Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Taking the Fight or Giving it Away

I recently watched UFC 150 and the preliminary fights. The main event was a bout between Frankie Edgar, known for his speed, footwork and striking skills and Benson Henderson. I was disappointed by the way that both fighters went through the fight.

Edgar seemed confident that his infrequent pitter-pattering punches were enough to rack up rounds and was content to let it go to the judges scorecards. As the challenger in a title fight, I don't think trying to bank rounds without really dominatng any portion of the fight is a good strategy. He let Henderson fight his own fight, instead of dictatign the terms of engagement throughout the entire fight. Fighters should aim to fight when they want and how they want and prevent their oppponent from doing the same.

When you're ready to engage, engage on your terms. When your opponent is ready to engage, frustrate him, either tie him up, maintain distance to prevent an attack, or change the method of engagement to one he doesn't prefer.

Edgar should have gone for broke in the final round, if not sooner. Sustained aggressive attacking that kept his opponent on the defensive and hopefully opened up the the opportunity to take the decision away from the judges should have been his game plan.

Read more about my thoughts on Frankie Edgar's losing strategy here.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

MMA Fighters with Bad Hands

Although I enjoy all aspects of MMA fighting, it seems to me that with few exceptions, MMA fighters are not good strikers. Sure, they can throw bombs and knock each other out with some regularity, but they have none of the real skill that one might find in a good professional boxer.

I'm not asking that MMA fighters become boxers, but just as they use the applicable skills from wrestling and other combat sports and adapt them to MMA fighting, they need to maximize both the offensive and defensive skills from the boxer's toolkit.

Read more of my thoughts on adapting boxing skills to the MMA cage here.

The Problem with Big Money Boxing...

I'm a big fan of the sport of boxing, don't get me wrong, but when the hype became more important than the fight, I stopped watching. I've been watching the UFC, though, ever since Royce Gracie's first won the contest in 1993. For both the fighters and the fans, MMA and the UFC are all about the fight.

Read the rest of my thoughts on boxing's biggest mistakes here.