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Well, just got done watching UFC 108, and was genreally impressed with all the fights on the card. So I thought I would write up a little article about the event. Just some random thoughts really.
WARNING: Lots of spoilers ahead
1: Team Rough House is one of the hottest camps in the UFC right now. Their top 6 fighters have a record of 21-3 in each of their last 4 bouts (ignoring one draw), including a 11-1 tear in the UFC. Wait, what? I actually had to double check the numbers, and yes, they really do have a 92% win rate in the UFC. That's outstanding! Even more so that the sole loss comes from a fighter in thier own camp. Outside of fighting campmates Rough House holds a 10-0 record in the UFC. 2009 may very well become a year of Team Rough House. They are on fire, and must be paid attention to at this point. Now they must prove they can solve the problem of GSP.
2: The fall of Team Quest continues. Make no mistake about it, no one in Team Quest (besides Dan Henderson) is having a good time right now. Let's look at the current Team Quest roster staring with the top dog, Dan Henderson
Henderson: 3-1 in his last 4, not bad actually
Matt Linland: 1-3 in his last 4, not good
Sokojou: 2-2 in his last 4, and his 2 wins were over Bob Sapp and a can.
Jeese Taylor: 2-2 in his last 4
Krzysztof Soszynski: 3-1 in his last 4, his last fight was a once sided beating.
Ed Herman: 1-3 in his last 4 fights
Ryan Schultz: 1-3 in his last 4 fights
Chael Sonnen: 3-1 in his last 4 fights
Ryan Jensen: 2-2 in his last 4 fights
So the top fighters of all of Team Quest have a combined record of 18-18 the last 36 fights. Of their top 9 fighters, only 3 have a above 50% win ratio in their last 4 matches.
This is a scary number, and one Team Quest needs to look at. Team Quest is going the way of Miletich, or the Lions Den unless they make some drastic changes. They need to bring in some new striking coaches, and some top level BJJ guys. Team Quest fighters have always shown only average striking, and the ability to be submitted. They need to address the holes in their camp if they want to remain a force in modern MMA. Just being a camp of all good Greco-Roman Wrestlers will not do it alone anymore.
3: Rashad Evans is paying attention to the critics now, Rashad the wrestler is back. Which is good, as Rashad is one of the best wrestlers in the whole sport today, and he showed it against Thiago Silva. Silva whom is a respected black belt out of the BJJ heavy American Top Team camp could do next to nothing to stop Rashad's takedowns. If Rashad employs a similar gameplan as he did at UFC 108 against Rampage he should walk away the victor. If he decides to turn into Rashad the boxer against Rampage he should end up on his back looking at the lights, he was rocked by Thiago Silva, he was KO'd by Lyoto, he does not have a granite chin, and I think UFC 108 should have shown him how he can beat Rampage.
4: Paul Daley is without a shred of a doubt the most devastating striker at 170 lbs in the world of MMA. First he standing TKO's well known kickboxer Martin Kampmann than shuts out Dustin Hazelett like Dustin has never been shut off before. What a beautiful start to a UFC career. Although Daley may lack the total striking game of a fighter like Thiago Alves, his violent hands can make up for lack of precision and kicking talent. If there is a guy that can recreate GSP/Serra I, Daley is that man.
5: Junior Dos Santos is here to stay. The Brazilian striker out of Chute Box put away Gilbery Yvel very convincingly at UFC 108, and now with 4 straight KO's/TKO's among top completion, Dos Santos is ready to jump in the deep end of the pool. The winner of Vaslasquez/Nog should take on Dos Santos for the #1 contender spot. Both would test how strong of a striker he really is and also both would probably bring the fight to the ground at some point, a place we have not seen Dos Santos at this point. You have to have a ground game to succeed at the highest level of the UFC Heavyweight Division right now. Just look at the top of the heap: Lesnar, Mir, Carwin, Nog, and Cain are the top fighters. All 5 are ground based fighters. If Dos Santos is shown to have a lacking ground game, it needs to be figured out sooner than later. Junior is only 25, if he needs a year or two to refine his ground game that should be no big deal. Or who knows, he might have a stellar ground game too, but this is something that needs to be seen.
6: Team Gurgel has a huge problem on their hands and is showing no signs of fixing it. They have all these AMAZING top level BJJ players, and they all stand and trade with superior strikers. Easy examples include now: Hazelett/Daley, Hazelett/Koscheck, Patt/Vera, Franklin/Silva I, Franklin/SIlva II, and every Jorge Gurgel fight ever. I can see why Rich Franklin left this camp, it is going nowhere in the MMA world, fast. Their top 4 fighters in their last 4 fights hold a record of 7-9, which is worse than the declining Team Quest. Now with Franklin gone the camp has a long road ahead of it.
