Flying Gogoplata

The Light Heavyweight division is continuing to prove itself as the most exciting division in MMA.

Following Anderson Silva’s controversial title defense against Thales Leites, the UFC decided to go all out in bouncing him back in the eyes of fans by matching him up with none other than Forrest Griffin. I LOVE this matchup, for many reasons:

1. Forrest Griffin is a live underdog. He was tagged to lose against both Quinton Jackson and Mauricio Rua, both while they were considered #1 in the division. He is easy to take lightly, one of the worst mistakes you can make against him. He will come to fight, and he will grind you out if you are not ready for him.
2. Anderson Silva has no size advantage against Griffin. Forrest Griffin is a HUGE LHW, both long and solid. Though Silva has a technique advantage, he certainly won’t be able to toss Griffin around like a rag doll in the Thai Clinch. I also doubt Silva will be able to get the figure four body lock on the ground that he likes so much. The physical metrics are even and negligible in this one, something that hasn’t been the case for Silva in a while.
3. Forrest Griffin is the kind of fighter that will bring out the best performance in Anderson Silva. In his own words, Forrest Griffin is a dog, and he may not beat you, but he WILL fight you. Griffin is an emotional fighter, someone who likes to have fun in the cage, and he leaves everything there. But he’s also not an idiot; one does not get to be top 5 in the world by being an idiot. He has an incredible pace and conditioning which he uses to his advantage. He is not content to sit and wait for the fight to come to him, but he doesn’t come barreling in, hands down and chin up, either. He has an excellent gameplanner in Randy Couture in his corner, who brings a mantra of “imposing one’s will” on their opponent. Forrest Griffin WILL FIGHT Anderson Silva, and given his counter striking nature, Anderson Silva WILL FIGHT BACK.
4. For the first time, Silva will hold the part of the heel. Fans love Forrest Griffin, and many of those same fans are upset with Anderson Silva’s most recent performance. Griffin will, once again, be the underdog in this fight, and every punch he lands will bring drama to the event. Silva has a HUGE opportunity to regain some support in this fight, as many eyes will be on it in spite of the taste he left in peoples mouths in his last two outings.

Along with this fight is the Rashad Evans-Lyoto Machida title fight at UFC 98. Quinton Jackson will get the winner of that one. Mauricio Rua catapulted himself back into the LHW ranks with his knockout of Chuck Liddell, with a possible matchup against up-and-comer Luiz Arthur Cane. Thiago Silva has been matched with Keith Jardine. And outside the top ten there’s Brandon Vera vs Matt Hamill (both being built into possible contenders), and prospect Jon Bones Jones has a fight against Hall-of-Famer Mark Coleman.

This division is a chum-filled shark tank and I feel sorry for anyone that hast to fight in it. But as a fan, I couldn’t be more happy.

It’s funny to me how quickly things change in a few days time. Annoying, but kind of funny. Within a few days of my last post, I proceeded to feel really really miserable and had to take the next few days off work and training due to illness. Precious, precious training days that I really could have used considering how shitty my skills have been these last couple of days. That being said, by Monday I was feeling just fine, aside from my noticeably reduced endurance and awkward positioning. I’ve long since accepted the fact that the only likely outcome of my participation in this competition (now only days away) is me receiving a complete and thorough pwning. But the way things have been flopping back and forth, perhaps I’ll feel a lot better about it on Thursday, only to return to my current state on Saturday. It makes me feel like the Taoist Farmer.

I’ve been considering buying a rash guard recently, as it seems to be the unofficial no-gi grappling/mma uniform. Aside from the sweat/grip benefits and mat burn protection, there are also identity associations that I’m not sure I’m ready for. It’s funny how clothing can do that. Also, it’s been quite a while since I’ve looked good in lycra/spandex . But judging by the fairly sizable mat burn seated on my triceps, I think it’s about time. For functional purposes, of course.

My weight has been pretty stable, which is comforting and annoying at the same time. I certainly had no delusions of dropping an entire weight class, but I feel like I should be able to break 250. The scale says otherwise. It made for an interesting conversation in class today, though. We were discussing weight divisions, and it was obvious the larger weight divisions would be a little thin (no pun intended). I’ve seen at most 2 other people who would come close to my weight from my gym. One of them was there today.

AF*: We probably have 3, maybe four heavyweights for the competition. [To the other big feller] How much you weigh?

Other Big Feller: like, 230

AF: [To me] And you?

Me: 250

AF: 250??!?

Me: [Patting my belly with my leathered fist] I’m trying, man! It doesn’t look like much, but it’s pretty heavy.

AF: Nah, man. Heavy bones. You probably have heavy bones.

*(Coach? Sensei? Master? Badass Motherfucker? I don’t know what to call him. It’s hella informal.)

Uh… right. Heavy bones? Hey, I’ll take it. I didn’t have it in me to tell him that was UP from 179 in my high school prime. Which, further, was down from 215 with my football bulk. I suppose bone weight can fluctuate with time…

There was an inspiring snippet for aspiring jujutsukas in a Sherdog.com article today on the winners and losers of UFC 91.

Winner #2. Jiu-jitsu

Believe it or not, there was actually a period recently when MMA fans and experts alike were questioning whether submissions had become obsolete in professional MMA competition. Sure, the best of the best grapplers could still use their submission skills, and the control that wrestling and jiu-jitsu offered still had applicable value. But triangle chokes and armbars? Overrated and useless, it was said. Some plainly insisted submissions could not regularly be applied if any fighter simply trained defensive techniques enough.

Those who asserted such nonsense were not the clairvoyant among us, and UFC 91 was the personification of all counter argument to their absurd views. While every facet of the MMA game is both important and necessary, UFC 91 was a keen reminder that whether one is a jiu-jitsu world champion, black belt or fan of Skoal, submissions can still be effectively applied at the highest levels of modern MMA.

I certainly wasn’t among those claiming the death of jujutsu in modern MMA, but I loved to see world-class jujutsukas neutralized using excellent defensive technique (especially those espoused by wrestlers . See Dan Henderson vs Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares). But I still love to see a pretty submission, an arm snatched out of nowhere, a choke sunk where there was seemingly no neck exposed. But even more than that, it’s the danger of the submission that makes for some beautiful, chess-like matches. Folks like Demian Maia, Kenny Florian, and Dustin “McLovin” Hazelett reminded us that the danger remains and is ever present.

(In case you were wondering, I was chomping on my fingernails throughout the entirety of the Couture-Lesnar fight, and my heart broke thoroughly for Couture when he fell to the mat).

All that being said, if you’re interested in seeing some pretty good newbies roll, or if you’re interested in seeing me choked unconscious, or one of my joints bent in the wrong direction, drop me a line and I’ll give you the details.