cerrone with a head kick that gets blocked, Stephens misses the right hand counter. Good leg kick on the end of a combination by Cerrone. Cerrone gets clipped a few times by Stephens, so now he does some...dancing...shuffling thing? Good shot by Cerrone, he's going to kicks and knees to keep Stephens a little off balance. Flying knee by Cerrone. 10-9 Cerrone. Round 2 - Cerrone back to kicks up top and too the legs. Right hand by Stephens gets in a bit but it's still Cerrone dictating the fight. Cerrone trying a few spinning elbows. Uppercut hurts Stephens, Cerrone firing with more leg kicks. Stephens looks to have recovered, but this fight is getting away from him quickly. Stephens has tried from different angles, loke uppercuts from the lead hand, etc. But he can't do much at all here but cover up while Cerrone beats on him. Big leg kicks still landing for Cerrone. Another one and Stephens' legs buckle. This is a beating. 10-9 Cerrone. Round 3 - Huge groin shot by Cerrone and Stephens is in major pain. They do restart after a short break and Cerrone drills him with another leg kick. And another. Stephens has very little left here. He's terrified of taking another leg kick and covering up every time Cerrone looks like he's even thinking of throwing a punch. Stephens manages a glancing right hand. Stephens gets poked in the eye. Cerrone just destroying him here. Flying knee attempt for Stephens just misses. Stephens tries for a few last second home run swings but can't land. 10-9 Cerrone. Official Scorecards: 30-27 across the board. Donald Cerrone wins by unanimous decision.

Posted in: leg, cerrone, kick, leg kick, stephen

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Relieve last night's heated grudge match with Donald Cerrone vs. Jeremy Stephens fight highlights, brought to you by FOX Sports. UFC on FUEL 3 was held on May 15, 2012, at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA. Brash lightweight contender Donald Cerrone (18-4, 1 NC) looked to rebound from his first UFC loss by taking on veteran bruiser Jeremy Stephens (20-8) on the night's main card. Catch the video highlights below. Video: Highlights: Cerrone - Stephens For more on Cerrone's bounce-back win, check out the play-by-play from MMA Fighting's own Ben Fowlkes. Round 1: Stephens goes to work with leg kicks, trying to get in close to land the big right early on. Cerrone seems like he's still getting loose out there. Good combo by Cerrone makes Stephens cover up, and Cerrone finishes with a chopping leg kick. Cerrone is doing a good job of staying out of Stephens' range, then rushing in all at once and attacking while Stephens is on the defensive. After one such combo, Stephens shows blood around his left eye. Jumping knee by Cerrone, but Stephens defends well. Stephens seems off-balance and unsure as the round winds down. He's too busy reacting to generate much of an attack. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 for Cerrone. Round 2: Cerrone seems to be only gaining in confidence as this one wears on. He mixes up the kicks and punches, throws in a spinning elbow, and it seems as if he can hit with Stephens with whatever he wants. An uppercut by Cerrone stings Stephens. He throws in a little samba as Stephens watches uncertainly. Stephens covers up after a Cerrone feint, and Cerrone looks like he's just trying to entertain himself in an easy sparring session. Stephens comes back with a one-two, throwing hard still, but he just can't get going. Cerrone dances in and chops Stephens down with another leg kick. Takedown by Cerrone in the final minute, just to be sure the round is his, and it is. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 for Cerrone. Round 3: Inside leg kick by Cerrone to start the third sneaks up into Stephens' groin. That's a hard one, and even Cerrone knows it right away. Stephens is going to take a moment, while Cerrone has the cut on the top of his head from a Stephens elbow at the end of the second tended to. Stephens is feeling better, and Cerrone apologizes as they restart. Cerrone ducks under a combo and tries a takedown, but can't finish. Stephens is bleeding from the eye and the nose, but still coming forward. Another chopping leg kick by Cerrone, and it takes Stephens' leg out from under him. Cerrone keeps on picking away at Stephens. He's not exactly going all out to end it, but neither is he showing much mercy on a battered Stephens, who looks as if he can barely see out of his cut and swollen left eye. Final minute, and Stephens shows that he still has that right hand in reserve, not that he can get close enough to land it. Flying knee attempt by Stephens, but Cerrone ducks under and makes it to the final horn. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 for Cerrone. UFC on FUEL 3 results: Donald Cerrone def. Jeremy Stephens via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

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Donald Cerrone defeated Jeremy Stephens via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) Donald Cerrone showed once again why he is such a feared striker in the lightweight division, completely taking apart Jeremy Stephens over three full rounds and winning a unanimous decision. All three judges had it 30-27 for Cowboy. Stephens was never able to get past Cerrone's reach advantage, while Cerrone lit him up with combinations and brutal leg kicks from the outside. It was a vintage performance from the WEC and UFC bonus machine. Cerrone looked willing to engage early and went inside, where he ate a right hand from Stephens. Cerrone responded with a nice leg kick. Cerrone continued to use a straight-punch-to-leg-kick combination. Cerrone shot in for a takedown but got stuffed. He came back with a nice head kick and a knee. Cowboy pieced together some very nice combinations in the latter half of the first, while Stephens was completely unable to establish his game for pretty much the entire round. Cerrone continued to show off his clear striking advantage in the second, throwing some flashy attacks and landing a mean uppercut that dazed the "Lil Heathen". Stephens recovered, but was constantly coming up short with his punches. Cerrone basically just beat Stephens up, landing whatever he wanted to. Stephens stayed in there, but was covering up a lot and not landing anything appreciable in return. Cerrone got a takedown with 30 seconds to go just to change things up. Stephens landed an elbow that opened up a cut on the top of Cerrone's head. Cerrone landed his patented nut shot to start the third round. When the fight resumed, Cerrone went back to the attack with kicks and combinations. Cerrone chopped Stephens down with a leg kick, but lost his own balance and couldn't capitalize. Cerrone continued to beat up the lead leg, which caused Stephens to limp a bit. Stephens complained about his eye after a body kick, which was weird. Stephens threw a flying knee late but couldn't land it. Cerrone entered the fight looking to rebound from his first loss in the UFC to Nate Diaz, while Stephens SBN coverage of UFC on FUEL TV 3

Posted in: jeremy stephens, leg, cerrone, stephen, combination

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Bantamweight Johnny Eduardo dominated Jeff Curran for the first two rounds and survived a late come back to take a decision. UFC on Fuel TV 3 Results: Johnny Eduardo defeats Jeff Curran by unanimous decision (29-28 x3). Eduardo came out and battered Curran with lead leg kicks and had Curran staggering back to his corner at the end of the first round. Curran, a gritty veteran fired back as he could, landing some strong side kicks to Eduardo's chest. In the second Curran came out limping a bit and Eduardo lept forward to hack at his legs with machete chop leg kicks. Curran staggered and waved like a palm tree in the breeze. Curran, primarily a grappler, was unable or unwilling to take the fight to the ground. His one strong shot of the second was stuffed effortlessly. As Curran weakened, Eduardo loosened up and landed a number of unusual spinning strikes as well as more leg kicks. Eduardo utterly outclassed Curran on the feet and that continued in the third round. Curran poked Eduardo in the eye and the ref didn't see it. Eduardo asked for a stoppage but the referee didn't see it and forced him to continue. Curran capitalized to land some punches and Eduardo complained to no avail again, apparently about a head butt or perhaps another poke. That seemed to give Eduardo the space he needed to recover but Curran began to connect with rights. He added a winging overhand left as the round ended. SBN coverage of UFC on FUEL TV 3

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I like to say all teenage mutant ninja turtles like pizza, but that's a negative stereotype. I haven't even met a teenage mutant ninja turtle. That's like saying all teenage mutant ninja turtles wear primary colored headbands and have a strong obsession with pizza. I'm not sure if that's true because I've never encountered turtles that were laced in mutagen and trained by an ancient sewer rat. That day will come, and when it does I will be ready for it. It's also not accurate to claim that all leg checks result in gruesome leg breaks, however this past weekend at Total Combat 47 in Durham, England, this was absolutely true. Check out Gerry Hopkins' leg after his threw a leg kick that was checked by his opponent in just thirteen seconds of the first round. Hopkins was rushed to the hospital shortly after the incident. Now behold, a leg break that would even make Paul Harris blush. Props to Ben over at MMA HQ for the find.

Posted in: leg, turtle, ninja turtles, leg breaks, sewer rat

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The stakes were high last night (May 5, 2012) for the UFC on FOX 3 main event between lightweights Nate Diaz and Jim Miller in East Ruthorford, New Jersey, and expectations were met or exceeded on just about all accounts. Diaz had a potential title shot on the line while Miller was hoping to secure one more huge victory to get himself into the title picture as well. The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season five winner seemingly had a wrestling disadvantage, but Miller was unable to capitalize on it. The biggest surprise of all was Miller, a man who'd never been stopped despite three losses to top five current UFC lightweights in 24 previous fights, being forced to tap out to a Diaz guillotine choke. So how in the world did the proud Stockton native submit such a high level Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt? And what's next for both terrific fighters?Follow me after the jump for our Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller UFC on FOX 3 post-fight review and analysis: Miller tried to put pressure on Diaz early, pushing him into the fence and working to mix in dirty boxing, knees and takedown attempts, but Diaz hung tough and was able to remain standing. It was a very grueling pace and Diaz was able to escape and create distance again. In striking range, Miller tried to land some leg kicks but Diaz countered with his incredibly accurate boxing. Diaz's punching flustered Miller and the New Jersey native was unable to find his range with his boxing, repeatedly coming up short with his overhand left and right hands. Miller switched to single-leg takedown attempts but again they were unsuccessful. As he tried to circle to his left, Diaz pounced with a beautiful 1-2 combination which blasted through his defenses and actually sent the hard-headed AMA Fight Club member to the ground. The wounded Miller went to his bread and butter which was the ground game and both men traded sweeps and top position for the final 30 seconds. In the decisive second round, both men stalemated in the clinch before resetting in the cage center and this was where Diaz completely took over. It started with a simple wiggle of his fingers, then it was dropping both hands to his sides before wading in and throwing solid knees up close and personal. After the next separation, the taunts started flowing from Diaz and Miller took the bait, leaping in with a wild flying knee as Diaz countered with a swift combination. He continued to taunt, noticing Miller's reaction and Miller mixed up his attack with a front kick to the face but Diaz just slapped his own face as to make it seem like Miller couldn't hurt him. Once in the clinch, Diaz had a "come on mother fucker" get bleeped out and it was noticeable that Miller was breathing heavily here out of his mouth. Miller, after eating several more knees and beginning to bleed heavily from his nose, began to get increasingly desperate. This led to Miller rushing forward with a takedown attempt, missing with his left leg trip and finding himself badly caught in Diaz's web. The Cesar Gracie product's guillotine wasn't completely locked in at first but he had Miller in all sorts of trouble, eventually stepping over and mounting him, which is just about the worst position to be in while being choked out and Miller had no choice left but to tap out. For Jim Miller, he was simply outclassed. Diaz thwarted him at just about every turn and he had some major issues landing his punches from a distance. His best attack was in the clinch with short strikes and his leg kicks from the pocket but even then, he was constantly getting countered and getting as good as he was giving. If I had any suggestions, it would have been to work his leg kicks more and to aggressively shoot in for a double leg takedown when Diaz was building momentum rather than trying to fire back with flying knees and front kicks. Those just played into Diaz's game be creating openings in his defenses which Diaz continued to exploit. Miller has repeatedly put on great fights, but he has also come up short now every time against the elite in the division. Unfortunately, with this loss, he's almost certainly out of title contention for a significant period and will likely become a high level gatekeeper. I wouldn't be surprised to see him face the upcoming loser of the Gray Maynard vs. Clay Guida fight. Other options include the Donald Cerrone vs. Jeremy Stephens loser or perhaps the loser of Jacob Volkmann vs. Paul Sass. For Nate Diaz, this was a masterful performance. He was able to avoid taking much damage in the clinch and utilized his length very well. I loved that he mixed in more knees and even some leg kicks to diversify his striking attack and keep Miller guessing. Best of all was once he got comfortable in the striking exchanges and starting trash-talking and taunting. Miller is such a blue-collar worker in MMA, it was insane to see him lose his composure. Diaz took advantage of every opening that Miller gave him during his wild attacks and then capitalized on Miller's desperation with that takedown attempt in the second round, reversing it swiftly into an offensive attack of his own. This fight answered a lot of Diaz's critics in terms of his ability to fend off some takedowns against a tough wrestler. Granted, Miller is a very well-rounded fighter and not just a wrestler, but Diaz was able to avoid being put on his back repeatedly and was quick to sweep, throw submissions or get back to his feet in all the brief instances where he was put on the ground. There's no need to speculate. Nate Diaz will wait for a title shot. He mentioned he wanted some time off anyways in his post-fight interview so he has no problem with potentially having to wait until the end of 2012 before fighting again considering it will be for the title this time. Diaz will fight the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson next. That leaves Anthony Pettis out to dry, but that's not Diaz's problem whatsoever. For complete UFC on FOX 3 results, including blow-by-blow, fight-by-fight coverage of the entire event as well as immediate post-fight reaction click here, here and here. So what did you think, Maniacs? Are you now a believer in this new and improved Nate Diaz 2.0 in the lightweight division? Is he a serious threat to become the next UFC champion at 155 pounds? What would you do with Jim Miller next? Sound off!

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Alan Belcher just took the MMA world's expectations and blissfully urinated on them in the first round at UFC on FOX: Diaz vs. Miller. Yesterday at the weigh-ins, I overheard an MMA fan state 'Belcher just comitted suicide signing the fight with Palhares, he's going to get his leg ripped off!' A girl walking next to the fan heard this and responded with 'How can you say something like that? That's my dad!' I'm not sure if she was just trolling, but that actually happened yesterday. Just a few seconds into the bout, Paul Harris rushed Belcher and managed to take him down with a forceful single leg. Once Palhares grabbed the leg, everyone inside the IZOD center gasped in hopes they would be the one to catch Belcher's leg after Palhares yanked it off and tossed it in the air.After Belcher managed to survive Rousimar's initial onslaught, he got him in what appeared to be a modified twister, WWE style. Seeing that pretzeling Paul Harris was futile, Belcher posturied up and carpeted Rousimar's face with an array of bombs, enough to get the TKO win in the first round.

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The UFC on FOX 3: "Diaz vs. Miller" main card going down tonight (Sat., May 5, 2012) in New Jersey started with a heavyweight slugfest and kept right on rolling with a middleweight mash up pitting the streaking Alan Belcher against Brazilian tree stump Rousimar Palhares. Belcher, though only competing three times in the past two years, came in on a three-fight win streak. Palhares, meanwhile, also came in having emerged victorious in his last three fights, two of which came by way of his trademark leg lock. Unbelievably enough, he had a hold of one of Belcher's legs in this fight, too. And it looked like he was taking it home with him but "The Talent" proved wily enough on the mat to not only attempt a submission of his own, but to get out of bad positions on multiple occasions. Even more impressive was how he ended the fight. Once Belcher turned around into Palhares' guard, he started raining down elbows and before long, the Brazilian was staring up at the lights, which were on but nobody was home. In the post-fight interview, Belcher said he was coming for the middleweight title. We believe you, sir. The size difference was noticeable quickly, as Belcher towered over the much shorter Palhares. Belcher had Rousimar pushed up against the fence but the Brazilian quickly shot for a leg and got a quick takedown. Immediately after, they tangled up on the floor, and while Belcher looked as though he might threaten with a submission, Palhares quickly grabbed a leg lock. And that meant trouble. At least it seemed that way at first. To his credit, Belcher busted hump to kick out of the submission. The Brazilian looked like he had a knee, an ankle, a leg, a thigh, a hip, all of it. But "The Talent" still managed to move and avoid getting tapped by the submission specialist. Suddenly, Belcher started throwing huge elbows that were landing strong. In fact, Palhares stopped defending and not long after the referee stepped in to stop the fight. What a ground war between two super talented middleweights. And all for free on FOX. I think UFC President Dana White just tweeted a smiley face. Remember, too, that MMAmania.com has live ongoing coverage of the UFC on FOX 3 event with blow-by-blow coverage of all the night's action right here.

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In terms of consistency, Jim Miller may be the best 155-pound mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster. Having fought inside the Octagon since late 2008, the New Jersey native has seen victory 10 times and defeat only twice. The two men who were able to beat Miller were former number one contender Gray Maynard and current lightweight champion Ben Henderson. Not exactly a couple of guys who anyone would consider bums. Conversely, his victories include wins over Mac Danzig, Duane Ludwig and Melvin Guillard. Again, not a list of lightweights to be taken lightly. The latter two, in fact, were stopped by Miller before the midway point of the opening round. For the second time, Miller finds himself fighting for a title shot when he takes on Nate Diaz in the main event of this Saturday's (May 5, 2012) UFC on Fox 3: "Diaz vs. Miller" card. He was promised a crack at the belt had he defeated "Smooth," but the former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) champion came out on top and got the chance to tangle with Frankie Edgar in Japan. Miller's opponent this weekend is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Cesar Gracie, but then again, the AMA Fight Club product is no slouch on the ground, either. And he proved his advancement wasn't a mere trophy belt when he met Charles Oliveira at UFC 124 in Montreal. Let's take a look at how that fight played out: They touch gloves in the center of the Octagon and Miller pops off two quick jabs. His Brazilian opponent answers with a head kick Miller is able to block. The American pressures "Do Bronx" against the cage but Oliveira drops levels and snags onto one of his opponent's legs. While it would seem Miller is confident enough in his submission defense, willingly engaging someone with the skill set of Oliveira is playing with fire and the American isn't looking to get burned. He spins out, freeing his leg and the two reset. Another head kick from Oliveira nearly hits its mark but again is blocked. The Brazilian goes low the next time around and smacks his shin against Miller's inside thigh. Miller responds with a straight but "Do Bronx" covers up instantly and avoids damage. For an esteemed grappler, Oliveira's striking looks crisp in the opening moments of the bout. A third head kick seems to wobble the New Jersey native momentarily but he pushes through and grabs onto his opponent's legs. He grinds Oliveira against the cage and shifts all of his focus onto a single leg in hopes of taking the fight to the mat. Miller is able to but the Brazilian grabs a hold of his neck in hopes of securing a guillotine choke. The American begins to shifts to sidemount to avoid the submission but his opponent wisely hustles to keep him in either half-guard or guard where the choke has a greater likelihood of taking hold. As Miller works towards a more advantageous position, "Do Bronx" releases the choke and tries to apply a kimura but the American is able to avoid this submission as well. Now in Oliveira's full guard, Miller begins to land small punches to the head and body as his opponent starts to shift around on the mat, looking for a possible triangle choke. Oliveira nearly lands it but Miller is able to avoid getting wrapped up. As they jockey for position on the mat, Miller takes a vertical base and "Do Bronx" gets to work on the American's leg. As Oliveira's attention is focused on the lower limb of his opponent, he fails to realize his own leg is sticking right in front of Miller's face. The America grabs hold of the ankle, spins around and falls to the Octagon floor with a thud. He begins to crank Oliveira's leg back, putting extreme pressure on the knee which "Do Bronx" responds to by landing a few hard punches to Miller's ribs. One more slight crank, though, is all Miller needs to elicit a tap out from the grappling standout. Can the New Jersey native pull off an equally unlikely submission this Saturday?

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Back in early April, our own Anton Tabuena was in attendance at ONE FC 3: War of the Lions. At that event, we saw Masakazu Imanari make his promotional debut against Kevin Belingon, the popular and young Filipino URCC champion. Imanari may not have the best record at 25-10-2, but he is one of the most feared grapplers within mixed martial arts for his ability to break knees and ankles in seconds with freaky leglocks. Belingon went in confident that he could maintain enough base and force this into a stand-up battle - which Imanari loves to engage in, despite mostly losing them. However, early on in the first round, Imanari had Belingon defending a very deep heel hook by hopping around like a madman hellbent upon escaping a manacle. The defense did not work or were too late and Imanari got the tap at 1:18 of the first round. Join us after the jump for some GIFs and analysis by our stellar Judo Chopper and grappler, Patrick Tenney. For further reference, it may be worth going through our compendium of leglock Judo Chops from the past few years: Ed Herman Heel Hooks Kyle Noke From the 50/50 Guard | Rousimar Palhares Heel Hooks Tomas Drwal and David Branch | A Look At How Rousimar Palhares Sets Up His Leglocks And The Win Over Mike Massenzio | Patrick Tenney Breaks Down Charles Oliveira's Calf Slicer On Eric Wisely | T.P. Grant On Shogun Rua And The Fight-Saving Leglock Against Dan Henderson | Ben Thapa on Shogun Rua's Half Guard Game and How Jon Jones Shut It Down | Kid Nate and Patrick Tenney on Patricio Pitbull's Heelhook Finish of William Romero The 50/50 guard to the knee reap and inverted heel hook is a favorite tactic Masakazu Imanari hits his opponents with in his fights. He transitions very quickly from either the classic 50/50 or the knee reap 50/50 to a leglock and usually has his opponents either frantically working to escape or frantically trying to tap within seconds. Patrick Tenney: I am 100% convinced that Imanari throws the kick and overcommits or intentionally makes it look like he slips just to get Belingon to rush into the ground fight. Belingon makes an enormous mistake during the rush in when he allows his right leg to come in between those of Imanari. This pretty much activated the trap card... Imanari crosses his left leg under the thigh of Belingon's right leg and over the hip/knee, which twists the knee out and drops Belingon. While Belingon is dropping, the leg placement of Imanari simultaneously opening up the heel - which Imanari deftly secures by weaving his arm under and catching the heel. Belingon tries to turn and run out - but after only 30 seconds or so. Doing that against a leg lock specialist of Imanari's caliber? Good luck with that. To defend, Belingon tries to maintain his base in the position and rotate his knee into a more natural angle. Imanari uses his right leg to pressure Belingon downwards, while also blocking his escape route (of turning to the outside and slipping straight away). You can see Belingon try to break Imanari's hand grips with his own hand, but that's just not a feasible defense in this situation. Ben Thapa: If I may interject, what Patrick means by "pressure" here is Imanari using his right leg on the left shoulder of Belingon to off-balance him and guide him downwards. Patrick Tenney: Belingon has been brought fully to the ground now by Imanari and continues trying to put his leg at a better angle. At this point, Imanari transitions over to his own side and eventually goes fully inverted to keep control of the heel and start torquing the knee. Belingon needs desperately to keep Imanari directly in front of him when he tries to stand, but Imanari rolls through and re-traps the heel on the outside again. When Belingon tries to stand back up, yet again Imanari is shutting down the escape. Imanari finally secures the heel while also being able to control Belingon's hips with his knee reap. You can see Imanari turning the heel over with his elbow catch and rotating the heel/ankle in the opposite direction of the knee - which forces Belingon to finally tap or risk horrible damage to his knee ligaments (a la Imanari vs Jorge Gurgel back in 2003). This is a graphic lesson that fighters need to learn when competing against Imanari: you cannot be impatient, you have to attack him from the outside and unless you're 110% sure that he is almost knocked out, you cannot engage him when he's on the ground (whether it looks like he slipped or not). The lessons that can be learned from fighting Imanari can be applied readily to other fighters - especially the likes of Rousimar Palhares - and in competitive no gi Brazilian jiu jitsu or submission grappling, leglocks are the most preferred avenue of attack for most competitors. They can do serious damage and are easier to latch onto than arms or necks.

Posted in: leg, imanari, knee, belingon, heel

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Now you see them, now you don't. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight contender Alan Belcher is no stranger to the submission aspect of mixed martial arts (MMA). He is, after all, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and his last two victories have come via tapout. Though "The Talent" has faced some experienced grapplers in his time, it's safe to say he has yet to encounter someone with the submission talents that are on the same level as the man he will go toe-to-toe with this weekend (May, 5, 2012) at UFC on Fox 3 in Rousimar Palhares. Belcher (via MMA Weekly) appreciates the ground game of the Brazilian, but plans to surprise some people with his defensive moves aimed at preventing the submission wizard from claiming yet another victim. Those comments, after the jump. "You can't over train and over think it. The more you train, the more you are going to be prepared for it. Where people make mistakes, it's that they don't believe in the power of leg locks and foot locks and stuff. I mean, I was getting a little bit like that myself, but you know, in the Jiu-Jitsu community, you train everything. Leg locks, for years, a lot of people never figured out how to defend them because they'd be, 'Oh, I can't get caught at the high level.' Lately, the last couple of years, foot locks have made a huge comeback and there are some awesome technicians like Rousimar Palhares has proved. So, I think people going into a fight here just thinking, 'Yeah, well, you can't get me in that. I'll just turn out of it or twist put of it and pull my leg out or I will just punch him in the face or something.' Then they get their knee hurt. I'm aware of what I have to do and how dangerous those situations can be. That is something that will give me an advantage. He will feel it right away when he tries to grapple with me or go for my legs. They just won't be there, I will block and avoid, break him down and really frustrate him. I am going to surprise some people." "Toquinho" has five submission victories during his time with the UFC, including three by heel hook, which just so happen to be his specialty. You can bet that once the Octagon door closes behind them, Palhares will be looking to snatch one of Belcher's legs like a starving rabid dog looking for a bone. What say you, can Belcher stop the relentless submission attempts of Rousimar? Or will the stocky Brazilian black belt be successful in doing what he does best, and make his foes tap? Opinions, please.

Posted in: belcher, submission, leg, people, rousimar

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UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar was a guest on HDNet's Inside MMA last night, and had an amusing story to tell about an overseas trip to visit U.S. troops. Bonnar, Rich Franklin, and Keith Jardine went to Bahrain, and it took "The American Psycho" a while to get out. And he didn't get out unscathed. Here's the story (transcription via MMA Mania): "We're getting ready to leave Bahrain, and I get detained at the airport. Jardine and Franklin get on the flight, and they take me in the room. They're asking me all these questions, and they're furious. One guy's coming in the room and pointing at me, all furious, like that. And, what I think is that, I had on the 'Young Assassin' shirt, with Melvin Guillard, and there's a guy with a turban with his brains spillin' out. I don't think they liked that too much." Catch the rest of the story, including what caused the nasty wound the in picture, after the jump. "There was only one flight out for the day at 9:30 p.m. The United flight that I was on. They kept me at the airport so long, I missed my flight. I had to wait till the next day to get on the flight. So, I'm tired. I'm sleeping at the airport, and all of a sudden, I wake up to a burning sensation on my leg. It scared me. I went and brushed down on my leg and, sure enough, a spider about the size of my hand comes crawling out of my pant leg and takes off running! I couldn't believe my eyes! This big camel spider goes under the door. I try to chase it. I lose it, and then, my God, my leg swells up, I get a fever, it's getting infected...but, hey, I'm getting the heck out of there. The next night, I'm on that 9:30 flight, I'm ready to board that flight when, lo and behold...THAT flight gets canceled! So I'm stuck there another day! So, I had the option of going in for an antibiotic IV or stay in the hospital a few days, but instead, I opted to go the oral route, three different kinds of antibiotics, and I got on that flight that next day and got the hell out of there! God bless America!" Bonnar last stepped into the cage at UFC 139 where he defeated Kyle Kingsbury by unanimous decision.

Posted in: day, leg, bonnar, im, flight

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Going into the UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans fight card, there was quite a bit of excitement in certain quarters at the prospect of Lightweight strikers Anthony Njokuani vs. John Makdessi, a classic clash of styles. Njokuani is a text-book Muay Thai stylist who cleaves to what MMA fans think of as the fundamentals of good MMA striking. Makdessi is a Taekwondo/Shotokan Karate specialist whose unorthodox strikes had garnered him a fair bit of hype. Related: Thompson, Makdessi, Njokuani And The Evolution Of Striking | John Makdessi Brings Taekwondo Kicks to the UFC | Just How Good Is The Striking Of Jon Jones?| UFC 145: Jones Vs. Evans - Preliminary Card Dissection | The Techniques Of Jon Jones And Rashad Evans | Can Rashad Evans Stand With Jon Jones? Fans were wondering if Makdessi's unusual style would be able to overcome Njokuani's Thai approach. It's important to note that the 6'1" Njokuani brought a 75.5" reach to meet the 5'8" Makdessi and his 68" reach so it wasn't a pure test of styles. But what we do know now is that Makdessi's TKD style didn't do much to help him overcome Njokuani's height and reach advantage. Njokuani was able to use his leg kicks to largely disable Makdessi's lead leg -- the leg that so much of Makdessi's arsenal depends on. "It was good but I wish I got what I really wanted: a knockout or a submission. I'm tired of getting decisions, I'm disappointed in myself for that reason but happy I got the win," said Njokuani after the fight. "My leg kicks had to take out his legs because he relies on his legs so much. It was a great fight, he's a tough dude and he didn't go down." Makdessi might want to consider cutting down to 145lbs and making the Featherweight limit after his second straight loss at 155lbs. He drops to 2-2 in the UFC and we've seen that he can be bullied by bigger strikers and grapplers in the Lightweight class. Njokuani improves to 2-2 in the UFC and has a chance to establish himself as a long-term gatekeeper in the division, if not a contender. SBN coverage of UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans

Posted in: ufc, jone, leg, njokuani, makdessi

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Rory MacDonald continued cementing his place as a "must see" talent in the welterweight division with his destruction of Che Mills at UFC 145. Put in the evening's co-main event slot, MacDonald took the opportunity to shine and ran with it. Here are the highlights of the bout: Here's how we called the action last night: Round 1 - Mills with some hard leg kicks early. Rory gets stung in the stand-up and he is forced to get the takedown to get out of the stand-up. Big right and a flurry of punches by MacDonald. Mills is bleeding and eating more punches. Mounted crucifix now and MacDonald is landing a lot of clean shots. Mills' face is a mess. MacDonald is just destroying him now. 10-8 MacDonald Round 2 - Leg kick by MacDonald and a quick easy single leg. MacDonald pounding away. MacDonald had the mount, Mills gave up his back. MacDonald pouring on the punishment again and Mills has nothing. Back mount and Mills is flattened out and getting pounded and it's over. Rory MacDonald wins by TKO (punches), 2:20 of Round 2

Posted in: leg, rory macdonald, macdonald, mill, rory

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Ever since UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones burst into the consciousness of MMA fans by sending Stephan Bonnar flying over and over again at UFC 94, there has been a great deal of confusion as to how much of Jones' MMA take down game derives from his collegiate Greco-Roman wrestling background and how much he picked up "watching Judo on YouTube" as Jones claims. We asked wrestling Coach Mike Riordan and Dan Pedersen aka JudoNerd, our community judo expert to look at some of Jones' fights and comment on the possible origins of his flashy throws and take downs. Related Articles: Jon Jones Career Part 1 |The Complete Jon Jones Career Part 2 | Jon Jones' Greco-Roman And Judo Clinic On Stephan Bonnar | Jon Jones Front Chancery Chokes Lyoto Machida Unconscious | The Flaws of Jon Jones | Jon Jones Unleashes the Salaverry on Vladimir Matyushenko | Spinning Elbow To Guillotine With Jon Jones Admittedly it's impossible for even a fighter to know exactly where he picked up any given technique in a life time of training, watching fights, watching martial arts movies, reading books, and improvising in the cage. Keeping that in mind we asked our experts to limit their discussion of Jones' approach to how the various moves would be described by a practitioner of that discipline. Dan and Mike take it away after the jump... SBN coverage of UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans Dan Pedersen, aka JudoNerd shared his thoughts on Jones' use of Judo techniques: With Jones you have a guy who has trained Greco-Roman (and therefore has a great base in upper body clinch throws without a gi). So he is obviously primed to learn Judo in the context of MMA, since the off-balancing techniques are so similar between the two sports. On top of that, you have a guy with ridiculously long legs. The throws he uses that look like Judo (e.g., his Osoto Gari on Matt Hamill, his Harai Goshi and De Ashi Barai on Stephan Bonner) are all basically foot sweeps and leg attacks. You never see Jones going for hip tosses like Ronda Rousey, or Seoi Nage like Karo Parisyan. He uses leg techniques, which, in Judo, are the tall man's game. When you have that much of a reach advantage with your lead leg-your attacking leg-you can dispense with all that "lower your hips and get under them" stuff. No more hip tosses or dropping for doubles and singles... just keep the clinch, move them off balance, and use that attacking leg to sweep or throw. With his Greco background, his long legs, and his creativity, I don't think it was very hard for Jones to incorporate these throws. The hardest part of Judo is the movement in the clinch, and he had been working that exclusively for years. Now Coach Riordan goes in-depth on the uses of Jones style techniques in amateur wrestling. Take it away Mike: The first techniques presented for analysis are the foot sweep and hip toss Jones hit in his fight with Stephan Bonnar. I invite the reader to keep the link open in a smaller window while reading the relevant section. My impression is that wrestling uses far less subtle terminology than judo when naming these types of techniques. In wrestling, any move where the foot extends to knock an opponent's foot of the mat is called a foot sweep. Most moves where a hip swivel displaces a leg and propels a throw are called hip tosses. This is true even with throws where the leg is displaced via a reaping motion with the thrower's leg. Applying wrestling nomenclature as best I can, I would call the two moves depicted in the link above a foot sweep and hip toss, perhaps there are better wrestling names available. Footsweeps occur in wrestling, though they are far from a staple. Usually, they come as a result of some judo background or because it is something a wrestler may have simply "figured out" throughout years on a mat. One of the most famous wrestling foot sweeps ever succesfully executed in wrestling is this gem in the 2003, 165 pound NCAA finals where Illinois' Matt Lackey secured his national title against Lehigh's Troy Letters (FUN FACT: Troy made a brief appearance on MTV's "True Life: I'm a College Wrestler"). Lackey performed this technique in other matches, but never with such dramatic effect. This is less a foot sweep and more kicking a guy's legs out from under him, however, this is no mean feat when dealing with an elite wrestler in a stance. Lackey somehow times this perfectly for a spectacular takedown. More similar to the Jones footsweep is the technique demonstrated to the right. This is the Oklahoma State University wrestling room, and the intrepid sweeper pictured is current collegiate superstar, Jordan Oliver. Witnessing this move in high level practice rooms is not uncommon though you rarely see it in an actual match. The move is essentially a reverse lateral drop, where a throw is executed from over/unders toward the under-hook side. The thrower grabs the lat with his under-hook hand and pulls his opponent's leg over an outstretched foot, instigating a trip. Jones pulled Bonnar over his foot in a similar manner but his right hand up and pushes on the head. I don't often see this hand placement on this particular technique in wrestling which suggests that Jones' sweep here is more reflective of judo. I am far from an expert, but I always imagine throwing techniques that involve a leg "reaping" out another leg as paradigmatically judo throws. These sorts of throws do pop-up in wrestling, though somewhat rarely. This sweet throw is Minnesota's Dylan Ness throwing Iowa's Mike Kelly. The situation starts off with Ness in trouble as Mike Kelly seems to have a snake throw locked in. Kelly is going to attempt to yank up on Ness's chin while hipping in, putting Dylan on his back. Unfortunately for Kelly, Ness incredibly resourceful; he maintains the whizzer, pushes Kelly's hips away and steps across to reap Kelly's leg. This results in a visually appealing throw. Throws like this in wrestling are the exception rather than the rule and I beleive that Jones' hip tosses above and below are more the products of Judo. My opinion is based, once again on hand placement. In the Bonnar throw, he rests his hand almost lightly on Bonnar's right arm before throwing him. This is distinctly unwrestler-ish. Wrestlers, at least American wrestlers, are taught to always place their hand heavily on an opponent and if they are touching an arm they are usually pulling it in by hooking around the tricep or pushing it away with their arm extended. Jones is doing neither here, and this is fairly alien to someone used to watching wrestling. To the right is another hip toss from Jones's pre-UFC days. In my mind, the telltale sign of this hip toss being more of a pure judo throw is that Jones pulls his opponent tight using the wrist. Wrestling, for the most part, teaches that throwing handles should be as close to an opponent's trunk as possible and thus you see most wrestling throws involve grabbing the tricep or latissimus dorsi in attempts to anchor the throw. The following link shows Jones's attempted arm spin, and supplex against Bonnar. The arm spin is a wrestling move and one I feel is greatly underutilized in the sport of scholastic wrestling though it is far more common in freestyle and in Greco. This gif depicts what may be the finest arm spin ever hit. This is Eldar Kurtanidze of Georgia throwing Iran's Ali Reza Heidari in the world finals. The name of the game when hitting this move is a quick and complete body rotation by the thrower with the opponents arm pulled extremely tightly around the body. Notice that when Eldar relinquishes the body lock his right hand quickly slides to Heidari's tricep and begins pulling it tight before his left arm comes underneath and finishes the job. Jones' attempt, above, fails, but I am pretty sure this is how he envisioned the move playing out in his head. The supplex, as performed by Jones on Bonnar is, as far as I know, a pure wrestling move and practiced by all Greco wrestlers. The most impressive part is that Jones was able to get the necessary hip pop to arch him over almost instantaneously. This is aided by his grip slipping up to the chest in a sort of "high-gut" position. Hitting the move instantly is a key in an MMA match and I'll explain why. To the right is Garrett Lowney supplexing his Russian opponent, former world champ Gogi Koguashvili. Notice that Lowney first lifts Gogi off the mat and loads him up on his hips by taking some small backsteps; this ensures the high amplitude of the throw. Gogi could simply stick his foot back and hook Lowney's calf with his toe to defuse the move, but this is illegal in Greco where leg to leg contact is outlawed, therefore Lowney is free to lift away. Jones does not have this luxury, however, as Bonnar could conceivably hook his leg, therefore a more spontaneous throw is required. The salto from double overhooks is primarily a Greco move. Throwing from double overs favors a taller man as it requires the thrower to both have his arms over his opponent's arms while loading his hips under his opponents hips. Jones hits this move nicely, keeping the arms tight under the armpits and getting great hip pop. His opponent does him a favor by pressuring hard into him and providing all the momentum needed to complete the technique. In high level Greco matches, wrestlers are mindful not to push in recklessly and therefore momentum must be manufactured by the thrower. In this GIF, Olympic champion, and one time K-1 competitor, Karen Gaber does just that while back arching American R.C. Johnson by taking tiny backsteps mid-throw. Mike Riordan is a high school wrestling coach, unsuccessful division one collegiate wrestler, and student of the sport of wrestling. He is a part time contributor to Bloody Elbow on matters of collegiate and Olympic wrestling.

Posted in: jone, leg, move, hip, judo

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While many MMA fans are getting excited the UFC 145 match between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans, do not forget the absolute treat that awaits the attentive fan this Friday night. One of the most accomplished lightweights in MMA, Shinya Aoki, will be fighting on American soil for just the second time in his career. The Japanese born fighter will be facing former Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez, whom Aoki defeated by heel hook in 2008. Widely considered one of the best in the Lightweight division, Aoki has one of the most diverse and aggressive grappling games in the entire sport. What makes Aoki so dangerous is his ability to seamlessly blend together different styles of grappling. Aoki is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo, as well having trained in the Catch Wrestling based shoot wrestling, Eddie Bravo's 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu and recently has made a commitment to developing his traditional western style wrestling since moving to Evolve MMA. Related Articles Shinya Aoki's New Submission | Shinya Aoki's Next Level Grappling | Judo Chop: Shinya Aoki and the Rear Face Lock | Judo Chop: Shinya Aoki Breaks Mizuto Hirota's Arm Aoki has worked on his stand up in the past and has decent kicks, but his primary goal on the feet is to get things on the mat. While many fans' image of Aoki is as a flopper with no wrestling game after the jump we are going to look at how Aoki gets things on the floor. SBN coverage of Bellator 66 Gifs after the jump... Aoki's challenge has always been closing distance but if Aoki is able to close that distance he has a very good clinch takedown game, in which he shows excellent chain takedown ability. On the left, Aoki catches a leg kick and lunges in for a single leg and then steps behind the leg to try to get a trip takedown. When that doesn't work Aoki switches to a waist lock. Aoki's opponent attempts an Uchi Mata takedown but Aoki's base is too solid. Aoki slips behind his hips and spins him to the ground. This is an excellent example of chaining together techniques that keeps an opponent off balance and on the defensive. Even when his takedowns fail Aoki either transitions to another takedown or right into a submission attempt. (linked gif by Grappo) Slipping around to the back is one of the key's to Aoki's clinch game, from there he has a variety of takedowns. If the opponent defends those takedowns, Aoki will immediately put his hooks in and climb on to the back. If all else fails, Aoki is not afraid at all to pull guard in dramatic fashion. Aoki has long and flexible legs, ideal for playing a very active guard. Aoki has also trained in the 10th Planet system, a style of grappling developed specifically for use in the context of MMA. The centerpiece of the 10th Planet system is the famous rubber guard, which Aoki can make excellent use of because of his flexibility. Aoki playing rubber guard. Photo by Daniel Herbertson of Sherdog Using a combination of traditional guards and the rubber guard, Aoki aggressively sets up submissions from his guard. From his back Aoki is also extremely fond of leg locks. This hardly surprising as one of Aoki's long time training partners is Masakzau Imanari, a leg lock master. Aoki makes heavy use of footlocks, especially against American grapplers because Aoki believes they are less experienced at defending against leg locks. Aoki spinning for a heel hook against Eddie Alvarez, Gif by Smoogy Aoki's training in shoot grappling has given him a killer instinct when it comes to footlocks not found in your common BJJ black belt. In his first fight with Alvarez, Aoki found himself on bottom with Alvarez advancing towards mount. Aoki adapts a classic BJJ escape when the top man kicks his leg over to mount. As Alvarez kicks his left leg over it takes weight off of his right leg. Aoki turns hard toward that right leg, but instead of just getting back into half guard as in the classic escape, Aoki slips under for the heel hook. This awareness for opportunities combined with a creative flair is what makes Aoki so dynamic on the mat. It is because of joint awareness and flair that Aoki is able to use such a diverse array of techniques, including many not seen commonly in MMA. The Aoki-plata, Gif from MMA-Core.com One of the most famous examples is the Aoki-plata, which is a gogoplata shin choke from the mount that he used to tap out Katsuhiko Nagata. It is a move that requires a great deal of flexibility and control. it is originally an Eddie Bravo submission take comes from the mount, but Aoki has made this submission his own. From the mount Aoki keeps his weight heavy and slides his leg around the shoulder, in what is called the "gangsta lean mount" in the 10th Planet nomenclature. Aoki then slides his foot across the bottom man's face, until gets to the other side of the head. The shin then is across the neck and Aoki pulls on the back of the head to tighten the choke, forcing a tap. Another famous Aoki moment came when he used a Judo technique called Waki Gatame, which is a takedown that uses a straight arm lock to force an opponent to the mat. If the opponent fights the takedown at all the arm can be broken and used to be illegal in Judo competitions because it caused too many injuries. Aoki adapted the Waki Gatame to MMA and actually snapped Keith Wisniewski's arm while still standing using that technique. While Aoki is an amazing grappler, he is a liability on the feet and doesn't have the most stout chin. As a result Aoki's fights are almost never dull as he is normally either working for a submission or living on borrowed time on the feet, a exciting finish often results either way. So take some this Friday and have a Bellator appetizer for your UFC meal on Saturday. And as a primer, here is Aoki pulling off the Waki Gatame in just his fifth professional fight. (Skip to about 2 min for the submission)

Posted in: aoki, leg, takedown, guard, submission

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Two exciting welterweights entered the Octagon with vastly different gameplans yesterday (April 14, 2012) when John Maguire took on DaMarques Johnson on the UFC on Fuel TV 2 main card yesterday in Stockholm, Sweden. One (Maguire), wanted to take the fight to the canvas where he could show off his effective grappling and ground and pound while the other (Johnson) wanted to stand and trade where he could land his powerful kicks and punches on the feet. Unfortunately for Johnson, he was unable to remain upright for as long as he would have liked as he repeatedly found himself on his back and eventually suffered the consequences. So how was Maguire able to stifle Johnson's attack and eventually overwhelm him? And what's next for both fightters? Follow me after the jump for our John Maguire vs DaMarques Johnson UFC on Fuel TV 2 post-fight review and analysis: Johnson quickly took command of the striking exchanges early, landing a series of nice high inside leg kicks which painfully attacked that nerve in the upper thigh. Maguire quickly decided he'd had enough of that and closed the distance with a looping overland left which forced Johnson to defend just long enough for him to grab a single leg and turn the corner, taking the fight to the ground. Once on the canvas, Johnson wasn't completely defenseless. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt attacked with an omaplata from his back and nearly swept Maguire but was unable to land on top position during the resulting scramble. Maguire patiently advanced his attack throughout the round, eventually taking Johnson's back in the final 30 seconds but was unable to score a finish before the horn. In the second round, Maguire wasted no time at all closing the distance and connecting with another overhand left before grabbing a single leg and dumping Johnson on his back. Johnson was ready for him this time, however, and he was able to sweep Maguire the second he dropped to the canvas and take top position on the ground. Johnson attacked with a few elbows and even passed to side control before Maguire wisely turtled and worked his way back to his feet. In the stand-up, Maguire had some serious issues dealing with Johnson's powerful leg kicks, showing noticeable frustration when Johnson repeatedly connected to the inside of his right thigh. When Johnson got a little too close for comfort, though, Maguire was able to score a takedown from the clinch which led to a magnificent fight-ending sequence. After passing to half guard, Johnson held on and was attempting to attack with a Kimura from bottom, but he was not in a very good position to actually do anything with the hold. Instead, Maguire passed to side control, grabbed one of Johnson's free arms which had just moments before been attacking him and then stepped over into an absolutely beautiful armbar along the fence. Once he extended Johnson's arm, "Darkness" was forced to tap or snap and he wisely choose to tap out. The finish was so impressive it earned Maguire "Submission of the Night" honors in a night filled with a total of six submission victories. For DaMarques Johnson, he had his moments, but his inability to fend off the takedown or take full advantage of his opportunities was his downfall here. He didn't follow up his strong leg kicks with good punches to the head and he very unwisely clinched with Maguire after standing back up in the second round. Lastly, he continued to attack with a Kimura from bottom after clearly losing the position to do anything with it and that ended up being his downfall. He's still an exciting welterweight who always produces finishes in his fight so I think they'll keep him around, especially since he's not on a losing streak or anything. I'd like to see him take on fellow UFC on Fuel loser Papy Abedi. Either that or fellow recent losers David Mitchell or perhaps Dan Stittgen For John Maguire, he needed to take this fight to the ground and attack with his superior grappling and he did just that. I would have liked to see him throw a few more strikes once in a favorable position to soften Johnson up, but he ended up finishing the fight via submission so who am I to tell him what to do? His takedowns were solid and were set up very nicely with that big, looping overhand left. Hopefully he can continue to set up his takedowns well in the future. Now that he's 2-0 in the UFC, I'd like to see Maguire get a boost in competition level. Fellow event winners Siyar Bahurdazada, Simeon Thoresen or James Head would all be interesting opponents. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see what he's capable of once he faces someone who he can't manhandle on the ground. So what did you think, Maniacs? Was Maguire's exciting finish enough to earn him "Submission of the Night" honors on a night filled with tapouts? Do you see him ever breaking out of the crowded middle of the UFC's welterweight division? Sound off! For complete UFC on Fuel TV 2 results, including blow-by-blow, fight-by-fight coverage of the entire event as well as immediate post-fight reaction click here, here and here.

