Thursday, February 28, 2019
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Semi Recent Outside Heel Hook Win of Mine
This is from December. The night before I had an EBI format superfight in PA at the Finishers Sub Only -125 (the superfight was a rematch with a guy I had previously beaten via back triangle armbar in OT at an EBI format event in Philly). I won the superfight in OT by RNC, then my coaches Jon Calestine & Matt Kaplan, drove me back to Port Authority in NYC to catch a 12:15am bus to head to Boston, slept about 4 hours to weight in only to find out there was only one guy at -145, so I moved up to -155. This is one of the 4 matches I won.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
How/Why Mongolia Became a Powerhouse in International Level Judo
Overly generalized for brevity, but here are some of the key factors:
1. rural upbringing requiring physical labor from young age/lack of access to processed food and video games et cetera
2. motivation - had to run 7 kms regardless of season to train
3. incentivized by government as real career/professional support and reward system
4. folkstyle wrestling/grappling from young age
5. close proximity to other powerhouse countries in the sport to face against regularly
1. rural upbringing requiring physical labor from young age/lack of access to processed food and video games et cetera
2. motivation - had to run 7 kms regardless of season to train
3. incentivized by government as real career/professional support and reward system
4. folkstyle wrestling/grappling from young age
5. close proximity to other powerhouse countries in the sport to face against regularly
AND
BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: Erberth Santos Speaks, Danis Still Legend in Own Mind, Domynyka Talks Injuries...
Sounds like he's banned for life from BJJ Stars (assuming it exists in a year or two, who knows, amirite?) and reference to him losing an ADCC invite, but if he was gonna be invited that's a joke bc he got heel hooked by a guy at ACB bc he tapped literally before the guy even cranked...so who knows if it was legit or just insult to injury?
As for being salty about injuries, you're in a combat sport. People have multiple injuries in virtually all pro level sports. Football players at the high school level end up paralyzed. Cheerleaders and gymnasts and ballerinas all carry the effects of the sport with them afterward if they spent any real continuous time training.
My injury ledger so far reads:
I'm at 2 ACL/Meniscus surgeries, more broken toes and fingers than I could count, however many ankle/wrist sprains etc, a herniated disc in my neck which made my arm numb for 2 months with insane nerve pain, rotator cuff damage, torn oblique/bruised hip bone/bruised kidney, and tendonitis in both knees, not to mention whatever the concussion tally is for the aggregate of all the combat sports I've done.
As for being salty about injuries, you're in a combat sport. People have multiple injuries in virtually all pro level sports. Football players at the high school level end up paralyzed. Cheerleaders and gymnasts and ballerinas all carry the effects of the sport with them afterward if they spent any real continuous time training.
My injury ledger so far reads:
I'm at 2 ACL/Meniscus surgeries, more broken toes and fingers than I could count, however many ankle/wrist sprains etc, a herniated disc in my neck which made my arm numb for 2 months with insane nerve pain, rotator cuff damage, torn oblique/bruised hip bone/bruised kidney, and tendonitis in both knees, not to mention whatever the concussion tally is for the aggregate of all the combat sports I've done.
The Only Money Fight Worth Debating...
Remember when Joe was challenging Wesley Snipes to an MMA bout? The funny thing is I can almost see something like that happening moreso nowadays than previously. What a time to be alive.
Give the *&^%ing people what they **&^ing want.
TRT Vitor Returns! Belfort expected to announce MMA return!
Can Belfort fight clean? Is pasta good without Parmesan cheese? Give the people what they want! Belfort and Wand on all the drugs!
Vitor's the only person to win the open weight UFC tournament and the weight class specific belt. Let's just soak that in.
Monday, February 25, 2019
This coming Weekend: Sub Spectrum - Iowa, March 2nd
The second reason I'm super bummed about the timing of my ACL surgery, the weekend following Finishers -145 EBI format, I was scheduled to do Sub Spectrum in Iowa at -135.
Sub Spectrum will be streaming live and free on YouTube HERE.
The event already features a solid bracket of guys including Onnit -135 winner Jacob Harris, Finishers -125 winner Austin Daffron, and Junny Ocasio.
The day before, they'll be hosting an Open tournament there in Iowa, both Gi and NoGi/round robin format. The event will also feature superfights as well, and a joint seminar by some of the competitors.
Having to pull out of this and Finishers due to surgery was a huge bummer for me as I was excited to face some of the guys I've been preparing for over the past couple years. But, we make plans and life has other ideas.
Sub Spectrum will be streaming live and free on YouTube HERE.
The event already features a solid bracket of guys including Onnit -135 winner Jacob Harris, Finishers -125 winner Austin Daffron, and Junny Ocasio.
The day before, they'll be hosting an Open tournament there in Iowa, both Gi and NoGi/round robin format. The event will also feature superfights as well, and a joint seminar by some of the competitors.
Having to pull out of this and Finishers due to surgery was a huge bummer for me as I was excited to face some of the guys I've been preparing for over the past couple years. But, we make plans and life has other ideas.
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Combat Sports Bonanza Wrap-Up for Bellator, UFC, Finishers, BJJ Stars & GrappleFest: Santos Ko's, Erberth Berzerks, Craig Jones Finishes Arges...
Busy, busy, busy...too much to see it all without playing catch-up this afternoon and evening:
Bellator:
James Gallagher tapped out a fighter who how do I say this....... I will say looked suspiciously fake as he ran across the cage, tackled his opponent, the guy fends off the choke, looks like he'll clear the body triangle but doesn't...then looks into the elbow point and the choke finishes. Sigh. I'm sure the convo was "yo, we'll fly you out to Ireland, kick it for a week, have some Guinness, and we'll promise you 2 more Bellator fights down the road, buddy."
Grapplefest:
Anyway, Craig Jones passed Arges' guard and took his back, proving he could hang in other facets of the game rather than finishing with a leg lock. Lachlan Giles picked up a heel hook win. Ffion Davies won by RNC.
UFC:
UFC Prague happened with Santos unloading literally all kinds of stuff but also a more tactical approach at times, and getting the 3rd round finish.
Finishers Sub Only:
The Pro event took place today with Keith Krikorian locking it up and taking home the now top tier pure EBI format sub grappling event on the East Coast.
BJJ Stars:
The fact that Rocha beat Buchecha will be totally outshined or well, rather, overshadowed by the crowd/brawl/melee that Erberth Santos incited by attacking Pena compatriots not once...but twice. Meregali overcame an unsportsmanlike shove at the weigh-ins by increasingly erratically behaving Leandro Lo (steroids maybe giving him anger control issues? Nah, couldn't be, not in JiuJitsu) and passed Leandro to force him to turtle in the waning seconds and took the back to win 4-0.
Other Results:
Bellator:
James Gallagher tapped out a fighter who how do I say this....... I will say looked suspiciously fake as he ran across the cage, tackled his opponent, the guy fends off the choke, looks like he'll clear the body triangle but doesn't...then looks into the elbow point and the choke finishes. Sigh. I'm sure the convo was "yo, we'll fly you out to Ireland, kick it for a week, have some Guinness, and we'll promise you 2 more Bellator fights down the road, buddy."
Grapplefest:
Anyway, Craig Jones passed Arges' guard and took his back, proving he could hang in other facets of the game rather than finishing with a leg lock. Lachlan Giles picked up a heel hook win. Ffion Davies won by RNC.
UFC:
UFC Prague happened with Santos unloading literally all kinds of stuff but also a more tactical approach at times, and getting the 3rd round finish.
Finishers Sub Only:
The Pro event took place today with Keith Krikorian locking it up and taking home the now top tier pure EBI format sub grappling event on the East Coast.
BJJ Stars:
The fact that Rocha beat Buchecha will be totally outshined or well, rather, overshadowed by the crowd/brawl/melee that Erberth Santos incited by attacking Pena compatriots not once...but twice. Meregali overcame an unsportsmanlike shove at the weigh-ins by increasingly erratically behaving Leandro Lo (steroids maybe giving him anger control issues? Nah, couldn't be, not in JiuJitsu) and passed Leandro to force him to turtle in the waning seconds and took the back to win 4-0.
Other Results:
Roberto Godoi def Renato Babalu Sobral via points 2-0
Marco Barbosa def Wellington (Megaton) Dias via points 2-0
Isaque Bahiense def DJ Jackson via decision
Patrick Gaudio def Tim Spriggs via points 14-2
Delson Heleno def Fernando Terere via choke
Gabriel Rollo def Celso Vinicius via points 0-0, 1-0 adv
Bianca Basilio def Michelle Nicolini via points 9-2
Ricardo Rocha def Carlos Eduardo via armbar"
Enter the Erberth Santos System: Avoiding High Percentage Sweeps
Pro Tip: works best at the highest levels, whilst wearing a black belt, in the birthplace of JiuJitsu, and should best be followed by a crowd brawl/melee.
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Tomorrow!! Finishers 8 -145 Bracket - Pure EBI Format Submission Only: Krikorian, Rosenthal, JM Holland and others
Rolled out to Pure MMA in NJ to coach a student of mine who was doing the Finishers Open White/Blue -155 Bracket, and managed to coach another Renzo teammate of mine whilst there who took 3rd in the -135 White/Blue bracket.Tomorrow a number of the best -145 Submission Grapplers will square off. I won't lie, it was bittersweet being there today as I was the first guy announced for this bracket and had to pull out due to ACL/Meniscus surgery. I'd been prepping for EBI format since before Christmas in order to do this tournament and I've previously beaten 3 of the guys in the bracket.
Keith and/or Frank are the 2 top seeds to win the event. Frank has won a bunch of superfights in the past year, travelling all over to the UK and even Kuwait recently for an event meanwhile Keith has been filling his schedule with: superfights, bracket format events, IBJJF, EBI format, ADCC trials...everything and anything over the past year. Keith is also the reigning -155 Finishers champ beating a very tough Nick Ronan in the finals of that event. I'm super bummed given the level of talent signed up that I'm now going to miss this event and Sub Spectrum -135 event happening next weekend which I was also slated to compete in.
JM Holland of EBI & Combat JiuJitsu resume rounds out the obvious favorites to win the event. Emilio Hernandez is my 4th seed to take it with a passing oriented top game but willingness to fall back on legs throughout the match. Previously, I've seen him do well attacking the feet of those who leg lock him with enough diligence to force them to abandon leg entanglements, but I haven't followed his recent matches so will be interesting to see what if any modifications he's added to his passing and submission attacks. Sheridan Moran competed in a previous Combat JiuJitsu event and with a heavy top game and wrestling pedigree will be tough to finish in regulation.
My picks for the bracket are as follows:
Left side of the bracket is basically a lock of Keith vs Frank in the Semi-Finals, and I expect JM Holland to take his half of the bracket. I saw Kyvann struggle to beat several guys at the Grappling Industries Secaucus event a few weeks ago and unless that was him working on some new things or feeling out new parts of his game as a test run, it wasn't a convincing performance to suggest to me that he'll beat JM Holland or Emilio Hernandez. Kyvann should beat Stapleton first round in regulation. Depending how Gabe Tejada's leg locks have come along, he may catch Valor Boyer. I've beaten Valor twice in OT in EBI format, but wasn't particularly threatened by his offensive finishing/submission arsenal. Hughes vs Dvorovy is a non-matter as whichever guy wins will get leg locked by Rosenthal next round after Rosenthal likely leg locks or perhaps passes the guard and backtakes his first round opponent.
