When Fights Fall Flat: Who's to Blame
In the aftermath of UFC on FX 4's lackluster main event last Friday night the camp at Greg Jackson's Submission Fighting and MMA has come under fire, specifically the game plans that Jackson comes up with for the fighters under his tutelage.
Many blame Jackson's game plans for the unusual performance turned in by Clay "The Carpenter" Guida during his five-round main event bout with Gray "The Bully" Maynard. Guida's "stick & move" transformed into "move & run" as he was increasingly outstruck by Maynard, most notably in the last three rounds.
But is the game plan to blame here? The coach, even? Or should perhaps the fighter alone be held responsible for his actions in the octagon? Certainly there is an exception to every rule but if a fighter fails to deliver we should first look at the fighter, himself, before we aim our scrutinizing eyes at those who gave him a strategy going into the bout.
It is the job of the coach or trainer to give their fighter a game plan, a method with which to play to his own strengths in a way that neutralizes those of his opponent and exploits his weaknesses. That said, it's the duty of every fighter to utilize that game plan; it's their job to take that game plan with them into the octagon, implement it successfully and consistently, and use it as long as it's useful.
The problem on Friday wasn't just that Clay's style was completely unrecognizable from the man we're used to seeing swing for the fences - he also strayed from his game plan, and not in a good way. As the fight progressed he became less and less aggressive; it became less about picking shots and more about getting out of the way of an increasingly frustrated Maynard, who's notorious for hitting "like a Mack Truck". Greg Jackson can lecture all he wants between rounds and yell out instructions every second of the 25 minutes of the fight, but it was up to Guida to listen to his corner, actively engage in the exchanges and try to win the fight a different way than by the judges' scorecards.
After all, point-fighting is risky business: if you want to ensure you win then finish the fight, don't let the judges finish it for you. While "stick and move" and picking your shots is, by no means, the same thing as point fighting, I won't go off on a tangent involving the many differences. But the point is that Guida did a little too much of both and not enough of anything else.
As to why people shouldn't necessarily be blaming Greg Jackson's game plans, here are a few reasons I can think of off the top of my head: Jon Jones, Carlos Condit, Andrei Arlovski, Shane Carwin, Brian Stann, Donald Cerrone, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Diego Sanchez and Georges St. Pierre. These are all fighters trained by Greg Jackson who have, undoubtedly, been handed a game plan or two by the man and used them. Whether they're ground fighters or stand up fighters, that is a list of men who consistently display aggression, actively engage in their fights, and only point fight on the rare occasion that it guarantees them a win (and there's nothing wrong with that as winning is, and should be, any professional fighters #1 priority above all else).
Blame Greg Jackson all you want for the way Clay Guida performed; but the truth of the matter is that it's up to the fighter to excite the fans, not the coach. There are some prime examples of fighters who get game plans from the same man and do a lot more with them. I mean, look at Jon Jones, he seamlessly blends game plan and adaptation to make for a very smooth performance during pretty much every single fight. And if you want to go into the whole "well it's hard to win when your coach gives you a completely different game plan than you're used to" subject then take a look at Carlos Condit, who won the interim welterweight belt (love it or hate it) by simply sticking to the game plan Greg Jackson gave him, even though it was a stylistic 180 from his normal technique and even in the face of the man known for playing with his opponents' minds so much that they abandon their strategies quicker than passengers off sinking ships that have caught on fire in the middle of an oil spill (which is, to say, quickly).
In the end, let's give Guida the benefit of the doubt; after all, he has handed in some stellar performances and we shouldn't just forget about those because he tried something that didn't quite work out this time. Let's see what he does with this new direction. He's still working on his stick and move and he's kind of in the middle of a big transition here with his fighting style. And, in case you were too busy screaming obscenities at your television to notice, his footwork and head movement were aces - I don't know if I've ever seen anything so beautiful. It was completely unorthodox and, thanks to that bottomless gas tank of his, constant throughout the fight. Give the man a little time to put it all together, keep working on how to explode and retract his power and I think we'll eventually see a work of art - a man who can bob and weave like no other just so he can punish his opponents with shots while they're too busy trying to find him.
I say we bitch about this until the end of the week and then put it to rest so we can have the weekend to recharge and gear up for fight week. Silva vs Sonnen II is happening next Saturday and you can bet your sweet ass you're gonna need your beauty sleep for that one because you Will Not. Want. To Blink.