Frank Mir’s win against chiseled Parisian, Cheick Kongo, at UFC 107 last night was impressive, but Frank’s trash talking prior to the fight took more from his win than Kongo’s status as a fighter whose career seems to be on the wane. The post-fight conciliatory gestures did little take away the sour-taste-in-the-mouth following the pre-fight acrimony. It does not matter that Frank’s analysis of Kongo’s talents or lack thereof, was spot on. There is trash talking and then there is trash talking. The fact that the normally reticent Kongo took particular umbrage to it just put an exclamation point to this particular spat. (See how Kongo turned his back to Frank at the weigh-in.) There is a certain unwritten science and art to it as Mir found out in the Brock Lesnar affair.
The unnecessary trash talking against Kongo placed Frank in the unenviable position of being “the jerk” who won; which is an odd position for a man who used to be Mr. Nice. After all the trash talking, there was very little room for the kind of inspirational speech-making he gave after knocking off Big Nog, Antonio Nogueira at UFC 92.
The role of the trash-talking “heel” for Mir is as ill-fitting as a “gi” on Yokozuna. Please note that the trash-talking started around the time Mir’s career had become stagnant. And prior to UFC 107 last night, his mouth was running more than a broken toilet bowl. Coincidence? Perhaps not.
(The fabricated bad blood, such as the ballyhooed one between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans) is the kind of crap the UFC needs to stay away from lest it begins to manifest hereditary genes of the WWE bloodline. (UFC 107: A better card out of the blue – Cyberaxis)
Standing Caveat: This is not your little brother’s WWE: And it cannot be all light-hearted ribbing when your opponent takes umbrage at your talk and bashes your face in a few more times a la Brock Lesnar or Dan Henderson in the case of the pesky Michael Bisping. The only exception to the rule about trash talking is when you have fighters who choose trash talking as part of their persona. Mir did not start off this way, hence our dismay at this insidious drift which leaves him in no-man’s land because Mir is not an avowed heel.
Those who defend this trend as a way to drum publicity should think of the WWE and the fact that its recessive genes may find bothersome expression in UFC culture.
Cyberaxis to Frank Mir: Shut the fuck up and remember this UFC 100 drubbing every time you try to open your mouth. (Photo by Associated Press)
As for Frank, he in the interim, needs to decide whether his spiel is gonna veer more towards comedy which is pardonable or the-walk-the-talk realism which is permissible only if he can walk the talk. In the months and weeks prior to UFC 100, it veered more towards comedy and the people who were disinclined to cut him some slack forgave him because his life was clearly on the line.
Be that as it may, the trash talking against Lesnar, following Mir’s drubbing at UFC 100, created a monumental PR/image problems for the UFC veteran. There was some justifiable sense, pari passu, that Mir’s merciless drubbing and Lesnar’s over-the-top celebration was Mir’s deserved comeuppance. Yes, there are people who withheld sympathy for Mir because of his taunting of Lesnar.
If Frank wasn’t such an insecure prick, he’d be very likable. He’s very good on the WEC as a analyst, but once you put an opponent in front of him, he becomes a tool. What’s funny is that he seems to fluctuate between the insecure toolishness and genuine goodness that he possesses. During the Countdown show, he said Kongo’s striking was mediocre. Then at the pre-fight presser today, he says that he’s a great striker and that he will look to take the fight to the ground. Very interesting guy, he just needs to realize that he’s a great fighter and doesn’t need to mask his insecurities with cockiness. (Spirona, Reader Comments, Five Ounces of Pain 12/10/09)
Mir should resolve to zip it up at this point and let his fighting do the talking, unless he wants to become “the Lesnar of the mouth” – which is really representative of the failure of inner PR.
“The best lack all conviction,
While the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
(W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming)
Frank Mir was our sentimental favorite, but he just came in just too short (even on conviction) to win this fight tonight. Brock Lesnar, on the other hand, was all business, coming in as he did with the resolve and sangfroid of a fighter who had run a thousand winning scenarios through his head. The live-cams minutes before the fight told an intriguing story; Frank Mir was kick-sparring with a trainer while Lesnar sat down in his room looking almost bored. As they say back in Texas, “that one pi’ture” was worth a thousand words.
Reality Check: The doomsday scenario we posted on this morning almost came true. Frank Mir almost got pummeled into oblivion (Full video clip here while it lasts) before the referee stopped the fight at about 1’44″ in the second round; something we had also envisioned by way of blog prediction.
The end was written all over the lop-sided first round. After taking down and mounting Mir in the first round, Lesnar locked Mir’s head against his chest with his left arm while tenderizing Mir’s rib cage and face with those canned hams Lesnar calls fists. It almost ended as an uncanny replay of Brock Lesnar vs Min Soo Kim.
The strength and near total domination of Mir by Lesnar was self-evident, even to little ol’ ladies watchin’ from rocking chairs in bayou trailer parks. Mir looked pre-anesthetized like quarry just before a pursuing big cat closes in on it and rips out its guts. Watch how calmly Frank Mir lay beneath Brock Lesnar as the latter pummeled his face and armpit. Strange huh? Mir’s face was a certifiable mess at the end of that first round.
