"It Hits All By Itself"

UFC 97, Anderson Silva, and the Transformation of a Mixed Martial Artist

The Fight

Being 10 days removed from the night of the championship fight between Anderson Silva and challenger Thales Leites, the sting of initial disappointment and a $45.00 pay-per-view charge has likely worn off, allowing for a more objective look at the middleweight fight. With expectations adjusted, Silva's performance in particular may be reassessed with a lessened sense of outrage, and cooler heads might prevail.

Anderson Silva delivered a very good fight.

It wasn't perfect. As in all things, balance is integral to the art of fighting. Finesse and style, which Silva demonstrated in abundance, require aggression and power, violence, in near equal measure. And while Silva may have left something of the latter to be desired, he nevertheless delivered an intriguing performance, ripe with promise and implication.

Defensively, Silva fought a perfect fight. That he absorbed no appreciable damage is remarkable, more so than people give him credit for, considering that he was fighting a widely recognized top-10 middleweight in Leites, and, second, that there are, from standing strikes to takedowns to submission attempts, a myriad number of ways to come under fire.

Offensively, Silva may have failed to deliver the visceral, high-impact attack of his previous fights. Maybe the most frustrating and puzzling was the lengthy feeling-out process of the first round. However, looking over his other fights, one can see that Silva has always started slow, preferring to feel what his opponents' patterns and intended plans of attack were before mounting an offense himself. That Leites, perhaps noting this pattern, stubbornly refused to stake a claim with any meaningful strikes or takedown attempts drew out the exploratory process longer than usual. We can expect Silva to refine this process in order to guard against such a stalemate, similar to the way he is refining his arsenal of strikes and grappling.

Despite the difficult feeling-out period, Silva displayed an innovative, effective array of striking and grappling. Silva's sidekicks to the knees are, I believe, unprecedented on the larger stages of mixed martial arts, and will in several years time likely turn up more and more often, like the foot stomps that are now relatively common. Silva's punching skills, meanwhile, were in excellent form--as much as one might bemoan his lack of forward aggression, one must certainly appreciate that Silva delivered a great deal of punishment upon Leites' face with maximum efficiency.

Silva exhibited supreme tactical ability that night, though it wasn't thrilling. It also isn't the final stage in Silva's progression as a martial artist. What we have seen is a fighter in the midst of an evolution. Like any artist, Silva's perception and approach to his life and work is changing, and so his tools and the manner in which he utilizes them to express himself necessarily change. For us as an audience, such a period of transition can be difficult to understand and unsatisfying to watch. The artist, as a result, risks losing fans and supporters. Yet such a risk is a necessary step towards growth and greatness.

The Critics

Anderson Silva's tactical but reserved performance yielded no shortage of vitriol from fans and journalists alike. While their disappointment is to an extent understandable based simply on the fact that they didn't get what they expected, most of the indignation and criticism is hugely misplaced and overextended, and is indicative of double standards and a collective short memory that plague MMA.

Sherdog.com's play-by-play from that evening, their editorials following the fight, and their forums are emblematic of these problems.

"What may me remembered as the worst title fight in UFC history mercifully ends."

While the staff writing Sherdog's play-by-play may have remained doubtful on how history would view Silva vs. Leites, they made their own opinions abundantly clear as they related the action round by round.

Much of that evening's column was devoted to relating the anger of the arena crowd, which wouldn't be such a problem if it weren't for the fact that this preoccupation seemed to prevent the staff from fully describing the in-cage action. In particular, Silva's superior generalship of the cage and his brutally efficient flurry in the fifth round were barely mentioned, if at all. These were perhaps nuanced but nevertheless important facets of the match, and deserved greater attention from writers who, by writing for a major MMA media outlet, purport to have some greater understanding of the subject.

And to imply that this fight could be the worst title fight in history is, of course, totally unreasonable. Sylvia vs. Arlovski 3, and Sylvia vs. Monson are two ready examples of title fights that were for any number of reasons worse than Silva vs. Leites.

"Sport vs. Spectacle"

Sherdog.com's Jake Rossen's aforementioned article was rife with misconceptions and exaggerations.

