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Mixed Martial Arts Training Gaining Steam

Kids are beginning their mixed martial training younger and younger now a days. Old boxing and martial arts gyms are transforming into full on mixed martial arts training camps.

The increase in training locations can be linked to the growing popularity of the sport throughout the country. As more and more people become enamored with the sport, more and more people are likely to try their hand at it.

Training in mixed martial arts usually consists of boxing, muay thai, wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu and a few other select areas.

Kids are gaining an incredible sense of hard work and dedication when beginning martial arts training. It encompasses much more than just beating someone up. The actual training fosters a sense of teamwork amongst the group working together.

These camps grow and learn together, as a team.

This sense of community has often helped led trouble youth towards a healthy lifestyle. Notable fighters such as Virgil Zwicker and Lyle Beerbohm were in and out of jail before they made their transition to mixed martial arts.

Nick Diaz Would Not Compete For a UFC Title

Nick Diaz is a phenomenal fighter. The Stockton, California native is one of the top welterweights in the entire world.

But he would not compete for a title in the UFC.

Since his departure from the UFC in 2006 Diaz has one loss on his record, K.J. Noons stopped him due to a bad cut.

Diaz is blessed with an amazing chin and a speedy recovery time when he does get cracked. His volume based striking attack wears down and annihilates opponents. He throws beautiful combinations to both the head and the body, something few mixed martial artists do.

By training with Jiu-Jitsu legend Cesar Gracie, Diaz has acquired some of the best Jiu-Jitsu in the welterweight division. His lanky arms help him latch onto and finish submissions. His gogoplata over Takanori Gomi still stands as one of the best submissions of all time.

But for everything Diaz has going for him he has one glaring weakness: wrestling.

His losses in the UFC came to Diego Sanchez, Sean Sherk and Joe Riggs. All three of those guys are wrestlers by trade who excel at planting their opponents on their backs. They all have very good submission defense to complement their wrestling as well.

When you look at the top of the UFC welterweight division you see names like Georges St-Pierre, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Dong Hyun Kim. What do they all have in common?

They are all great wrestlers.

The four of them excel at taking down and wearing out opponents. All of them have become well adept at avoiding submissions as well.

This combination of wrestling and submission defense would give Diaz absolute fits. He won't have enough time to work his blitzkrieg striking and he won't have the openings to find a submission.

Diaz would be sure to keep the fights interesting but he simply wouldn't have enough to pull out a victory.

The Soaring Popularity of Mixed Martial Arts

The above picture was taken at Gator's Dockside on Newberry Road in the midst of UFC 128. The restaurant was packed with people at every available table, booth and high top.

As the sport grows it continues to become even more astounding how far it has come.

Back in the early days of the sport if a pay-per-view event broke 200,000 buys it was considered an astronomical success. Now a days? 200,000 buys is the lowest of the low, reserved for cards typically held on foreign soil with lesser known fighters.

An average pay-per-view can now expect to break around 500,000 buys. Cards headlined by megastars like Brock Lesnar or Georges St-Pierre are normally purchased by 800,000-1,000,000 people. My how times have changed.

While pay-per-view events continue to record record numbers, bars are reaping the benefits as well. While the events don't come cheap, bars and restaurants hoping to show the fights must plop down a couple thousand dollars, they can certainly recoup those losses.

It is not at all uncommon to enter a Buffalo Wild Wings on fight night around 8 o'clock for the 10 p.m. fights and have your name go directly to a waiting list. Fight fans come early and stay late, as the fights don't normally conclude until around 12:30. During that time they can consume a lot of food and a lot of drinks.

Mixed martial arts is on the rise. People everywhere are becoming more familiar with the product and following along. While it may never reach NFL status, the UFC is doing just fine.

Melvin Guillard Is Seriously Underrated

Melvin Guillard is a mere 28 years old and has 37 professional fights on his record.

His early days were filled with bonehead mistakes and poor Jiu-Jitsu. In losses to Joe Stevenson, Rich Clementi and Nate Diaz we saw Guillard fall victim to submission defeats that could have been prevented.

After the loss to Diaz, Guillard headed over to Greg Jackson's MMA and hooked up with one of the best camps in the entire business. The change in camps was suppose get Guillard's head on straight and help him fight smarter.

