As you may or may not know, UFC 112 this weekend will take place in a probably still-unfinished outdoor stadium built exclusively for this event (seriously, it’s being torn down like immediately afterwards.) And while everyone’s worried about whether or not it will rain or fighters will be able to deal with the heat/wind/sand, how come no one has addressed the very real threat of sandworms?
Fighters’ lives are at risk here, people.
UFC 111 has come and gone and while the card (or some specifically some fights/fighters) didn’t live up to the lofty expectations of some fans (do they ever?,) I’m sure everyone can agree that it was a big improvement over UFC On Versus.
Miller vs. Bocek
I called: Miller over Bocek via 2nd or 3rd round submission.
What really happened: Miller wins an unanimous decisions.
Thoughts: This one ended up being a lot more competitive than I figured. Bocek was game and put up a good fight, but Miller really hustled later in the fight to secure the decision.
Fitch vs. Alves
A pre-fight physical revealed some sort of anomaly in Alves’ brain and the fight was changed to Fitch vs. Saunders. I like Saunders, but there was no way he was getting passed the repeated takedowns of Fitch. While I hate to sound like the bozos who constantly (and incorrectly) deride fighters like Rashad Evans and GSP for being “boring, lay and pray artists,” I’d be happy never seeing Fitch fight again as his seriously puts me to sleep.
Ellenberger vs. Saunders
See above.
Mir vs. Carwin
What I called: Mir, based on experience, newfound strength, and jiu-jitsu.
What really happened: Holy shit, was I wrong; Carwin made Mir look stupid with an all-out assault.
Thoughts: Well, I guess I have no choice but to start buying into the Carwin hype, though I don’t feel confident fully boarding the bandwagon until I see the guy A) go outside of the first round B) work on the ground. I’m certainly excited about Lesnar vs. Carwin though, and the eventual introduction of Valasquez and Dos Santos into the mix.
St. Pierre vs. Hardy
I called: GSP by whatever the hell he wants.
What really happened: GSP by decision, though it appeared he wanted to win via submission.
Thoughts: Look, I’m as bummed as anyone that GSP couldn’t put an extremely brave/stupid Hardy away with either that armbar or that Kimura, but for anyone to infer that the champ is a boring, “lay and pray” (can we retire this stupid term already?) artist shows that they’re not only a total ignoramus, but no true fan of mixed martial arts. GSP stayed busy the entire fight, taking Hardy down at will, passing his guard like it didn’t exist, and trying to submit him on two separate occasions. Good fighters win fights by developing a winning strategy; they don’t stand and trade on the feet to appease fans.
I will say that I’m disappointed with Greg Jackson and the absolutely terrifying advise he was overheard (on camera) giving St. Pierre between rounds: “Take him down and don’t pass until there’re thirty seconds left.” This is arguably one of the best mixed martial artists in history, and you’re asking him to sit in the guard of a hard inferior opponent for four and a half minutes? Why even bother training if that’s the strategy? Georges could have fallen asleep after the Alves fight, woke up late Saturday night, and still accomplish the same thing.
What a bozo.
I’ve been home from Thailand for about a week now, and quite frankly I’m miserable being back in the States. On the flipside, watching MMA events is much, much easier over here, and there’s a big one coming up this weekend in the form of UFC 111, coming to you straight from beautiful Newark, New Jersey.
Since I have nothing better to do, I’m going to take a look at the main card and give you some quick thoughts. I don’t suggest putting too much stock in them because I’ve never won a dime betting on MMA. I guess that’s one of the most beautiful aspects of MMA: anything can happen.
Jim Miller vs. Mark Bocek
Bocek is a hell of a grappler, and while he’s managed to tap a number of his opponents within the first round, he’s also been submitted by Mac Danzig. Jim Miller, on the other hand, is a well-rounded fighter who has managed his fair share of submissions as well. Miller’s only loses come by way of decision, so I don’t expect him to fall victim to Bocek’s sharp jiu-jitsu. I think Miller ends up submitting or stopping Bocek in the 2nd or 3rd.
Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
For as respected as Fitch as, I can’t help but find him terminally boring. Obviously he’s got a very impressive record and he’s gone toe-to-toe with some top welterweights, but his style leaves a lot to be desired, at least as someone watching at home, eating pizza and drinking beer. Alves, on the other hand, can be extremely exciting, especially when he’s rattling the brainstems of guys like Matt Hughes and Karo Parisyan.
The thing is that these two have met before back in 2006, when Fitch walked away with the win after levelling “The Pitbull” with an upkick. Unfortunately, I think he’s looking at a repeat here as Fitch’s style has not evolved since that first meeting. I’m not sure how this one will end though, as Fitch has shown he has a solid chin, but I do see Alves coming out on top.
