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****The Site Will Be Moving

I’ve acquired my own domain/hosting….so I will no longer be posting here.  Please feel free to goto www.mma4real.net

That’s the address of my new site that should be functional in a day or so…I’ll be posting the results to UFC 87 there on tonight hopefully!  Thanks and see you there.

**Update On This Site

What’s going on MMA fans?  Again, thanks so much for stopping by the site.  I’m looking at getting my own domain name and host here pretty soon so the site will be easier to find, and so we can reach more people.  I know how to write about MMA and all…but I’m pretty clueless when it comes to hosting/domain/plug ins for wordpress etc etc.  So if any of you guys know how to make customized header’s or anything about designing a website or any good wordpress themes let me know….or anything dealing with the above.  Hit me up at kelvinhunt@hotmail.com. Many thanks….keep coming back…tell your friends about the site…and keep supporting MMA.

UFC: Silva vs. Irvin Card Fight Analysis

UFN 14 is a pretty decent card considering that it was put together on such short notice.  We get to see arguably the world’s best fighter in Anderson Silva.  As well as the return of Hermes Franca, and highly touted HW prospect Cain Velasquez.  So let’s get right into it…the first fight shown will be…

Jesse Taylor vs. C.B. Dollaway-Basically this is a battle between two wrestler’s.  Dollaway and Taylor have faced one another in amatuer wrestling…with Dollaway getting the best of Taylor both times.  But, this is a MMA fight…Dollaway has the edge standing and I assume he will want to keep this fight standing.  This is more than likely be a grind it out type of fight that goes to a decision..with Taylor winning.

Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns-Johnson is a super gifted athlete and has superior standup skills.  Burns burst on the scene at UFC 85…submitting BJJ blackbelt Roan Caneiro.  Over half of his wins have come via submission.  Johnson will try to keep this one on the feet using his good wrestling skills.  Johnson will take this via highlight reel KO.

Cain Velasquez vs. Jake O’Brien-The debut of Velasquez of national TV…with O’Brien coming off his first career loss against former champ Andre Arlovski.  Velasquez is highly touted and is known for finishing his fights super quick.  O’Brien has shown to have good wrestling skills with little to no standup and have been labeled a boring fighter by many…including me.  Velasquez was an All-American wrestler at Arizona State so he’s no slouch in that department.  He’ll wanna keep this one on the feet and win via TKO.

Hermes Franca vs. Frankie Edgar-Good fight here….Franca coming off his year long suspension for testing positive for steroids after losing to Sean Sherk at UFC 73.  Edgar coming off his first professional loss to Gray Maynard.  Franca is primarily a BJJ guy…with a hell of a highmaker right hand.  Edgar is pretty well rounded but wrestling based.  I think the long lay off is gonna affect Franca and Edgar will control him for three rounds and win via decision.

Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy-Vera ventures his way back down to the LHW division after consecutive losses at HW.  Reese is a former IFL fighter making his UFC debut…he’s primarily a grappler but can finish fights.  Vera will look to keep the fight standing and implement his muay thai and striking skills.  He needs to win impressively or his stock will plummet something terrible.  Vera by TKO.

Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin-The main event…is Silva’s first fight at LHW.  Irvin is primarily a striker with KO power…however, is suspect to being submitted.  I think Silva wants to put on a show for the fans and wins this one ala Chris Leben.  Irvin has a puncher’s chance…and that’s about it.  Silva via KO.

Drop your thoughts…

When Less Is More…And More Is Less..

With all the controversy surrounding the main event of UFC 86…I hate to beat a dead horse.  However, I haven’t really ran across an article that talks about the quantity of strikes compared to the quality of strikes that fighter’s land in a match.  In the main event of UFC 86…fightmetric.com indicates that Forrest Griffin landed 113 strikes compared to 73 for Rampage Jackson.  This match up is a classic example of when less is more…and more is less.