He begins by claiming that Silva's satisfaction at remaining unscathed is akin to an Olympic diver's satisfaction at not getting wet. "So you didn't get wet. You also didn't get in the water," quips Rossen. Of course, what this crippled metaphor fails to recognize is that a martial artist can absolutely, realistically win a fight while remaining elusive and unmarked--being hurt is a likelihood but it is nowhere near as inevitable as getting wet is to winning a diving contest.

Such a glib statement might not warrant such attention were it not for the fact that it essentially provides the foundation for the whole essay. Rossen goes on to suggest that Silva was overly timid, and that he didn't show up to win so much as he showed up not to lose. I suppose it's a matter of opinion, but one born from poor powers of perception. Rather than timid or gun shy Silva appeared totally comfortable, with an interest in experimentation (the mixed results of which have already been noted above). When compared with Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski in their stilted third title fight, a contest that exemplifies fighting-not-to-lose, the claim that Silva is similarly guilty becomes more ridiculous--both Sylvia and Arlovski were dumb struck at each other's punching power to the point of inaction, and were obviously tallying up judges' points in their minds with every jab landed.

But perhaps there's a simple rebuttal to the claims that Anderson Silva wasn't fighting that night. It was written all over Leites' bruised and bloody face.

"Anderson Silva is an asshole"

Such statements flared up on the Sherdog.com message boards in reaction to Silva's assault on Leites' knees during the fight. The kicks and punches were too brutal, fans claimed, as they too-severely threatened Leites' future career. Never mind the knee bar attempts that go unremarked, the tremendous damage that wrestling does to the knees, or the fact that those complaining probably have no medical credentials or physiological expertise to speak of--these complaints are indicative of a couple strange contradictions and double standards endemic to MMA fans.

Specifically, how can Anderson Silva be vilified for being too vicious in his attacks and at the same time reviled for passivity? And, if the attacks on Leites' knees made such an impression on the fans, why weren't they better noted by the journalists? There's a huge gap in logic here, the source of which is not easily identified, but whose solution lies in greater conscientiousness and knowledge, which must be fostered by industry commentators.

And speaking of contradictions, how is it that Anderson Silva's elusive quality is labeled passive and boring, while Silva's training partner Lyoto Machida is hailed as a tactical master for similar in-cage behavior? One would imagine that an informed audience might be more receptive to Silva's developing tactics especially because Machida is his training partner, but this fact seems to go unremarked, and Silva's strategy is mislabeled as an unwillingness to engage.

"...this will all be forgotten."

Wrapping up his aforementioned article, Rossen asserted that were Silva to deliver a sensational knockout in his next fight, his championship bouts with Leites and recent contender Patrick Cote would be forgotten. While this is probably true, it presents a rather disturbing fact: the short, selective memory of the MMA world.

Rossen complains of Silva's unconcerned attitude towards critics and poses the question "What is a sport if not played for the amusement of others?" What he ignores is the fact that Silva has delivered to the audience, in astounding and violent fashion, his first seven outings in the UFC, and in yet many other fights before his Stateside campaign. How is it, then, that Silva doesn't deserve greater benefit of the doubt, that he hasn't earned more credit with fans and, more importantly, professional, ostensibly knowledgeable critics? It's a sad state of affairs when the good that someone has done serves to only further discredit his current imperfect efforts. And while the masses might be excused as having always been fickle (hence Silva's lack of concern with the booing arena), those writing on the subject ought to be responsible for maintaining a greater sense of perspective.

There's one more great misstep represented by Jake Rossen's article. He views the question of MMA as a balance of sport and spectacle, when it's more a matter of sport and art. It's right there in the name. There is a deep well of spiritual and psychological content to a high-level mixed martial arts fight that often goes unnoticed by fans and writers. Silva is a true martial artist in that he wishes to remain effective while at the same time evolve his medium and his place within it. He has to balance the part of his life that he owes to the public (the sport) with the part of his life that he owes to himself as an individual (the art). And paying mind to his own needs as an individual is no small or selfish thing--if he never did this, Anderson Silva as we know him would not exist. After all, it's because of his own desires and personal drive that he persisted in mixed martial arts at all.

