MMA Highlight Videos

Vitor defeats Franklin ; Cro Cop Can't Pull The Trigger

2009-09-20T00:18:00.005-04:00

Belfort showed a lot of patience in this fight and displayed an entirely new skill: Karate. His stance was very similar to Machida's, with whom he trained, and his head movement was fantastic. He found his timing early and was able to work from the outside to counter Rich.

Franklin looked good early, landing a few shots and avoiding most of Belfort's power. But it was only a matter of time before he was caught and sent to the canvas. The strike that dropped him was grazing left on the temple that torqued his head violently. His knees went out, but he wasn't unconscious so Vitor unloaded three more times before the fight was stopped.

I was impressed with Vitor's speed and ability to explode. I didn't expect him to have enough power to put Franklin to sleep so easily - Henderson wasn't able to and it took Anderson several knees to do it. I'm interested to see what the future holds for Vitor; if he can stay patient and work his angles and timing, then I think he can stick it to Anderson and maybe win the fight. We still don't know how Vitor will react to getting hit flush several times, however, so I'm not going to jump the gun on this one. If Henderson doesn't want to fight Marquardt for the #1 contender spot, then put Vitor in there. I think he can beat him - Marquardt has shown a suspect chin in the past, and it'll only take one flush punch from the The Phenom to put him out.

Belfort TKO at 3:02 in the first round.

An anti-climatic conclusion to the co-main event.

I was rooting for Mirko and in the first round, he looked like he might have had some fight left in him. He was utilizing some angles and countering with the straight left. He was in trouble at one point, but so was Junior. It changed in the second round, however, when he came out timid and didn't do much other than push Junior away when he was in trouble. Cigano looked good, hurting the veteran fighter on two occasions, although Mirko's experience allowed him to survive.

But that was the problem; Cro Cop was only looking to survive. He wasn't pressuring the Brazilian at all. I'm not sure if it was because he felt Cigano's power or if he's just not confident in himself anymore. He looked very similar in the Al Turk fight. He did manage to unload once in the third, but didn't follow up once Junior started swinging back. And once Junior started throwing knees in the clinch when Cro Cop tried to push him away, the fight was essentially over. Junior finished it when he injured the Croatian's eye with a punch. Cro Cop immediately turned away and waved Junior off. I assume he may have broken his orbital.

Cigano won by verbal submission at 2:00 in the third round.

Paul Daley destroyed the confident Kampmann at 2:31 in the first round. He was consistently outstriking Kampmann, who only went for one takedown. The stoppage was a bit early, but Kampmann was going to go down anyway. I thought that something like this could happen, since Kampmann does have such a suspect chin, but I didn't give it any serious consideration. Congratulations for Daley. I don't think he'll get a title shot right away (even though before he entered it was billed as a #1 contender fight), but if he can get a fight against Swick, Alves, or Fitch and win, then I think he deserves one.

Vitor Belfort is looking a little soft

2009-09-18T21:55:00.003-04:00

Belfort looked a little soft at the weigh in today. He also had a hard time making weight. It looks like he's beating himself up over it which can make tomorrow a bad day for him. I'm rooting for Franklin, personally, so it'll be interesting to see what happens.

Another thing I picked up on was that the Junior Dos Santos being a kick boxing champion rumors might be wrong. I have been unable to find any verifiable evidence for this and his interview on the countdown makes me think the contrary. If he's not, then I think Cro Cop will be able to pick him apart pretty easily. He does throw loopy strikes. We'll see what happens. I'm a huge Cro Cop fan, but I don't know if he has it in him anymore.

The rest of the UFC 103 card.

2009-09-18T18:03:00.002-04:00

Crocop vs Junior Dos Santos

Crocop: 61 - 54%
Junior: 52 - 46%

Crocop, on the betting lines, is an underdog. So according to my stats, he should be a good bet (since he's the favorite here.) I can't really call this fight either way. I think it'll come down to who lands first or who is more aggressive.

No real prediction, although the stats say Crocop.

Kampmann vs Daley

Kampmann: 58 - 60%
Daley: 39 - 40%

Note that when fights are this uneven, you'll find that the betting odds don't really reflect who is more likely to win. That said, I'm pretty certain that Kampmann will.

Note: Kampmann has a somewhat suspect chin, so Daley could KO him (although unlikely).