What we have to take into account is which strikes landed have the highest % rate of ending a fight. Of the 113 strikes landed by Forrest…35 of them were leg kicks. Whereas of the 73 Rampage landed…46 were headshots. Throughout the history of MMA, I think it’s fair to say that it’s pretty rare for a fight to end via leg kicks. Although I can think of instances such as Jardine/Whitehead…or Cro Cop/Yoshida…Jardine and Cro Cop have some of the nastiest leg kicks ever. Which is another point that judges should be aware of…I mean a kick from Cro Cop simply would do more damage than say a kick from Justin McCully. Basically, what I’m saying is that if a fighter is landing a lot of inside leg kicks doing minimal damage…and his opponent is landing huge power shots to the head. I think the fighter that’s landing more power shots to the head should weigh more in the judging when compared to the fighter landing alot of kicks to his opponents legs.

Simply because the shots to the head have proven to have had a higher % of ending the fight. This is just another aspect in which judges must take into consideration…and also let’s us know that MMA still has a lot of areas in which it must improve upon. Here’s to all MMA judges actually learning how to do there jobs correctly.

(I’m aware that fightmetric can be biased by acknowledging if a strike landed or not…or was considered a ‘power shot’ or not)

MMA Judging Simplified

Fans being critical of judges in the MMA world is not a new topic. Some accounts justified….other’s are fans bias blinding the fact that their favorite fighter just lost. I recognize the fact that judges don’t have the benefit of instant replay…nor do they get to watch the fight’s from every angle possible. Currently, the following information is what the judges must abide by in terms of scoring a fight:

E. Judging Criteria
1. Judges are required to determine the winner of a bout that goes to it’s full time limit based upon the following criteria:
-Clean Strikes
-Effective Grappling
-Octagon Control
-Effective Aggressiveness

F. Clean Strikes
1. The fighter who is landing both effective and efficient clean strikes.
2. There are two ways of measuring strikes:
-the total number of clean strikes landed (more efficient)
-the total number of heavy strikes landed (more effective)

G. The heavier striker who lands with efficiency, deserves more credit from the Judges than total number landed.
1. If the striking power between the fighters was equal, then the total number landed would be used as the criteria.
2. The total number of strikes landed, should be of sufficient quantity favoring a fighter, to earn a winning round.

H. Strikes thrown from the top position of the guard, are generally heavier and more effective than those thrown from the back.
1. Thus a Judge shall recognize that effective strikes thrown from the top guard position are of “higher quality”, than thrown from the bottom.
2. The Judge shall recognize that this is not always the case.
However, the vast majority of fighters prefer the top guard position to strike from. This is a strong indication of positional dominance for striking.

I. Effective Grappling
1. The Judge shall recognize the value of both the clean takedown and active guard position.
2. The Judge shall recognize that a fighter who is able to cleanly takedown his opponent, is effectively grappling.
3. A Judge shall recognize that a fighter on his back in an active guard position, can effectively grapple, through execution of repeated threatening attempts at submission and reversal resulting in continuous defense from the top fighter.
4. A Judge shall recognize that a fighter who maneuvers from guard to mount is effectively grappling.
5. A Judge shall recognize that the guard position alone shall be scored neutral or even, if none of the preceding situations were met.(items 2-4)
6. A Judge shall recognize that if the fighters remain in guard the majority of a round with neither fighter having an edge in clean striking or effective grappling, (items 2-4), the fighter who scored the clean takedown deserves the round.
7. A clean reversal is equal to a clean takedown in effective grappling

J. Octagon Control
1. The fighter who is dictating the pace, place and position of the fight.
2. A striker who fends off a grappler’s takedown attempt to remain standing and effectively strike is octagon control.
3. A grappler who can takedown an effective standing striker to ground fight is octagon control.
4. The fighter on the ground who creates submission, mount or clean striking opportunities

K. Effective Aggressiveness
1. This simply means who is moving forward and finding success.(scoring)
2. Throwing a strike moving backwards is not as effective as a strike thrown moving forward.
3. Throwing strikes and not landing is not effective aggressiveness.
4. Moving forward and getting struck is not effective aggressiveness.
5. Shooting takedowns and getting countered and fended off is not effective aggressiveness.