The Future

His fight with Leites done and gone, Anderson Silva is rumored to have four fights left until his self-imposed retirement. The most pressing question, then, is what four fighters could Silva realistically take on in order to make a lasting impression on mixed martial arts history?

Below are four (excellent) choices for fights that will ensure a legacy. Matchmaking is proposed with the assumption that Silva wins each of his bouts.

1. Forrest Griffin
This fight is already signed, and it's a good choice coming off the heels of Silva's last, relatively flat title defense. A move up in weight ought to motivate Silva and get his killer instinct up, though predictions that Griffin will brawl are greatly exaggerated--my understanding is that that particular Griffin ceased to exist following his knockout loss to Keith Jardine. Fireworks or not, though, as an established Top-10 light-heavyweight and former champion Griffin is a formidable opponent and would make an excellent mark on Silva's ledger.

2. Yushin Okami
Box-office poison, but a necessary fight at middleweight. While the UFC brass might like to ignore Okami as much as possible, his 7-1-0 mark makes him a burgeoning presence in the middleweight title picture. The fact that Okami is not just the only fighter to defeat Silva in the last year, but also the only one currently active or relevant in the middleweight division makes this fight a must.

3. Wanderlei Silva
Anderson Silva called his one-time training partner's decision to continue his career at middleweight "pretentious." Wanderlei called them fightin' words. A contest between these two former Chute Boxe members would serve as an explosive curative for the ever-imminent but likely reserved fight between A. Silva and Okami. The history that the two Silva's have with each other--Wanderlei was the light heavyweight standout at Chute Boxe, while Anderson recalls being brushed aside and black listed by the clannish muay thai camp--would add a terrific amount of drama to a kill-or-be-killed sort of fracas. This fight would be an exciting farewell to the middleweight division.

4. Shogun Rua
With the middleweight division effectively cleared out, a third climb to light heavyweight would provide the proper summit for Anderson Silva to finally plant his flag. Once again exacting his special brand of ultra-violence on the light heavyweight division, the rebuilt Shogun Rua is the right man to test Silva's mettle, once and for all. A former Chute Boxe standout, Rua's relentless aggression would cut an interesting contrast against Silva's emerging, tactical approach to MMA and, again, a shared history adds a great deal of drama and implication. The one-time heir apparent to Wanderlei Silva's PRIDE championship, Rua would not only make an exciting last opponent for Anderson Silva, but also a poignant one. With this fight Anderson is not just given a shot at adding one of the biggest names in MMA to his list of conquests. He's also given the chance to write the last word on his personal history in mixed martial arts, from a floundering castaway to a pound-for-pound terror; and he gets to do it all on the head and body of a Chute Boxe golden boy, someone who represents his first lasting grudges, early professional hardships, and the doubts and fears that Silva had to triumph over in order to earn himself a chapter in mixed martial arts history.

Evans to Jackson: "I'm gonna dig in dat ass."

"...I don't like to talk trash...I never liked to be in someone's face that close just talking."

These are Rashad Evans' words from a recent Sherdog.com interview with the current UFC light heavyweight champion. Accompanying this were statements of dismay and confusion at the apparent antipathy, even hatred, from fans in the crowd. A sympathetic lamentation on the cruel double standard between Evans and nemesis-of-the-month Quinton Jackson was to follow. Yet for anyone that has been attentive to the careers of Evans and Jackson, Evans' confusion, and the notion of some phantom double standard, ought to stick firmly in craw.

There is no double standard. A double standard suggests that a pair of identical actions are assessed differently, despite occurring within identical circumstances. Yet while both Evans and Jackson have their "antics," they have employed them, consistently, in different contexts.

Jackson, throughout his high-profile career, has been absolutely professional inside the cage. He has not yet show-boated, taunted his opponent, or spoke ill of his opponent following a fight. The only time he trash talks is before a fight, and even that is done with a professional bent--hyping a fight is good business, but using humor keeps things from getting too out of hand. Essentially, he recognizes that there is a time and place for everything; a fighter can cross those bounds and get carried away post-fight if they want (ala Tito Ortiz), but he or she must accept the likely, displeased fan reaction.

