(Photo Courtesy of Sherdog)
From the main event down to the preliminary card, UFC 109 showcased some of the worst striking throughout the night. At it's climax Mark Coleman blocked punches with his head and threw telegraphed punches as he lumbered around the ring, and yet he was still able to land a couple of shots on Randy. That doesn't say a whole lot about Couture's defensive game. Paulo Thiago, although victorious with a spectacular Darce Choke, was wide open for straight rights as evidenced by the one that rocked him before he put Swick on the canvas. Matt Serra looked toward the floor as he wildly threw haymakers at Trigg's head until he caught him and KO'd him. In the most embarrassing showcase of stand up skill was the debut of Holles Gracie in one of the nights aired preliminary bouts. Holles gasped for air and swung at "The Mexicutioner" like he was Herman Munster while sloppily looking for take downs until he finally had enough of huffing for air and got pounded out. The night's bright spots were on the Spike TV aired preliminary action showcasing two lightweight standouts: Mac Danzig and Melvin Guillard. Danzig picked his shots and didn't just wildly wing punches towards his opponent hoping to land. Guillard, although wild with his big overhand right at times, always looks good on his feet and is now starting to put together a ground game and takedown defense to compliment that. Now MMA is not a Boxing/Kickboxing match and the amount of time spent working the strikes is going to pale in comparison to that of a strictly stand-up fighter, but have some of the fighters decided to forgo the basics of striking and rely too heavily on wrestling and jiujitsu? Damien Mia for example, although still not pretty on his feet, has recognized the err of his ways and dedicated himself to becoming better on his feet as evidenced by his fight with Miller last night. He won a fight that was primarily contested on the feet for three rounds, although the fans let the Middleweight competitors know their displeasure with the cautious attack employed, I was pleased to see that Mia has started to round out his game on top of his phenomenal jiujitsu. The point may be moot as evidenced by the fact that out of the fighters listed here most of them were successful in their respective bouts, but at a level considered to be the pinnacle of the sport can these athletes really ignore the intricacies of one martial art because they are so well versed in another?
5 comments:
Wow. "Terrible boxing!?" Really?
If you want terrible, look at the jiu-jitsu skilz of Manny Pacqwhatever.
Boxing is not a martial art. It has always been and will always be a SPORT.
I suggest you stick to blogging on footbol...
Boxing is not Martial arts??? then what it is?? i do believe that you should not compare the skills of boxer to MMA. B'coz boxer's mastered there skills in boxing and MMA fighters has lots of skills to learn.but I do believe that MMA fighter should focus more on there boxing skills,its the basic fighting stance. see BJ Penn,roach once said that BJ has the best boxing skills in all MMA fighter. And to Daniel---- All combat sports are called Martial Arts.
Boxing is a martial art Daniel. It is also part of the arsenal of an MMA fighter. All I am saying is that some of these guys need to tighten their hand skills up a bit. People like Matt Serra who already has an outstanding base in jiujitsu can afford to spend a little more time on his hands.
daniel Wow. "Terrible boxing!?" Really?
Thats right, from Mark Coleman right on to the bottom of the card was a ridiculous.
The only one with a KO was throwing wildly with his head down until he got lucky, and was getting tagged because he was out of range before the KO.
As far as boxing not being an art your right its a science
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it
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