Posted in: johnson, maguire, ufc, fight, leg

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Welcome Mike Riordan to the Bloody Elbow grappling team. I like mixed martial arts in cages. I've heard critics dismiss the cage as a mere trinket of showmanship cooked up by the Gracies. No matter the rationale for its creation, I believe the cage is a boon to MMA, distinguishing it from any other sport and delineating it as an altogether new and unique product. Other detractors claim the cage results in a less realistic simulation of real combat, diminishing the fulfillment of MMA's central mission. I fail to understand this viewpoint as most actual fights I have seen have not taken place in empty meadows far from civilization; rather, they usually take place confined in areas in close proximity to rigid or at least semi-rigid barriers. Related Judo Chops Luke Rockhold Puts On A Cage Crawling Clinic Against Jacare Souza Luke Rockhold Jump Kick to Spin Kick The cage serves as a reasonable representation of these barriers. Not only does the cage function as a realistic environmental barrier it also possesses untapped potential to be used as a propulsion mechanism for many exciting fighting techniques. This entry looks at Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza's last fight against Bristol Marunde at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey and how Souza uses the cage in exciting new ways. More SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey Before a returning to discussing Jacare, first a little bit of foundational stuff that isn't as tangential as it may appear on first blush. Any practicioner of the grappling arts is aware of the fact that it is generally much easier to work a grounded opponent than one who is on their feet. By extension, once you ground an opponent, if you believe you can accomplish something meaningful while atop your opponent, you would prefer to keep him grounded. Therefore, when a grounded opponent seeks to stand up and escape your control, it is helpful to be able to return the opponent to the ground in a controlled manner. The discipline of American folkstyle wrestling (I prefer to call it scholastic wrestling and will do so from here on out) excels at teaching its practitioners controlled "mat-returns" when and opponent stands from bottom with his back to his opponent. In Freestyle and Greco wrestling stand-ups are comparatively rare as they leave one open to a high amplitude/exposure big point scoring move such as a suplex. In scholastic, the stress is on control rather than exposure, wrestlers receive no points for simply returning an opponent to the mat and therefore a move such as a suplex, even if it were legal in scholastic, would be less desirable as it could easily result in the loss of control. For this reason, a fighter intent on finishing a contest on the ground is best served executing a mat return which maintains control throughout. It makes sense to say that the same could be said for mat return situations in fights. Supplexes are flashy but will inflict an unpredictable amount of damage and can squander a position of control. Kevin Randleman learned this the hard way against Fedor. At higher levels of scholastic wrestling, the primary option for returning an opponent to a mat is to lock at the waist, step around the opponent, pop the hips to lift then pull him over your knee and onto his face. Two time NCAA champ Matt Valenti demonstrates below: Notice his hands are locked to the same side he steps to, this torgues the opponent away from him when he lifts and returns. Were the bottom man facing him he could potentially engage in a variety of funky shenanigans. Matt also steps around to the right side which will put him on his opponents off side. Most wrestlers are slightly worse at working from bottom when their opponent is on their right side. He also, upon landing, immediately reaches beneath the arm of his partner and grabs the wrist. The other move we are starting to see used more as a mat return on the college is this snazzy look-away whip over trip. Here demonstrated by Jordan Olliver on Illinois' B.J. Futrell. On lower level of wrestling, you most commonly see simple trips used as mat returns. Some coaches will instruct their pupils to trip their opponent backward if their weight is coming back, and to trip them forward if their "nose is in front of their toes." Here is the closest thing I could come to a gif of the latter scenario as Dustin Schlatter front trips some Kyrgystani guy after getting behind him on a nice outside step single leg. See how he pushes off his left leg while displacing his opponents right leg with his right leg. It doesn't get any simpler when bringing a guy to the mat. In Jacare Souza's last fight versus Bristol Marunde, Jacare uses a similar technique to bring his opponent to the ground, only he does so with an inventive twist. First off Jacare goes underneath Marunde's arms with a body lock. I won't call it a bear hug as I usually reserve that term for the technique that collapses the opponent's lumbar inward and sends his shoulder falling to the mat. Souza drives forward with the lock and starts to hip in. At this point Marunde really needs to be tougher with the whizzer and try increase the leverage on it by angling his right hip up and away from Jacare, as this is the only thing keeping Jacare from taking his back. Alas, Marunde isn't a strong enough wrestler to do this and his arm slips uselessly to Jacare's head. Souza now has Marunde's back, Marunde's nose is well in front of his toes, all Jacare has to do to bring him to the mat with a simple front trip, the same as shown above. However, Jacare decides to get inventive, he executes a front trip, but instead of pressuring forward with his rear leg planted on the mat, his back leg mule kicks off the cage like a swimmer in a turn. This looks really cool and it really increases the forward force as he trips Marunde. Unfortunately, it created so much force that I believe it causes Jacare to land on his left hip, far enough out of position to be unable to maintain control of Marunde's back. This occurrence of pushing off the cage would be fairly unremarkable, but it is made interesting in light of the fact that Jacare employs another cage-propulsion based grappling technique later in the fight. A control technique common to several grappling disciplines involves inserting legs underneath the legs of a grounded opponent, belly to back, while both facing the same direction. Joe Rogan calls it "putting the hooks in." I'm just a simple wrestling coach, the country rube of the martial arts world. I know nothing of this ornate and learned jiu-jitsu nomenclature. I call it throwing in legs. I always will. In scholastic wrestling, the act of throwing legs in on opponent who stands from bottom so that the bottom man supports the entirety of the top man's weight, is almost always done as a means of forcing a stalemate. When a wrestler is in top position in scholastic, the end goal of any of his actions must be to work for a pin. Anything other than this is the illegal act of stalling. Throwing legs in when a guy is on his feet leaves the top wrestler with no recourse but to simply hold on, he is merely preventing his opponent from escaping control, this is not working for a pin, it therefore is a stall. Please view the clip below. This is the Big Ten finals featuring Lance Palmer of The Ohio State and now of MMA, and Iowa great Brent Metcalf. Once Palmer is off the mat and hanging from Brent's back, there is really nothing Palmer can do t return him to the mat. He can't simply hang heavier to one side or the other, Metcalf is a world class wrestler and is too solid in the standing position. Palmer's use of this tactic can almost be described as cynical, he knows he is stalling, Metcalf knows and waves his arms out in frustration and the ref identifies it and raises his fist to call the infraction. But what if this action took place adjacent to a rigid structure like a wall or even the side of a cage? Lance Palmer could ever so cleverly push off of the cage with his free foot causing both combatants to fall to the mat while maintaining control of his opponents back. This actually happens in Jacare's match with Marunde. Portrayed in the two gifs below. Once again, Jacare gets the body lock, and once again, for reasons I do not understand, Marunde does not whizzer at all and simply obliges Souza by presenting his back. At least Marunde has the presence of mind to block Jacare's attempts to throw the leg in on the right side though Jacare looks perfectly content to simply step around and throw the leg in on the left side. Here is where Souza tries something that is almost pretty darned sweet. While Marunde is supporting his weight, Jacare reaches his leg all the way behind him, plants his foot on the cage, and kicks. Once again the result is really cool looking. Both men spiral to the mat and were Jacare to maintain back control and finish the fight from there, then we would really have witnessed something truly notable. Unfortunately, Jacare lands out of position once again and losses his position. I wonder if had Marunde been a truly dangerous opponent like, say, Melvin Guillard, would Jacare had initiated the choke immediately after throwing the leg and pulled Marunde back, ending the fight thusly? I'm pretty certain he could have and this raises the possibility that Souza had little or no regard for Marunde and was simply hot-dogging. At least hot-dogging is usually fun to watch, and in this case resulted in some meaningful innovation. Jacare's uses of the cage as a means bring his opponent to the ground from behind were probably superfluous and they definitely didn't work as well as they could have. They are still interesting. Fighters have only begun to exploit the cage as a constructive element in grappling and striking techniques, Jacare's cage use in his fight against Marunde is hopefully the harbinger of more ingenius cage based technique in the future.

Posted in: jacare, cage, opponent, leg, marunde

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Promoted from the fan posts by Kid Nate. It would be nice to have an imaginary world where we could reliably predict a wrestlers success in MMA by watching to see how they blast through double leg takedowns again and again. However, we live in the real world and that simple reduction of the difficult crossover process of a very complex set of skills does not work. The problem is that at the moment, we have many different wrestlers-turned-MMA-fighters that exhibit many different styles and experience varying degrees of MMA success. Outward signs of "physicalness" or aggression as a wrestler are not enough. Whether clearly demonstrated or not, a wrestler achieves elite levels collegiately or internationally possesses more than adequate "physicalness" to succeed in any martial art and it is their processes and set-ups that lead to success that is more important. As a result, watching a wrestler use a double leg again and again successfully in a wrestling match does not mean that he would be a good fit for MMA . This is relevant to American folkstyle and freestyle wrestling and perhaps to the future of MMA talent evaluation. What style of wrestler will translate in the best MMA fighter? This question untrimmed and unqualified is impossible to answer. Few wrestlers can be reduced to a style or type, and most elite wrestlers have risen to their place in the sport through a level of refinement that leaves them completely anomalous. What I want to do is begin a live discussion of, if not an answer to, a more manageable question. What sort of wrestling attack style will yield the best offensive wrestling results in MMA? The avid or even casual MMA viewer will probably say, "Why of course it is the blast/straight-on, freight train double leg take down, I see wrestlers accomplishing this technique with great frequency in MMA." In fact, many within the wrestling community will say the same thing. While I do not think they are completely wrong, I think they are looking at the wrong aspect of the technique. Any elite wrestler can consistently finish a double leg once in on a fighter in a fighting stance. Our concern should not be with what a wrestler does when he or she are already inside on a shot, but how they got there in the first place. My theory is that when predicting the success of a wrestler's offensive leg attacks in MMA, we should be looking not at how many legs are being attacked on a shot and not on whether they are high, medium or low level attacks. I believe the variable far more relevant to MMA success is the set up. Watch the following clips In this clip J.P. O'Connor hits a nice double on Cyler Sanderson. J.P. is working a Russian control tie (pulling the arm against the sternum with one hand grabbing the wrist and the other over-hooking the tricep), as Sanderson is posting on J.P.'s head. J.P. sets up the double leg by pushing the Russian up into the post. It helps that he reaches his lead foot as far as he can between Sanderson's legs before attempting the technique. Jordan Burroughs is wrestling Aliyev of Azerbaijan in the semi-finals of the 2011 World Championships. As the match is winding on, Aliyev appears to be weary of Jordan's pace and starts to post his left arm on Jordan's shoulder. This is most inadvisable - as Burroughs is hard-wired to immediately chop down on this post. Chopping down on the arm on that side clears the way to Aliyev's legs and Jordan snatched his other arm down hard to get in on the double leg. Nobody on earth can stop him when he is in on both legs. This clip from the 1999 world finals shows a freshly out of college Stephen Neal squaring off against Shumilin of Russia. The 265 pound Neal uses feints and motion to get Shumilin to raise his hands ever so slightly, then in a breathtaking display of speed, grace and power, Neal blasts in on a magnificently-timed double. We get a glimpse of the kind of athleticism that served Neal well in a long career with the New England Patriots. Just now we have seen three of the exact same leg attack set up in three radically different ways. These are all NCAA champion wrestlers and it is not necessarily true that each would be comfortable setting up a double if one were to interchange wrestlers and set-ups. Every wrestler has different levels of skill and comfort with different types of set-ups. The three set-ups above are representatives of what could be called the three families of leg-attack set-ups. I will disclaim here and state that just because a wrestler is featured in this post performing one sort of set-up, it is not meant to imply that this is the only sort of set up that wrestler uses or even one they typically use. I also should say that many elite wrestlers are well versed in setting up shots in all three manners. The first family of set-ups (and these are not listed in order of importance or frequency) is control ties. Control ties are holds which force their way through an opponent's "head/hands" defense, not with finesse, but through power and leverage. Two of the most widely used are the Russian tie and the underhook. This is not an exhaustive list of techniques, but I need to make some concessions to brevity. This from the same Stephen Neal match as above, Steven blocks the knee of his opponent and leverages him over it with the underhook. Here is Lee Weber from the University of Iowa hitting a dump (yes, we can call it many other things, but I choose this one) off of a Russian tie on Mark Munoz. Notice that there is enough downward torque on the shoulder to pull Mark all the way to his hip. The second school is what I will call "tie-clearing" set-ups. For every wrestling tie a wrestler achieves, the opponent is forced to engage in a counter tie. Wrestlers "hand-fight" in an attempt to get a favorable tie where they can clear the opponent's tie, which opens a pathway to the legs. Watch a great example of one of these from current world pound for pound best Besik Kudukov against the USA's own, Henry Cejudo. This is fundanental stuff and beautifully done. Kudukhov achieves inside control with a high hook over Cejudo's tricep. In turn, Cejudo ties up on the outside of Kudukhov's arm. With a classic "hair combing" motion, Kudukhov clears Henry's arm and shoots an inside-step (high crotch) single. Hold clearing set-ups would include chops, v-blocks up and forward, snaps, elbow-offs, shucks, slide-bys, arm-drags, wrist peels, and much more. I could show a million more sweet GIFs, but I have to keep moving. Because these first two schools of set ups contain holds and situations mostly peculiar to wrestling (except underhooks), I theorize that the transition of a wrestler's leg attack success will be based on their comfort with the third family of set ups: Motion and Timing. (The other important factor is raw speed, but that would not be NEARLY as interesting a topic to post about.) Motion and timing shot set-ups are based on moving in a specific pattern and/or waiting for the exact moment when an opponent is out of position and vulnerable to attack. These set-ups can be heavily technical and conscious tactics or simply the result of someone's freakish and annoying ability to unconsciously divine the perfect moment to shoot. Motion and timing set-ups can manifest themselves in a variety of techniques From tie-ups: Here we see an ankle pick from a collar-tie, the ultimate timing and motion takedown from the master of the technique, Cael Sanderson. Here is part of his sublime performance against WVU's Vertus Jones in the NCAA finals. Put in simple terms, Cael circles to get the opponent's foot exposed, grabs the ankle, and pushes the head over where the foot once resided. Cael has to take a few stabs at it this time, but the effect is the same. Without contact: In one of their NCAA title matches, Chris Pendleton of Oklahoma State hits a gorgeous misdirection low single on Missouri's Ben Askren. He makes a very subtle motion that causes Ben to pull back his left leg just for a heartbeat, and then is in on Ben's right ankle. As a counter to a shot: In the finals of last year's World Team Trials, Cael Sanderson executes this perfectly timed re-shot on Jake Herbert. It has to take place at the exact moment an opponent disengages from his own attack. The above clips demonstrate a variety of different techniques, but the common denominator that allows them all to be successful is a finely honed sense of wrestling timing. Any elite wrestler can execute MMA appropriate takedown techniques (mid-level to high singles and doubles) with requisite proficiency. It is my oppinion that his command over timing and motion are what is most important. Here is an example of Cael Sanderson seamlessly transitioning his technique when his patented ankle pick fails to yield an immediate takedown over Josh Lambrecht. Cael has the timing to get to the leg; once he is in, it is comparatively easy for him to adapt to the situation and slide up to a power double. Cael was not a bruiser, he was not a head-banging blast doubler and he was not a hulking grinder, but because of immaculate timing and understanding of spacing and motion, I have no doubt he would have had no problem adapting his repertoire to the meet the demands of MMA wrestling. In modern MMA, elite fighters without a wrestling base are becoming more and more wrestling savvy - particularly in shot defense. The approach of forced takedown attempts and guileless shots without set-up is becoming ineffective and risky. A premium must be put on setting up shots in an MMA-relevant manner. To me, the school of shot set-ups which translate the most readily to MMA are timing and motion based set-ups. I believe that when evaluating the potential effectiveness of a wrestler's MMA transition, more attention should be paid to how he sets up his shots then what actual shots he uses. This is just a theory, I have neither the time nor the means of proving it empirically. I also might be WAAAAY wrong. Of course their may be another thing to look for to see if a wrestler will translate well to MMA Let's go Daniel.

Posted in: mma, leg, shot, setup, wrestler

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Many MMA fans are very familiar with submission holds but to many sweeps remain something of a mystery. In recent years at the highest levels of competitive grappling submissions from the guard have become extremely rare as most elite grapplers are well school in submission prevention. As a result, the very best guard players in BJJ have switched to a sweep first approach to working from the bottom and we are seeing that trend carry over to MMA. The term 'sweep' refers to any time a fighter can use the open, closed or half guard to roll the top fighter over and claim the top position. The concept behind a sweep is very simple, the bottom fighter needs to off-balance the top man somehow. Against very green grapplers this off-balancing move could be enough cause them to fall, but anyone with a few months of experience will catch themselves with a free arm or leg. The second step of the sweep is to trap the top man's ability to catch himself, and then apply a force to roll them over. When done properly a sweep feels effortless to the bottom man and unstoppable to the top man. One of the most basic sweeps from the closed guard is the Pendulum Sweep, or sometimes called the Flower Sweep. For an excellent demonstration of the sweep in a no gi environment here is Hillary Williams, a multiple time BJJ world champion and arguably the best American born female grappler in the world. Hillary Williams demonstrates the flower sweep from guard (via PanicPulse) gifs after the jump... The first step of any sweep is creating imbalance, and here we can see a young Georges St. Pierre hitting an excellent pendulum sweep against Pete Spratt. GSP starts out by disrupting Spratt's balance by breaking down his posture, using his left arm to hold down Spratt's head. GSP's left arm isn't just controlling Spratt's posture, but he is hugging the elbow to Spratt's arm, preventing Spratt being able to base out in the direction GSP is looking to sweep. So with Spratt's posture broken down and his ability to base taken away, GSP goes into the actual sweep. He turns his hips dramatically 90 degrees and brings his leg high up Spratt's armpit. This throws Spratt's balance completely off to the point where he is ready to fall. Further throwing off his balance is the fact that GSP has also hooked his leg. At that point all GSP does is swing that bottom leg to create momentum and the sweep is completed. Part of what makes this sweep such an effective weapon is that the set up looks very similar to an armbar and often one can be used to set up the other. That said proper posture and arm placement in guard can help prevent both the armbar and pendulum sweep. So using this technique against experienced foes becomes a matter of waiting for the right opportunity. And timing is what made Karl Amoussou's sweep of Chris Lozano at Bellator 63 so impressive. It starts with Amoussou controlling Lozano's left arm and with Lozano's posture already broken down. You can see Lozano's weight shift as he turns his shoulders and raises up slightly, likely to begin striking with his right arm. Amoussou detects the shift in weight and launches into the sweep like cobra striking prey. While Amoussou doesn't get his leg as high in the armpit like Hillary or GSP did, it is unnecessary in this case because Lozano has already off-balanced himself. And with Amoussou already controlling the left arm, keeping it from being put out to base, two of the three sweeping elements are already in place and Amoussou just had to impart a little force for Lozano to go right over. Now it is very possible to defend this sweep and in fact early that we saw a fighter defend against a Pendulum sweep quite well. During Carlos Alexandre Pereira's match with Bryan Baker, the Brazilian found himself in Baker's very aggressive guard. At one point Baker attempted an armbar and in his escape Pereira shows the ideal position to defend against the Pendulum Sweep. Baker is on bottom his armbar attempt has failed and he is attempting to switch to either a triangle or a Pendulum Sweep. But Pereira is already on move ahead; his posture is excellent and Baker has no control over his body. Pereira has posted his leg giving him the balance and base in the direction that Baker wants to push him in, notice that Baker tries to use his legs to push the Brazilian off balance but is unable to do so because that posted leg gives him too much balance. Even hooking the near leg can't off balance Pereira, he is in the perfect position to defend. And even if Baker was able to force him off balance, Pereira's right hand is free and he would be able to catch his balance, preventing the sweep from being finished. In short that is no way Baker can get the Pendulum sweep from here. So what does he do? Instead of continuing to force the issue, Baker works with what Pereira is giving him. You can see that Pereira is driving his weight towards Baker, so Baker switches to an omoplata sweep to use that momentum. Baker keeps the leg he has hooked, since the the left arm is still close he controls Pereira's left wrist. Baker throws his leg over to go for the omoplata throwing Pereira's balance off. Pereira detects the danger of submission and responds by attempting to jump over Baker. This is the correct defense, except Baker has Pereira's leg hooked which takes away both Pereira's leg and arm. With no ability to stop the roll, Pereira is force to roll over by Baker who comes up on top to finish the sweep. These basic principles of sweeps are present in every sweeping technique in grappling, but they are so beautifully apparent the Pendulum sweep and other techniques you can chain with it. Thanks to Grappo for the gifs

Posted in: leg, arm, baker, pereira, sweep

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As a longtime veteran of the UFC, it has been a lengthy road for middleweight Alan Belcher. The native of Biloxi, Mississippi has been fighting for the organization since 2006. But for “The Talent”, the last two years have easily been the most difficult. After defeating Patrick Cote at UFC 113 in May 2010, Belcher was set to face Demian Maia at UFC Fight Night 22 in Austin, Texas in September. However, prior to that matchup, Belcher began experiencing vision problems. He then went to a doctor to figure out exactly what the issue was. Belcher was diagnosed with a detached retina, an issue that forced him to undergo surgery. He had to withdraw from that scheduled fight, and underwent a long road back to return to the Octagon. After suffering a setback, causing a second surgery, Belcher recovered and rehabbed for the next year. He then returned to the UFC in September 2011, defeating Jason MacDonald at UFC Fight Night 25 in New Orleans, just a few hours from his hometown. Now Belcher sees himself facing yet another test, in the form of Rousimar Palhares at UFC on Fox 3 on May 5th. Unlike the vision issues, the American knows what lies ahead of him, with the Brazilian amongst the most feared in the UFC on the ground. “Rousimar is a very, very dangerous opponent,” Belcher said to MMAFrenzy.com. “He has a great ground game, and people are scared of his leg locks. Hell, I am scared of them. But I like that. It gives me a nervous energy, which I thrive on. Every time I have fought someone bigger or stronger, I have risen to the occasion. While it is easy to feel overconfident, this mental game keeps me ready.” Palhares, as he mentions, has become well known for his grappling, specifically his leg locks. With four leg lock submissions in his last sixfights, it is easy to see why that is the case. But Belcher feels he has a great way to avoid being caught in a leg lock- avoid being on the ground entirely. “I’m going to try and keep this fight standing,” Belcher explained. “I am going to have to stay away from the grappling, especially to prevent being caught in a leg lock. But even if I do get stuck in a grappling situation, I am a black belt in jiu-jitsu. So I have been “pre-creating” those situations with my training partners to prepare me in case I do find myself on the ground.” After returning to the UFC following a 16 month layoff, Belcher admitted he was quite nervous going into his most recent fight. He had those nerves for a few reasons, specifically because he was fighting in front of his hometown crowd, and because he needed to find out if he truly was ready to return following the severity of the visual issues he experienced. When asked what made him more nervous, Belcher was unsure. “That is a tough one to answer,” Belcher said. “They were both on my mind going into that fight. But if I had to say one, I guess it would have been more about the layoff. The same people that always see me fight got to see me fight, but going into that fight, I questioned myself. I had to make sure I still had that fire and desire to fight.” Those questions seemingly were answered, and quickly, against MacDonald. Belcher dismantled “The Athlete’, defeating him via strikes just 3:48 into the first round. But even after that victory, questions still remain concerning Belcher and his vision. He admits that questions will always linger with him for the duration of his career, just because of the unawareness that surrounds his injury. But Belcher has full confidence again, and that is what is most important for him and his career. “If I was in a shooting contest, it might be noticeable,” Belcher said of the injury. “But when I am fighting or grappling, I can’t even tell a difference. This injury, along with my two children, has helped me grow up over the last few years. It really has changed my outlook on everything.” That outlook very well could include a possible opportunity to fight for the UFC middleweight title, something Belcher has long been working for. After six years, Belcher feels he is close to that goal. “I can’t say exactly how close I am. All I know is I am very excited to be fighting on Fox and so close to New York City,” said Belcher. “It is an honor. But after this fight, if I win, I can’t imagine I am more than two fights away from fighting for the title.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, belcher, issue, leg

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This week I interviewed Masakazu Imanari and asked him how he felt that the MMA community now considered Rousimar Palhares the 'king of the leg locks.' He paused, and then said something along the lines of 'that's good for him, but I don't need a title.' We're going to publish the interview (along with a few others) this weekend. However, it's safe to assume that Imanari considers the wrestler that accidentally breaks his opponent's leg in this video as a 'promising apprentice.' If you guys are squeamish at bizarrely contorted limbs, then you may want to pass on watching this video. Seriously, upon viewing this clip your body will retract in your chair and you will most likely grab the back of your leg as a reactionary measure to ensure that you actually still have a leg. You've been warned, folks. Now check out this leg break that occurred on March 27th at a high school wrestling event. [Source]

Posted in: leg, week i, leg locks, opponents leg, leg youve

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When One FC announced a partnership with Japan’s biggest MMA promotion, DREAM, speculation began to spread like wildfire of the potential fighters from DREAM who could participate in One FC events. At One FC: War of the Lions, this partnership will finally come to fruition and in a big way, as Masakazu Imanari from Japan will make his One FC debut against undefeated URCC Flyweight Champion Kevin Belingon. The two men will meet at Bantamweight at War of the Lions in a battle between the Philippines and Japan, as well as the MMA’s “old guard” against new blood. If you follow Japanese MMA, you will know who Masakazu Imanari is, and if you don’t, then you are in for a lot of thrilling leg lock attempts. Imanari is known as the “Ashikan Judan” -- or Master of Leglocks, and for very good reason -- the man knows his leg locks. Over the span of a twelve year professional fighting career, Imanari has a staggering fifteen of twenty four wins by way of submission. Eight of those submissions are a variation of the leg lock, and in any given fight you are bound to see numerous attempts at leg locks from Imanari. To get an idea of how deadly his leg locks are, former WEC Champion Mike Brown met Imanari in the ring in 2005 and Brown’s knee was dislocated, to the extent that his leg was pulled out of the joint and was resting next to the knee joint. If you know Mike Brown, you know that he is as tough as nails and one of the best in the world. Imanari is also known for his unique fighting stance and his composure in the ring. Don’t look for Imanari to be checking a lot of leg kicks, look for him to be diving for Belingon’s legs to not only put him on his back, but to rip his leg off in the process. Imanari comes with a lot of experience, thirty six fights worth of experience at that, spanning from the minor leagues in Japan such as ZST and DEEP all the way up to DREAM and PRIDE. Imanari has held championships at Featherweight and Bantamweight and fought in PRIDE as a Lightweight, so it is safe to say that he has fought the best in the world at the lighter weight classes and that there isn’t much that he hasn’t seen at this point. For Kevin Belingon, there can be no doubt that at One FC: War of the Lions he is facing his stiffest challenge to date. Masakazu Imanari is a living, competing legend in Asian MMA, well known as a folk hero for his leg locks and unorthodox fighting style. Belingon himself brings an unorthodox style to the ring, as he is an expert in Wushu, training with Team Lakay Wushu alongside Eduard Folayang and a slew of other talents. Belingon brings explosive stand up into the ring with him, but is also comfortable when it goes to the ground as well, actually holding three submissions of his own compared to only two knockouts in his nine fight-long career. Did I mention that he comes into this fight with Imanari undefeated? Because he does. He is the URCC Flyweight Champion who has gotten a lot of buzz internationally, even seen as one of the top ten prospects at Flyweight by Leland Roling of Bloody Elbow fame. This is his biggest challenge to date, but Belingon should be ready to go to war and to protect his legs at all cost. A win here for Belingon could not only continue his win streak, but put him on a new level of competition and international acclaim. Both men have a lot to prove at One FC: War of the Lions, with the thirty six year old Imanari looking to prove that he is still one of the top submission specialists at Bantamweight in Asia and Belingon looking to prove that he can live up to his hype. Either way, we all win.

Posted in: leg, fc, imanari, belingon, leg locks

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Posted in: gsp, leg, evolution, leg takedown, greatgama

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Posted in: vs, leg, strike, archie, leg strikes

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In the UFC, 2011 was the year of the front kick. A weapon that has long been underutilized in MMA, the front kick took center stage last year thanks to two astounding, jaw-dropping performances. First was Anderson Silva's front kick KO of Vitor Belfort at UFC 126. Then, Silva's friend and occasional teammate Lyoto Machida upped the ante with his memorable Karate Kid style jumping switch front kick KO over Randy Couture at UFC 129. Watching MMA in 2011, the impact of these kicks was immediate. Right away you saw numerous fighters trying to emulate Silva and Lyoto, throwing their own fancy front kicks in an effort to earn their own highlight reel KO. At the last Strikeforce show, Josh Thomson became the latest fighter to follow the Silva/Lyoto model, attacking opponent K.J. Noons with not just one, but both variations of those famous front kicks. In this Judo Chop, we'll take a look at Thomson's technique. What did he do well? And why didn't he get the KO? First things first, it has to be said - Josh Thomson has an exceptional front kick. He's long used the Muay Thai style teep kick as one of his primary striking weapons, and he's used it very effectively (he's long been my go-to example of an MMA fighter who knows how to use a teep). So his decision to use the Silva and Lyoto kicks is not without precedent. To start, we'll take a look at the basic Thomson teep, then move on to the front kicks. More on the front/push kick: Judo Chop: George Roop's Front Push Kick Flattens Josh Grispi at UFC's TUF Finale 13 My Muay Thai Training Diary: The Push Kick At its most basic level, the teep is essentially the jab of kicks. It can be thrown from either the front or rear leg. In a teep, the fighter lifts his leg straight up, and drives his foot into his opponent's abdomen, sending the momentum forward and through the opponent like a piston. This contrasts most kicks, where the energy comes in sideways at an angle. The teep (like the jab) is straight on, and can either be used to simply create distance, to stop an incoming opponent, or, if thrown with power, to cause real damage. More analysis, plus gifs, in the full entry: On the left is a series of three teeps thrown in quick succession by Thomson. He starts in orthodox stance with his right leg back and throws a rear (right) leg teep. This creates distance as both men circle away from the cage, forcing the boxer Noons outside of punching range. He then throws a lead (left) leg teep that again pushes Noons back. When thrown with the lead leg, the kick creates greater distance between the two men, and Thomson uses it accordingly. Note the way he turns his body to the right slightly with this kick, maximizing the reach on his left leg. Once his left leg returns to stance, he quickly follows up with another right leg teep, using the forward momentum from the previous kick to add to his momentum here. None of these are thrown with tremendous force, and seemed designed to both move Noons back, and get him to drop his defenses. Note the way Noons keeps bringing his hands low to block the kicks, which is a bad habit that leaves his chin exposed. Again, because Noons is a boxer, these teeps don't allow him to get inside and work his own game, keeping things squarely in Thomson's zone. These aren't the most vicious kicks, but they are doing the job. Now, from the opening seconds of the round, here's Thomson's Silva-style front kick. Again, he's in orthodox, and throws the kick with his rear right leg. He brings the knee straight up, then snaps up the foot, looking to use the bottom half of his leg like a whip and drive the momentum into Noons's jaw. Unfortunately for Thomson, it doesn't work. Noons sees the kick coming and steps back while using his hands to block the kick. Part of the trouble here is that Thomson doesn't really set the kick up at all. He offers a small stutter step to confuse Noons, but then simply throws the kick. Noons has his hands up and is keeping them very active, ready to deflect any incoming shots, and he is not fooled by Thomson. Two little details I do like here. First, note how Thomson always keeps a hand close to his face while kicking - first the left, then the right. This keeps him safe from a Noons counter. Second, I love how he strings together kicks. When the front kick doesn't land, he uses the forward motion from the kick to step towards Noons and throw a nice left body kick. Now, let's contrast that kick with Silva's. The big difference clearly is that Silva's lands clean, but why? At first glance, it would seem Silva does even less to set up the kick than Thomson, and while this is true, I would argue it's actually a better set-up. The shuffle Thomson uses draws Noons's attention to his feet, which is exactly where the strike then comes from. Silva on the other hand becomes completely still before the strike, leaving Belfort to wonder what will come next. It's also a better choice for Silva because of Belfort's stance. Vitor has his legs wide, and he's slightly bent down, bringing his head to a lower point. Contrast that with Noons, who is standing high and straight, moving his head further away from Thomson. Silva also has long legs and a high waist, meaning that his foot does not have to move up as high as Thomson's. He is able to both bring it up and drive it forward at the same time, more like a teep. Because Noons has his head so high above Thomson's hip, Thomson is forced to send all his momentum up in an arc. Silva can send it both up and forward into Belfort, which makes it much more effective. So the difference makers for Silva - better set-up and better positioning to make it a higher percentage strike. On we go to Thomson's Machida-esque crane kick. Thomson starts with his right leg back, and at first looks like he will throw a jumping knee with that right leg. Then, in mid-air, he switches from the right leg to left leg, and from the knee to the kick. It's similar to the flying knee Carlos Condit used to KO Dong Hyun Kim, just with the knee turned into a front kick. As you can see more clearly in the slowed down replay (below), the faked right knee does an excellent job catching Noons off guard. As Thomson jumps, Noons brings down his left hand to block what he perceives to be an incoming knee on that side. Once Thomson switches to the left kick, that dropped hand gives him perfect access to Noons's jaw, and the kick lands clean. I also love the way Thomson uses his arms to add to his momentum here, first dropping the right in order to add to the right knee, then switching to the left when he switches to the left kick. Nice detail there that adds to the kick. Comparing this with the Lyoto vs. Couture KO, the two kicks are very similar. Lyoto begins with his left leg back, so his motions are reversed (faked left knee, followed by a right front kick), but everything else is, as Mike Goldberg would say, virtually identical. In fact, Couture manages to keep his hands tighter than Noons, giving Lyoto less of an opening, yet it's The Dragon's kick that earns the KO. Why? Honestly, unlike the Silva comparison, it's hard to say. Both Thomson and Lyoto land clean, both Couture and Noons have their heads snapped back, but only one is down and out, while the other is simply briefly staggered. There are a lot of intangibles that come into play here - Counture's chin vs. Noons's chin, Lyoto's power vs. Thomson's power, the exact positioning of the points of impact - so it's hard to isolate any one. If forced, I would say two things. First, Couture is holding his head low, his shoulders up, and steps down and somewhat into the kick when Lyoto throws. Noons on the other hand is high and away from Thomson. Second, Lyoto catches Couture just a bit more on the side of the face, which causes his head to not just snap back, but also to twist slightly (whereas Noons is caught dead on and just has his head snap straight back). That twisting of the neck is a big factor in KO's. Add in the fact that Couture was 47 years old and at the end of a long career, and you can see why it did more damage. Again the difference makers for Lyoto - his opponent's positioning, his target, and his opponent's chin. This contrast between these two remarkably similar kick is, to me, part of what makes this such a fascinating sport - one man's career ending KO is another man's momentarily successful kick that is quickly forgotten. And what separates those two kicks, and in turn the two kickers, is sometimes the merest fraction of inches.

Posted in: leg, front, kick, noon, thomson

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Edson Barboza and his strength and conditioning coach, Joe Mullings, break down Barboza’s leg workout routine for JiuJitsuMania.

Posted in: barboza, leg, edson barboza, edson, leg workout

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In a word: anticlimactic

Posted in: leg, force, sapp, rundown, james thompson

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In a word: anticlimactic

Posted in: leg, force, sapp, rundown, james thompson

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submitted by thtoneaznguy [link] [8 comments]

Posted in: takedown, leg, thtoneaznguy

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Let this be a fair warning that pushing play on this video will lead you to a point in your life when projectile vomiting will be your only course of action. I turned my monitor off mid-snap because the direction his leg takes is incomprehensible. Humans are not built to contort in this manner -- the entire ordeal is just highly confusing and equally repulsive. This past weekend on March 3rd at Cagequest's inaugural event in Lakewood, Washington, a fighter was fireman carried across the cage and slammed directly on his right leg, instantly snapping the bone and thus creating this awesome video. Props to Casey K. for the find.

Posted in: leg, video props, action i, right leg, fighters leg

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Pat Healy defeats Caros Fodor by arm triangle choke. The tap out came at 3:35 in the third round. The fighters didn't waste time and traded punches from the pocket. Healy initiated the clinch and looked for the early takedown. Fodor turned Healy into the cage but was quickly reversed with Healy opening up with dirty boxing. On the exit Fodor landed a a shot to the chin which stunned the fighter out of Team Quest. Fodor got the takedown and opened up with ground and pound. Healy hit a backdoor escape and tripped Fodor to the ground. Healy immediately started throwing punches from inside Fodor's guard as Fodor attempted to control the wrists. The round ended with Healy throwing punches from the top. Fodor landed an early snapping jab at the start of the second and Healy responded with his own jab-cross combination. Healy landed an inside leg kick before attempting a lazy takedown. Fodor defended well but Healy pressed him against the fence to transition to a single leg takedown. Healy was really working to get the fight to the ground and eventually pulled the legs out from under Fodor. Fodor was able to regain his feet but Healy dragged the fight right back down. Healy didn't do much much with the position as Fodor attempted to grab a leg lock. Healy defended and transitioned to mount to close out the round. Caros Fodor knowing he was down on the score cards attacked early in the round. Patrick Healy ducked down and hit a single leg takedown. Healy immediately transitioned to full mount and attempted to posture up but Fodor controlled the wrists. Fodor regained half guard but almost got caught in an arm triangle. Fodor defended and then grabbed a leg for an ankle lock. Healy sunk in another arm triangle and forced the tap. Impressive win for Pat Healy. SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey

Posted in: takedown, round, leg, fodor, healy

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Just getting into Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)? Looking forward to UFC on FX 2 and wanting to learn more about the sport? Well then your in the right place. This is the final article breaking down the different phases and techniques of an MMA match. The sport is a combination of different martial arts and goes any where the fight takes it. We started with the striking, then moving on to the clinch and most recently ground grappling. In this article we will cover what go me interested in MMA, submissions. There was just something magical about how elite athletes, fully trained in combat arts in peak condition could be put into holds that caused them to frantically tap, pleading for mercy. But then when released the fighters were fine, not a single mark or indication of the danger they had been in just seconds ago. All submissions can be grouped generally into two categories, chokes and joint attacks. Starting with chokes, the vast majority of choking techniques in judo, jiu jitsu, catch wrestling and other submission grappling arts are blood chokes. These are different from air chokes, which prevents air from entering the lungs and that stops fresh oxygen from getting into the blood stream which means that the brain eventually runs low on oxygen and the victim is rendered unconscious. These air chokes can take a great deal of time to be effective, are difficult to lock on fully and can be very dangerous as it is possible to crush the windpipe. Blood chokes on the other hand work by applying pressure to the arteries, cutting out the middle man of the lungs and cutting the brain off from blood. Blood chokes will result in unconsciousness with in ten seconds of application and once released the blood flow will return to normal. The most basic choke is the rear naked choke, the name meaning that it is done from back control and can be executed without a gi collar. We are going to look at the masterful rear naked choke of Roger Gracie after the jump. gifs after the jump... Roger Gracie is considered one of, if not the, best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters on the planet, and his mastery of the basics is what makes him so dangerous. Roger starts with his elbow under Randleman's chin, and places his hand on his own bicep. Roger's left arm goes behind Randleman's head, creating the figure four grip. This grip, where Roger grabs his own bicep, gives the strongest possible squeeze on Rangleman's neck. Roger's forearm and bicep on either side are pressed against Randleman's arteries. The result is a simple but powerful choke, that is applied here so perfectly that after just four seconds Randleman is left unconscious. This concept of using the arm to stop both arteries is also used in some forms of the guillotine choke. Another blood choke called the triangle choke works on a different approach. This choke relys on not isolating the neck, but rather trapping an arm and the head. The classic triangle choke works by trapping the opponent's arm and head with the legs. Here is Josh Neer's triangle win over Mac Danzig, and you can see Neer has Danzig in his guard. When the time is right Neer throws up his legs to trap Danzig's head and left arm between his legs. Neer takes his left and puts it across the back of Danzig's neck and puts his foot under his right knee. This figure four position of the legs is where the triangle gets its name, this a is a tight, vise like grip. In this case, Neer's left leg is driving into the side of Danzig's neck stops the artery on that side and the squeeze of the triangle is so intense that is actually drives Danzig's own shoulder into the other side of his neck stopping the other artery. For the shoulder to be driven into the neck, Neer has to force Danzig's arm across his body, taking away any space between shoulder and neck. The result is an extremely tight choke that can result in a black out in just seconds when fully applied. This triangle approach can be done with the arms also in the "arm triangle" and it can be done from several different angles. The D'arce choke, also known as the Barbo choke, is simply an arm triangle from a different angle. The anaconda choke also works on the triangle principle. Now let us move on to joint attacks. Simply put, these submissions consist of pulling, twisting or cranking a joint to the breaking point. Almost every joint attack has some of the same basic steps: isolate the joint, gain leverage on the joint and then move it in an unnatural direction. Let's take a look at a fundamental joint lock, the armbar. Now the armbar attacks the elbow joint by over straightening the arm, also known as hyperextension. This works with in all forms of armbars, the kneebar and straight ankle locks. Here is Nick Diaz locking on a very tight armbar on Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos. Step one of isolating the arm is accomplished by Diaz's legs, one over the body and the other across Santos' face. Diaz gains leverage by grabbing Santos' arm and pulling it away from his body. This turns Santo's arm into a lever, with its fulcrum at the elbow. Diaz then pulls the arm down and pushes his hips up, this pits Diaz's entire body against Santos' right arm. Even resisting Santos' arm is pulled to the point of hyperextending almost instantly and he is forced the tap. While straight arm locks attack the elbow, twisting armlocks attack the shoulder. The most common twisting armlock is known as the Kimura, named for legendary Judoka Mashiko Kimura, possibly the best grappler ever. The Kimura lock can break the arm or it will tear the shoulder. This motion of twisting the arm behind the back can be done with the legs also, in what is called an omoplata. Another twisting armlock is the Americana, or Keylock, which twists the arm up and over the shoulder instead of behind the back. This one can also be done with the legs from scarf side control. Twisting leg locks are also possible and they have two different targets. The toe hold is a twisting ankle lock that works much like the kimura. The heel hook is the most common leg lock in MMA and possibly the most feared. The principle is pretty basic: isolate a leg, immobilize the upper part of the leg, trap the foot in the armpit and then use the whole upper-body to torque the knee. It is often said that fighters should tap as soon as they are in a heel hook because by the time they feel the pain, damage is already being done to their knee. Rousimar Palhares is known for his vicious heel hooks. There are other types of submissions that are less seen in MMA like neck cranks which turn or bend the neck to the breaking point. Slicers are submissions that attack the arm or leg and work on a similar principle to putting a rock in a nut cracker. And the gogoplata is a choke where a limber fighter can use his shin to stop the blood flow to an opponent's head. Well I hope you've enjoyed this introductory series to MMA, but it in terms of the broad array of techniques used in the cages and rings of MMA it was just that, an introduction. If your interested in learning more about MMA technique I encourage to keep an eye out for our Judo Chop series, which usually run before or after each UFC event breaking down the most interesting techniques used by fighters on the card.