By contrast, Evans has consistently clowned around inside as well as outside the cage. And rather than the neutral show-boating exemplified by Anderson Silva's too-fancy footwork against Patrick Cote, Evans sees fit to tap his groin and blow a kiss at the affable Forrest Griffin. In a fight he was already winning on The Ultimate Fighter Season 2, Evans decided to punctuate his impending victory with a fit of dancing in front of Mike Whitehead. And while Evans can wax horrified at the face-off that occurred inside the cage following Jackson's win over Keith Jardine, anyone not born yesterday should be able to guess what happens when the champ enters the cage with the newly minted next-in-line. And even then, if Evans really cared about staying "as composed as possible," he could have pulled a BJ Penn--simply smile, shake, and walk away--but opted for threats of violence, instead. If the fans boo him, he only needs to check his in-cage persona to see why.

The fact is, at this rate, Evans and anyone buying his aw-shucks story are more poised to cement a double standard in place than Jackson and company. And while booing is never something I would condone, if you have to boo someone, it may as well be the guy implying some sort of bizarre, forcible act of oral sex on his opponent.

In the end, Evans is, within reason, free to behave how he wants in the cage--whatever gives him the confidence to win, whatever he thinks will put butts in seats. But he has yet to learn a lesson that one-time nemesis Tito Ortiz seemed to reckon a long time ago: that there is a sacrifice in acting the heel. You draw a crowd, but they only show up to see you lose.

Let the Insanity Begin

There are some days when, as a fan of mixed martial arts, you go to check a bit of news and suddenly don't know what the hell you're looking at. For example, the announced fight between Ken Shamrock and Bobby Lashley.

As part of an upcoming Roy Jones Jr.-promoted event, mixed martial artist turned pro-wrestler turned mixed martial artist Ken Shamrock will take on pro-wrestler turned mixed martial artist Bobby Lashley in a headlining, genre-bending, logic-stretching fight on March 21. Fortunately, they put Seth Petruzelli on the same card, so if Shamrock's face spontaneously explodes they will have a late-replacement on hand. Really, though, let's set all spontaneous explosions aside and speak seriously about this match-up for a moment.

This is a ridiculous match-up.

Having finally snapped a four-year, five-fight losing streak with his victory over Ross Clifton last February, Shamrock seemed ready to ease into the latter days of his career. Beginning with an imminent fight with Tank Abbott, it looked like fans could look forward to a series of fights that, while without any serious ranking-implications, would contain a lot of nostalgia and entertainment value. And, of course, they would be competitive. Because while Shamrock, before last February, may not have won a bout since mid-2005, he hasn't won a fight against a relevant opponent since 1996. Against up-and-comers, title contenders, and solid journeyman fighters, Shamrock has come up short every time since. This fact shouldn't color Shamrock as a poor mixed martial artist so much as it should speak to his seniority.

All sports eventually leave their athletes unable to compete at the elite level. Certainly this is true with mixed martial arts, especially if a fighter began their career in the bare-knuckle days of the early 90s, like Shamrock did. That lengthy career has taken its toll, as Shamrock himself has attested. His knees are bad, making takedowns and takedown defense difficult, and his joints don't work as smooth as they used to. He's been turned from a grappler to a brawler during a time in his life when his capacity for punishment is diminished and the competition is younger, stronger, and faster.

So what is a man like Ken Shamrock, who obviously eats, sleeps, and breathes fighting, supposed to do? Fight the Ross Cliftons of the world, maybe. But better yet, rematch Oleg Taktarov and Masakatsu Funaki and Maurice Smith. Fight Tank Abbott, Mark Kerr, Marco Ruas, and Mark Coleman. There's some five years worth of fights within the pool of the MMA old guard. Shamrock doesn't have to spend his last able years exiled from the sport, nor does he have to be cannon fodder for some talented new comer looking to add a name scalp to his belt. Which brings us to the question: whose bright idea was this?

Shamrock himself seemed ready to promote a fight with Tank Abbott. A victory over Abbott with, perhaps, a follow-up win over comparable competition would have likely spring-boarded Shamrock into a marketable fight with brother Frank Shamrock. A fight with Lashley never appeared on the radar. This leaves Lashley's management, and Jones Jr.'s Squared Ring Promotions.