The second round started with a flash of engaging stand-up that saw a momentarily re-energized Mir throwing a short left hand and a couple of gutsy knees at Lesnar before being taken down again for the bloody finale. This time Mir found himself wedged between the cold hard fence and 265lbs of Brock Lesnar. The latter unleashed a punishing barrage of right-handed pummelings as Mir lay trapped beneath him. Soon Frank started to wink out and the referee, Herb Dean, rightfully jumped in and stopped the fight. Mir was wobbly and clearly disoriented, even up to the time he got up and tried to get into Lesnar’s face with blood dripping down his face. It “war’n't pretty that pi’ture”.
Stick A Fork In This One: This little rivalry is done. There were no surprises here – at least the second time around. Regardless of how he came into the UFC, Lesnar can now move on. Frank should start thinking of what he needs to do even begin thinking of fighting other androids like Lesnar in the future: namely beef up on pure, functional muscle before attempting to out-freak freaks. The UFC should take serious note here. Feeding otherwise good fighters to freak shows is neither interesting nor a good way to build organizational credibility. Randy Couture was (is) a good fighter. And so is Frank Mir. They just ran into a train named Brock Lesnar.
The Problem With Brock: Be that as it may, the drama following the victory announcement was worth the price of admission. In a rant heard around the world, Lesnar flew off the handle and dissed Budweiser, told the world what he might do to his wife come bedtime and flipped the collective bird at MMA fans. Brock had heard the MMA fan boos from day one and that double bird, far from being for just the fans at Mandalay Bay, was for MMA fans worldwide; the ones who have loved to hate his guts. As side shows go, this one was pretty intriguing and unlike scripted WWE disses, this one was heartfelt ….. both ways. MMA fans like July, were so incensed that calling Lesnar a “265 pound body (with the) brain of a five-year old” old was probably the least hurtful thing they could say of him. The Hairless One (Mr. Dana White) was not amused. He reportedly took Lesnar aside for a serious man-to-man talk in the bathroom. Come post-fight conference Lesnar was all smiles and noticeably more civil. He apologized for this post fight conduct and even came in with a Budweiser in hand instead of the Coors Light he had been ranting about. (Budweiser is one of the UFC sponsors.)
What the hell is Brock on?
A flying banzai finale for the good ol' US of A: Dan Henderson delivers a cathartic coup de grace after a Hail Mary right hand knocked the petulant Brit out cold.
Never Believe The Hype: With one exception, UFC 100 failed to live up to its pre-fight hype, courtesy Joe Rogan and company. And that exception was Henderson’s spectacular knock-out of the pesky Bisping with a Hail Mary right hand and banzai finish, as he mouthy Brit lay motionless on the canvas. It was a cathartic and later controversial finish to an otherwise staid two rounds which saw the workman-like Californian throw right-handed bombs that missed their mark 99% of the time. But perceptive fans knew it was just a matter of time before one of Henderson’s scuds landed. When it did, the stadium erupted the way it would have had Frank Mir knocked the head off of Brock Lesnar.
Bisping was so out cold that when he came to he appeared to be saying “Where am I? What day is it?” . See Henderson knock out Bisping at MMA Hits here (while the video still exists). Then check out the gory pics of UFC 100 here under “Wild nights of fights at UFC.
Of the many possibilities floating out there in the waning hours before UFC 100 is a sobering one: Frank Mir could get seriously hurt. Far from being idle speculation, this is a possibility that is more probable than the other way round; that is Brock Lesnar getting seriously hurt at the hands of Frank Mir. And as crass as it might sound, this is one eventuality book-makers may be willing to put some money on.
“My striking’s not bad either,” he said. “That’s a big SOB (Lesnar weighed in at 265 but will be rehydrated to around 280 at fight time; Mir weighed in at 245). Those are big canned hams coming at your head. I don’t care how good you are. That’s a lot of man and a lot of strength to go toe-to-toe with. You’ve got to try to tie him up and get inside his punches to deal with him. I still think it’s a bad idea no matter how good you are to just stand in front of a guy that big.” (Randy Couture to Mike Chiappeta, MMA Fan House)
Cut Android: Brock Lesnar can inflict some serious damage.
So the caveat for Frank Mir as he steps into that octagon is to be careful (as much as a fighter who is trying to blow another fighter’s head off can be.) In this connection the standing advice to the referee would be to be as on top of the fight as Steve Mazzagati was on the last one. The only fact mitigating this doomsday scenario is Brock Lesnar’s relative inability to fully deploy his brutish strength. But even with that, he is still a freak of nature that relatively weaker fighters need to look out for.
Just a few final thoughts in these, the waning hours before UFC 100.
Everyone is betting and banking on Brock Lesnar beating the snot out of Frank Mir come July 11, 2009, but nobody is talking about whether the fight will be a great fight. We think not. In terms of the size and weight differential, this fight might as well be entitled “neighborhood bully bounces the local paper boy”. Couture vs Lesnar had the same lopsided tale-o’-tape stats.
Don’t Believe The Hype: The sizzle coming out of UFC Central is all fabricated hype. Joe Rogan and Dana White have to sell as many tickets as they can. Don’t believe the hype. The only time this fight will turn remotely interesting is if Frank Mir wins – which would be an accidental thriller after the fact. (But even that could turn into a frigging dud too, depending on how Mir would have done it.)
The odds of this fight being great are middling to nil - unless of course Mir pulls off another upset.