I'll be teaching class then posted up in bed icing my knee and watching the matches, experiencing soul crushing FOMO
Friday, February 22, 2019
Thursday, February 21, 2019
ACL Reconstruction & Osteoarthritis Risk Factors
Peruse through HERE at your own leisure.
This is probably one of the better comprehensive articles on the process as a hole, differences and problems associated with different times of reconstruction, and then risk factors associated with recovery and onset of Osteoarthritis:
Key risk is not the ACL reconstruction surgery itself, but 3 factors:
Basic Overview:
waiting more than 6 months to have the surgery, an acute severe injury (such as impact to knee), accompanying injury to the meniscus/other major structures at the time of injury, & waiting more than 6 months to have the surgery,
--
It was previously thought that the surgery itself, and perhaps the patellar tendon bone graft reconstruction process were the culprit in the onset of Osteoarthritis within 6-10 years of the surgery/reconstruction. The problem with that if A then B = C logic is that if you take an individual who has the patellar tendon bone graft, they are also the individual most likely to return to sport/perfomance based lifestyle and therefore also at more risk of Osteoarthritic development anyway, not necessarily because of the type of graft/reconstruction chose when compared to someone who has the surgery but then does not return to sport, for example. Previous studies also did not try to rule out the presence of time between major/acute injury and surgery, nor did they look to rule out the presence of other ligament damage at the time of injury as a consideration.
When comparing a cross section of different injury scenarios, reconstruction options, and timelines, the perfect storm of factors most likely to produce the onset of Osteoarthritis within 6-10 years of surgery is the following:
1) injury to meniscus and other structures in addition to ACL at time of injury
2) impact/acute injury as definite source of injury (as opposed to chronic pain/undetermined injury which then leads to/suggest the following risk factor)
3) waiting 6 months or more to have the reconstruction from time of injury
This is probably one of the better comprehensive articles on the process as a hole, differences and problems associated with different times of reconstruction, and then risk factors associated with recovery and onset of Osteoarthritis:
Key risk is not the ACL reconstruction surgery itself, but 3 factors:
Basic Overview:
waiting more than 6 months to have the surgery, an acute severe injury (such as impact to knee), accompanying injury to the meniscus/other major structures at the time of injury, & waiting more than 6 months to have the surgery,
--
It was previously thought that the surgery itself, and perhaps the patellar tendon bone graft reconstruction process were the culprit in the onset of Osteoarthritis within 6-10 years of the surgery/reconstruction. The problem with that if A then B = C logic is that if you take an individual who has the patellar tendon bone graft, they are also the individual most likely to return to sport/perfomance based lifestyle and therefore also at more risk of Osteoarthritic development anyway, not necessarily because of the type of graft/reconstruction chose when compared to someone who has the surgery but then does not return to sport, for example. Previous studies also did not try to rule out the presence of time between major/acute injury and surgery, nor did they look to rule out the presence of other ligament damage at the time of injury as a consideration.
When comparing a cross section of different injury scenarios, reconstruction options, and timelines, the perfect storm of factors most likely to produce the onset of Osteoarthritis within 6-10 years of surgery is the following:
1) injury to meniscus and other structures in addition to ACL at time of injury
2) impact/acute injury as definite source of injury (as opposed to chronic pain/undetermined injury which then leads to/suggest the following risk factor)
3) waiting 6 months or more to have the reconstruction from time of injury
Best Research Based Performance Source You're Not Following - Case Against Anti Inflammation Meds After Acute Injury
A lot of what we read, believe, think, and assume is simply tradition based logic steeped in little more than "accepted" cause and effect type reasoning.
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
OneFC March 31st Event feat. Mighty Mouse & Eddie Alvarez
Askren says Gracie Win Unimpressive...
I guess by his rationale, it’s also unimpressive that he fought against a bunch of nongrapplers in his career, took them down (he’s wrestled his entire life) and couldn’t finish them. A number of the guys Askren fought don't even have wikipedia pages. I hate to be "that guy" in pointing that out but it says a lot about the strength of your resume that a bunch of your opponents literally probably had white belt level grappling. I like Askren, the semi serious back and forth between him and the UFC is hilarious to me, but he acts like he faced all the best guys and is returning to Rome in Triumph when in reality...Bellator was glad to see you go elsewhere because your fights were death by a thousand paper cut style boring, and even there, you struggled to finish guys with laughable grappling and wrestling.
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Fringe Grappling Style Showdown: Josh Starlord LeDuc vs Curran Jacobs April 27th
Despite claiming to love wrestling and/or leg locks and finding reasons of not doing ADCC, two guys in a related grappling sport are gonna face off April 27th.Catch wrestling reminds me a lot of Shuai Joao (that Chinese wrestling style). Sure, it looks cool, but the level of professionalism and competition is simply not the same as Judo or Wrestling and I've yet to see other than a few exceptions, any of them use it effectively in MMA or submission grappling for that matter.
Curran got a little bump in visibility by calling for a Gordon Ryan match but only to a ruleset of his choosing (shocker). If you want a crack at a guy like Gordon with his accompanying resume, you better round up the $$$ to make it happen or chop down some big names further up the totem pole buddy. I guess Curran beat Travis Wiuff at a catching wrestling event at some point. That’s about it, in terms of grapplers you'd recognize. Anyhow, LeDuc is makin it happen having rounded up sponsors so my hat off to him. LeDuc also threw his hat in the ring when fundraising for Galvao vs Gordon was looking like it might happen but before Jesus Galvao decided the kids in his hometown didn’t need a school.
So, LeDuc will always have a soft spot in my heart for helping show that Galvao just posts about Jesus and does his work when it suits what he has planned in America, anyway.
Feb 23rd/24th - 3 Pro Grappling Events: Finishers Sub Only, GrappleFest 4, & BJJ Stars
This coming Saturday there's a plethora of grappling options (what a time to be a grappling fan):
Saturday, February 23rd
BJJ Stars, Sao Paulo on BJJStars.TV
Erberth vs Preguica
Meregali vs Lo
Buchecha vs Rocha
Bahiense vs DJ Jackson
Gaudio vs Spriggs
Celso Vinicius vs Palito
Basilio vs Nicolini
Saturday, February 23rd
GrappleFest 4 will be streaming on FloGrappling for those of you who care enough to support the growth of the sport by actually paying for a streaming service. If you're one of those guys tagging all your posts "JiuJitsu lifestyle" but don't even bother signing up to pay $10 or $20 a month to make events possible, then re-evaluate "how much JiuJitsu changed your life" and "saved your life" blah blah blah. You'll pay $3.00 for coffee at Starbucks but won't sign up to pay for events to be made possible each month:
"Main Event: Craig Jones (Absolute MMA) v Gabriel Arges (Gracie Barra)
Finishers Sub Only EBI format event:
I was scheduled to compete but as I'm recovering from ACL/meniscus surgery, that's a no go. The day before, on Saturday, they host an Open tournament for the submission grapplers wanting to do EBI format, which is great for the sport. The pro bracket on Sunday racket features Keith Krikorian, Frank Rosenthal, and JM Holland amongst others. It also features a number of superfights, It will stream live and free on YouTube. I was super excited to compete EBI format again. I've beaten 3 of the guys in the bracket previously, but alas, the life of competing is marred by injury at times.
Saturday, February 23rd
BJJ Stars, Sao Paulo on BJJStars.TV
Erberth vs Preguica
Meregali vs Lo
Buchecha vs Rocha
Bahiense vs DJ Jackson
Gaudio vs Spriggs
Celso Vinicius vs Palito
Basilio vs Nicolini
Saturday, February 23rd
GrappleFest 4 will be streaming on FloGrappling for those of you who care enough to support the growth of the sport by actually paying for a streaming service. If you're one of those guys tagging all your posts "JiuJitsu lifestyle" but don't even bother signing up to pay $10 or $20 a month to make events possible, then re-evaluate "how much JiuJitsu changed your life" and "saved your life" blah blah blah. You'll pay $3.00 for coffee at Starbucks but won't sign up to pay for events to be made possible each month:
"Main Event: Craig Jones (Absolute MMA) v Gabriel Arges (Gracie Barra)
Co-main event: Lachlan Giles (Absolute MMA) v Bradley Hill (GB) u80kgs
Ffion Davies (ECJJ) v Christine Martin (GB) u65kgs"
Sunday, February 24thFfion Davies (ECJJ) v Christine Martin (GB) u65kgs"
Finishers Sub Only EBI format event:
I was scheduled to compete but as I'm recovering from ACL/meniscus surgery, that's a no go. The day before, on Saturday, they host an Open tournament for the submission grapplers wanting to do EBI format, which is great for the sport. The pro bracket on Sunday racket features Keith Krikorian, Frank Rosenthal, and JM Holland amongst others. It also features a number of superfights, It will stream live and free on YouTube. I was super excited to compete EBI format again. I've beaten 3 of the guys in the bracket previously, but alas, the life of competing is marred by injury at times.
Monday, February 18, 2019
Shaolin of Dagestan: Zabit Magomedsharipov - Hype before facing Jeremy Stephens UFC 235
I actually got to see him fight live at the UFC Brooklyn card last year. It was a pinpoint performance as has become the usual with his blending of skills and positions and transitions and his upcoming bout March 2nd is the real jump into deep waters of the division moment: Jeremy Stephens has fought virtually anyone of name in his UFC tenure, and will prove a real stern test in terms of durability, work rate, danger, and overall strength of resume for the Dagestan native.
The last 10 guys Stephens has fought are in no particular order: Aldo, Carneiro, Oliveira, Edgar, Holloway, Bermudez, Choi, Melendez, and Barao...the only name that's not a mainstay of the UFC and proven on the big show stage was Emmett, but he was coming off of a big KO UFC debut. So anyway, the chops of the guys Stephens has faced mean the real question is how does the versatility of Zabit and fluidity hold up under the pressure and craftiness of the power punching veteran Stephens?
This is a great fight to bolster an already solid March 2nd card.
The card is a double title headliner: Woodley vs Usman, Jones vs Smith, bolstered by this bout, then featuring: Holly Holm, Johnny Walker, Cody Garbrandt, and Diego Sanchez amongst others. After that pitiful UFC Australia card, this one should fit the bill as a real deal UFC level PPV affair.
The last 10 guys Stephens has fought are in no particular order: Aldo, Carneiro, Oliveira, Edgar, Holloway, Bermudez, Choi, Melendez, and Barao...the only name that's not a mainstay of the UFC and proven on the big show stage was Emmett, but he was coming off of a big KO UFC debut. So anyway, the chops of the guys Stephens has faced mean the real question is how does the versatility of Zabit and fluidity hold up under the pressure and craftiness of the power punching veteran Stephens?
This is a great fight to bolster an already solid March 2nd card.
The card is a double title headliner: Woodley vs Usman, Jones vs Smith, bolstered by this bout, then featuring: Holly Holm, Johnny Walker, Cody Garbrandt, and Diego Sanchez amongst others. After that pitiful UFC Australia card, this one should fit the bill as a real deal UFC level PPV affair.
UFC on ESPN 1 - A Night of Adjustments & Looking Ahead to the Next Few Weeks
A number of guys made exactly the adjustments necessarily to beat guys that their resume suggests they might not otherwise.