Lashley's management ought to be looking to develop their fighter while at the same time increase his popularity, and so there's nothing particularly reprehensible about seeking out or accepting a fight with someone as notorious and brittle as Shamrock. Squared Ring Promotion is, however, another matter. While they have a duty to create a profitable event, they also have a responsibility to all their fighters equally, whether they care to admit it or not, and a responsibility to the sport of MMA generally.

Consider first that Lashley is a terrible match up for Shamrock. Shamrock has a weak chin, and his trouble with powerful wrestlers has only gotten worse over the years. At this stage in his career, he simply can't match the athleticism and brute force of the younger generation. It's not even clear if he can match the peers within his own generation--while he may have beaten Kimo Leopoldo, he lost to Dan Severn and Don Frye. Everyone except for Ken Shamrock's blinding rage should be able to see that Squared Ring Promotion is tossing Shamrock under the bus in order to build a name fighter in the explosive Bobby Lashley. One might argue that if Shamrock accepts the fight, then he accepts also the ramifications of such a fight. But is it really fair for a company to exploit a person's compulsive willingness and desire to compete? Contrary to brother Frank's claims, Ken Shamrock has, perhaps absurdly, stepped up to fight amidst horrible odds. He's no coward, and may lack the sense of self-preservation that other mixed martial artists may possess. We should appreciate him as a consummate competitor, not make him pay for it in blood and injury.

Consider also that bizarre mismatches and unnecessary thrashings are what caused MMA to falter in the first place. Savvy marketing and competitive matchmaking are what saved it. The Shamrock-Lashley fight represents a step back in the evolution of the sport and business of MMA--a short-sighted move often committed by those promoters just jumping on the bandwagon (EliteXC being the most recent, infamous example). It makes the sport look cheap and brutal.

Apparently insane as he may be, Ken Shamrock deserves the respect that he went nuts for and screamed about on national television during The Ultimate Fighter 3. The way to offer this to him isn't by letting the new generation use him as a stepladder. Promote him properly. Give him the fights that belong to his generation, let him recapture our imaginations as he reminds us of what and when made him great.

Only in the wild do the young maim and oust their elders--let's remember that there are human beings in the ring.

'99

It's been 10 years since Kazushi Sakuraba started earning his nickname, beginning with a technical submission of Royler Gracie...

A decade since Mark Kerr had a winning year in mixed martial arts...

And a decade for Enson Inoue...

10 years since Vitor Belfort's unsuccesful debut overseas at PRIDE 5...

10 years since Frank Shamrock ended his UFC career with a TKO of Tito Ortiz...

And a decade since the late Evan Tanner made his victorious debut in the UFC.

Superlist: UFC 94

1. Bye Bye Greasy
The controversy surrounding Georges St. Pierre's alleged greasing is beyond ridiculous. To even call it a controversy gives the whole matter too much consideration, as only a lunatic fringe could sincerely believe that St. Pierre's corner intentionally placed some vaseline on his back in between rounds, or that what dubious bit of it remained after the athletic commission official wiped it off made any difference in the outcome of the fight.

Consider: St. Pierre's tactic was to clinch Penn and drag him to the mat. Any extra slipperiness would have only made this more difficult for St. Pierre to accomplish. Furthermore, St. Pierre's corner was only approached by officials following a virtually perfect round from St. Pierre. Given the apparently dominant performance from St. Pierre, any motivation to cheat quickly disappears.

One might attempt to find a correlation between the alleged greasing and St. Pierre's surprising ability to pass Penn's guard, but a second look at the fight will provide a much more obvious explanation. In the second round, following a flurry of punches on the ground from St. Pierre, Penn was visibly hurt, dazed to the point where his preturnatural jiu-jitsu skills abandoned him.

Taking into account the strategy St. Pierre employed, and that strategy's early, flawless execution, any notion that St. Pierre and his corner would willingly cheat is absurd. That the athletic commission responded quickly--and frankly, that Penn offered no appreciable offense that might have been foiled by excess vaseline anyway--makes the possibility of inadvertent cheating almost as ridiculous.