The reason why a Mir surprise win would spice things up has to do with the 30/70% odds against Mir; which makes him the certified underdog. If Frank Mir wins, as he quite possibly may, the Mandalay Bay arena will erupt into organized mayhem and a millions of MMA fans watching at home will snort their Root Beer along with their partly masticated nachos. ( Paper boy bounces up neighborhood bully!)
The overwhelming force that Lesnar unleashed against Mir at the beginning of the first round of UFC 81 makes a Lesnar victory a foregone conclusion. In that sense a Lesnar victory would not make for any exciting news breaks. (Neighborhood bully bounces local paper boy.) Given the speed and agility Lesnar has already demonstrated, that 25lb weight and size difference is gonna be too hard for Mir to overcome.
On Being Like Lyoto: On second thoughts we think Mir could benefit a little by taking a coupla pages out of the Lyoto Machida playbook, but that is easier said than done. Frank Mir is no Lyoto Machida and Lyoto Machida has never faced a brute like Brock Lesnar. But having said that, fleet-footed evasiveness while delivering punishing leg kicks and (where safe) pin-point blows to the head may be Mir’s best chance of surviving rounds one and two, (if the fight goes that far.) Round three would be a time to go for broke by closing the gap and taking his chances with submitting the beast. If Mir brings questionable toughness or weak-ass cardio, it will be over before it has even begun.
Of Brock Lesnar & Sir Charles: Brock Lesnar reminds us a lot of another athlete from a different sport: Sir Charles Barkley. Both are physically imposing athletes with a skill quotient that gives their physical prowess a run for its money. But there is a downside to being Yokozuna in a sport that glorifies speed, agility and Michael Jordanesque skill.
Call Your Balls: (Otherwise what’s the fun?) We are calling this fight for Lesnar by a referee stoppage in the first or second round. But our sentimental favorite to win this by a submission in the first or third round, is Frank Mir. A knockout would be nice, but we are no dreamers.
Enter The Dragon:The UFC coming of a Shotokan wunderkind named Lyoto Machida.
Until the Friday morning of June 5, 2009, the much anticipated Machida-Jackson matchup in UFC 104 had been sending out Jurassic Park tremors felt and seen even by little old ladies sipping tea in Bayou trailer parks. The reason for the techtonic “thump, thump, thump” heard around the world, had not been some Jurassic Park monster, but a Shotokan wunderkind named Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. His showdown with Quinton Jackson for the UFC light heavyweight championship would have roiled the masses, and made Mir vs Lesnar look like an undercard of a three-month fight card …. if you get our drift.
This tantalizing scenario was a distinct possibility until that Friday morning when the equally earth-shaking announcement was made that the much anticipated fight would not happen. Reason? Well, nobody really knows the real reason except Quinton Jackson and Dana White. The story that is being fed the masses is that it was Quinton Jackson who made the final decision to nix the Machida-Jackson title fight in favor of fighting the loser of UFC 98. In other words he was chosing to fight a dethroned gadabout, Rashad Evans instead of the man who had handed him his head in UFC 98 which would stand him a chance of winning back his light heavyweight belt. Makes sense? No?
Well, don’t try too hard because very little makes sense here. The first problem has to do with Quinton Jackson himself who is less than convincing when he tries to tell the world why he is choosing to fight a loser. Locker room humor is no substitute for telling the truth:
Money? Settling a personal score? Jackson sounds like he is dissembling here. The best he stands to win from this is a bit of PPV chump change (if you buy his arguments) but this would really be coming at the expense of whatever credibility he has had as a fighter and career strategist. We believe Jackson when he says that he isn’t afraid of Machida but we also know that he knows he cannot beat Machida at this point in time – which could “splain” the business calculus that went into this. So the fans who are suspicious of his motives when he bobs, ducks and weaves around the question of dodging Machida, are not as crazy as he would like the world to believe. Jackson’s attempt to pooh pooh the fans’ skepticism just pits his shaky credibility against thousands of fans.
Despite the power and mofo swagga, did Jackson blink when faced with the prospect of an almost certain defeat at the hands of Lyoto Machida?
The truth may very well be that Jackson is trying to extend his 15 minutes of fame here; The same 15 minutes that would be eclipsed by a lopsided loss to Machida. Losses at certain junctures of a fighter’s life can create a tricky slippery slope. Just ask Chuck Liddell, or Wanderlei Silva for that matter. The damage can be perceptual, mental, financial or a deleterious combination of all of the three. Talking about which, watch Rashad Evans trying to dig himself out from the deep hole Machida left him in at UFC 98. Existing perceptions of him aside, Evans comes across in that video as a sympathetic, down to earth contender who is willing to shuck former octagon theatrics and eat crow where he deserves to eat crow; a situation which kind of takes the air out of Jackson’s contention that he is fighting Evans for “getting in his face” after his fight with Jardine.
Mauricio Rua will now take Jackson’s place in the Machida/Rua fight at UFC 104 in Los Angeles. This fight will just not pack as much of a media and emotional wallop as Machida/Jackson fight would have. The argument that Jackson’s grudge against Rashad Evans took precedence over winning back his light heavy-weight title is just plain hooey. Rashad, especially after Machida, doesn’t even have the makings of a worthy arch rival. Forget about that staged confrontation following UFC 92. It was tripe and bad acting straight from the cheesiest Vince McMahon playbook.