I expected Jury to win based on the strength of his resume but Fili utilized crisper boxing, less jumping/flailing/craziness to systematically pick apart Jury.
I expected Rivera to win based on his only having lost to Moraes in the UFC, but Sterling utilized aggressive/deep shots with kicks at range to keep Rivera on the backfoot from almost the beginning of their match.
Velasquez, coming off of a super long layoff claims his knee gave out as the fight began in the first 20 something seconds and you can see as he plants, pivotes, and rolls his body, his knee appears do give out. It's unfortunate timing, but also historically predictably as he's lost his previous fights that fit this scenario/coming off of a long layoff and he's in the most unpredictably division in the UFC: Heavyweight.
I expected that at 20 UFC fights to his credit, Caceres would opt to use more straight line kicks/push kicks and lead leg kicks to the quad to thwart Kron walking him down, but instead, Caceres kicked big/wide/circular and basically offered his back/bodylock to Kron. Kron strikes me as Demian Maia Lite, as he doens't have the deep shot/half-guard to pack transition backed chain wrestling that Maia does, nor the time spent honing his Muay Thai, so it remains to be seen when his game is thwarted by someone diligent enough to fight the correct/winning gameplan. Along the way though, I expect to see some great submission finishes and some solid JiuJitsu for MMA fighting.
Overall, a solid debut for UFC on ESPN. We had a submission, crisp striking at points, a last second stoppage by Luque over Barbarena (get those guys some $$) for some thrills, and a quick stoppage/injury or otherwise in the main event. I suspect the UFC wanted/was hoping for a quick/violent KO for a good HL reel afterward to start hyping Ngannou as a KO machine et cetera to lure in casual/previously uninitiated MMA fans, but whatevs.
This coming weekend we have the effort to bounce back from a stoppage loss by Gallagher, the Irish submission hunter in an otherwise forgettable Bellator card, and Blachowicz vesus Santos in another CTE/brain damage inducing bout for a UFC on ESPN headliner. On the same UFC card we have Gian Villante facing someone, and Struve vs Rogerio de Lima as well for all the brain cell sacrificing fighting styles.
March 2nd we have the reaaaaal deal double title fight UFC 235: "Picogram" Jones vs "Lionheart" Smith & Woodley vs Usman. The main card also features the UFC debut of Ben Askren vs Robbie Lawler, Tecia Torres, and Cody Garbrandt fighting someone not named TJ Dillashaw. On the prelims we have a real possible contender match (this is what I hate about the UFC...there's no linear sense of what this fight means...Zabit could win with impressive fashion and literally maybe fight for the belt in 18 months or.....not).....with Stephens facing Zabit Magomedsharipov, and Cirkunov vs Johnny Walker. Cirkunov has thus far only lost in the UFC to the names of Oezdemir & Teixeira, so it remains to be seen if Walker is amongst that upper echelon of dangerous strikers or is a guy who busts open lesser fighters for HL reel finishes and falters as the skill level rises. There's a big jump between the 10-20 level ranked guys of LHW and the guys ranked 5-10...and then there's the gap between the top 1, 2, and 3 guys. All in all, we'll plod along the next 2 weeks into the start of March for 2019.
I expected Jury to win based on the strength of his resume but Fili utilized crisper boxing, less jumping/flailing/craziness to systematically pick apart Jury.
I expected Rivera to win based on his only having lost to Moraes in the UFC, but Sterling utilized aggressive/deep shots with kicks at range to keep Rivera on the backfoot from almost the beginning of their match.
Velasquez, coming off of a super long layoff claims his knee gave out as the fight began in the first 20 something seconds and you can see as he plants, pivotes, and rolls his body, his knee appears do give out. It's unfortunate timing, but also historically predictably as he's lost his previous fights that fit this scenario/coming off of a long layoff and he's in the most unpredictably division in the UFC: Heavyweight.
I expected that at 20 UFC fights to his credit, Caceres would opt to use more straight line kicks/push kicks and lead leg kicks to the quad to thwart Kron walking him down, but instead, Caceres kicked big/wide/circular and basically offered his back/bodylock to Kron. Kron strikes me as Demian Maia Lite, as he doens't have the deep shot/half-guard to pack transition backed chain wrestling that Maia does, nor the time spent honing his Muay Thai, so it remains to be seen when his game is thwarted by someone diligent enough to fight the correct/winning gameplan. Along the way though, I expect to see some great submission finishes and some solid JiuJitsu for MMA fighting.
Overall, a solid debut for UFC on ESPN. We had a submission, crisp striking at points, a last second stoppage by Luque over Barbarena (get those guys some $$) for some thrills, and a quick stoppage/injury or otherwise in the main event. I suspect the UFC wanted/was hoping for a quick/violent KO for a good HL reel afterward to start hyping Ngannou as a KO machine et cetera to lure in casual/previously uninitiated MMA fans, but whatevs.
This coming weekend we have the effort to bounce back from a stoppage loss by Gallagher, the Irish submission hunter in an otherwise forgettable Bellator card, and Blachowicz vesus Santos in another CTE/brain damage inducing bout for a UFC on ESPN headliner. On the same UFC card we have Gian Villante facing someone, and Struve vs Rogerio de Lima as well for all the brain cell sacrificing fighting styles.
March 2nd we have the reaaaaal deal double title fight UFC 235: "Picogram" Jones vs "Lionheart" Smith & Woodley vs Usman. The main card also features the UFC debut of Ben Askren vs Robbie Lawler, Tecia Torres, and Cody Garbrandt fighting someone not named TJ Dillashaw. On the prelims we have a real possible contender match (this is what I hate about the UFC...there's no linear sense of what this fight means...Zabit could win with impressive fashion and literally maybe fight for the belt in 18 months or.....not).....with Stephens facing Zabit Magomedsharipov, and Cirkunov vs Johnny Walker. Cirkunov has thus far only lost in the UFC to the names of Oezdemir & Teixeira, so it remains to be seen if Walker is amongst that upper echelon of dangerous strikers or is a guy who busts open lesser fighters for HL reel finishes and falters as the skill level rises. There's a big jump between the 10-20 level ranked guys of LHW and the guys ranked 5-10...and then there's the gap between the top 1, 2, and 3 guys. All in all, we'll plod along the next 2 weeks into the start of March for 2019.
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Time Travel Sunday: A Year Ago Today Jon Calestine Wins EBI 15
We didn't know it at the time, but this would be the last of men's pure submission grappling rules for EBI. After the following women's EBI, the men's EBI is now combat JiuJitsu.
I train under Jon and Matt Kaplan at Bancho MMA in Brooklyn. Matt and Jon are both black belts under Renzo Gracie black belt, Daisuke Yamaji.
At any rate, only those who followed submission grappling and the events like Sapateiro, Finishers et cetera knew who he was, and here we are a year later and the landscape of men's submission grappling is rapidly changing. There's more cash/pro events than ever before.
I train under Jon and Matt Kaplan at Bancho MMA in Brooklyn. Matt and Jon are both black belts under Renzo Gracie black belt, Daisuke Yamaji.
At any rate, only those who followed submission grappling and the events like Sapateiro, Finishers et cetera knew who he was, and here we are a year later and the landscape of men's submission grappling is rapidly changing. There's more cash/pro events than ever before.
UFC on ESPN 1: Ngannou vs Velasquez Picks & Predictions
Recipe for this card marketing-wise: Put a Gracie on the card and fill the rest with more or less stand-up fighters. Headline it with Heavyweights because the standard logic for non-hardcore fans is they want to see Heavyweights. Either Cain gets violently knocked out, or outworks Ngannou impressively and we have a title contender, but not really, because his teammate DC has the strap. The rest of the bouts are stylistically designed to please non hardcore fans with a lot of kickboxing et cetera.
On to the picks!!
The last time Velasquez came off of a long layoff and faced a dangerous KO artist he lost his belt to Cigano. The other time he came off of a lengthy layoff, he got caught in a guillotine by Werdom. Ngannou is only like one of those fighters to be sure. He avenged that Cigano loss two times/later, but I'm never one to bet on HW fights and certainly not one to bet when a fighter is coming off the longest layoff of his career. I'd like to see Velasquez do to Ngannou what Miocic did but with a higher workrate, more punches, and less just laying on him crouched against the cage, but in no way shape or form would I bet on this fight.
Kron said he asked for someone better than Caceres, which is a bit concerning. Caceres has gone from being a guy no one took seriously to still having a job in the UFC, where are are few easy fights. He's managed to basically alternate wins with losses 1-3 at a time, but never lose so many that he gets the pink slip. For sure, he's lost to better fighters than Kron, but Kron, to me, is still an unknown quantity. Time and again we've seen guys not adjust to the changes of fighting in the cage, coming from fighting in a ring/ropes. Caceres if he's smart will stick and move and make Kron plod after him. Kron at times will move on his feet, but unless major changes have been made to his game, I don't see that lasting more than part of one round. I would love to see Kron jump to guard and work his way to the back as he did in his previous two fights, but Caceres for all his glib demeanor is also no idiot. He knows the one way that Kron takes this fight. Kron has preferred to clinch, by walking forward, dirty boxing, and jump to guard. A guy like Caceres who is fleet of foot doesn't really have to fall into this game plan if he doesn't want to. I'm curious to see how this one goes. The likely choice is Kron by RNC in the 2nd round, but I could honestly see Caceres sticking and moving and winning 2 of 3 rounds as Kron complains that he's unable to cut off the cage and force Caceres to stand in front of him long enough to be sucked into fighting in the ground. It's called mixed martial arts, not "fight the kind of fight I want you to fight that benefits my lack of wrestling".
Felder vs Vick: Felder has a complete set of tools, but sometimes falls into the habit of admiring his own work/combos after throwing them. I don't see Vick weathering the storm for a full 15 minutes. Felder by 3rd round stoppage/TKO.
Barbarena vs Luque
Luque is 7-2 in the UFC, dropping a decision to Leon Edwards and a decision to Michael Graves. Barbarena is 5-3 in the UFC. They share a common loss in that Barbarena also lost to Leon Edwards via by decision. Luque has a higher finish rate and I see as a slightly more polished, more athletic, slightly more well-rounded fighter based on the variety of finishes I see on his record. I don't think Luque gets the finish here as Barbarena is tough, but I also don't see Barbarena beating Luque. Luque by unanimous decision.
Rivera vs Sterling
Rivera was on his way to a title shot (if anyone ever is in the backed bantamweight division), but a starching within a minute or 2 by Moraes changed all that. It's easy to forget that prior to that, Rivera had beaten literally everyone he's faced professionally and that list includes names like: Faber, Alcantara, Almeida, and Munoz. Sterling, who I like, and who pulled off a Suloev stretch in his last fight, has lost to guys like Moraes (also by stoppage), Assuncao, and Caraway. Sterling has some names on his hitlist as well, but not quite the tier that Rivera does. At any rate, this is a tough fight to call, but unless Rivera has become overly gunshy, I see this as a very close fight. Sterling throws greater variety of strikes, and if Rivera doesn't vary his punches with wrestling, I can see Sterling's kicking causing him a lot of problems. I don't see this becoming a grappling match. If Rivera can land cleaner punches it will sway this judges. I think Rivera wins a split decision.