7: Jake Ellenberger is legit and here to stay for awhile. Jake happened to be my safe pick for the night at the beautiful +100 something. He showed his fight with Carlos Condit was no fluke, and put Pyle away in devastating fashion. Look for Jake to have a decent year in 2010 but really start to flourish in 2011 and become a true future challenger. The fact that he may had had a broken rib (he told his corner his rib was broken) makes this win all the more impressive.
8: Martin Kampmann needs to get back to his roots. Is he a kickboxer or a grappler these days? Last I checked Martin's background is in kickboxing, and yet he has 4 submission, 1 decision, and 1 TKO win in the UFC. If Martin Kampmann ever wants to wear the gold he needs to get back to his kickboxing roots. The UFC welterweight division only has several good strikers (GSP, Daley, Hardy, Davis, and Saunders) and Kampmann's kickboxing skills can get him farther than his mediocre submission skills. Although if he fights Paul Daley again he might want to go the submission route. Other than the Daley fight he should be able to outstrike almost any Welterweight in the UFC.
Thanks for your time!
 
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I've seen a bit of UFC and I'm just familiar with Matt Hughes and George St. Pierre. I remember hearing that Matt slumped a while ago, but is GSP still going strong? From what I know he was the shit a couple years ago, how is he possibly staying in there?
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On January 03 2010 17:57 Kwidowmaker wrote:
I've seen a bit of UFC and I'm just familiar with Matt Hughes and George St. Pierre. I remember hearing that Matt slumped a while ago, but is GSP still going strong? From what I know he was the shit a couple years ago, how is he possibly staying in there?
Matt Hughes is not so much as slumping, as everyone figured out he has 0 striking game. and yes, GSP is still on top, in fact he is widly considered one of the top 3 fighters pound for pound in the world today.
Matt Hughes had a great run, but his time is over.
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I fully agree with 2, 3, 5, 6 (lol), and 7. I think a lot of those are well thought out points and great observations:D
The thing is though:
1.) I don't know if you want to look too much into that at the moment. They're obviously doing something right, their fighters are doing great with 1 guy of theirs having a title shot and another in contention. I think Paul Daley is clearly the star of that camp, I think if Hardy and Daley were to fight Hardy would have no chance. I was actually kinda unimpressed with the way Hardy beat Swick because I know that many people thought Swick was going to win, but I thought Hardy missed a lot of opportunities for himself to attack. A note on Hazelett by the way as you mentioned him in point 6, I thought even though his fight with Koscheck was stupid, I did think that the mistake he was simply he kept too much distance for himself, clearly he had to stand to get it to the ground but I think he should have tried his best to counter Daley by getting a clinch. Jab clinch, jab clinch. From there he can work a trip, but I don't think he went into the fight thinking "OK I GOTTA STAND WITH THIS GUY."
4.) I agree with this to an extent, but I do think GSP is the best striker in the WW division still. I never hear people complimenting GSP's striking, and it's not the most powerful striking, and still the fact that people have to worry about the takedowns makes his striking better. But his technique is soooo clean. His jab is perfect, he twists his hips perfectly into it, he plants and bends his back leg when he jabs and he sets it up beautifully for 1.) other strikes, and 2.) takedowns. I thought GSP would outstrike Alves, and he did. I think GSP will outstrike Hardy when it's standing up, and I also think GSP would outstrike Paul Daley. Actually the only person I've ever really seen outstrike GSP, besides Serra for 15 seconds obviously, was BJ Penn, and that was only in the first fight. In the second fight GSP dominated BJ standing AND on the ground.
8.) Maybe I'm misinterpreting but Kampmann DID kickbox his last match. He got his submission from dropping Volkmann with a clean right counter ^_^
Great post :D I love it! 5/5
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Oh and I would like to say that Team Rough House doing well is great because it means MMA in Britain is getting bigger :D
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Anyone who watches GSP fight without any knowledge of MMA, records, etc. will still recognize him as a good fighter, not just some macho brawler. Everything he does is pure art. And most importantly, GSP doesn't seem to let success get to his head.
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GSP......... ANOTHER TAKEDOWN!!?!?
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GSP bringing the Vaseline to UFC 107 (BJ Penn vs Diego Sanchez) was hilarious.
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Nice blog would read again. Badly structured post below:
Bj Penn has one of the best takedown defenses and GSP got him down anyways. As others have said before me, It does not mater if you can stop one take down attempt when there's an endless stream coming.
That matched up with his superb striking he's going to be like -600++ in every fight the coming year(s). Paul Daley vs Thiago Alves would be one of the best fights I can imagine at welterweight.
