Never Forget

UFC 221 Countdown: Romero vs Rockhold, Hunt vs Blaydes

UFC Belem: It Happened, I guess That's Something...?

Catching up on the UFC that happened last night because I was sitting in Baltimore at the smallest Greyhound bus station I've been in headed back to the home front after reffing and competing. Thiago Santos vs Anthony Smith basically saved the broadcast. Man. That dude Anthony Smith has already been in some barnburners this early in his UFC career.  Some quick thoughts: Tim Means vs Moraes is what I hate about sloppy kickboxing bouts in MMA. Just that. Reread that sentence. Moraes looked much better than when he wilted against Usman, in fact, he looked like a totally different fighter/competitor. He's been on and off for me in various fights, all the more frustrating due to his legit grappling resume. Check out his fight with Davi Ramos for another sloppy kickboxing bout with minimal grappling to shake your head and pound the table with your fists in frustration. 

I guess Machida beat Anders. I find it hard to put rounds in the bank for a guy who's continually backpedaling and scoring check leg kicks to the inside of the thigh. Anders pressed the pace and did some legit damage IMHO. I'm not even an Anders fan, I just had a hard time giving rounds to Machida with his backpedal style. I had forgotten Machida was the original "elusive" UFC guy, before people hated on Thompson, there were people decrying Machida pretty vociferously. 

Schevhenko's fight was a glaring admission and proof of how lacking in depth the UFC's female divisions are. It's kinda blah as an argument to say "oh well we just opened up this division so there will be mismatches while we see who belongs" when the rationale for creating a division is sorta the obvious "we're creating a division to showcase the amount of fighters who currently exist." I'm a huge Schevchenko fan but seeing her pound on a human target was not sporting, wasn't gratifing, wasn't even laughable as a presentation of professional mixed martial arts with women fighters on a broadcast. The rest of the card was what I've come to expect from various UFC Brazil cards (I truly racked my brain for a good card to counter this narrative I'm spinning, but honestly couldn't). Holloway beating up Aldo in Brazil was a good marquee fight that comes to mind, but otherwise I'm shooting blanks. Iuri Alcantara picked up a convincing stoppage with with a body kick/knee? that led to a quick ground n' pound stoppage win. With this many events, there's bound to be builder events where watching some new main card faces prove if they should move up is part of it, and every season pro sport has just that...the regular season and even pre-season, but this felt a bit below the mark even for that. Anyhow, I'm probably just salty because I spent 3 hours in a bus station rather than watching the fights from the comfort of my bed, but a complete mismatch, Machida shucking and jiving for 5 rounds, and a total blowout of a women's fight was just not much to sit and sip coffee to today upon waking up. Overall, we've got a dearth of legit match-ups through April (even with the 2nd time we've lost an Edgar/Holloway title fight) and it's still an amazing first 1/3 of the year to look forward to and appreciate. 

2 of My Matches from Yesterday: Outside Heel Hook and Back Triangle + Armbar

So I'm catching up on the Finishers 5 Sub Only event which featured a several of the guys I train with both on the undercard portion, the bracket, and the superfight.
Worked til 11pm Friday night, caught the bus at Port Authority and made it to Maryland about 8am, did my weight class for the advanced division, then reffed til 7 when I had to catch a bus back to NYC, got back at 4am and slept a few hours because I'm working 10am-midnight today. I reffed for US Grappling for several years and getting to compete in trade for reffing was a big chunk of my purple belt experience. I owe a big debt to them in terms of just mat time competing and exposure to new grappling areas/guys outside of where I was living and training locally. They run a tight ship, I personally think the reffing is among the best of the companies/tournaments I've been to and worked for (not naming any names......). Was an incredibly long day but was glad to pick up some straight Danaher/what we work on in class on a regular basis stuff that was never part of my game previously.