Jury vs Fili
Fili has always felt like a solid kickboxers who's scrappy but not good enough to put away the mid-top level guys in his division. He'll fight to a close decision and lose against most of the top 5-10 guys. Jury's only UFC losses are guys with the last names Mendes, Oliveira, and Cerrone. Fili has managed to lose to names slightly less impressive and I think Jury is the obvious pick by unanimous decision.
On to the picks!!
The last time Velasquez came off of a long layoff and faced a dangerous KO artist he lost his belt to Cigano. The other time he came off of a lengthy layoff, he got caught in a guillotine by Werdom. Ngannou is only like one of those fighters to be sure. He avenged that Cigano loss two times/later, but I'm never one to bet on HW fights and certainly not one to bet when a fighter is coming off the longest layoff of his career. I'd like to see Velasquez do to Ngannou what Miocic did but with a higher workrate, more punches, and less just laying on him crouched against the cage, but in no way shape or form would I bet on this fight.
Kron said he asked for someone better than Caceres, which is a bit concerning. Caceres has gone from being a guy no one took seriously to still having a job in the UFC, where are are few easy fights. He's managed to basically alternate wins with losses 1-3 at a time, but never lose so many that he gets the pink slip. For sure, he's lost to better fighters than Kron, but Kron, to me, is still an unknown quantity. Time and again we've seen guys not adjust to the changes of fighting in the cage, coming from fighting in a ring/ropes. Caceres if he's smart will stick and move and make Kron plod after him. Kron at times will move on his feet, but unless major changes have been made to his game, I don't see that lasting more than part of one round. I would love to see Kron jump to guard and work his way to the back as he did in his previous two fights, but Caceres for all his glib demeanor is also no idiot. He knows the one way that Kron takes this fight. Kron has preferred to clinch, by walking forward, dirty boxing, and jump to guard. A guy like Caceres who is fleet of foot doesn't really have to fall into this game plan if he doesn't want to. I'm curious to see how this one goes. The likely choice is Kron by RNC in the 2nd round, but I could honestly see Caceres sticking and moving and winning 2 of 3 rounds as Kron complains that he's unable to cut off the cage and force Caceres to stand in front of him long enough to be sucked into fighting in the ground. It's called mixed martial arts, not "fight the kind of fight I want you to fight that benefits my lack of wrestling".
Felder vs Vick: Felder has a complete set of tools, but sometimes falls into the habit of admiring his own work/combos after throwing them. I don't see Vick weathering the storm for a full 15 minutes. Felder by 3rd round stoppage/TKO.
Barbarena vs Luque
Luque is 7-2 in the UFC, dropping a decision to Leon Edwards and a decision to Michael Graves. Barbarena is 5-3 in the UFC. They share a common loss in that Barbarena also lost to Leon Edwards via by decision. Luque has a higher finish rate and I see as a slightly more polished, more athletic, slightly more well-rounded fighter based on the variety of finishes I see on his record. I don't think Luque gets the finish here as Barbarena is tough, but I also don't see Barbarena beating Luque. Luque by unanimous decision.
Rivera vs Sterling
Rivera was on his way to a title shot (if anyone ever is in the backed bantamweight division), but a starching within a minute or 2 by Moraes changed all that. It's easy to forget that prior to that, Rivera had beaten literally everyone he's faced professionally and that list includes names like: Faber, Alcantara, Almeida, and Munoz. Sterling, who I like, and who pulled off a Suloev stretch in his last fight, has lost to guys like Moraes (also by stoppage), Assuncao, and Caraway. Sterling has some names on his hitlist as well, but not quite the tier that Rivera does. At any rate, this is a tough fight to call, but unless Rivera has become overly gunshy, I see this as a very close fight. Sterling throws greater variety of strikes, and if Rivera doesn't vary his punches with wrestling, I can see Sterling's kicking causing him a lot of problems. I don't see this becoming a grappling match. If Rivera can land cleaner punches it will sway this judges. I think Rivera wins a split decision.
Jury vs Fili
Fili has always felt like a solid kickboxers who's scrappy but not good enough to put away the mid-top level guys in his division. He'll fight to a close decision and lose against most of the top 5-10 guys. Jury's only UFC losses are guys with the last names Mendes, Oliveira, and Cerrone. Fili has managed to lose to names slightly less impressive and I think Jury is the obvious pick by unanimous decision.
Tyson Fury: Gypsy King
Back when I was deep in amateur boxing (prior to Judo and Muay Thai), I read virtually every boxing biography, watched virtually every boxing documentary, and consumed all the history that I could. This is what I do when I pick up a sport. I don't really have other hobbies, and haven't since college. I started with Kung-Fu because it was what they had in my college town. Quickly moved to amateur boxing & Judo, then when I left my college town, started Muay Thai, fought MMA, started JiuJitsu, and when I stopped fighting after knee surgery, kept on with grappling. In the midst of all that, whatever sport I'm training 5-6 days a week, I read every book I can get my hands on and watch any pertinent documentary/biography that I can consume.
Below is a well done documentary covering the one and only Tyson Fury. What I hadn't realized was that his grandfather is a legend in bare knuckle boxing history and the subject of one of my all-time favorite reads of the published bare knuckle boxing biographies.
Movies like Snatch come close, but this guy's life truly was and is the stuff of lore.
Pick up the book: King of the Gypsies if you're a bare knuckle boxing history buff like myself, or peruse any of the great interviews/documentaries on the guy.
Below is a well done documentary covering the one and only Tyson Fury. What I hadn't realized was that his grandfather is a legend in bare knuckle boxing history and the subject of one of my all-time favorite reads of the published bare knuckle boxing biographies.
Movies like Snatch come close, but this guy's life truly was and is the stuff of lore.
Pick up the book: King of the Gypsies if you're a bare knuckle boxing history buff like myself, or peruse any of the great interviews/documentaries on the guy.
Saturday, February 16, 2019
Bellator 215 & 216: Hot Mess Express Double Header - Groin kicks, Daley Wrestles, Kongo & CroCop Avenge...everything
A real mixed bag this weekend: Friday night's Bellator was ho hum to say the least, ending with a somewhat fitting no contest as the night itself was a dud after the first couple opening bouts. he dropped the whole "fans don't know what they're watching" bit, but the fact is Storley put on a wrestle-half-guard fest and in response to the crowd booing he tried the"that's Division 1 wrestling" line. The whole putting down the crowd as unintelligent when your face immediately following the end of the fight shows that you know it was boring AF just comes off as disingenuous, man. Kimbel's hype train was derailed when he tried to slam his way out of a triangle (it worked in his previous fight) and got tapped. Dantas edged out a guy I hadn't heard of, but looked unimpressive doing so, seeming to coast down the stretch. Kharitonov got his nuts kicked in by Mitrione so everyone went home and got paid for a no contest. Not a terrible way to pass a Friday night laid up in bed from ACL/Meniscus surgery, but also still subpar if we're being honest.
Tonight: the opening bout, and the "My heart will go on" Titanic moment of homegirl Loureda crying and sobbing after winning her pro debut was melodramatic at best, and comically tragic at worst. Act like you've done this before. She pieced up her opponent and the ref let her rain down a good number of unanswered hammer fists and elbows before stopping it.
I'm normally the first to praise Bellator and simultaneously chastise the UFC for subpar cards, but they could've honestly just combined these two half-assed cards and had one solid card out of it, minus a ton of prelims that no one was going to watch but the hardest of the hardcore MMA fans.
Amosov grinded out a win over Erick Silva who looked sharp in the early going but his wrestling failed him as he struggled to respond to one mat return after another.
Kongo somehow edged out Minakov who I guess the judges penalized for looking tired because Kongo spent large portions of the fight literally just backpedaling and circling away.
CroCop also avenged a loss tonight and Edged out Roy Nelson in a battle of fending off takedowns, digging underhooks, uppercuts, and knees to the body with a few body kicks thrown in.
Daley and MVP literally spent the first round with Daley circling at the edge of the cage and MVP in his silly point fighter hopping hands at his waist stance. Daley threw zero strikes this round, maybe 1, this is not an exaggeration, and MVP threw a couple push kicks and maybe a jumping knee. I scored the next 3 rounds for Daley as he succeeded in dragging MVP to the mat and controlled him far more than any errant flashes of striking that MVP attempted in the round. Daley was on his way to winning the 5th round but failed to keep MVP on his back and gave up a near backtake in a scramble. Sigh.
They brought Lima in the cage after the bout and he goes, "yeah, we'll see, no one has solved the puzzle of this guy," and I couldn't help but think, dude, he just got outgrappled by Paul Daley. The puzzle was solved.
Kongo seems to think he deserves a title shot against Bader despite barely fight half the 15 mins of fight time he had in a 5 round fight. CroCop also just notched a win, a less than impressive one as well. At this point, I kinda don't care, because neither will be particularly energetic fights, with Bader being the one who makes them worth watching. I'm normally hype AF on Bellator but this weekend was 2 egregiously boring snooze fests that felt like interminably long broadcasts even with minimal commercial interruption.
I rarely say this, but I'm really hoping the UFC tomorrow on ESPN cleanses my palette. Kron debuts. Sterling fights Rivera. Felder vs Vick. Barbarena vs Luque. Fili vs Jury. Lentz, Barao, et al.
It's a solid card of professionals from top to bottom with a number of guys needing to gain momentum to climb higher up the food chain. What a time to be an MMA fan? 3 events in a weekend, and that's not even counting LFA and One FC.
Tonight: the opening bout, and the "My heart will go on" Titanic moment of homegirl Loureda crying and sobbing after winning her pro debut was melodramatic at best, and comically tragic at worst. Act like you've done this before. She pieced up her opponent and the ref let her rain down a good number of unanswered hammer fists and elbows before stopping it.
I'm normally the first to praise Bellator and simultaneously chastise the UFC for subpar cards, but they could've honestly just combined these two half-assed cards and had one solid card out of it, minus a ton of prelims that no one was going to watch but the hardest of the hardcore MMA fans.
Amosov grinded out a win over Erick Silva who looked sharp in the early going but his wrestling failed him as he struggled to respond to one mat return after another.
Kongo somehow edged out Minakov who I guess the judges penalized for looking tired because Kongo spent large portions of the fight literally just backpedaling and circling away.
CroCop also avenged a loss tonight and Edged out Roy Nelson in a battle of fending off takedowns, digging underhooks, uppercuts, and knees to the body with a few body kicks thrown in.
Daley and MVP literally spent the first round with Daley circling at the edge of the cage and MVP in his silly point fighter hopping hands at his waist stance. Daley threw zero strikes this round, maybe 1, this is not an exaggeration, and MVP threw a couple push kicks and maybe a jumping knee. I scored the next 3 rounds for Daley as he succeeded in dragging MVP to the mat and controlled him far more than any errant flashes of striking that MVP attempted in the round. Daley was on his way to winning the 5th round but failed to keep MVP on his back and gave up a near backtake in a scramble. Sigh.
They brought Lima in the cage after the bout and he goes, "yeah, we'll see, no one has solved the puzzle of this guy," and I couldn't help but think, dude, he just got outgrappled by Paul Daley. The puzzle was solved.