Message in a bottle: We will probably never know what went on behind the scenes to bring about the delay of the Machida/Jackson fight, but it certainly wasn’t good for MMA. While it may conceivably be good for the “green core” (read that dollars and cents), it certainly isn’t good for the “hard core” which is the spirit of MMA. This smacks too much of the decisions that brought about the inexplicable ascendance of Brock Lesnar to the top of the heavyweight division. Such decisions breed skepticism and make fans step back the way some boxing fans stepped back from Don King and company when the management and promotional jinks just got funkier and funkier. What this means in practical terms to UFC 104 for example, is that some fans who may have shelled out $45 for Pay Per View or flown to Los Angeles for the actual Machida/Jackson fight will either settle for seeing it in a local sports bar or read about it on the internet.
What this also portends for the more perceptive fans is that the UFC is a phenomenon that should be enjoyed from a safe tactical distance; which in practical termsmeans is not falling for every piece of hype and tripe of UFC. This way, they get to keep their wits about them, not to mention their money.
The fact of the matter is that UFC does not really need this crazy baggage … or taint. We hope the Fertitta brothers are reading this and someone talks to Dana White about keeping things on the up and up.
By way of background to an increasingly convoluted story, Lyoto Machida is the Shotokan specialist who punched out Rashad Evans in spectacular fashion at UFC 98 and set the MMA world a-flutter with talk of a new “Machida Era.” Hype or triumph? Read up on the buzz and decide for your self. And just to clear some people’s wilful cobwebs, it was Dana White himself who averred that Jackson would be the first to take a shot at Machida’s title. He accented to this at the post-UFC 98 press conference:
To be fair, he did not say where or when the fight would happen, but he did mention that it would coincide with the first defence of Machida’s title, which would make it UFC 104. Now given that admission, it stretches credibility to a breaking point that the final word on the fight would be left to someone as external to the management loop as Quinton Jackson.
Jackson is to Machida what Rua will never be: No man is invincible, but Machida looks impressive right about now. His last two wins have established him as an uber technician who combines speed with power and accuracy in ways that are unprecedented in MMA. (Check out “The Machida Era Begins” by Richard Hubbard at Nokaut)
After his impressive win over Evans, his seventh in the UFC, Machida is now set to face fellow compatriot Mauricio Rua whose aggressive stand-up is a clear foil to his counter-striking style. While from a technical standpoint, the fight has the potential of igniting jaw-dropping pyrotechnics, it just doesn’t pack the same wallop on an stylistic and iconographic level. While the outcome of a Machida-Jackson fight was a foregone conclusion, it still made for a more intriguing fight than Machida vs Rua will ever be. And the reason has to do with what Machida vs Jackson represented (The old vs the new with a tinge of the corn-fed vs the range-fed rivalry, if you get our drift.)
Jackson, a tough-as-nails Pride vet who brings a Tysonesque frenzy to the octagon would have been a perfect foil to Machida; a martial artist whose will o’ wisp elusiveness is only matched by his blinding speed. The two fighter’s physical stats are almost identical. However Machida’s speed and south-paw/back leaning style would have created serious problems for Jackson. Very few fighters have figured out how to deal with Machida’s extended “event horizon.” He creates it by a spring-loaded left foot that is always cocked on a hair trigger. The quick retraction of that foot upon devastating impact may be one of the secrets behind the Machida mojo. He retracts it to create tactical distance as well as regain balance in almost zero time. It is this very foot that took the air out of Evans before Machida moved in for the coup de grace. (That short video clip will be studied for years to come.)
Jackson’s problem would not only have been his vulnerability to kicks ( four of his seven losses have been due to knees and kicks), but his lack of speed in and outside of the clinch zone. Jackson would have been a conventional fighter in a fight that would have been anything but conventional. His 30 fights would have been nothing but an open book for Machida to study and dissect before stepping into the ring to blow his head off. Jackson would have been a sitting duck short of bringing something new to the octagon; a prospect which would have been as unlikely as his victory. Perhaps more than anything, Jackson’s bull-headedness would have stood to do him in quicker than Machida’s “fists of fury.”
UFC104 at the Staples Center in September 2009 down-graded to a shootout between fellow Brazilians Machida and Rua. This fight card, while good, will not lead to the PPV Lolapalooza that Jackson vs Machida would have garnered.
UFC 104 with Machida vs Jackson would have clearly overshadowed UFC 100 by a long shot. Pay Per View would have gone through the roof because of people clamoring to see how the newest kid on the block was gonna put a Shotokan kibosh on one of MMA’s toughest muthas. The dojo vs the mean streets. Brilliant!
Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar is gonna be big in its own right, but there is a relative limit to how big it can get because of what it represents; namely more of the same. Machida vs Jackson would have been different; the charge of the new light brigade versus the old …. and all on a tab and timetable that would have pleased MMA fans to no end. After the Brock Lesnar fandango, Dana White at least owed MMA fans that much.
The fair breeze blew,
The white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
Samuel Coleridge Taylor
(Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner)
"O Novo Dragao," Lyoto Machida: The UFC coming of a Shotokan wunderkind.
