Mixed Martial Marxist

Shogun Rua and Junior dos Santos Sparring

mixedmartialmarxist — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:43:05 +0000

Winter Olympics Related Suggestion of the Month

mixedmartialmarxist — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:46:48 +0000

Matthew Yglesias, a liberal political blogger at Think Progress, proposes shifting many of the Olympic fighting sports to the winter games because a) the winter games suck, and b) they get overlooked in the densely packed summer schedule. “Is there some particular reason judo can’t be a winter sport? I don’t think so.”

Sounds good to me.

McSweeney’s and MMA? Yes Please.

mixedmartialmarxist — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:24:45 +0000

In an epic win for hipster literati martial arts enthusiasts everywhere, someone named Rory Douglas has three McSweeney’s articles about MMA:

Column 1: Fight One

Column 2: Training at Charlie’s Combat Club

Column 3: The Title Fight

All are well worth a read.

Chael Sonnen Will Dry Hump the Shit Out of You

mixedmartialmarxist — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:45:27 +0000

As soon as Anderson tries to punch me, I’m going to stick my forehead in his chest, run him against the fence, pick him up, put him on the canvas and that’s the end of that round. As soon as Anderson tries to kick me, I’m going to stick my forehead in his chest, run him into that fence, put him on the ground, that’s the end of that round.

…

I am five strike attempts by him away from being the UFC champion.

- Chael Sonnen

Am I the only one that thinks this sounds like a profoundly boring gameplan? It might be exciting if Sonnen’s plan were to take Silva down and submit him. Or take him down and ground-and-pound him until the ref pulls him off Silva’s unconscious body. But there’s no hint that either of these is Sonnen’s intent. Based on his fight record, I can’t imagine any other scenario where Sonnen wins this fight than the one where he takes Silva down five times and lays on him really hard until the end of the round. And no part of me actually wants to watch 25 minutes of that.

Chael Sonnen is in the awkward position of having beaten a number of high-level fighters in his recent outings, but having never finished anyone worth writing home about in his entire career. He is, in a sense, the archetype of my least favorite type of mixed martial artist: the outstanding wrestler who isn’t particularly adept at any other aspect of the game. This isn’t to say Sonnen isn’t talented — he clearly is — but a sport primarily about positional control rather than aiming to finish fights isn’t MMA. It’s wrestling. And almost no one gives a damn about watching a wrestling match, especially when only one guy is good at it.

The problem, though, is one of incentives. Sonnen’s take-you-down-and-ride-out-the-round-punching-you-in-the-thigh style wins fights, and winning fights gets you more fights. He thus has no reason to change it up. So while Sonnen was a disappointment at UFC 109, he was disappointing in exactly the same way he always is. Nate Marquardt, by contrast, was disappointing because he did nothing to stop what everyone knew Sonnen would want to do. But one imagines Anderson Silva will be a different story.

How Do You Pronounce “Fedor Emelianenko”?

mixedmartialmarxist — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:59:25 +0000

The Garv finds out:

And the Result of My Pretend Betting…

mixedmartialmarxist — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 04:50:25 +0000

Good thing it wasn’t real betting. Would have lost $75.62.

On the upside: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira! Yeah!

How to Bet $100 on UFC 102

mixedmartialmarxist — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:47:33 +0000

UFC 102 is coming up in just over an hour and I think I’ll make another run at the “pretend to bet $100″ game. Last time I came out $2.83 ahead, so while that’s barely better than just breaking even, at least I didn’t bomb it. And looking back, the only stupid in hindsight bet was thinking the Mir-Lesnar fight would be more interesting than it was. So without further ado, here’s my betting breakdown for UFC 102:

$80 on Randy Couture at -160: I’m pulling for an Antonio Nogueira victory, but I think realistically the oddsmakers are being too kind to him. Two things come to mind in particular. First, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen Couture get submitted (and the guy is obviously a phenomenal wrestler). Second, Nog has just looked incredibly slow his past few fights and I see Couture’s speed advantage being the really key element here.

$15 on Nate Marquardt at -160: Once again, I’m rooting for one guy and putting my pretend money on another. Demian Maia is an exceptionally talented Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu guy, but at this point that’s it. Against many, many people, that’s more than enough. But Marquardt is a solid grappler himself, not on Maia’s level but talented enough to defend himself. Plus he’s becoming more and more of an effective striker, where I worry Maia simply can’t hang at all.

$5 on Chris Tuchscherer at +301: Following in my trend of placing $5 on one heavy underdog, I’m giving it to Tuchscherer tonight. Gabriel Gonzaga will probably win, but he’s remarkably inconsistent. After getting knocked out by Shane Carwin in his last appearance, he might be leery of another big guy swinging at him. Tuchscherer isn’t as good of a striker as Carwin, but he trains with Brock Lesnar so I’d imagine he’s at least able to trade with guys who hit pretty hard.

FWIW, for UFC 101 I would have bet all $100 on BJ Penn because the odds downplayed his advantage despite making him a fairly heavy favorite. UFC 102 is unique, I think, because there are so many even matchups. The odds are extremely close for a lot of these.

Anderson Silva Sparring at Freddie Roach’s Gym

mixedmartialmarxist — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:57:35 +0000

In November 2008, Anderson Silva stopped by Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood, CA, to do a little boxing sparring. Some good soul was nice enough to film it. How I hadn’t seen this until tonight remains unclear. Enjoy:

silv spar
Uploaded by rodnog2009.

h/t ijk0110 at the Sherdog.net forums.

Fedor Emelianenko Open Workout at Fighthouse

mixedmartialmarxist — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:45:40 +0000

Fedor came to Fighthouse today for an open workout. Here’s some low quality video for those that couldn’t make it:

Fedor hitting the pads:

Fedor hitting the pads continued:

Fedor (sort of) jumping rope:

Dear Fightlinker

mixedmartialmarxist — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:47:32 +0000

I like your website, I do, but you know there’s a difference between being edgy and being a twelve year old boy with anger and sexual identity issues, right? Apparently not.