Kongo seems to think he deserves a title shot against Bader despite barely fight half the 15 mins of fight time he had in a 5 round fight. CroCop also just notched a win, a less than impressive one as well. At this point, I kinda don't care, because neither will be particularly energetic fights, with Bader being the one who makes them worth watching. I'm normally hype AF on Bellator but this weekend was 2 egregiously boring snooze fests that felt like interminably long broadcasts even with minimal commercial interruption.
I rarely say this, but I'm really hoping the UFC tomorrow on ESPN cleanses my palette. Kron debuts. Sterling fights Rivera. Felder vs Vick. Barbarena vs Luque. Fili vs Jury. Lentz, Barao, et al.
It's a solid card of professionals from top to bottom with a number of guys needing to gain momentum to climb higher up the food chain. What a time to be an MMA fan? 3 events in a weekend, and that's not even counting LFA and One FC.
Finally Watched Quintet Fight Night 2: More Submissions in the first Team meet than entire JiuJitsu events
You know it's coming in hot when a Judo guy hits a flying armbar and nogi fist punch throat ezekiel in the first two matches. Debana opens up this event with 2 impressive submissions you don't see every day, and a welcome change of pace from watching "superfights" where neither guy attempts a submission in the 10 minute regulation nor the 5 minute wildly unnecessary overtime (*ahem* last Kasai event...).
Literally more action than entire Gi events and a lot of "Sub Only" scored events with "super" fights. But, I dunno man, maybe watching Canuto dance with the stars circle and handfight for 5 minutes is more your cup of tea.
Debana came to do work and took out 2 guys then ran into the much larger Khosaka who he couldn't finish, but TK was just glad to not get submitted and never really opened up in the match despite being the bigger man.
It was good to see Yoshiyuki Yoshida back in action (I loved his implementing Judo in his UFC career - hated that death looking KO by a laughably missing weight Anthony Johnson), and Yoshida faced the MMA veteran Daisuke Nakamura. Yoshida had a nice kimura to neck scissor transition, prior to that Nakamura followed up a kimura attack with some toe hold/footsies work.
Yoshida ended the match with a backtake off of a Nakamura leg lock entry, both guys were looking to engage the whole time, just didn't end in a submission.
Matsumoto vs Yokoi - Judo man goes for a kneebar, FTW. What a great night so far. Matsumoto hits another kneebar attempt late in the match and Yokoi counters with a toe hold attempt because Matsumoto has his legs triangled low around the knee, match ends in a draw.
Team Neo Judo advances through the first round
Up Next we have Team Carpe Diem vs Team Shrek (hahaha, yes!)
Mebtouche vs Silva
Mebtouche with a guard pass, Silva recomposes, a kimura attempt, laces the legs, Mebtouche gives up his back in a scramble. Mebtouche uses a waiter sweep to threaten 50/50, comes up for a guard pass, Silva turns out, at this point seeming confident he can turtle to avoid the guard pass and not be in much danger, Mebtouche falls back on a guillotine but Silva defends early and is on top. Silva laces the legs and rotates for a kneebar, but his ankles are crossed and he's extending away/into the hips, rather than getting the bite above the knee, so Mebtouche doesn't look particularly concerned. Silva with a late armbar attempt but the match ends in a draw. Mebtouche gets worked by the considerably smaller man.
Garmo vs Shrek
Garmo almost finishes a double leg, Shrek hits a rice bag throw (what we call it in Judo, not sure in other grappling sports), some more exchanges of semi close throws, Garmo getting to the front headlock that the less mobile Shrek gives up when he's on both knees, Garmo on top in half-guard. Garmo with the kimura locked up from top, Sekine using the big man leg scissor squeeze to trap Garmo's hip side foot. Sekine hits another takedown, the game plan is obviously to take out Garmo with pulling a draw.
Rida vs Moody
Moody is flailing from the jump with his lanky legs, and Rida dives on a toe hold which he transitions to a kneebar as Moody extends his leg to defend. Moody wasted time hunting for a foot with his already locked up and paid the price by being behind in the race from the outset then falling further behind.
Rida vs Fat Ninja
Rida only willing to pass predominately to one side, so Fat Ninja able to recompose when Rida gets close to a knee on belly/pass et cetera. Fat Ninja content to handfight from seated and look to invert from underneath/RDLR. Both guys at 2 stalling warnings apiece. Quintet flexes its muscles and DQ's both guys for not making any progress. Haha, I love this event.
Yamada vs Nakamura
Yamada talks a big game in his promo about tapping out the whole team so he's off to a good start with a high elbow guillotine from mount-ish position, rolls to his back to throw the leg over the shoulder and finish.
Team Carpe Diem seizes the day and wins to advance.
Team Neo Judo vs Team Carpe Diem
Omigawa vs Mietz
Mietz threatened with a semi deep head-arm triangle from mount/side mount but his head was too high and missed the opportunity to use the gift wrap to use it to transition to the back then got butthurt when they got reset when he shot a mounted triangled after hanging onto the head-arm triangle and mount for a couple minutes. Mietz briefly looked for a Caio Terra DLR/ankle lock which he used to scramble to top position with about a minute left. Match ends in a draw.
Ozawa vs Mebtouche
Ozawa on top in half-guard, both knees on the mat, Mebtouche correctly utlizes outside half-guard with an underhook Lucas Leite style to come up to top position. Ozawa turtles to avoid the guard pass and escapes the back take by getting back to his feet/tripod.
Ozawa looks for an ouchigari with an overhook, Mebtouche concedes bottom position and is immediately on another backtake. Ozawa spins the leg to hunt for a leg, Mebtouches looks for an ankle lock or kneebar, and Ozawa does the same in a brief shootout. Ozawa looks completely unfazed by the ankle lock attempts. Mebtouche again with the Lucas Leite outside half-guard come up to dogfight position, then rolling back underneath textbook style to sweep Ozawa when he posts/bases out. Mebtouche in the over/under position and looking for the kneebar/dogbar from there but nothing doing. Rinse wash repeat, same whizzer overhook to an ouchigari attempt, Mebtouche on the back take, Ozawa finally reacts and looks to backstep to the leg, but Mebtouche adjusts and ends up with an RNC attempt. Match ends in a draw with both guys in a toe hold shootout after and armbar from the back transition by Mebtouche.
Garmo vs Matsumoto
Garmo in deep on a front headlock/guillotine attempt to start.
Garmo stays on the front headlock as he defends a single leg from both knees, flips Matsumoto to his back, uses an ankle grip to lace the legs, then lock up a kimura/armbar attempt while still sitting topside. Garmo all over him, deep on an RNC/face crush, but crosses his ankles...and gets tapped. Wow. Damn, that must buuuuuuuurn deep. Ouch.
Matsumoto via double ankle lock with his back taken. Haha, damn. Ouch.
Matsumoto vs Yamada
Having seen Yamada finish his opponent in the first round with a guillotine, Matsumoto shoots a double and puts his head in a guillotine, from there Yamada transitions to a backtake with back triangle locked in and the handfight for the neck begins. Yamada via neck crank from body triangle with Matsumoto stuck on his side.
Yoshida vs Yamada
Yoshida on a bodylock pass, despite his muscular build, Yamada able to feed his own leg over the shoulder and force the omoplata to counter, surprising flexibility/dexterity for a guy with his build. Yamada neck cranks a 2nd victim from body triangle/belly down. Solid event. Will likely see some clarification soon from Quintet as to neck cranks being allowed.
Literally more action than entire Gi events and a lot of "Sub Only" scored events with "super" fights. But, I dunno man, maybe watching Canuto dance with the stars circle and handfight for 5 minutes is more your cup of tea.
Debana came to do work and took out 2 guys then ran into the much larger Khosaka who he couldn't finish, but TK was just glad to not get submitted and never really opened up in the match despite being the bigger man.
It was good to see Yoshiyuki Yoshida back in action (I loved his implementing Judo in his UFC career - hated that death looking KO by a laughably missing weight Anthony Johnson), and Yoshida faced the MMA veteran Daisuke Nakamura. Yoshida had a nice kimura to neck scissor transition, prior to that Nakamura followed up a kimura attack with some toe hold/footsies work.
Yoshida ended the match with a backtake off of a Nakamura leg lock entry, both guys were looking to engage the whole time, just didn't end in a submission.
Matsumoto vs Yokoi - Judo man goes for a kneebar, FTW. What a great night so far. Matsumoto hits another kneebar attempt late in the match and Yokoi counters with a toe hold attempt because Matsumoto has his legs triangled low around the knee, match ends in a draw.
Team Neo Judo advances through the first round
Up Next we have Team Carpe Diem vs Team Shrek (hahaha, yes!)
Mebtouche vs Silva
Mebtouche with a guard pass, Silva recomposes, a kimura attempt, laces the legs, Mebtouche gives up his back in a scramble. Mebtouche uses a waiter sweep to threaten 50/50, comes up for a guard pass, Silva turns out, at this point seeming confident he can turtle to avoid the guard pass and not be in much danger, Mebtouche falls back on a guillotine but Silva defends early and is on top. Silva laces the legs and rotates for a kneebar, but his ankles are crossed and he's extending away/into the hips, rather than getting the bite above the knee, so Mebtouche doesn't look particularly concerned. Silva with a late armbar attempt but the match ends in a draw. Mebtouche gets worked by the considerably smaller man.
Garmo vs Shrek
Garmo almost finishes a double leg, Shrek hits a rice bag throw (what we call it in Judo, not sure in other grappling sports), some more exchanges of semi close throws, Garmo getting to the front headlock that the less mobile Shrek gives up when he's on both knees, Garmo on top in half-guard. Garmo with the kimura locked up from top, Sekine using the big man leg scissor squeeze to trap Garmo's hip side foot. Sekine hits another takedown, the game plan is obviously to take out Garmo with pulling a draw.
Rida vs Moody
Moody is flailing from the jump with his lanky legs, and Rida dives on a toe hold which he transitions to a kneebar as Moody extends his leg to defend. Moody wasted time hunting for a foot with his already locked up and paid the price by being behind in the race from the outset then falling further behind.
Rida vs Fat Ninja
Rida only willing to pass predominately to one side, so Fat Ninja able to recompose when Rida gets close to a knee on belly/pass et cetera. Fat Ninja content to handfight from seated and look to invert from underneath/RDLR. Both guys at 2 stalling warnings apiece. Quintet flexes its muscles and DQ's both guys for not making any progress. Haha, I love this event.
Yamada vs Nakamura
Yamada talks a big game in his promo about tapping out the whole team so he's off to a good start with a high elbow guillotine from mount-ish position, rolls to his back to throw the leg over the shoulder and finish.
Team Carpe Diem seizes the day and wins to advance.
Team Neo Judo vs Team Carpe Diem
Omigawa vs Mietz
Mietz threatened with a semi deep head-arm triangle from mount/side mount but his head was too high and missed the opportunity to use the gift wrap to use it to transition to the back then got butthurt when they got reset when he shot a mounted triangled after hanging onto the head-arm triangle and mount for a couple minutes. Mietz briefly looked for a Caio Terra DLR/ankle lock which he used to scramble to top position with about a minute left. Match ends in a draw.
Ozawa vs Mebtouche
Ozawa on top in half-guard, both knees on the mat, Mebtouche correctly utlizes outside half-guard with an underhook Lucas Leite style to come up to top position. Ozawa turtles to avoid the guard pass and escapes the back take by getting back to his feet/tripod.