Rashad looked kinda weak in the striking department? looked like he had zero chance of doing a KO the whole fight almost? Thoughts on that Diamondback2?
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On January 03 2010 21:39 Patriot.dlk wrote:
Rashad looked kinda weak in the striking department? looked like he had zero chance of doing a KO the whole fight almost? Thoughts on that Diamondback2?
thats rashads striking for you. hes fast and has knockout power oozing out of his pores but is very sloppy, wide and loopy with his strikes and leaves himself open for those with clean technique to pick apart. he only managed to k.o liddell because he plods around the cage with his hands at his waist.
i'm glad he's gone back to his wrestling roots. the threat of taking down his opponents will keep make them hesitant to strike and make life much easier for him as well as set up his striking (gsp hits everyone with everything now because theyre so afraid of his takedown). if he had come into this fight planning on trading with thiago he'd have been laid out in the first round. this is the game plan he should have fought machida with.
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On January 03 2010 18:05 ColdLava wrote:
I fully agree with 2, 3, 5, 6 (lol), and 7. I think a lot of those are well thought out points and great observations:D
The thing is though:
1.) I don't know if you want to look too much into that at the moment. They're obviously doing something right, their fighters are doing great with 1 guy of theirs having a title shot and another in contention. I think Paul Daley is clearly the star of that camp, I think if Hardy and Daley were to fight Hardy would have no chance. I was actually kinda unimpressed with the way Hardy beat Swick because I know that many people thought Swick was going to win, but I thought Hardy missed a lot of opportunities for himself to attack. A note on Hazelett by the way as you mentioned him in point 6, I thought even though his fight with Koscheck was stupid, I did think that the mistake he was simply he kept too much distance for himself, clearly he had to stand to get it to the ground but I think he should have tried his best to counter Daley by getting a clinch. Jab clinch, jab clinch. From there he can work a trip, but I don't think he went into the fight thinking "OK I GOTTA STAND WITH THIS GUY."
Daley is defiantly one of the stars of Rough House, and I would pick him over Hardy ez. But to say they are anything but one of the hottest camps right now feels like it'd be a lie. I didn't say they are the most dominant (that's Jackson's camp), or the best BJJ guys (ATT there) but they are defiantly on a hot streak. That record is insane,and it's over top guys or very solid fighters at a minimum . Look at the recent list (just pulling the last 4 wins from the top guys): Kampmann, Hazelett, Swick, Marcus Davis, Markham, Gono, Aaron Riley, Delgado, Lester, and Riddle. That's a nice nice list to have under your camps belt. A couple that stick out to me are:
Swick: This was the guy that was supposed to be the only challenge left for GSP until Hardy derailed that. I thought the win was very impressive, he beat Swick at his own game (striking) and proved he has a VERY solid chin. Swick has TKO'd alot of good fighters, most of em at Middleweight, and Hardy had no worries about eating shots from him.
Marcus Davis:: Was 13-1 in has last 14, and his only loss came to Swick. Beat Lytle, Kelly, Liaudin, Taylor, Tan, Pete Spratt, Shonnie Carter, and Forest Petz all going into this fight. And Hardy showed himself to be the better striker and was able to rock Marcus REALLY BAD in the second (iirc). Was just as impressive as the Swick win in my eyes.
All the other wins are very impressive too, Aaron Riley is a tough dude and a solid fighters, Gono just beat Hayato Sakurai on NYE's in Japan, Markham was looking like a hot prospect when Hardy KO'd him, etc...
Also, I doubt Hazelett went in there thinking "I HAVE TO STAND WITH THIS GUY", he should have been thinking "I GOT TO PULL GUARD, I GOT O PULL GUARD, I GOT TO PULL GUARD". That should have been the only thing he should have done till he succeeded. As soon as he threw that high kick, I knew he wasn't bringing it to the ground, and it was over. I put in my predictions I was scared of Hazelett trying to feel him out on the feet and getting KO'd for it, and he did exactly that.
4.) I agree with this to an extent, but I do think GSP is the best striker in the WW division still. I never hear people complimenting GSP's striking, and it's not the most powerful striking, and still the fact that people have to worry about the takedowns makes his striking better. But his technique is soooo clean. His jab is perfect, he twists his hips perfectly into it, he plants and bends his back leg when he jabs and he sets it up beautifully for 1.) other strikes, and 2.) takedowns. I thought GSP would outstrike Alves, and he did. I think GSP will outstrike Hardy when it's standing up, and I also think GSP would outstrike Paul Daley. Actually the only person I've ever really seen outstrike GSP, besides Serra for 15 seconds obviously, was BJ Penn, and that was only in the first fight. In the second fight GSP dominated BJ standing AND on the ground.