I think it should be condensed into Clean Strikes and Effective Grappling…since Octagon Control and Effective Aggressiveness both fit under the Clean Strikes/Effective Grappling Criteria, and all fights either take place standing or on the ground.

F. Clean Strikes
1. The fighter who is landing both effective and efficient clean strikes.
2. There are two ways of measuring strikes:
-the total number of clean strikes landed (more efficient)
-the total number of heavy strikes landed (more effective)

G. The heavier striker who lands with efficiency, deserves more credit from the Judges than total number landed.
1. If the striking power between the fighters was equal, then the total number landed would be used as the criteria.
2. The total number of strikes landed, should be of sufficient quantity favoring a fighter, to earn a winning round.

H. Strikes thrown from the top position of the guard, are generally heavier and more effective than those thrown from the back.
1. Thus a Judge shall recognize that effective strikes thrown from the top guard position are of “higher quality”, than thrown from the bottom.
2. The Judge shall recognize that this is not always the case.
However, the vast majority of fighters prefer the top guard position to strike from. This is a strong indication of positional dominance for striking.

I. Effective Grappling
1. The Judge shall recognize the value of both the clean takedown and active guard position.
2. The Judge shall recognize that a fighter who is able to cleanly takedown his opponent, is effectively grappling.
3. A Judge shall recognize that a fighter on his back in an active guard position, can effectively grapple, through execution of repeated threatening attempts at submission and reversal resulting in continuous defense from the top fighter.
4. A Judge shall recognize that a fighter who maneuvers from guard to mount is effectively grappling.
5. A Judge shall recognize that the guard position alone shall be scored neutral or even, if none of the preceding situations were met.(items 2-4)
6. A Judge shall recognize that if the fighters remain in guard the majority of a round with neither fighter having an edge in clean striking or effective grappling, (items 2-4), the fighter who scored the clean takedown deserves the round.
7. A clean reversal is equal to a clean takedown in effective grappling.

Also

2. Throwing a strike moving backwards is not as effective as a strike thrown moving forward.

I beg to differ…Chuck Liddell and Lyoto Machida have mastered this technique…also, just because you are moving forward the entire time doesn’t mean you are effective or setting the pace of the fight. Tito Ortiz moved forward the entire time against Machida and got dismantled.

Also, you know how in baseball an umpire has a reputation for a small/big strike zone when calling a game behind the plate. MMA judges should let it be known what they view as most important in a fight…whether it be power strikes…or a culmunation of strikes…or how do they view take downs/guard passes etc. That way the fighter’s can make that adjustment and incorporate that into their gameplans.

Phil Baroni Wins At Cage Rage 27

LONDON — “New York Badass” Phil Baroni (Pictures) went some way to resurrecting his career Saturday night, with his impressive three-minute destruction of the game, but significantly overmatched Brit Scott Jansen (Pictures) at Cage Rage 27 “Step Up” inside the Wembley Arena. In his first fight at welterweight, Baroni — who’d spent his entire career at 185 pounds — imposed his will from the start and scored with a solid takedown. Working from side control, the American came very close to sealing an early finish with a tight straight armbar in which he appeared to hyper-extend Jansen’s arm.

Baroni was unable to finish and following a standup by the referee, he reverted to his bread-and-butter attack. After a brutal right to the body, Baroni switched upstairs immediately, landing a haymaker of a right hand on Jansen’s chin. Jansen dropped heavily, his head bouncing off the floor.

With his record at 10-10 this fight was pretty much do or die for Baroni’s career. Baroni’s always a colorful character and promotes a fight with the best of them. With a new weight class and a puncher’s chance in every fight…maybe he can become relevant once again? Doubtful, but one thing is for sure…win or lose…you will be entertained by the The New York Badass.

Props To Sherdog For The Assist

Welcome To My MMA Site

Welcome to my blog covering the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.  Here you will find alot of useful information in terms of daily news in the sport and opinion based articles covering things such as fighter pay and fighter interviews.  I’ll be updating my blog daily because the MMA world changes greatly from day to day from a news aspect.  If you know of any fans of the sport please feel free to direct them to my blog…I enjoy talking/debating fight matchups and breaking down fights from an analytical stand point.