Koscheck Vs Trigg
Koscheck: 59.7 - 57%
Trigg: 44.5 - 43%

Koscheck should be able to control Trigg on the ground with his superior wrestling. He can also knock Trigg out, since he can neutralize Trigg's ground game. I think Koscheck takes this pretty easily.

Fighter Breakdown: Anderson Silva

2009-09-17T19:00:00.004-04:00

Name: Anderson Silva

Nickname: The Spider

Weight class: Middleweight, light-heavy weight, and formally welterweight.

Martial Arts background: Silva initially started training in Tae Kwon Do at the age of 14, obtaining his black belt four years later. He's also obtained a black belt in Judo, and more recently(2006) obtained a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under famous heavyweight practitioner Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria. Despite his grappling credentials, he is most famous for his elite MMA oriented Muay Thai.

Striking breakdown: As a southpaw, Anderson has a general advantage over orthodox strikers who don't train with other southpaws, although he's just as effective with an orthodox stance. Silva has demonstrated a tremendous amount of power in every strike he throws, easily knocking out fighters with renowned chins (Chris Leben, Rich Franklin, Nate Marquardt, Forrest Griffin...the list goes on). Along with this, Silva has shown a very creative side, performing various knees, kicks, and punches that would normally be suicide in the stand-up game - yet get away with it unscathed. When not showing off his creative single strikes, he can normally be found in the Clinch, where a vicious combos of knees more often than not result in the immediate TKO of his adversaries. He is considered by many to be the best pure striker in MMA.

Grappling breakdown: Although most of his fights are stand-up matches, when it goes to the ground, he's almost always comfortable. He's demonstrated submission escape and execution abilities, most notably against Travis Lutter, where he escaped an armbar and later locked him in a triangle choke to obtain a victory(This is made more impressive as Lutter is a BJJ blackbelt himself). He tends to end up on the bottom on the ground, where he utilizes his long legs to put opponents in a body triangle. Silva has also submitted Dan Henderson with a rear-naked choke.

Strengths: The biggest and most referred to (as well as visually impressive) strength that Anderson Silva has is his elusiveness. There are moments in the middle of fights where it appears he's dancing, avoiding strikes such as headkicks, punch combinations, and etc using nothing but head movement. He does this with an incredible sense of timing, which is perhaps unrivaled in MMA today. His Muay Thai clinch and striking in general is also renowned; it's gotten to the point that when other strikers brutally TKO their opponents, one may call it "Playing Anderson Silva." His tremendous power and skill make him a very dangerous striker.

Weaknesses: Anderson Silva is great at many things, but wrestling is not one of them. Dan Henderson was able to take him down (albeit Henderson is a former olympic wrestler), as was Travis Lutter. Although his scramble ability in general is up to par, any excellent practitioner of the art may be able to give him trouble. He's also shown vulnerability to very rapid submission attempts, most notably done by Ryo Chonnan, who submitted him with a Flying Scissor Heel Hook. Before it happened, if you asked a submissions expert if that move could work in modern MMA, they would say "Never."

Game Plan: The Spider tends to wait out the first minute or so of a round as to guage his opponents timing and reactions. Once he does so, he'll begin a more aggressive campaign, and although he'll have flashes of offensive brilliance, he is predominately a counter striker. If the opponent refuses to engage, Silva will likely come in with a "crazy" strike to prompt action. If the fight ends up on the ground, he appears to "go with the flow" and deal with whatever happens. This is most likely done to maximize the chances of the fight being stood back up, where Silva will have the biggest advantage.

Notable wins and losses:

The two victories over Rich Franklin were significant because he won, and then defended the Middleweight championship. Franklin was essentially unstoppable at 185, and Anderson whipped him around like a rag doll.(twice)

An olympic wrestler with a strong chin and a big right hand, as well as a former champion of PRIDE in two weight classes, Dan Henderson was considered the man to conquer the spider. Dan won the first round using his wrestling, a notable weakness of the spider, but couldn't do much else besides hold him on the ground. In the second round, Henderson attempted to stand with the Silva, which lead to him being peppered with strikes. In order to avoid being TKO'd, Dan tried to bring the fight to the ground. Once it got there, however, Anderson acquired a dominate position by taking Henderson's back and submitted him with a rear naked choke.

Ryo Chonnan. Flying Scissor Heel Hook. What else needs to be said? Anyone that questions the beatability of The Spider need only look back to this match, where Ryo proved that even the #1 Pound for Pound fighter in the world can look awfully mortal when tapping out in severe pain.