It worked.

Guillard has own four in a row since heading over to Jackson's in impressive fashion. He started by hanging with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Ronys Torres for three rounds, avoiding submissions the entire time.

He then knocked out Waylon Lowe in devastating fashion with a knee to the body. A decision victory over the always dangerous Jeremy Stephens followed that.

Guillard than took a leap of faith and stepped in for Kenny Florian on short notice to take on rising star Evan Dunham. Dunham was said to have the wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu chops to submit Guillard with ease.

Guillard knocked him out in under three minutes.

Now "The Young Assassin" is dangerously close to title contention in the UFC. His rare blend of power, speed and technique have proved to be deadly over the years. His wrestling and striking have always been good enough to give guys fits but his Jiu-Jitsu lagged behind.

But not anymore. Greg Jackson has turned Guillard into a submission defending machine. He now fights smart and doesn't make those dumb mistakes that once were a staple of a Melvin Guillard fight.

If Guillard hoists that lightweight belt in the coming year or two, don't be surprised.

MMA's Pound-For-Pound Debate: Georges St-Pierre is Number One

The pound-for-pound debate has been central to the mixed martial arts world since the beginning. The premise of it is rather simple, if every fighter weighed exactly the same weight, who would win? In the past arguments have raged between a plethora of fighters but with the recent losses of Lyoto Machida, B.J. Penn, and Fedor Emelianenko only two fighters remain at the top of the heap: Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre.

Both Silva and St. Pierre have outstanding resumes. Silva is an astounding 27-4 with a 13-fight win streak, while GSP is 20-2, winning seven straight. Superstars are littered amongst both of their records. The Spider has beaten greats such as Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin, Dan Henderson, and Carlos Newton while Rush has conquered Jason Miller, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn (x2), Jon Fitch and Matt Serra.

The two would seem pretty equally matched if you were to just glance at their past records and accomplishments. But if you were to have actually watched them fight there should be no doubt that Georges St. Pierre is the pound for pound best fighter in the world. If they entered fight night at the same weight, the Canadian would lay a total beat down on the Brazilian.

Yeah that might sound pretty bold but look at the facts. Silva has always had trouble with wrestlers: he was taken down and controlled by Dan Henderson in the first round of their fight, Chael Sonnen had him beat in their title fight until Silva caught him in a triangle armbar, and he was even mounted after being taken down by Travis Lutter. If Sonnen could implement that gameplan for five rounds, it would seem as if GSP could easily do the same.

Georges St. Pierre came into mixed marital arts with an extensive karate background and little wrestling, but somehow the Canadian has managed to become one of, if not the best, wrestlers in all of MMA. His shot is ridiculously fast, which when coupled with his relentlessness, often leads to a takedown. While most wrestlers stop driving once the initial takedown is stopped, GSP continues moving forward while trying to complete it.

While his wrestling will obviously be his biggest asset in a dream match-up against Silva, people seem to forget that St. Pierre is one of the most well rounded mixed martial artists of all time. He has black belts in both Gaidojutsu and Brazilian jiu jitsu as well as a third degree black belt in kyokushin karate.

Prior to joining Greg Jackson's camp, St. Pierre had some of the most exciting and well rounded stand-up in the UFC. He put together punches and kicks incredibly well and TKO'ed Jay Hieron, Sean Sherk, and Matt Hughes. He would often throw spinning back fists, head kicks, and any other combination of exotic and dangerous moves.

Is Silva the better striker? Oh by far. But with St. Pierre, Silva will constantly have to worry about the takedown, making GSP's striking that much more effective. We saw the Brazilian get rocked by Chael Sonnen of all people while he was worried about being dragged down to the mat. So to say that GSP would get tooled standing is downright absurd.

Unlike Chael "jiu jitsu is gay" Sonnen, once the fight does hit the mat, St. Pierre will be able to fend for himself. Silva is a legitimate Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt but between St. Pierre's own skills and Greg Jackson's conservative gameplans I seriously doubt GSP would put himself into any harm.

If and when these two do fight, I expect Rush to finish what Sonnen started, with continuous takedowns and brutal ground n' pound. The moments the fight is spent standing will be tense as Silva obviously has tremendous power and ability but GSP is more than capable of weathering the storm.

