MMA OCTAGON TAKES PRESENTS: The argument against GSP vs Anderson Silva
by Dan Dirkx
rochestermma@gmail.com
and edited by Scuba Steven Colon
steviec95@gmail.com
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is the fastest growing sport in the world but it’s still in its infancy stage. The UFC, the leading MMA promotion in the world, has two champions that could be argued are the equivalent to Babe Ruth and Ted Williams in baseball, and Joe Namath and Walter Payton in American football. UFC middleweight (185lbs.) champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva has a professional mixed martial arts record of 31-4 and is arguably the world's best pound for pound fighter while UFC welterweight (170lbs.) champion Georges "Rush"
St Pierre (GSP) has a professional mixed martial arts record of 22-2.
Silva recently extended a couple records at UFC 134 (most title defenses; 9, and most consecutive wins; 14) with a total annihilation of the not often finished Yushin Okami. The questions asked to Dana White, President of the UFC, and of Silva after the dominant performance centered on what’s next for Silva and is there even anything left to prove in the middleweight division for him. Dana White was quoted as saying a super fight with GSP is starting to make a lot more sense. Both GSP and Silva have said they are interested in "BIG" fights.
Finding a challenge for Silva in the UFC's middleweight division seems impossible following his latest dominant performance. Of the fighters under contract with the UFC the only fight that makes sense is Silva versus Chael Sonnen. When Sonnen had his first encounter against Silva at UFC 117, he came within one minute and fifty seconds of giving the world’s best pound for pound fighter a decisive loss. Silva threw up a miracle triangle choke that caught Sonnen and eventually forced him to tap out. Many have argued that Silva lost some of the rounds 10-8 to Sonnen. After the fight it was revealed that Silva had some rib injuries which led to his usually dominant striking game to be almost nonexistent, perhaps explaining the uncharacteristic performance from him. This also led to Sonnen being able to take the champ down at will. Sonnen who emerged victorious at UFC 136 has a #1 title contenders bout set against Mark Munoz for UFC on FOX 2, January 28, 2012. With a Sonnen win over Munoz will we get Sonnen vs Silva II? The storylines for this highly anticipated rematch will be: Will this fight take place in Silva's native country of Brazil? Can Sonnen's dominate wrestling be Silva’s kryptonite once again? Will the champ look to put an exclamation point on this fight to show his opponent that he got lucky in their first meeting? Or will the champ look to make the challenger tapout again as submissions have been proven to be his weakness?
George 'Rush" St Pierre (GSP) recently won a uniamous decision victory over the very tough Jake Shields, who was on a 6 year, 15 fight winning streak at the record setting UFC 129 show in
Toronto, Ontario Canada in April 2011. GSP's boxing since he has started training with legendary boxing trainer Freddie Roach has looked unbelievable. The evolution of GSP's striking began when he defended his title against nemesis Josh Koscheck at UFC 124 in
Montreal, Quebec, Canada. With sharp-shooter like jabs he was able to break his opponents orbital bone early in the fight and keep him at bay for the grueling 5 round decision win. He continued the striking prowess in his victory over Shields at UFC 129 while adding an overhand right to his arensal. GSP is going to need all the tools that got him to the #3 pound for pound fighter in the world for his next title defense.
GSP recently announced that he has had to withdraw from his planned title fight at UFC 143 against Nick Diaz due to a torn ACL. This injury will keep the dominant champion, sidelined for 10 months. Since GSP is out for 10 months the UFC decided to create an interim title. Now set for the main event and for the interim UFC welterweight title at UFC 143 is a fight between Carlos ‘The Natural Born Killer’ Condit and the Stockton Bad Boy Nick Diaz. The winner of that fight may defend the title one time before the champion GSP is back. On the same card, there is also the Josh Koscheck and Mike Pierce bout. A fight, in many people’s opinion will reveal another potential top welterweight title contender. This was all set up by Jon Fitch getting quickly knocked out (12 seconds) by Johny Hendricks at this past weekends UFC 141 event. If Koscheck wins against Pierce or Pierce wins against Koscheck, I see one of two bouts happening. The first being the winner of Koscheck/Pierce would get a shot against the winner of the interim title fight at UFC 143 (if GSP is not healed up yet) or a fight with newly minted contender Johny Hendricks. A match-up with the Hendricks would be more likely. A win in that bout would surely elevate either man to #1 contendership status once the welterweight titles are unified.