Jake Ellenberger vs. Ben Saunders
Did you know that Ben Saunders nickname is “Killa B?” Oof. If I ever get back into fighting, I think I’d like my nickname to be “The Gentleman,” and I’ll come to the ring with a top hat and monocle… all while wearing Vale Tudo shorts.
Anyway, I don’t know much about Ellenberger other than the fact that he’s a relative newcomer to the UFC and most of his previous wins have been at the expense of guys I’ve never heard of. That certainly doesn’t mean he’s no good, but it’s hard for at least me to gauge what kind of fighter he is, although many of his wins come by way of knockout or TKO. One thing that is obvious is that he’s giving up a few inches in height to a guy who has shown he knows his way around a Thai clinch and can turn your lights off (or turn you into the Elephant Man) with a few well placed knees to the head. This prediction is based solely on personal preference rather than any sort of legitimate data, but I’m going to go with Saunders. Why not?
Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin
It’s taking me an awfully long time to hop aboard the Carwin hype train, and while noone can deny the excitement in knocking out most of his opponent’s out in the first round (the others were submitted, still in the first round,) he’s never faced anyone nearly as well-rounded as Frank Mir. Granted he knocked out Gonzaga after a scary minute or so, but is knocking out Gonzaga really a big deal these days? Anyway, as unlikable as the guy is, Frank Mir is an extremely talented and well-rounded fighter whose standup has improved leaps and bounds — so much so that you almost forget how good he is on the ground. Mir’s been knocked stupid a few times, but usually after being put into inferior positions, which I don’t think will happen with Carwin. As for Mir’s alleged obsession with Brock Lesnar, I don’t even think it’s a factor here. And even if it were, no disrespect to Carwin intended, I don’t think it would matter; Frank Mir on auto-pilot would most likely still beat Carwin. Mir is just too experienced and too well-rounded.
Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy
In the interest of full disclosure, GSP is my favorite fighter. Sakuraba will most likely always be my favorite fighter of all-time, but as far as active, legitimate competition goes, GSP is head and shoulders above anyone else in the cage or the ring at this time. So yeah, I’m a little biased. Either way, I don’t think it’s hard to see that GSP is far and away a much better athlete and fighter than Dan Hardy is or will be for quite some time. Anywhere this fight goes — on the feet, on the mat, in the air, in space, etc. — GSP has the advantage. What Dan Hardy does have going for him is a m0uth; the UFC hype train, who can make people believe Hardy has a chance, mostly based on Serra’s win over GSP; and above-average power in his sloppy hands. As for that highly-exaggerated power, sure the guy can hit hard and has rattled plenty of guys who were baited into ugly exchanges, but the idea that this guy can explode brains with every punch is ridiculous; an idea invented by Hardy and trumped-up by the UFC in order to make an extremely lopsided fight seem appealing. Hardy has never faced anyone half as good as GSP. After failing to finish guys like Mike Swick and Marcus Davis in his last two fights, what makes him think he’s got a snowball’s chance in beating GSP, a guy who made former welterweight kingpin Matt Hughes look like a guy they pulled out of the stands, not once but twice? Obviously, as stated earlier, anything can happen in MMA, but I’ll eat my hat (my delicious, ham-flavored hat) if GSP doesn’t win this one in any fashion he chooses.
Feel free to come back here on Monday and bust my balls if I happen to be wrong about any of these, especially the main event.
Though I didn’t use my Vado recorder as much as I would have liked on this trip, I did manage to take videos of some of the workouts over at Sinbi muay Thai. Check them out:
Boxing sparring:
Daily padwork:
Some of the younger kids who train at Sinbi doing their daily padwork:
And finally, Nat/Nut (Pot’s son) doing a little work:
Fairtex is probably the biggest name in muay Thai and their relatively new Pattaya sports resort is their flagship location. Located only a few miles away from the madness that is Walking Street, you can — as the promotional materials claim — train with the champions. You can also go swimming, play tennis, go rock climbing, etc; muay Thai isn’t really the focus here, but it still attracts plenty of nak muay of varying skill levels from all over the globe. My buddy and I spent a few days there a couple of weeks ago before heading down to Phuket to train at Sinbi, which is where we are as of this writing. The training was a little more laid back than I expected and outside of the four rings (which are still in great shape and a pleasure to train in,) I was kind of surprised by how little mat space there was. There were only about nine or so heavybags, but the padded columns outlining the mat space were a definite joy and a great way to condition your shins (that’s not sarcasm — bruised up shins really do make me smile.) The trainers were all friendly guys with good English, though I don’t feel as if my time with them on the pads really gave me anything new to work with. This could simply be due to the fact that I was only there for a few days and it usually takes a little more time than that for a trainer to understand what you know and what you’re capable of. They did spend an awful lot of time working with my buddy, who is a relative newcomer to muay Thai. Yodsanklai would swing by during afternoon training to hang out, though he wasn’t actually training while we were around. I thought about asking for a picture with him, but after seeing him pose for pictures with about twenty other farang, I didn’t want to bother him.