Posted in: mma, leg, triangle, arm, neck

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UFC 144's Facebook Prelim fight between Chris Cariaso and Takeya Mizugaki was for many watching yet another bout in a long line of judging controversies that have plagued the sport of Mixed Martial Arts for years. Even with the UFC's Marc Ratner acting as the de Facto Athletic Commission overseeing and appointing officials for the event, somehow the hand picked judges weren't without fault. Controversy would not be limited to this fight; the main event Lightweight title fight between Frank Edgar and Benson Henderson left people scratching their heads when Henderson was given 4 rounds to 1 on certain scorecards. UFC President Dana White felt the decision rendered over Mizugaki vs Cariaso was so obviously wrong he awarded Mizugaki his win bonus as a means of compensation. UFC 144 Results: Chris Cariaso Defeats Takeya Mizugaki By Unanimous Decision But let's not dwell on the negative. In this fight we got to see a solid display of closed-guard work from Cariaso that for some reason had UFC Commentator Joe Rogan confused as to what he was seeing. At one point in Round 2, Joe Rogan remarks: "I'm not sure what Cariaso is doing now, I've never seen that before - I think he's making that up as he went along" Not long afterwards Cariaso transitioned into something Rogan was more familiar with and called the '100%' or '100 Per Cent' as it is known in Eddie Bravo's 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu system. After the jump I give more insight into the closed guard positions Cariaso was using, as well as the sweep that momentarily gave him the advantage over Mizugaki, illustrated with diagrams and animations. All technique analysis for information purposes only. Do not attempt these techniques without qualified supervision. Clinched Closed Guard: To begin with, let's look at Cariaso using a pretty classic form of MMA closed guard where he has Mizugaki's posture broken, an arm wrapped over the back of Mizugaki's head and a form of wrist or hand control. Cariaso's legs aren't actually in a full closed body scissor and are in fact open, but due to the broken posture and upper body control it resembles more of a closed guard strategy than an open guard strategy (Plus in the course of a fight a good guard player will be transitioning between closed and open guard strategies depending on how his opponent reacts). Mizugaki is able to duck out of the upper-body control and land a punch, which forces Cariaso to adjust his clinch and use bicep control instead of hand / wrist control, while bracing his left foot in Mizugaki's right hip so he has options for hip movement later on . Ideally Cariaso could have under-hooked this arm to connect his hands in a more solid clinch and use a flared elbow of his under-hooking arm as a block for any punches Mizugaki might try from there. The single under-hook clinch would have given Cariaso options such as an arm triangle, back take, escape, or an armbar to triangle path depending on Mizugaki's reactions. With the Bicep Control and Foot In Hip, Cariaso indicates he's primarily looking for the classic strategy of isolating a limb to attack to setup a Submission such as a triangle choke. Seatbelt Closed Guard: Joe Rogan may have been confused, but what Cariaso was actually doing was a form of closed guard that protects you effectively from strikes on the ground that has been around in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for years. In Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's 'Guard For MMA' DVD set from Victory Belt, I believe he refers to it as a seatbelt guard and many believe it is more functional for MMA than the Rubber Guard due to it not requiring the flexibility in the legs and hips, while still keeping the opponent's posture broken and his striking offense limited. To set it up, Cariaso has to clear Mizugaki's left arm that is controlling his bicep and does so by bringing in his right knee as a wedge and lever. Cariaso then swims his left arm that is wrapped over Mizugaki's head, around to the other side while sitting up and posting on his right arm as if going for a Guillotine choke. To finish, Cariaso instead grabs the inside of his left knee to lock himself in place, though his feet remain uncrossed. Mizugaki is limited to short body punches on his head-side, while his other arm can be controlled by Cariaso. Cariaso's head is relatively safe and it is difficult for Mizugaki to regain his posture. 100% / Shoulder Pin / Half-Stocks: Giving up on the Seatbelt Closed Guard, Cariaso releases the grip on his left leg and while keeping pressure on the back of Mizugaki's head, scoots his butt back so he can sit more upright. Mizugaki is unable to duck his head out, so instead postures his head up and drives into Cariaso. This motion gives Cariaso the opportunity to swim his left arm inside as an under-hook while keeping Mizugaki's head trapped in place. Cariaso links his hands and has a Half-Stocks hold - or the '100%' Joe Rogan refers to from Eddie Bravo's system. In Judo it is also known as a Shoulder Pin, and the sweep option has existed in Judo's Newaza for at least a few decades and is an option when Obi-tori-sumi-gaeshi (gripping over the back at the belt combined with a overhead elevator sweep) fails. Cariaso has his left leg inside as a 'Butterfly Hook' or elevator, and works to get his right leg out from underneath Mizugaki and onto his back. As Joe Rogan correctly notes, the fence is blocking the possibility of sweeping to that side and so Cariaso uses his right leg to push off the fence and turn himself. Joe Rogan also mentions you can get a neck crank from here, and it's certainly possible with some adjustments. With the Half-Stocks grip you can cross your feet in a closed guard and crunch the trapped head in, but a more effective neck crank would be from a half-guard on the leg opposite to the side of the upper body you have trapped, and while keeping your hands linked slide the elbow of the under-hooking arm on top of the opponent's head and use that as a brace to drive their head down and into their body. A Full Stocks hold is when you have both their arms under-hooked with their head trapped. In Jiu Jitsu it's also known as a Crucifix Neck Crank, and can be finished from mount or from a sit-out as if going for a Head & Arm hold / Scarf hold / Kesa Gatame. (Warning: This Full Stocks neck crank is particularly dangerous as it can cause separation of the upper vertebrae and might lead to paralysis or death.) Secrets Of Sweeping: By using his right foot to push off the fence and turn himself around, and by keeping his left leg inside as an elevator, Cariaso is executing one of the fundamental concepts of sweeping. This concept is to shift the opponent's center of mass up and onto you, causing most of his bodyweight to be 'floating' instead of 'grounded'. This simple concept makes for sweeping opponents much easier and is similar to the concept of off-balancing a standing opponent to make a takedown, trip or throw much easier. The other main concept of successful sweeping is sometimes known as 'Table Topping' which refers to the limbs of an opponent that act as a base for stability on the ground. Imagine the opponent is on top in your guard, and his posture is down. His arms on the ground act as 2 legs of the table, his knees as another 2 legs, and his feet as yet another 2 legs of a table. In order to tip this table, you either need to remove some legs on one side or to block them, and then put pressure on the table where the legs used to be or pressure toward where they're blocked in order to flip it. Cariaso's Single Elevator has taken Mizugaki's right foot and knee off the ground while 'floating' his center of mass. This makes it difficult to post that leg and regain stability on the ground. The Half-Stocks / Shoulder Pin limits Mizugaki's right arm in being able to post as well, all together combining for a successful sweep. Rather than sweeping directly to Mizugaki's right side at 90 degrees where his leg might be able to come down and post, Cariaso keeps Mizugaki floating and sweeps at 45 degrees towards Mizugaki's upper-right side where his arm can not post, and so Mizugaki goes over. Another way of thinking about it is imagining your opponent on a clock face, his head pointing at 12 and his feet generally at 6, and each limb being able to post across 3 hours of the clock. Cariaso blocking Mizugaki's right arm prevents posting that arm between the hours of 12 and 3, but as Mizugaki's right leg can post between 3 and 6 (with a possibility of being able to post an hour either side of this range), Cariaso sweeps him at 1:30 for success. Unfortunately for Cariaso, in moving himself around and moving his left leg as a 'Butterfly Hook' / Single Elevator, to an almost Open Half Guard (which helps keep Mizugaki floating) he is unable to land in a secure mount. In fact with his right arm free Mizugaki cleverly pushes off of Cariaso's open legs while freeing his own legs until he has enough space to spin out and get back to his feet. If Cariaso was able to adjust mid-sweep and get his left leg on the outside of Mizugaki's right leg he may have been able to grapevine and work towards a low mount off of the sweep. Here is a video of the Seatbelt Guard with various options off of it, including the '100% Sweep'. Here is a scan from the 1984 book "Fighting Judo of Kashiwazaki" showing the 'Shoulder Pin' and sweep as it calls it (click for large image).

Posted in: mizugaki, leg, guard, arm, cariaso

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Hatsu Hioki defeats Bart Palaszewski by Unanimous Decision. The judges scored the fight 30-27, 29-28, 29-28. Hatsu Hioki dropped Bart Palaszewski early with a straight right hand. Bart recovered but was unable to defend a heavy body kick on the way up. Leg kicks from Hioki landed early. Hioki's boxing and timing looked great early in the round. Hioki dropped down and completed a single leg. Palaszewski threatened with a guillotine but Hioki survived and passed to side control. Hioki softened Bart with short punches to the head not giving any room to hip escape. Short elbows and punches bloodied up Palaszewski's face. Bart gave up his back and Hioki quickly transitioned to an triangle armbar. Bart defended but was getting completely dominated. Hioki landed massive shots while postured up in the guard. Bart survived the round but Hioki made a case for 10-8. Hioki landed a head kick to open the second round. Bart Palaszewski landed a round house of his own. He followed up with a combination that landed cleanly. Hioki pressed the attack and found his range by mixing up his strikes. Palaszewski landed to the body. He followed up with a combination that ended with a leg kick. Left leg head kick from Hioki was blocked. Bart looked much more confident in the second round with his combinations. A left front kick landed low but Bart fought through it. Bart found a home for his leg kicks. Hatsu Hioki hit a double leg as the round ended. Bart threw punches as the third round began only to get tripped to the ground. Hiok landed in an empty half guard and started to work for for side control. Hioki threw punches which allowed him to transition to side control. Hioki attempted to pass to mount but Bart defended and Hioki reset back to half guard. Hioki passed to side control and threw short punches from a high side control. Bart threw knees to the body from the bottom. Bart hip escaped but gave up his back which allowed Hioki to sink both hooks in. Big elbows to the head from Hioki while he tried to set up the rear naked choke. Hioki was unable to sink his arm under the chin and looked for an armbar as the horn sounded. SBN coverage of UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson

Posted in: round, leg, palaszewski, hioki, bart

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar will look to make his fourth consecutive title defense at UFC 144 later this evening (Sat., Feb. 25, 2012) when he takes on top contender Ben Henderson at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The main event will headline a card of "Godzilla-like" proportions, as the world's largest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion makes its return to Japan for the first time since the year 2000. Henderson currently holds a spotless (3-0) record fighting inside thein the Octagon, but Edgar is no stranger to giving fighters their first UFC loss. In fact, Jim Miller, Tyson Griffin, Mark Bocek, Matt Veach and Gray Maynard all have something in common: They were all perfect inside the Octagon before they collided with "The Answer." After the jump, we'll elaborate on the statistical variables that separate the two men fighting in the main event at UFC 144: "Edgar vs. Henderson." The razor-sharp researchers at CompuStrike went to the trouble of analyzing 16 of Frankie Edgar's fights, as well as six of Ben Henderson's and made some key observations about their respective fight habits and patterns. We're passing that knowledge on to you. We know both of these fighters have a bent towards wrestling, but they've also shown that they have no problem getting into striking battles. This war will start on the feet just like they all do. Let's dig in and see whose striking is favored by the numbers: Total Strikes: Edgar -- 95 of 189Henderson -- 71 of 123Percentage: Edgar -- 50 percentHenderson -- 58 percent Total Power Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 68 Henderson -- 37 Total Non-Power Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 27Henderson -- 34 "Bendo" is a little bit more precise with his strikes, according to the data. Yet, Edgar has been shown to "answer" with a much larger number of power shots. To go one step further, it's important to try and discern whose arm strikes (punches and elbows) are more accurate, as well as more powerful. This is what we came up with: Total Arm Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 49 of 120Henderson -- 12 of 40 Percentage of Arm Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 41 percentHenderson -- 30 percent Power Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 34Henderson -- 5 Non-Power Strikes Landed Edgar -- 15Henderson -- 7 Yikes. It may be understating matters to declare that Henderson should avoid an outright boxing match. But you probably already knew that. When you say the word "kick" around "Bendo," he may possibly duck for cover and make sure Anthony Pettis is not running off a cage wall at him. It's ironic, because he actually has a very good pedigree in Taekwondo. Throwing kicks is a big part of his arsenal. Edgar is also not afraid of burying a shin bone into the side of an opponents thigh or the tiny cartilage on the side of his knee. When push comes to shove, who has the better leg strikes? Glad you asked: Total Leg Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 11 of 17Henderson -- 21 of 29Percentage of Leg Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 65 percentHenderson -- 72 percentPower Leg Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 6Henderson -- 9Non-Power Leg Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 5Henderson -- 12 Pretty close, but Henderson definitely takes the lead in this neck of the race. Last, but not least, there is the ground game. As previously mentioned, both fighters have a strong wrestling background. They're also both brown belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). You'd think it'd be pretty even on the mat. Let's see if you'd be right: Ground Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 35 of 52Henderson -- 38 of 54Percentage: Edgar -- 67 percentHenderson -- 70 percentPower Ground Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 28Henderson -- 23 Non-Power Ground Strikes Landed: Edgar -- 7Henderson -- 15 Takedowns: Edgar -- 38 of 82 (46 percent)Henderson -- 18 of 40 (45 percent)Submission Attempts: Edgar -- 5Henderson -- 5Dominant Positions: Edgar -- 24Henderson -- 6 Very slim margin, but the disparity in "dominant positions" is definitely intriguing. Edgar appears to be a good deal more active on the ground, but this rings true for the rest of the categories as well. Top to bottom, the tale of this tape appears to back up what most fans expected: This should be one nail-biter of a title fight! What say you, Maniacs? Is this what you expected or does any of the data throw you for a loop? Who ya' got in this epic lightweight battle? For everything else you need to know about the clash between Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson, be sure to check out our complete fight archive right here.

Posted in: henderson, leg, strike, edgar, leg strikes

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Ben Henderson is the mixed martial arts version of Dennis the Menace. He gets in an awful lot of trouble, but due to a congeries of technical flaws from his opponents, his amazing flexibility and incredible calm under pressure, Bendo always gets away. Even while knowing this, his opponents have continually found themselves unable to resist the opportunities to go for the kill and continually frustrated in actually finishing Henderson. Frankie Edgar, the man Henderson is challenging for the UFC lightweight strap, is similarly composed of iron will amalgamated with fine technical skill and powered by the heart of a fiercely courageous animal that we usually call a lion for whatever nonsensical reasons. The two highly entertaining lightweights will face each other this weekend in a battle that is certain to test who has the most successful gameplan, the best skills and the most resilience. UFC 144 Judo Chop: Benson Henderson and the Miracle of Survival Part 1 of 2 This Part Two continues the Judo Chop examination of Henderson's miraculous ability to escape sudden danger and to patiently work free of troublesome submissions in the now-legendary scrap with Anthony Pettis and the fierce domination of Mark Bocek. In this installment, an in-depth breakdown of three more Benson Henderson fights will be combined with Grappo's amazing GIFS. The theme that presents itself most in this two part Chop is that despite possessing a smart and skilled ground game - as the bronze medal at the 2011 IBJJF Worlds as a brown belt testifies - Henderson is quite reckless in presenting a limb or his neck for opponents to latch onto. His skills are often employed in getting out of submissions, rather than avoiding them altogether. The virtues of his frenetic work rate outside the submissions and the ability to keep base and strike from guard have thus far more than made up for the time spent working free of danger. Hit the jump to see the examination of the ferocious battle with Jim Miller and the hairy fight with Clay Guida, while we end by looping back to the stars-in-the-making bouts between Henderson and Donald Cerrone at WEC 48 and WEC 43 to find some of the better gumbyesque escapes in Henderson's career. After the proclamation that the WEC held no chumps that was the drubbing of Mark Bocek at UFC 129, Henderson faced the rugged Jim Miller at UFC on Versus 5. Miller has made a very solid career out of being an incredibly tough grinder who swiftly snatches limbs and necks whenever his opponent makes a tiny mistake. Bendo makes lots of those mistakes, but hadn't paid for them yet, so the matchmaking was rather sublime. The bout was framed as one of the last obstacles for Miller on his march to the title, as he came in with a seven fight winning streak, and for Henderson as a measure of how good the WEC lightweights really were after seeing Kamal Shalorus and Anthony Pettis lose in recent months. Bendo wrecked Miller's title shot hopes with a barbarously physical performance that saw Miller trade positions for unsuccessful submissions time after time only to be clubbed bloody with all the anger and spirit Henderson could muster. It was perhaps one of the most impressive clashes of pure will the division had seen in a while and Miller fought tooth and nail to try and finish Bendo before time ran out. Brent Brookhouse and I scored the fight 29-28 Henderson, but the judges saw it 30-27, 29-28 and 30-26. Perhaps they missed the numerous times Miller had Henderson in trouble - or maybe they gave more credit to Henderson for working free and doing as much damage as he could deal out. Late in the first round, Miller saw an opportunity in the standing clinch to go for the kimura. The position is a bit of an odd one for those accustomed to seeing a fighter pull kimuras from guard or from top control, but the same principles still apply - the arm under attack gets bent at a 90 degree angle and torqued to put stress on the elbow and shoulder. Jim gets the proper grip and then wraps his far side leg around Ben's waist and leg to prevent a spin out and the subsequent loss of the possible submission. Ben takes this as an opportunity to trip Miller to the ground with a thump and work his way free from top half guard. Note that Ben's left hand is gripping either his own arm or one of Miller's arm to prevent the unwanted torque from being applied. Miller uses the half guard position to deepen his kimura grip even further and shift his legs to a better position to off-balance Henderson. Jim's right leg comes over Ben's face and settles upon the shoulder to set up a body position where Jim can brace with both legs and yank backwards with all his might. Smartly, Henderson resists this process and basically plays the game of inches and might to loosen the two on one grip Miller has on his right arm just enough that the elbow can be rotated downwards and then the arm pulled out. The calm Benson displays here is magnificent. As a result of the proper defenses to the submission, Ben now has Miller on the floor and can play his preferred ground and pound game from top control. At the 2:45 mark of the second round, Miller again goes for a kimura grip - this time from a more conventional guard position. He gets the two on one grip on Henderson's left arm and when Bendo reacts by leaning slightly upwards and to the right to pull the arm out, Miller switches to the leglock attack on the now exposed left leg. Bendo seems surprised by the swiftness of the attack, while wanting to punch Jim in the face. The blood on the mats and on Miller's face is a sign of how successful the "punch 'im in the face" strategy has been for Henderson thus far. The delay in starting his defense and the desire to smack his fist into Miller's head some more causes him to fail in pushing either of Miller's legs away from where Miller wants them. Jim's left leg slides across Ben's chest and creates both a barrier from potential punches and further weakens Ben's base, while the right leg comes to further secure the leg and help the rotation to the kneebar. Look at how Miller's left hand moves from the kimura to the crook of the knee to the back of the ankle. The right hand helps out too by shoving Ben backwards and pinning the ankle to the mat before Ben can pick it up and bring it into the center of Jim's chest (and away from most heel hook attacks). The most common defenses to leglocks involve spinning, as the momentum of the spin and the changing frames of reference usually prevent the offensive grappler from cinching tight the technique and getting the finish. The spins are a very common feature of the ADCC submission grappling matches that are held every two years and most grapplers can usually find a position where a leg has worked free just enough to stop spinning and truly break free. In this match, Miller's kneebar stalls out with 2:33 left in the second round. Henderson's leg is gruesomely extended, but the knee is forwards just enough that Miller cannot use his hips (or his cup) to lever the knee upwards and threaten the ligament and bone damage that causes a tap to successful kneebars. The right leg of Bendo is braced carefully on Miller's butt and is helping him push Miller further back off the knee. At 2:29, Miller knows he has lost the kneebar and kicks out to try for a clinch - or a better position if Henderson is slow to turn and counter. It is kinda cool how Miller stands up with perfect form as his right arm braces and his right leg swings back to provide a better base. At the close of the second round, Bendo yet again gives up his left leg in a position somewhat similar to the one Bocek had at UFC 129. This time, Henderson keeps better base and Miller goes more firmly for the heel hook. Miller has the heel in the crook of his elbow and manages to spin to his left to impart more torque upon Henderson's left knee. The flexibility and calm of Bendo is displayed once more, as he slaps away Miller's right leg that is trying to prevent a counter-spin that would alleviate pressure, and slides his own right leg in and over. The submission is still somewhat dangerous, but Bendo wins free yet again (beyond the range of this GIF). Miller would go on to briefly drop Henderson in the third round, only to find Ben taking him down and moving to rear mount. After fighting free of a rear naked choke, Jim would valiantly throw everything but the kitchen sink to take the round, only to be frustrated by the higher pace and intensity Henderson maintained. The "miracles" of survival now seemed to be everyday affairs for Benson and his calm under pressure allowed him to move ahead to a title eliminator fight against Clay Guida at UFC on Fox 1. The hair-off, as I call it, turned out to be the best fight on that card and both men showed off their high pace and fine mix of striking and takedowns to an appreciative audience. Early on, Ben rocked Clay with a punch and was held at bay with wild punches and a counter-takedown. Later in the round, Guida would return the favor by landing a flying knee directly on Henderson's chin and following up with a two punch combination that dropped Henderson to the canvas. After being dropped, Henderson drives into Guida for a takedown - only to be met by a firm sprawl and a guillotine set-up. Guida goes for the choke (beyond the scope of this GIF), but loses it because he is not that good of a technician in terms of submissions. The guillotine of Takanori Gomi aside, Guida does not have to be an elite submission grappler to win most of his fights in the lightweight division. The rules of MMA and his own package of skills allow him to win by ruthlessly pushing the pace, landing more strikes than his opponent and going for the knockout or the wrestling-based domination that he enjoys so much. Clay still has a pretty good command of the choke. However, he ran into someone who had no problems with the pace, comparable wrestling and extraordinary submission escapes. Guida had to employ perfect technique and unfortunately for him, that didn't happen here. The gold standard for this situation in MMA comes from Benson himself, as per his guillotine choke of Donald Cerrone at WEC 48. Cerrone dove in and Benson countered by sprawling and seizing the neck alone - eschewing the arm-in guillotine that Guida went for - and pushing in a butterfly hook and whipping the far side leg up on Cerrone's back. This is the version of no-arm guillotine that Marcelo Garcia loves to apply and it swiftly gets the tap from Cerrone. Credit to Zombie Prophet for this GIF, I think. With 50 seconds left in the third round of the Guida fight, Henderson leaves his neck out yet again and Guida seizes upon it for a guillotine. This time, Guida goes for the no-arm version, links his hands and even whirls Henderson down on his back. This looks incredibly promising for Clay, but Ben angles his head just enough to the right to relieve pressure on the carotids and his legs prevent Clay from entering full mount. The angle is not exactly right for the choke and Ben's chin is angled towards the hands, rather than the elbow. Despite Guida's best efforts to clear the legs and arch for the choke, Henderson survives once more and eventually works his way free. The last miracle Guida forced Ben to come up with occurred at the very end of the third round. With sixteen seconds left in the match, Clay pops free of a body triangle and turns into Ben. Yet another guillotine opportunity opened up and with joyful abandon, Clay went for it. Going with the no-arm variation again, he looks to whirl Henderson down to the mat again and move into mount. Ben defends by actually dropping back faster than Clay is ready for and elevating Clay's legs with his right hand. Guida ends up spinning nearly 360 degrees in an unexpected manner. The awkwardness of the spin leaves plenty of space for Ben to work free once more and rabbit punch Guida in the back of the head while defending a counter-takedown. In retrospect, the Henderson/Guida fight probably should have made it to the live audience on Fox, but it still isn't the most exciting fight Benson Henderson ever had or even the one with the best escapes. That honor would belong to the WEC 43 battle with Cerrone. Donald Cerrone has a bona fide reputation as anyone in the sport for putting on exciting exhibitions of controlled violence and the nine [Something] Of The Night bonuses in twenty two career fights confirm his pizzazz. In 2009, he and Ben Henderson fought for the WEC interim title in what would be awarded the Fight of the Year by Sherdog and written up in highly entertaining fashion by Jack Encarnacao. Henderson won a very controversial decision and escaped numerous moments of trouble in the bout with some stupefying flexibility, skill and heart. We'll start with the more mundane and then move to the really freaky stuff. With about a minute gone in the second round, Cerrone threatened a back take and slid into a body triangle from an off-set position. What Benson did here in connecting his left elbow to his knee and backing out slowly while maintaining base allowed him to pop upright and stiff-arm Cerrone back to full guard. He also prevented Cerrone from getting a no hooks or one hook rear naked choke or a possible armbar here. This bit of defense may not wow people that much, but it is impressive and allowed Ben to shift from defense to offense very quickly. In a similar position to the Miller fight above, Cerrone threatens a kimura enough to cause Henderson to hide the right arm and shrink downwards on Cerrone's legs. This lets Donald swing up and over to the back by pivoting on his forehead. Cerrone keeps the arm gripped the entire time and once he is on the back, he goes for an armbar and starts to put his hips into it. This is not a classic armbar position, but is more similar to the belly-down armbar that experienced grapplers are familiar with and employ often. In yet another display of grit, Ben gets back to both knees and then "gives" his arm to the armbar while simultaneously stepping over Cerrone. This motion lets him alleviate the pressure on his elbow and free his arm for more strikes. Cerrone reacts by spinning to guard and possibly hunting a leglock, which causes Ben to drop backwards and yank his legs out of reach. This is a beautiful sequence from both fighters. After shooting in for a takedown, Ben exposes his neck yet again at the 4:36 mark of Round 4. Cerrone immediately slaps on a no arm brabo choke that is very much akin to the chancery choke Jon Jones finished Lyoto Machida with recently or the famous Ninja Choke applied by Shuichiro Katsumura on Masakatsu Ueda at Way of Shooto 2. Somehow, Bendo survives this brabo choke for a full minute. Some of this can be explained, but lasting a minute in that choke is downright spooky. Cerrone is attacking both carotids with a biceps and forearm, while bracing that choking arm in the crook of his other arm. He has also driven Henderson fully flat to the ground. Ben managed by luck or skill to get his left hand up into the crook of the arm just above Cerrone's left hand. This left hand prevents Cerrone from driving the right arm forwards and upwards to finish the choke in full - but most people would tap from what Bendo is experiencing already. As Cerrone continues to try and drive that right arm down, he exposes the elbow of his arm and Ben takes advantage of that to slip the elbow past the hand. The choke is escaped and Benson is saved once more. If anyone can explain how he has the energy to pop up to his feet, take the punch, collect himself and then fire off a savage kick, go right ahead. It's verging upon supernatural. With 2:20 left in the fifth round, Cerrone works from an open guard into an omoplota. He prevents Ben from rolling free and transitions back and forth between the omoplota, a triangle/armbar combination and then finally this kimura attempt. All I can say in analysis of Ben's defense is "Stretch Armstrong". I have no idea how Ben Henderson knew that he could survive that kimura. That looks disgusting and I bet Cerrone had some weird feelings about seeing Henderson stay calm and tug his way free. Ben resists and steps his right foot over to reduce the dangerous angle. The thread is defused for now. With 20 seconds left in the fifth round, Cerrone connects on one of the hardest upkicks I've ever seen in MMA. Ben drops like a sack of potatoes into Cerrone's open guard and is promptly slapped into a triangle. By this time, instinct has kicked in enough for Henderson to pull out enough to force a shift to an omoplota, which morphs into a gruesome looking armbar. Ben defends by being Plastic Man and he rolls out just as the bell rings. Cerrone should have dug into the arm just above the elbow earlier in the omoplota to get a straight armbar-type situation, but honestly, this is how Benson got the nickname "Bendo". He pulls this stuff on a regular basis and all of this breakdowns and close looks reveal that these miracles are built on how astoundingly good his instincts are, freaky flexibility and the daredevilish pushing of his body to its absolute physical limits. Benson Henderson will do anything it takes to win and that is an intimidating attitude perhaps matched only by the man he will face in the main event of UFC 144 in Saitama Super Arena. Thanks for following along, folks. Catch you later. UFC 144 Judo Chop: Benson Henderson and the Miracle of Survival Part 1 of 2

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The upcoming UFC 144 event will feature the two most resilient lightweights in recent memory at the very top of the card as Frankie Edgar defends his title against Ben Henderson. Neither man has cruised through their careers with ease and both have had to claw back victory from the jaws of defeat several times. Iron wills, nearly limitless energy and the calm retention of technical skills under pressure have allowed Edgar and Henderson to survive and thrive in the shark tank that is the lightweight division. This two-part Judo Chop takes a look at what exactly the little things are that Bendo does to work his near-miraculous escapes and to stave off defeat until he can find and exploit a route to victory. In his last bout, Edgar capped off the finest trilogy of fights in MMA with his dramatic comeback from near defeat and subsequent knockout of Gray Maynard at UFC 136. Edgar has retained his UFC title with quiet tenacity and is now one of the most respected people in the sport for his heart and desire to win. Benson Henderson, the man who will stand across from Edgar in Saitama Super Arena, took a hard lesson from his last defeat. The loss of his WEC title to Anthony Pettis at the end of the bittersweet, but great WEC 53 card ended with Benson reeling from the now-legendary Showtime Kick. After that defeat and the subsequent absorption of the WEC by the UFC, Benson roared like the lion his frizzy mane emulates throughout thrilling matches with Mark Bocek, Jim Miller and Clay Guida to claim this title shot. All four fighters have had Bendo in trouble at some point and every single time, he has escaped. This first part takes an in-depth look at the WEC 53 fight against Anthony Pettis and the UFC 129 bout with Mark Bocek. Hit the jump for the fight breakdowns combined with the GIF goodies from Grappo. The Showtime Kick was for a time the most vivid image in recent mixed martial arts history. The visual poetry of the kick was so strong that it overshadowed the actual fight itself, a back and forth battle between two closely matched competitors. Both Pettis and Henderson had the other in trouble in all phases of the game and in particular, the rear mount position figured heavily in the action. At approximately the 3:30 mark of the third round, Pettis managed to work out of an open guard position and slide around to the rear mount position with a body triangle modification. In IBJJF competitions, he would achieve no points for this particular back take, but in real grappling and in MMA, such a position is extremely powerful. Finish opportunities open up and the body triangle can slowly constrict the energy and fight out of an opponent. Pettis was on Henderson's back for over three minutes, but achieved no finish despite working constantly to generate an opportunity for the rear naked choke (RNC) or punching Henderson in the face. The lack of a finish is due to Benson's calm controlling of one hand at almost all times. In this gif, you can see Benson get a two on one grip on Anthony's right arm and stretch it out. In MMA, if one hand is controlled, the other hand can generally be allowed to wrap around the neck without fear of a choke. In submission grappling, it is possible for grappling wizards like Marcelo Garcia to do a one handed RNC on high level opponents (as demonstrated on Ryan Hall in a practice session), but that takes a certain confluence of skill, position and mastery of technique. At that point in time, Pettis does not have such a confluence, so Henderson need only disrupt the choke attempts by controlling one hand. The full fight (very much worth watching) shows that Pettis constantly attacked by alternating which arm was going for the choke and which would complete the RNC, only to be frustrated by Henderson's grips. The two on one is usually a powerful grip in grappling as very few people outside of Mark Coleman or other immensely strong individuals will be able to power a single arm through the grip of two. In an earlier interview, Dave Camarillo mentioned that he believes the kimura grip (a variant of the two on one grip) is the strongest grip possible in grappling and utilizes it heavily within his own grappling and teaching. Note that Benson also alleviates the discomfort of the body triangle and carrying Anthony's weight to some degree by struggling upright and leaning against the cage. Pettis has to fight gravity in a small way himself and cannot take the easier route of staying on top of a turtled up opponent and driving his hips forwards to create immense pressure and discomfort. Those who remember the DaMarques Johnson and Mike Guymon fight from UFC: Fight for the Troops 2 can remember the power of that particular body triangle. Benson survived three minutes of this and looked unusually placid while doing so - as if this threatening back take was merely something to tolerated and worked through until he could get free and fire off more clinch knees. Jumping forwards to the next time Henderson was in significant trouble leads us to right after the Showtime Kick. Rather than dwelling upon the already much heralded burst of violent creativity, we should focus on how a very dazed and tired Bendo weathered a full minute of Pettis trying to finish the fight. Yes, there was a minute of the fight after the kick and smart tactics combined with an unfortunately timed lack of improvisation by Pettis is what allowed Henderson to survive to the decision. Immediately after the kick, Benson knew he had to get up off his back and do something or risk taking big punches from Anthony. He glommed onto the legs of Pettis and held his head tight to the legs in an instinctual clinch that played into the rule proscribing blows to the back of the head. Pettis had to pick and choose the spots to launch his strikes and the singleminded determination of Henderson to grab a leg and stay on it makes it difficult for Pettis to do anything other than end up in a crucifix position - as the GIF shows. However, right after the kick and scramble, Pettis stalls out a bit. Here, Pettis displays positional dominance in a way that often leads to the end of fights. The legs are controlling one arm and the head looks ripe to rain down damaging blows upon. This is an MMA fight, bound by rules and regulations and thus Pettis cannot punch away at the back of the head a la Hayato Sakurai against Nick Diaz. Fortunately for Henderson, Pettis never makes the logical leap to the Gary Goodridge style crucifix hellbows that left Paul Herrera a crumpled heap on the floor of the UFC 8 cage. With this oddly hesitant pattern of strikes, Ben is never fully overwhelmed and can prevent the referee from stepping in. Eventually, time ran out on the round and on the last, most brilliant card of WEC's existence. Benson would stand ready to hear the judges' decision and watch Anthony Pettis's hand be raised in victory. After the absorption of the WEC into the UFC, Henderson was largely viewed as a mid-level entrant to the division and Pettis waited for a potential title shot. Four months after the WEC 53 battle, Henderson fought Mark Bocek as part of the general "American vs. Canadian" vibe of the UFC 129 card. Henderson won a unanimous decision, but there were moments of real trouble for him due to Bocek's grappling prowess. Three such moments will be looked at this Judo Chop: For the first, Henderson has had a takedown stuffed and is on his hands and knees below Bocek, who has established head control. After some time securing the position, Bocek shifts to an anaconda grip. The angle for the cameras unfortunately obscures the placement of Bocek's hands and the beginnings of the choke, but there have been multiple Judo Chops done on the submission before. [The first is Judo Chop: Breaking Down the Groundwork of Maia/Munoz at UFC 131 and the second is Judo Chop: Carlo Prater Uses a Novel Finish to the Anaconda Choke.] Bocek is squeezing Henderson's left carotid with the placement of his right biceps and wants to force Henderson's right arm next to his head in such a way that the right carotid will also be squeezed. By making a series of motions somewhat similar to a RNC, Bocek has his right hand in the crook of his left arm and wants to roll to his left to off-balance Henderson and create more pressure on the carotids and thereby gain the submission. However, the cage and Henderson's positioning block Bocek from really turning over to get the proper anaconda finish that the grappling gods want. For a better idea of what a real anaconda choke looks like, check out the Judo Chops mentioned above or watch the old PRIDE fights of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - better known as "Big Nog" or "The Really Old Looking Brazilian Who Made The Anaconda Choke Famous". The nicknames sounds better in Portuguese, trust me. Mark bails on the anaconda and gets back to his feet, while retaining the head control that keeps Ben from getting a counter-takedown or punching Mark in the face some more. While they are along the fence, Bocek repositions his hands and arms in such a way that makes for a great guillotine - if he can get in position. The angles are not quite right for a guillotine in the style of the one Jake Shields pulled on Robbie Lawler back at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields, so Mark moves a bit to his right to clear his legs from Ben's control and Ben sinks to his knees as he loses the grip on the legs. When the legs are clear and Ben is fully on his elbows and knees, Bocek goes for a classic variation of the guillotine. The far side leg is swiftly thrown behind the opponent's back to prevent a move into side control, which would allow the alleviation of the pressure on the carotids and thus safety from the choke. The opponent's head is tucked into the latissimus dorsi muscles, which allow for a better, tighter squeeze and the left arm comes up to link and possibly throw the elbow over the opponent's right shoulder. Some Brazilian jiu jitsu people call this the Marcelo-tine, but a large number of grapplers from any discpline can get finishes with this move if they can hit it right. This is the second submission that Ben had to defend. Ben defended by bringing his right hand up to give some modicum of space within the choke and by simultaneously rolling - which may not always work against high level grapplers. The roll and the "not-quite-finished" status of the choke allowed Bendo to knock the left hand free and escape yet again. This might be the single closest time that Ben Henderson has come to being finished in the cage in the last several years and he reacts by storming Bocek with a flurry of punches. In the third round, Bocek ends up in an open guard position as Henderson has dominated nearly the entirety of the round by dealing out vicious punches and knees. Bocek places his left foot on a hip and leaves his right leg free (in a cautiously optimistic way). Ben walks in as if completely unconcerned about anything other than controlling the feet to prevent an upkick. Bocek uses that opportunity to grip the left leg of Henderson at the ankle and swims his right leg under and around the knee. This is a move that is banned in IBJJF competitions due to the risk of the submission Bocek initially sets up - the heel hook. [Previous Judo Chops featuring the heel hook: Rousimar Palhares and Leglocks, Shogun Rua's Fightsaving Leglock on Dan Henderson, Ed Herman Uses 50/50 Guard to Heel Hook Kyle Noke.] Ben probably realizes as soon as his leg is gripped that he has left the door wide open for a heel hook. The best way to get out of a leglock is to keep base carefully, stay calm, work the escapes techniques and to avoid panicking and ripping out the wrong way. Mark decides to control the hands of his opponent instead of going straight for the heel hook, which is a sort of judgement call in the damage versus submission opportunity debate. Henderson turns his right leg outwards to try and keep balance as if he were bullriding, but Bocek is a great grappler and uses his free left leg to kick out Henderson's base. As Ben falls over, Mark follows him and locks hands around the waist. Some of you may already know what submission Bocek has the opportunity for and have seen it broken down in an earlier Judo Chop covering how Charles Oliveira defeated Eric Wisely with the calf slicer. In contrast to Wisely, Bendo is extremely flexible, quite strong for his weight class and does not make the mistake of trying to launch vertically upwards to escape. Bocek looks like he wants the submission, but realizes that the slicer is probably not going to work as desired. Mark bails on it to go for an eventually unsuccessful back take. But for Benson's calm grappling defense and diligence in stretching, we could have seen the first UFC calf slicer in April of last year... That is all for Part 1 and stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for the next installment. Part 2 will take a look at the Jim Miller and Clay Guida battles Ben Henderson went through to reach his title shot complete with analysis and more pretty visuals.

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Tonight (Feb. 15, 2012), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) top welterweight contenders Diego Sanchez and Jake Ellenberger will take to the cage for the main event of UFC on FUEL TV in Omaha, Nebraska. The "dream" match up will see Sanchez doing his best to notch his third win in a row. Most recently, he picked up a unanimous decision victory over Martin Kampmann at UFC on Versus 3 back on March 3, 2011, in Louisville, Kentucky. A win for his opponent, Ellenberger, would make a whopping sixth in a row. In his last outing, "The Juggernaut" put a serious beatdown on Jake Shields en route to a first round technical knockout win at UFC Fight Night 25 on Sept. 17, 2011, in New Orleans, Louisiana. All of the momentum will come to a head when the two meet in the Octagon tonight. Something's got to give. After the jump, we'll examine who will hold the statistical edge when the cage door is closed at UFC on FUEL TV: "Sanchez vs. Ellenberger." The mixed martial arts (MMA) numbers fanatics at CompuStrike took the time to analyze 16 of Diego Sanchez's fights, as well as six of Jake Ellenberger's and collect the data so we could share it with you here on MMAmania.com. An MMA bout is comprised of many different disciplines and facets. The new breed of mixed martial artist has to be prepared for any place the fight may take him (or her). Every MMA fight starts in the standing position. Let's take a look at who may have the advantage in this portion of the fight: Total Strikes: Sanchez -- 49 of 111Ellenberger -- 38 of 72Percentage: Sanchez -- 44 percentEllenberger -- 53 percent Total Power Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 34 Ellenberger -- 17 Total Non-Power Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 15Ellenberger -- 21 Most of those numbers are pretty even. Ellenberger gets the nod for accuracy, while Sanchez eeks him out in the power category. However, it's important to note that Ellenberger holds 17 (technical) knockout wins in his career. Sanchez has six. Let's break down the striking picture a bit further and look at the arm strikes: Total Arm Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 24 of 70Ellenberger -- 10 of 26 Percentage of Arm Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 34 percentEllenberger -- 39 percent Power Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 16Ellenberger -- 5 Non-Power Strikes Landed Sanchez -- 8Ellenberger -- 5 This looks about the same as the overall striking statistics. More power strikes for Sanchez, but again, Ellenberger has far more knockouts. The striking comparison starts to make a bit more sense when we look at the leg striking aspect of each fighter. Let's check it out: Total Leg Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 3 of 7Ellenberger -- 7 of 9Percentage of Leg Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 43 percentEllenberger -- 78 percentPower Leg Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 2Ellenberger -- 3Non-Power Leg Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 1Ellenberger -- 4 Ellenberger has knees and kicks that are always potentially dangerous. Though he may not be knocking guys out with head kicks, he uses his leg strikes well to set up punches that have been known to put many a fighter to sleep. Finally, there's the ground game. One would assume that this fight will be a stand up brawl, but you never know. Anything can happen in MMA, right? Who has the edge on the ground? Let's see: Ground Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 22 of 34Ellenberger -- 21 of 37Percentage: Sanchez -- 65 percentEllenberger -- 57 percentPower Ground Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 16Ellenberger -- 9 Non-Power Ground Strikes Landed: Sanchez -- 6Ellenberger -- 12 Takedowns: Sanchez -- 22 of 92 (24 percent)Ellenberger -- 13 of 19 (68 percent)Submission Attempts: Sanchez -- 17Ellenberger -- 3Dominant Positions: Sanchez -- 18Ellenberger -- 1 Ellenberger has been shown to be more accurate with his takedowns, but Sanchez is attempting to shoot much more frequently. Once it gets to the canvas, Sanchez continues to be much busier and should be the more comfortable of the two if this fight heads south. It's also important to note that Sanchez owns nine submission wins to Ellenberger's mere one. It looks like the key to this fight for Ellenberger is to keep things standing and try to avoid playing into Sanchez's frenetic and chaotic pace. Sanchez certainly won't be afraid to stand in the pocket and trade, but don't be surprised if we see him shoot fairly early in this fight. What do you think, Maniacs? Do these numbers sway you at all? Who will you be staking your reputation and hard-earned money on in this high level welterweight match up? For everything else you need to know about the clash between Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Ellenberger, be sure to check out our complete fight archive right here.

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(This is a collaboration between KJ Gould and Fraser Coffeen. Main text and diagrams by KJ Gould, additional insight by Fraser Coffeen where stated.) South Carolina's Stephen Thompson made his debut at UFC 143 last night where he displayed his Kempo Karate skills on a world stage. His unorthodox stance and movement bewildered opponent Dan Stittgen who could only remain flat footed while throwing haymakers in an attempt to catch the undefeated Mixed Martial Artist and Kickboxer. Fraser Coffeen gives his insight into the Kick and setup used by Thompson: When you really break it down, this is essentially just a straight roundhouse kick. Because Thompson comes from a karate background, he chooses to land the kick with the instep of his foot as opposed to the shin, as you more commonly see with fighters from a Muay Thai background, but aside from that small change, what you have is a roundhouse kick. Where Thompson really shines is the set-up. He has two nice elements to his set-up – one common, and one that is a bit more unique. First, he hides the head kick by beginning it as a leg kick. If you watch his thigh, you can see that he is at first aiming towards the leg, but then brings it up to the head at the last minute. This is a relatively common technique in various kickboxing styles, as it lulls your opponent into letting their head defenses down a bit. You don’t see it as much in MMA, and Thompson does it very well here. The second way he sets it up is by brilliantly incorporating it into a combo. The kick comes fast behind a right cross. That punch turns Stittgen’s body and head slightly to his own right, away from Thompson’s right side. With Stittgen turned aside, he doesn’t even see the kick coming or know to defend it, and as a result he completely drops his left hand down to his waist. Thompson brings the kick over Stittgen’s shoulder, landing clean on his now totally exposed head, and that is that. Really great timing and combination work from Thompson to use the punch in order to move his opponent into position to properly set up the kick. After the jump, a closer illustrated look at the setup and kick that ended the fight and netted Thompson the $65k Knock Out of the Night bonus. SBN coverage of UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit In Karate and other Japanese arts, the names for moves are often descriptive of the entire process and end result. For example, Geri means 'Kick', Mawashi can refer to 'circular' or 'roundhouse', and the part of the body that's used such as Haisoku meaning 'instep'. The technique Thompson used then can logically be called an instep roundhouse kick or Haisoku Mawashi Geri. As it was aimed at and hit the head or Jodan, it could also be called a Haisoku Jodan Mawashi Geri. Here is an animation of this move from KarateTest.com It's been debated by some that Thompson threw his kick low first and switched it to kick high much like the Brazilian / Question Mark Kick. However after a closer look I myself believe the kick was simply 'chambered' in the karate style, and through Thompson's hip mobility he was able to bring it up and over the shoulder. Some kickboxing coaches are against chambering - the bending at the knee before the extension - due to the decrease in power that can be achieved compared to a straight roundhouse which is like an iron bar coming up from the ground. The benefit of chambering though is the smaller space and closer proximity a kick to the same target can be executed within, and sometimes the surprise element makes up for the lack of power. Power is great, accuracy with enough power is better. In the case of Thompson it appeared it was his lead leg that landed, rather than an all out power kick from the rear you'd usually associate with Muay Thai. However on closer look after he retracted his kick he brought it down rather than back and switched stances to compensate, so his right leg became his lead. In other words at the beginning of the sequence he was in orthodox stance, and by the end he was in southpaw stance. Thompson slips the left jab of Stittgen while landing a left jab of his own, and then throws a right straight. Stittgen throws a wild left hook that misses as Thompson leans back, raising his chambered leg and extends so it lands past the shoulder and the instep striking Stittgen in the jaw. Thompson pivots on his supporting leg to help drive the power into his striking leg and keep himself stable while balancing. He turns the hip over on his striking leg so that he is able to clear Stittgen's shoulder as he extends - without this hip mobility and stability that comes from years of conditioning his muscles to work in a certain way, Thompson would be unable to land as precisely and risks hitting the back or arm instead. Because Stittgen over committed on his wild hook he left himself open for an attack he would never see coming. Even if he had tucked his jaw behind his left shoulder, the dexterity in Thompson's kick meant it would still have landed though a bit higher, at the ear-line or temple.

Posted in: leg, kick, thompson, stittgen, roundhouse

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https://twitter.com/#!/joerogan scoring https://twitter.com/#!/joerogan/status/166482805025546240 leg kicks https://twitter.com/#!/joerogan/status/166485905681555456 rematch https://twitter.com/#!/joerogan/status/166484999900643328 submitted by JustKea10 [link] [1 comment]

Posted in: diaz, vs, leg, rematch, justkea

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Roy Nelson was bleeding all over the Octagon after taking a hard knee during his UFC 143 bout against Fabricio Werdum. He tweeted a photo of that large cut he sustained, and it came with this message: Here is the cut from me head butting Werdum's knee in the 1st. My face is fine, forehead is a little sore. Here's the play-by-play of the entire fight from our live blog of the event: Roy Nelson vs. Fabricio Werdum - Round 1 - Werdum has Nelson's back incredibly quickly and takes it to the mat. Nelson is able to get to his feet. Werdum with some knees. Nelson working an uppercut while Werdum has him in the plum. Knees to the body and now the head by Werdum. Nelson turns Werdum now and is landing some left hands. Werdum working the knees again but now Nelson is grabbing a body lock and just holding it. Nelson is bleeding very badly from somewhere around his nose. They break and time is called to check the cut on Nelson. Doctor immediately says he is fine and they continue. Leg kick by Werdum and another knee. Leg kick by Werdum now. Right hand by Werdum and another leg kick. Nelson catches a kick from Werdum and takes him down. Nelson follows him and almost gets armbarred but pops out. 10-98 round for Werdum and Nelson looks gassed already. Round 2 - Leg kick by Werdum. Big knee to the body by Werdum and Nelson falls briefly. Leg kick by Nelson. Huge leg kick by Werdum now. Werdum really trying to pour it on but Nelson flails some punches to back him off. A few punches land for Nelson but another big knee to the body by Werdum. Leg kick by Werdum. Werdum with a hard leg kick and Nelson misses a punch. Head kick by Werdum, Nelson with a hook. Front kick by Werdum. Things are slowing down a bit. Leg kick by Werdum and Nelson misses with a right hand. Body kick by Werdum. Right hand and a knee by Werdum. Nelson lands a big left and Werdum has to move away for a second. Few punches by Nelson. And that's it for that round. 10-9 Werdum. Round 3 - Nelson with a standing guillotine attempt early in the round. It's pretty deep and Nelson is really going for it but his arms weren't going to cooperate. Werdume with a nice flurry of strikes, punctuated with a knee to the chin. Big right hand and a knee by Werdum. Werdum jabbing now. Big front kick to the face and Nelson walks forward. Leg kick by Werdum. Werdum just worked Nelson over in this fight. 10-9 Werdum.

Posted in: leg, kick, werdum, knee, nelson

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submitted by oztrez [link] [23 comments]

Posted in: ufc, fight, leg, stat, oztrez

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"This is just another step toward my ultimate goal of being among the best mixed martial artists in the world. He was talking, [Nick Diaz] was landing punches, you know? I think I was winning. No matter how much he talked, I was hitting him hard, I was hitting him solid. That's what I came here to do: I didn't come here to talk. From the very beginning, I broke that leg down. I chopped his leg, chopped his leg, chopped his leg, so even if he had the cardio, he didn't have the wheels. I've got a lot of work to do, and a lot more improvements to be made. Georges St. Pierre is a true champion, he's the best in the world. It's huge." Newly-minted UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit had a gameplan to defeat Nick Diaz in the UFC 143 main event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he was sticking to it no matter what the fiery Stockton, Calif., slugger said inside the cage during their five-round battle. It was clear that Diaz was growing impatient with Condit's wise strategy, which comprised circling away from Diaz, countering and refusing to get backed into a corner and beaten up. In fact, Condit's feet barely stopped moving all night (Feb. 4, 2012), turning in a very disciplined performance even when Diaz threw up his hands, stuck out his chin and dared the "Natural Born Killer" to get down and dirty. He remained focused and resolute even when the fans in attendance began to grow a little restless. His defensive offense, however, eventually won them over, as well as the judges sitting ringside, who awarded him a controversial unanimous decision that -- at least on paper -- appeared to be accurate. With the win, Condit sets up a future date with reigning division champion Georges St. Pierre later this year to unify the belts. One that will take a similar effort of remaining upright and off his back if he intends on achieving his ultimate goal. Easier said than done, but he'll have more than enough time to work up yet another effective gameplan.