Penn failed to deliver on his hyperbolic threats and promises leading up to the fight, which makes this defeat harder to swallow for fans, Penn's training camp, and Penn himself. These ill-founded accusations are only making things worse.

2. Heads out of Asses
Among other things, UFC 94 was notable for the fact that eight of the ten fights went to decision, and that of those eight, five were split decisions. This may speak to some brilliant match-making, where fighters were so closely matched and fought such dynamic, back-and-forth fights that judges were hard pressed to pick a winner. More likely, though, is that there is a pressing need for refined judging criteria.

For example, while the judges had a hard time deciding the victor for the card's first fight, three major MMA websites delivering play-by-plays unanimously awarded the fight to Dan Cramer over Matt Aroyo. Clay Guida and John Howard's respective victories were close calls but ultimately apparent to the journalists as well, and yet one judge for each fight was compelled to voice a dissenting opinion.

It is not that unusual for a reporting MMA site to clash with an official judge's call, but that a given official's verdict should differ so consistently with devotees of the sport ought to raise a small alarm, at least.

MMA needs judges that are students of mixed martial arts, rather than former judges of boxing, karate, or wrestling matches, and the sport needs more detailed criteria for victory.

3. Keep your Enemies Closer
Karo Parisyan kicked Dong Hyun Kim in the head in an attempt to defend a heel hook.
Jon Jones' spinning elbow dazed Stephen Bonnar, after landing to the back of his head.
These are facts that ought to be apparent to anyone watching the slow-motion replays of the respective fights, and yet Joe Rogan, in his incessant cheerleading and gushing over Jones and Parisyan (a pal of Rogan's, as stated by Mike Goldberg during the broadcast), failed to acknowledge either.

Rogan's enthusiastic and knowledgeable fight commentary has been a great boon for the UFC. While other broadcast teams devolve into an incoherent mush of promotional aggrandizement and hyperbole, Rogan, with Mike Goldberg in tow, has managed to deliver just about the most critical, perceptive cage-side discussion this side of Bas Rutten. Having said that, Rogan's intimate, personal relationship with the sport occasionally gets in the way of objective fight analysis.

The much-hyped Jones was impressive in his decision victory over light-heavyweight stalwart Stephen Bonnar, but the elbow strike that sent Bonnar to the canvas ought to be called for what it is: an inadvertant foul. Multiple replays showed the elbow clearly landing at the back of Bonnar's head, with no notice taken by Rogan whatsoever. Rather, Rogan continued to applaud the flashy technique throughout the replays.

Rogan's bias was also on full display in his incredulity following the referee's intervention in the Parisyan-Kim fight. Rogan was appalled that the referee stopped the fight for what he called a shove to the grounded Kim's face by Parisyan's foot. Yet replays showed that Parisyan's foot was first not in contact with Kim's head and then, with some considerable force, did make contact with Kim's face--about as clear a definition of a kick as you can get. And yes, there is a blurry line between a proper kick and a hard shove, but in a sport like mixed martial arts, officials ought to err on the side of the offended party.

Among high-profile fighter contracts and rumored network television deals, Joe Rogan has been a surprise asset to the UFC. I might be asking more of him than other broadcasters when I wish that he would tweak his self-editor just a bit (not too much so that he loses enthusiasm, but just enought to tone down preferences born from personal relationships). Then again, when you serve as a voice for "The Superbowl of MMA," you open yourself up to all kinds of criticism (even from pasty-skinned keyboard jockies).

4. Working Title
Two winners at UFC 94 may have ended up a little further from a title shot than they anticipated
last Saturday night.

On the short list of contenders since 2005, Parisyan's march toward the welterweight belt has been plagued by untimely defeats and canceled fights. His showing against the undefeated but largely untested Dong Hyun Kim may have served him just as poorly. His unrefined striking, lack of raw power, and poor endurance were defecits made all the more glaring when held up next to welterweight champion St. Pierre's stunning performance that same night. In a division continually swelling with talent (Carlos Condit has been confirmed for the UFC, and Jake Shields is a rumored import), Parisyan will have to reinvent himself in order to remain relevant.