GSP has a lot more work ahead of him before the welterweight division is CLEANED out. With guys like Condit, Penn, Hendricks, Diaz and MacDonald gunning for him a bout with ‘Spider’ Silva is doubtful. GSP has a lot more interesting match ups left and waiting for him at welterweight. A bout with Silva is a dangerous one for GSP for many reasons, the first being the most obvious – there’s still a lot of work ahead of GSP in the welterweight division. The second reason is the size difference between the two champions. Anderson Silva is a big middleweight. Silva is 6'2 and his walk around weight is usually 210-215 lbs. GSP's is 5'10 and usually walks around at 185-195 when he is not in fight camp. The reach between the two men is 1.6 inches difference with Silva holding the advantage. Come fight time, Silva will likely enter the cage between 200 and 210 lbs and GSP around 185 and 195lbs. The size advantage that Silva will possess in combination with the superior muay thai and overall striking skills will pose a serious problem for GSP. GSP's strength is his wrestling and stiffling top game. With GSP's striking skills being so far behind the Spiders, I see the Spider teeing off on the outside until he finds that window of opportunity to strike and finish off the smaller and out gunned challenger. Silva's superior striking will negate any gameplan of trying to get inside and take the middleweight champion down.
Don’t get me wrong, an Anderson Silva vs Georges St Pierre super fight is something everyone, including myself, wants to see. I see this fight being very anti-climatic due to the reasons I’ve already mentioned, but a couple more points come to mind. One champion has a history of finishing fights in dramatic fashion and having a solid chin while the other one wins by grinding out unanimous decisions, has taken some questionable damage in his previous fight(UFC 129)be it from injury or not and has a questionable chin.
The upcoming fights for both men will give us clues as to what may or may not work if/and when these two dominant champions face off. A move to the light heavyweight division where there is more interesting and marketable matchups for Silva is more likely. Its also better business for the UFC. They have a lot more to lose doing this super fight. They would need to crown a new welterweight champion afterwards. If the fight between the two champions is contested at 185lbs, GSP has stated this will be a permanent move for him because putting on the muscle and weight is so hard and he would not be able to come back down to welterweight once the move to middleweight is complete.
When the bout is over, one of the UFC's PPV darlings may lose the auroa they had because the other champion was able to expose a weakness in the loser that we all missed before. If the bout does come to fruition its going to happen because the UFC decides it wants to pack a 100,000 seat sambadrome in
Brazil while making a statement that MMA and the UFC should be in the same discussion as MLB, the NHL, the NBA and the NFL. We as fans can only hope…but it will be a fun ride until then.
ANDERSON SILVA WILL BE AN ICON BUT IS JON JONES THE NEXT MIXED MARTIAL ARTS ICON?
The word ICON is defined as "A person or thing regarded as a representative symbol of something"
When thinking about sports icons, what names come to mind? For me, Wayne Gretzky, Joe Montana, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle all come to mind. Why you ask? They revolutionized their respective sports and were game changers. From clutch goals, to clutch baskets in key playoff games to Super Bowl winning touchdown passes, to Thrillers in Manilla, to calling their home run shots, or being the last player to win a single league triple crown these accomplishments are a symbol of something.
I would argue in Mixed Martial Arts that practically all the UFC Hall of Famers (Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell, Charles "Mask" Lewis Jr and Matt Hughes) are ICONS of the sport.
There is two current athletes in Mixed Martial Arts(MMA) that could and should be considered an ICON of MMA.
One is the current pound for pound best and UFC middleweight champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva. At 37 years of age, and with virtually nothing left to prove in MMA, Silva is a lock. The Spider holds many notable UFC records including: longest all-time UFC win streak (14), Best all-time UFC win percentage (1.000), Most title fight victories (10), Most UFC title defenses (9) Most all-time knockdowns in UFC history (15), No. 1 in significant strike accuracy (68.5%), and Longest title reign by days (1,900 days and counting). With those type of records, the UFC Hall of Famer and ICON tags are definetely warranted for MMA's current top P4P fighter.