Ozawa looks for an ouchigari with an overhook, Mebtouche concedes bottom position and is immediately on another backtake. Ozawa spins the leg to hunt for a leg, Mebtouches looks for an ankle lock or kneebar, and Ozawa does the same in a brief shootout. Ozawa looks completely unfazed by the ankle lock attempts. Mebtouche again with the Lucas Leite outside half-guard come up to dogfight position, then rolling back underneath textbook style to sweep Ozawa when he posts/bases out. Mebtouche in the over/under position and looking for the kneebar/dogbar from there but nothing doing. Rinse wash repeat, same whizzer overhook to an ouchigari attempt, Mebtouche on the back take, Ozawa finally reacts and looks to backstep to the leg, but Mebtouche adjusts and ends up with an RNC attempt. Match ends in a draw with both guys in a toe hold shootout after and armbar from the back transition by Mebtouche.
Garmo vs Matsumoto
Garmo in deep on a front headlock/guillotine attempt to start.
Garmo stays on the front headlock as he defends a single leg from both knees, flips Matsumoto to his back, uses an ankle grip to lace the legs, then lock up a kimura/armbar attempt while still sitting topside. Garmo all over him, deep on an RNC/face crush, but crosses his ankles...and gets tapped. Wow. Damn, that must buuuuuuuurn deep. Ouch.
Matsumoto via double ankle lock with his back taken. Haha, damn. Ouch.
Matsumoto vs Yamada
Having seen Yamada finish his opponent in the first round with a guillotine, Matsumoto shoots a double and puts his head in a guillotine, from there Yamada transitions to a backtake with back triangle locked in and the handfight for the neck begins. Yamada via neck crank from body triangle with Matsumoto stuck on his side.
Yoshida vs Yamada
Yoshida on a bodylock pass, despite his muscular build, Yamada able to feed his own leg over the shoulder and force the omoplata to counter, surprising flexibility/dexterity for a guy with his build. Yamada neck cranks a 2nd victim from body triangle/belly down. Solid event. Will likely see some clarification soon from Quintet as to neck cranks being allowed.
FloGrappling Showdown Cash Challenge - Atos vs GFTeam - Feb 23rd
I'll be at the Finishers Open next Saturday, coaching one of my guys, but it's going down 5pm EST Saturday, Febuary 23rd:
Teams are as follows:
Teams are as follows:
Via FloGrappling.com: "Team Atos vs GF Team Competitors
- 66KG Joao Mendes (Atos) vs Israel Souza (GFTeam)
- 77KG Michael Liera Jr (Atos) vs Jaime Canuto (GFTeam)
- 88KG Keenan Cornelius (Atos) vs Dante Leon (GF Team)
- 99KG Lucas ”‘Hulk” Barbosa (Atos) vs Gutemberg Pereira (GFTeam)
- +99kg Kaynan Duarte (Atos) vs Max Gimenes (GFTeam)
Rules: Standard IBJJF Rules: 10 Minute Matches
No surprises here, all competitors have extensive experience in this format.
Team Standings Structure
- Win by submission = 3 points
- Win by points = 2 points
- Draw = 1 point
- Loss = 0 points"
Some early thoughts: Lieira will win by submission. Keenan will decisively beat Leon by points. Hulk looked less than usual monstrous self at the King of the Mats, so we'll see if he's hitting a slump. Duarte will beat Gimenes by points. Duarta struggled with Meregali in the most recent match of his I watched, but Duarte I don't think will have the same stylistic troubles with Gimenes.
Friday, February 15, 2019
Countdown to Kron UFC Debut Part 4: Recent MMA Fights
A solid analysis/recap of his two most recent MMA bouts which were both against seasoned MMA veteran fighters.
Interesting to recap that Kron utilized guard pulls, nuanced close guard, to eventually finish his opponents. I'm not gonna lie, I'm concerned about his ability to nullify wrestling as he moves up the upper echelon of UFC fighters. We've seen time and again guys who looked amazing over in Japan come and get punished on bottom by far less competent wrestlers than you'd expect.
I'm rooting for Kron as I love seeing the grappling get gotten to early in the match rather than sloppy kickboxing matches that go on ad nauseum, so we'll see.
Reminds me of watching Neiman's fights in Bellator with a truly solid mix of stand-up, clinch/dirty boxing, takedowns, and submission hunting leading to a finish.
Interesting to recap that Kron utilized guard pulls, nuanced close guard, to eventually finish his opponents. I'm not gonna lie, I'm concerned about his ability to nullify wrestling as he moves up the upper echelon of UFC fighters. We've seen time and again guys who looked amazing over in Japan come and get punished on bottom by far less competent wrestlers than you'd expect.
I'm rooting for Kron as I love seeing the grappling get gotten to early in the match rather than sloppy kickboxing matches that go on ad nauseum, so we'll see.
Reminds me of watching Neiman's fights in Bellator with a truly solid mix of stand-up, clinch/dirty boxing, takedowns, and submission hunting leading to a finish.
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Bellator Double Header and Kron's UFC Arrival
I kinda just wished Bellator folded these two cards together because Friday night is basically just worth tuning in for Mitrione (coming off get wrestled-f*cked by Bader) facing the always dangerous but also incredibly hit or miss Kharitonov. Must see TV because I find both guys normally fun to watch.
Dantas is lower down on the card and that's frankly about it.
I've been watching LFA friday nights when there's no Bellator on, and the rest of this card feels like an LFA card. Not a read, but just a fact.
Saturday, we get a follow-up Bellator card with an MVP vs Daley fight, that I honestly don't know will be fireworks. I've seen both guys put on atrocious fights are talking a big gay and hyping it up, and both guys have fought laughably boring "stand-up" affairs with little to no risk taking at times. I think, predictably, MVP's length will give Daley trouble, and a frustrated Daley can put on laughable performances at times. Saturday night we get snoozer 3/4 of the time these days Kongo vs Minakov which I'm interested to see if Kongo can force him into this over/under clinch along the fence and throw knees for 3 1/2 minutes of each round gameplan.
CroCop faces Big Country who's already throwing shade his way for being a known steroid cheat (never served his UFC suspension) and hasn't been tested in 11 previous fights.
Ah, joy.
Sunday, we get a semi-early ESPN card, which part of me may be rethinking my disdain for moving to ESPN because with this streaming service, anything that gets it on before those 10pm start times is welcome.
The real story is not Velasquez finally returning to face a very dangerous puncher off a lay off (he did that and lost his belt to Cigano, but rather the entrance of Kron Gracie into the UFC. I'm a fan of both Kron and Neiman's grappling skills for MMA as they both hunt for the finish, use old school get to the clinch, get to the mat, and work to finish JiuJitsu. I am curious how Kron will do with 5 min rounds (as opposed to how much better he looked with the 10 min first round format in Japan. He's fought 5 min rounds before, but he's also not faced the cage. We've seen guys come over like Aoki and others struggle with the cage. I have no doubt Kron has prepared in a cage with the scrap pack, and in all honesty, any time a grappling centric style is on display, I'm happy, but we've seen plenty of guys not translate it as effectively with the common denominator wrestling pedigree of the UFC. Hoping for an awesome fight. I can see Caceres fighting an ugly disengaging fight with a lot of probing kicks and the like and Kron plodding around trying to clinch from standing and Caceres taking 2 rounds. I hoooooope I'm wrong AF.
Felder vs James Vick: Felder should hand Vick another stoppage loss. Coming off a stoppage loss to Gaethje (a ton of guys have) and now facing a more measured approach from Felder who likes to fall in love with his Thai styling mid fight and admire his work and finesse will give Vick more of a chance to stay in this fight, but Felder overall has fought the stiffer competition with a win over Oliveira, though interestingly, Felder lost to Trinaldo and Vick beat him. Fun fact.
With Vick picking up wins over solid guys but faltering when facing guys like Gaethje & Dariush.
Barbarena vs Luque, Fili vs Jury, Rivera vs Sterling, Lentz vs Holtzman, Barao vs someone who's 1-3 in his 4 UFC fights.
A bunch of fun scraps, unfortunately, a lot of these ESPN cards starting out stylistically look like sloppy kickboxing match-ups (even that Australia card last weekend). So, we'll see. What's a grappler laid up from ACL/Meniscus surgery to do?
Dantas is lower down on the card and that's frankly about it.
I've been watching LFA friday nights when there's no Bellator on, and the rest of this card feels like an LFA card. Not a read, but just a fact.
Saturday, we get a follow-up Bellator card with an MVP vs Daley fight, that I honestly don't know will be fireworks. I've seen both guys put on atrocious fights are talking a big gay and hyping it up, and both guys have fought laughably boring "stand-up" affairs with little to no risk taking at times. I think, predictably, MVP's length will give Daley trouble, and a frustrated Daley can put on laughable performances at times. Saturday night we get snoozer 3/4 of the time these days Kongo vs Minakov which I'm interested to see if Kongo can force him into this over/under clinch along the fence and throw knees for 3 1/2 minutes of each round gameplan.
CroCop faces Big Country who's already throwing shade his way for being a known steroid cheat (never served his UFC suspension) and hasn't been tested in 11 previous fights.
Ah, joy.
Sunday, we get a semi-early ESPN card, which part of me may be rethinking my disdain for moving to ESPN because with this streaming service, anything that gets it on before those 10pm start times is welcome.
The real story is not Velasquez finally returning to face a very dangerous puncher off a lay off (he did that and lost his belt to Cigano, but rather the entrance of Kron Gracie into the UFC. I'm a fan of both Kron and Neiman's grappling skills for MMA as they both hunt for the finish, use old school get to the clinch, get to the mat, and work to finish JiuJitsu. I am curious how Kron will do with 5 min rounds (as opposed to how much better he looked with the 10 min first round format in Japan. He's fought 5 min rounds before, but he's also not faced the cage. We've seen guys come over like Aoki and others struggle with the cage. I have no doubt Kron has prepared in a cage with the scrap pack, and in all honesty, any time a grappling centric style is on display, I'm happy, but we've seen plenty of guys not translate it as effectively with the common denominator wrestling pedigree of the UFC. Hoping for an awesome fight. I can see Caceres fighting an ugly disengaging fight with a lot of probing kicks and the like and Kron plodding around trying to clinch from standing and Caceres taking 2 rounds. I hoooooope I'm wrong AF.
Felder vs James Vick: Felder should hand Vick another stoppage loss. Coming off a stoppage loss to Gaethje (a ton of guys have) and now facing a more measured approach from Felder who likes to fall in love with his Thai styling mid fight and admire his work and finesse will give Vick more of a chance to stay in this fight, but Felder overall has fought the stiffer competition with a win over Oliveira, though interestingly, Felder lost to Trinaldo and Vick beat him. Fun fact.
With Vick picking up wins over solid guys but faltering when facing guys like Gaethje & Dariush.
Barbarena vs Luque, Fili vs Jury, Rivera vs Sterling, Lentz vs Holtzman, Barao vs someone who's 1-3 in his 4 UFC fights.
A bunch of fun scraps, unfortunately, a lot of these ESPN cards starting out stylistically look like sloppy kickboxing match-ups (even that Australia card last weekend). So, we'll see. What's a grappler laid up from ACL/Meniscus surgery to do?
ACL/Meniscus Surgery Once Again (Here We Go Again)
I'm having ACL & Meniscus surgery again (on the other knee). This will balance the knee universe in which I reside and have both my knees matching.