One thing I really liked about training at Fairtex was the warmups; traditionally my least favorite part of training (Thai ropes are my sworn enemy, especially after shoulder surgery), Fairtex Pattaya contains a very nice, up-to-date, indoor gym that includes a number of rowing machines, treadmills, and ellipticals. Unless the trainers feel like busting balls, you’re welcome to perform your warmup on the gym equipment rather than on the mat, with a Thai rope. I realize a number of people will frown upon the idea of me favoring a treadmill and a fan over a Thai rope, but all of those people can suck it; I sweat a lot and my left shoulder is almost brand new.
There are two wings of the Fairtex Pattaya hotel: the resort wing and the sports wing. My friend and I stayed in the sports wing, which was nice enough (for 800 baht a night) and included all of the amenities (such as the pool, the gym, a free breakfast buffet, etc.) It also included this:
Yes, this happened in our hotel, on our floor, our last night there. In fact, we were staying in rooms 2127 and 2129. I was actually out in the hallway when the nak muay from New Zealand absolutely leveled this bozo with a beautiful 1-2 combination. But that is all besides the point.
Training at Fairtex is a bit steep at 800 per session or 1200 per day. It’s included free for live-in students, but I don’t know much about that pricing structure. Was it worth it? Based on my limited time and experience there, I’d have to say no as that’s simply too much money for what I would consider average to slightly-above-average training.
It’s been a busy week for MMA as last week Japan held their usually epic, annual New Years MMA/K-1 event, which was sold as a battle of Dream vs. Sengoku. Overall, there wasn’t much that excited me about the event, and I thought the mix of MMA and K-1 was a little unnecessary (especially when even the K-1 battles were then subjected to even more confusing rules, such as those seen in the Ray Sefo bout), but the third and final battle between Masato and Andy Souwer lived up to its potential and redeemed the event shortly after being marred by subpar fights and Shinya Aoki’s antics. I’d highly recommend checking the fight out, if you haven’t seen it already:
As for Saturday’s UFC event, of course the Internet has been screaming and crying for weeks now that without any real marquee names, the card will be garbage. People like this need to realize that MMA isn’t professional wrestling in the sense that you don’t need marquee names to make things interesting. After all, are you following the sport for the fights or the fighters? Anderson Silva is (rightfully) considered a marquee name, but how many stinkers has he put on in the past year? Meanwhile, Clay Guida and Diego Sanchez aren’t considered top-tier fighters (in fact, many questioned whether Diego deserved his title shot against BJ Penn), but they still managed to go out there and put on one of the best fights of the year. And in spite of these big names, I thought the UFC put on a great show. There were only two decisions (that I can recall), with one of them being awarded “fight of the night.” There was also a slick submission by Cole Miller and a couple of great knockouts. The only real sticking point seems to be the Internet’s confusing dedication to hating Rashad Evans, and this outing proved no different. While he put together crisp combos on his feet combined with excellent takedowns, alleged fans of the sport whined about a “lay and pray” victory, despite Rashad improving his position once on the ground and little opportunity to mount any sort of offense as Thiago Silva was able to make it back to his feet just as often as he was taken down to the mat. These same fans will feign disgust over Rashad’s “taunting” and “showboating,” which usually doesn’t amount to much more than exaggerated head movement. There’s just no winning with them. Thankfully, their asinine complaints never really amount to much, as proven by an exciting event that most of these dopes labeled a complete failure before it even went to air. God, I gotta stop reading Sherdog.
In training news, I’ll be leaving for Thailand on February 18th, spending about twenty-five days out there. My first stop will be Fairtex Pattaya, which will be new to me, before heading back down to Sinbi in Phuket.
Starting with my torn labrum — which was finally repaired back in March — it seems as if my seemingly rapidly aging body has finally decided “fuck this shit” and launched a full-fledged revolt. It was during the rehabilitation of my shoulder that something towards the middle-center of my trunk began hurting so badly that I thought my kidneys were going to explode. A trip to my family doctor proved my fears to be irrational and stupid, but it presented a much larger problem: nobody had any idea what the hell was wrong with me. Piss and blood tests came back positive while an x-ray didn’t show anything to worry about. This continued for about seven months while the pain in my back worsened and even seemed to travel between my lower and mid back. Desperate, I began visiting the chiropractor and even the acupuncturist, and while there seemed to be a very slow overall improvement, the shit was still really, really annoying.