Another fighter who is just 24 years old and started his pro MMA career just three short years ago in April, 2008 out of necessity is one that we should all recognize as well. Rochester, NY born and transplanted to Endicott, NY Jon "Bones" Jones is a fighter we should all sit back and enjoy watching perform. Boasting a 15-1 overall pro MMA record and a UFC record of 9-1 Jones has experienced it all. With two grueling unanimous decision wins in his first two UFC fights (Gusmao, Bonnar), three TKO victories due to vicious knees and elbows (Vera, Matyushenko, Rua) and four nasty submission wins(O'Brien, Bader, Jackson, Machida)Jones is as well rounded as they come.
Jones who boasts a UFC best 84.5 inch reach to go along with his unorthodox striking, high level wrestling, natural athletic ability and above average submission game poses a lot of problems for opponents. Some opponents may be able to deal with one or two of these attributes but the reach advantage Jones has is by far the one thing nobody can deal with or train for. Former sparring partners of Jones have stated "You can't hit him" and Ryan Bader after his UFC 126 submission loss to the man dubbed Bones stated, his reach I could not figure out, you cant replicate that in practice.
The question raised now is ok, he has this talent but why does he deserve to be an ICON? The reason he deserves to be an ICON in our eyes is illustrated below.
Jones's body of work.
In 2011 alone Jon fought a staggering 4 times and went 4-0. In those four fights he fought a whose who in MMA. To start his 2011 campaign he beat Ultimate Fighter winner and previously unbeaten Ryan Bader at UFC 126. After the fight the UFC announced that due to a training injury to former friend and training partner Rashad Evans, Jones was being given the opportunity to fight legendary Mauricio "Shogun" Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight title in 6 weeks at UFC 128. With a short turn around between fights, Bones turned in a masterful performance and earned a third round TKO stoppage to become the UFC's youngest and new Light Heavyweight champion. In his first title defense he faced former Pride legend and former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. An interesting note here, Jones also had the 205lb first title defense curse working against him too. The last four UFC Light Heavyweight title holders had failed to defend the title once. Jones used crisp Muay Thai attacks to wear down the former champion and then took his back in the fourth round to lock in a fight ending rear naked choke. A few weeks after his first title defense the durable Jones was called into duty again. Jones initially was going to face former friend, training partner and bitter rival/enemy Rashad Evans. A hand injury forced Evans off the bout. The UFC then announced that Jones would face his third former champion of the year in Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida at UFC 140. With a very tough first round, a round many would agrue the champion lost, Jones made the necessary changes in between rounds and came out guns a blazing. Jones took Machida down, used razor like elbows to open a cut, that forced the referee to stop the action to get the cageside physcians advice to see if Machida was able to continue. The doctor determined Machida could continue and the referee put the two warriors back in the same position when the action was halted. Jones used this restart as an opportunity to get Machida in a vicious guillotine choke, that rendered the challenger unconscious and gave the champion his second successful title defense and fourth win in 2011.
With the victories mentioned above Jones has also amassed wins over the likes of Andre Gusmao(UFC 87 (DEBUT)), Stephan Bonnar(UFC 94), Jake O'Brien(UFCUFC LIVE: Vera vs Jones) and Vladmir Matyushenko(UFC LIVE: Jones vs Matyushenko). He also lost his first and only MMA fight with a DQ loss to Matt Hamill due to illegal elbow strikes. (The bout against Hamill, Jones was thoroughly dominating til the DQ happened)
People behind the champion
A son of a pastor, a father of three little girls and the middle child of three boys. Jon's older brother currently plays in the NFL and the younger one plays NCAA Division 1 college football. Word on the street is the youngest one is the best athlete in the family. Jones has the family around him to keep him well grounded and making the right choices.
Jones trains out of Jackson's MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Head coach Greg Jackson along with assistant head coach Mike Winkeljohn are the brains behind many of MMA's top fighters including Jones. Guys like UFC welterweight champion Georges St Pierre, Bamma middleweight champion Tom Watson, former UFC heavyweight champion Andre Arlovski, Brian Stann, Clay Guida, Diego Sanchez, John Dodson and Diego Brandao call Jacksons MMA home(the list can go on). There is an old saying that says TRAIN HARD, FIGHT EASY. With a list of guys like that how can you not. Your only as good as your coaching, training partners, the people that push you and that support you no matter what. With such a wide variety of top tier training partners that Jones is surrounded by, those partners will not allow him to fail at the edges of his experiences. A recent survey shows 81% of Team Jackson Fighters win. Coincedence? I think not.