Posted in: ufc, diaz, las vegas, leg, condit

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It took five erratic months and a slew of last-minute lineup switches, but Carlos Condit earned a date with Georges St. Pierre after all. The former WEC kingpin defeated Nick Diaz to claim the UFC interim welterweight strap at the main event of UFC 143, snatching the judge's nod after 25 grueling minutes in front of the packed Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Full video highlights of Condit's stunning upset can be seen below. For more, catch the play-by-play by MMA Fighting's own Luke Thomas. ROUND 1 - Diaz opens southpaw while Condit is orthodox. Diaz starts out doing the stalking while Condit doing a lot of moving. Two outside leg kicks from Condit land. Diaz backing Condit into the fence, but he manages to circle out. Left straight from Diaz finds the mark. Brazilian kick from Condit whiffs over the head of Diaz. Condit with two more outside leg kicks to Diaz's lead leg. Diaz begins talking to Condit now. Spinning back fist from Condit misses and Diaz lands a right against the fence and a hard body shot. Left straight now from Diaz. Right hook to the body from Diaz and Condit misses on another spinning back elbow. MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Diaz. ROUND 2 - Condit whiffs again on a Brazilian kick, but Diaz is still pressing. Outside leg kick from Condit lands, but he misses on a flying. Diaz backs Condit into the fence, but can't get much. Spinning back fist from Condit partially lands, but not with a ton of authority. Diaz switching stances and taunting Condit with a slap. He eats several front leg kicks, but nothing major. Body kick now from Condit. Left straight to the body, right hook to the head lands for Diaz with Condit on the fence. Middle kick again for Condit but eats a jab for his efforts. Against the fence both fighters exchange in the pocket and now Condit is landing a bit more. Diaz rips several hard shots to the body, but works his way off the fence. Condit more active and more mobile this round. Diaz reaches for a takedown, but is stuffed. MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Condit. ROUND 3 - It's more of the same to start round three and Condit lands a hard body shot and inside leg kick. Now a head kick finds the mark for the New Mexico native. Diaz lands a three punch combination to the body and head. Right hand now for Condit, though not with a ton of authority. Right hook to the body from Condit and he moves out of the pocket. Diaz still stalking, but hitting nothing but air. Now Diaz eats a short outside leg kick. And another. Condit lands a punch-kick combo, but Diaz retaliates with two hard left hands. Hard right knee from Condit plus a right to the body. Condit lands an outside leg kick, but slips in the process. MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Condit. ROUND 4 - Condit again sticking and moving, mostly with leg kicks. Diaz tries to clinch, but Condit breaks it and circles away. Front kick from Condit, but not with much power. Diaz presses Condit into the fence and changes levels, but eats two punches for his efforts. Diaz's offensive output has slowed consideriably. Outside leg kick from Condit. Body kick from Condit partially lands and he circles away. Body shot and outside leg kick from Condit, plus a head kick on a second combination. Condit is opening up now. Diaz tries to grab a single, can't and eats a knee to the middle. Jab now from Condit. Diaz again trying to get Condit against the fence, but can't do it. MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Condit. ROUND 5 - Condit sticking with the game plan and landing lead outside leg kicks. Diaz misses with a hook to the body and Condit circles out. Diaz lands his own inside leg kick, but Condit is still strong in the pocket. Condit throwing kicks to stay busy, but not landing anything big. Condit misses on a spinning back elbow. The fighters trade leg kicks, but Condit lands harder. Then Condit fires a left hook and a hard head kick. Diaz gets double underhooks, but Condit escapes. Diaz lands a right hook, but eats a knee to the middle from Condit. Diaz gets Condit's back standing and drags him to the floor. He's got Condit's back and is working feverishly to get something going. Diaz locks up the rear naked choke grip, but Condit pushes him off. Condit escapes. The round ends. MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Diaz and the fight 48-47 Condit. UFC 143 results: Carlos Condit defeats Nick Diaz by unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46)

Posted in: diaz, round, leg, condit, kick

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Carlos Condit took the interim welterweight title at UFC 143 and took another distinction as well. He landed 68 leg kicks against Nick Diaz, setting the record for most leg kicks landed in a single fight. The previous record was 49, landed by Donald Cerrone in his fight against Vagner Rocha, which remains the record for a three-round fight. Through three rounds, Condit had only landed 42 leg kicks.

Posted in: fight, nick diaz, leg, record, vagner rocha

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Don't blink. We all know that big punchers like Chuck Liddell, Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem can end a fight at any moment with the dynamite they carry in their hands. Knockouts are easy for everyone to understand and generally happen pretty quickly. While not quite as easy to understand to the budding mixed martial arts (MMA) fan, submissions can happen just as quickly as knockouts, and can be just as (if not more) exciting. Watching an experienced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) player set up a submission is a lot like watching a spider weave its web. If one is not careful, one will wander right into their own demise. Roy Nelson and Fabricio Werdum are two of the best web-spinners in the fight game today, and grappling fans have the pleasure of watching them square off this Sat., Feb. 4, at UFC 143: "Diaz vs. Condit." Just as if two well-known knockout artists were facing off, I suggest as little blinking as possible during this potential grapple-fest. Here's why: Nelson and Werdum both have a wealth of experience, both in grappling competitions and in cage fighting, and they both have well-documented submission skills. Let's take a look at the grappling of our favorite portly pugilist first. To the new fan of MMA, Nelson may appear to be no more than a chubby dude who likes to throw hands. Recently engaging in stand-up wars with the likes of Mirko Filipovic, Frank Mir, and Junior dos Santos has done much to perpetuate this belief. What we must not forget is that Nelson is a world-class BJJ player and a master of using his weight and proper positioning to control opponents from the top. He is also excellent at getting to the top position if he ends up on his back, which he showed in his grappling match against Frank Mir at Grappler's Quest back in 2003. This is one of the most fluent, technical transition chains I have seen. The GIF below starts with Nelson (black shirt and shorts) working towards deep half-guard. Deep half-guard is when you are on your back, you have one of your opponent's legs trapped between your own and you have one arm hooking the other leg of your opponent. Nelson gets to deep half-guard about 2-3 seconds in. Thanks to Zombie Prophet for the following .gif. Check out his work at ironforgesiron.com. Deep half-guard is used primarily for sweeps and escapes, which is exactly what Nelson uses it for here. While keeping Mir's right leg trapped between his legs, Nelson dives his right arm under Mir's left leg and shifts his hips, forcing Mir off balance. Most likely, Roy's next move was going to be to open his guard and hook Mir's right leg with his left arm, which would allow Nelson to roll Mir onto his back using the "Rocker" sweep (click here to see how the "Rocker" sweep is executed). Mir knows a sweep is coming, so he locks up a kimura on Nelson's left arm, both attacking and preventing Nelson from hooking Mir's leg. What happens next is nothing short of beautiful. Watch Nelson's legs as he sits up and presses his head and body close to Mir. This not only prevents Mir from stepping over Nelson's head and completing the kimura, it also forces Mir's weight to shift toward the right leg which is trapped in Nelson's half guard. Roy, keeping Frank's leg locked tight between his own, swings his legs out in an arc and effortlessly puts Frank on his back. Think of stacking heavy books on a table, right above one of the legs, and then chopping off that leg of the table. While he is getting swept, Frank keeps a hold on Roy's left arm and immediately starts working for the kimura again. Roy keeps his left arm pinned to his side and jerks it slightly then rolls over his left shoulder and immediately switches his hips, going belly-down, pulling his left arm completely out of danger and using his right arm to control Mir's head. Mir is often spoken of as one of the best submission grapplers in the UFC's heavyweight division and Nelson beat him at this Grappler's Quest tournament via decision. Long story short, Nelson loves to work from the top position and is very capable of getting there, even if he ends up on his back. And once he gets on top, he can be very, very hard to shake off. Just ask Kimbo Slice. Thanks to MMATKO for the .gif. http://www.mmatko.com/ Fabricio Werdum is certainly no slouch when it comes to the submission game either. How could he be, when he's the man who pulled off the "Submission Heard 'Round the World," and is the only man to ever submit Fedor Emelianenko? The GIF below begins right after Fedor (black shorts) throws a flurry of punches and Werdum (white shorts) falls to the ground. Some say Werdum was dazed by the punches Fedor threw, some say Werdum was playing possum and fell to the ground simply to draw Fedor into his guard. I am a believer of the latter, because that's just how good Werdum is off his back. After Werdum hits the ground, Fedor immediately follows him, attempting to throw punches from Fabricio's guard. Werdum, like a spider at the center of its web, is ready and waiting. When Fedor falls into the Brazilian's guard, Werdum is immediately attacking. He grabs on to Fedor's left arm, attempting to isolate it while simultaneously wrapping his legs around the head and neck of the Russian, with the beginnings of a triangle choke in mind. Fedor manages to scramble a little bit and temporarily pass Werdum's guard, getting his head on the outside of Werdum's legs. Fabricio wisely keeps control of Fedor's head with his left hand until he can re-position his left leg around Fedor's head and neck, while keeping Fedor's left arm on the inside of his right leg. Werdum then adjusts his legs, sliding his left leg across the back and shoulders of Fedor, and tucking his left foot under his right foot. Finally, with a little more adjustment, Werdum has his left foot completely tucked under his right knee, with Fedor's left arm trapped between Werdum's right leg and Fedor's own head. Werdum's left leg is cutting off the blood flow through Fedors right carotid artery and Fedor's own left shoulder is cutting off the flow through his left carotid artery. Not only is this choke cutting off circulation to Emelianenko's brain, Werdum goes for a second attack: He grabs Fedor's left wrist and pushes it towards the leg that has the arm trapped, putting immense pressure on his elbow and adding an armbar to the already locked in triangle choke. The two combined submissions are too much, and Fedor admits defeat with a single, visibly frustrated tap to Werdum's leg. Thanks to Zombie Prophet for the following .gif. Check out his .gif work at ironforgesiron.com. That folks, is poetry in motion. So how do you see Nelson vs. Werdum playing out this Saturday night at UFC 143? When you have two top-notch Jiu Jitsu players pitted against each other, one who is very dominant in the top position and one who is very dangerous from the bottom position, you are all but guaranteed Jiu Jitsu fireworks. Don't blink! More on their heavyweight battle here.

Posted in: mir, leg, werdum, fedor, nelson

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In the fourth fight of the UFC on Fox 2 card during the Fuel TV preliminaries, Charles Oliveira made UFC history by submitting Eric Wisley with a calf slicer. The pain and discomfort Wisley experienced was apparent on his face and the bout was called to a halt as he tapped out at the 1:43 mark of Round 1. Oliveira earned the $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus and widespread acclaim for his exciting style. Our Grappling Team leader, Patrick Tenney, breaks down this rare submission and we discuss the details of the compression lock. As a preamble, the background of the calf slicer needs to be explained. This compression lock is an attack upon the leg that causes the calf muscle of the opponent to be painfully forced against and potentially split over the tibia of the person applying the submission. This pressure upon the calf muscle is the cause of the name "compression lock" and hurts like few other submissions. Despite being primarily a pain compliance move, the calf slicer can operate upon the knee and wrench certain tendons and ligaments out of alignment. The leglock is banned in certain grappling tournaments and is often utilized as a no-gi or sambo move. Besides being the sole calf slicer finish in UFC history, Oliveira managed to impress a very large audience. Vinny Magalhaes, ADCC gold medalist and M-1 light heavyweight champion, tweeted the following: @VinnyMMAVinny Magalhaes Wow,I don't know what surprised me the most.The calf slicer submission, or someone tap to that. I mean, I didn't even know that s**t worked. Jan 28 via web Favorite Retweet Reply To further show how much this affected the MMA-viewing public, look at how some joker edited the Wikipedia page for the UFC on Fox 2 page: Below the jump, cogent analysis by Patrick Tenney, fantastic GIFs by Grappo and a video of the other memorable calf slicer finish in MMA history - Ivan Menjivar's victory over Joe Lauzon at APEX: Undisputed in 2005. The rarity of calf slicers may lie in how the technique is often a stopping place for most grapplers between a more orthodox leglock and a back take. The three moves are frequently linked together into a flowing chain that can vary with the first step being a straight ankle lock - which works by hyperextending the foot - or a heel hook, which twists the foot and indirectly attacks the knee. Both bookends in that sequence are generally thought of as higher percentage moves and are usually easier to finish an opponent from than the calf slicer. In an earlier Judo Chop, Kid Nate took a look at Ultimate Fight Night 18, where Tyson Griffin was stuck in a different version of the calf slicer. Rafael dos Anjos's skillful maneuvering ultimately failed, but Griffin had to work his way out of a very tricky situation with some good technique and tons of grit. Patrick takes over from here: Do Bronx wisely switches to this submission from the two heel hook attempts, as Wisely correctly rotated and worked his way out of immediate danger. However, Wisely left his leg in the weave and Oliveira behind him, The right shin of Do Bronx creates a trap by pulling downwards against the back of Wisely's left calf/knee pit and Oliveira locks the leg into place by draping his left leg over the top to create a triangle. Despite the placement of the triangle, Wisely keeps trying to move forward in order to straighten his leg and escape. Do Bronx pulls him back by locking his hands around Wisley's waist and controls the hips, bending him backwards over his own knee and forcing pressure into the limb and causing the submission. Ben Thapa: What makes this different from the Tyson/Dos Anjos attempt besides shin placement? Do Bronx, after locking his legs, reaches up and controls the waist in order to pull his opponent back and fold the leg further. This also keeps the opponent from escaping forwards and away from him. Rafael went for some sort of spine lock/opportunity to punch Griffin in the face and never really controlled Tyson's hips or bent him backwards all that much. Ben: Why does Oliveira pull Wisely back into him? This is to keep Wisely from rushing forward and straightening his leg to slide out or at least create space to avoid tapping to the submission. The further back Wisely goes, the more pressure is placed on his calf muscle and knee. Ben: What are the options available if the opponent doesn't tap? Your only real option if the opponent doesn't tap is to let go and go up to take the back. Ben: What happens if the submission is fully applied - as in what breaks if this is taken to the full extent? This sort of compression lock (bicep/calf slicer) will first separate the muscle tendons around the bone and second, apply massive amounts of straight pressure onto the bone beneath the muscle. Think of it as standing a twig straight up and then slowly pressing your boot down on the top of the twig as it bends, bends and then snaps after too much pressure is applied. The knee of the leg trapped in the calf slicer can also be affected, as the tendons going over the front of the kneecap can get hyperextended or broken. Another calf slicer some of you may have seen live came way back in 2005, as Ivan Menjivar finished Joe Lauzon with one at Apex: Undisputed. Both fighters are now employed by Zuffa and have put on barnburners of fights in the years since. Menjivar himself uploaded the fight clip on YouTube a while back for us to enjoy. The set up and eventual finishing position are different, but the principles that cause Lauzon to tap are the same ones that caused Wisely to tap. The Human Weapon did a goofy simulation of a similar compression lock - although done much more like Menjivar's submission. Ovince St. Preux loves usng this particular calf slicer set-up in his matches and achieved a finish with it back in 2009 before he made it onto nationally televised shows.

Posted in: submission, leg, calf, slicer, calf slicer

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Middleweight prospect Chris Weidman remained unbeaten with a split decision over Demian Maia in a slow and sloppy opening fight on Saturday’s UFC on Fox 2 main card in Chicago. MMAFrenzy.com’s play-by-play of Weidman vs. Maia is below: Round 1 – Our referee is Herb Dean and we are underway. Maia comes out southpaw against the orthodox Weidman. Weidman with a wild shot but swept Maia’s leg but Maia jumps back to his feet. Nice knee from the thai clinch by Maia. Weidman throwing a flicking jab that’s not landing early. Nice knee by Maia. Body kick by Maia. Poor superman punch attempt by Weidman and Maia evades. Maia counters a Weidman shot with a crisp left. Weidman goes for the clinch but Maia rotates out of it. Nice body kick by Weidman. Leg kick by Maia that’s caught by Weidman and Weidman fires his own leg kick. Single leg to a double by Weidman and he briefly has Maia down. Maia tries to attack quickly after getting up but slips. Brief over/under clinch and we’re separated. Round ends with both fighters standing. All things fairly even in that round but Maia was a little more accurate and Weidman couldn’t do much on the takedown. MMAFrenzy scores the round 10-10. Round 2- Beautiful clinch to a bear-hug takedown by Weidman starts the action but Maia escapes before Weidman can do any damage. Weidman looks more confident with the striking. Nice uppercut by Maia. Weidman is breathing heavily with a minute and thirty left, that 11-day prep time is showing a little. Maia is not capitalizing though. Double leg attempt by Weidman with a minute left but Maia defends. Nice knee from Maia. Clinch and a knee from Maia, but Weidman secures a back trip takedown. Round ends with Weidman attempting an arm-in guillotine. MMAFrenzy scores the round 10-9 Weidman. Round 3 – Over/under clinch starts off the action but Maia fights out. Weidman with a wild combo that misses before taking Maia down with a double-leg. Maia does a great job controlling posture and escapes. Maia misses a pair of takedowns as Weidman defends with a front-headlock. Maia attempts another and again Weidman defends with a front-headlock. Maia attempts another sloppy shot. Both fighters loo exhausted and the crowd is booing. Maia is pressing though and lands a nice knee. Nice uppercut from Maia. Nice knees by Weidman. A minute left and both fighters are just swinging with no heat behind their strikes. Nice knee from Maia but Weidman lands a nice hook to the body. Headkick from Maia ends the round. MMAFrenzy scores the round 10-9 for Maia based on activity but the fight  a draw, though a Weidman victory would not be a surprise. Chris Weidman def. Demian Maia via split decision (29-28,28-29,29-28)

Posted in: round, leg, knee, maia, weidman

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Charles Oliveira defeats Eric Wisely by Submission. The stoppage came at 1:43 in the first round. Eric Wisely landed a push kick the fight round. His attempt at a kick to the body was unsuccessful with Oliveria catching the kick and tossing Wisely to the ground. Charles Oliveira landed punches from the top before looking to for a leg lock. Wisely defended well but left his leg in and Oliveira rolled with Wisely's leg locked in. In what can only be called a lucky submission, Wisely was forced to tap as his leg was twisted the wrong way. The official call is that it was a calf slicer. Wild set up. This was Charles Oliveira's featherweight debut. After a successful UFC debut he was 0-2 (1) in his last three fights at lightweight. Despite the weight cut, he looked to be the same size he was at 155 pounds. Eric Wisely entered the fight as a prospect from the mid-West. He was making his UFC debut. SBN coverage of UFC on Fox 2

Posted in: ufc, oliveira, leg, charle, eric

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CHICAGO, January 28 - Evan Dunham, who hadn’t finished a fight in over two years, promised to finish Nik Lentz in UFC on FOX preliminary card action Saturday night. And after a less-than-idyllic start, Dunham turned up the heat in the second, unloading on Lentz with a wicked 12-punch sequence and bullying the Minnesotan with takedowns and threatening with a tight guillotine. Lentz, his face covered in blood, gamely survived the onslaught but doctors halted the fight at the end of the round due to a deep cut near Lentz’s badly swollen left eye. “The first round I felt a little flat and came out slow,” said Dunham, who improved to 13-2. “I just remembered what my coach Ray Sefo always told me, ‘One round doesn’t determine the next.’ So I came out just knowing I needed to be really aggressive, which I was. I was hoping for the third round, because I was hungry for that third round.” The bout had been nip-and-tuck early, with both fighters trading combinations and Lentz (23-5-2) edging Dunham 2-1 in the takedown department. JOHN-OLAV EINEMO VS. MIKE RUSSOWScratch one off Mike Russow’s Bucket List, and this one ranked pretty high up there. With Hall-of-Famer Matt Hughes barking instructions cageside, the Chicago police officer treated hometown fans to a unanimous decision win over world-class grappler Jon Olav Einemo. “It’s a dream come true,” said Russow (15-1, 1 NC). Russow wrestled for and graduated from Eastern Illinois University – the same alma mater as welterweight legend Hughes – and his repeated takedowns and top control proved to be the difference. Einemo, known for his submission prowess, actually had his best moments with right hands and knees to the body and face. But every time the 6’6” Norwegian rallied, Russow blunted the attacks with takedowns and the grinding of his 255-pound frame. Einemo also managed a deft butterfly sweep in the first round, achieving mount, but the horn saved Russow from damage. Chants of “Let’s Go Russow!” and “CPD! CPD!” filled United Arena – those initials standing, of course, for Chicago Police Department. GEORGE ROOP VS. CUB SWANSONA back-and-forth featherweight bout took a dramatic turn when Cub Swanson uncorked a highlight reel right hand, knocking out an aggressive adversary who had given him a run for his money up until then. Roop (12-10-1) had experienced success early, particularly utilizing his length advantage to score a myriad of kicks. Both men traded combinations in the first round, with Swanson’s blows having a little more heat on them and drawing blood under the Arizonan’s nose. The most memorable moment in the round came when Swanson stuffed a takedown attempt and immediately executed a textbook judo throw of his own. In the second, a hemotoma the size of a baseball began forming on Roop’s power leg (possibly the result of Swanson checking the kick). Roop continued to kick with the leg and was competitive until Swanson baited him with a jab, then stepped in with that fateful and textbook right hand that sent Roop’s mouthpiece flying and body falling. “That’s a combination we work all the time at Greg Jackson’s back home with my boxing coach,” said Swanson (16-5), who earned his first-ever UFC win. CHARLES OLIVEIRA VS. ERIC WISELYCharles Oliveira’s reinvention at 145 pounds could not have gone much better. The native Brazilian caught a low kick early, putting Eric Wisely on his back. The 22-year-old was having much success landing hard punches on top but, out of nowhere, risked his dominant position by diving for a heel hook Rousimar Palhares-style. Wisely rolled out of the heel hook but Oliveira transitioned to a leg lock from the back, awkwardly torquing Wisely’s leg back to earn the tap out at 1:43 of the opening frame. “I felt the cut a little to 145,” said Oliveira (15-2, 1 NC), “but my gym helped me and I did it.” SHANE ROLLER VS. MICHAEL JOHNSONMichael Johnson, lightweight finalist on TUF 12, relied on superior speed and boxing en route to a unanimous decision win over Shane Roller. The classic striker versus grappler match saw Johnson imposing his style by rebuffing all of Roller’s takedowns in the opening two rounds, and scoring with crisp combinations. Roller thoroughly disrupted Johnson’s groove to open the third, scoring a takedown and immediately transitioning to the back and flattening Johnson. Things were looking really bad for Johnson as Roller (10-6) teed off with punches on his trapped opponent. It was the kind of position where, as a fan, you watch and wonder how many punches the ref will jump in and stop it because a fighter is not “intelligently defending” himself. As it turns out, referee Herb Dean did stop the action – but only to warn Roller about punching to the back of the head. Dean allowed the fighters to restart in a similar position, but Johnson – perhaps benefitting from the restart -- now found space to eventually wiggle free. Though he dominated most of the round, Roller’s opportunity for the come from behind win came and went. Judges scored it 29-28 across the board for Johnson (11-6). LAVAR JOHNSON VS. JOEY BELTRANDurability had defined Joey Beltran’s six-fight UFC tenure. Never had the “Mexicutioner” been finished inside of the Octagon. Until tonight, when knockout specialist Lavar Johnson simply overwhelmed his fellow Californian from the opening horn. In the first 30 seconds, Johnson dropped Beltran with a right hand. As the round played out, Johnson landed at will. Jabs. Leg kicks. Body shots. Knees to the body. Combinations. As the one-sided bashing continued, Beltran leaned against the cage and ate a dozen hard punches – at least four of them clean uppercuts to the chin with much of Johnson’s 240 pounds behind them. It was too much for any man to take, sending Beltran to the canvas out cold at 4:24. “Those were four nice good uppercuts. Usually I knock people out with just one,” said Johnson, a former Strikeforce standout who improved to 16-5 after winning his UFC debut. Beltran fell to 13-7. DUSTIN JACOBY VS. CHRIS CAMOZZIWhen two southpaws collide, the right hook can be the most difficult weapon to see coming. In this middleweight bout, the right hook was an absolute game-changer. Dustin Jacoby, hungry in pursuit of his first UFC win, came out guns blazing and landed combinations and low kicks at a high clip. The 23-year-old Marc Fiore protégé seemed to have the opening round in the bag, as they say, until a booming right hook in the waning seconds exploded out of nowhere and briefly put him on the deck. Jacoby survived the round but never seemed the same thereafter, and the veteran Chris Camozzi took full advantage of his opponent’s newfound reticence. In what was entirely a standup affair, Camozzi kept the momentum in the second round with combinations that bloodied Jacoby’s nose and, by all indications, assaulted the young fighter’s confidence as well. Entering the third round, you could have judged the fight at 1-1 or 2-0 for Camozzi. But the judges were rendered irrelevant after a Camozzi leg kick took Jacoby’s legs out from under him. As Jacoby (6-2) scrambled back to his feet, Camozzi greeted him with a front headlock and immediately sank in a “10-finger guillotine” and earned the tap at 1:08 of the round. Camozzi (16-5, 3-2 UFC) said afterward that he dislocated a finger in the second round, but re-aligned and kept grinding.

Posted in: takedown, round, johnson, leg, roller

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The unique differences between humans allows for a stunning array of specialists in athletic activities. The physical differences between elite NFL players and marathon runners are easy to point out, yet both sports allow for the individual athlete to focus mostly on doing one or two things. Mixed martial arts, by its intrinsic nature of combining striking with grappling and clinch work, tends to force a broader focus from its athletes and we see less and less true specialists as the sport evolves before our eyes. However, Rousimar Palhares has been doing his level best to buck that trend as an incredibly effective submission grappler. What makes one defensive lineman more successful at pressuring the quarterback than another or one swimmer faster than another is harder to tell. Jevon Kearse is an absolute physical specimen as he was 6'4", nearly 270 pounds and gifted with speed and athleticism that NFL coaches dream about. However, the 5'10", 240ish pound Elvis Dumervil might end up the far better player due to his incredible motor and leverage. The immense torso, somewhat diminutive legs and rubber-like ankles of Michael Phelps allow him some advantages over most of his competitors, but his drive, admirable stroke technique and work ethic are what puts him on Olympic medal podiums and American cereal boxes. Phelps is built and trained to swim like a merman. These examples show that developing and optimizing both the mental and physical aspects is what defines success (which brings the desired fame and fortune) at the elite level. During his chase of professional success and fortune, Rousimar Palhares has worked hard to combine his attributes into a dangerous limb-breaking attack that has shown to be extremely difficult to slow or shut down. While working his way out of impoverished conditions most of us will never experience, Rousimar built an unusual physique with an immense amount of muscle packed onto a smaller-than-usual-middleweight frame and tailored a submission grappling game that works perfectly for his physical attributes. In creating and refining his MMA game, Palhares has built a road of wrecked limbs violently seized upon and arranged carefully to point towards the middleweight title shot he desires. The right leg of Mike Massenzio is the most recent addition of that road and Palhares seized the submission in impressive fashion at UFC 142 - and in a time barely encompassing two minutes of action. Below the jump, an examination of how Palhares clamped upon and exerted such torque on the leg that Massenzio, a JuCo national champion and Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, was left helpless and tapping will be laid out for your perusal. Also, the Gracie Breakdowns are extremely fun and technical, but Ryron and Rener missed a couple of details in their look at this particular leglock. Lest I be accused of denouncing the game of an ADCC 2011 silver medalist, I make it fully clear that Rousimar Palhares is a world class submission grappler and Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt. The man likely knows far, far more about every submission, sweep, pass and guard retention trick than I do. At the same time, I can say with confidence that the stubby arms of Palhares probably make guillotines more difficult than they would be for Jake Shields and the massive legs may not be as conducive to triangles as those of Kendall Grove. However, Palhares is built to enrich orthopedists worldwide. He wants an arm or a leg and his compacted frame and awesome core strength makes him superb at applying limb-breaking torque to either extremity. This general pattern is borne out by Palhares's MMA bouts and submission grappling matches. At the 2011 ADCC trials, Palhares cut the preambles and went straight for the takedown and the leglock. To the best of my fading recollection, he did not go for a guillotine and triangles may have featured very briefly, if at all, in his matches. Exactly one of Palhares's eleven submission victories is not an armbar or a leglock (a rear naked choke secured his win over Helio Dipp back in 2007). Going into the bout with Mike Massenzio at UFC 142, most people knew that Palhares would be gunning for the leglock. Massenzio undoubtedly spent a good deal of his camp drilling escapes and working on his posture in order to avoid even being put into the leglock. Rousimar still found a novel way to apply one of his terrifying heelhook and won a Submission of the Night bonus as well. All GIFs courtesy of Grappo. About one minute into the bout, Palhares shoots in for a double leg takedown. Massenzio starts to sprawl and swim for the underhook, but Rousimar reverses direction at an unexpected time and begins to fall backwards while sticking his feet underneath Mike. As Palhares falls backwards and to the left, Mike wants to base out and maintain posture. Massenzio plants his right hand on the ground and spreads his legs apart to support his weight better. Rousimar's right foot curls upwards and he establishes a butterfly hook on the underside of Mike's left thigh. The momentum of the fall allows Palhares to use the butterfly hook to push his opponent further over, which prompts Massenzio to disengage from the hook and put his left knee to the ground - without pulling his torso back in alignment. Palhares uses that opportunity to lift his right leg high up Massenzio's back, as if he was going for an armbar. As an experienced submission grappler, Massenzio knows that the armbar is coming and bails forwards and upwards. At the same time Palhares raised his right leg for the armbar, he also snuck his left leg around Massenzio's right leg and his foot approached Massenzio's right hip. Thus, the trap was set. As Mike bailed outwards and upwards, he knew that the armbar was escaped and that he had a decent shot of foiling the follow-up leglock also - if he could get out fast enough. He jumps and pulls hard enough that Rousimar is lifted entirely off the ground, but the leg does not come free. Palhares has chopped his left leg over the right hip of Massenzio and clamped his left elbow down to his latissimus dorsi muscle. The bending of the leg and Rousimar's odd physique allow this grip to be powerful enough to affix that leg firmly to his side. From then on, it takes Rousimar one second to shift from having the grip to cranking the heel hook. A second after that, Massenzio taps. He work his way out by rolling to loosen the grip as Andre Galvao did in the 88 kg finals at the ADCCs in Nottingham nor can he shift Palhares to a kneebar and pull backwards to free himself like Dave Branch did back at UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann. To see how quickly Palhares put it all together, here is another GIF with different timing that encompasses the whole sequence. Ryron and Rener do a great job of explaining why leglocks are so damaging, which is why T.P. Grant incorporated their work in his look at Rousimar's leglocks in the build-up to UFC 142. To sum up, the heel hook causes twisting of the foot and ankle joint, which transfers torque to the knee through the tibia and fibula, which can cause the knee to be wrenched out of alignment. This type of leglock is considered to be very serious, due to the multiple joints under threat of injury and the tendency for grapplers to not feel pain or significant pressure in their knees before something critical tears or gives way. Palhares is so good at achieving leglocks in MMA that Masakazu Imanari might be his only true contemporary - and Imanari has not nearly the single-minded ferocity or physique of Palhares. Against Dan Henderson, Palhares uses a similar transition in the first round. After a failed shot, Rousimar falls back and Dan follows him in. Eventually, Rousimar goes for an armbar and Dan defends by getting up. Palhares uses the momentum to immediately invert and swing over for a leglock. Hendo has great submission defense (recall the Shields fight from Strikeforce or the legendary match with Shogun) and steps back out without any serious problems. If you have the time and the curiosity to see how Palhares uses the armbar/leglock trap to set up some truly dazzling sweeps, watch the Rise of Toquinho video below. The Rise of Toquinho from Stuart Cooper Films on Vimeo. The first moment of particular note to those curious about the leglock sequences Palhares uses would be from 16:32 to 16:35 in the video. Watch as Palhares uses his legs to generate enough momentum to get inverted and then use his brute strength and stubby arms to flip his grappling opponent heels over head. The sequence is flashy and impressive as all get out, but is not why I The next sequence is the most important of the three moments to watch from this Stuart Cooper video. At 16:37 to 16:42 as Palhares uses a similar set-up to the Massenzio situation - without the leg positioning required to truly threaten a leglock - to start standing back up. However, he utilizes yet more unorthodox timing and movement to sweep his opponent and land in side control. This is a continuation of the same attacking principles that led to the tapping of Massenzio - unusual timing within the transition moments from the stand-up to the ground and vice versa. From 16:46 to 16:50, watch as Palhares gets the belly down armbar from the opposite side as all the other sequences. The armbar is not a simple fake like most of Mauricio Rua's leglock attempts and represents a very real submission threat. The mobility of Rousimar's hips is kind of astounding, as he is not the most agile fighter out there and he seizes that arm with his characteristic gusto. This chain of moves Palhares has developed for this specific situation show a deep understanding of contingencies and his own physical and mental attributes. Somehow, he has managed to implement a good number of these practice moves in live cage fights without getting punched in the face too often. Setting the Marquardt fight aside, only Dan Henderson and Dan Miller have managed to stop the limb-breaking attack of Rousimar Palhares in the octagon. Future opponents should work on immobilizing those shifty hips, as Miller did, and bailing out backwards, as Henderson did. Or even changing their first name to "Daniel".

Posted in: leglock, leg, palhare, massenzio, rousimar

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I know this might stir up a shitstorm but whatever. I was chatting with a friend earlier today what the best gameplan would be for Condit to beat Diaz. Not discounting Condit's natural talents at all, but trying to highlight Diaz's weaknesses, the fight plan went pretty much something like this: Leg kicks and more leg kicks, circle back and away, use jabs to keep distance and kick Nick's right leg (his lead leg) mercilessly whenever given the opportunity. Do not get sucked into his taunting and play his game. Circle back and away, then punish his legs whenever possible. If it goes to the ground and he ends up in Nick's guard, just defend until the ref stands you back up. Sorry, crowds hate this 'lay n pray' shit, but it's all about getting the W. Once Nick's leg is sufficiently pulverized after a few rounds, he won't have a strong base to throw punches from and though he doesn't really do it as often these days, he'll probably try to go for takedowns. Hopefully he'll be broken down enough that his takedowns can be stuffed. Then Condit can turn on the punches and start using his own solid talents however he sees fit. Hopefully Condit can maintain sufficient stamina for the late rounds to deliver some punishment, as Nick's triathlete stamina is off the charts. If you're Diego Sanchez of course you could do something more like this: http://www.mmavideofights.net/3505/nick-diaz-diego-sanchez-video-ultimate-fighter-2-finale/ Upvote/downvote/whatever... just curious to see what other redditors think are the biggest weaknesses in Diaz's fight game and how best to capitalize on them. I should say, I'm a big Diaz fan and want him to win so it'll be a direct path to a fight with GSP next fall when GSP is fully healed up. I'll fly to Vegas for that, was going to be in Vegas this Feb 4th until I heard GSP got injured. tl;dr -- Leg kicks. submitted by tritiumpie [link] [54 comments]

Posted in: fight, diaz, nick, leg, condit

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Photo via UFC.com. Since his addition to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster back in October of 2008, Jim Miller has earned himself an impressive nine wins, including three by submission, with only two losses. His two defeats came by decision to Gray Maynard and Ben Henderson. One is a former two-time title challenger, the other is the current number one contender. Oh, and by the way, the only other loss on his record is to some guy named Frankie Edgar. With Miller facing off against Melvin Guillard this Friday night (Jan. 20, 2012) in the main event of UFC on FX, for what may be the next number one contender spot, I wanted to break down the most potent weapon for his attack against "The Young Assassin." The submission. We'll start with his brilliant kneebar finish at UFC 124, one that derailed a talented young up-and-comer and established Miller as one of the most dangerous opponents in the world at 155-pounds. As Miller approached his Dec. 2010 bout against Charles Oliveira, the hype train was moving full steam ahead with "Do Bronx" as its VIP passenger, and for good reason. The young Brazilian had displayed a very dangerous submission game, along with some very technical striking in his previous UFC performances. In an interview leading up to the fight, Charles had even stated he didn't think Miller would be able to compete with him at all when it came to the grappling game. Miller proved otherwise. Props to Zombie Prophet for the .gifs. Check out his site at www.ironforgesiron.com for .gifs and videos. Find them posted there before anywhere else on the 'net! In the clip below, Miller is fearless in going to the ground with Oliveira, as he shoots right in for the double leg takedown. Charles attacks immediately, sliding his right arm under the neck of Miller, threatening Jim with a guillotine choke. Miller recognizes this, and switches his double leg takedown to a single leg takedown. Jim switching to the single leg is step one in avoiding the guillotine of "Do Bronx." Once executed, a double leg takedown has a much higher probability of landing you in your opponent's guard than a single leg does. And if you land in your opponent's guard when he has a guillotine locked up, you are most likely seconds away from tapping. Miller switching to the single leg takedown means he is more likely to land in Oliveira's half guard (which he does, as shown in the .gif) instead of his full guard. Defending the guillotine is easier when you are only stuck in half guard. Once Miller gets Oliveira on his back, Miller immediately passes his legs to the side of Oliveira's body which is opposite the side Charles has the choke locked up on, ending up in "cross-side" position. Miller is now safe from the choke, as it is next to impossible for "Do Bronx" to create the necessary torque to finish the submission when Jim is in cross-side. The above clip starts with further evidence that Miller is confident in his ground skills, demonstrated by the way he willingly dives into the guard of Oliveira, who retaliates by immediately using his dangerous jiu-jitsu game to attack the left leg of Miller. Charles tries to wrap both of his legs around Miller's leg, which would be the beginning of a leg lock. Miller, knowing his leg is in danger, wisely keeps his left arm inside the guard of Oliveira, which prevents "Do Bronx" from completely isolating and attacking his leg. As Oliveira adjusts his guard, Miller does two things at once, lightning fast: He spins to his right, pulling his left leg far enough out of Oliveira's guard to be safe from the kneebar, while at the same time grabbing on to Oliveira's left leg with both his arms and holding it tight to his chest. Miller then drops down to the mat, sliding his hips down Oliveira's leg bringing his opponent's knee past his own hips. Now, "Do Bronx" is in trouble. Jim keeps Charles' leg tight to his chest, squeezes his knees together, and drives his hips forward, putting very intense pressure on the knee joint of Oliveira. This forces the tap from Charles, and chalks up a very impressive win for Miller. Just three months after his victory over Oliveira at UFC 124, Miller would face another ground specialist. This time an excellent wrestler in Kamal Shalorus at UFC 128. While Miller would end up finishing Shalorus via technical knockout (via strikes) in the third round, he still found time to display some very slick jiu-jitsu. In the clip above, Miller changes levels, avoiding the strikes of Shalorus, and latches on to Kamal's lead leg. Miller successfully executes the single-leg take down, and Kamal immediately tries to buck Miller. Jim uses this opportunity to "surf" Shalorus. He goes with the flow, maintaining his top position and letting Kamal move around underneath him, almost like a surfer riding a wave. The concept seems simple, but Miller shows the true experience and composure of a high level jiu-jitsu practitioner by letting Shalorus tighten his own noose. Taking advantage of Kamal's failed buck-and-roll attempt, Miller immediately lands on Shalorus's back, slides his legs inside Kamal's thighs. This is called "setting the hooks." At the same time he sets his hooks, Miller wraps his left arm around Kamal's neck, and slides his right arm under Kamal's right arm, threatening him with a choke. This position has Kamal in a lot of trouble. Miller can finish the fight here with a rear-naked choke. Instead of just settling for that position, Jim decides to take things one step further. Wrapping his right leg around the stomach of Kamal Shalorus, he hooks his right foot under his left knee and squeezes, thus locking in the "body triangle." This makes it very difficult for Kamal to breathe, and is very painful on his back and spine. While Miller did not finish Shalorus from this position, he certainly showed Kamal that spending time on the ground with him would be a very risky move to make. Anyone unlucky enough to find themselves on the mat with Jim Miller had better be prepared to deal with a competitor who is willing and able to finish the fight at any moment. Are you listening, Melvin Guillard? For more on their main event match-up click here.

Posted in: oliveira, miller, leg, jim, kamal

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We are just one show into the UFC's 2012 but already have a strong candidate for KO of the year. At UFC 142 last weekend, Edson Barboza unleashed the full power of his striking arsenal and landed a beautiful spinning wheel kick, knocking Terry Etim out cold and forever earning himself a spot on UFC highlight reels. You don't have to know much about striking to appreciate a moment like that, but in this Judo Chop, we'll try to dig a little deeper. What makes this a wheel kick, not a back kick? Why was it so damaging? And what is this "Lekobuster" people keep comparing it to? Let's sort it all out. We start with the fundamentals and an important question - what exactly is a spinning wheel kick? It's not a strike too commonly seen in MMA, and I believe this is actually the first time it has ever scored a knock out in the UFC. And the answer to this seemingly simple question is actually a matter of some debate. Depending on your martial arts background, you might call Barboza's kick a number of different things and, to be honest, there is not always a tremendous differentiation between these various names. The best simple description of a spin wheel kick that I have found comes from this brief video featuring Jeff Sidner of the South Minneapolis National Karate School. He demonstrates a basic wheel kick, followed by a spin wheel kick. Two things to note here. First, Sidner is in a southpaw stance, which means he strikes with his left leg. Since Barboza was in orthodox and struck with the right leg, the motion is reversed. Second, this is a decidedly karate based view on the kick, though the fundamental idea is the same. Video, plus much more, in the full entry. Video of the wheel kick starts at 1:04. That video calls it a wheel kick, but again, depending on your background, that could be called a hook kick or heel kick. I anticipate some good debate over this distinction in the comments. Barboza comes from a Muay Thai background, and Muay Thai tends to be much more utilitarian in their names, so rather than quibble much more over names, let's take a look at exactly what he did with the kick. Barboza starts in orthodox stance, with his right leg in the rear power position. To throw the kick, he turns in the direction of that power leg - to his right. He brings the leg up as he is turning, and throws it like a whip into the right side of Etim's face. Now, there is a lot to unpack from Barboza here, so let's work through some specifics. The left foot - Baboza's left leg is his base, providing the power for the kick, and that power starts all the way down in the foot. As Barboza throws the kick and turns, he pivots on that left foot (which, obviously, he has to do in order to turn). In that pivot you can see his Muay Thai background. Barboza comes up on the toes of his foot as he turns, which is the common method of kicking in Muay Thai, but not seen quite as much in MMA. I'm a big fan of this simple motion, and will be talking about it more in the coming weeks. The hook on the right leg - As Barboza brings the right leg around, he keeps it slightly bent at the knee. This allows him to straighten out the kick at the last second, increasing the whip-like effect and the power in the final blow. You can see the way the leg is bent through the majority of the turn, only to whip straight at the point of impact. Because of that slight bend, it would be fair to describe this as a spinning hook kick. Direction of impact - Barboza is kicking through Etim here, sending his force through Etim's head in a side to side, right to left direction. It's similar to a roundhouse kick or hook punch as opposed to a straight kick or jab. The point is to whip your opponent's head to the side, shutting off the brain momentarily. And that is exactly what happens. Barboza does a terrific job with this momentum. Watch the way his contact with Etim barely interrupts the flow of the kick - he is not simply targeting the head, he is kicking through the head. Take a look at the picture on the right to see this follow through. Point of impact - When landing a kick, especially from the side, you can use various parts of your foot as the striking point. Barboza lands with a combination of the heel and the outside edge of the foot - two of the best striking points for a kick like this. Return to stance - At the end of the kick, because he has followed through so well, Barboza's right leg lands back on his right side. Once the leg lands, he quickly switches legs to get back to orthodox stance, insuring that if Etim had not been KO'd, Barboza would be in position to keep fighting. With all those elements together - the lift on the left leg, the whipping motion of the right leg, the follow through, the edge of the foot - this is a devastating kick. What makes it such a clean KO is that these elements combine with Etim seeming to read it as a body kick, which causes him to just slightly drop his hands. This is a fatal error, as it brings his right hand down from his head, giving Barboza a clear path to the KO. Beautiful kick, executed flawlessly. So that's the idea of the wheel kick, plus why Barboza's worked so well. Which just leaves us with one point to discuss - the Lekobuster. The Lekobuster (right) is the name commonly given to a kick executed by Badr Hari on Stefan Leko in K-1 back in 2005. It's one of the greatest KO'd in the history of K-1 - and when you are talking about a kickboxing organization with 20 years of history, that's saying something indeed. For more about this legendary kick, check out this article I wrote about the entire Hari vs. Leko fight back in my Head Kick Legend days. Almost immediately after the Barboza kick, comparisons to Hari's kick began cropping up, and for good reason. Both are spinning reverse kicks to the head, and both result in spectacular KO. But Hari's kick has a fundamental difference from Barboza's - take a close look. At first glance, Hari's appears to be more of a spinning back kick (a technique I covered in this Cung Le vs. Wanderlei Silva Judo Chop). The key difference is in the direction of force on impact. In the wheel or hook kick, as we covered above, the force is traveling parallel to your opponent's body, moving through your opponent side to side like a whip. In a back kick, the force is moving perpendicular to your target, pushing through them from front to back. One indication of the force's direction is the attacker's momentum after impact. When Barboza connects, his foot keeps going, returning to its original position and leading Barboza to turn a full 360 degrees. In a spinning back kick, you connect with your back to your opponent, then turn back to return to your stance - note how Hari only turns 180 degrees, then rotates back the way he came after hitting the kick. That is more indicative of a back kick. But then there's this picture (right), which clearly shows Hari's leg coming around the side en route to Leko's jaw. If it were a true back kick, you would see the leg cocked at the hip, not whipping around. In the end, Hari's Lekobuster somewhat splits the difference. It's a hook kick, but Hari bases his body positioning more on a traditional back kick. So while it is close to the Barboza KO, I would classify them as slightly different. As to which one is better? That's a debate we may be having for some time. But for now, it's safe to say that it will take something special indeed to top Barboza's masterful strike as the KO of the year.

Posted in: right, barboza, leg, kick, wheel kick

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Before his UFC 142 main card opening bout against Terry Etim last night (January 14, 2012), lightweight Edson Barboza stated, "If I get the opportunity to knock him out, I'll knock him out." Never have truer words been spoken. After landing a smattering of leg and body kicks, Barboza went high and it might have resulted in one of the greatest knockouts in UFC history. So how did the budding Brazilian lightweight star pull it off? And what's next for both men? Right off the bat, Etim's gameplan was evident as he shot in for a takedown, but even though he was able to pub Barboza on his back briefly, the Brazilian striker repeatedly popped back to his feet very quickly. They key for Barboza's ability to get back up was the fact that he immediately would sweep Etim with his butterfly guard, rolling him over before exploding back to standing position. It had to be very frustrating for Etim to see his efforts get wasted in such a manner. Perhaps driven by the failure to keep Barboza down and work his submission game, Etim decided to stand and trade with the diverse striker. This was a really, really, really bad idea. As the threat of the takedown dissipated, Barboza became more and more comfortable, and that meant lots of leg kicks. The fighter training out of The Armory began to get much more aggressive as the fight wore on, peppering Etim with both inside and outside kicks on his lead left leg as well as occasionally throwing right hands to the body as well as the head. By the third round of this, Etim had slowed down from the leg kicks and had also become accustomed to them. Even worse, he spent about 15 seconds in the perfect range of Barboza without threatening any attack whatsoever, this granted the Brazilian the perfect opportunity to try something crazy. Well he tried it, and damn, it was nasty. With Etim at the ideal distance, Barboza planted on his left leg and spun backwards with a devastating wheel kick and the heel of his foot collided firmly into Etim's jaw, knocking him out instantly. In fact, as Ben Thapa mentioned, Etim may have been the most knocked out of anyone we'd ever seen. For Terry Etim, hopefully he's okay but he's going to have one hell of a headache today. He was able to secure some takedowns but his inability to keep Barboza down or work any of his reputable submission game cost him big time. He's got decent Muay Thai skills, but he was nowhere in Barboza's league last night in terms of striking skills and the Brazilian put an exclamation point on it with the finish. Etim has to work on finishing those takedowns so he can keep his opponents down rather than quickly getting swept. Potential future opponents for Etim should include Yves Edwards, Paul Taylor or perhaps veteran Spencer Fisher. For Edson Barboza, he was already hailed a fighter to keep an eye on in the lightweight division, but this was an immaculate performance. The finish to this fight will be talked about for years to come and will be seen on highlight reels for all time. It was that good. This kid is something special if granted an opening, and he proved it. Now it's time to see how he can do against some top 20 competition as he continues to move up the lightweight food chain. Potential next opponents for Barboza include Nate Diaz, Gleison Tibau or perhaps the winner of Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon. Either way, we're going to see what this kid is really made of very soon. So what did you think, Maniacs? Was this one of the greatest knockouts you've ever seen? Could Barboza be a potential title contender in the lightweight division? Sound off! For complete UFC 142 results, including blow-by-blow, fight-by-fight coverage of the entire event as well as immediate post-fight reaction click here, here and here.