One of my last stops on Back Pain Tour 2009 was a local massage therapist; I don’t normally visit massage therapists stateside because I’ve been spoiled by the infinite wonders of (legitimate, mind you) Thai massages. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Thailand, massages are cheap and plentiful. How cheap? Most cost about 200-300 baht ($6-$9 US dollars) per hour as opposed to a $70 an hour massage over here. And how plentiful? In Bangkok and even in Phuket, you can’t throw a rock from one massage parlor without hitting another. But like I said, I was desperate, so I forked over the $70 and had myself one of the best massages I’ve ever had. More importantly, this woman knew what she was doing, and she could tell almost immediately what my problem was: years and years of training had left my psoas muscles overworked. She performed some myofascial release (get your minds out of the gutter) and then showed me a number of stretches that have worked (possibly in tandem with the other forms of treatment) wonders on my lower and mid-back pain. So I feel it’s only fair to share some of these with you guys in the hopes that it will prevent or cure similar problems you may not even knew existed.
First, here’s the Wikipedia entry for the psoas major muscle that includes plenty of helpful pictures:
If you happen to have a swiss ball handy:
Also, this one isn’t a stretch, but it kind of gave me a boner:
I like to think that I have a analytical mind (who doesn’t) and a formidable, descriptive vocabulary (in addition to all of this modesty), but there are still some things that stymie me as a muay Thai instructor; or at least there are still some things that become a bit muddled between my brain and the ears of some of my students. Hooks and uppercuts in particular are surprisingly tough. Hooks certainly look easy enough, but when you see people throwing them for the first time — and probably for the following five hundred times — you have to wonder what’s gone wrong. I have a similar issue teaching liver shots. And it’s not so much the actual punch that people have a problem with, but the approach.
So when I ran across this excellent video — “The anatomy of the liver shot” — I immediately sent it out to my class e-mail list. It’s an excellent video, and I highly recommend that you check it out, if you haven’t already. Striking coach Brian Yamasaki brings in an actual doctor to map out the exact location of the liver, and together they discuss what liver shots accomplish and various ways in which to hit them. Well, Brian and the rest of the guys at Damage Control outdid themselves with their most recent video: anatomy of a leg kick.
Rather than attempt to take all of Brian’s work and package it up as my own by rehashing his research here, I’ll just tell you all to visit the site, read the article, and check out the great, numerous videos he’s put together covering the most effective, bread and butter setups to the leg kick.
I’ll be leaving for Kansas City in a few hours in order to corner one of my students — the one who accompanied me on my most recent trip to Thailand — at M-1 Global: Breakthrough, where she’ll be making her pro MMA debut. She’ll be part of the first fight of the night, and the entire undercard will be streamed live on Sherdog. The rest of the card will be aired live on HDNet.
You can find an article about Andria’s journey to M-1 Global: Breakthrough here.
We received our first official, non-SPAM comment yesterday in response to my UFC 102 preview (to celebrate the occasion, I’m getting drunk off Sang Som as I post this), and it went a little something like this:
You hate watching Jardine fight because he looks like the Toxic Avenger.
Comment by Dez
That is actually not true. I don’t like watching Keith Jardine fight because he looks like he’s drunk or hopped up on goofballs or something and it’s weird. If Keith Jardine looked more like Toxie and showed up for fights in a tutu, painted green, and carrying a mop, I’d probably be much more interested in his fights.
“The Dean of Mean” (who once ate a jellybean in Moline while watching a movie starring Charlie Sheen) bears more of a resemblance to Internet sensation Techno Viking. For the uninitiated:
And here they are, side by side.
Uncanny, no? But of course I’m not the only one who noticed this; MMAFanhouse.com actually asked him about it:
“I think it’s funny, man. When people ask me on the street and stuff, I always them that, Yes, it was me, and it was a long time ago, and that kind of stuff. And I have a lot of fun with it, but I think I’d have to take some techno dance lessons first. I think I’d rather come out to … I like weird music, I’d rather use Tom Waits or something first. I don’t know, man, I don’t know. We’ll see. Maybe. I like practical jokes, so we’ll see what happens. I don’t know if they’ll let me fight in those shorts, though.”
Whoah — Keith Jardine likes Tom Waits? That’s fucking awesome. Again, it’s a shame I really don’t like this dude as a fighter because he kind of seems like the shit, tutu or no tutu.
