This is going to be a short blog post this week, but I would like to go over some of the things from last week end. I'll go over the tournament as well as touch upon the UFC and what transpired. Next week will be more technique on wrestling and mma but for now enjoy.
First I would like to congratulate everyone who competed at the tournament. Morgan led the way with a gold and silver in bjj and freestyle grappling respectively, while Brett brought home a bronze medal. Our only female competitor Elyssa had a very strong outing in the striking, unfortunately the division was different then she thought it would be and therefore she didn't get to truly show of her power. Rounding out the list of competitors from Raptors was Oliver, Bryce and Reed who all had an amazing showing at the tournament. Be sure to check some pictures from the tournament on facebook.
Now before we get into the obvious fight from UFC 104 lets talk about some of the other fights. For me the best fight of the night was the Cain Velasquez fight. The best part his fight wasn't his wrestling or the TKO, it was his cardio and willingness to outwork his opponent. You can't always be bigger, stronger or more technical than your opponent but you can be in shape and have good cardio. This trait is most common in the lighter divisions (Lightweight, feather/Bantamweight) but to see it in a heavyweight is truly something to appreciate. Guys like Diego Sanchez, BJ Penn, and Clay Guida have made careers out of overwhelming their opponents and for Cain to bring that work ethic to the big boys will make for some interesting matchups. The other fight/technique I need to acknowledge is from Gleison Tibau. The standing back mount to flying armbar transition was a thing of beauty (watch for it at 2:15 of the 2nd round). Also his takedowns weren't that bad either.
Now for Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Personally I thought Shogun won that fight, he was aggresive, controling and more effective than Machida. Unfortunately the judges didn't see it the same way I (and most) did. For anybody interested in the numbers behind that fight I recommend checking out Fightmetric.com.
Now as far as gameplan goes Shougun's was damn near perfect. Machida likes to wait and counter by moving straight back and then lunging in with a counter puch. What Shogun did really well was not to give Machida a chance to lunge in with a counter, He chased Machida right up against the cage with a high guard incase machide punched. Once Machida hit the cage He was no longer in the right posture to counter back and was instead forced to cicle laterally of the cage. Shogun would then capitalize when Machida could no longer move backwards by kicking him hard to the legs and body. After awhile Machida was visibly bothered by this, having to repeadetly switch stances and being slowed considerably as Shogun landed more and more kicks. The key to this strategy though was a combination of a really good, high guard from Shogun (e.i. hands up) and working the body and legs. Too many fighters head hunt for the knockout instead of attacking the body and legs. If you hurt their body and legs you take away their foundation, and without a good foundation your opponent can't do good technique, inturn making it easier to beat them the longer it goes.
The rematch will be an interesting fight because Machida is a smart fighter and won't be quick to make the same mistake twice, and with him fixing pontentially his only weakness in his otherwise near perfect style will Shogun beable to find a new hole or will he try the same strategy. I personally have a hard time seeing Shogun beating Machida the second time but I didn't expect him do what he did either so we can't count him out. Now that I've gone on a little longer than I wanted to try and remeber to always take something away from a UFC event and always try and learn more. Until next time, train hard.
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