Saturday Night's alright for fightin'

I spent my Saturday evening at Brownsox’s place watching the UFC PPV. It is as good an excuse as any to talk about the MMA phenom going on right now.

I got into mixed martial arts in college, through Pride Championship Fighting, a Japanese MMA group. The appeal is fairly obvious (dudes try to mess up other dudes), but I found more to like besides the bloodlust. One of the first fights I ever watched was the Royce Gracie/Kazushi Sakuraba 90 minute super match, which was a huge event in the fighting world. The Gracie family is a dynasty in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with Royce being one of the best fighters in the world. Sakuraba was a professional wrestler in Japan who when he went into MMA, beat every Gracie he could fight. This match was highly anticipated, and was set to go until a victor was crowned (usually, a fight will only go three or five rounds). After 90 minutes, Gracie had to throw in the towel. What was interesting about this fight was it was not about knocking the other guy out (‘striking’ in the MMA terms) but more about wrestling and trying to get a submission. That’s what is really great about MMA, not just the striking, but the ground game, a competition of wills where the goal is to put someone is a position where if they do not ‘tap out’ they will get a limb broken or be choked unconscious. The combination of a good ground game with the ability to throw a hail maker punch is what makes someone a MMA star.

The obvious comparison MMA gets in the world of sports in boxing. I prefer MMA for a variety of reasons. MMA matches are shorter; they have more elements then just footwork and punching prowess, and are less likely to go to a decision. Also, there is a huge amount of sportsmanship in MMA, something that has been generally lacking in Boxing for some time. The level of respect that most fighters show their opponents helps elevate MMA from sanctioned violence into respectable sports.

In college, we would often get a couple guys over to my place, order up some pizzas or a platter from Buffalo Joe’s (god I miss that place), grab some booze, and watch some MMA goodness. We have recently re-instated this policy in New York, with hanging out at someone’s house and watching the fight is a healthy alternative to hitting the bars until the mind had been washed clean with Jack Daniels. I have recently discovered that the Irish Rouge shows PPVs in their upstairs lounge, but they charge a cover, which makes is a rare treat.

A couple of years ago, Pride folded due to troubles with the Yakuza (no joke) but was bought out by the UFC. That purchase, along with their foray into reality TV has made UFC the dominant brand in MMA, bar none. Kimbo Slice be damned, UFC has the best collection of fighters and have been putting out a consistently good program for several years under the leadership of President Dana White. While I miss the likes of great fighters Feder and Crocop, UFC is the destination for great Mixed Martial Arts.

The PPV on Saturday was not the best, but not bad. To do a great PPV, you want to see a strong mix of knockouts and tapouts, with one fight going to decision, just for the drama. This bill had too many knockouts and decisions, with very few submission victories. The two main events saw a successful title defense for George St. Pierre (one of the best fighters fighting right now), and a victory for former WWE star Brock Lesnar, who punched the shit out of Heath Herring, but could not get the victory before going to decision. Lesnar, who was pretty good in the WWE, could be a great MMA star but he needs time to work on his submission skills.

I am really sad to hear the Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson went insane. He was a great champion, and the best success story of making the jump from Pride to UFC. His hard hitting, chain wearing, dog barking, scary as hell self will be missed in the Octagon.

Much as the beloved blog “Gooners in Exile” is more about being an American Arsenal fan than about analysis of the game, this blog too shall occasionally examine MMA as a spectator sport, not so much about fight analysis (since if I ever tried MMA, I would die).

In closing, why is Randy Couture making movies? He should go back to going what he does best, hitting dudes so hard you see their skulls.