Love him or hate him, you are watching a once in a generation type athlete. With god given natural ability, great family life, good coaching, top level training partners, and a body of work that includes victories over a whose who in MMA the sky is the limit for the man called Bones. If you do not think he deserves to be an ICON yet, sit back and enjoy the ride. Your watching greatness that you may never see again. We here at MMA OCTAGON TAKES believes Jon " Bones" Jones is an ICON. Jones is taking the sport to different heights and is willing to carry the fastest growing sport in the world on his back. In the words of Terrell Owens (edited a bit for journalistic purposes)
Get your popcorn ready, 'cause Jon " Bones" Jones is gonna put on a show.
If you have never seen this enjoy UFC IN THE MOMENT: JON JONES and JON JONES BEHIND THE SCENES AT UFC 140
5 FIGHTERS TO WATCH IN LATE 2011 AND 2012
Who is going to be the next golden child or face of mixed martial arts? Who is the next Jon Jones? With the evolution and the amazing popularity of mixed martial arts, the new breed of fighter is upon us. Could it be a fighter nicknamed the Phenomenon? Could it be a fighter that went to college at
Hofstra University and took his first UFC fight on 2 weeks notice to dominate a fighter that had a pro mma record of 15-8? Could it be a new face for women's MMA that worked her way up thru regional shows to get her big break? How bout the diamond that fell out of the sky to beat another can't miss prospect? Or could it be the new breed that makes it. For the answers to these questions and a look at can't miss prospects of late 2011 and 2012 read below.
Barboza is a practioner of muay thai, and brazilian jiu jitsu. With sharp shooter like muay thai skills, a majority of his wins have come from that skill set. He has devasted his opponents with devastating leg kicks and punches.
In 2009 Barboza moved to Florida and joined the MMA fight team the armory in Tampa, Florida. With this move his journey into the MMA cage began. In the begining of his MMA career Barboza fought on the regional circuit compiling a 6-0 record and finishing all his opponents (5 ko/tko and 1 submission).
Barboza then got the call to the UFC. He was set face Darren Elkins at UFC 123, however an injury forced Elkins from the card and Mike Lullo took the bout on short notice. Barboza's very crisp muay thai striking proved to much for Lullo and Barboza won the fight by tko in the third round due to leg kicks....Barboza's next bout in the UFC came against another sharp shooter striker Anthony Njokuani at UFC 128. We here at MMAUNBREAKABLE predicted two things for 128. One being that Jon Jones would be the new UFC LHW champion and Barboza vs Njokuani would be fight of the night. Sure enough, Barboza and Njokuani both delivered a great stand up war featuring a array of not often seen striking techniques. The bout ended with Barboza winning via unanimous decision and both warriors walking away with the UFC fight of the night bonus. Barboza first such award in the UFC. Barboza's next bout was against the always game and Ultimate Fighter Season 9 winner Ross Pearson, in Barboza's home country of Brazil at UFC 134. A back and fourth, edge of your seat performance for both men, eventually saw Barboza the winner via split decision by using great takedown defense, and his precise muay thai attacks. The efforts of both men in the bout rewarded them with getting the UFC fight of the night award on a heavily stacked UFC 134 card. This would be Barboza second consecutive fight of the night award in the UFC.
Although Barboza has received his next fight assignment, against the ultra talented Terry Etim January 14th, 2012 at UFC 142, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. WIth a win over Etim intriguing matchups for the fast rising lightweight contender are season 13 Ultimate Fighter winner Tony Ferguson, Jim Miller, and Sam Stout.
Chris "The All American" Weidman from Baldwin, NY and fighting out of Mineola, NY is a UFC middleweight fighter(185lbs), 6'2 inches tall and 27 years old. He has a pro mma record of 6-0. Of his 6 wins 2 each have come from ko/tko, submission and decision respectively.
Training with the Serra-Longo Fight team, Weidman brings in an impressive All American NCAA division one wrestling background that he achieved at Hofstra University. With former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra as his brazilian jiu jitsu(BJJ) and Ray Longo as his striking coach Weidman has the coaches to make him a force in the UFC's middleweight division.
**An interesting off note about Weidman, is that with only 1 year of formal BJJ training, he qualified for the 2009 Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Submission Wrestling World Championship where he lost to high ranked BJJ practioner Andre Galvao in a very close match**
