Styles
make fights
Ah,
that classic boxing axiom. It's very true but don't start using it as a cop-out
to mean 'anything can happen'. When you've seen the fighters a few times you can
usually tell who's gonna win based on how the styles clash. There's a reason Crocop
kayoed Sapp but Hoost didn't, even though Hoost always beats Crocop. There's a
few core skills in mma where if you can do it well, you're set. Let's run down
them.
When
you can punch
Punching
in mma has to be treated a bit differently to other skill sets. There's world
class wrestlers in mma, guys like Matt Linland and Dan Henderson. World Champion
BJJ guys compete, like BJ Penn and Royler Gracie. But due to various reasons,
mostly financial, its almost unheard of for even a moderately skilled boxer to
enter the ring with open finger gloves. Consequently its easy to carried away
with thinking a guy can punch just because he looks good hitting grapplers. Alot
of fighters will hit the bags and tell the interviewer they have 'been working
on my boxing', but this isn't a skill you can just acquire overnight.
Boxing
isn't mma, and the principle problems a boxer faces are: i) the jab isn't very
useful, ii) kicks mess up your range, iii) everytime you step in behind a punch,
you are vulnerable to a takedown, iv) hit and hold is legal. So apart from the
obvious fact that a boxer needs to adapt his style, there is also a question of
what type of boxer is suited to mma.
Putting
it simply, punchers do better than stylists. It's the boxers with one-shot power
that do well (Vovchanchyn, Liddel, Pulver, Ludwig) . That's because the window
of opportunity is that much shorter when a guy can shoot on you, and to effectively
ground and pound you need power without relying so much from your legs and hips.
Due to the dearth of pro boxers in mma, the top punchers are usually kickboxers
rather than boxers per se
When
watching the tapes, look for the basic boxing principles. Is the fighter putting
weight behind the punches, or is he just swinging his arms and hoping for the
best. As a general rule you can't have power behind straight shots unless you're
moving forward. A guy can throw the prettiest shots in the world but if he's moving
sideways or backwards, his opponent is gonna walk through them. Watch somebody
like Vanderlei to see how weight gets behind punches.
Defensively,
mma guys have alot of bad habits such as dropping the hands and raising the chin
during exchanges. Look for that in a fighter, and if he's going in against a bomber,
bet your money that the bomber is gonna find that raised chin at somepoint during
the fight. Brazilian grapplers are well known for a particular style of flurrying,
where they raise there chins then step forward throwing straight punches, switching
stance with each shot and trying to generate power purely from the shoulders.
Sperry vs Ninja is a good example.
Watch
how a guy backs up under pressure. Good boxers retreat at an angle, or with fully
sideways motion. The reason being that the guy coming in has to stop his body
motion, reset his feet, and then start again. Bad boxers retreat in a straight
line, so the attacker just keeps coming. Vitor Belfort vs Vanderlei Silva is a
great example (hey, I didn't say Silva's defense was good!).
The
general principle regarding a puncher is that he's always got that chance. If
his opponent is sloppy, or prone to fatigue, or gun-shy, then a puncher can do
a real good job of intimidating him and winning the fight. Vovchanchyn vs Yvel
anybody?
When
you can submit
Submissions
aren't as common at top level as they used to be and it is a sign of a very good
fighter if he can submit a top ten guy. Wearing somebody down enough for a decision,
and actually making him cry uncle are two very different things. Like a puncher,
a submission guy is always in the fight till the last bell, but unlike a puncher,
a submission guy doesn't put the fear of god into you. Generally speaking, you
tap and then you go home. You don't get punched into hospital. So there's a psychology
element to consider. A guy that goes balls-to-the-wall against grapplers may go
into his shell against a puncher.
But
of course knowing you can submit guys changes your game plan. When you're underneath
a wrestler or puncher, he's gonna be thinking whether to risk overextending himself
trying to hit you. Whereas if you don't have the subs, he's just gonna chew you
up. Guys like Nogueira are so good at subs that its the guy on top that is trying
to run and hide.
The
general rule with submission specialists is that they are great against sloppy
guys or one dimensional guys, but vulnerable to others. How a submission guy does
depends alot on the type of opponent, and also the time-limit. Generaly speaking,
longer rounds help the submission guy.
Vs
a boxer: Takedown, mount, a few punches, submission. Put the money on the sub
guy
Vs a boxer
with takedown defense: Ouch! Expect the sub guy to start strong but get gradually
worn down as his tackles are repelled and he takes a few shots each time. After
a while his tackles will become slow, predictable desperate rushes and he'll get
tagged alot till he drops.
Vs
a careless wrestler: The sub guy is put onto his back, stays comfortable in guard,
and then takes an arm bar or triangle when he's ready.
Vs
a good wrestler: The sub guy spends the full fight on his back eating punches,
while never quite able to get the sweep or submission.
When
you can takedown...
....you
bore the shit out of me, but that's another story. A good takedown lets you choose
where the fight will be fought, and that is a huge advantage. If you can takedown
a good puncher you take away almost all his tools, as even a natural puncher can't
do much damage from his back. A good takedown doesn't do much against a submission
guy, because once he's there you're both happy.
Takedown
artists have really come into their own since the adoption of short rounds and
referee stand-ups. A Matt Hughes-esque pattern of takedown-break-takedown-break-takedown-bell
lets the wrestlers pile up the points and coast to decisions. Cages help too,
because the guy on top can push the other guy's head into it, making it easier
to hit.
When
you can ground and pound
I
see the sport moving more and more towards favouring a good ground and pound game.
Skillful though it is, g'n'p represents a degredation of the finer points of the
sport. It's the offside-trap of mma. Lots of the higher technical moves in grappling
become useless when someone is punching you and when someone beneath you is trying
something odd, you have the 'when in doubt, punch them out' option.
With
judges, rounds and the restrictions on elbows and headbuts, ground and pound is
normally for points rather than stoppages. You hold a guy down, hit him a bit,
then let the ref stand it up. The bottom guy is usually too savvy to get himself
punched out from there.
In
terms of predictions, a good takedown artist with ground and pound is a fairly
safe bet under American rules (cage, rounds, stand-ups). If he's matched with
a guy with a very good guard then it can all change, but not normally at
the world level.
Open
vs Tight
The
refers to the overall stylistic approach of a fighter. Sakuraba, Sato, Mir, Fedor,
Nogueira are all open. Hughes, Ortiz, Miletich, Randleman are tight. Watch for
how much space a fighter leaves, how many chances he takes, how often he tries
to finish and you'll get the hang of it. Open guys rely on movement, space,
inspiration, and aggression to put them in a position to end the fight. Often
the end comes only seconds after there's any danger. Tight guys look to slowly
work into an advantageous position, trying to reduce movement to it's minimum,
then wear you down with attrition.
While
the open style is usually far more fun to watch, its the tight guys that usually
win. Think of it this way. When two armies charge at each other across a battlefield,
the advantage goes to the side with more aggression and more ability. When one
army charges and the other sits in a trench with a machine-gun, the advantage
is with the defender. Much the same with fighting at a high level. Attacking involves
risk. When the open guy steps in behind a straight right, the tight guy can just
cover up until he's got the timing down for a takedown. When the open guy curls
up into an armbar from guard, the tight guy stacks and passes.
At
low skill levels, the open guy will usually find the tight guy out of position
at somepoint during the fight and find a way to exploit it for a finish. At high
skill levels, the tight guy's positioning is spot on and the open guy just gives
him space to make his incremental advances. Sad, but true. Watch Hughes vs Newton
II.
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