Won 2 matches by submission and lost a match on points (gave up inside position with my butterfly hook when chasing an ashigarami/leg entanglement and he ran up some points. Glad to see that in each of my matches I was chasing and hunting for submissions and implementing some transitions. Some areas for improvement include: handfighting, better head control/front headlock opportunity recognition, and perhaps I was a bit too relaxed (fatigue? I dunno, I was tired). My guard felt exceptionally unthreatened (may sound condescending but that's a frank assessment/reflection). At any rate:

 AND
 

Throwback to my 2nd MMA Fight

UFC in Brazil this Weekend: Nearly Extinct Karate Dragon Faces Import Athlete

Word is Dodson won't be receiving show money after he declined to take a fight with an opponent who came in nearly half a weight class overweight (anyone out there doubting Dodson's resolve probably isn't a pro fighter and Dodson opting to fight a guy coming in heavy and possibly taking a loss on the last fight of his contract just doesn't get the fight business nor the reason why fighters have to be astute in weighing out bargaining power. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Dodson move on over to Bellator when contract negotiations stall. It's interesting that an organization saving so much money/partitioning out money via the Reebok aqueduct is gonna penalize Dodson for simply expecting his opponent to do as was agreed. They would cry bloody murder if Dodson didn't meet his contractual obligations, but expect him to fight a guy who hasn't met the agreed to previously demands. Anyway, if there's money to invent a women's featherweight division for Cyborg (who has yet to actually fight a featherweight) there's money to pay Dodson his show money.

Machida is coming off of 3 stoppage losses. The time away from the sport did him no favors, nor did a PED positive suspension, and we're left now watching him slide into obscurity. Anders is the guy we're seeing imported from other pro and semi pro athletic pursuits now that there's more money in MMA back when guys really did it despite the lack of financial incentive, not as a legitimate avenue toward a financially rewarding career path.

I'm not psyched about this card. I'll actually be on my way back from reffing a tournament and competing and I kinda don't really care. Dodson was one of the only other reasons to see this card other than an execution style loss by Machida (probably). Schevchenko fights in her rightful weight class and she is my favorite female fighter, so there's that. Desmond Green faces Prazeres who is a tough fight for anyone if not entirely entertaining, and the prelims actually feature some worthy fare: Tim Means faces Sergio Moraes, and Joe Soto faces Iuri Alcantara. It's about what we've come to expect from a non-PPV event in Brazil which is kinda sad considering all the great fighters Brazil has given the UFC and being the birthplace of Vale Tudo as we know. Oh, here you go guys, here's a fading past his expiration former champ probably picked to lose and build a new name in the division. Enjoy guys!

At any rate, it's a Saturday night and there are a TON of huge UFC events in the coming months, despite Cyborg dragging her feet about facing a fellow Brazilian (which would be the best she's going to get since there's no way Rousey is gonna face her). 

Hypnotik Podium Payday

In addition to singing Gordon Ryan ahead of his IBJJF GI debut, Hypnotik has unveiled a program whereby they reward you for wearing their brand and making the podium.

It's about as direct a form of compensation for actually doing something in JiuJitsu as lower tier guys should expect. Guys in JiuJitsu walk around with their hand out, wanting to be sponsored for being good in JiuJitsu and/or training semi full-time. In what other sport a couple years in do you expect people to fund your training? There are Olympic level athletes in various sports that are barely getting by. I don't fault anyone for having their hand out, but there are also plenty of guys in JiuJitsu complaining about compensation then signing up for the same organization that has only recently started paying athletes at their Pro events (IBJJF *cough cough*) and even then it was only after high profile guys were leaving to fight MMA and join other organizations, guys like Buchecha were skipping the Pans to do the Abu Dhabi Pro et cetera. What do you actually do for the brand? You post some pics of you in a rash guard? Tag the brand in an IG post (something you would be doing whether you were repping their brand or not? Sponsorship like most things in life is a two way street. At any rate, I'm impressed Hypnotik has put together this direct a form of compensation as they have, it makes it very clear their end of the bargain and yours and it's as egalitarian as it could possibly be. Just do it, regardless and this is in black and white how you will be compensated.