A little over 6 1/2 years ago I had ACL & Meniscus surgery. All told my timeline went something like this:
A large, stocky white belt basically sat directly into the side of my knee/collapsed his entire body weight into it and sat and it felt like the hands of God reached down and began to tear my leg apart like it was a Thanksgiving turkey leg. I literally blacked out from the pain. Whenever I came out of that blackout, I was on the mat however many moments later in excruciating pain as I suspect my knee was separated as well. and had to fit back into place once the muscles stopped panicking.
For my previous knee injury described above, I had the Patellar tendon bone graft (my own as there have been instances of rejection of a cadaver graft and possible cases where the graft was weakened by the sterilization and storage fluids) and the Patellar Tendon graft as it is still seen as the best long-term, return to stability/strength, and high end sports performance option. I have had zero problems with this knee since. I read literally every publication I could find, every review online, every blog post, literally EVERYTHING I could find on the topic before arriving at this decision. I wanted the long term, best viable result and strongest knee possible. More PT and time on the front end to hopefully increase the likelihood of a long-term knee for competition.
A couple days after surgery, I got on my crutches, went down to the gym in my apartment building and did some curls with dumbbells. True story. At about 3 months I was doing some semi-live-ish training with a few, very, very select training partners (as seen above). At 6 months the same. I competed in Judo again at 10 months. I took my PT seriously, and though I was back competing at 10 months, I went into matches with certain positions and areas where I would concede position and lose rather than force and risk injury. I don't know that I will follow exactly that return to action time table.
There's the moment, in the small, sterile, white, bright room....the surgeon (I found a sport-specific Orthopaedic surgeon) looks at you and asks what your goals are for your life both short-term, sport-specific, and long-term athletic endeavors if any.
It was a short conversation as I told him I wanted the graft with the lowest fail rate and the best long term prognosis for returning to high end sports performance. He was on board as well, so it's another Patellar tendon bone graft.
I had forgotten I had these short clips of me moving around live from way back when. So, here they are, for those of you who stumble across this page and end up having ACL/Meniscus surgery. There's hope.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
What I've been Watching/Reading/Studying & How Injuries Can Spur Growth
I have a torn ACL/Meniscus. Saw my Orthopedist, Karim Wahib @ Ouch Medical, he referred me to Thomas Youm, and now I'll be heading into surgery.
I was working around what I thought was a very deep bruise on the inside of my knee for the better part of 2 weeks when during training I felt my knee slide out of place completely. Having torn my ACL previously in my other knee, though not a doctor, I basically knew what that kind of instability/laxity usually suggests. I was vaguely hopeful that I was mistaken and perhaps my kneecap/patella wasn't tracking, but I've had a series of small injuries to my "healthy" knee prior to my first ACL surgery on my other knee. My lead leg, being the dominant or lead was able to compensate for the most part in the ensuring 6 1/2 years. I had various tweaks and injuries I would work around, and had to adjust my stand-up game in particular to hide the deficiencies, but alas, when your knee slides out of place a couple times in one training session...the writing is on the wall.
I've been watching a lot of a European Judo player who shall remain nameless as when I return from surgery, I plan to utilize some of his game competing in the Gi at brown belt adult.
I've been going back and rewatching old ADCC's for things I may have missed, and odd bits of various guys' games to implement into my top game for NoGi.
I tried to watch the Euros but the lack of disengaging, stalling, and resetting, much like that of the NoGi Worlds was laborious to watch. I watched the ADCC trials, the Kasai Super Series (as evidenced by my comments online and Instagram story posts).
I've been watching Brunovskis as I like the way he teaches in pieces I've seen online, and though, won't adopt large portions of his game, from a teaching perspective, and a "how someone explains concepts" perspective, there's gold to be mined from hearing him articulate JiuJitsu.
After having my MRI results confirmed, I didn't watch much JiuJitsu for a couple days, and basically spiraled out in a pity party because this isn't an unknown fear....this is very much a known fear: the diligence and persistence necessary to govern my rehab, avoid re-injury, and get back to top form whilst the game these days progresses even faster than before.
That being said, the disinformation and false positives propagated in grappling is at an all-time high. Separating the wheat from the chaff proves ever more difficult as guys are finally, for example, escaping basic leg lock series/attacks, but guys are putting out fluff techniques (I make fun of them on my Instagram) that are just a random ordering of literally nothing done correctly or in any sensical order.
Injury in Judo is what actually produced my ambidextrous game and taught me the ability to work around injury. An initial knee injury forced me to learn to play left handed and also to learn more mat work, to which I began my first basic JiuJitsu studying. Later, following ACL surgery, I incorporated knee on belly because I couldn't go to mount in training. I also learned Reverse De La Rive as a solution to not being able to lock my guard or utilize butterfly guard or other forms of open guard I felt put my knee in perilous random flailing motions. Various elbow injuries in Judo also reinforced and necessitated long periods spent learning how to utilized different gripping strategies and throws do to the rough and tumble nature of long training sessions of full-contact throwing/takedowns.
Koga, seen here, actually developed his distinct Ippon Seionage as a response to injury in training. He discusses this evolution and process in the interview portion of "A New Wind," the production detailing his unique game and development into one of (not exaggerating) all-time greats. The last lower weight class competitor in recent memory to nearly win the All Japan Open Weight Tournament.
The dude is a real savage and a legend.
I was working around what I thought was a very deep bruise on the inside of my knee for the better part of 2 weeks when during training I felt my knee slide out of place completely. Having torn my ACL previously in my other knee, though not a doctor, I basically knew what that kind of instability/laxity usually suggests. I was vaguely hopeful that I was mistaken and perhaps my kneecap/patella wasn't tracking, but I've had a series of small injuries to my "healthy" knee prior to my first ACL surgery on my other knee. My lead leg, being the dominant or lead was able to compensate for the most part in the ensuring 6 1/2 years. I had various tweaks and injuries I would work around, and had to adjust my stand-up game in particular to hide the deficiencies, but alas, when your knee slides out of place a couple times in one training session...the writing is on the wall.
I've been watching a lot of a European Judo player who shall remain nameless as when I return from surgery, I plan to utilize some of his game competing in the Gi at brown belt adult.
I've been going back and rewatching old ADCC's for things I may have missed, and odd bits of various guys' games to implement into my top game for NoGi.
I tried to watch the Euros but the lack of disengaging, stalling, and resetting, much like that of the NoGi Worlds was laborious to watch. I watched the ADCC trials, the Kasai Super Series (as evidenced by my comments online and Instagram story posts).
I've been watching Brunovskis as I like the way he teaches in pieces I've seen online, and though, won't adopt large portions of his game, from a teaching perspective, and a "how someone explains concepts" perspective, there's gold to be mined from hearing him articulate JiuJitsu.
After having my MRI results confirmed, I didn't watch much JiuJitsu for a couple days, and basically spiraled out in a pity party because this isn't an unknown fear....this is very much a known fear: the diligence and persistence necessary to govern my rehab, avoid re-injury, and get back to top form whilst the game these days progresses even faster than before.
That being said, the disinformation and false positives propagated in grappling is at an all-time high. Separating the wheat from the chaff proves ever more difficult as guys are finally, for example, escaping basic leg lock series/attacks, but guys are putting out fluff techniques (I make fun of them on my Instagram) that are just a random ordering of literally nothing done correctly or in any sensical order.
Injury in Judo is what actually produced my ambidextrous game and taught me the ability to work around injury. An initial knee injury forced me to learn to play left handed and also to learn more mat work, to which I began my first basic JiuJitsu studying. Later, following ACL surgery, I incorporated knee on belly because I couldn't go to mount in training. I also learned Reverse De La Rive as a solution to not being able to lock my guard or utilize butterfly guard or other forms of open guard I felt put my knee in perilous random flailing motions. Various elbow injuries in Judo also reinforced and necessitated long periods spent learning how to utilized different gripping strategies and throws do to the rough and tumble nature of long training sessions of full-contact throwing/takedowns.
Koga, seen here, actually developed his distinct Ippon Seionage as a response to injury in training. He discusses this evolution and process in the interview portion of "A New Wind," the production detailing his unique game and development into one of (not exaggerating) all-time greats. The last lower weight class competitor in recent memory to nearly win the All Japan Open Weight Tournament.
The dude is a real savage and a legend.
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Monday, February 11, 2019
The Hard Truth with John Joseph/Dietary Changes I've Made as an Aging Grappler
Made some gradual but also some significant changes to my diet in the past year. I'll detail the changes over the course of actually about 18 months so as to make clear that it wasn't some one day, everything was different path but rather the accumulation of information and trial and error and experiencing the benefits of the changes.
I got MRSA last April, but in retrospect and in talking with my doctor and doing research, I had made my body an inhospitable environment for taxing physical duress.
I overhauled my diet and largely eradicated artificial sweeteners and processed sugar. Sure, I have a soda or 2 a week, sure I'll have a snickers or Peanut M&M's on the Subway, but the days of piling that stuff in my face are long gone.
I now rarely consume pork other than Bacon, but soon that will be all but gone.
I now rarely consume red meat as I can simply feel how heavy it is in my gut the day after when I'm training midday.
I now juice fruits and vegetables 5-6 days out of the week. I plan to soon add green heavy smoothies to that as well. As a result of the juicing I'm consuming less coffee, feeling more energy at mid-afternoon, and even late evening than previously.
I'm consuming more and more of my protein from plant sources like Brocoli et al, and I honestly feel lighter and cleaner and was able to make 140 lbs for my most recent superfight at Rise Invitational almost entirely by diet, with almost no water sweating necessary. It was supposed to be a dry run for making 135 for the Sub Spectrum event out in Iowa March 2nd (but I'm now booked for ACL reconstruction...so much for the best laid plans).
All this being said....as an aging grappler, I'm unwilling to concede that my best days are behind me...and that means a total overhaul of all my corollary behaviors which impact training: sleep, diet, recovery. I feel as good as I ever have despite the effects of nearly 16 years of combat sports in one form or another.
Do yourself a favor. Start making changes.
I got MRSA last April, but in retrospect and in talking with my doctor and doing research, I had made my body an inhospitable environment for taxing physical duress.
I overhauled my diet and largely eradicated artificial sweeteners and processed sugar. Sure, I have a soda or 2 a week, sure I'll have a snickers or Peanut M&M's on the Subway, but the days of piling that stuff in my face are long gone.
I now rarely consume pork other than Bacon, but soon that will be all but gone.
I now rarely consume red meat as I can simply feel how heavy it is in my gut the day after when I'm training midday.
I now juice fruits and vegetables 5-6 days out of the week. I plan to soon add green heavy smoothies to that as well. As a result of the juicing I'm consuming less coffee, feeling more energy at mid-afternoon, and even late evening than previously.
I'm consuming more and more of my protein from plant sources like Brocoli et al, and I honestly feel lighter and cleaner and was able to make 140 lbs for my most recent superfight at Rise Invitational almost entirely by diet, with almost no water sweating necessary. It was supposed to be a dry run for making 135 for the Sub Spectrum event out in Iowa March 2nd (but I'm now booked for ACL reconstruction...so much for the best laid plans).
All this being said....as an aging grappler, I'm unwilling to concede that my best days are behind me...and that means a total overhaul of all my corollary behaviors which impact training: sleep, diet, recovery. I feel as good as I ever have despite the effects of nearly 16 years of combat sports in one form or another.