“In the year of the Dragon
Lots of men disappear,
It’s quiet as a cat
It will be back next year”
Lauryn Hill, The Fugees
Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida gives an intriguing peek into the kind of fighter Bruce Lee would have been had the UFC existed in his time. (Yes, beyond big screen pyrotechnics, Bruce Lee had serious street game. The story of what he did to a thug who challenged him on the set of one of his movies is the stuff of urban legend.) Hyperbole? Perhaps, but not one that is without substance. Granted that Shotokan Karate is not Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee’s style), one has to admit that both styles are strike-based systems in a field dominated by anything but strike based systems from the martial arts side. Machida’s style relies on speed, accuracy and tactical elusiveness. Ditto the style that brought Bruce Lee fame. Both styles are predicated on a classic mind-over-matter philosophy.
Enter “O Novo Dragao” Lyoto Machida, the Shotokan “wunderkind” who methodically obliterated Rashad Evans in the second round of a UFC 98 match-up to claim the light heavyweight champion of the UFC on May 23, 2009. The way Rashad hit the canvass, with neck and extremities at odd angles stunned everyone, including people who thought he was gonna be knocked out.
Don't Taze Me Bro! The body of Rashad Evans succumbs to the cumulative power and precision of a Machida barrage as if to the charge of an electric tazer.
The textbook dismantling of a young tough who could have equally knocked Machida’s head off, signified the catalyzation of a style first seen in a 2003 MMA debut in Japan. So inspite of the more dramatic UFC wins, it has been something of a “long and winding road.” Machida debuted in the UFC at UFC 67 against Sam Hogar on February 3, 2007. He did not realize his first knock out until his fifth UFC fight, wich was UFC 94 against compatriot Thiago Silva in January of 2009.
The deafening buzz around Machida sounds premature until one realizes that he is bringing to the UFC something it has never had; a Karateka champion. Far beyond hype, this is something that brings undeniable sizzle to the UFC and launches it into a stratosphere, light years removed from boxing and other less eclectic forms of fighting. The thrill of seeing a lean-and-mean Bruce Lee-like fighter beat the crap out of beefier brawlers is the stuff of UFC lore that will be written in dollars and cents to the nth exponent. Dana White and the Fertitta brothers are creaming their pants right now- and for a good reason. Machida represents something they haven’t had since Chuck Liddel; a poster boy for an organization sorely in need of one. The urine drinking, well ….. that is a story for another day. If Machida lasts past the first defence of his new-fangled title, Dana White and the Fertitta brothers make a lot of money. If not, oh well …. Next!
The upside and downside of a Machida legacy: The upside of what Machida can do to the UFC playbook has been on full display since UFC 79 when Machida triangle choked Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou in December 0f 2007. After that he bested Tito Ortiz at his own game (no mean feat by the way) he then went on to knock out Thiago Silva and Rashad Evans within the short space of just 12 months. In that feat, he held an unforgiving mirror to the lacunae in established UFC styles; the lack of effective counter-striking as a key strategy in a fighter’s arsenal.
The downside to Machida’s possible legacy lies with less gifted fighters who may try to cop his style in ways that make them look like the Ginger Rogers troupe of the octagon. (Talk about an endless source of boo-worthy performances …..) Machida himself has been criticized for this and with good reason. His reliance on other fighters to commit first makes him look like a weasly opportunist as opposed to a ballsy fighter. And if you watch his past fights, you will notice that he appears quite timid in that he does not utilize most counter-striking opportunities after the other fighter strikes out and misses. Machida cannot afford the “weasly opportunist” tag – and neither can his clones. This weasly trend needs to be nipped in the bud and a good place to start would be with Machida’s own trainers.
Maiming from outside the strike zone: A nuveau clinic by Lyoto Machida
Chuck Liddell does it; That is the back-pedalling/counter-striking thing, but Lyoto Machida does it with the method and aplomb of a classically trained artist, just like his father Yoshizo Machida taught him. The tactically conceived foot-movement: left and right, right and left and back and forth diagonally. This is not movement by numbers but motion and counter-motion by necessity because nothing in the Yoshizo manual is wasted or choreographed by rote.
Machida gets away with what he does because lately he has established himself as a premier striker who puts it all together with stunning speed and accuracy. In real terms this equals power by an inordinate exponent for a man who is quite slight compared to his more corn-fed opponents. His strategy appears to be built on four words: hair trigger counter defence. (with the notable exception of when he is not utilising more conter-striking opportunities when his opponents commit and miss.) Machida’s style is proving to be quite devastating in an organization that hasn’t seen the likes of it.
The thing we noticed during Machida’s fight with Evans was that for all his back-pedalling, Machida really projected an extended event horizon created primarily by his left foot, which was always spring-loaded and ready to deliver tenderizing kicks to the head or rib cage. Add to that the tremendously fast and accurate fists of fury and you had the makings of an event horizon that swallowed Evans whole.
In The Name of the Father: Yoshizo Machida - Pater Familias of the Machida clan (Enter 36 Chambers Wutang's style). Lyoto Machida credits his father with crafting his style.
In the name of the father: There is meticulous method beyond the Machida reserve that comes to the son straight from a 5′ 6″ father who had to devise a fighting style that brooked no waste. The result? A 65% strike accuracy and 84% takedown defence. (These numbers differ in some reports.) The legendary footwork, among other things, makes Machida’s movement look less like a break-and-run performance. His backward movement seamlessly meshes with lateral and diagonal movements in a way that makes what he is doing less blatant – but there are limits to doing this without raising the ire of fans and detractors.