Posted in: ufc, barboza, leg, brazilian, etim

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Rousimar Palhares had a nasty reputation for bringing an extraordinary amount of violence to Brazilian jiu-jitsu with his ability to wrench and torque legs into horrible positions. He got another opportunity to showcase those submission skills last night (January 14, 2012) against durable wrestler Mike Massenzio on the main card of UFC 142 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Massenzio had plenty of time to prepare for Palhares' leg attacks with a full training camp. So why was he completely helpless against the compact leg lock specialist? And where do both men go from here? Messenzio opened in a crouched stance with his lead leg way forward, which was a prime target early as Palhares directed multiple leg kicks his way including an accidental low blow. After the reset, "Toquinho" scored a quick takedown but couldn't keep the wrestler on his back as Messenzio popped immediately back to his feet. His victory would be short-lived, however, as Palhares again closed the gap, grabbing a double leg before transitioning immediately into an attack on Messenzio's left leg. In a flash, Palhares had "The Master of Disaster's" leg wrapped up tight in a heel hook and Messenzio was forced to tap while displaying intense pain on his face. For Mike Massenzio, this fight lived up to his nickname as it truly was a disaster. He knew what was coming, but no one has nastier leg locks than Palhares right now in the UFC. No one is even close. This was more of a case of imbalanced matchmaking than anything Massenzio did wrong. He simply was not in "Toquinho's" league in terms of submissions and it showed. Hopefully his knee isn't jacked. If he's able to recover quickly, potential opponents for the New Jersey native include Jason Miller, Nick Ring or Brad Tavares. For Rousimar Palhares, this was perhaps the biggest win in terms of visibility in his career. He obliterated Massenzio and proved that, like Dan Henderson's big right hand, just because you know it's coming, doesn't mean you can stop it. If he can latch onto an opponent's leg, he's likely going to be taking it home with him and that has to be incredibly intimidating to his fellow middleweights. Palhares should expect to face a top 185-pounder in his next bout as he's ready to take that next step once again. Potential opponents include the winner of the Tim Boetsch vs. Yushin Okami fight, Demian Maia if he were to defeat Michael Bisping, or perhaps Alan Belcher. It's time to see once more if he can be a potential title contender. So what did you think Maniacs? Was this the most unexpected result of the night for you? Was there anything Massenzio could have done differently to affect the outcome? Sound off! For complete UFC 142 results, including blow-by-blow, fight-by-fight coverage of the entire event as well as immediate post-fight reaction click here, here and here.

Posted in: ufc, leg, palhare, massenzio, anything massenzio

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After two straight hard-fought decision victories that didn't exactly leave everyone begging for more, some fans were wondering if the "old Jose Aldo" had disappeared. Well he made his triumphant return last night (January 14, 2012) in the main event of UFC 142 against Chad Mendes in defense of his UFC featherweight title. Mendes, with his spotless record and extremely potent wrestling attack, was expected to be Aldo's most difficult test to date, potentially pushing him to his limits both on the ground and with his conditioning. Instead, he found himself staring at the ceiling before time had expired in the first round, wondering what had gone wrong. So how did Aldo channel his old killer self? And what happens next for both young featherweights? Mendes opened up as a frenetic bundle of energy, cautiously throwing leg kicks at Aldo but the champ showed him what a real leg kick looked like with his first strike, landing a thundering right leg kick which wobbled the challenger. Next up was the takedown defense. When Aldo snapped a left hook, "Money" immediately changed levels and shot in for the takedown with incredible speed and power, but Aldo reacted so quickly that he was able to spin away from danger and leave Mendes clutching at air. Aldo again landed a ferocious leg kick and later followed it up with a big lead right uppercut which connected but again, Mendes reacted by dropping down, latching deeply onto a leg and attempting to power through and finish a takedown but the champ showcased his incredible speed and agility by again twisting away from danger. With how deep Mendes got on that takedown attempt and how effortlessly Aldo was able to escape, the bout turned from a competitive match up into a race to see when Aldo was going to knock the challenger senseless. Aldo again didn't even have to sprawl at Mendes' next takedown attempt, again deftly spinning away. He would delay the inevitable by latching onto a rear body lock (and Aldo did grab the fence to prevent a takedown attempt) but he also immediately popped back up without need of the fence the next time Mendes tried to lift him up and put him on the ground. With five seconds left in the round, Aldo finally broke Mendes' grip and in a flash of brilliance, turned and kneed the undefeated Team Alpha Male fighter directly in the face. "Money" dropped to the canvas and the champ pounced with two heavy punches on the ground before Mario Yamasaki put a halt to the fight, just one second before time expired. It was wild. It was incredible and then Aldo raced out of the cage to go celebrate with the hometown Brazilian crowd in one of the those rare moments that fans around the world will never forget. For Chad Mendes, he didn't even do anything that poorly. He had a decent gameplan, but Aldo is simply that much better than he was last night. He was quick with everything from his leg kicks to his multiple takedown shots and he did everything he could to try to put Aldo on his back. His biggest problem was giving the champ the smallest of windows after losing his grip on the back body lock and "Scarface" made him pay. The key for him moving forward will be to simply continue to develop the rest of his game, but he's got a lot of catching up to do if he ever wants to give Aldo a true test. It's going to be very difficult for Mendes to find a suitable opponent as he's clearly better than most everyone else at featherweight and the UFC won't want to see him take out potential title challengers. Perhaps a potential bout with former champion Mike Brown would be suitable. Other possible opponents could be George Roop or Tyson Griffin, who are always game. For Jose Aldo, that was the old destroyer of worlds that WEC fans were expecting to see in 2011. He looked sharp, his takedown defense was on point and his leg kicks were as vicious as ever. He had such a small opening to finish that fight, but he took it with full force and finished a fighter who had never lost a round in his MMA career. It was the type of performance that makes fans wonder, "Is it even possible to beat this guy?" In this writer's opinion, the only way Aldo could ever lose in the next few years would be if he's ill or is suffering a horrible weight cut again. There is no one even close to his level in the talent department. Potential future title challengers include Hatsu Hioki if he can get past Bart Palaszewski or perhaps the young gun Dustin Poirier, who's facing unheralded Max Holloway in three weeks. One other potential option could be fan favorite Chan Sung Jung, who's coming off a Submission of the Year effort and the second fastest knockout in UFC history. I doubt any of these guys could actually beat Aldo, but he has to face someone. Let's just hope that this is type of performance we can expect from the champion for years to come. So what did you think, Maniacs? Were you impressed with Aldo's ferociousness? Is there anyone at featherweight who can actually give him a run for his money? Sound off! For complete UFC 142 results, including blow-by-blow, fight-by-fight coverage of the entire event as well as immediate post-fight reaction click here, here and here.

Posted in: ufc, takedown, leg, aldo, mende

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In the championship bout Jose Aldo defended his featherweight belt against Chad Mendes in his home country of Brazil. The fight showcased why Jose Aldo is the most dominant fighter ever at the weight class. Brent Brookhouse provided play by play for UFC 142 tonight Here is how he called the fight live: UFC Featherweight Championship: Jose Aldo (c) vs. Chad Mendes - Round 1 - They touch gloves and here they go. Both men moving a lot and feeling out distance. Leg kick by Mendes lands solid, Aldo with a much better one in return. Mendes is still trying to throw leg kicks with him and Aldo is getting the better of those exchanes. Mendes shoots and Aldo defends very well. Aldo is stalking and trying to get the distance figured out. Huge leg kick by Aldo again. Uppercut by Mendes misses by a mile. Big body shot by Aldo and Mendes shoots and can not finish the takedown. Aldo with a kick, Mendes shoots, gets deep on the single leg but Aldo keeps upright. Phenomenal takedown defense so far. Leg kick by Mendes lands. Aldo with a knee, Mendes with a takedown attempt and this time manages to lock around Aldo's waist. Aldo grabs the fence to prevent the takedown. Mendes tries for the takedown and Aldo bounces back up. Mendes still trying for the takedown, he can't get it. Aldo spins, lands a huge knee and Mendes drops. Punches and Mendes is out! Aldo runs from the ring into the crowd and is being mobbed by fans! Jose Aldo wins by knockout (knee and punches), 4:59 of Round 1.

Posted in: takedown, jose, leg, aldo, mende

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UFC 142: "Aldo vs. Mendes," taking place tonight (Sat., Jan. 14, 2012) at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, featured a middleweight match-up pitting leg wrangler Rousimar Palhares against journeyman Mike Massenzio. This fight came with the disclaimer that fans watching be wary of the fact that they might see a man get his leg torn off because Palhares is a specialist when he gets ahold of his opponent's limbs. Sure enough, he pulled guard, wrapped up Massenzio's leg and torqued until he forced the tap. The entire sequence took just over a minute. "The Master of Disaster" never had a chance once Palhares got a hold of his leg and cranked in that heel hook. That marks nine of his last 11 wins via submission. Palhares dedicated the win to a partner of his who had passed. Just a cherry on top of yet another tapout victory for the tree stump from Brazil. Be sure to hit up MMAmania.com's live UFC 142 post for up to the minute results and blow-by-blow coverage of the rest of the night's action by clicking here.

Posted in: leg, mike massenzio, palhare, massenzio, opponents limbs

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Rousimar Palhares defeats Mike Massenzio by sumission. The stoppage came at 1:03 in the first round. Rousimar Palhares landed several unanswered leg kicks before one went high and landed to Mike Massenzio's groin. Palhares snatches up a leg and gets the fight to the ground but Massenzio quickly stood up. Unfortunately for Mike Massenzio Palhares dove for a leg and forced the the fighter out of New Jersey to tap to a heel hook. Absolutely brutal submission and Massenzio was still on the ground just before the official result was read by Bruce Buffer. Rousimar Palhares picked up his seventh win in the UFC with this leg lock victory. He dedicated the fight to a recently passed training partner. He is quickly making a case for a title shot at Middleweight. Mike Massenzio entered the UFC with some fanfare but has not been able to perform up to the expectations. SBN coverage of UFC RIO 142: Aldo vs. Mendes

Posted in: leg, mike, palhare, massenzio, rousimar

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Rio de Janeiro will play host to its second UFC this weekend, headlined by Jose Aldo defending his belt against Chad Mendes. The main card will feature one of the UFC's best and oddest Brazilian Middleweights in the sport today. Rousimar Palhares is known for his unrelenting style, the odd occurrences that seem to surround his fights and his brutal heel hooks. Nicknamed "Toquinho", meaning tree stump, the Brazilian matches his awesome strength with outstanding Brazilian Jiu Jitsu technique, making him not just an up-and-coming MMA fighter but also a world class grappler. Palhares is hyper aggressive on the mats, constantly looking for submissions, preferring to target the legs. Leg locks are powerful and often misunderstood techniques in many grappling circles, so lets lift the veil of mystery and fear behind these submissions. Leg locks can be divided into groups based on the joint they attack and how they attack them. There are two targets for leg locks; the ankle and the knee. Some leg submissions, like the kneebar and straight ankle lock, work by hyperextending the joint, like in an armbar. Others, like the heel hook or toe hold, work by torquing the joint similar to a kimura. The heel hook works by isolating a leg and immobilizing the upper part of the leg and then twisting the lower leg. If the heel hook is done to completion, the foot and shin would be rotated past 90 degrees tearing the ligaments in the knees. For more on the technique of the heel hook, Rener Gracie breaks it down after the jump... Inverted Heel Hook (via GracieAcademy) One of thing that makes the leg lock such an exciting part of MMA is the speed at which they happen and the way they seemingly coming out of nowhere. While it seems obvious, recognizing openings for leg locks is what sets leg lockers apart from other grapplers. Many grapplers who don't utilize leg locks often overlook the openings for leg attacks and let them pass, while fighters like Palhares attack at the slightest opening. Getting careless with foot positioning when playing guard is one of the quickest ways to end up getting footlocked. Ideally when playing guard, the bottom fighter's feet should never be next to the top man's hip, it can be pushing into the hip but not resting next to it. Tomasz Drwal got caught in the most basic footlock setup when he faced Palhares because of bad foot-placement. Drawl slipped when trying to throw a kick and when Palhares pounced on him they found themselves in a loose half-gaurd position. Drawl's left foot is left floating by Palhares' hip, with his ankle just past Palhares' body, this is an ideal position for a leg attack, either a straight ankle lock or heel hook. Palhares senses sensed the opening instantly and hugs Drawl's leg to his body, trapping it in place. He then stops his left leg over Drawl and drops his head to the mat. His legs trap Drawls leg in place, and as he drops Palhares hooks Drawl's heel with his right arm and then rotates his upper body back towards Drawl's body, creating that torque on the knee. Now that was a fairly pedestrian entry to a heel hook, lets take a look a bit more creative and dangerous entry to the submission. At UFC Live: Sanchez vs Kampmann, Palhares was faced with Dave Branch. (via IronforgesIron.com) A Renzo Gracie black belt, Branch was not about to leave his foot out to a leg lock specialist, so Palhares would have to create his own opening. Branch has Palhares in turtle, and the Brazilian dives under to grab Branch's left leg. Rolling under Branch, Palhares inverts himself to get Branch's foot in the proper position to attack. Palhares locks the leg by locking his ankles together and then hooks the heel and begins torquing. Branch is experienced in defending the heel hook and begins rolling in the same direction that Palhares twists his leg, relieving the pressure on the knee. As Branch rolls he also slips his knee out from between Palhares' legs. When they come to a stop, Palhares is belly down and attempts to switch to a kneebar but it is already too late. Branch's knee is already out of danger, Palhares holds on and attempts to scoot up to re-trap the knee but Branch scrambles away. The setup starts with Palhares driving for a double leg takedown. Branch is fighting off the takedown, but when his back is driven into the fence his weight and hips come up for a second. (via IronforgesIron.com) Palhares literally pushes his hips under Branch and then lays down on his side, pulling Branch forward and off balance. Palhares then maneuvers his hips to place Branch's right foot next to his hip, setting up the heel hook. Branch again attempts to slip his knee out ad roll but this time Palhares locks his legs higher on Branch and prevents the leg from slipping free. Branch rolls to relieve the heel hook pressure on his leg. But with the leg still fully trapped when Palhares pushes his hips forward it turns into a keep bar forcing Branch to tap. To close with here is a highlight reel of Palhares heel hooking from every angle: *Heel Hook from Hell* (via NaledgeBJJvideos)

Posted in: leg, hook, palhare, branch, heel

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Posted in: jose, leg, jose aldo, faber, judo

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In the main event of UFC RIO 142: Aldo vs. Mendes, UFC Featherweight champion Jose Aldo will make the third defense of that title when he faces undefeated Chad Mendes. It's an intriguing fight; Mendes is the lowest profile and least marketable fighter Aldo has yet defended against, while also having the best shot at dethroning the champ, as Mendes will likely try to use his wrestling to control Aldo and grind him down. For Aldo, one of the best strikers in MMA today, I anticipate one of his best weapons will be back on display against Mendes. I'm talking about the strike he used to completely dismantle Mendes's Alpha Male teammate Urijah Faber - the leg kick. The leg kick is a great technique to employ against a wrestler; as Aldo lands more and more shots to the leg, Mendes will lose his ability to explode off his feet, hurting his chances to take Aldo down. But there's a dangerous flipside to that - by throwing a leg kick, Aldo gives Mendes the chance to grab that leg and use it to secure a takedown. So what makes Aldo's leg kicks so good? And why do I think he is still safe to use them against Mendes? Let's break down those kicks in this Judo Chop, focusing specifically on the Faber fight for our examples. The Basics: Leg Kicks 101 Against Faber, Aldo showed absolute mastery of leg kicks, but that mastery has to start with a solid foundation in the fundamentals. Here is a look at some of those Aldo kicks, starting with the basics of the kick and what he is doing right. Complete breakdown, with gifs, in the full entry. SBN coverage of UFC RIO 142: Aldo vs. Mendes On your right you see Aldo landing a kick that fully demonstrates his technique (there are two kicks in the gif - I am focusing on the one shown from a side angle that spins Faber around). There are three specifics to bring to attention here. 1. Hip rotation. As Aldo throws the right kick, he twists his whole body, ending so that his belly button is perpendicular to Faber. By throwing his body so fully into the kick, he increases the force - the power is coming not just from the whip of the leg, but from the twist of the hips, the shoulders... everything. 2. Turning the left foot. Similar to the hip rotation, watch the way Aldo rotates his left foot when throwing the right kick. That small turn of the foot helps with what we discussed above, making his whole body turn to the side and increasing the impact on the leg. I also love the way he immediately twists it back into position when he is done, allowing him to quickly move back and avoid any counter shots. 3. Striking with the shin. This is the most devastating part of this kick. Aldo lands it perfectly, not with the top of his foot, but with his shin. That is the ideal weapon. If you land with the foot, you run the risk of breaking bones in your own foot, while also striking your opponent with a much softer tissue area. The shin is all bone, and keeps you safe while maximizing damage. Landing with the shin is easy to say, harder to do because your opponent is often moving away from the kick, but for a leg kick to be truly effective, that needs to be where the attack comes from. 4. Bringing the right hand down. You can see this more clearly in the 2nd kick actually - as Aldo lands the kick, he brings his right hand down in a chopping motion, again adding to his momentum, and increasing the torque behind the kick. This is the common Muay Thai way of using your hands in a leg kick, but it's also a source of some debate. A lot of fighters prefer to keep that hand up, as bringing it down leaves your right side exposed to counters. Here, Aldo chooses to sacrifice defense in the name of power. With those fundamentals in place, Aldo already becomes a dangerous combatant with leg kicks, and already puts himself in the top tier of MMA fighters using this strike. But Aldo takes the kicks even further with some extra details. Advanced Studies One of the things that makes Aldo's leg kicks so dangerous is his ability to land them on an opponent who may perceive himself to be out of range. He does this by stepping in with the kick, as shown on the left. Before throwing the strike, watch how Aldo uses two steps to close the distance quickly, catching Faber off balance. Even though Faber lifts his lead leg to throw a push kick, Aldo still connects on the back leg because he has gotten so far inside. Two little details really set this movement apart. First, watch Aldo's left foot. On the second step, he brings it a little further out, so that he is immediately in position for the kick - great economy of movement there. Second, this time he keeps that right arm mostly in front of him instead of chopping it down. Because Faber is trying to strike back, Aldo makes the adjustment to use that arm for defense, not power, keeping himself safe from a Faber left hook. Aldo also makes the most of the low kick by both repeatedly coming back to it, while also mixing it into a wider arsenal. The leg kick is not a one shot KO kind of blow - it takes a few to really do damage (though, when thrown by someone like Aldo, not many). Aldo keeps coming back to it, landing in the same spot to really weaken Faber's legs. But he also doesn't become repetitive and predictable. Sometimes he throws the kick by itself, sometimes he sets it up with a punch. Here, a bit later in the fight, he has Faber thinking about the leg kick, so comes up high with a head kick instead. Because Faber has begun to drop his hands in anticipation of the leg kick, his head is more exposed. That is a superb use of the leg kick to both do its own damage, while also opening the door for other strikes. The last great asset for Aldo's kicks is one you can't really see in this slowed down clips - speed. He throws the kick with great speed, catching Faber before he has time to defend. When Faber switches stances, putting his right leg forward, Aldo quickly attacks that leg. And not only does he strike quickly, he brings the leg back quickly as well. That is perhaps what will serve him best against Mendes - the ability to land the strike, then quickly bring the leg back before it can be grabbed and used for a takedown. The Featherweight title defense against Faber was one of Jose Aldo's finest moments, and it is largely a result of this absolute clinic in leg kicks. For any fans of striking, it was a beautiful thing to watch, and I can't help but hope that we see the majesty of these kicks once again on display in full force Saturday night in Brazil.

Posted in: leg, kick, faber, aldo, mende

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Strikeforce light heavyweight Trevor Smith likes to dive for leg locks when he's in trouble on the feet, and he said he told referee Kim Winslow as much prior to a weekend bout. "I said if I get hit, I like to dive for legs and go under, so just make sure you don't stop the fight unless I'm out cold and taking a number of blows," Smith today told MMAjunkie.com. "She made some kind of comment like, 'I've been doing this for a while - I know how to stop fights.'"

Posted in: fight, leg, smith, leg locks, dive

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Welcome back to my online diary documenting my very amateur experience training in Muay Thai. If you missed the first entry on Bloody Elbow, read it here. I have always thought of myself as not a particularly graceful person. I'm not some giant oaf or horribly clumsy, but, despite being on the wrestling and tennis teams in high school, athletics don't come naturally to me and require a bit of work. That was one of my goals in starting Muay Thai training - to increase my overall athletic ability. And, to my pleasant surprise, I have found over the past year that I am much more comfortable in these areas than I give myself credit for. But I still have some places where I struggle, like balance, and this week, those difficulties caught up with me. This week's focus: leg kicks. Which I've actually gotten quite good at in the past year if you ask me. But this time we were working a different style of kick; emphasizing the entire movement on the rotation of the hips, we threw the leg kick much closer to our partner than normal, and instead of fully extending the leg, kept the leg partially bent at the knee when making contact. Picture almost a cross between a knee strike and a leg kick. It's a nice kick to use when fighting close inside and unable to get the full extension on your kick (while also drilling you on hip rotation), but it caused me all kinds of troubles. Finding my range has always been a bit of an issue for me, and an area I focus on. I'm a tall guy, and want to use that height and reach to my advantage, so make it a point to really extend the jab, the push kick, and the leg kick. But it's hard to find that proper range always. I think that's partly a result of me still being unsure where exactly my ideal range can be found, and partly from working with different partners holding the bag. Many times, I find my partner getting closer to me, so that when I step in to kick and extend, I'm connecting more with the knee than the shin - which is no good. Something to keep working on, and one of my main areas of focus for the past couple months. Back to this week - the combination of working kicks at a different range, plus a kick that necessitated strong balance threw me for a loop. Throw the kick by itself and I was fine. Add a pair of punches, or block a kick before it, and I could not find my target accurately. The end result? A week marked by frustration. Ah well. Not every week will be perfect, and I learn from what I do wrong. I'd grown comfortable with a lot of the techniques in my bag, so adding a new one that I am not comfortable with provides a definite challenge - and where would the fun in training be without those challenges? I walked out frustrated and annoyed at myself this week, but also eager to get back in there next week and get that kick down. I'll see how it goes, and report back next time. My question of the week for everyone: I think I broke my big toe a few weeks ago, or if not broke it, jammed the hell out of it. It is mostly recovered now, but at least once a week I still catch it wrong and jam it again, which hurts quite a lot. Anything to do other than tape that thing up and try to be more careful?

Posted in: week, leg, training, kick, leg kick

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When Robbie Lawler steps inside the cage, you know it will likely be a short night. Either the heavy-handed striker -- already a 10-year veteran at age 29 -- will connect with one of his bombs and put his opponent on the canvas or "Ruthless" will fall victim to a submission, an aspect of mixed martial arts (MMA) that he, for whatever reason, has never put much stock in. That's why when he was booked opposite Melvin Manhoef last year, fans knew that the latter option simply wouldn't need to be considered. "Marvelous" -- who also fits the aforementioned description to a tee -- wouldn't look to take the fight to the ground any more than Lawler would. Someone was going to get knocked out in brutal fashion, the matchmaking all but promised. And deliver on that promise it did. Next Saturday (Jan. 7), Lawler will fight for the 27th time in his career, taking on Russian prospect Adlan Amagov in the co-main event of Strikeforce: "Rockhold vs. Jardine". It's a must win fight for "Ruthless" who is currently on a two-fight skid and has only won two of his last six. Both of those wins came via knockout, the second against longtime MMA veteran Matt Lindland and the first -- which we'll take a look at today -- came against Manhoef. Let's dive in. Manhoef takes the center of the cage and forces Lawler to circle around. He ends up trapping the American against the chainlink and Lawler attempts a jumping roundhouse kick off all things to create distance. It whiffs but the kick Manhoef throws in response -- although blocked -- smacks against Lawler's arm. The Dutchman follows that up with a leg kick and seconds later, throws another that misses its mark. It becomes obvious in the first minute of the bout what the kickboxer's strategy is against his opponent. Not wanting to risk getting taking down by Lawler, Manhoef is avoiding extended striking exchanges and opting to keep his distance with rangier kicks. Lawler throws a head kick that is blocked and temporarily backs Manhoef up but aside from that, "No Mercy" continues to walk the former Miletich Systems Fighter down. Nearly 90 seconds into the bout, both fighters throw kicks and their legs momentarily get tangled up until Manhoef throws a second one which slams into Lawler's ribcage, forcing the American to circle away. A punching exchange leads nowhere for both and seconds later "Ruthless" throws a outside leg kick with little to no steam on it. Manhoef delivers one of his own, the smack of which echoes through the BankAtlantic Center. Manhoef closes the distance and throws two right hooks that are ducked and a left that Lawler is also able to avoid. A fourth strike -- another right hand -- connects albeit not completely flush but that doesn't stop the American from playing a little possum. He groggily moves his head around, perhaps in order to goad Manhoef into a Pete Sell-like run-in to Lawler's Scott Smith. The Dutchman doesn't take the bait, however, and instead lands another brutal body kick. A leg kick smacks against Lawler's shin and Manhoef opens up with combinations. Mostly blocked by Lawler, two body kicks find their way to the American's ribcage. Two more leg kicks send Lawler's lower limb nearly flying before "Marvelous" delivers another bone-jarring combination punctuated by a body shot and two more kicks to his opponent's leg. They don't call Manhoef a kickboxer for nothing. Another leg kick is followed up by a body shot and "Ruthless" begins to make his way around the cage with a noticeable limp. Yet another leg kick would have sent the now tender limb flying into the crowd had it not been attached to Lawler's hips. A second and a third connect. That's when it happens. Perhaps taking too much stock in how injured Lawler is or maybe Manhoef's thought process is so consumed by his next offensive maneuver that his defensive abilities all but shut down but he absolutely does not see the wild overhand right that comes crashing into his jaw. Dazed, he begins to stagger away from his opponent but a perfectly-placed left from "Ruthless" tags him right on the chin and it's lights out for the Dutch kickboxer. Lawler is tackled off by the referee and Manhoef is left on the canvas with that thousand-yard stare MMA fans are all too familiar with. Even as the American circles the cage to celebrate, he does so favoring his lead leg. Can Lawler match that result next Saturday in Las Vegas or will his name be used to build up a rising star?

Posted in: lawler, leg, kick, leg kick, manhoef

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Fedor Emelianenko, the long time MMA heavyweight king, returned to action last night on DREAM's New Year's Eve card against Satoshi Ishii. Ishii looked small (having previously dropped to light heavyweight) but more importantly looked far too slow as Fedor was able to beat him to the punch and use leg kicks and punch flurries to throw off the former Olympic medalist. In the end it was a right hand down the center and a right hand to the ear that dropped Ishii and Fedor didn't even bother to follow up with strikes as Ishii lay on the mat simply covering up. Here's the full video: From the live coverage of the event: Round 1: Ishii slips on a leg kick. Fedor lands his leg kick. Fedor throws another leg kick and Ishii catches it. Fedor lights Ishii up with a combination working the head an body. He follows up with a straight right down the tube. Fedor drops Ishii with a combination and the referee calls it. Official Result: Fedor Emelianenko defeats Satoshi Ishii by Knock Out SBN coverage of DREAM: New Year! 2011

Posted in: leg, fedor, right hand, ishii, satoshi

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Diego Nunes defeats Manvil Gamburyan by Unanimous Decision. All three judges scored the fight 29-28. The fight started with Manny Gamburyan stalking Diego Nunes around the cage. It was Nunes who found early success with strikes . Manny attempted a takedown attempt but failed when Nunes stuffed it and created distance. He made a second attempt for a double leg and it looked like Nunes had a guillotine but Gamburyan clinched the body and got a slam against the fence. Nunes stood up when Manny attempted a guard pass. A digging leg kick landed for Nunes that had Gamburyan wincing. Nunes came forward with a combination and finished it with another leg kick. Those already created some issues for Gamburyan's movement. With 20 seconds left Nunes landed a spinning back kick to the body. Gamburyan was unable to figure out the distance to fight on the inside as the first round came to a close. Manny closed the distance early as the second round opened landing an overhand right. Nunes responded with a springing knee but was unable to find the correct distance. Gamburyan stunned Nunes with an overhand but was unable to follow up with Nunes backing away. Nunes cleared his head but Manny was quick to clinch up and look for a takedown. Nunes created distance and landed another spinning back kick. Manny's left leg is showing signs of damage from all those leg kicks that Nunes has been landing. Manny grabs a single leg and drags Nunes to the ground. Manny begins to work from half guard and landing punches to the face of Diego Nunes. Manny sets up a choke and looks to step out of the half guard to mount. Gamburyan calls to the ref that Nunes is grabbing his fingers to break the choke which is illegal. Nunes stands and lands a huge knee from the clinch. Gamburyan looks for the judo throw but can't complete it. The round ends with both men swinging but not connecting. The final round began with Gamburyan taking the center of the cage and landing a right hand that Nunes walked through. Nunes circled and had control of the center landing several kicks to Gamburyan's left leg. Nunes landed more leg kicks to Gamburyan's left leg who still hasn't checked any of them. Nunes goes high with a kick and Gamburyan defends it with his arms. Nunes landed a kick low and Steve Mazzigatti called time. With 30 seconds left Manny started head hunting to set up a takedown. The fight ends with them clinched against the fence. Diego Nunes entered the fight 1-1 in the UFC and 16-2 in his career. With the win he improves to 2-1 in the UFC and 17-2 overall. Manny Gamburyan drops to 11-7 overall and 2-5 in the UFC with the majority of those fights in the lightweight division. SBN coverage of UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem

Posted in: leg, kick, nune, manny, gamburyan

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All those Chuck Norris jokes you hear are nonsense. Everybody knows they are just based on the real life of Vladimir Matyushenko. One thing that Matyushenko can claim that Chuck Norris simply cannot is that according to his Wikipedia page, The Janitor has struggled with a lifelong addiction to pogs. Who knows if there is any truth to that, or if we are all now victims of irreverent Wikipedia sabotage. Either way, Vladimir has spoken to UFC.com ahead of upcoming fight with Alexander Gustaffson at UFC 141 and told them about the time he fought Carlos Baretto in Jungle Fights. “My hands were up, but he broke my freakin’ nose with his leg – but he broke his leg and I won the fight!! (laughs). He just fell down. He broke his leg or twisted his knee, I don’t know what happened, but he fell to the canvas and I was still standing. So I punched him a few times and they stopped the fight. He broke my nose but I won the fight.” Vladimir also spoke to UFC.com about his UFC 141 opponent Alexander Gustaffson which you can read by going to this link here or even here. Gustaffson is touted as one of the greatest contenders to the Jon Bones Jones throne, and I guess we'll find out in about a week if it's true.

Posted in: fight, leg, vladimir, way vladimir, wikipedia sabotage

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On Sat., Dec. 17, Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez may end up defending his belt for the final time as he takes on number one contender Jorge Masvidal at Strikeforce: "Melendez vs. Masvidal" in San Diego, Calif. The rumor mills would seem to strongly indicate that Melendez will seek to ink a contract with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), should he be able to successfully defend his title. The pressure is nothing new for "El Nino." Saturday will mark Melendez's seventh straight title fight. His opponent, Masvidal, comes into the bout fresh off a dominant decision win over K.J. Noons at Strikeforce: "Overeem vs. Werdum" on June 18 in Dallas, Texas. After the jump, we'll take a look at the statistical breakdowns of each fighter competing in Saturday night's championship battle: Melendez and Masvidal share one common opponent in Rodrigo Damm. Melendez was victorious in his bout with Damm, securing a knockout victory. Masvidal, on the other hand, lost to Damm by way of a second round TKO. CompuStrike took the time to analyze nine of Melendez' bouts, as well as 5 of Masvidal's. Being in the Christmas spirit, they decided to share their findings with you Maniacs. First, let's examine the overall striking games of both of these explosive lightweights: Total Strikes: Melendez -- 104 of 232Masvidal -- 72 of 129Percentage: Melendez -- 45%Masvidal -- 56% Total Power Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 60Masvidal -- 33 Total Non-Power Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 44Masvidal -- 39 Both of these guys throw punches in bunches and plenty of kicks, to boot. Though Masvidal appears to be a bit more accurate, Melendez seems to be a busier overall striker and also a little more frequent with the power shots. Masvidal has a boxing background. Melendez is more a ground game specialist. You'd expect "Gamebred" to hold the "arm striking" advantage. Let's take a look: Total Arm Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 50 of 146Masvidal -- 29 of 68 Percentage of Arm Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 34%Masvidal -- 43% Power Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 29Masvidal -- 10 Non-Power Strikes Landed Melendez -- 21Masvidal -- 19 These statistics are very similar to those of the overall striking picture. Again, Masvidal is more precise, but Melendez seems to be more active and causing more damage. What about kicks and knees? Is it more of the same? Total Leg Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 6 of 8Masvidal -- 10 of 13Percentage of Leg Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 65%Masvidal -- 72%Power Leg Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 4Masvidal -- 5Non-Power Leg Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 2Masvidal -- 5 Very close, but Masvidal wins this leg of the race by a hair. Melendez has a strong wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) background. You'd think he'd have an overwhelming advantage in this aspect of their games. Do the numbers prove that out? Ground Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 48 of 78Masvidal -- 33 of 48Percentage: Melendez -- 62%Masvidal -- 69%Power Ground Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 27Masvidal -- 18 Non-Power Ground Strikes Landed: Melendez -- 21Masvidal -- 15 Takedowns: Melendez -- 11 of 28 for 39%Masvidal -- 18 of 23 for 78%Submission Attempts: Melendez -- 2Masvidal -- 5Dominant Positions: Melendez -- 4Masvidal -- 3 Masvidal seems to have had more success in getting his fights to the canvas. However, once the fight gets there, Melendez gets the nod in the amount of damage done and overall dominance. Do these statistics make you think any differently about this championship showdown? Who do you see taking home the belt after it's all said and done? Input, please!

Posted in: leg, strike, masvidal, melendez, power

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Royce Gracie once showcased a style of fighting that was previously thought to be unimaginable. The thought of fighting underneath a much larger opponent wasn't ideal and thinking you could actually win in this predicament was simply not a plausible conclusion. In combat sports, when the fight isn't standing it's always been a common theme to assume the fighter on top would be in control and, eventually, the victor. From street fights all the way down to organized combat, that was the common belief. Then the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) introduced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to the world in the form of a scrawny 180-pound badass named Royce Gracie, who would end his career with 14 of his 16 career victories coming by way of submission, which including 11 in a row spanning from UFC 1 to UFC 4. Gracie was the first person to showcase to a large audience that even when you are small and have a much larger opponent on top of you, it is still possible to come away victorious. With his success came the arrival of grappling into a much brighter spotlight and it has only boomed since then. Tournaments like Grappler's Quest and ADCC have become world famous, and several mixed martial arts champions have deep roots in what's become known as "the gentle art." For the second part of Ultimate Submissions breakdown on what makes a grappler well-rounded, follow me after the jump. To read part one of the series click here. The Bottom Game Much like the "top game," in grappling the reverse is just as intricate. The bottom grappling position may be the most important, least utilized and often misunderstood aspect of mixed martial arts. It's the most important because of the heavy influx of wrestlers who have entered the sport and created a situation in which the lack of a bottom game makes failure an almost certainty. All three major promotion -- UFC, Strikeforce and Bellator -- all have champions that come from wrestling backgrounds. Wrestling aims to take the fight to where those fighters are most comfortable, which happens to be on top, dominating position. Wrestlers happen to be very dangerous in those dominating positions because unlike pure wrestling, they are able to use that control and position to land strikes or attempt submissions. And with a background in smothering and overwhelming people from above, those become very lethal weapons. Least utilized is a personal opinion of mine that stems from the lack of great guards in mixed martial arts. As fans, we can point out a few fighters that have active guards or have utilized a sweep here and there but for the most part we have yet to witness a true elite grappler that has been able to utilize a bottom game consistently against the top fighters. This is in my opinion where the best fighter on the planet will arise from next. With very good top fighters like Lightweight World Champions Frankie Edgar and Gilbert Melendez, Welterweight World Champions Georges St. Pierre and Ben Askren, Bellator Champion Hector Lombard, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and Bellator Heavyweight Champion Kole Conrad, the need for an effective bottom game has become a must in the sport. Examples, like Dan Hardy's loss to St. Pierre, show that at the sports pinnacle if you aren't highly skilled on the ground then you will not find consistent success. Misunderstood may be the most essential part of the bottom game I would like to focus on. I believe that the bottom game in a technical aspect is broken down into three categories just like the top game. Those three categories are escapes or sweeps, transitions to better position and submissions. (Before we start with the .gifs, let me first give a thank you to Zombie Prophet. Check out his site (Ironforgesiron.com) -- he has .gifs and videos of fights up faster than anyone else on the net.) When Nick Diaz fought B.J. Penn many were prepared for a war but not many were prepared for a "Fight of the Year" candidate. We all knew Penn had the ability to take Diaz down but the question was whether Penn could do anything once he got Diaz on his back. In the clip above, Diaz, always confident in his hands, is upright in his stance, which almost forces Penn to snatch the takedown. Penn grabs a single leg and drives back into a takedown. Then Diaz begins to scramble. When someone says "scramble," what they are often referring to is when a fighter attempts to create some sort of space to escape a bad position or a submission attempt. It is a risky maneuver to do so because often times you will end up in a worse position or in a submission hold even tighter than before. As soon as Penn drives Diaz down to the mat, the crafty Cesar Gracie disciple grabs over the neck and shoulder and drops down on his own momentum angled off to the side clutching Penn on his own accord. He reaches under and grabs around the foot and ankle and rolls. As he does so, he almost latches onto a guillotine choke and while he fights with Penn’s legs, he almost gains top control. This awareness and ability to sweep allows Diaz to avoid Penn at his most dangerous. He sweeps and eventually finds his way to his feet where he will batter and beat Penn for the rest of the fight. Coincidentally, Diaz will next fight someone who is also very crafty from his back. Facing a very powerful wrestler, Carlos Condit was able to showcase his craftiness from inside his guard. Condit was in a bit of a mess knowing that the longer he allowed Kim to stay on top, the less time he had to win the fight. Condit had an unorthodox guard working with one leg in its traditional position and the other between the legs and high on the inner thigh. Allowing the Kim's weight to attack the high body of Condit, Kim's own leverage and weight is used by Condit against him. Condit uses the same "rolling" principle as he catapults Kim by bringing his weight down with his upper body and shooting his bottom half up with that leg that was inside the legs. Doing that subtle sweep, Condit finds himself on top of and nearly mounting his opponent. Condit would go on to win as he once again established standing position and knocked Kim out with a knee. But sweeps are only one part of the bottom game. Transitions work in the same way they do from top position. They are designed to better position. In the top game, it is to advance; in the bottom game, it works the same except from bad positions, it is meant to get back to a guard position, whether it be full or half. Working out of the guard leaves several more opportunities then being stuck in bottom position of side control or mount. Because of this, transitions and sweeps are classified as basically the same thing, with the difference being sweeps lead to an escape and transitions for the most part just improve the position you're in. In the clip above, Clay Guida finds himself in position to use a guillotine to steal a win from contender Ben Henderson. Guida attempts to mount Henderson with the guillotine choke intact and it would be safe to say that if he was successful, this fight would have been over. Instead, Henderson fights his way to half guard where Guida cannot use the optimal strength, leverage and angle necessary to torque on the choke. He transitions from a possible bad situation to a better one. Henderson continues to fight out of the choke that Guida clutches so tightly and uses his half guard to try and create a scramble. He uses the half guard to extend Guida's legs in the hopes of loosening the hold and breaking his posture to relieve pressure. Henderson ends up being successful as he escapes and gets top position to end the fight. Without that transition out of mount, it is very possible Henderson would not have had the opportunities to escape that choke. Submitting an opponent from the bottom is just about as lethal as having one punch knockout power on the feet. When fighters like Chuck Liddell, Junior dos Santos and Dan Henderson step inside the Octagon their opponents will do what they can to stay outside the range of their fight stopping power punches. The same goes for grappling and submissions. Fighters like Demian Maia and Rousimar Palhares are recognized as guys you just do not want to go to the mat with. Fighters will do what they can to avoid ground positions and if they end up on the ground they will not be as aggressive as usual. Submissions range from chokes to joint manipulation. From guillotines and triangle chokes to armbars and leglocks, the options are limitless. The execution, however, is far more difficult when you have very powerful fighters who are excellent at keeping good posture and position. The pioneer himself, Royce Gracie, best demonstrated how effective submitting someone off your back can be. At UFC 4, the Gracie Jiu Jitsu ace would meet a very accomplished wrestler in Dan Severn. "The Beast" would take the Brazilian down and put him where he was most comfortable. But also where Gracie was most dangerous. From my breakdown on the triangle choke: The triangle choke was made famous by jiu-jitsu pioneer Royce Gracie in the early days of the UFC when he choked out Dan Severn. It is traditionally set up from within the guard when you will want to trap an arm between the legs, while extending the leg of the side of the trapped arm up and across your opponent’s neck. It will slide all the way across and hang on the opposite side of the neck and shoulders of your opponent. From there you take that other leg and go up and over the ankle, locking around that leg. The locked legs will formulate what appears to be a triangle and the choke comes from the pressure of the legs, as well as the position of the untrapped arm. With the tap from Severn, Gracie wins another tournament and cements his name and Jiu Jitsu legacy inside the Octagon. Never again would anyone doubt the effectiveness of a dangerous grappling arsenal and gyms across the world for the next decade plus would isolate teachings to enhance that martial art. That's all for this week, Maniacs. Until next time.

Posted in: fight, leg, game, position, bottom

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Posted in: leg, leg kick, effect, newuploader, person

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Be it the UFC on Fox show, the past season of the Ultimate Fighter, that classic match between Henderson and Shogun or UFC 140 that convinced you to come looking for more MMA, welcome! Now maybe you throw a mean double jab followed by a 5-8 or maybe you don't know a triangle from an octagon, either way this article is for you. This piece looks at the arts, techniques and strategies that make up this quickly evolving sport. And we will start the way every fight starts, standing on the feet. While the striking technique of MMA fighters is often decried, the sport boasts some of the best functional strikers in the world and the skill is a critical one for success at the upper levels of the sport. Now if you are a fan of striking arts the one thing you might notice right away is the range at which MMA striking exchanges take place. Because of grappling, takedowns and knees, an inside boxing game consisting of shoulder rolls and counter punching is not practical, so those looking to strike keep a healthy distance from their opponents. This longer distance makes the most foundational punch in boxing, the jab, even more important in MMA. While there are plenty of fighters who don't use the jab effectively in MMA but those who do command the distance at which the fight takes place. gifs after the jump Here is UFC Welterweight champion using his jab against then UFC Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn. As you can see a jab is a simple straight punch with the lead hand, and it is not meant as power punch. The jab is mean to hurt, notice how Penn's head snaps back, but it also disrupts the vision and can stop an attack before it starts. The jab can also be used to measure distance and test an opponent's defensive reactions. As a result the jab is often the lead punch in combinations, the most famous being the 1-2 or jab-cross. Fighters who don't use the jab effectively are often reduced to simply lunging in for simple one or two punch attacks that can be easily countered. While the hands are the place most fighters feel most comfortable starting to learn striking, it is important to remember that in MMA there is more than just punching. Kicks are just as effective offense tools and nobody kicks more effectively than Muay Thai fighters. In Muay Thai the head kick is devilishly difficult to land, requiring deception and timing to use effectively, the body kick is dangerous because an opponent could easily catch the kick and then throw the kicker, and as a result the leg kick is the primary offensive weapon. This kick is like a body punch in boxing, used to sap an opponent's energy and add up over the course of a fight. Here is UFC Welterweight Thiago Alves showcasing his excellent leg kicks against John "Doomsday" Howard. There are two basic types of leg kicks: inside and outside. The inside leg kick is normally thrown with the lead leg and targets the inner thigh and the groin muscle. Most low blows in MMA are often the result of inside leg kicks gone wrong. The outside leg kick targets the outer thigh and is often throw with the back leg and so has hip rotation behind it making it very powerful. The ideal leg kick results in contacting shin bone with the meat of the thigh, and since there are major nerves traveling up both sides of the leg, the pain can be extreme. The damage done by repeated leg kicks can be serious and can stop fights, but it requires repeated kicks to the same spot. Now unlike the jab, the leg kick is often the strike used to finish combinations with targeting the leg the opponent is putting his weight on to maximize its effectiveness. These two techniques are just small steps in the world of striking. A wide array of strikes are open to MMA fighters;hooks, crosses, uppercuts, knees, head kicks, spinning strikes and many other exotic techniques. Integrating all these together is part of the challenge and appeal of MMA. While the offensive abilities translate very well from other arts, were accomplished strikers often run into trouble in the defensive aspect of striking. One of the culprits of this is the gloves, MMA gloves are much smaller than boxing gloves. The boxing guard uses the arms to protect the body from hooks to the liver and uses the padded gloves to protect the face. While this works well with the large gloves, the smaller gloves of MMA leaves too many places for punches to slip through if a fighter simply 'puts on his earmuffs'. Here is former UFC Lightweight Champion and UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell unleashing one of his signature salvos of punches. His victim is another former champion Tito Ortiz, who employs a class boxing guard and while it does stop a few strikes many of Liddell's punches slip through all the openings. As a result MMA fights more frequently use a block that comes from Muay Thai. Quentin "Rampage" Jackson used this block to perfection in his final fight with Wanderlei Silva. Instead of using his gloves to defense his head, Jackson brings up his entire arm to cover his chin when Silva comes in throwing hooks. He sweeps his hands over his head bringing up forearms, biceps, and elbows all to deflect the incoming punches. This guard is very effective for protecting the head but leaves the body wide open to punishment. There are many other ways to deflect punches with their own varying risk-reward balance from parrying punches toblocking punches at the biceps. Head movement is an important aspect of defensive striking in MMA because of the reduced effectiveness of gloves for blocking. Slipping punches, using slight movements of the head to avoid a punch by a small margin and then counter (often called slip-and-rip), is a vital skill in upper levels of MMA striking. Dramatic bobbing and weaving is not often seen in MMA, though it is sometimes, but there is a serve risk of weaving your way right into a knee or head kick KO, so most fighters tend not use this. The most effective defense in MMA against strikes is footwork. Fighters cannot hit what they can't catch and proper use of angles and footwork can keep a fighter out the proper distance to be struck. There is no fighter in MMA better at this than former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, who because of his karate background has light and quick footwork. He uses that footwork to dictate the distance at which the fight takes place. He throws a quick leg kick and when Rampage Jackson looks to respond, Machida quickly retreats. Anyone from a boxing background may be appalled at his straight back retreat but the space fighters are given in the cages of upper level MMA promotions is much greater than a boxing ring and this make short bursts straight backwards more practical. Machida creates enough distance that Rampage's punches don't land and when Machida reaches the cage he begins to move sideways and with no more space to open the distance he throws a quick punch and enters into the clinch, too close to be struck. The horn then ends the round. The difficultly of developing high level defensive skills in striking means many MMA fighters tend to either rely on their offensive skills to stifle any offensive output of their opponent or their own natural ability to absorb blows (often called 'chin') to make up under-developed defense. So that is the bear basics of the standing striking in MMA, catch this series next time for a break down of when fighters close into the clinch.