Do yourself a favor. Start making changes.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
UFC 234: Whitaker vs Gastelum....Already Lackluster Card Loses Only Headliner Ed.
Given the dearth of talent flooded into the initial offerings of ESPN+, it was clear this card was going to be a real test of your devotion to watching consenting adults attempt to maim one another for money even for even hardcore fans such as myself.
I literally left my friends' place before the maincard even began after 4-6 sloppy kickboxing matches punctuated by Ishihara putting his arm inside a body triangle and getting RNC'd.
With the loss of the Whitaker vs Gastelum fight, I literally couldn't bring myself to hang around all night to see the Anderson Silva face younger version of himself main event. I've been catching up on the fights today but, man, it's been trying my fortitude. I can only watch so much passable MMA kickboxing before it's all kind of a blur and mish mash of the same exchanges, wash, rinse repeat.
Some lower tier top 15 ish level guys picked up wins over other guys in a sort of musical chairs of my mind regarding who is slogging their way to top 5-10 ranking, but honestly, I just couldn't get into the match-ups. When the announcer is talking about how a fighter is probably wondering if he'll still have a division/flyweight demise possible, you start to really marvel at the state of affairs.
Dana wants Cowboy vs Conor for an interim belt. Covington was stripped of a belt for balking at a fight before surgery, whilst other guys like Bisping avoided fights for over a year and weren't stripped. The ramshackle, slaphazard, nonsensical sense of direction that proves so consistently inconsistent makes it hard to be a *&^%in' fan sometimes. I adore Bellator for putting on a Grand Prix. The linear nature of it erases any sort of irritation I may feel at bracketing, or waiting for it all to play out, because even with the maybe it's a title contender fight, maybe it's not, but y'know if guy A wins he gets a title shot maybe, but if guy B wins, he doesn't because he's already lost to the champ....I just can't with it sometimes.
I literally left my friends' place before the maincard even began after 4-6 sloppy kickboxing matches punctuated by Ishihara putting his arm inside a body triangle and getting RNC'd.
With the loss of the Whitaker vs Gastelum fight, I literally couldn't bring myself to hang around all night to see the Anderson Silva face younger version of himself main event. I've been catching up on the fights today but, man, it's been trying my fortitude. I can only watch so much passable MMA kickboxing before it's all kind of a blur and mish mash of the same exchanges, wash, rinse repeat.
Some lower tier top 15 ish level guys picked up wins over other guys in a sort of musical chairs of my mind regarding who is slogging their way to top 5-10 ranking, but honestly, I just couldn't get into the match-ups. When the announcer is talking about how a fighter is probably wondering if he'll still have a division/flyweight demise possible, you start to really marvel at the state of affairs.
Dana wants Cowboy vs Conor for an interim belt. Covington was stripped of a belt for balking at a fight before surgery, whilst other guys like Bisping avoided fights for over a year and weren't stripped. The ramshackle, slaphazard, nonsensical sense of direction that proves so consistently inconsistent makes it hard to be a *&^%in' fan sometimes. I adore Bellator for putting on a Grand Prix. The linear nature of it erases any sort of irritation I may feel at bracketing, or waiting for it all to play out, because even with the maybe it's a title contender fight, maybe it's not, but y'know if guy A wins he gets a title shot maybe, but if guy B wins, he doesn't because he's already lost to the champ....I just can't with it sometimes.
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
UFC 234: Inside the Octagon - Whitaker vs Gastelum
I hate it when this happens. When the main event and co-main event are the only fights on the card which I wish to see. These events are a true chore to watch as midnight is way past my bedtime these days now that I no longer work latenights behind the bar or bouncing at the door.
I don't see how Gastelum wins this as he's not super impressed me at 185. I don't think Gastelum would beat Romero and I know, I know, MMA Math isn't real. The last top 5 middleweight Gastelum faced, he lost to (Weidman). His win over Bisping is marred by the fact that Bisping came off a crushing, stoppage loss and at the tail end of his career in which the last 2 years he basically only fought carefully selected, well-timed/chosen opponents ( I say that fully admitting that I was fine with how he curated his title reign b/c the dude fought literally everyone on the way there). I don't see Gastelum winning this. Period.
I don't see how Gastelum wins this as he's not super impressed me at 185. I don't think Gastelum would beat Romero and I know, I know, MMA Math isn't real. The last top 5 middleweight Gastelum faced, he lost to (Weidman). His win over Bisping is marred by the fact that Bisping came off a crushing, stoppage loss and at the tail end of his career in which the last 2 years he basically only fought carefully selected, well-timed/chosen opponents ( I say that fully admitting that I was fine with how he curated his title reign b/c the dude fought literally everyone on the way there). I don't see Gastelum winning this. Period.
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest: Askren Inventing 165 lb Belt, Ralph Gracie/Gracie Barra Battle Lines Drawn & Skeletons Walking....
Some reaaaaaaaal accusations laid out in this one.
None of them particularly surprising: marriages for green cards, accusations of improper relationships with minors...disputes over who deserved what in regards to the incident, not sure what else to call it?
On one hand we have academies based solely in sport, folks training JiuJitsu with no desire to ever be in a fight. On the other hand, this is a combat sport in which we train the ability to strangle and mangle the human body.
Somewhere in the middle is a business model of an acadmey and old time ethos/values at play....fueled by previous history and views and politics....it's a potent mix when it comes to a head like it did at the NoGi Worlds.
None of them particularly surprising: marriages for green cards, accusations of improper relationships with minors...disputes over who deserved what in regards to the incident, not sure what else to call it?
On one hand we have academies based solely in sport, folks training JiuJitsu with no desire to ever be in a fight. On the other hand, this is a combat sport in which we train the ability to strangle and mangle the human body.
Somewhere in the middle is a business model of an acadmey and old time ethos/values at play....fueled by previous history and views and politics....it's a potent mix when it comes to a head like it did at the NoGi Worlds.
Monday, February 4, 2019
UFC 234 Full Countdown Episode: Whitaker vs Gastelum, Adesanya vs Silva, et al
Given all the talent plugged into ESPN+ cards, this one is frightfully lacking in depth. If you count Anderson Silva's retirement tour as being worthy of co-main event status, you've basically got 2 fights on this card. The fact that Rani Yahya is the fight before the 2 co-main's should prove that if nothing else. As a grappling fan, I'm excited to see him in action every time, but he is by no means a main card fighter based on excitement/style as in comparison with the names they've been plugging into ESPN+ spots, so I dunno if I'll be tuning into this one frankly. I'll spend the day watching my coach and friend, Jon Calestine hammer away at the ADCC trials, then probably watch the fight pass prelims and go to sleep early. Whitaker vs Gastelum and Adesanya are all great entertainment heavy names, but damn if the rest of the card isn't paper thin.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Combat Sports Weekend Wrap-Up: BJJ Scout's BJJ Digest, UFC ESPN+ Brazil, & Kasai Grappling Super Series
Too much going on Saturday night, I haven't even watched the Quintet event yet. Friday night I watched the LFA event, Saturday I rotated back and forth between UFC & Kasai after working 2 of my jobs.
Demian proved he's still the kryptonite of basically anyone who doesn't have the style of Covington or Woodley. Aldo looked all kinds of spry when he can rehydrate away from prying eyes in Brazil. Weird. Moraes made Assuncao look not like a guy who I think is/was tied for the longest active win streak at Bantamweight, and capped it with a submission no less. Amazing work. I'm kinda bummed Dillashaw is tied up in this Cejudo business because Moraes has axed his way through his most recent spate of opponents and clearly deserves a title shot in this UFC run he's on.
Kasai had some submission less matches that were a chore to watch, but Canuto finally had a NoGi match that wasn't a shuck and jive and breakdance fest of him dancing around and circling, thank God. I'm always glad when a quality event in terms of production is put on, but I'd be remiss to not admit, I found myself scrolling through my phone and doing other stuff during a number of the matches. Demente, who hasn't competed recently in NoGi memory avoided Johnson's leg lock entries, rotating the knee and clearing any real heel hook danger, despite Johnson claiming that he popped his ankle in the post fight interview...but if I had a dollar for every ankle I made pop in a match and the guy cleared and escaped I'd have enough to buy one of those grappling dummy's marketed at the start of the BJJ Scout Digest episodes. Despite the dearth of grappling on Kasai, I had more fun watching the UFC down in Brazil. The biggest part of Kasai was announcing some of the big names for the Kasai 205 lb Grand Prix coming up in a few months. It was a plus to see a women's black belt Gi match on the main card and there were some tense exchanges, but not so much in the Valente and Barbosa match in the Gi. Valente shot an early omoplata to armbar/triangle, but afterward largely Barbosa stacking Valente and aaaaalmost getting a guard pass going as time ran out. DeBlass looked directly into the camera and promised he would look for the submission in the promo then pulled half-guard and attempted exactly zero submissions. Bastos stayed on top in half-guard, laying on top of DeBlass' floating knee shield-esque hook, and did almost no passing. It was.....tough to watch, but then again, if promoters will pay them to have the exacty same match 3 times in a row.....what the &%$# do I know?
Demian proved he's still the kryptonite of basically anyone who doesn't have the style of Covington or Woodley. Aldo looked all kinds of spry when he can rehydrate away from prying eyes in Brazil. Weird. Moraes made Assuncao look not like a guy who I think is/was tied for the longest active win streak at Bantamweight, and capped it with a submission no less. Amazing work. I'm kinda bummed Dillashaw is tied up in this Cejudo business because Moraes has axed his way through his most recent spate of opponents and clearly deserves a title shot in this UFC run he's on.
Kasai had some submission less matches that were a chore to watch, but Canuto finally had a NoGi match that wasn't a shuck and jive and breakdance fest of him dancing around and circling, thank God. I'm always glad when a quality event in terms of production is put on, but I'd be remiss to not admit, I found myself scrolling through my phone and doing other stuff during a number of the matches. Demente, who hasn't competed recently in NoGi memory avoided Johnson's leg lock entries, rotating the knee and clearing any real heel hook danger, despite Johnson claiming that he popped his ankle in the post fight interview...but if I had a dollar for every ankle I made pop in a match and the guy cleared and escaped I'd have enough to buy one of those grappling dummy's marketed at the start of the BJJ Scout Digest episodes. Despite the dearth of grappling on Kasai, I had more fun watching the UFC down in Brazil. The biggest part of Kasai was announcing some of the big names for the Kasai 205 lb Grand Prix coming up in a few months. It was a plus to see a women's black belt Gi match on the main card and there were some tense exchanges, but not so much in the Valente and Barbosa match in the Gi. Valente shot an early omoplata to armbar/triangle, but afterward largely Barbosa stacking Valente and aaaaalmost getting a guard pass going as time ran out. DeBlass looked directly into the camera and promised he would look for the submission in the promo then pulled half-guard and attempted exactly zero submissions. Bastos stayed on top in half-guard, laying on top of DeBlass' floating knee shield-esque hook, and did almost no passing. It was.....tough to watch, but then again, if promoters will pay them to have the exacty same match 3 times in a row.....what the &%$# do I know?
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Friday, February 1, 2019
Craig Jones vs Josh Hinger Announced for June
Third Coast Grappling setting it for their next event.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)