Tito Ortiz, who says he wants to take the light heavyweight title from the new champion, has already called Machida out on this. Chiding Machida for his penchant for running during fights prior to his most recent UFC victories, Tito wondered if Machida would learn to stand and fight as a champion. Paraphrased fighting words to that effect. (Tom Ngo, 5th Round)
Eyes on the prize: Lyoto Machida makes up for lack of eyes in the back of his head by fully using the ones he has. (More on this later)
UFC 104: Machida is not gonna be fighting Quinton Jackson as Dana White had intimated at the post fight press conference of UFC 98. Instead, compatriot Mauricio Rua is gonna step up to the plate for the first shot at Machida’s title.
Read about why UFC 104 is not gonna be the same without Quinton Jackson, a tested Pride veteran who has historically relished to walk where angels fear to tread. What gives this time? His big hairy balls attitude would have made for a very entertaining fight.
UFC 100 is here, and so is Frank Mir’s chance of a lifetime to represent MMA values at their best in the much-anticipated David versus Goliath re-match with putative title-holder, Brock Lesnar (3-1-0). (Check out the Yahoo countdown to UFC 100. Click on the video player for the pre-fight previews.)
At about 30% versus a whopping 70% for Lesnar, very few bettors are giving Mir much of a chance of kicking Lesnar’s butt and pulling off another upset, UFC 81 style. But that’s really neither here nor there where hard-core MMA fans are concerned.
Mir of the Gods (right) vs The Brock in UFC 100 at the Mandalay Bay on July 11, 2009: A possible thriller in the making following the electrifying seconds of UFC 81.
Win Place Or Show: All Mir has to do is come in the best shape of his life and represent MMA the way Randy Couture represented it at UFC 91. What that means is that, win or lose, Mir can still show the world what the heart, mind and soul of a tried-and-true MMA pugilist is all about; namely drop-dead skill unencumbered by presumptions of force. This approach calls for a different kind of approach …. A different kind of method. (A page from Lyoto Machida‘s book could perhaps be helpful, but we can’t say for sure.)
Of Mixed Martial Arts and Pachyderms: If there ever was an elephant-in-the-room question, it is simply this: Who is best suited to carry the UFC banner into a post-Liddell world? Or put another way: Who is best suited to be one of the poster boys, not just for UFC, but MMA at large? In certain ways this question is bigger than who is gonna win this hyped-up tournament, right up there with the need to split the heavyweight division so that size does not become the inordinate factor in determining who wins or loses.
Our no-brainer vote goes with Frank Mir. Why? Well, he has the skills, smarts and spirit of what MMA is all about for starters. Which leads us to believe that beyond MMA pugilism, Mir has a future as an MMA commentator, the wry trash talking schtick notwithstanding. Brock Lesnar is a contender, but he still has a long way to go before he, pound-for-pound, starts matching the mettle of fighters like Mir and Couture et al.
“(Brock Lesnar) wants to smash me to smithereens and put his fist down my throat, which I understand. But I want to choke him unconscious until he does the fish on the ground.” Frank Mir mouthing off about UFC 100 at the Arnold Classic 2009 Expo. Oi vei!
But the beauty of UFC 100 is that beyond representin’, Mir could pull off an upset of Lesnar by yet another submission. He just has to find a way to weather the initial barrage that Lesnar may unleash on him. If Mir can find a way to inflict punishing leg kicks on Lesnar’s without being grounded and pounded, then he will have a tool that may just win him the fight. Without full leg power and balance, Lesnar’s explosiveness in the stand-up game would not be possible. But the strategy is fraught with all kinds of dangers for Mir as UFC 81 demonstrated. The moment Mir tried to kick Lesnar’s leg, he got grounded and pounded almost into oblivion. Most fighters tend to leave themselves open to immediate counter-attack not to mention momentary loss of balance in average kick situations. Lyoto Machida has a way to deal with this. Firstly, he delivers his kicks from way out of the strike zone. And secondly he employs tremendous speed and retracts his leg immediately upon impact to regain instant balance.
Mir’s other vulnerability lies in possibly getting caught by one of Lesnar’s iron fists and losing his wits. The Lesnar right hand, that knocked Heath Herring on his ass and tumbled him like a bowling pin, is still awe-inspiring in its power, speed and sinewy reach. Check the slow motion replay of that blow and you will become an instant believer in how dangerous Lesnar can be on his feet. Notice how his feet for the perfect spring-board for that reach. It’s almost as if Herring didn’t have the time to block that right hand or get out of the way.
Mir will be particularly vulnerable in the average ground-and-pound situation because of Lesnar’s amazing strength. This is why Mir needs tremendous strength to be able to wiggle out of dangerous mount situations Heath Herring-style. Mir nearly lost UFC 81 when Lesnar took him down at will and started raining those knuckled bricks upon his head. The video is still a thriller to watch.
The sangfroid of a chessmaster & stealth of an anaconda - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu wunderkind and all round Mr. Nice Guy, Frank Mir: The Nogueria fight proved that he is no softie when it comes to decking formidable opponents on cue. On the side, UFC & Dana White could use his candid & perceptive style of fight analysis.