Posted in: mma, fighter, leg, punch, kick

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Jon Jones puts Lyoto Machida to sleep to retain his light heavyweight championship in the main event of UFC 140 tonight (Sat., Dec. 10, 2011) at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Machida looked good early, just long enough to make fans worldwide think he might have a chance at pulling off the upset. Jones quickly squashed all that talk with a strong left hand followed by the standing guillotine choke that ended it. "Bones" ends his 2011 fight campaign having gone 4-0 with wins over Ryan Bader, Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida. Can anyone stop this man? For a complete recap of the fight against "The Dragon" click here and for complete UFC 140 results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the night's action click here. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida (205-pound limit) Round one: Jones comes out crawling again then stands up traditional style. Leg kick from Jones. Side kick to the thigh from Jones. Spinning back kick from Jones misses. Leg kick from Machida. Hard leg kick from Jones. Good leg kick from Jones then he blocks a right from Machida. Kick to the thigh from Jones. Powerful leg kick from Jones and Machida counter with a right that barely misses. Jones is the faster man. Left from Machida lands. Good body kick and left from Machida. High kick from Jones misses. Good counter right from Machida. Machida again lands a stiff left that backs up Jones! Body kick from Machida he is finding holes now and he stunned Jones with that left. Good high kick from Jones glances the head of Machida. That is the bell and a close round but I think Machida landing the more significant blows in that round. 10-9 Machida. Round two: Leg kick from Jones. Leg kick from Machida. Spinning back kick from Jones. High kick from Jones lands. Leg kick from Jones. Good body kick from Jones. Leg kick from Jones. Good right from Machida and now he is throwing wild punches at Jones and gets him to back off even though he didnt land. Jones looks hesitant now knowing Machida can land. Big right from Jones lands HARD. Now Jones with a big take down and he lands a big elbow right off the bat. Machida already bleeding badly from his forehead. Jones looking for a choke now. Machida working up to his feet and Jones lands a big knee to the leg. Ref stops it to check out the cut on Machida's forehead. Doctor gives the ok. Machida is cut bad. Foot stomps from Jones and then a knee to the body. More knees to the body from Jones. Jones lands a big right that drops Machida!!! Jones grabs a hold of a choke!! Its a standing guillotine and Machida will not tap!!! The ref stops the fight and Jones lets go of the standing guillotine and Machida crumples to the mat and he is OUT COLD! Machida is ASLEEP!!! Amazing win after some real trouble for Jones. Final result: Jon Jones defeats Lyoto Machida via Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 4:26 of Round 2

Posted in: jone, leg, kick, land, machida

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What kind of a recipe goes into a fight like the legendary slugfest that Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Dan Henderson fought through on November 19, 2011? Two fighters created out of the thin air? Attributes leveled up with scoops of power here, dollops of striking and grappling skill there? Flavored by dashes of emotion, situational awareness and tenacity with the sweetness of combative genius on top? Not quite. The near-mythical fight we saw at UFC 139 that night was the battle of two elite mixed martial artists who have put in years of hard work to develop game plans that take advantage of their natural gifts, learned techniques and comparative advantages while minimizing their relative weaknesses. Within those game plans are core techniques that are imprinted so deeply within a fighter’s mind and body that they can pull it off blindfolded or when stunned and dangerously close to losing a fight. For a battered Shogun, the leglock that saved the fight was the instinctive implementation of a specific half guard position he has been going to for at least the last five years, if not more. After the jump, I will take you through several fights in Shogun's career to see how exactly he utilizes the half guard position to deal with the wrestlers who take him down. We start in 2006 with the PRIDE 32 battle against Kevin Randleman, which gave us one of the best kneebars in the sport. After that, we jump to UFC 93 to the second Mark Coleman fight, where specific idiosyncrasies in Shogun's game rear their head. We will then detour to Strikeforce: Nashville for Shields/Henderson to see how Jake Shields threatened Hendo with a late round leglock and then segue into the fight-saving leglock from Henderson/Rua. To close out, we will linger for a while on the brilliance of Jon Jones, the young 205 lb champion about to defend his title against Lyoto Machida this weekend at UFC 140, and how exactly Jones stifled the deep half guard game Shogun loves so much. The half guard is a middle ground between having a closed guard (back to the mat and both legs encircling the opponent at the waist) and some variation of open guard (back to the mat and legs free to move). The trademark half guard position has the person on the bottom placing one leg in between the legs of the person on top and working to stay on their side, rather than be pushed flat on their back. Earlier in grappling history, the half guard was viewed as a weak position in terms of self-defense or tournament meta-games, but several competitors in grappling and MMA have achieved great success with the position and used it to win big tournaments and prized championship titles. Names like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and his younger twin, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, should come to mind as mixed martial arts competitors who have used the position well. The general key to the half guard is to use the position to off-balance the opponent and create opportunities for sweeps and leglocks. The off-balancing is generally done by getting underneath the opponent's center of gravity, usually with an underhook of the leg nearest the head, and shifting around enough that the opponent is forced to put a hand or two down to balance and/or stop punching you in the face. An incorrectly performed half guard can leave a fighter exposed to extreme amounts of damage through elbows, punches and the occasional knee to the body, as well as increased opportunities for passes into mount or side control. Within MMA, the half guard is often a high risk, high reward position and only a select few have been able to use it successfully. Shogun Rua is one of those few. The First Real Glimpse of Shogun's Deep Half Guard Game In October of 2006, Kevin Randleman was a former two time Division I 177 lb wrestling champion who had gone 7-7 since losing his UFC heavyweight champion to Randy Couture at UFC 28. The record is a bit misleading as he did bounce back and forth between weights and fought the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Quinton Jackson, Kazushi Sakuraba and Mirko Filipovic. Shogun Rua was the 2005 PRIDE Middleweight champion and easing back into elite-level competition after a badly dislocated elbow earlier that ear. Randleman came into the fight looking to to quickly impose his explosive brand of wrestling on Rua and grind his way to victory. Shogun had other plans. Randleman came out with a quick double leg and hits Shogun clean enough to carry him off his feet and onto his back. Once they hit the canvas, Rua shifts to a half guard position, coming up on his right side, and ties Randleman up enough to prevent any damage. Note that Shogun buries his head close to Randleman's body as Randleman's hands start to come up to control the head. Once Rua has the legs triangled and the underhook of Randleman's left leg with his right arm, he rocks backwards and off-balances Randleman. See how far Kevin's left leg comes up to regain balance and how much space there is for Rua to escape out the back door or work for leglocks. I recommend watching the entire fight, as it takes Rua a few minutes to actually work through each stage of his attack and sweep to the top before the finish. The following gifs are the highlights of each attack stage. Rua uses this space to bring his right leg over Randleman's left hip and start working for leglocks. Randleman is turned away and his inexperience with the position leads to a very slow reaction and general immobility, which only helps Rua. In this gif, we see a heel hook set-up shift to a figure four toehold. It may be a sign of the PRIDE era that the referee keeps pointing at Randleman rather than stopping the fight after the yelp of pain. Here we see Rua finally use the toehold to maneuver Randlemand to the bottom and open up the route to the top position. His legs are still clenched firmly around Randleman's thigh and the foot is controlled enough to prevent Randleman from bumping Shogun off, pulling his leg out and getting to the top ride positions he knows so well from wrestling. To Randleman's credit, he had earlier used his free leg to push Rua off the toehold, but Rua manages to quickly reclaim top position here. Shogun sits down on Kevin's hips to immobilize them and threatens a backwards hammerfist. Randleman reacts by ducking to his right and momentarily exposing his left leg even further - which sets up the kneebar. To get the kneebar, Rua controls Randleman's left leg with both hands at the heel. This allows the straightening of the leg and the roll to the left prevents the right leg from coming in and pushing one of the controlling hands off. Rua knows Randleman is a tough fighter who will probably not tap until the bitter end, so he switches the control point of the heel to below his left armpit. Now Shogun is able to pit his entire core strength against the strength of Randleman's left leg. The hyperextension of the knee and the tap soon follow. Patterns and Tendencies Emerge Now we jump forwards two and a half years to the next time Rua took on a wrestler - who happened to be Randleman's one-time teammate. In January of 2009, Mark Coleman was making a defiant last stand in the light heavyweight division to stave off retirement and to chase the dream bout with Randy Couture. Coleman was a NCAA Division I 190 lb wrestling champion, silver medalist at the 1991 Worlds, the first UFC heavyweight champion and 2000 PRIDE openweight champion. Injuries and the ever-increasing size of his potential opponents in the UFC heavyweight division caused a drop to light heavyweight and a bout with Shogun, who had returned from injuries of his own. Early in the first round, Coleman came out hunting for the quick takedown, much like Randleman did. Shogun once again went to deliver a knee and allowed Coleman to absorb the punishment and get Rua to the ground. Once on the canvas, Rua proved elusive enough to avoid most of Coleman's punches. Here we see Rua latch onto Coleman's left leg (his preferred leglock side) and go for a similar toehold to the one that swept Randleman. Coleman falls to his knees and we see Rua check with his butt as to where exactly Mark is. Deciding that the best option is to return to his feet, Rua turns into Coleman and works the quick underhook to fend off the takedown Mark launches into. The pause and butt check tells us that Rua would have probably preferred to have Coleman go all the way over, but adapting to different situation is a part of MMA. In the second round, Coleman pushed through thudding leg kick after thudding leg kick to snatch a high double on Rua. The subsequent slam to the ground left Rua in a half guard position on his left side. Here we see that Rua employs different half guard tactics when on his left side than on his right. There is no shifting for leglocks or an escape out the backdoor. Shogun uses his right arm and his left leg to push Coleman's body and knee far enough away that he can quickly get to his feet and step outside. Note that Rua does not control Coleman's hands here and is lucky that Coleman goes for head control and a single, off-target punch rather than to explode in a flurry. It took years for this to happen in a high profile MMA fight, but this gif finally shows Shogun using the submission attack that Nino Schembri, the Brazilian jiu jitsu champion who gave Rua his black belt, is best known for: the omoplata. Schembri is an enormously talented middleweight grappler who won world championships in his mid-twenties and played around with things like the gogoplota and rubber guard long before they became MMA boogyemen. Schembri is still a beast on the mats in his mid-thirties and now teaches in Southern California. Coleman has dumped Rua to the ground by seizing a lazy knee and Rua immediately launches into an omoplota attack on Coleman's left arm. Rua has sufficient flexibility to get the gogoplota threatened, which pushes Coleman's head away and allows Rua to drive the right foot nearly to the canvas. From here, Rua slowly inched his way into a genuine omopolota attack and punched Coleman a few times in the face to try and get the submission to work. Coleman benefits from being perhaps the strongest person to ever fight at 205 and simply links his arms to wait out the minute until the round ends. Omopolotas are very versatile attacks and can be hit from all kinds of angles, but a massively strong opponent is hard to truly submit with this shoulder-based attack. Midway through the third round, Rua is taken down once more and finally gets his preferred right-side half guard position. He has the right leg controlled with both of his own legs and the left leg underhooked with his right arm. Just like with Randleman, he rocks backwards and attempts to off-balance Coleman. The cage and Coleman's better base prevent the tactic from working to the same degree it did against Randleman. Coleman manages to stall Rua enough to dish out a few hammerfists and elbows. This is a dangerous position for Rua and he needs to be working, not stalling. Not seen in this gif, since almost everything in this Rua/Coleman fight took place in real-life slow motion, is Rua eventually adapting to the cage by walking along it and improving his position well enough to go for a leglock. Rua manages to reap his right leg over the left hip of Coleman here and starts working a heel hook. Coleman balances well enough that Rua cannot spin him around and immediately torque the heel, but Rua does eventually get the turn. Not seen in the gif, due to the slow action, is Coleman sitting on the foot and then turning into a top ride, from which Shogun takes quite some time escaping from. The fight would be finished by knock-out with twenty-some seconds left in the third round. In this second fight with Mark Coleman, we see that Mauricio Rua usually goes for a leglock when he is on his right side in the half guard and usually looks to stand up when he is on his left side in the half guard. This preference for one side over another for certain movies is not unusual for grapplers, but in mixed martial arts, a smart opponent can see this pattern and exploit it. Dan Henderson's Leglock Defenses Now for the detour to Strikeforce: Nashville and to Jake Shields' victory over Dan Henderson. After surviving the first round and dominating the later rounds, Jake is bucked off Dan and ends up in a similar position to the left leg heel hook that Rua likes so much. Jake controls the left leg near the heel to prevent Dan from getting away and manages to cross his right leg over the back of the thigh. Note that Dan is fighting to prevent the left leg from going behind him and launches into a counter-leglock with a figure four toe hold on Jake's left foot. This control of the left leg is Dan's standard tactic against leglocks and the toehold can actually submit an unwary opponent. Shields is an elite grappler that probably would have won many world titles if he had stayed within the grappling world and forgone his entry into mixed martial arts. He is not going to tap to that toe hold. Dan then shifts to another common counter, which is to force Shields' left leg down, so that it torques Shields' right foot. Those who remember the Uyenoyama/Yamamoto Judo Chop may recall a similar tactic used to defend against back control. Jake is not going to tap to that either. However, all of the maneuvering and shifts of balance allow Dan to open up the legs enough to hop his way forwards and free. Jake no longer has the heel up by his armpit and is basically looking to control Henderson enough to prevent a quick turn and/or a flurry of potentially fight-ending punches from the top position. Henderson displays a surprising knowledge of leglock defense here, but it is worth saying that Hendo has a pattern of letting himself fall into the leglocks before defending them. It is far better to avoid the submissions than to waste time fending them off and risking a fight-ender. The Fight-saving Leglock Against Henderson To avoid beating a dead horse into the ground, I give you Tom Grant's mini-Judo Chop from last week on the leglock Shogun used in the third round to buy enough time to recover and turn momentum his way. I'll add a couple notes of my own. It is a right side half guard and thus Shogun looks first to rock back and open up space for a leglock. Look at how Shogun buries his head against Hendo. The exposure of the back of his head is risky in a street fight environment, but in MMA, a referee will (usually) stop punches to the back of the head. Shogun buys a couple seconds here, as Hendo looks to pry himself some space to punch or elbow Rua some more. Rua rocks back and spins into the leglock. Perhaps Dan's Greco-Roman days reveal themselves here, as he is more easily rocked and turned than Coleman was back at UFC 93. Hendo has much better leglock defense though. Look at how Hendo swiftly takes that right leg of Rua's and pins it to the canvas. That drags Rua's left leg downwards as well, which frees Hendo's left leg and opens up the spin-out escape for Hendo. Now that the leglock is spoiled, Rua goes quickly to his next preferred option: to stand up and get his opponent into the Muay Thai clinch he began building from his Chute Boxe days. Here he clinches with the very tired Dan and buys more time to recover from the staggering amount of punishment he took earlier in the round. When both fighters came out for the fourth round, it was clear that Rua had recovered enough from the earlier punches to bring us onlookers home in legendary fashion. Whatever your feelings on the decision and judging, appreciate the technique and the heart both guys brought that night.. How Jon Jones Shut Down Rua's Half Guard Jones had little trouble taking Rua down. Having non-stellar takedown defense has never before been a large concern for Rua. This time, things turned out differently. With the whizzer in on the opposite side, Jones sees the right underhook coming and bases out on the left leg to prevent it from clamping on. To further deter Rua from working for the underhook, Jones smashes in an elbow. Anyone remember the Vera fight and how much damage Jones's elbows did? Rua rolls slowly to his back, attempts to see if he can work something unknown to us and eventually recomposes full guard. After Rua's full guard is recomposed, he goes to his favorite tactic of threatening a triangle. Shogun shunts Jones's right arm inside and goes to slap his legs in the right position. Since Jones's arms are so long, armbars are a threat as well, but Jones quickly gets decent posture and puts both arms inside Rua's legs. Not seen in the gif is Jones working his way back to full guard and then again uses the left leg base-out to prevent the right-side half guard. This early in the first round, it is patently obvious that Jones knows exactly what Rua wants to do with the right-side half guard and has gameplanned against those favorite tactics. Later in the first round, we see Jones use his massive wingspan to control Rua's neck and thus prevent the head from diving in towards Jones's body and securing the underhook and/or the leglock. Rua is tring valiantly for the position, but Jones has the strength, base and position to keep him from achieving that goal. Rua would spend the next minute and forty five seconds trying desperately to get that half guard position - to no avail. I am not an elite MMA fighter or grappler, but for me, to try one move for so long means either an immense faith in the efficacy of the move or a lack of adaptability in the gameplan. Or both. Finally, Rua gives up the half guard pull and shifts to full guard. He then shifts to a left-side half guard in preparation to get up. Again, Jones shows that he has anticipated this in the gameplanning sessions and sets Rua up for a thunderous knee to the ribs. Unlike the UFC 93 fight against Coleman, Rua is not able to escape the damage and takes even more punishment from Jones once they are standing again. Jones shows here that his trainers and coaches have equipped the 23 year old (with just three years as a professional fighter) with the proper tactics to deal with Shogun's half guard game. The second round featured more punishment for Rua on the feet and in his unusual, but unsuccessful attempt to get a right leg heel hook on Jones. Again, Jones stifled the deep half guard attempts and worked to constantly deliver punches and elbows from full guard and top half guard. In perhaps the best in-fight homage I've ever seen, Jones goes for a kneebar that is strikingly similar to the one Shogun submitted Randleman with back in 2006. He even tosses in a backwards hammerfist. This is at the end of the round, so breaking Rua's leg triangle, controlling the heel and pinching his own legs together to better set up the submission attempt may have been too much to do within the dwindling seconds of the round. Above all the possible technical flaws, seeing that Jones has the gumption to go for such a submission against a dangerous opponent is a wonderful thing. In the UFC 128 title fight, Jones made it a clear point to control Rua's head, to prevent his left leg from being taken and knew ahead of times which sides Rua would employ which tactics from. It seems all too easy to teach a young fighter "Right side, sweep and leglocks. Base out and prevent. Left side, omoplota and stand up. Posture and punish.", but to hone those counters within one training camp to a point where these reactions take place near-instantaneously and are massively effective is impressive. Shogun had no surprises for Jones in that fight and lost his belt to the better fighter that day. Despite the comprehensive destruction of his favorite tactics at the hands of Jon Jones, the majority of Shogun Rua's deep half guard game works against elite, wrestling-based opponents. In a mixed martial arts arms race, having a full set of tactics that work on an elite competition level and play into your own strengths is a decisive advantage. It may be a good idea for Rua to vary his tactics some, but if just about nobody outside Jon Jones can stop these tactics, should he stop employing them? As a treat for the grappling fans who've come this far with me, enjoy ArmyofZenMonkey's Nino Schembri highlight: All gifs by Grappo (except the Hendo/Shogun ones, which are by K.J. Gould). Many thanks for the excellent images. Check out the other deep half guard Judo Chops on Big Nog vs Tim Sylvia and Lil Nog vs Jason Brilz, as well as the Oleg Taktarov rolling kneebar on Dave Beneateau at Ultimate Ultimate 1995 write-up that I did for MMA Nation (all the way down at the end of the piece).

Posted in: shogun, rua, leg, guard, half

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In the mixed martial arts (MMA) world, timing and spacing are everything. From landing a strike first or creating the room to sneak your arm in for a choke, a split second and a millimeter in space can earn you a victory or cost you the fight. It is one of the most intriguing aspects of combat sports in that the smallest errors come with the largest of consequences. In mixed martial arts you have split seconds to adjust and adapt, it can be implied into any technique from slipping a punch to shooting a takedown. It also can be said that the grappling aspect of the sport is the most intricate in terms of hitting the right timing along with the best spacing. World Class Jiu Jitsu practitioners can make an opponent pay for mistakes with the most subtle of movements and simplistic methods. Chael Sonnen nearly landed three hundred punches on middleweight champion Anderson Silva prior to a triangle choke that was thrown up at the right moment with just the right amount of space. And just like that the tables can be turned 180 degrees. Even though we have had breakdowns on the simple chokes like the guillotine choke and simple joint submissions like the arm bar and several submissions in between, there is one technique that can be used for much more then just a submission attempt. For more on that follow me into the extended entry. Dustin Hazelett is a very creative and unique type of grappler. A black belt under Jorge Gurgel, Hazelett had amassed an 11-4 record before his bout with Tamdan McCrory and was fresh off a victory that earned submission of the night against Josh Burkman that saw the skilled grappler pull off a slick arm bar off a "whizzer." Let us first detail that Hazelett is very flexible and with that he is very crafty. Flexible legs tend to lead guys to using a lot of high guard and even Rubber Guard. This fight was no exception to that. While in guard, Hazelett has already broken the posture of McCrory and has sat up with his torso and has his hand and arm around the neck and back of his opponent. At this point Hazelett could attack with a choke or possibly an arm lock from the guard in his posture but instead elects to throw up his rubber guard. He does so by bringing up his left leg and clutching to it with his right hand. The right hand grabs the foot and pulls it beneath the chin of McCrory. You may remember this is the similar set up to the Gogoplata. As you can see the shoulder and arm that is trapped of McCrory has pressure already being applied to it, the pain involved isn’t as severe as an arm bar but uncomfortable nonetheless. And too add the hold is very restricting as you can not do very much once trapped. The left leg goes right over the shoulder and under the chin and Hazelett locks the trapping leg with his free leg to tighten the grip and does so much like he would a triangle choke. Hazelett cuts the angle to sway head towards hip of McCrory and you can see the trapped arm is between the arm pit of Hazelett as well as still being torqued onto by the omoplata. The omoplata that Hazelett shows in the fight is a set up technique as much as it is a submission. It serves as a way to get back to the feet, take an opponents back or set up an arm bar. Hazelett capitalizes on his control over McCrory’s posture and mobility and attacks the trapped arm. He cranks the arm up using the left leg of the omoplata to serve as the hip/groin area would when performing a traditional arm bar. The submission is a little combination of an arm bar and an omoplata. An omoplata is actually a shoulder lock when used as a submission, the hold is basically a kimura but instead of using the figure four lock with your arms you use your legs. The technique is one of the more versatile in grappling as it can be applied to so many other things then just a straight submission hold. With good timing to get to the omoplata position it remains all about space once the hold is locked on. Hazelett doesn’t allow any space between the shoulder and the trapping legs to allow an escape. Both the pain and the way the hold keeps you grounded makes escaping very hard and allows fighters time to set up transitions or submissions.

Posted in: submission, leg, arm, arm bar, hazelett

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Tom Grant brings us another mini-Judo Chop, as he breaks down some of the subtle groundwork displayed in Seth Baczynski's submission victory over Matt "The Immortal" Brown during UFC 139. In this mini-chop, Tom explains how exactly Matt Brown used his long legs to scissors sweep Baczynski and regain the initiative he had seized during the stand-up phase of the first round. The scissors sweep is a staple of submission grappling, as its seemingly simple mechanics lend itself well to being picked up by beginners and its efficient usage of weight distribution and timing allows it to work even in high level grappling and mixed martial arts. The basic principle of the sweep rests in using a precise set of grips and the shearing motion of both legs to simultaneously off-balance the opponent and prevent any basing out with the arm and leg on the side being swept towards. If done well, the sweep can land you in mount or side control with a discombobulated opponent. In order to do this sweep well, it often has to be disguised and performed at precisely the right moment, as wary opponents will quickly see and counter this sweep. It also helps to have long legs that can slide into the right places quickly, as Matt Brown showed us at UFC 139. Join us after the jump for a gif and breakdown of the scissors sweep, as delivered by Tom. In the middle of the first round, Brown had the advantage standing and Baczynski hit a double leg takedown to try and stall Brown's momentum. Brown quickly establishes the open guard he wants and this is where the gif picks up. The scissor's sweep is one of the most basic sweeps in all of grappling, but it is rarely seen in MMA for a few reasons. One is that in order to do this sweep, the guard player must open his guard, which gives the top player a chance to pass his guard, and the sweep relies on a collar grip and posture breakdown that is rare to achieve simultaneously in the no-gi environment of MMA. The grip can be converted to no-gi; it is just more difficult to maintain it along with the foot placement and posture breakdown against a savvy grappler. Matt Brown establishes the set-up grips strongly from his open guard against Seth Baczynski. One arm is hooking the back of Seth's head, keep his posture broken down and the other arm traps Seth's left arm, preventing him from using it to establish base and stop the sweep. The legwork is what makes the scissors sweep go and you can see that Brown's left shin is pressing into Seth's hip, while his right leg is resting against the outside of Seth's leg to prevent him from basing. With the whole left side of Seth's body prevented from basing, due to arm and leg placement by Brown, Seth is now ripe for the sweep.   Brown pulls with his grips and pushes upwards with his left shin to off-balance Seth. Right as Seth's weight begins to be carried on Brown's shin, his knee floats off the mat and Brown scissors his legs. The shearing motion results in an almost effortless sweep. Brown lands nicely in side control, but when he foregoes securing the position to posture and strike Seth, Baczynski is able to establish guard. Questions? Comments? Fire away below and thanks to Tom for the mini-Judo Chop.

Posted in: leg, guard, seth, sweep, scissors

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Posted in: ufc, shogun, leg, judo, chillbrochad link

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In the this mini-Judo Chop, Tom Grant breaks down for us the mechanics of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's fight-saving leglock sweep from the fight against Dan Henderson at UFC 139. Later this week, I will bring you a much larger Judo Chop that will take a look at Shogun's preferred ground game tactics and how various opponents have fared and gameplanned against them. For now, the spotlight is on the third round, just after Henderson has badly staggered Rua and knocked him to the ground. Hendo is hunting for an exclamation point on a surprising finish and pauses to find the right angles to deliver the decisive punches. Rua takes advantage of the half-guard position he loves to apply a threatening inverted heelhook that buys him time to recover from the powerful punches he is still woozy from. To successfully achieve a heel hook, torque is applied through the twisting of the foot and ankle joint in such a manner that the torque is transferred to the knee, which is twisted itself. This type of leglock is considered to be very serious, due to the multiple joints under threat of injury and the tendency for grapplers to not feel pain or significant pressure in their knees before something critical tears or gives way. An inverted heel hook relies on a slightly different setup to apply the same principles of torque and threaten damage to feet and knees.  Mixed martial arts devotee may remember fighters like Masakazu Imanari and Rousimar "Toquinho" Palhares as having particularly vicious heel hook submission victories, yet some may forget that other fighters like Shogun Rua have been successfully using the submission to sweep or to buy time. Shogun in particular loves using this submission to create space to get up from the ground and apply his brand of Muay Thai. Join us after the jump for Tom's breakdown of Shogun's fight-saving leglock. Tom starts off with a paragraph on the general background of leglocks and moves right into Rua's application of the heel hook.  Leglocks are bit of wild card in MMA. Most fighters have basic knowledge of leg attacks, but few make it a major part of their game. Part of it is a positional concern, as dropping back for leglocks can be a sacrifice of position and another part of it is safety, as an inch too much extension on a kneebar can force one's training partner to walk with crutches for a few months. Despite this, there are a few grapplers in MMA that make leglocks a central part of their game, and the ability to attack the legs effectively can be the equivalent of KO power on the feet. While a simple Fight Finder search will not yield this result, Maurico "Shogun" Rua has made excellent use of leglocks during his career and he showed a flash of it in his epic match with Dan Henderson. In the third round, Rua was hurt badly and huddled in half guard for pure survival. As Henderson rained down blows, Rua slowly crept into the deep half guard, in which Rua uses his legs to control one leg and hooks Henderson's free leg with his arm, yielding him control of both of Henderson's legs. This is an excellent sweeping position, and with a few hip bridges, Rua forces Henderson to use both his hands to base out on the canvas to prevent from being rolled over, which leaves Rua space to recover and to maneuver. via cdn1.sbnation.com Rua detects this space and puts his hand in Henderson's armpit to create even more space, while rolling on his back to create momentum. Rua then swings his right leg over Henderson's left hip to isolate the left leg and then hooks Henderson's right knee with his left leg to prevent Henderson from spinning out of the heelhook and potentially resume punching Rua. Henderson's leg is across Rua's body and Rua traps the foot under his ribcage and beings to pull up on the heel to threaten a classic reverse heelhook. The lock is meant to turn the foot backwards on the leg and damage the knee joint, but ideally the foot should be up in the armpit and the leg extended more. The placement of the foot gives Henderson the critical time to work his leglock defenses, step over Rua's left leg and spin to remove his leg from danger. While the submission attack failed, the threat of the leglock did stop Henderson's powerful ground and pound and prevented Shogun from taking more damage, which likely would have seen the referee jumping in to stop the match. Questions? Comments? Fire away below and thank Tom Grant for another great brace of mini-Judo Chops. As a bonus, see and listen to Rener and Ralek Gracie explain heel hooks in an all-meat no-filler Gracie Breakdown from 2009:

Posted in: henderson, leglock, shogun, rua, leg

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It wasn't a knockout or a submission finish that fans were hoping for, however; Fedor Emelianenko did get the much needed win via unanimous decision against Jeff Monson earlier today at M-1 Global's "Fedor vs. Monson" event that went down from Olympic Arena in Moscow Russia. After dropping his last three fights under the Strikeforce umbrella, getting back on track with a win was all that Fedor wanted or needed, regardless if he got the finish or not. "The Last Emperor" received the nod after peppering "The Snowman" with a nice mixture of leg kicks that hit their mark to go along with plenty of well place right hands that had Monson making repeated trips to the canvas. Coming out with a more cautious stance, Fedor landed leg kicks to the body and legs of Monson early and often. Fedor mixed it up well as he connected with some straight right hands that sent Monson to the canvas early. After only a few minutes of action, Fedor had already busted up the nose of "The Snowman." Fedor showed a more relaxed and composed striking game, as he dropped Monson on two occasions in the second round. Fedor showed great composure through out the fight, as he refused to play into the hands of Monson, by not following him to the ground every time he floored him. Rushing in for the finish is what lead to Fedor's losses to Werdum and Henderson. Monson, a jiu-jitsu black belt and two time ADCC champion, looked to take the fight to the ground any chance he could. However, displaying great take down defense, Fedor stuffed every single one of Monson's attempts. In the final minutes of the fight, Monson had barely any spring left in his step to even attempt a takedown, all courtesy of countless inside leg kicks from Fedor that will surely have Monson limping for days. So where does Fedor go from here? Join me after the jump to find out. After the fight, it was announced that Fedor will look to make a rather quick return, as he is scheduled to compete in a little over a month on New Years Eve at DREAM's year end event; possibly against Olympic judo gold medalist turned mixed martial artist, Satoshi Ishii. Ishii, who was once rumored to be ready to join the ranks of the UFC, has a 4-1-1 record in mixed martial arts. The Olympic gold medalist was last seen battling to a draw with former middleweight contender Paulo Filho at Amazon Forest Combat 1 in Brazil. This fight could very well come down to who has the best grappling skills; the Olympic judo gold medalist Ishii, or the Sambo specialist Fedor. So how do you feel now that Fedor finally ended his three fight skid and gained possibly some much needed confidence? Could we expect a resurgence of his career? Or do you feel that Fedor needs to earn a more impressive win against a higher quality opponent for you to proclaim that "The Last Emperor" is back? To catch the rest of the results from M-1 Global's: "Fedor vs. Monson" event, click here.

Posted in: fedor, monson, fight, olympic, leg

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Ever since PRIDE FC folded back in 2007, one of the most common lingering regrets among its die hard followers was the fact that a bout between the light heavyweight champion (dubbed middleweight champion at the time), Dan Henderson, and the “uncrowned” champion, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, never materialized. Much has changed since the night “Hendo” knocked out Rua’s training partner, Wanderlei Silva, to capture the title: Henderson went on to have a decent — but unspectacular — stint with the UFC before finding his footing in Strikeforce, while “Shogun” recovered from a stuttering start and multiple injuries to fulfill his long heralded potential and become the UFC light heavyweight kingpin. Finally, the two MMA legends are set to square off in a bout that could determine the next contender for the UFC light heavyweight title. Light Heavyweight Fight: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson One seemingly overlooked aspect of this fight is the state of Rua’s knees. While all was forgotten with a quick knockout of Forrest Griffin, Rua still looked a touch lethargic in that fight. Little can be taken away from a sub-one minute fight, but the fact remains Rua didn’t throw a single kick, was very sloppy with his punches (another fighter could have made him pay), and looked a tad slower compared to his usual explosive self. The same can also be said about his performance against Jon Jones, however, with “Bones” looking utterly sensational in that bout, it is difficult to gauge just how badly hampered Rua’s knees really well. Nevertheless, multiple knee surgeries at such a young age are never good news. For this bout, Rua needs to on top of his game. I’m of the belief that the incarnation of “Shogun” who showed up for the first Lyoto Machida fight was the best we’ve seen from the Brazilian — his PRIDE days included. In that fight, Rua showcased the perfect balance of technical striking (at least by his standards), tactical discipline, aggression, and patience. Most importantly, his footwork was truly sensational, as he cut off the cage extremely well, landed kicks, was very quick andunpredictable when moving forward, and circled away from Machida’s power. Against Henderson, this will be a key aspect. Whether “Hendo” is in pure “H-Bomb” mode or wrestling mode (for his sake, he better combine the two), Rua’s footwork needs to be on point. For starters, it will be imperative for the Brazilian to circle to his right in order to avoid Henderson’s trademark right hand. Furthermore, Rua can’t allow his opponent to close the distance, get the clinch, tire him against the fence, and potentially take him down. As such, Rua would be smart to slow Henderson down with bread and butter leg kicks. Given that Hendo’s wrestling is almost exclusively reliant on securing the clinch first, “Shogun” is unlikely to put himself at risk of being taken down if he throws kicks. Additionally, the accumulation of said kicks could very well hinder Henderson’s movement when moving forward, and over five rounds, this could make a substantial difference. Conversely, leg kicks may leave Rua prone to a counter-right hand from Henderson, something he — and any other sane person — does not want to taste. That is why it will be vital for Rua to throw leg kicks from a relatively safer range, outside of Henderson’s reach. However, if anyone could potentially survive a Henderson right hand, it’s Rua, as he possesses one of MMA’s most proven chins. In fact, both individuals’ chins — as well as power — are, for the lack of a better term, freaky. Despite cringe-worthy technique, Rua punches like a truck, and has excellent timing to boot. That, coupled with his speed, makes up for his uneducated technique – Rua is a major arm puncher. The diversity of his striking is also a key component to his success, as Rua is good at methodically chomping down his opponent with leg kicks, blitzing him with trademark flurries, or punishing his body and head with knees from the clinch. The real challenge however, will be hurting Henderson, and potentially finishing him. Rua may just be the best finisher in MMA in terms of killer instinct, but as discussed, the American’s chin, and especially, his recovery, are stuff of legend. And yet, if someone can become the first fighter to finish Henderson with strikes, it’s “Shogun.” Henderson’s striking might be a little less versatile, and at times, one-dimensional in his over-reliance on his right hand, but there can be no doubting its efficiency. He does an excellent job at setting up the overhand right, either with an inside leg kick or with a jab; albeit one that he throws with little conviction.  Occasionally, Henderson will mix things up and come underneath with a sneaky uppercut, and he would be smart to do so here. One of Rua’s defensive flaws is the fact that while he’s very good at covering up to avoid getting hit cleanly, this seems to be his instinctive go-to move, rather than attempting to doge the punch altogether. This means that his vision is no longer in direct contact with his opponent, which in the world of combat sport, is risky business. The way Rua covers up when his opponents throws a feint is equally worrisome, as it leaves him a sitting duck for a takedown, or for the aforementioned uppercut. On the other hand, there will be times when Rua times his opponent’s attack correctly, and will look to cut him off with a counter-right instead of covering up, and beat him to the punch; something Machida knows all too well about. Henderson’s right hand becomes that much more unpredictable when he mixes up his game and uses some clinch work and takedowns. That is what allowed him to catch Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante earlier this year, when Henderson turned in a great, well-rounded performance. Should Henderson get on top, he likely will struggle to get much going in terms of meaningful ground and pound, however, that should change late in the fight if he can keep taking Rua to the ground and eventually, wear him out. However, while Rua’s takedown defense is shaky to say the least, he does have an active bottom game. While his constant work for fruitless leg locks is at times counterproductive, he possesses some great sweeps in his arsenal. Even when he fails to complete the sweep and get on top, he does a good job at using it to scramble and get back to his vertical base. It wouldn’t be too shocking to see Rua score some takedowns, as Henderson’s over-aggression occasionally gets him in trouble, to the point where he gets taken down by far inferior wrestlers. Rua’s offensive wrestling is underrated, and if timed correctly, he could put the former Olympian on his back. From there, Rua possesses terrific guard passing skills and some of the most brutal ground and pound in the division. The fight could well come down to cardio. If Henderson doesn’t push things early, and instead allows “Shogun” to settle into a rhythm and fight at his own pace, similar to what Machida did at UFC 104, Rua will likely pepper him with leg kicks, wear him down, and cruise to victory. However, if Henderson clinches up, takes Rua down, and tires him, the former Chute Boxe sensation will be a spent force come the championship rounds. Determining which scenario is more likely is incredibly difficult, but hesitantly, I will side with the American to take a competitive — but ultimately well-earned — decision. Official Prediction: Dan Henderson to defeat Mauricio “Shogun” Rua by Decision

Posted in: fight, henderson, shogun, rua, leg

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On Sat., Nov. 19, 2011, two men who are larger than life in the mixed martial arts (MMA) world will step inside the Octagon at UFC 139 in San Jose, Calif., to determine which veteran of the sport still has got "the juice." Lately, the fight landscape has been unkind to the legends who have paved the way for some of the current and emerging bigger names (see Mirko Filipovic and B.J. Penn, among others). Both Mauricio Rua and Dan Henderson believe they still have what it takes to take on the best of the best. And it has even been suggested that this 205-pound showdown is possibly a number one contender eliminator match (though that has never been officially confirmed). The two men share a total of six common opponents. They both fought for Pride FC in Japan and now both fight for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Yet, somehow, they've never fought each other. After the jump, we'll take a look at the numbers and see if they shed any light on the outcome of Saturday night's main event: "Shogun" and "Hendo" have both fought the following common opponents: -- Kazuhiro Nakamura-- Ricardo Arona -- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira-- Renato Sobral-- Akiro Gono-- Hiromitsu Kanehara. Againts those six shared foes, Rua holds a record of 5-1, while Henderson's record versus the bunch is a nearly identical 5-2 (he fought Sobral twice). The math whizzes over CompuStrike went to the trouble of analyzing 12 of each fighter's bouts and collected data based on those respective contests. Once again, CompuStrike was kind enough to share its findings. It's no secret that Rua and Henderson have knockout power and possess the ability to put a man to sleep in the blink of an eye. Let's take a look at who the numbers favor in the general striking game: Total Strikes: Rua -- 55 of 97Henderson -- 53 of 107 Percentage: Rua -- 57%Henderson -- 50% Total Power Strikes Landed: Rua -- 32Henderson -- 31 Total Non-Power Strikes Landed: Rua -- 23Henderson -- 22 Pretty close, other than the accuracy aspect. This probably will not surprise most MMA fans because Henderson is known for sometimes throwing wild, looping shots that are intended to end fights in one fell swoop. Let's take things one step further. The stand up game comprises what are called "arm strikes" (any punch or elbow blow) and "leg strikes" (and kick or knee). So who's got better hands?: Total Arm Strikes Landed: Rua -- 16 of 37Henderson -- 17 of 49 Percentage of Arm Strikes Landed: Rua -- 53%Henderson - 35%Power Strikes Landed: Rua -- 10Henderson -- 12Non-Power Strikes Landed Rua -- 6Henderson -- 5 It would appear as though Rua's "arm strikes" are more accurate, but Henderson may have a slight edge in the "power" department.During his Pride FC days, Rua had a reputation for using lethal "soccer kicks" and knees to finish his opponents. Therefore, one would assume that the Brazilian would hold the advantage over Henderson on the "leg strikes" end of things. Let's take a look-see: Total Leg Strikes Landed: Rua -- 14 of 22Henderson -- 10 of 15Percentage of Leg Strikes Landed: Rua -- 64%Henderson 67%Power Leg Strikes Landed: Rua -- 8Henderson -- 5Non-Power Leg Strikes Landed: Rua -- 6Henderson  -- 5 Interesting. And much closer than you'd think. Henderson would appear to be the more accurate of the two, while Rua is slightly more powerful. Moving along, Henderson is a world class wrestler. While Rua is certainly not terrible on the ground, you'd think Henderson would be a huge favorite if the fight hits the canvas.  Let's check the actual numbers and see if they back up this assumption:  Ground Strikes Landed: Rua -- 25 of 38Henderson -- 26 of 43Percentage: Rua -- 66%Henderson -- 61%Power Ground Strikes Landed: Rua -- 14Henderson -- 14 Non-Power Ground Strikes Landed: Rua -- 11Henderson -- 12 Takedowns: Rua - 30 of 48 for 68%Henderson - 18 of 33 for 55%Submission Attempts: Rua - 16Henderson - 4Dominant Positions: Rua - 37Henderson - 7 Wow. That's a bit unexpected, but you have to take into account the fact that Henderson prefers to stand and trade, regardless of his Olympic-level wrestling pedigree.  Is this what you expected the numbers to bear out? Are you thinking any differently than before or do you Maniacs not put a lot of stock into statistics? Opinions, please!

Posted in: henderson, rua, leg, strike, power

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submitted by alphahouse44 [link] [7 comments]

Posted in: leg, mma news, alphahouse, sonnen leg, arent

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"Look, if you can land 'em, good for you, but the bottom line is leg kicks aren't very effective. In kickboxing, guys quit kicking to the point where they had to institute a rule that forced them to throw at least three kicks per round. Kicks are a secondary offense but sure, if you can land 'em, why not." Bad news for all you Mauricio Rua fans hoping to see his patented leg kicks against Dan Henderson in the main event of UFC 139 tomorrow night (Nov. 19, 2011) at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. "Shogun" has probably realized, thanks to some key insight by middleweight contender Chael Sonnen, that kicking is a "secondary offense" and "not very effective" during a fight. That probably explains why K-1 is in such deep financial trouble and why Mirko Filipovic was exposed inside the Octagon. Anyone think "Shogun" can win with just his hands? Or will he defy common sense and throw some kicks anyway? And what does this say about the chances of Cung Le?