So that's how I feel the fight would go if the two superstars would meet, which in essence should decide who the pound for pound number one fighter is. There should be no debate on who is the clear cut number one if GSP is capable of beating Silva.

"But, but, but Georges St. Pierre lost to Matt Serra! He can't be ranked number one!"

This is honestly one of the worst arguments I have ever heard for why GSP should not be ranked above Anderson Silva in the pound for pound rankings. His loss was a fluke, which he avenged savagely only a year later. If people want to discuss losses why don't they mention when Ryu Chonan or Daiju Takase beat Mr. Silva?

"Well at least Anderson Silva finishes fights!"

People also seem to forget that Silva has put on two of the worst performances in the Octagon when he beat Demian Maia and Thales Leites by decision. Yes Silva destroyed Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin, but GSP made B.J. Penn and Matt Hughes look fairly amateur in both of their second bouts.

At the end of the day St. Pierre is better than Silva at every facet of MMA outside of striking. His losses were a long time ago and it's not like he tries to decision the fighters he beats. He doesn't take risks but that does not mean isn't hurting his opponents.

So go ahead and ask Thiago Alves or Jon Fitch who they think the best pound for pound fighter in the world is. I bet it isn't Anderson Silva.

Phil Davis On His Way To Title Contention

Phil "Mr. Wonderful" Davis walked away with a victory the other night over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC Fight Night 24. The former collegiate champion wrestler from Penn State was able to use that wrestling to control the bout and earn the unanimous decision.

But that doesn't mean that Davis still doesn't have a lot of work left to do to reach title contention.

Nogueira, who is a boxer and Jiu-Jitsu practitioner by trade, was able to shrug off Davis' double leg takedown throughout the opening round. Davis could not for the life of him get Nogueira to the ground.

Going into the second and the third round it seemed as if Davis was out of luck. If he couldn't land his bread and butter move, how was he suppose to defeat one of the legends of the sport?

He went to the single leg takedown.

Upon switching up his tactic, Davis was able to get the fight to the ground and grind out a victory. It wasn't pretty or flashy, but he got the job done.

For someone with an 8-0 record, upon entering the fight, to defeat someone with the experience that Nogueria has is incredible in its own right.

Sure Davis isn't ready to take on current light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, but he showed some serious tools the other night.

Anderson Silva Would Give Jon Jones Problems

Jon Jones is the new Lyoto Machida of MMA.

If you look back to May 2009, Machida was completely unbeatable. The Brazilian had dominated Rashad Evans and knocked him out to take his belt. Mixed martial arts analysts were desperate to find a challenger for The Dragon.

He was a puzzle they said. He was someone who simply couldn't be figured out.

Now that didn't last long, did it?

The same kind of discussions have gone on ever since Jones won the title Saturday night. People are already comparing him to heavyweights and trying to determine how he would do against the giants of the UFC.

Those people are getting ahead of themselves. Jones has yet to even defend his title at 205 and you already want to match him up against Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos?

Besides, there's a certain guy at 185 that would give Jones fits.

Anderson Silva is arguably the best fighter to ever compete for a reason. His striking and Jiu-Jitsu are ridiculously skilled. His chin is legendary. His footwork, elusiveness and downright movement are that of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.

Would Silva beat Jones?

That's a tough call, but he could certainly make it interesting.

To start, Anderson Silva is 10 times the striker Mauricio Rua ever was.

Take a deep breath. I know that's a loaded statement, but it's entirely true. Rua has excellent muay thai kicks and ferocious power, but that's about it.

His punching technique has generally consisted of him walking forward and swinging. His legendary chin allowed him to absorb the shots he took while he came forward winging haymakers. When he connected, it was devastating. There is no doubt about that. But that doesn't compare to Silva.

Anderson Silva has some of the best striking in all of mixed martial arts. His timing, head movement and quickness are impeccable. His display of striking against Rich Franklin, Forrest Griffin and Vitor Belfort was a thing of beauty.

Now I know everyone probably is thinking, "What does that matter? Silva is going to end up on his back in two seconds anyway."

Well, probably, but Silva has much better Jiu-Jitsu than Rua, as well.

If you look back at Rua's history of fights, his Jiu-Jitsu has mainly consisted of sweeps back to his feet and leg locks. Rua has never been a guy to look for triangle chokes. Rua has never been a guy with some deadly guard.