Endgame Scenarios: Do not get us wrong. We think Mir will fight a nervy, smart fight and never fall into the trap of trying to out-Brock Brock Lesnar: i.e. rushing him Tank Abott style or trying to land a Liddell-style haymaker. Beyond his own strength and conditioning, Mir is gonna need a couple of mistakes on the part of Lesnar to open the door for him. And given Lesnar’s inexperience, there is a good chance that he will open that door once or twice. (While on the subject we here at Cyberaxis would give a lot to find out what kind of a chin Lesnar has on that thick neck of his. A well placed blow, right on the button like the shot that brought down Gonzaga will answer that question in a Las Vegas second. But we digress. Mir ain’t no Carwin and Lesnar ain’t no Gonzaga.)
Lesnar’s strategic challenges are not as diminutive as they may appear at first. The question of the night is, does he rush Mir and bounce him off the octagon floor the way he did Heath Herring at the beginning of UFC 87 or does he settle for feeling him out until a great attack opportunity presents itself? If he settles for the rope-a-dope or odd mount fight that he had with Herring, our money is on Frank Mir to put a sneaky kibosh on the Brock’s ass . Short of Lesnar making some stupid mistake in the first round, Mir’s best strategy beyond inflicting punishing leg kicks, would to evade or smother Lesnar’s power in the earlier rounds and then moving in on him like an anaconda. Yep. Lesnar does need choking, before being relegated to the Butterbean realm of the super heavyweight division.
Skill Over Size: Frank Mir puts the kibosh on Brock Lesnar in UFC 81 and temporarily quietens the waters roiled by Brock Lesnar's fast tracked ascension to heavyweight championship.
See update to this story under “UFC 100 Postmortem” below. The full video of the fight can for the time being be located at regretfulmorning.com here.
Beyond collegiate wrestling, Brock Lesnar has always been something of a square peg in a round hole; way too physical for WWE pro wrestling but less than stellar for Mixed Martial Arts pugilism. His hyper-physicality in pro-wrestling was scary and always on the edge of bruising realism. Watch some of the clips spliced into this ESPN interview and you will see how dangerous some of his moves, pro-training or not, were. Had he stayed in pro wrestling, chances are he could have seriously hurtor killed somebody. Says a perceptive poster in the hornet’s nest that is Youtube:
“Lesnar was a liability in the wrestling ring. He injured people on basic moves. He was too green to the pro wrestling circuit. Yes, he had a good amateur background, but pro wrestling is different … He was a modern version of the ultimate warrior, period. He had potential but……” Moparfan16201 (Youtube)
So Lesnar’s decision to join MMA, where the fighting is honest-to-goodness and almost bare-knuckle made a lot of sense, even though characterizes it in his ESPN interview as writing his story backwards from entertainment to serious fighting instead of the other way around. The belief that he could cut it in the octagon was therefore not without foundation.
But once Lesnar made that decision, the first thing he should have done was hire an image consultant and an MMA guru to rid him of that WWE patina and shepherd his career up the slippery slope. Why? Because in the cultish underground that is still MMA, professional wrestling is a four-letter word and as far from Mixed Martial Arts as the earth is from Mars. MMA fans are reflexively repulsed by the the booger-flicking shenanigans of pro wrestling stars. With very few exceptions, they even scoff at boxing as a corrupt and over-regulated sham of a show.
The Brock: Always a commanding physical presence, before his rope-a-dope tussle with Heath Herring in UFC 87. Will he ever be the poster boy for Dana White's flagship?
Lesnar had everything going for him, including an all-American rags to riches story. Brought up in Webster, South Dakota a small town near Minnesota of less than 2000 people, Lesnar had the ready-made All-American tale of a boy who grew up on a struggling prairie farm in foreclosure on the edge of the West. His upbringing was pretty typical until he began to distinguish himself in high school football and wrestling which paved the way to division one NCAA championships before Vince McMahon of WWE fame came calling with wads of cash. The fame and fortune of the WWE proved was offset by certain unpalatable aspects of life on the road. A failed trial stint with the Minnesota Vikings 2004 eventually led Lesnar to Dana White and UFC’s door in 2007. After about three fights later with the pounding of Heath Herring in UFC 87 and Randy Couture in UFC 91, Lesnar was officially in, the controversies about how he got his shot at the heavyweight title notwithstanding.
Mission one for Brock Lesnar at that point would have been to keep his mouth shut like the dumb half of Penn & Teller. He did not do that as it wasn’t quite his nature. He was mildly booed at one of the fights. Mission two would have been to keep a low, self-deprecating profile. He did not quite pull that one off either. Doing what is antithetical to his WWE genes and touchy disposition, would have placed him in great PR position in addition to creating catnip for the press. Yes, there are a lot of blow-hards in MMA like Tito Ortiz, but they do have insider creds earned in the blood and grit of the octagon. (Now come to think of it, Tito would be the perfect replacement for Lesnar in the WWE wrestling, wouldn’t he? )
Brock Lesnar’s yellow brick road to heavyweight gold: The question of how Lesnar got a shot at the heavyweight title belt after beating a couple of nobody’s has never been satisfactorily answered. It thus continues to taint his championship as much as his WWE pedigree has done. No matter how many “towel baths” he takes, the vestigial funk remains beneath the splashed on fragrance. Forget about his collegiate wrestling genes, because they did little to mold his ring persona in the WWE. And if all that was just acting, why is his octagonal persona turning out to be a villainous version of the thug he was in WWE? MMA fans are not making him do it because Lesnar is an adult on a stage that does not require WWE theatrics. The truth of the matter is that his collegiate wrestling genes have done nothing to keep him grounded in the UFC. Could the truth be that there was always a little thug (also know as a “heel”) inside Brock even through those collegiate years? Well, the truth of the matter is that Lesnar has never made any secret of the kick he gets out of manhandling others and his touchiness and the scraps he got into during his brief stint with the Vikings are not classified information.