Posted in: dan henderson, leg, honda center, bottom line, offense

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At UFC 139 this weekend, UFC fans will be introduced to Cung Le. The former Strikeforce Middleweight champion will face Wanderlei Silva in the night's semi-main event. But between this being his UFC debut and the fact that he has had only one fight in the past two years, Le may be something of an unknown for fans at home (not for fans at the show though - expect Le to receive a hero's welcome in his adopted home of San Jose).  The big word UFC fans will hear throughout Le's fight? "Sanshou." That's the fighting style employed by Cung Le - a style that he has absolutely mastered, but that no one else has used with any degree of effectiveness in MMA. Le is, in many ways, a throwback to the earliest days of MMA, when a practitioner of a somewhat obscure martial art would come in and try to represent his art form against all comers. The big difference is that most of these early arts failed, where Le has found good MMA success with his style. So what exactly is Sanshou? Well... Sanshou is a martial art which was originally developed by the Chinese military based upon the intense study and practices of traditional Kung Fu and modern combat fighting techniques; it combines full-contact kickboxing, which include punches and kicks, wrestling, takedowns, throws, sweeps, kick catches, and in some competitions, even elbow and knee strikes. Amongst martial arts purists, the idea of Sanshou is a bit controversial. The name is, at times, used interchangeably with Sanda and Wushu, though not everyone agrees with lumping these together. There's also the idea that, somewhat like Bruce Le's Jeet Kune Do, Sanshou is not a style unto itself, but rather a system of how to effectively use martial arts. It's a complex and fascinating debate, but it also is a somewhat separate issue. What is more important to the UFC fan is simply this - "How does Cung Le use Sanshou in MMA?" There are two key aspects of Sanshou that play a part in Le's MMA game: takedowns and kicks. Despite being perceived at times as more of a standing art, Sanshou does use takedowns as one of the primary attacks. Kid Nate already broke down Le's superb use of Sanshou takedowns in MMA in an earlier Judo Chop, and I highly encourage you to check that one out here. In this edition, we'll break down the other key Sanshou weapon - kicks. And for Cung Le, no Sanshou kick is more effective than the spinning back kick. Let's take a look at the traditional spinning back kick, and see how Le uses Sanshou to adapt it and make it an even more dangerous weapon. Full breakdown, with gifs, after the jump. First up, let's take a look at the traditional spinning back kick, as executed by one of today's best practitioners of this strike - Dennis Siver. To execute the kick, Siver turns his head and body in the direction of his power leg - Siver is standing in orthodox stance, so he rotates to his right. With his back to his opponent, Siver brings the rear leg up, cocking his knee. He completes the rotation, ending with his shoulders perpendicular to his opponent's body, and extends the kick forward and through the opponent's midsection. Done correctly and cleanly, it's a brutal blow that can earn a KO. Le uses the spinning back kick frequently, but he has added some variations on it that utilize his Sanshou background. I encourage you to first take a look at this great Cung Le spinning back kick highlight video that incorporates footage from Human Weapon: Those clips give you an idea of some of Le's spinning kicks, but let's take a closer look at some of those back kicks, particularly from his Strikeforce fight with Scott Smith. First up, here is what I would call a switch spinning back kick. Le starts in southpaw with his left leg back. He starts by stepping forward with that left leg, switching to orthodox stance. But as he makes that step, he also brings that right foot directly in front of his left and starts his rotation. From there, the rest of the kick is basically the same as Siver's - Le lifts the right leg, rotates through, and blasts it into Smith. Notice how the force of the blow knocks Smith into the cage and down. This is a great kick for two reasons. First, that extra step increases the rotation, which is where the spinning back kick gets its force. With the extra rotation, the kick can be more powerful. Second, look how well Lee extends his leg, getting it perfectly straight as he connects. That sends the force entirely into Smith and knocks him off balance. Interestingly, Le also changes up his target here. Normally this kick targets the midsection, but here Le goes more to the chest. Smith partially blocks it, but the momentum still is enough to drop him. That's also a very dangerous block for Smith, as it can easily result in a fractured arm, as Frank Shamrock can attest. Here is another good kick that is similar to the last one. Again, Le starts in south paw, steps forward to switch to orthodox, and with that same motion throws the kick. This time though he goes to the midsection, driving his heel into Smith's stomach and knocking the wind out of him. Notice that on this kick, Le is very close to Smith as the kick lands, and so unlike the previous kick, he keeps the kick more cocked until it is in position, then fires it, again getting good extension. To land this kick so close gives it extra power, and part of the way Le gets so close is again with his switch to orthodox. One last note here - notice how he uses punches to set up the kick. Cung Le talked about this as one of his strategies for the fight - to get Smith moving back with punches, them chase him down with the kicks. It works beautifully here, as Smith starts to retreat, and also keeps his hands up to avoid more punches, leaving a hole in his defenses to the body. This time, Le starts in the orthodox stance, so the spinning back kick begins more traditionally. But at the end, Le adds his own twist by bringing the kick up to the head. You see this move in kickboxing sometimes (Badr Hari famously KO'd Stefan Leko in K-1 with this same kick) but it's very rare in MMA. Smith is unsure how to block and ends up taking it on the side of the head. One small detail I don't love here is the way Le abandons his footwork and stance after the kick in order to chase Smith down. It allows him to close the distance faster and keep up the assault, but I don't love the idea of allowing yourself to be so exposed.   And finally, one last example. This one again targets the head. Here you can really see how Le's ability to change his target confuses his opponent. Smith does not know where the kick is coming and so actually defends by lifting his leg in what looks like an attempt to check a leg kick. These Sanshou kicks are totally confusing him, leaving him defenseless and very vulnerable. The speed on this kick is incredible too - no set up, just a fast, perfect spinning back kick. Finally, I love how Le gets that right foot immediately down and back into position right after the kick lands. He is right back in stance, ready to continue the fight. Will Wanderlei Silva see some of these kicks at UFC 139? And if he does, will he have an answer for them? I certainly hope we find out. Want more Cung Le Sanshou action? Here is a nice Sanshou demonstration: And here's his MMA debut from the first Strikeforce show:

Posted in: mma, leg, kick, smith, sanshou

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UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin had been training for a return at UFC 141, but he was put on the shelf again when he started suffering some back and leg problems. A scary incident that made him think he was paralyzed for a few seconds led him to get it checked out, and it turns out he will need a second back surgery. Carwin called into lnside MMA last night and gave Bas and Kenny the scoop (transcribed by Zach Arnold of Fight Opinion): I’ve got a disc that’s pressing into my spinal cord and it’s basically removed all the spinal fluid around the area, so the first time something really happened bad I was doing a seminar and just drilling takedowns and I got taken down and both of my legs froze up and I actually thought I was paralyzed and it lasted about 10 or 15 seconds and I wasn’t able to move. Finally, I was able to recover after that, you know, your spinal cord gets rid of that initial impact. I also noticed that when I started jumping and stuff, I’d get a tremendous amount of pain throughout my legs. So, I’m going to go in and have that done and what they’re going to do is actually drill out the bone in my spine to give that spinal cord some room in there." On how long it will take to recover from the surgery: "I think I’m probably only looking at about 10 weeks with that, similar to the neck injury that I had. … This is the third time my back’s been operated on." And his thoughts on the temporary paralysis that day: "It was tremendously scary. I still remember the guy looking at my eyes when it happened and they got extremely big." You can listen to the whole interview in the Youtube video below the jump.

Posted in: time, leg, carwin, surgery, cord

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Its status as MMA’s weakest and at times, most embarrassing division is well-earned. Its oxygen consumption equals that of every other weight class combined, and cardio is often thrown out the window before Bruce Buffer is done with his fighter introductions. However, every now and then, the heavyweight division offers a bout that captures the imagination of fight fans like no other. Whether it is Randy Couture and Pedro Rizzo setting the gold standard for five-round wars, or Fedor Emelianenko‘s titanic battles with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, little can rival the electricity of a legitimately thrilling heavyweight prizefight. This Saturday night, headlining the UFC‘s historic debut on FOX, Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos have the chance to eclipse any of the previously mentioned encounters. Heavyweight Title Fight: Cain Velasquez (c) vs. Junior Dos Santos The real wild card will be Cain Velasquez’s injury. Extended layoffs have historically affected even the most talented athletes, and coming off a surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff is serious business. There is no telling how much the injury has hindered Velasquez’s wrestling for example, which remains his primary — and so far unstoppable — weapon. And while the champion could very well be totally healed up, rust is likely going to be a factor early on regardless. This could prove to be a deciding factor in the fight, as even under normal circumstances, Velasquez would have had to be extremely careful in the early going, where Dos Santos will ostensibly be at his most dangerous. When you add potential rust to the equation, it could take the Velasquez a while to figure out the range, get his timing going, loosen up, and most importantly, settle his nerves; as being away from action for so long will undoubtedly make it that much more difficult to relax inside the cage. Against a striker as lethal as Dos Santos, Velasquez’s world could come crashing down before he ever gets the chance to re-discover his footing and comfort zone in the Octagon. Dos Santos’ boxing is arguably the best in the division. Very few heavyweights, if any, can put combinations together the way “Cigano” does. His last fight against Shane Carwin showed a more measured — but nonetheless aggressive — approach from the Brazilian, as he displayed a tremendous jab which he used to set the tone of the fight, control the distance, and set up combinations. In particular, Dos Santos’ left hook-right cross combo continuously found its mark. His uppercut is without a doubt his best punch. It remains a game-changer in any fight, and he uses it just as efficiently moving forward as he does when countering. In fact, due to his aggressive nature, Dos Santos’ counter-punching ability is often overlooked. He possesses incredible timing on the aforementioned counter right uppercut, and his counter left hook is almost as deadly. Additionally, Dos Santos often mixes things up by going to the body during his combinations, and does so with remarkable efficiency. However, he has a nasty habit of throwing a single jab to the body with very little set-up, which in turn leaves him exposed to counters. Moreover, he generally tends to drop his left hand whenever he throws, making him quite the hittable target. And while the sheer volume with which he throws can often mask those defensive deficiencies, a gifted striker with good counter-punching skills could make him pay dearly. In his fight with  “Minotauro” Nogueira, Velasquez displayed some terrific boxing skills, and was in fact able to slip a Nogueira jab and counter with a beautiful combination that put the Brazilian legend away. Dos Santos’ striking is obviously a whole different proposition than that of his mentor, but his tendency to leave himself exposed could get him in trouble if Velasquez’s striking is sharp and on point. Velasquez will have the more diverse striking, as he mixes up kicks with his boxing very fluidly, and his leg kicks in particular are some of the best in the division. However, unlike his fight with Nogueira, we might see the champion stick to lead inside leg kicks this time around, as throwing right leg kicks could make him vulnerable to Dos Santos’ right cross, if the latter times it correctly. Velasquez often chooses to use his lead high kick as a way to gauge distance and keep his opponent guessing, and we can expect much of the same here. As always with Velasquez, many three-punch combinations are in order, particularly the 1-4-3 (jab, right hook, left hook), which was the combination he used to drop Minotauro, or 1-2-3 (jab, straight right, left hook); the combination he used to floor Brock Lesnar. However, stiff head movement is something Velasquez has gotten in trouble over before, as Cheick Kongo continuously tagged him with straight rights, some of which even putting the AKA standout on wobbly legs. And while Velasquez did show a tremendous chin and amazing recovery to absorb those shots and plant the Frenchman on his back as though nothing happened, the champion can ill-afford to go through something similar against Dos Santos. For Dos Santos, using the jab to control the distance and prevent Velasquez from closing in and getting the clinch will be crucial for his chances in this fight. Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of Velasquez’s game is his proficiency in the clinch, as his dirty boxing, highlighted by some excellent short uppercuts on the inside, coupled with his ability to use that position to drop for single legs in an instant will be a handful for the Brazilian to deal with. Dos Santos is no slouch in the clinch, as he too possesses some fine uppercuts from close-quarters and a brutal knee to the body. However, clinch battles are likely going to be a losing proposition for the challenger. While he did show good footwork and awareness to shake Carwin off of him whenever the American had him pressed against the fence, doing that against Cain Velasquez is a completely different task. After all, the clinch is where Velasquez is most likely going to wear his opponent down. In a five-round fight, Velasquez’s cardio will prevail over any heavyweight alive. Considering that Dos Santos showed signs of fatigue in three-round fights during which he was in complete control against Roy Nelson and Carwin, engaging in long clinch struggles against someone like Velasquez should not be an enticing prospect for “Cigano.” And therein lies the problem for the Dos Santos: the deeper the fight goes, the more it favors Velasquez. This means that however good Dos Santos’ defensive grappling is, getting the upper hand in clinch wars and fending off takedowns for twenty-five minutes is somewhat of an unrealistic expectation. To Dos Santos’ credit, his takedown defense has proven to be extremely solid, and he possesses some excellent hips. His ability to get back to his feet after getting taken down is especially noteworthy. However, in Cain Velasquez, he’ll be dealing with one of the most versatile and technical wrestlers in the sport. Unlike someone like Lesnar, Velasquez doesn’t exclusively rely on power double legs. In fact, he almost never does. Velasquez’s single legs are his bread and butter, and he possesses some fantastic chain wrestling to boot, as he will often effortlessly transition into trip takedowns when necessary. The most notable aspect of Velasquez’s wrestling, and the biggest testament to his understanding of the MMA game is his ability to immediately land in dominant positions off of takedowns. Rarely will you see him finish a takedown and get stuck in his opponent’s guard. Instead, he will often land in side control straight away, and from there, look to unload some of the most relentless ground-and-pound in the business. The drawback however, is that Cain’s top control lends itself into creating scrambling opportunities for the man on the bottom. Velasquez will often opt to stand up above his opponent and drop down some punches, or land punches from the side with his foe turtling up in an attempt to regain his vertical base instead of getting overhooks and dragging him back down, or go for the knee-on-belly position and drop further hammers. While this maximizes the damage and limits any submission threat (however significant it may have been to begin with), this will provide someone as good as Dos Santos with some openings to push off and escape. Therefore, it would be wise for Velasquez to be slightly more composed from the top in the first couple of rounds and look to secure position, before eventually turning up the heat as the fight progresses. To suggest that the fight could go either way would be an understatement. Dos Santos’ striking could give the champion all sorts of fits, and he is more likely to end the fight early than Cain is. However, I expect Velasquez to avoid any big shots early on, overcome a potential slow start, close the distance, get the clinch, and eventually take the fight to the ground. Dos Santos will have his moments in the stand-up, and he will get back to his feet after being taken down, but this will become increasingly hard to pull off with each passing minute, as Velasquez tightens up the screws, turns up the pace, and finishes a tired Dos Santos with some ground-and-pound in the fourth round. Official Prediction: Cain Velasquez to defeat Junior Dos Santos by TKO in Round 4

Posted in: fight, do, velasquez, leg, combination

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In just two days, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will introduce its product to a considerably larger audience than usual, as UFC on Fox 1 will be the inaugural event held on the network television station. The promotion and the FOX network recently announced their collaboration to give sports fans a dose of mixed martial arts (MMA) on one of the premier sports channels. UFC on FOX 1 will be headlined by a heavyweight title fight between the top two heavyweights in the world today, as champion Cain Velasquez puts his strap on the line against number one contender Junior dos Santos. As most fight fans already know, the sport is made of thousands of fighters with different combinations of martial art backgrounds. A lot has changed from the early days of the sport, as it now appears each fighter is a hybrid of sorts, mixing several different disciplines to make a complete package. We've also seen a certain evolution. There used to be a day when jiu-jitsu, wrestling and boxing were the predominant disciplines. Now, though, we see arts like sambo, karate and even capoeira being used as often and effectively as any other.  Each art is unique and can be used to produce the desired result under the care of a skilled practitioner. I have gone into more detail with each discipline, including jiu-jitsu (here), wrestling (here), Muay Thai (here) and boxing (here). These are the most commonly seen martial arts, or the four that are most often put into practice in high profile match-ups. But other then the hardcore fans who watch with extreme passion and understanding, does everyone see the differences or subtle nuances in techniques that showcase each individual art? In case you don't, follow me after the jump and I'll explain. While we've already covered the boxing, grappling and wrestling skills of a few competitors from this upcoming fight card, it is important not to forget about the fourth discipline, which is really a mixture of two separate arts. That would be a blend of kickboxing and Muay Thai. The two have very close ties to one another and while they can be vastly different, they are often effective in the very same way. Further distancing itself from boxing, the disciplines of kickboxing and Muay Thai allow fighters to showcase their striking with more weapons at their disposal. If you think of boxing as two sticks of dynamite, than Muay Thai is a whole box full. Muay Thai focuses on utilizing all limbs of the body. Throwing punches is still a common trait with other striking disciplines and the difference is the encouragement of elbow, knee and foot strikes. Fighting in close quarters, speed and clinching are more attributes that Muay Thai enhances. While no fighter on the UFC on FOX card is considered much of a Muay Thai expert, there are a couple of fighters who have mixed in the fundamentals of the discipline into their striking arsenal. While Ben Henderson will look to counter the grinding wrestling and improved boxing of Clay Guida on Saturday night, we may be treated to watching Henderson showcase his versatility and well rounded skill set. A skill set that includes ideology from the Muay Thai discipline. When "Bendo" matched up against the tough, gritty Mark Bocek, the crafty Henderson was able to stifle any and all offense mustered up by his opponent en route to a unanimous decision victory. In one of those instances, he did so by using a Muay Thai influenced attack. While getting to his feet, Henderson delivered a knee to the body on a slow to defend Bocek. The knee lands and while doing so, he grabs the back of the neck to gain control of Bocek’s body and posture. He accomplished that by reaching behind the neck and gaining a "plum" or a "collar tie" and pinching down, disallowing escape and maximizing control. From there, he lands additional knees to the body and attempts to throw them higher to land on the chin. Even though they are blocked, the strikes are still strong enough to do damage. Henderson also forces the head down, which disorients Bocek so when Ben releases, he's able to land a few solid strikes inside and along the fence. That's solid Thai boxing, folks. Another competitor who really utilizes some technique from Muay Thai is Cub Swanson. However, he is always recognized as more of a kickboxer, even though his roots are strong in Thai boxing. While many may not recognize him, since he has been fighting the injury bug since the folding of the WEC, the ones that do remember Cub for his always exciting bouts and willingness to stand and trade with anyone. This is where it can become extremely difficult to see the line between an art like Muay Thai and kickboxing. But why does it even matter when they are so closely related in their functional usage in mixed martial arts? Here, Swanson resets after a wild exchange with his opponent and launches a head kick from his lead leg. This kick is used the same way you would throw a lead hook with your hands. It won’t have the same power as it would using the rear leg but it hits quicker, taking away precious milliseconds to block the strike.   The strike also takes away balance and forces an opponent to reset his base in order to get into his own rhythm. As you can see, before Mackens Semerzier can reset, Cub throws a front push kick just above the knee, forcing Semerzier to once reset. When you are striking it is important to really have a solid base and to get into a comfortable rhythm. One of the main strengths that Anderson Silva and Jon Jones possess is that they are not only always comfortable on their feet but they throw strikes continuously that throw opponents off balance and out of rhythm. After evading a head kick, Swanson chases his opponent down, landing a very solid leg kick. He lands on the lead leg of the fleeing Semerzier as he circles away towards the side of his lead leg. The kick lands on a planted leg that is incapable of "checking" the kick to help absorb the impact. Landing a kick in this manner does two additional things in comparison to a regular leg kick. (For more on leg kicks click here) The biggest being that the kick puts a lot more power inflicting damage onto the leg. Not only is their momentum added by the stalking Swanson, the kick is landing into the leg as the leg moves into the kick. That additional power can really hamper the mobility and injure the knee. It also opens up for other strikes. Leg kicks tend to force your body to crunch up and your legs to lift in anticipation. Creating an uncomfortable environment in the striking zone opens up a world of opportunities. Look for Swanson to try and emulate this against his opponent on Saturday night. Muay Thai and kickboxing are two of the most important facets of the striking aspect in mixed martial arts. Using kicks and knees open up opportunities for the hands can act as both a great offensive threat and a solid defensive base. That is all for today, Maniacs.

Posted in: leg, muay, kick, thai, muay thai

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Undefeated as a professional mixed martial artist. 88.9% of his wins are by knockout. And he is the holder of the sport’s most prized possession – the UFC heavyweight championship. Cain Velasquez is, without question, the baddest man on the planet. He holds that distinction for now, at least. On Saturday night, Velasquez will make the first defense of his heavyweight crown against the man many think is perfectly suited to dethrone him, Junior dos Santos. It is a marquee matchup between fighters who have the potential to make an unforgettable fight together.We broke down the challenger’s keys to victory yesterday. Now, it’s time to focus on the champion. Velasquez is a former elite-level collegiate wrestler. Dos Santos is likely the division’s best wrestler. Many will instantly assume, therefore, that the champion needs to focus on takedowns. I disagree.Velasquez would be well served putting the challenger on the ground and pounding away. No doubt about that. But getting the Brazilian down is a monumental task. Bum rushing him at the opening bell won’t work. Using feints or haphazard strikes as an opening to change levels for a single-leg probably won’t work well, either. Dos Santos expects him to do just that, so he will be well prepared.That is why I believe Velasquez needs to come out looking to lay some wood on the feet. He needs to beat dos Santos at what he does best, and that is when the door will open for takedowns.The key to successfully laying wood on the feet against dos Santos begins and ends with leg kicks. That is something Velasquez does as well as just about anyone in the division – Pat Barry excepted.The champion uses a full hip turn when he fires right kicks to an opponent’s lead leg and body. As a result, his kicks land with tremendous speed and power. Dos Santos’ stance, which employs a wide base, shoulders almost perpendicular to his foe and weight sitting down, is well suited to firing savage right hands at absolute full force. But it is not great for checking leg kicks. Velasquez can take advantage of that by using leg kicks like dos Santos uses his jab, both to set the range and exact damage. After landing a couple of kicks, the challenger will be more focused on checking them, which means leading more with his fists and finishing combinations with a hard kick to the lead leg. Even the best kickboxers in the world struggle to effectively defend leg kicks thrown at the end of fistic combinations. And Velasquez is masterful at finishing up combinations with leg kicks. A series of fast, hard leg kicks will rapidly sap dos Santos of his power because he won’t be able to fully plant and fire onto his left side. A damaged lead leg also greatly reduces lateral movement and the ability to slip punches, particularly since dos Santos prefers to avoid flying fists by shuffling straight back. Of course, Velasquez needs to be mindful of the challenger’s massive power. Rushing in foolishly, even if dos Santos is limping on one leg, is a recipe for disaster. Velasquez knows that. He won’t make that mistake. He will, instead, attack behind combinations, thus forcing dos Santos to continue defending, rather than planting to return full-force fire.But that isn’t the end of the analysis. There is also a standup tendency that the champion should be able to take advantage of.Dos Santos has a habit of throwing jabs and lead right hands to the body. They are almost always thrown in isolation, though sometimes he will shoeshine with a second or third body shot. I have not yet witnessed dos Santos following up those body shots with a shot to the head in the same salvo of punches. Body shots are probably the most underutilized punches in MMA. But leading with them is a very dangerous proposition. It is almost always safer to finish a combination with a shot to the body because an opponent is busy defending his head. Leading to the body doesn’t typically produce the same “cover up” reaction as do shots to the head. An opponent, therefore, is more often in prime position to counter upstairs.Velasquez has excellent hand speed and tremendous reflexes. Knowing Javier Mendez, I’m sure they worked extensively in camp on countering dos Santos’ tendency to lead to the body. If it is a lead right, Velasquez should instantly uncork a left hook. If his foe leads with a jab to the body, the champion should let his right hand go. In all instances, Velasquez’s counters should be in the form of punches in bunches. However the fight unfolds, Velasquez should remain aggressively patient. He is at his best when he is coming forward pressing the action. But Velasquez should not feel any urgency to try and win the fight in the early rounds because this guy has a gas tank that would make the Energizer Bunny salivate. He is legendary for his ability to fight with the pace of a welterweight seemingly without ever getting tired. We don’t know if the challenger’s gas tank is similarly deep. That means drag him into the deep end of the championship rounds and see if he can swim.Of course, all that is designed to create an advantage for Velasquez on the feet so that he can eventually get the fight to the ground, which is where dos Santos, despite his brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under the Nogueira brothers, is at his least dangerous.Don’t get me wrong, Velasquez can win this fight by knockout. Anyone doubting that statement needs to pull up his fight against Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira. But the safest route to victory against an apex predator like dos Santos is to put him on his back and keep him there. As mentioned, dos Santos knows the takedowns are coming, so Velasquez likely needs to get loose on the feet before he will be able to get the fight to the ground. The question, of course, is does Velasquez really have the standup to best dos Santos? We will all find out soon enough.QUICK FACTSCain Velasquez•    29 years old•    6’1, 240 lbs•    77-inch reach•    9-0 overall (7-0 UFC)•    88.9% of wins by KO/TKO•    11.1% of wins by decision•    No career submissions•    Knockout of the Night in 3 of 7 UFC fights•    Current layoff is 385 days•    Longest layoff of career is 490 days

Posted in: do, velasquez, leg, body, •nbspnbsp

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UFC 137 was mostly forgettable past the Nick Diaz / BJ Penn fight, and we fans weren't the only ones left feeling disgusted by how things turned out. What the event lacked in action it more than made up for in guys retiring themselves after their fights. While we'll wait a few days for BJ Penn to decide if he really really really wants to retire (as BJ would say, "Find out on BJPenn.com!"), Mirko Crocop sounded pretty sure of his decision after losing to Roy Nelson.People wonder what ever happened to the old Mirko Crocop, and the answer is pretty simple: he died on the operating table. Not literally, but when the doctors sliced up his legs and tried to put his knees back together several times. That was the point where he couldn't compete the way he used to. Here he is talking about it over a year ago: "I had a very bad injury two years ago," "Cro Cop" said. "The knee was completely broken. I had three surgeries for the knee and of course it reflected on my kicking. I was afraid to kick, it was still very fresh. But I decided to take the risk for the [UFC 99] Cologne fight one year ago."If you noticed I didn't even try to do a kick with my German opponent [Al-Turk], and I didn't try - or I tried only once to kick Junior dos Santos because I didn't feel very stable in kicking. I didn't feel like my leg was good so I just didn't kick it. So of course it frustrated me a lot but it was my decision to enter the cage. It was my decision to accept the fight. Nobody forced me to do that. But thank god it's behind me now and my legs are okay now." Of course, that hasn't really been true. His legs may be 'okay' in that he is able to walk around on them, climb stairs, and do all sorts of normal dude stuff. He was even able to keep up some pretty good mobility in the cage over the past few years. But MMA fighters are like high performance cars. You lose a few fractions of a second in the speed department and you're done. And with Crocop, it was more than just his speed and agility that were compromised. His kicks - his fucking kicks! - were a thing of the past. When's the last time you remember him throwing his high kicks? His cemetery specials? So don't feel too bad about Mirko retiring. Age and injuries took their toll and it's impressive enough that we got over a decade of Crocop kicking ass (and face) across kickboxing and MMA. Let's just move forward and remember the awesome Crocop and all the sick performances he put on. And make a pact to punch any newb in the face that tries to tell you he sucks.

Posted in: year, leg, crocop, didnt, i didnt

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On Sat., Oct. 29, Cheick Kongo will look to derail the hype train of heavyweight up-and-comer and former NFL football player Matt Mitrione. "Meathead" will, once again, be looking to quiet his critics and prove that he's more than just a defensive tackle who is looking for his 15 seconds of fame. UFC 137 will be the event. The Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada will be the place where it all goes down. Mitrione has taken the mixed martial arts (MMA) world by storm, going 5-0 since his stint on the 10th season of the Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality television show in 2009. Kongo looks to be Mitrione's biggest test thus far, and he should show fans and critics alike just how far he's actually come in the fight game. Enough banter. Let's get down to brass tacks!  An MMA fight involves a multitude of dimensions. It's not good enough anymore to be just a striker or just a submission specialist. You have to have it all. The math wizards at CompuStrike were kind enough to share some of their data with us, in regard to which of these two heavyweights is the more well-rounded fighter. Here we go. Total Strikes: Kongo - 50 of 84Mitrione - 34 of 57 Percentage: Kongo - 60%Mitrione - 60% Total Power Strikes Landed: Kongo - 25Mitrione - 22 Total Non-Power Strikes Landed: Kongo - 25Mitrione - 12 Nearly a dead heat. The data would appear to state that both are equally accurate, while Kongo is the busier of the two as far as volume of strikes thrown.  That gives us some insight into the total striking picture. Let's be more specific and see who is the more lethal of the two with their punches and elbows. Total Arm Strikes Landed:Kongo - 13 of 31Mitrione - 15 of 30Percentage of Arm Strikes Landed:Kongo - 42%Mitrione - 50%Power Strikes Landed:Kongo - 8Mitrione - 10Non-Power Strikes LandedKongo - 5Mitrione - 5 Again, this part of the race is too close to call. Mitrione looks to be more accurate with his arm strikes, but it isn't by much. Kongo's background is in kickboxing. One would assume he'd hold the edge in the leg strike department. Does the data back up this assumption?   Total Leg Strikes Landed:Kongo - 17 of 21Mitrione - 8 of 9Percentage of Leg Strikes Landed:Kongo - 81%Mitrione - 89%Power Leg Strikes Landed:Kongo - 6Mitrione - 4Non-Power Leg Strikes Landed:Kongo - 11Mitrione - 4 Hate to sound like a broken record here, but this is yet another aspect where Kongo and Mitrione are nearly identical. Kongo does look to be a bit more accurate and slightly more active. We'd love to see these guys throw hands and vicious leg kicks until somebody goes to sleep, but it doesn't always go that way. Often, the fighter who is enjoying the stand up game the least is the first to shoot in for the takedown. If that happens, which heavyweight will it favor? Ground Strikes Landed:Kongo - 20 of 32Mitrione - 11 of 18Percentage:Kongo - 63%Mitrione - 61%Power Ground Strikes Landed:Kongo - 11Mitrione - 8Non-Power Ground Strikes Landed:Kongo - 9Mitrione - 3Takedowns:Kongo - 2 of 5 for 40% Mitrione - 0 of 0 for 0%Submission Attempts:Kongo - 0Mitrione - 5Dominant Positions: Kongo - 0Mitrione - 2 Kongo has notched three of his victories by way of submission. Mitrione is yet to make an opponent tap out, but in his defense, he hasn't had to. At the end of the day, they don't fight the fights on paper or on the internet. The only statistic that ultimately matters is who steps into the Octagon, takes care of business and gets his hand raised afterwards. Are you Maniacs intrigued by this match up? Do the numbers make you feel any differently about who you thought would emerge victorious?  Sound off!

Posted in: kongo, mitrione, leg, strike, landedkongo

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Two top-level welterweights will collide at full speed when former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight and welterweight champion B.J. Penn takes on former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz at UFC 137 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Oct. 29, 2011. Originally, the main event was set to feature a championship bout between UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre vs. Nick Diaz before the fiery fighter from Stockton, Calif., pulled a now infamous disappearing act, no showing two very important press conferences. But then after St. Pierre sustained a knee injury in training less than two weeks ago, along with weeks of additional UFC 137 fight card musical chairs, Diaz has made his way into the main event once again. Now he will be forced to trade blows with a man who he admits is among his few his heroes in this sport.  MMAmania.com, along with support from the fantastic number-crunching fellows at CompuStrike, will take you behind the numbers that make up this complex match up of mixed martial arts (MMA) masters in the extended entry below. Ready to geek out? Let's do this: We're going to look at the different aspects of each fighters respective game. We'll see who holds the advantages and where. The following information is based on a 13-fight average. First off, let's examine the striking game. Overall, Penn holds a slight advantage in accuracy, but it should be noted that Diaz throws a much larger volume of strikes in his fights. Here's the big picture: Total Strikes: Penn - 70 of 130Diaz - 119 of 231 Percentage: Penn - 54%Diaz - 52% Total Power Strikes Landed: Penn - 45Diaz - 91 Total Non-Power Strikes Landed:Penn - 25 Diaz - 28 As you can see, Penn appears to be more crisp with his stand up skills, but the numbers seem to say that Diaz does more damage. It's also worth noting that Diaz has almost double the amount of knockouts in his career than does Penn. (Diaz has 13 [technical] knockouts to Penn's seven).  With that out of the way, we know that this is mixed martial arts, not boxing. Let's breakdown the disparity between punches and kicks.  Total Arm Strikes Landed:Penn - 42 of 94 Diaz -  89 of 185Percentage of Arm Strikes Landed:Penn - 45% Diaz - 48%Power Strikes Landed:Penn - 27 Diaz - 69Non-Power Strikes LandedPenn - 15Diaz - 20 So far, you'd have to give a decided stand up advantage to the slugger from Stockton, particularly when hands are being thrown. For "kicks," let's check out who has a leg up on the competition when the lower extremities start to get involved: Total Leg Strikes Landed:Penn - 7 of 8 Diaz -  16 of 23Percentage of Leg Strikes Landed:Penn - 88% Diaz - 70%Power Leg Strikes Landed:Penn - 4 Diaz - 13Non-Power Leg Strikes Landed:Penn - 3 Diaz - 3 Again, Penn looks to be more accurate, but Diaz is doing more damage. Finally, let's talk ground game. Both fighters are seasoned veterans of the canvas and very, very high-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners. In Penn's career, he has finished opponents by submission six times. Meanwhile, Diaz has done the same on eight occasions. Here are the detailed statistics relating to what happens when these guys hit the mat: Ground Strikes Landed:Penn - 21 of 28 Diaz - 14 of 23Percentage:Penn - 75% Diaz - 61%Power Ground Strikes Landed:Penn - 14Diaz - 9Non-Power Ground Strikes Landed:Penn - 7 Diaz - 5Takedowns:Penn - 9 of 13 for 69% Diaz -  9 of 32 for 28%Submission Attempts:Penn - 8Diaz - 10Dominant Positions: Penn - 18Diaz - 17 It's also important to point out that Penn has stuffed 43 of his opponents' 58 takedown attempts (74 percent).  So that's the whole picture. It would certainly appear that if things stay standing, Diaz should be favored. If the action goes to the floor, Penn holds the statistical advantage. Overall, Saturday's match up at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, looks like it should be a close and very exciting bout. At least on paper. How's our "MMA math?" Were you surprised by any of the results? Do these figures make any of you Maniacs want to change your minds about any sig bets?

Posted in: diaz, leg, penn, strike, landedpenn

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On October 29, 2011, the UFC will be flying its banner once again inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, as the injury and drama struck UFC 137 will leave the MMA world abuzz for the highly anticipated showdown between top contenders Nick Diaz and B.J. Penn. In the months leading up to the event we saw the main event match-up featuring UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre and Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Diaz scrapped after the latter was a no show for the promotions pre-event press conference. The lack of professionalism and loss in trust forced the powers that be to call an audible and insert perennial contender Carlos Condit into the evening’s main event. Condit, originally slated to be the co-main event, was scheduled to square off with Penn. "The Prodigy," now left without an opponent, was paired with the now former number one contender, Diaz. St. Pierre would go down with an injury weeks prior to the event and the Penn vs. Diaz match-up would be bumped to the headlining slot. What a complete mess. UFC 137 will now offer two former friends and teammates meeting up in what many believe to be a number one contender fight for the 170-pound title. What's still a mystery is whether Condit will get the next shot or if the winner of this fight leapfrogs into that position. Either way, Saturday night we have quite a match-up for our viewing pleasure. Let's take a look at how the two stack up on the ground after the jump. Both Diaz and Penn are Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts with elite level skills on the ground. Coming from Gracie jiu-jitsu backgrounds, they are two of the more talented and heralded grapplers in the entire sport. Diaz, a black belt under Cesar Gracie, has competed in Gi and No-Gi competitions and has shown his grappling translates to mixed martial arts as evidenced by the fact that he hasn't been submitted in over 30 professional fights. Penn, initially studying under Ralph Gracie, would receive his black belt from fifth-degree black belt André Pederneiras. Recognized as being the first non-Brazilian to win the World Championships, Penn’s ji-jitsu has always been held in high regard as being among the greatest in the world. He's never been submitted in his career.  So who has the advantage? The Guard: Both fighters have very good guards but for different reasons. While Penn uses his flexibility to help him get back to the feet where he often holds an advantage in the striking, Diaz uses his closed guard to attack with submissions. Let’s take a look at some gifs. Penn isn’t a strictly traditional guard type of grappler. We often here criticism of Penn by fans asking when the last time is that Penn has submitted anyone from his back. Well, the truth is his bottom game focuses much more around escapes and scrambles and less on submissions. Recognized as one of the more flexible fighters in the world, Penn often uses his dexterity to improve position or escape. In this clip, you can see Penn with one of the more grinding wrestlers in the game on top of him. Jon Fitch has taken Penn down and is ready to unleash the smothering and frustrating style of fighting that so many have succumbed to prior. Instead, Penn uses his left leg to plant in the hip crevice on the left side of Fitch to keep him from being completely on top. While that leg keeps the space and weight off, Penn sneaks his right leg up and pushes into the opposite hip of Fitch causing Fitch to fall backwards and Penn to escape to his feet. Aside from the rubber guard, Penn’s biggest strength from his back is his ability to use his legs in ways most grapplers simply can not. He is so flexible and quick with his lower half that it is almost as if he has two extra arms. Penn will want to use his escapes and sweeps such as his signature jailbreak and octopus sweep to gain top or standing position. For More on Penn's jiu-jitsu skill, read my fanposts on his career grappling highlights here, here and here. Sitting inside the closed guard, Diaz has "Cyborg" Santos broken down and keeping him from sitting up to drop bombs. Santos has his hands very high. Diaz shifts his hips and goes to a very high guard. Diaz smartly reaches beneath the left leg/knee of Santos and hooks it. This keeps Santos from passing or rolling out of the arm bar attempt that is about to come. Nick throws the leg high while isolating the arm completes the attempt by putting the leg over the face and now he starts to fight with the wrist. He uses his hips and lower strength to throw Santos over capitalizing on the lack of base and balance finally prying the arm free and getting the submission. The hips and lower body strength of Diaz are greatly undervalued. The argument that he has yet to defeat a wrestler is valid; however, there is no takeaway in how good Diaz's guard is. He's also very flexible which was seen when he Gogoplata’d Takanori Gomi very quickly. The advantage here sways to Diaz. He has shown his ability to escape and submit from his back and his long legs present opportunities for arm bars, triangle chokes, omoplatas and gogoplatas alike and having more tools in the tool kit will often mean there are more ways to succeed. The Top Game:  Diaz has never been much of a top game grappler and I was unable to really locate a time when Diaz used superb top game grappling in his mixed martial arts career. If anyone has any further insight as to when he has or show us some examples, that would be great. Penn, on the other hand, is one of the best guard passing grapplers in the entire sport, period. Every fighter he has taken down he has passed their guard and in most cases, earned the most dominant position in grappling by taking their back. Simply stated, Penn has one of the most vicious and slick top games out there. Passing the guard of Renzo Gracie was just one of many highlight reel passes and displays of top game Penn has to his name.   From my fanpost on passing the guard: Speaking of passing the guard, B.J. Penn shows one of the most impressive guard passes I personally have ever seen when he passes Brazilian Jiu Jitsu legend Renzo Gracie’s guard in their middleweight bout. With seconds left in a bout that was favoring Penn, sitting in side control after a trip takedown, the smaller Penn decided it was not enough to ride out position. With little time left meant little risk to be swept and reversed. Penn would underhook the right leg of the planted Gracie. Controlling that leg meant Gracie would have less to defend with if Penn were to pass, then Penn would snake his right leg through the slot made by his arm and Gracie’s leg. Flexibility played a huge part in the pass as well as the vast arsenal of grappling technique that Penn enjoys. As he passes, Renzo bucks but with that leg controlled it makes it easier for Penn to sit down and get his weight planted to control Renzo. He completes the pass into mount and the round ends soon after. Penn took the fight to Jon Fitch. Being the only person to really find success grappling against Fitch besides division king Georges St. Pierre, Penn took Fitch down and passed his guard all the way into back mount. In the clip above you see Penn slip a punch and dive down for a double leg. Penn has always had great explosion both in his grappling and striking. He sinks down for the double leg and when he gets Fitch down he immediately sucks up Fitch’s legs between his own to trap them and limit mobility. From there he waits and makes a swift movement to take Fitch’s back. He almost succeeds in using his flexible legs to trap the left arm which would have all but secured the rear naked choke victory. Penn traps Fitch with a body triangle and follows him as he attempts to roll out of the position. Fitch would later escape, but the skill and execution shown exhibits just how great Penn can be in the top game department. He has better takedowns then Diaz and he is a deadly guard passer. Mix that in with his heavy hands, not to mention his ground and pound, and you have an absolute beast to deal with. Look for Diaz to avoid being on the bottom too often and look for Penn to feel comfortable taking down the Gracie black belt to claim Diaz as another victim in Penn’s amazing list of guards he has passed. What do you think, Maniacs? Do you agree that Penn has the better top game while Diaz has the more efficient guard? And who do you think wins if this fight hits the mats?  

Posted in: diaz, leg, guard, penn, fitch

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In the two years since his MMA debut as part of The Ultimate Fighter, Matt Mitrione has evolved into a top 20 Heavyweight. Under the guidance of Duke Roufus, Mitrione has amassed a 5-0 record, with that record coming primarily courtesy of an ever improving strand-up game. At UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz, Mitrione will face the toughest test of his young career as he faces UFC veteran gatekeeper Cheick Kongo. A former professional kickboxer who also possesses solid ground skills, Kongo will truly push Mitrione's game and force him to prove he belongs this high up the card. For Mitrione to win, he will need to outstrike the kickboxer. Can he? Let's break down the striking game of "Meathead" and see what we can figure out. Strengths Mitrione has developed a surprisingly decent stand-up game. I say surprisingly because of both his inexperience, and the very questionable stand-up skills he displayed on The Ultimate Fighter. But Duke Roufus has worked well for Mitrione, taking his natural strengths and using them to build his striking. In particular, Mitrione has three strengths: The inside leg kick. Mitrione is a south paw, which gives him the perfect opening for this kick. With his rear (left) leg, Mitrione throws a kick to the inside upper thigh of his opponent's lead (left) leg. This is a great kick, made particularly effective when you and your opponent have opposite stances. Mitrione gets the most of this kick too, extending the legs and rotating the hips to get a lot of power. When it lands cleanly, it hits a sensitive spot on the leg, and can have a very damaging effect. Mitrione used this kick best against Kimbo Slice, but has had success with in it many fights. Movement. This is Joe Rogan's favorite Mitrione talking point, and it is a good point. Mitrione is very light on his feet, particularly given his size. He is able to move in and out much faster than most Heavyweights, and he uses this movement well both offensively and defensively. When defending, Mitrione can quickly evade attacks by moving away. He does a good job moving off to the side and not straight back, preventing himself from getting trapped. Offensively, he is quick to jump in and land punches. This can surprise an opponent who perceives Mitrione as being outside, and therefor lets his defenses down. This was a big part of the Christian Morecraft and Tim Hague KO's. The straight left. Mitrione's best punch is the straight left down the middle. Since he's a south paw, this is a powerful cross, not a jab as it is for most fighters. Mitrione does a good jab landing it right down the middle and inside his opponent's defenses. He extends the arm through the punch, and throws it with relaxed control. This punch becomes more effective when he combines it with the movement - jumping inside range and hitting the left in one motion that proves too fast for many of his slower Heavyweight opponents. Overall, it's a far improved stand-up game to his initial work. He now has power in his hands and his legs, and combines that with motion for a good all-around striking game. Add in a chin that has proven to be durable so far, and you have some decided strengths. More analysis in the full entry. Weaknesses Despite Mitrione's improvements in striking, he continues to show some of the same mistakes, primarily in the area of defense. Mitrione has two chief defensive holes. Keeping his chin up. Mitrione often lifts his head when he strikes, exposing his chin to a potentially damaging counter-strike. This is especially noticeable when he is pulled into a shoot-out with both men throwing multiple shots. Mitrione has a tendency to lean back with his head up - an instinctual way to avoid being hit, but also a position that leaves that chin up and out and can result in a knock out. Mitrione's friend Pat Barry made a very similar mistake against Kongo, and he paid dearly. He needs to tuck that chin and keep it tight against his chest. Dropping his hands. This is much better than when he started, but still a problem area. Mitrione is very loose in his stance, which helps the movement discussed above, but can cause him problems in his hand positioning. He frequently will paw out with his right hand, or let his hands drop down to his body at times. Like the chin issue, this also becomes more pronounced during exchanges. Against Morecraft, Mitrione began defending kicks by dropping his hands down, which is a huge problem, as a skilled striker can see that and adjust their kick to go up and connect with the now exposed head. So far, Mitrione has used movement and a strong chin to overcome these defensive holes. But he's also never faced a striker with the technical skill of Kongo, as more of his opponents have been brawlers. And finally, a few gifs to illustrate what we've been talking about. First up, here's that nice inside leg kick, landed against Kimbo. Good kick, but notice how Mitrione drops his hands as he kicks, giving Kimbo an easy opening for the right: Here's a quick movement inside that he used to KO Morecraft: This clip shows a lot of Mitrione's tendencies - the nice left, the inside leg kick, and the sloppy defense when attacking:   Overall I think the photo at the top sums Mitrione up rather nicely. Powerful left hand that connects and rocks Morecraft, all while Mitrione's chin is way up and his right hand way down. In the end, his striking game is a mixed bag. He has excellent technique on those lefts and inside leg kicks, and can put together combinations very well. But he also has these basic holes in his defenses that can leave his chin out there. Kongo has a demonstrated ability to find that exposed chin, so the question for Mitrione will be, can he avoid Kongo long enough to put his game to work and earn the KO? If he can, he deserves his spot at the top of the card. We'll find out at UFC 137.