Silva has shown that he is a threat in the guard. He has completed submissions off of his back. It's true he isn't Demian Maia or Ronaldo Souza, but he is better than Rua.

The Spider can bide his time and avoid getting hit until he can get back to his feet.

And don't give me this nonsense about the Chael Sonnen fight.

Everyone has confirmed that Silva had a rib injury going into a fight. That will affect every single facet of mixed martial arts. His wrestling was below average that fight. His striking was lacking. His Jiu-Jitsu was worse off. An 100 percent healthy Silva gives Sonnen a totally different fight.

So once again, I'm not saying Silva would beat Jones. But he would definitely make it close.

Let's Slow Down on the Jon Jones Hype

Let's take a trip back in time to UFC 98. It was May 23, 2009. Rashad Evans was defending his light heavyweight title against the undefeated Brazilian Lyoto Machida.

Machida had Evans rocked, staggered and utterly confused for two rounds. He finished the job with one of the best knockouts of all time in the second frame.

"Welcome to the Machida Era!," Joe Rogan bellowed as the newly crowned champion paraded around the Octagon after his victory.

Machida was a puzzle. Someone with a style that had never been seen before, someone who simply couldn't be figured out. His previous two fights had been brutal knockouts of Thiago Silva and Rashad Evans. What was even more impressive, was how he seamlessly undressed opponents before putting them out of their misery.

It all sounds kind of familiar doesn't it?

Jon Jones is the new Lyoto Machida. He is the unsolvable puzzle that will reign for ages. His combination of size, wrestling and sheer strength just can't be stopped. His ascension into the "Greatest of All-Time" discussion can't be stymied.

At least that's what everyone is saying this week.

My time following mixed martial arts and roaming message boards let me understand that fans of MMA are some of the most fickle in all of sports. Fighters are no longer judged by their body of work, or even their past five fights. It's a matter of how you looked the last time you stepped foot inside the cage.

Take a look at Sherdog or The Underground after Georges St-Pierre fights. There will be countless threads and posts proclaiming him as the pound-for-pound champion.

Now go back to these websites after Anderson Silva competes. It's the exact same response, by the exact same people.

Because Jon Jones dismantled Mauricio Rua this past weekend, people think he is the be-all, end-all of mixed martial arts. They remember his recent, dominant performance better than any other fight. So by that fact alone they deem him numero uno.

Jones was certintly dominant but let's also remember that Jon Jones beat a Mauricio Rua who wasn't close to 100%. We saw this Rua rear his ugly head in fights against Forrest Griffin and Mark Coleman. It's the Rua who gasses right away and looks as if he just recovered from knee surgery, which he did.

Now I'm not trying to discredit Jon Jones. I doubt a 100% healthy Rua fairs that much better. Although, it certainly wouldn't have been that one sided, but Jones would still have walked away the victor.

His victory should be celebrated and Jon Jones should be looked upon as one of the best fighters in the world. But to start comparing him to heavyweights already is ridiculous. The man has yet to even step foot inside the Octagon as a champion.

Let Jon Jones demolish Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson and Lyoto Machida and then put him in the same sentence as GSP and Anderson Silva. Let him defend his title for multiple years before we start crying about the lack of competitiveness in the light heavyweight division.

This is mixed martial arts, anything can happen.

Draw was the right call for Penn/Fitch

In the UFC 127 main event on Saturday night welterwights B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch fought to a majority draw, much to the chagrin of fans and the UFC brass.

Draws have been likened to kissing your sister, something that people just look down upon. They leave events without the usually feeling of closure, when fans can definitely say who the better fighter is.

Regardless of how draws are perceived, it was the correct call Saturday night.

The UFC is based on the ten-point must scoring system. Under the rules, the round winner is given ten points while the loser is given nine or less. The scores from all three rounds are added together to determine the victor.

B.J. Penn easily won round one. He brought the fight to Fitch, took him down and even gained back-mount, which is one of the most dominant positions in the sport. Penn even came dangerously close to sinking in a fight ending read-naked choke. The round went to the Hawaiian 10-9.

Round two was hotly contested, with both fighters controlling the bout. Penn again took Fitch's back multiple times and threatened with submissions.