In the light-heavyweight division, Lyoto Machida's first round knockout of Thiago Silva (which improved Machida's record to a sterling 14-0-0), seems to have not been enough to erase his four box-office-poison decision victories in the UFC.

According to Dana White, Machida's shot at the title is contingent on the result of Quinton Jackson versus Keith Jardine--should Jackson falter, Machida will become number one contender. Otherwise, Jackson gets the title shot while Machida has yet one more fight before he can challenge for the belt. This is a surprising choice considering the high number of converts Machida likely earned himself with his impressive showing on Saturday. I would have expected the UFC to strike while the iron was hot rather than risk another long-distance fight from Machida. Jackson as a title contender must really be too marketable to pass up.

5. Unlockable Character...


Afro Jon Fitch for UFC: Undisputed 2009, please.

Also: thinning-hair-ill-fitting-suit Dana White.


Dana White says a silent prayer for a day when everyday is Casual Friday and business men can scowl and flex as freely as the eagle soars.

No Team of Rivals: Thoughts on UFC 93

Beneath the veneer of Marcus Davis' tactful boxing over Chris Lytle, Mark Coleman's gutsy losing effort against Shogun Rua, and the dual Fight of the Night awards they engendered lies the fact that nothing resembling a valid contender emerged from UFC 93.

Shogun Rua, for one, was yet laden with the poor conditioning and muted ferocity that has haunted him since his fight with Forrest Griffin. Many irritated fans speculate that Shogun's new found restriction from performance enhancing drugs is to blame, but that remains merely speculation. What is certain is that a change in fight promotions, training camps, and a series of knee injuries and surgeries (combined, perhaps, with two consecutive opponents that are easily underestimated) have taken a severe toll. Coleman, for his part, showed immense heart and grit in nearly finishing Shogun in the third round, but also exhibited a still-limited skill set and continuously troubling endurance--deal-breakers when considering a match up with champion Rashad Evans, or apparent frontrunners Lyoto Machida and Rampage Jackson.

Rich Franklin, while a top performer, also showed critical flaws in his only-moderate wrestling ability and a distinct tentativeness that would serve him poorly against any of the aforementioned light-heavyweight contenders, let alone nightmare-matchup Anderson Silva back at middleweight. And while Dan Henderson came away with the victory, he didn't show any marked development that would end a second fight with Anderson Silva any differently, either. And its hard to imagine that his wrestling would be good enough to topple the explosive Evans or Jackson (who has already outwrestled Henderson once before) when he could only keep Franklin down in fits and spurts.

Marcus Davis, despite a fairly impressive record, has expressed no wish to become a welterweight champion, which is just as well considering the trouble he had with the tough but unheralded Chris Lytle. Rousimar Palhares, in being unable to finish Jeremy Horn (a feat that Nate Marquardt and recent UFC emigrant Dean Lister accomplished quite handily) showed that his skill set may not be as well-adapted to MMA as many hoped. Elsewhere in the middleweight division, the arrival of anticipated contender Denis Kang ended with a whimper. Kang showed his characteristic in-fight flakiness when he succumbed to a guillotine choke off of an attempted takedown, despite winning in the standup against Alan Belcher. Belcher, meanwhile, has shown some improvement, but suffers from inconsistent performances, which will likely keep him from contender status for at least a year.

Leading up to last Saturday my brother described this card as somehow melancholy, with all of the major players in search of direction or relevance, in some cases desperately. Yet now that the official results have been called, that feeling seems all the more pervasive, with troubled and indistinct performances characterizing much of the night. It could very well take a full year before any of that night's featured light-heavyweights or middleweights can make definitive steps towards a title threat. With uninspired performances from Henderson, Franklin, and Rua, look for Machida to finally cement his number one contender spot at the end of January, while Demian Maia can be expected to break out from the shuffle and grind of the middleweight division with a win over WEC champion Chael Sonnen in late February.

Super List: EliteXC "Heat" part 2

Further thoughts on the rest of Saturday's EliteXC card...