Posted in: mitrione, leg, hand, kick, chin

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

This past Saturday night, Chael Sonnen took his pro wrestling schtick to a whole other level. He book his own fight and added stipulations to that fight. After defeating Brian Stann at UFC 136, Sonnen delivered the following promo, “Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck. Super Bowl weekend, the biggest rematch in the history of the business. I’m calling you out Silva, but we’re upping the stakes. I beat you, you leave the division. You beat me, I will leave the UFC forever.” Now saying that the best fighter in the world “absolutely sucks” and making stipulations that won’t be upheld doesn’t exactly make it the greatest promo of all time, but it did get me thinking: what would be some great fights if you added stipulations to them? Well, I’m glad you asked. *Cody McKenzie vs. Paul Sass – “Guillotine vs. Triangle Fight” / McKenzie is the master of the McKenzitine and Sass is the master of the Sassangle, so who has the better finishing move? The bout will be contested under the unified MMA rules, which means it won’t be a pure grappling match, but the fighter has to finish with their respective choke. If that means McKenzie KO’s Sass with a head kick and then locks on a guillotine or Sass rips off McKenzie’s leg with a leg lock and the slaps on the triangle, then so be it. Prediction: I’d favor Sass because I think he’s the more well-rounded fighter and definitely the better grappler. Sass would likely pull guard, thus avoiding getting stuck in a guillotine, and then catch McKenzie in his famous triangle choke. *Royce Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba – “Both Men Must Retire After the Fight” / Sakuraba obviously wants to keep fighting and it seems to me that Gracie wouldn’t mind fighting one more time. So have them fight each other, thus guaranteeing neither man gets seriously injured, but make them agree to retire after the bout. How do you uphold a retirement stipulation in MMA? Don’t book them. When Sakuraba begs DREAM to give him one more fight, DREAM needs to tell him they’ll think about it and then never call him back. Prediction: Gracie would win because he’s the less broken down fighter. He hasn’t been in as many wars as Sakuraba and his body has been healing and resting up over the years, while Sakuraba has continued to fight and train. It would probably be a boring and sad fight, but at least it would be the last. *Frankie Edgar vs. Joe Lauzon – “One Round Fight” / Edgar is a very slow starter, nearly getting killed by Gray Maynard twice in the first round in his last two bouts. Lauzon is a very fast starter, winning the majority of his fights in the first round and doing so in impressive fashion. It’s obvious that Edgar is the better fighter and that if it were a five round fight, Edgar would win 9 out of 10 times. But how about one round to settle it all? Prediction: I’d still favor Edgar because he’s a smart fighter. He has a great chin and he’s a very good wrestler. I think he’d be too fast for Lauzon and then score a couple of takedowns to really secure the round. If Lauzon catches Edgar though, I guarantee he’d put him away because Lauzon has a great killer instinct. *Demian Maia vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza – “No Stand Ups, but Sit Downs, and No Rounds Fight” / I want these two to fight, but I want to make sure it hits the ground. So even though the fight will start on the feet, if they’re not busy enough standing, the ref will put them on the ground with top position being determined by a pre-fight coin flip and rotating with each sitdown. If they’re stalled in the clinch, they’ll be put on the ground. If they’re stalled on the ground, have them flip positions. I want to guarantee that the fight will hit and be active, that’s why I’m also eliminating rounds. The fight goes until someone finishes (doesn’t have to be a submission) or one man is so exhausted that he can’t continue. Prediction: I actually have no clue who to favor in this fight, so I turned to the best in the business when it comes to previewing fights. Here’s what 5OZ’s own Samer Kadi had to say… Jacare. He’s got better striking (though that wouldn’t be much of a factor according to your Sonnen rules), he’s better in the clinch, and he’s got better takedowns and will likely end up on top. Plus, he’s got the better BJJ on the whole. He’s 2-1 against Maia in grappling matches, with Maia’s one victory being controversial and pretty close (one of Jacare’s wins came via submission). That said, I feel like Maia’s got the better bottom game, and he’s got way better conditioning, which would be a factor considering there are no rounds. So while I think Jacare is more skilled, I can see Maia taking it via conditioning. I’d still pick Souza though. “King Mo” Lawal vs. Quinton Jackson – “Leg Kicks Only Fight” / If you watch any “Rampage” fight in the UFC, you’ll hear Joe Rogan pretty much beg for Jackson to throw leg kicks, even though Jackson has never been a big leg kicker. I have a feeling that if Lawal, who is cut from the same boxing/wrestling cloth as Jackson, fought in the UFC, Rogan would be yelling the same thing. So how about they fight and are only allowed to throw leg kicks, just so Rogan is happy and hopefully they’ll throw enough leg kicks to appease Rogan for the foreseeable future so I don’t have to listen to him wonder why guys who never throw leg kicks, don’t throw leg kicks. Prediction: I’d probably favor Lawal in this fight, just because he’s less set in his way than Jackson. He has had knee surgery though, which makes me wonder what kind of shape his knees are in, but I do think his legs can take more of a beating at this point in their respective careers since he’s been in less wars than Jackson. *Tito Ortiz vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” – “Winner Gets Exclusive Rights to ‘I’m 100% Healthy’ Fight” / For years we’ve heard Ortiz claim to be “100% healthy” only to make excuses after the fight when he lost that his back still hurt or he had sand in his vagina. To Ortiz’ credit, he did make no excuses following his most recent loss to Rashad Evans, so good on him. Mirko seems to be going down that same road. While he’s not making excuses immediately after losses, prior to his upcoming fights, he’s been making excuses as to why he hasn’t been performing all that well. For years now he’s been claiming that his knees have been in bad shape and that they’re finally “100% healthy” and then he goes out there, doesn’t throw any head kicks, and gets knocked out. So have them fight and at least we’ll only have to put up with one man talking about his health after the bout. Prediction: I favor Ortiz just because Mirko’s chin is absolutely shot and Tito proved against Ryan Bader that if you have a questionable chin, he can test it. Plus because of Mirko’s knees, I think Tito could actually take him down and grind him out. *Brandon Vera vs. Pat Barry – “Winner Gets to Admire Their Own Work Fight” / I’ve always said that Vera and Barry are one in the same. They both have a lot of talent, a fair amount of charisma, and yet they don’t win fights because they’re too busy admiring their own work in the middle of the fight. So I’m going to give one of them a victory and after they win, they can celebrate like they just won the Stanley Cup for all I care. Prediction: Since Vera actually has a ground game, I favor him in this fight. Honestly though, I think the fight would end in a draw just because neither guy can ever seem to win an important fight. *Dan Henderson vs. Chris Leben – “Right Hand vs. Left Hand Only Fight” / Both men are known for their power and their chin. So I want to test their power hand and their chin against each other. Henderson is only allowed to throw his right hand and Leben is only allowed to throw his left hand. The fight can only end in a (T)KO as well. Something will have to give. Prediction: This might be the fight I’m most excited for just because a one armed rock em sock em robot fight sounds pretty awesome. I give the edge to Henderson since I have more faith in his power and chin but the fight could just come down to who presses their button faster and more often. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: fight, round, ’t, vs, leg

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo retained the 145-pound title with a close unanimous decision over Kenny Florian in the co-main event of UFC 136 on Saturday night in Houston, Texas. Florian got out to a solid start as he dictated the pace early and attacked Aldo in the clinch as he worked for takedowns, but the champion quickly regained his composure and outpointed Florian down the stretch with hard leg kicks, combinations, and control on the ground. MMAFrenzy.com’s play-by-play of Aldo vs. Florian is below: Round 1 – Florian opens the action with leg kicks before Aldo rushes forward with punches. They settle down in the middle of the Octagon and Aldo lunges with punches again. Florian uses a leg kick to go for a jab then shoots for a takedown, but Aldo stays on his feet and tags him in a flurry. Florian quickly looks for another takedown, but Aldo stays standing against the fence. Florian gets Aldo down twice, but Aldo gets back to his feet and fights free. Florian ducks a punch a tries for a single leg but Aldo slips free. Florian punches the body then goes to the clinch as he presses for another takedown. A few elbows by Florian, but he can’t get another takedown before the bell. MMAFrenzy scores the first for Florian 10-9. Round 2 – Florian immediately closes in again and Aldo avoids, but Florian lands a punch. Aldo tries to find his rhythm as Florian avoids most of his punches. Aldo finally connects with a pair of punches, but Florian keeping his distance with kicks. The crowd starts to boo halfway through the second as they trade inside leg kicks. Florian cirles away and sets up more inside leg kicks, then goes high but it’s blocked. Aldo lands a high kick, tags Florian with a jab, then just misses with a kick in a scramble. Aldo goes inside again and also lands with his hands again. Florian looks for a takedown from the clinch in the final seconds but it isn’t there. MMAFrenzy scores the second 10-10 leaving Florian ahead 20-19 through two. Round 3 – Aldo connects more frequently to start the third. Florian tries to answer, but Aldo is landing with more power including another hard leg kick. Florian goes for a takedown, but Aldo reverses and nearly has mount but Florian keeps him in half guard. Florian content to keep Aldo under control and the champion does little from the top. Aldo stands and Florian throws upkicks. Aldo controls the feet and gets back to the ground, but Florian escapes back to his feet. Florian tries for another takedown from the clinch, but Aldo stays on his feet to finish the round strong. MMAFrenzy scores the third for Aldo 10-9 evening the fight at 29-29. Round 4 – Aldo and Florian go back at it in the center of the Octagon and Aldo continues to get the better of the excahanges as he attacks the inside of Florian’s leg with kicks. Florian goes for a single, but they end in the clinch again as Aldo shrugs it off and escapes back to the center of the cage. After another exchange, Florian grabs the clinch and walks Aldo to the fence. Aldo reverses to the outside and they trade knees as they struggle for position. Florian goes for a single again, but Aldo slips free. Florian immediately goes for another takedown from the clinch, but Aldo stays standing and they separate. Aldo misses with a jumping knee and they trade punches before the bell sounds. MMAFrenzy scores the fourth 10-10 and has the fight 39-39 heading to the fifth and final round. Round 5 -Florian and Aldo touch gloves to start the final round. Florian quickly goes to the clinch again as he looks for a takedown, but settles for a few knees before separating. Florian slips on a knee attempt, but attacks with upkicks and kicks to the knee from his back. Aldo controls Florian’s feet, drops into his guard, and lands an elbow. Aldo gets mount and Florian is forced to give up his back. Aldo can’t do anything with it as Florian gets back to half guard before scrambling to his feet. They trade knees in the clinch as Aldo presses Florian against the fence. They stall and are restarted with 80 seconds to go. Aldo clinches again and controls Florian against the fence, but Florian reverses to the outside. Florian fires some knees and backs away for a combo. Wild exchanges by Florian and Aldo before the final bell. MMAFrenzy scores the fifth for Aldo 10-9, giving him the win 49-48.  Jose Aldo (c) def. Kenny Florian via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)

Posted in: takedown, round, leg, florian, aldo

Read the full article at MMA Frenzy

Ahead of Saturday's UFC 136 main event between Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard for the third and quite possibly final time, I'd like to cast our minds back to their UFC 125 war at the beginning of the year that ended in a draw. UFC have kindly enough put up the fight on their website to watch for free and have marketed the rematch as 'The Great Debate' pushing the notion fans are divided over who should have won the fight. Judges in MMA are often maligned for decisions made that seem so obviously at odds with what actually happened in a fight, but when it comes down to closely contested bouts like Edgar vs Maynard 2 it can be a hard task keeping score no matter how into the sport you are. On first viewing I didn't have much of an issue with the match ending in a draw Giving 2 rounds to Maynard and 3 rounds to Edgar but the first 10-8 round for Maynard resulted in my personal score of 47-47. Watching the fight again in full and uninterrupted I'm leaning to Edgar winning 4 rounds to 1 and even with the first round as a 10-8 against him, Edgar gets the nod 48-46. I may end up changing my mind watching another time before the UFC goes live in Houston, Texas at the Toyota Center. It really was that close of a fight. Earlier today Fraser Coffeen looked at the striking of Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard. As usual my specialty for these Judo Chops is a look at the grappling element of a match and I'll be featuring the highlights of each round as well as some elements that caught my interest and may have been missed by most on initial viewing. Join me after the jump for my analysis that is as always illustrated with animations. Round 1 Sprawl'n'Brawl - A little more than a minute into the first round Maynard lands a left hook that sends Edgar hurtling backwards and flipping over himself as he fights to regain his balance and defend himself. Maynard swarms on Edgar looking for a finishing blow and uppercuts Edgar who dives for a leg out of desperation and will to survive. Maynard is using his left arm to whizzer and is sprawling on the side of his left leg while using his free arm to land shots to the top of the head and side of the body. Sprawling on one hip like this is sometimes known as a Knockout Sprawl as it 'Knocks Out' the Wrestling Shot it's countering. Presumably this type of sprawl could also cause the opponent to face-plant as well, but I've not heard it called a Knockout Sprawl for this reason. Red Mist - Maynard switches to a very shallow double over-hook control but Edgar's hips are too far back and his arms free to block Maynard's own hips to push back and break free and get back to his feet. Maynard maintains a grip with his left hand to the back of Edgar's head and lands a short uppercut that drops him. Maynard is now only focused on swinging for Edgar's head with little control of Edgar's body. Maynard is at times swinging wildly hitting Edgar's arms more often than his head. It could be this very sequence that cost Maynard the victory. Grounding before Pounding - Maynard finally gets some semblance of control on a turtled Edgar. Maynard is using his right arm and hand to wrap over Edgar's back and pry the inside of his thigh - what's known as a Seatbelt grip (not to be confused with the over-under back control Jiu Jitsu calls a Seatbelt, which is why I prefer to call that a Lasso to avoid confusion). This Offensive Position from Wrestling is the same control Dan Henderson used when he finished off Fedor Emelianenko in their match. Some analysts incorrectly called it a tight-waist which in wrestling is a more encompassing hold that's usually used as part of a turnover series. The dangers of a tight-waist without a cross-face, half-nelson, bar-arm or arm-chop is the ability of the Defensive Wrestler to grip the arm and Side-Roll because the tight-waist is far across the belly. The Seatbelt grip makes the side roll much harder to execute because your giving the down wrestler less to grab onto and less leverage. Maynard does well to drive off of his left foot to keep his hips pressuring Edgar's hips, but having his right knee on the ground means not all of his weight is on Edgar which allows Edgar to inch towards the fence that he grabs to help him get back to his feet. Hard Maynard kept that knee just an inch off the ground he may have been able to maintain enough pressure to keep Edgar down while looking to punch with his left arm. Although Edgar is back on his feet Maynard is able to drag him back down to the mat and ends in a similar Whizzer-Sprawl position as before. Pressure Cooker - Feeling Edgar trying to grab a single-leg again from this sprawl, Maynard switches to a Front Headlock to control Edgard and get him back down to the mat when he tries to stand back up, using a chin grip in the Front Headlock to do so. Once on the mat again Maynard tries to setup a 'Pressure Cooker' - something he had been working on with his grappling coach Sean Spangler at Robert Drysdale's BJJ gym. The 'Pressure Cooker' is essentially a modified Three-Quarter Nelson into a Side Chancery off of a Front Headlock. You can get the tap with it, or it can be used like a Nelson to turnover but in its modified form can lead right into a Brabo / D'Arce choke. I slowed the gif down at the point Maynard attempts this Three-Quarter Chancery so you can spot it. Maynard's problem again is not getting his weight off of his knees and onto Edgar who can endure and pop out getting the fight back to standing and in the clinch. Below are pictures of a Three-Quarter Nelson and Side Chancery for reference, as well as video of Sean Spangler demonstrating the 'Pressure Cooker'  on Robert Drysdale.   Spiral Ride Attempt - Since the last gif Maynard has dropped Edgar an additional 2 times and Maynard has Edgar again in a Front Headlock and looks like he might try a Three-Quarter Chancery again but doesn't have full control. Instead he uses the Seatbelt grip again only this time to set up what looks like an attempted Spiral Ride - a move from wrestling designed to breakdown the opponent so they become either belly-down flat on the mat or on their side. The trouble is Maynard's right arm needs to be on the outside of Edgar's right arm so it can knock that arm forward taking away Edgar's base as Maynard spirals him to the mat. Because of this Maynard can not start the Spiral Ride and Edgar is able to turn into the opposite direction (Clockwise) to the direction Maynard would want to take him (Counter-Clockwise). Again I slowed the animation down so you can see Maynard make the attempt. Below is a video of Wrestling legend Wade Schalles demonstrating the Spiral Ride. Round 2 Half-Beat Pick Up - Astonishingly Edgar started Round 2 as if he hadn't been through the beating of his career in minutes earlier. Edgar had been using the jab well to find his distance and switched up his lateral and circular movement from left to right in order to wrong foot Maynard. Edgar had also found success with his right cross causing Maynard's head to recoil on more than one occasion. Edgar had got Maynard's timing down with less than 2 minutes left in the round, and as Maynard telegraphed himself coming in with a power right hand Edgar was able to slap and deflect the punch across his centerline. It was this slap that helped break Maynard's rhythm enough for Edgar to duck down and get under Maynard's center of mass for the pick-up and slam, crashing his whole bodyweight into Maynard and narrowly missing the top of his (Edgar's) head colliding with the mat. Breaking the rhythm of an opponent as well as your own rhyhtm when striking by using 'half-beats' was a concept of fighting the great Bruce Lee advocated in order to disrupt the opponent and expose them temporarily for attack, as well as avoid having your own timing figured out. Just after the slam it looks like Maynard tries to scissor Edgar's head while Edgar is looking to turn into Maynard, trying to use his left leg to Turk as an assist. In the scramble Maynard is able to get his feet away and hip in with a sprawl so he can get back to standing. Round 3 Snap Catch - Edgar had been scoring points in round 3 by coming in with short combinations and getting back out again to avoid Maynard's retaliation. Edgar looked to be landing more strikes, but when Maynard was able to catch him with a punch or two he was able to bloody Edgar's nose which may have swayed the judges in damage being done. Edgar then tries to throw a rear front snap kick and had it landed and KO'd Maynard, he'd have beaten Anderson Silva to the glory by just over a month. Sadly for Edgar, Maynard saw it coming and instinctively grabbed the leg and drove him towards the fence looking for a takedown. As he's doing this Edgar isolates an arm and looks to setup a Double Wrist Lock / 'Kimura'. Maintaining his body-lock, Maynard is able straddle his legs deep across Edgar's right leg and while pulling on Edgar's hips is able to use his head to drive through Edgar's lower back and get him to the mat. Shin Up - Maynard's advantage is short lived as Edgar maintains his grip of Maynard's right arm now using a Single Wrist Lock grip so that he can use his free arm to base. Edgar also uses his right shin as a block against Maynard's so he can push off and return to his feet. Countering Counters - Edgar decides to adjust and get his Double Wrist Lock grip back, but before he has a chance to pull guard Maynard is already driving him down controlling the fall and blocking Edgar's legs from wrapping him up. Edgar is able to get a shallow scissor on Maynard's leg but it's nowhere near enough to be Half-Guard and Maynard is able to pop his leg out and spin around to a kneeling North-South perhaps looking to set up a Head-Scissor / Armlock combination like he attempted on Roger Huerta a few years back. Maynard though doesn't have full control of Edgar's arms and hasn't used a knee to cross-face Edgar and get him to turn which allows Edgar to beautifully spin to Half-Guard, locking up Maynard's head before continuing to a Full Closed Guard and Arm-in Guillotine choke. In the UFC's marketing and countdown for their third fight the significance of this choke attempt has been greatly exaggerated as barely 3 seconds go past before the end of the round and it didn't look deep enough to cause Maynard any worry. This third round could be the one that divided the most opinion in who to score it for. The greater number of Edgar's strikes versus the few Maynard power strikes that bloodied Edgar. Maynard being able to get a takedown but Edgar threatening the arm and ending the round with a choke. Who do you give the round to? Round 4 Running Tap - Maynard starts the round well with some good jabs but pretty quickly Edgar decides he wants to get the fight to the ground. Similar to the Half-Beat slap from before, Edgar uses his right palm to briefly jam Maynard's left before using it drop his level slightly and go for a running single leg with a knee tap on the far leg. Edgar has aligned himself so that there is a straight line between his feet and Maynard's left heel and so combined with the knee tap and drive Maynard struggles to maintain his balance. As Maynard tries to get up Edgar tries for a traditional standing Guillotine choke, rolling his hips in and trying to turn Maynard's head to the side. There's not much Edgar did wrong with this traditional Guillotine it's just that a fighter as experienced and as strong as Maynard isn't going to have much trouble defending if he's fully conscious. I personally think the traditional guillotine has been made redundant by higher percentage versions such as the High Elbow (Marcelo Garcia) version, as well as the Prayer Choke / Front Chancery (Which Cody McKenzie likes to use) version. Maynard is able to control Edgar's wrists and worm his way out and Edgar breaks from the clinch landing a short combo for good measure.  Reverse the Corner - Seconds later Edgar slips a left jab of Maynard and uses it to change levels and shoot for a double leg takedown. Normally turning the corner involves using your head to help direct the fall of the opponent but Edgar perhaps feeling Maynard already adjusting to counter changes directions and sweeps his legs form underneath him more as you would with a knee-tap. The ability to adjust and change mid-takedown and use the opponent's energy against him is high level stuff and really impressive. Lassos and Butterflies - Although taken down Maynard has managed to keep a Butterfly hook / Single Elevator in to help keep Edgar off balanced. Edgar tries to pass and lock up a head but that shin of Maynard is creating space for Maynard to move. Maynard's inside leg has gone to a half-guard position and it's this combined with an outside Butterfly hook that makes for a Half-Butterfly guard. Maynard is able to elevate enough to go for turtle and Edgar latches on with an over-under Lasso grip. Being that high up on the body with no control of the hips makes the control in effective and really it's use comes into play once you have the back and the hooks in to stop you being bucked off. Without your legs in for some kind of ride you can easily slide off to the side and against a good wrestler he can duck out before you can do anything with it. Marcelo Garcia's success tends to come from the speed in which he transitions from a Lasso on Side Turtle to taking the back as well as opponents perhaps not knowing how best to duck out by using their whole body instead of just using their arms to fight it off. Maynard is able to stand up and the two clinch, but Edgar is keeping his shoulder jammed underneath Maynard's chin to prevent him from dropping down and going for a leg attack like a double-leg takedown. Wall'n'Brawl - Maynard and Edgar had been trading takedown attempts since the last animation where both were finding success shrugging them off and stuffing them until just over 2 minutes left in the round.Edgar feints and changes levels looking for a takedown. He gets a more traditional running knee-tap from a body-lock and Maynard loses his balance as he's driven into the fence. It's now Edgar's turn to Seatbelt Maynard though this time Maynard has managed to get a Whizzer in to stop his back being taken. Edgar though is doing a better job of putting pressure on Maynard's hits until he starts firing off 3 punches with his right hand when he sees Maynard's head is open.

Posted in: round, leg, arm, edgar, maynard

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

It is quite amazing to think that the MMA world first familiarized with Kenny Florian when he was a chubby middleweight contestant on the first ever season of The Ultimate Fighter. Since then, Florian dropped to the much more suited lightweight division, where he immediately became one of the best and most consistent fighters in his weight class. Unfortunately for “Ken-Flo”, part of his consistency hasn’t exactly been positive, as he has continuously fallen short in the most important bouts of his career. Now, after two unsuccessful attempts to capture the lightweight crown, Florian has once again changed weight classes, this time dropping to the featherweight division, where he enjoyed a successful — but underwhelming — debut against Diego Nunes. The win earned Florian a shot at the featherweight title this Saturday at UFC 136. Standing between him and the fulfillment of his dream is one of the greatest fighters on the planet, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo. Featherweight title match: Jose Aldo (c) vs. Kenny Florian To formulate any idea as to how this fight will unfold, one has to assume that both Aldo and Florian will enjoy smoother weight cuts this time around. At UFC 129 against Mark Hominick, Aldo looked completely drained in the final stages of the fight. Similarly, Florian was not his usual dynamic self against Nunes. Provided Aldo is not on antibiotics this time around, Florian will need the performance of his life. The backbone of Florian’s offense is his footwork, as Kenny is always light on his feet and rarely makes himself a still target. In many ways, it is Florian’s defense that determines just how well he performs in a fight. Against Clay Guida and Takanori Gomi, Florian was as sharp as he’s ever looked. He jabbed, slipped punches, and countered to great effect. Conversely, against B.J. Penn and Nunes, Florian was looking very sluggish. He got tagged repeatedly, particularly with counter-punches, and got uncharacteristically sloppy as the fights progressed. Florian can ill-afford to let that happen against someone like Aldo, as the Brazilian doesn’t let fighters off the hook. During his tenure under Mark Dellagrotte, Florian was heavily reliant on his muay Thai, and the foundation of his striking was based on his kicks. The move to the Tristar gym in Montreal saw a transformation in Florian’s striking, as he became more confident with his hands and started using his jab to dictate fights. For this bout, he needs to mix the two approaches together. It will be vital for Kenny to stay on the outside and use his reach, as Aldo is simply devastating on the inside. Florian needs to double up on his jab, throw the left hook behind it, and immediately circle out. Moreover, he needs to throw plenty of quick snapping kicks to the legs and body in order to prevent Aldo from landing any counters. Should Aldo close the distance, Florian would be wise to clinch up and try to muscle him against the fence, where his knees to the body and especially, short elbows could produce significant damage. However, Kenny needs to be very wary of Aldo’s quick knees to the body in close-quarters, which he almost throws like jabs. Aldo is a master at gauging distance. Like Anderson Silva, he likes to dissect his opponent and determine his method of attack. He possesses one of the most diverse striking arsenals in the sport. It seems like Aldo decides on the spot whether to use leg kicks as his primary method of attack or his boxing. The Urijah Faber fight saw Aldo completely destroy Faber’s legs, whereas his bout with Manny Gamburyan saw Aldo rely on his counter-punching ability; a stark contrast to his title-winning performance against Mike Brown, where Aldo was aggressive from the get-go, and completely blitzed the now-former champion on his way to a second round stoppage. Such different approaches make Aldo an incredibly difficult opponent to prepare for, as there is very little indication as to what to expect from the featherweight champion. This sort of fighting maturity is unusual at Aldo’s age, but that is what makes him such a special talent. It is unlikely that Aldo will find overwhelming success with his trademark leg kicks, as Florian’s continuous movement will make it hard for Aldo to take his legs away from him. However, Aldo’s speed advantage will make him a menace every time he moves forward with combinations. Florian’s lack of one-punch power means Aldo can afford to be a bit aggressive when he gets within range. Aldo tends to start his combination with a classic 1-2, and he finishes with either an uppercut, a left hook to the body, or a leg kick. Another bread-and-butter of Aldo is to set up a counter right uppercut after faking a lead left hook, and it is that particular punch that Florian needs to be on the lookout for above all else. When Florian gets hit, his defense tends to start breaking down. He becomes less confident, especially with his head movement, and he gets hit more frequently as a result. Once that happens, Florian usually resorts to fruitless single leg takedown attempts against the fence. Typically, they only tire him out and are a sign of desperation. This was glaring in Florian’s losing effort to Penn, as once “The Prodigy” landed a solid right hand followed by a knee, Florian aborted his game plan — despite the pleas of his corner men — and simply stalled by pushing his opponent against the cage. Should Florian succeed in taking the champion to the ground however, his chances improve considerably, as Kenny possesses a phenomenal top game. He is excellent at throwing elbows from the top. softening his opponent with ground-and-pound, and has some terrific mount and back control. Florian’s rear-naked choke is undoubtedly his best weapon, and if he gets the Brazilian’s back, a title change could be in order. However, Aldo has some great takedown defense. While many will point out that Hominick took him down, it was in fact a sloppy guillotine attempt by Aldo that saw him get stuck on his back for the entire last round of their bout back in April. Moreover, Florian does not possess an explosive shot from the outside, and therefore will find it extremely hard to close the distance and drive through Aldo with a single leg. It is extremely difficult to envision a way for Florian to consistently get the better of his foe. Aldo is simply on another level, and his speed, power and accuracy will put another dent in Kenny’s title aspirations. Official Prediction: Jose Aldo to defeat Kenny Florian by TKO in Round 3 PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: fight, leg, florian, kenny, aldo

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It was literally a battle of David vs. Goliath last night (October 1, 2011) in the co-main event of UFC on Versus 6 as the 6'11 tall Stefan Struve took on the (listed as) 5'11 Pat Barry. Struve had the reach, Barry had the striking credentials, and Struve had the serious edge once the fight went to the ground. "The Skyscraper" didn't possess solid wrestling or takedown skills, so how'd he get Barry to play his game on the canvas and eventually earn an exciting submission victory over "HD" with a triangle choke? We'll explain inside as well as tell you where each fighter goes from here. Understandably, having both been the victims of some pretty vicious knockouts the last time they competed inside the Octagon, Barry and Struve played it relatively safe in the first round. The only real damage that was done were some nice leg kicks coming from Barry's end. He peppered Struve's lead left leg with both inside and outside kicks, although nothing serious enough to make the big man stagger. To Struve's credit, he utilized his reach advantage slightly better than in past efforts, throwing a push kick to keep Barry at bay. The problem with this was he kept Barry so far away with the push kick that he couldn't follow up with anything and land any significant strikes of his own. Things began to heat up in round two. Barry finally got inside and landed two really solid strikes to Struve's chin and then inexplicably backed off when he was in a position to potentially drop the giant Dutchman. This would come back to haunt him not much soon after. With 2:25 left in the round, Struve closed the distance with a knee and some punches and Barry chose a very unfortunate time to duck forward and clinch. Struve immediately ducked down looking for a guillotine choke, even threading his arm through and attempting a standing D'Aarce choke as well. With a firm overhook on Barry and his neck trapped, Struve felt confident enough to drop to his back and roll Barry over on the canvas. Barry wisely rolled into top side control to escape the choke but his lack of awareness on the ground came back to bite him. Struve easily retained guard, reaching out with his right arm for leverage, lifted his left leg over Barry's right shoulder, isolating Barry's left arm. He then slipped his right leg over his left ankle to lock in the triangle choke.  Due to Barry's lack of technical skill in submissions, his only escape was to power out of the choke with a slam. It was wild to see the nearly seven footer lifted over Barry's head and slammed to the canvas but Struve wisely stuck his right elbow out to absorb some of the impact and then also attacked Barry's left arm with an armbar as well to force the tap. For Pat Barry, he was doing pretty good in this fight until he let Struve drag him to the ground. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he wasn't very aggressive with his punches, because he was afraid of the clinch and the potential takedowns that would come out of it. Regardless, he should have been more aggressive with his striking. He was finding a home for his leg kicks and Struve definitely was not exactly dominating with his reach like it appeared. The openings were there, especially after Barry tagged Struve in the first 30 seconds of round two, he just didn't follow-up. Barry is a likeable fighter, fights a fan-friendly style and especially because of the lack of depth in the heavyweight division, he'll live to see another day. I wouldn't be surprised to see him fight someone like Ben Rothwell, Rob Broughton or Christian Morecraft next. For Stefan Struve, he still has a long ways to go before he's actually learning to utilize his big reach advantage. The push kick is a start but he also needs to really stiffen up his jab and start blasting opponents with that 83 inch reach. The most promising thing about this fight was that he came in at 261 pounds. Hopefully the next time out, he's actually having to cut weight to make the 265 pound limit. It's about time he packed on more muscle to that giant frame. If the UFC is in the mood for craziness, they may match Struve up with another kickboxer in Mark Hunt, that would be pretty wild. Other possibilities are Brendan Schaub or perhaps Mike Russow after the whole Dave Herman fight fell through. So what do you think Maniacs? Will Struve ever be able to live up to the hype that comes with his giant size? What in the world can be done with Pat Barry? Sound off! For complete UFC on Versus 6 results, including blow-by-blow, fight-by-fight coverage of the entire pay-per-view (PPV) event, click here and here All gifs by Zombie Prophet via IronForgesIron.com.

Posted in: fight, round, leg, barry, struve

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Posted in: leg, adcc, rousimar palhares, leg injury, referee

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This post is by the Bloody Elbow Grappling Coverage Team. The introduction was written by KJ Gould, and the analysis by Dan Pedersen. While fans watching UFC 135 at home or live and in attendance had to suffer through 2 heavyweight fights that went to a plodding, gasping decision on the main Pay Per View card the highlights outside of Jon Jones' successful title defense, the return of Josh Koscheck and the continuing rise of Nate Diaz happened on the free to view prelimnary card. In particular a fight that got fans buzzing was the Tim Boetsch vs Nick Ring fight that saw Boetsch come from a losing first round to a dominant second and third. Boetsch had few highlights when he fought and often lost in the UFC Light Heavyweight  division save for a rag-dolling of David Heath that was so brutal and wild fans gave his style of fighting the nickname of Redneck Judo. Seeing a resurgence at Middle Weight Boetsch put some more of his Barbarian moves on display against Ring, though his technique now more refined to go along with his balance and core strength. His best move? A whizzer into a throw Joe Rogan incorrectly called an Uchi Mata that had many since believe it was a Harai Goshi, but as Bloody Elbow's resident Judo Nerd Dan Pederson will explain it wasn't that either. To find out what the throw was as well as a look at Boetch's other throws and trips during the fight, join us after the jump as Dan Pederson shares with us his analysis illustrated as always by animated gifs. Gifs by BE reader Grappo. This fight wasn't just determined by Boetsch's heavy hands and judo throws. He owes a great debt to Nick Ring -- more specifically Ring's posture, a holdover from his days as a kickboxer. 3:10 LEFT IN ROUND 2: After a lot of running and dancing by Nick Ring, Boetsch finally manages to chase him down and clip him. Stunned, Ring drops his level and shoots in, ultimately initiating a clinch against the cage. Nick Ring has double underhooks and stands up tall, while Boetsch keeps his head low and his hips back to stay heavy. Ring fires two knees, then drops his posture briefly to drive in for a possible takedown. Ring then throws himself totally upright -- with no regard for his own balance or posture -- and throws the third knee. Boetsch sees it coming and manages to grab an underhook on the leg. Because Ring is so upright and off-balance when the leg is caught he can't maneuver to defend and it's easy work for Boetsch to sweep the remaining leg out from underneath him. 0:14 LEFT IN ROUND 2: More clinch work, this time in the center of the cage. Nick is either tired or thinking like a striker again because his posture goes from heavy and defensive to totally upright. This brings his hips closer to Boetsch. Boetsch feels Ring's posture change and turns slightly, angling off to the left. Ring needs to drop his hips and turn back into Boetsch and face him but he doesn't seem to recognize the movement and makes no effort to defend. Boetsch capitalizes on the mental error and upright posture of Nick Ring and sweeps out his lead leg with an O Soto Gari.  MMA fans may remember Jon Jones throwing Matt Hamill -- and dislocating his shoulder -- with the same basic setup. ROUND 3: After repeated success with throws Boetsch is now openly reaching out and grabbing for the clinch in his efforts to chase Nick Ring down. Ring is doing his best to circle away and create distance but by the third round his gas tank is fading and Boetsch is finding more opportunities to connect. 1:11 LEFT IN ROUND 3: Boetsch throws a hard straight right at an exhausted Nick Ring who ducks it but gets his own head caught in the Muay Thai plum. Ring reacts by standing upright but he gets doubled over by a knee to the gut anyway. At this point Ring is dead on his feet and trying to survive. He turns his body slightly away and forces his posture back upright, assuming his underhook under Boetsch's right armpit is keeping him safe. Boetsch capitalizes on the opening by locking down on an overhook and attacking with a violent O Guruma. (Gif by Zombie Prophet) A lot of people have been claiming the throw was a Harai Goshi. You could certainly make an argument for it but I disagree, and I'll explain why. Harai Goshi is normally done against an opponent whose posture has already been broken down and forward. It is executed by entering the opponent's space deeply with your hips-partially blocking his own hips, similar to an O Goshi -- the standard judo-class-day-one hip toss. Like O Goshi, you pull the opponent onto your hips but unlike O Goshi you only lift them enough to cause their legs to 'float'. At the floating moment you sweep the opponent's outside thigh from underneath him. Typically in the clinch you are keeping your upper body tight to his the whole way through the throw. O Guruma looks similar to Harai Goshi but feels totally different. First, it's thrown against an opponent who is standing tall, straight up-and-down, just like Nick Ring. Also instead of staying tight to your opponent you begin the throw from a bit further out and dramatically throw your own upper body out and down in a sort of circular orbit. Simultaneously your attacking leg shoots across both of his legs -- high, almost across his stomach -- to block him from advancing. The violent rotation of your own body yanks him forward but your attacking leg stops his own legs from being able to step forward or regain balance and he goes over head first. The exaggerated circular movement also gives the throw its name, 'Major Wheel'. Harai Goshi and O Guruma will often look similar but they feel drastically different. Being thrown by a Harai Goshi ... it feels a bit like falling out of a hammock sideways. O Guruma feels more like you were running in the dark and suddenly tripped face-first. Over a low fence. A low fence on the edge of a cliff. It's a terrifying ride and the landing is often much harder.

Posted in: nick, leg, boetsch, ring, goshi

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I wonder if Pat Barry can punch Stefan Struve in the head without leaving his feet. I know it is physically possible, if the two are standing right next to each other. I’m talking about landing a jab, right hand or left hook when the two are fighting from a normal striking distance. Better yet, I wonder if Barry, who is one of the better kickboxers in the UFC, can actually kick Struve in the head—standing still or jumping.Those questions and more will be answered on Saturday night when one of the UFC’s shortest heavyweight competitors faces its tallest in a fight that may seem on the surface to be a bit gimmicky, but could prove to be the most exciting bout on the Versus telecast.Barry, who stands 5’11 when wearing combat boots, is one of the division’s most talented kickboxers. He mixes his punches and kicks as well, if not better, than any heavyweight in the world. He is equally effective striking from an orthodox or southpaw stance. And he can knock out any man with a single shot delivered with either fist or either foot. That is the good. Of course, with just about any fighter not named Anderson Silva or Georges St-Pierre, there is also some bad. Barry’s game is really limited to the standup realm. He has worked hard on his wrestling over the last couple of years, training at the DeathClutch gym with Brock Lesnar, Marty Morgan and crew. But Barry is still pretty far behind his brethren when it comes to takedowns and grappling. He isn’t a fish out of water when the fight hits the ground, but he isn’t comfortable, either. That is normally a major problem when facing a ground specialist like Struve, who just so happens to be every inch of 6’11 tall. Keep in mind that the Dutch fighter has nearly three times as many submissions as knockouts in his professional career. Yet, Struve has shown a recent penchant for slugging it out on the feet, and that should lead to disastrous results against an apex striker like Barry.If Struve can get the fight to the ground, Barry will instantly look to scramble to his feet. He has no choice but to do that. The difference in length of their respective torsos means that Barry’s guard will be basically useless in stopping hard ground-and-pound attacks. Since Barry has no threatening offensive guard skills, particularly against a submission wizard like Struve, any time spent on his back will be time spent losing the fight. Things probably won’t be much safer for Barry if he ends up on the top position. Absent a knockdown, where Struve’s wits will be scrambled, he should be able to control Barry from his guard almost as well as he can control him from the top position. Their respective torso length has the exact opposite effect when Struve is on his back. He can use his legs to control Barry’s hips to the point where the former K-1 kickboxer will basically have to slap with his punches to reach Struve’s head, unless he can stack up his foe. And stacking him in the guard opens the door for armbars and triangle chokes. So, this should be the classic kickboxer versus standup fighter battle, right? I doubt it.As mentioned, Struve has a real thirst for thrilling the crowd with slugfests. The guy seems to engage in an entertaining back-and-forth brawl each time he steps into the cage. My guess is that he will come out looking to use his nearly nine-inch reach advantage to pop Barry with jabs and lead left hooks. I also think he will throw a tremendous volume of leg kicks, front kicks and kicks to the head, since he probably has no fear whatsoever of being taken down.If the two had equal standup skills, then hammering away from the outside would be an excellent tactic for Struve, just like it was for the taller Jon Jones against Quinton Jackson last weekend. The problem, of course, is the two do not have equal standup skills. Barry is on a completely different level when it comes to technique, speed, power and chin. If Struve tries to hunt and peck on the outside, Barry will cut off the cage, use feints to encourage his foe to lead, and then slip and explode off his misses. Once on the inside, Struve’s height will actually work against him. He won’t be able to generate any real torque on his strikes, other than knees, which he really hasn’t shown much of an affinity for up to this point in his career. And he won’t be able to effectively counter with those long limbs. It will be all about clinches and throws, pulling guard, or getting out of Dodge once Barry gets inside. Otherwise, he will get knocked out.Barry’s short, powerful limbs and ability to really throw shots from his core will let him land with uninhibited power on the inside. He should completely forget takedowns. Struve will dominate him on the mat if he is able to quickly work to his guard. His focus should be firing power shots with reckless abandon, if and when he gets to the inside.Barry did just that against fellow former kickboxer Cheick Kongo in his last fight. Of course, he got knocked out, after almost knocking out Kongo with a barrage of punches. Barry should forget about that fight. Struve is not Kongo. Not by a long shot. Kongo is a savage power puncher. Struve is a technician on the feet. Savages can bust Barry’s beard. Technicians cannot.Another key to victory for Barry is unadulterated use of leg kicks. Not the kind that some fighters use to establish distance or score points. Barry wants to use the kind that resembles Albert Pujols swinging a baseball bat. You know, leg kicks dripping with bad intentions.Barry has the best leg kicks in the UFC, bar none. Yeah, I know. Jose Aldo is pretty dangerous with that particular strike in his own right. But he is no Pat Barry.Barry won three of his first four professional fights with leg kicks, including his UFC debut. A beanstalk like Struve is the perfect target for his vicious leg kicks. Granted, many fighters worried about getting taken down shy away from that particular type of strike, but those guys aren’t Barry. They don’t fire leg kicks like he does. And Struve is not a dominant wrestler by any means.As mentioned, Struve’s game plan should be singularly focused on getting the fight to the ground. Sure, he can score on the outside, but he has to be perfect in his execution if he wants to remain conscious after engaging in a standup contest with Barry. He can get the fight to the ground by smothering Barry and tripping him. He should look to smother Barry by trying to bait his opponent into throwing wild, leaping lead hooks. Feints are a good way to get that result. But again, stepping inside comes with a severe potential price. It means risking a right or left hand bomb to the jaw. Yet, I don’t really see any other way for him to safely score a takedown. Shooting from a distance isn’t Struve’s game, and it is also a great way to eat a shin to the jaw.He can try to use the jab to back Barry to the fence, where stepping inside for a clinch is much less dangerous compared to doing that in the center of the cage. If the jab is sharp, quick and accurate, that could be an effective approach. If he misses, however, he has to be prepared to try and catch Barry coming in with a right hand. Otherwise, it could be lights out.All the above may go out the window if either man is still affected by the result of his last fight. Barry and Struve might be physical and stylistic opposites, but they suffered the same fate in their respective previous bout. Both got knocked out.I’ve written it dozens of times. It is impossible to predict how a man will react after being on the wrong end of a jaw-dropping knockout. The Kongo fight was the first Barry has experienced that. He responded by giving an interview backstage while eating a slice of pizza like it was any other normal Saturday night. A slice of pizza! I don’t know if that means it was no big deal to Barry or if he was in shock. Struve hopes it is the latter. Travis Browne’s win over Struve was actually the second time in his UFC career that the Dutchman was folded like a lawn chair. The last time it happened, courtesy of Roy Nelson, he embarked on a two-fight winning streak. Can he do that again? Will those two knockout losses, plus the 54-second knockout he suffered from Junior Dos Santos in his UFC debut, start to permanently soften his chin? Barry certainly hopes to force an answer to that one.Will Struve pull a Jones and control the action from the outside? Will he get his shorter foe to the ground? Will Barry be able to mount an effective offense on the feet against a guy a full foot taller? Can he even reach his opponent’s chin outside of phone-booth range? Will he fully utilize low kicks?Are both men fully recovered (mentally and/or physically) from their previous bout? Will the loss result in hesitation?Can Barry punch Struve in the face without jumping? Can he kick him in the head? How many times will Struve kick over Barry’s head?Like I said, those questions and more will be answered on Saturday night.

Posted in: fight, ’t, leg, barry, struve

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In case you missed it live, or if you just want to relive the light heavyweight championship bout between Quinton Jackson and Jon Jones, then you're in luck. As always, here's a brief video highlight of the UFC 135 headlining fight from ESPN. SBN coverage of UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage For a complete play-by-play of the event, here's Brent Brookhouse's take during our live blog: UFC Light Heavyweight Championship: Jon Jones vs. Rampage Jackson - Round 1 - Jones coming out in some sort of crawling stance. Shoots and Rampage knees him in the chest. Jones clinching Rampage against the cage. Knee to the body by Jones, Rampage says it was low. Rampage turns Junes into the cage. Jones goes for a choke and Rampage defends. Nice elbow in close by Jones. Knee to the body and again it's low by Jones. Rampage complains. Jones looking for a trip and can't get it. They separate now and are in the center of the octagon. Head kick by Jones is blocked. Leg kick by Jones now. They clinch up in the center and Jones tries for a takedown off a throw but Rampage stays up. Body shot by Rampage and he misses with an overhand right. Head kick by Jones is blocked. Leg kick by Jones again. Leg kick again. Clinch up again with about a minute left. Jones pushes him into the cage again. Jones kneeing the thighs again. Spinning elbow by Jones and Rampage covers up. Head kick blocked again and a wheel kick blocked. Rampage throws big shots at Jones and misses. 10-9 Jones. Round 2 - Leg kick by Jones and Rampage keeps stalking. Rampage pushes him into the cage but Jones reverses. Knees to the thigh again. Spinning elbow by Jones misses. Rampage avoids the takedown and Jones throwing side kicks to the thigh. Straight right hand by Jones. A lot of Rampage stalking and a left hand gets in a little bit for him. Rampage isn't being very aggressive now and Jones is able to dominate if he doesn't have anything to worry about. Leg kick by Jones. Leg kick again by Jones and another. Jab by Rampage and Jones goes back to the leg. Jones with another blocked head kick. Left hand by Rampage misses. Jones keeps picking his shots and Rampage isn't getting anything off. Jones pulls guard out of nowhere and goes for a triangle but the round ends. 10-9 Jones. Round 3 - Jones goes for a takedown and almost gets hit with a big hook from Rampage. Rampage has thrown multiple leg kicks this round and maybe that throws Jones off a bit. Jones with a solid leg kick and now Jones wit a takedown. Jones in side control and now passes to full mount. Jones walking him toward the cage. Jones throwing a few elbows and punches now. Rampage powers his way to his feet. Jones kicks to the leg and they're back to standing. Jones keeps putting his open hand in Rampage's face, causing Jackson to complain about attempted eye pokes. Nice hooks by Jones and a leg kick that hurts Rampage. Rampage throws some huge punches that hit nothing but air. Left hook by Jackson is short. Flying knee by Jones and a push kick to the knee. Jones shoots, the round ends and Jones throws Rampage to the ground. 10-9 Jones. Round 4 - Rampage is coming out a bit more aggressive. Left hook by Jones seems to hurt Rampage. Jones looking for the takedown from the clinch and he gets it now against the cage. Elbow by Jones. Jones moves to the back and gets the choke locked in. Rampage taps out and that's it. Jon Jones wins by submission (rear naked choke), round 4. Dominant performance by Jones and Rampage never had anything close to an answer.

Posted in: rampage, jone, leg, kick, leg kick

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This is a post by the Bloody Elbow Grappling Coverage team. Introduction by KJ Gould, main analysis by Patrick Tenney. If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again. This is especially true when it comes to the ground fighting element of Mixed Martial Arts where hanging out in a compromised position for too long can be seriously bad for your health. Just ask Jason Macdonald, Jim Miller and Fedor Emelianenko about their most recent fights where being on bottom or underneath their opponents was definitely to their detriment. Another saying oft heard in the sports landscape is the best defense being a good offense. At the most recent Ultimate Fight Night in New Orleans this past weekend T.J. Waldburger had a strong top position which he gave up to go for an armbar attempt and opponent Mike Stumpf did his best to scramble to get out and take a stronger position. Instead of retreating to guard when the initial submission attempt failed, Waldburger did not give up on his offense and showed the value of being able to chain submission attempts together - more commonly known as lock-flows in the grappling arts - to eventually catch Stumpf in a fight ending triangle choke. Using the lock-flow strategy of 'Attack, Attack, Attack' makes it very difficult for an opponent to cope as defending in one area can sometimes leave them vulnerable in another and as long as humans continue to only have two arms and two legs, defending everything at once is an impossibility. After the jump Patrick Tenney looks at the classic submission chain from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu of going from an armbar to a triangle while on bottom with some form of open guard still in play. SBN coverage of UFC Fight Night 25: Shields vs. Ellenberger Gif by BE reader Grappo.   After exchanging a few strikes on the feet, T.J. is able to take Stumpf down and land in a dominant position. T.J. sets up a nearside arm-bar from side control by controlling Stumpf’s arm and isolating it as he begins to posture himself up, so that he can loop his legs over Stumpf to control the body/head and finish the lock. If you notice T.J.’s right leg when he goes back for the arm-bar is below Stumpf’s head with his knee flared out to the right - this is usually a slight mistake. However, this leg position could also be caused by Stumpf realizing the submission attempt was coming and already beginning the roll/posture out (forcing T.J.’s leg down so that the foot and shin are not locked tight to the head and pinching the trapped arm with the other leg). This leg positioning allows Stumpf to rotate into T.J. because his head is not being controlled. As Stumpf starts to come up, T.J. is able to loop his right leg back over the arm and in front of the neck of Stumpf. By doing so, he is locking in the arm-bar at a different orientation and forcing Stumpf into a "belly down" arm-bar. Stumpf reacts well in the situation at first, and attempts to roll through the arm-bar and then come up on top. He is able to force T.J.’s left leg over his head after he rolls through, which eliminates the possibility for the arm-bar or triangle. Unfortunately for Stumpf, T.J. is able to push off of Stumpf’s body with his left hand to create space and get his left leg back over the shoulder of Stumpf. This allows T.J. to re-isolate the left arm of Stumpf. This could have been avoided by Stumpf by circling around to the head of Waldburger, instead of basing out with his feet back behind him and coming up into the guard of Waldburger. The unfortunate choice of base for Stumpf allows for T.J.'s left leg to come over the back of the head and lock the triangle submission in. Once that triangle gets set in, it looks to be just about as perfectly locked in as you can get. The only additional detail missing would be Waldburger angling off further (he does angle slightly) towards his left side to cinch the choke in tighter. This entire flow is an example of what I’ve always heard referred to as the "triple attack". It is done at the gym I train at as part of a warm up if we’re working guard techniques that day and involves the transition between the arm-bar/triangle/omoplata and how to transition between them from within the guard; each of these submissions rely on the isolation of a single arm of your opponent and can be linked together and chained repeatedly when/if one of them fails (barring certain situations where your opponent is able to de-isolate that arm or fundamentally alter the position/pass guard). Being one of the first "chains" and a fundamental part of BJJ guard work there are quite a lot of detailed instructionals out there for this sequence, below are a few: Andre Quiles & "Robynho" AKA Robin Williams teach 3 attacks from the closed guard. Armbar to triangle to omoplata back to armbar. Andre Quiles is a brown belt in BJJ and certified personal trainer. Robynho is a black belt and part of the Checkmat - Fight Zone USA team. This situational drill involves learning how to chain attacks together when your opponent defends your initial attack. In this case your opponent stacks you during an armbar from the guard, you transition to an omoplata and he postures up, you can finish with a triangle.

Posted in: stumpf, t.j, leg, guard, triangle

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