I don't doubt GSP has one of the top (if not the top) striking games in the WW division. But there is no way he is anywhere close (or any other WW besides Alves) to being a hardcore knockout artist like Daley. GSP hasn't really KO'd anyone with his hands since Jay Hieron back in 2004. As far as a power puncher, Daley is the top in the word at 170 in my eyes.
To help further this point it's worth noting something I read on another blog about Daley's striking:
"Daley's punches were so strong that after the bout, Hazelett told the fight doctor that he didn't know what year it was."
Yeah, that's power right there. He could have really gotten away with saying 2009 OR 2010 (being the new year's is only 2 days old at that point) but he just didn't have a clue.... That's scary
8.) Maybe I'm misinterpreting but Kampmann DID kickbox his last match. He got his submission from dropping Volkmann with a clean right counter ^_^
This one has been bothering me for awhile lol. It was not so much made in response to the fight at UFC 108 but his last fights (ignoring Daley, as that was the one fight he should have used his ground game) in general. Maybe not my strongest point in the article.
Great post :D I love it! 5/5
Thank you!
On January 03 2010 21:39 Patriot.dlk wrote:
Rashad looked kinda weak in the striking department? looked like he had zero chance of doing a KO the whole fight almost? Thoughts on that Diamondback2?
It was obvious the gameplan Rashad and Greg Jackson had in mind b4 the fight was keep this on the ground at all costs. Thiago has never shown to be dangerous off his back, or a true submission artists by any stretch of the imagination, so Rashad had a clear advantage going the LNP route. WHat I think you were seeing was the difference when Rashad is using punches to set up takedowns, and the fights where he was going for the KO. For example that overhand he threw on Chuck, there is NO setting up a takedown after that punch as you are so off balance. But if you throw the same punch but with a lot less power, you can set up a takedown off of it. I think that's what you saw. I also think he could have KO'd Thiago if he tried, but the gameplan he used was a lot less risky, and in this writers eyes, the best gameplan to employ vs Thiago Silva.
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I looked a little further into Team Rough House and I was more right than I thought. I looked at every fighter they have listed on the Sherdog fight finder and this is what I saw:
Dean Amasinger: 6-1 (lost his debut). 6 fight win streak
Carl Booth: 1-1 meh
Paul Daley: Obviously 2-0 in the UFC, 4 fight win streak
Tamai Harding: 2-0
Dan Hardy: 4-0 in the UFC, title contender, 7 fight win streak
Lee Livingstone: 2 fight win streak
Nick Osipczak: Undefeated. 2-0 in the UFC, 5 fight win streak
Ross Pearson: 2-0 in the UFC. 3 fight win streak
Daryle Pinter: Ok this guys sucks, you just can't turn shit into a Pandabear guys, period. 1-6, his one win by DQ. O well I guess every camp has a black eye, I'm ignoring this guy lol.
Jim Wallhead: 6 fight win streak just got noted on mmajunkie.com. Supposed to be a good fighter, haven't seen him personally.
Andre Winner: The only guy with a loss in the UFC. O wait that loss came to Ross Pearson... 1 fight win streak, 1-1 in the UFC.
So ignoring Pinter, Team Rough House is on a collective 30 fight win streak, 11 of which are in the UFC. They have the number #1 contender in the 2nd most stacked division in the UFC. They also have a guy that is in the top 10 in the UFC in that same super-stacked division in Daley.
They have Andre Winner, whom took out a very game Delgado. Looks to be a hot prospect.
Nick Osipczak just took out Matt Riddle whom was 3-0 in the UFC going into that fight.
Pearson has just won TUF, and beat Winner and Aaron Riley (whom is no joke also).
Wallhead is on the aforementioned 5 fight win streak, and has a great opportunity in being in the next Bellator tourny. We will see more what he is about than.
It's a real camp, imagine where they can be in 10-15 years if they keep improving at this pace....
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Ahh yeah actually your elaboration on your points make a lot of sense to me ^_^ and yeah if anything, that camp seems to be a real representation of how MMA is doing in Britain in general, which is: growing. Now it doesn't feel so much like a gimmick with the UFC and MMA in general putting their hopes on Bisping-before-he-even-did-anything, but instead, they're doing it the right way, which is letting fighters prove themselves and making the fighters make themselves the stars instead of giving them that attention right away.
And actually your analysis on Rashad's striking and the difference between the striking he employed in the Silva fight compared to his previous fights make a lot of sense. I was (pleasantly) surprised at how Rashad fought in the first two rounds but it made a lot of sense. ^_^
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EPT