The octagon is the last place one would look for character or character quirks. Be that as it may, the way in which fighters present themselves is definitely a legitimate subject for discussion. There is certainly a point at which playing “the heel” persona reaches a point of diminishing returns, if and when things don’t careen out of control before that. UFC 100 was one such event. The Q.E.D. is in the post-fight apology given by Brock Lesnar for his reprehensible conduct.
The other point of Lesnar’s P.R. hurdle is that no matter how big Lesnar gets, there will always be some asterisk next to how he captured the heavyweight title in the first place when there was a long list of more deserving fighters (who could have fought Couture in UFC 91.) This speaks to the integrity of the process and how money-driven decisions are. At some point there is an inverse relationship between the business and what passes for “sport”, and to say that it doesn’t matter is as dumb as saying that sports is all that matters.
The Other Pachyderm In The Room: But having said all of that let us look at the other side of the coin with a non-jaundiced eye. The Lesnar controversy may very well be MMA fans refusing to take their coffee enema. In that connection here is some food for thought: When a WWE star comes into the UFC under current rules and grabs the so-called undisputed heavyweight title within the short space of 4 fights, what does that say about MMA and its hallowed fighters? … Or the WWE and its sun-tanned “showboats”?
You sleep on that and call us in the morning. But lest you develop a headache, the key to the dilemma caused by the Lesnar situation lies in splitting the heavyweight division with guys like Lesnar falling into the super heavyweight division. (The 45lb difference in the case of Lesnar vs Couture, was, all things almost being equal, unconscionable. And the 20lb difference in the case of Lesnar vs Mir falls into a gray area that ought to be vigorously debated.)
Brock Lesnar: The William’s sisters effect – The surface irony in all of this is that Brock Lesnar will do to the UFC heavyweight division what the Williams sisters did to women’s professional tennis by merging size and physical prowess with skill. After the Williams sisters, women’s tennis was never the same. After Brock Lesnar, the UFC’s heavyweight division will never be the same.
The most perceptive article following the Lesnar/Couture fight was written by Franklin McNeil of the Star-Ledger in Newark. Couture’s quoted comments in that article were succinct and to the point:
“[The division] is getting stronger and stronger,” Couture said. “Brock is a great indication of where the division is going. “Guys aren’t just big anymore, they’re very good athletes. … There are a lot of good guys in the division now.”
UFC 100 which brings Lesnar back into the octagon against Frank Mir, the only man to hand him a defeat in MMA, will be eagerly anticipated but the out-come will be foregone unless Mir comes out in serious shape multiplied by an exponent of two. Guys like Mir represent the best of MMA’s roots, but unless the divisions are further split up by weight, the day will always belong to fast moving ground-and-pound hulks like Lesnar.
The Tell-Tale Tale of Body Language: An interesting aside as you watch Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir is the ESPN post victory interview following the Lesnar/Couture fight: Watch the verbal-cum-body language exchanges between Lesnar and Mir carefully. You will see that beyond Mir’s neutral role as co-interviewer, he is really conceding a lot of physical and symbolic space to Lesnar like the marginal player he is in danger of becoming. Lesnar, on his part, is hogging it and giving little or nothing back. This has to do with what the two say, how the say it and the extent to which they turn to acknowledge the other. For someone who had tusseled mano-a-mano with Lesnar, Mir didn’t have to defer to Lesnar that much. Even though this was not a weigh-in or a pre-fight stare down, Mir could have still projected himself as an equal, if not more deserving holder of the heavy weight title. But we could possibly be mis-reading Frank Mir’s unassuming Mr. Nice Guy persona here. But we seriously doubt it.
That said, there is an undeniable Brock Lesnar effect that every heavyweight contender now has to deal with. In that sense the upcoming Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir will shape itself up as another David vs Goliath tussle, with Goliath pummeling little David into the ground in zero time. Unless Lesnar decides to pace himself, unlike in UFC 81 where he made a “fatal” mistake, the fight is gonna be another 60 seconds of ground and pound that won’t add much to MMA lore. And it is gonna be this way until a SKILLED fighter of greater or equal physical stature finds the many chinks in Lesnar’s armor. Remember Chuck “the Iceman” Liddel who dominated the octagon in a brief shining moment between UFC 47 in 2004 and UFC 66 in 2006? Well, he had a chink in his armor and Randy Couture, Rampage Jackson, “Sugar” Rashad Evans and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua found it. In Chuck Liddel’s case it was a combination of being a one trick pony (heavy striker with no chin and unorthodox hands down stance) with a rumored knack for partying that some said would catch up with him sooner than later. Injuries of the MCL and a middle finger in UFC 66 with Tito Ortiz further etched the writing on the wall for the Iceman.
The chink in Brock Lesnar’s armor is simply this: If you take away his size, weight, freakish strength and speed, you don’t have much left. The only attribute that approximates skill in that line up is speed, and that alone, doth not a superior fighter make.
. See Henderson knock out Bisping at 