However, Fitch was able to turn over and land in Penn's guard. He was able to land solid blows until Penn found room to scramble back to his feet.

Still, the dominance of back-mount wins out, which gives the round to Penn 10-9. At this point Penn is up on the scorecards by a total of 20-18.

Round three is when things began to swing drastically in Fitch's favor. Fitch was able to use his Division-1 wrestling pedigree and take down the gassed Penn. Fitch gained top control and rained down punches for the entire round. Penn looked entirely helpless beneath Fitch.

In the round Penn was thoroughly dominated and was out-landed by a total of 149 to 2. The round was a clear cut example of a 10-8 round for Fitch.

When the judges totaled up the scorecards, 10-9, 10-9 and 8-10, it gave us a grand total of 28-28. A draw.

Sure it wasn't a pretty ending, and sure the fans felt like they deserved a winner and a loser, but it was the right call.

#UFC #UFC 127 #B.J. Penn #Jon Fitch #MMA

Fedor Emelianenko lost to Antonio Silva due to size, not skill

The end of the final bout this past Saturday night was a sad affair to watch for any mixed martial arts fan.

You had arguably the greatest of all time looking like a totally dejected and defeated man. His eye was completely swollen shut and he was battered with cuts and early signs of bruising.

The second round between Antonio Silva and Fedor Emelianenko was absolute domination for the Brazilian giant. He took down, mounted and pounded on Emelianenko from the onset of the round.

The only offense the Russian could muster was a lackadaisical kneebar in the closing seconds.

Right away, the keyboard warriors hit the message boards and bemoaned the fact that "The Last Emperor" had been figured out. They wailed that the key to defeating him all along was by using Jiu Jitsu.

After being submitted by ADCC champion Fabricio Werdum and being controlled by a 265-plus-pound black belt, it was clear that Emelianenko had no skills on the ground.

At least, that's what they said.

Prior to the two bouts, Emelianenko had fought and survived on the ground against notable Jiu Jitsu practitioners like Ricardo Arona, Renato Sobral and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira twice.

Emelianenko didn't just lose those abilities; he didn't just forget how to escape submissions or sweep back to his feet.

His first loss to Werdum was characterized more by a lapse in judgment by Fedor, and less by a lack of submission defense.

In the opening minute, Fedor connected on a shot that dropped the Brazilian. Unfortunately, the shot caught Werdum off balance and hadn't rocked him. Upon looking at replays, it was clear that Werdum had tripped.

Sensing blood, Emelianenko rushed in to finish the fight and got caught in a triangle/armbar.

Had Emelianenko simply waited and not gone for the kill, he very likely would have won that fight.

Now, this past Saturday was a more typical defeat. Emelianenko didn't run headfirst into a submission.

He didn't just get caught: he was dominated.

While mounted, Emelianenko employed every strategy possible to try and get out from under the massive Brazilian; he tried to hip escape; he tried to turn over and sneak out behind Silva.

Nothing worked.

Silva was just too large and too skilled of a man.

I'm not taking anything away from Silva. He is a phenomenal Jiu Jitsu fighter and other men his size would not have been able to keep Fedor down, but it seems pretty clear that size played a tremendous role in determining the outcome of the fight.

To put it bluntly, if Silva was a smaller heavyweight, Fedor escapes. But also, if Silva wasn't as skilled of a heavyweight, Fedor would have gotten out.

Silva knew how to use his weight perfectly to keep Fedor pinned under his massive girth, and it worked beautifully.

If you need more evidence of the fact that Emelianenko is a gifted ground fighter, look no further than the multiple rear-naked chokes, and the arm-triangle choke that Silva was unable to lock in on the Russian.

Emelianenko defended them both beautifully and was able to survive to the end of the round.

Fedor is the greatest heavyweight of all time. There really is no debate.

To say that he lost because he wasn't skilled enough is simply ignorant. Silva used his god-given size perfectly to control and dominate the Russian.

#fedor emelianenko #antonio silva #strikeforce #mma

And We Are Live

Welcome to In The Mix MMA, a blog devoted to all things about mixed martial arts. The blog was set up for my Writing for Mass Communication course here at the University of Florida. Check back for my musings and ramblings about the UFC, Strikeforce and all other MMA promotions.

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