1. There's no pleasing some people.
While certain writers have decried putting Kimbo into a fight where he was, to those without giant dollar signs blocking their vision, over-matched, they complain in the same breath that the still-improving Carano is handled with "kids' gloves." It seems that for some, bringing a fighter through the ranks slowly is only appropriate as an idea in retrospect, after the developing fighter has already crash-and-burned.

The fact is that at 16-2-1 heading into the contest, Kelly Kobold was a tough, experienced opponent for Carano. Carano's decision win over Kobold pushed her record to 7-0-0 against competition with a collective record (at the time of their respective fights) of 36-10-1. Put another way, her opposition held a .766 win average. This is noteworthy when you consider that Tara Larosa (one of Carano's biggest critics who has, among other things, accused Carano of being fed opponents) fought her first seven fights against opposition with a collective record at the time of 24-9-0 (that's an average of .727).

Looking at these numbers, we can see that, in her fledgling career, Carano has performed just as well against competition just as stiff as Larosa during her early years. While her peers could begrudge EliteXC officials and fans for taking to the fighting bombshell so quickly (though they probably shouldn't--welcome to the real world, pretty people have it easier), at a certain point Carano's detractors have to acknowledge that her in-cage performances deserve just as much respect as their own.

And while it's true that to deny audiences a fight between Carano and Cristiane Santos--a fighter who is possessed of striking skills just as good and likely better than Carano--would be an injustice to both the fighters and fans, it's an unlikely eventuality. Both fighters have benefited from some very positive public exposure, and with Santos now 2-0-0 following a nearly two year break from the sport, some time soon rather than last week is the right time for this fight to happen.

2. "Sloppy bastards."
"Who are Benji Radach and Murilo Rua?"
I'm a big fan of Radach but, short of a total overhaul, its hard to imagine that the approach that earned him number one contender status over Rua could likewise overcome the newly disciplined, stalking style of champion Robbie Lawler.

3. Security guard from Jerry Springer show wins heavyweight MMA fight.
After two losses to Tim Sylvia and a couple of underwhelming follow up acts (those would be the TKO win over Marcio Cruz, and his appearance on Jerry Springer as a guest security guard) Andrei Arlovski is now rapidly regaining the momentum and mystique he enjoyed as UFC heavyweight champion. With explosive KO victories over former IFL kingpins Ben Rothwell and most recently Roy Nelson, we finally have an answer to that nagging question: could "The Black Dragon" Ron Van Clief have led Andrei Arlovski and a team of ethnically-themed super fighters dubbed The Des Moines Silver Monkeys to an IFL championship?

All Van Cliefs aside, Arlovski may have shown a resurgent killer instinct, but also a certain penchant for landing underneath his opponents in a scramble. For Rothwell it happened when Arlovski dropped back for a sloppy heel hook. In his fight last Saturday, Nelson used his preternatural spherical qualities to reverse Arlovski during a takedown. He also smothered Arlovski with his massive stomach, which was good for some laughs. Likewise on display was Arlovski's habit of starting out slow, as he took a full round or so in both the Nelson and Rothwell fight before he could really pull the trigger. Both of these qualities are huge liabilities when considering a fight with Fedor Emelienenko, whose dynamic grappling and concussive strikes allow him to go from zero to beating the shit out of Tim Sylva in 36 seconds flat.

4. Now 70% less goofy looking.
Conor Heun, besides earning a cash bonus for his win over Edson Berto, got himself a little upgrade in the Profile Picture Department of Sherdog.com.

Prior to his fight Saturday, Heun was depicted as something like Keanu Reeves' retarded younger brother, grimacing as he soils himself and gets punched in the chest (exhibit A).

exhibit A. "Stranger Danger!" Heun exclaimed as he shied away from his attacker.

Immediately following his win, though, Heun's picture had been changed to show him as determined, combat ready, and only mildly cross-eyed (exhibit B).

exhibit B. Eyes are crossing...every so slightly...

Good job everyone.

Incidentally, Marcus Hicks lost his last high-profile fight to Jamie Varner, so he still has to be immortalized in Sherdog's Fight Finder as Black Quasimodo.

"Sanctuary and so forth!"