Speaking of being the number one pound for pound fighter: Forrest Griffin. Anderson Silva made the former Light-Heavyweight champion look like a 12 year old kid that just started training yesterday. The fact that Silva's speed, KO power, technique, etc translates into a weight division 20 lbs heavier than his home is a scary thought, especially when he can easily destroy the former champion of said division. Many people thought that Georges St. Pierre and Fedor Emelianenko were ahead of Silva in the pound for pound rankings. Fewer people hold that opinion now.

Future: Several people want to see Anderson take a run at the 205 championship belt, which is something that will never happen so long as Lyoto Machida holds it. (Anderson and Lyoto are friends outside the cage.) With the latest contenders for Silva at 185 being nothing more than recycled past victims at this point, there is little interest for the king in his own division. With only a couple of fights left on his contract (Silva has stated plans to retire once his current contract expires), the most likely path for the Spider is 205 super-fights. If Vitor Belfort dominates Rich Franklin, maybe we'll see The Phenom vs The Spider.

Franklin vs Belfort UFC 103 Prediction

2009-09-17T01:22:00.003-04:00

In my last post, I explained how I'm going to grade fighters on a point system and use this to compare them. Well, I've done it for Franklin and Vitor, and here are the results:

Vitor Belfort: 47.44 total score.
Rich Franklin: 59.94 total score

When converted into percents, it gives 56% for Franklin and 44% for Belfort. While this looks like a small difference, it's actually pretty significant. This means that Franklin has a moderate advantage over Belfort.

Now that I've given you the data, I'm going to share my personal thoughts on the fight.

First, we know a few key things about Franklin: He has a good chin, he's pretty evasive, he has accurate strikes, and he pushes the pace.

We also know some stuff about Vitor: He has great hand speed, power, accuracy, and is aggressive, but he's not the most mentally prepared fighter. Vitor has shown that he dislikes getting hit and will lose steam when under pressure, something that Franklin will pour on.

Now, I want to note that while Franklin's chin is good, Vitor hits hard enough to knock most heavyweights out. His strikes are probably comparable to Anderson Silva's, who did manage to hurt Franklin (and TKO him, but that was with knees.) I think Vitor will mentally give up if Franklin can find his range, push the pace, and weather the early storm. I also think that Franklin has a better overall ground game.

Another thing that could pose problems for Vitor is the way Franklin mixes up his strikes. He likes to throw a lot of kicks with his punches and his leg kicks will sap Vitor's energy and power. Vitor will definitely be more explosive early on, but Franklin will stay more consistent and will most likely outwork him. That said, Franklin does usually start off a little slow so Vitor can definitely catch him then.

I'm giving a slight edge to Franklin for a late TKO or decision because he has recently faced better competition, should be able to avoid Vitor's strikes, but has a good enough chin to hang in if he is tagged, and will wear Vitor down in the later rounds.

Vitor can still definitely knock him out, but his best chance is early on; it'll become less and less likely for him to get a knock out as the fight progresses, unless he manages to hurt Franklin early.

I wholly agree with the numbers and odds above, and I think this will be a great fight.

To summarize:

Vitor: 44%
Great hand speed
Heavyweight power
Very explosive
Accurate strikes
Folds under pressure

Franklin: 56%
Good ground game
Good power, but not on Vitor's level
Can strike from the outside to avoid damage
Multi-faceted striker
Mentally tough
Pushes pace

How I'll Compare Fighters - Odds

2009-09-16T14:50:00.004-04:00

I've created a fairly pretty simple algorithm that'll calculate the odds between two fighters. This is not purely objective, so there is some bias in it (which is actually a good thing - numbers don't tell the whole story). I rank the quality of a fighter's last opponents, the quality of his wins and losses, his technical skills (in my eyes + 2 others), his current momentum, and his overall record. I add these all up and leave an extra ten points that I can use at my discretion for any sort of bias or hunch I have that can't be shown with numbers.

I'll be using it as a supplement for my fight predictions. I might not always agree with this number, but I think it's a fairly accurate depiction of what is likely to happen.

Individual scores are calculated on a scale from 1-100. I will add the scores and use that sum to create a percent for each fighter so that they can be more easily compared.

Example:

Fighter A has 72.5 points
Fighter B has 48.9 points

That creates a sum of 121.4 points. Then I'll use that to derive the percents: 60% for fighter A vs 40% for fighter B.

These are not indicative of what the betting odds will be.

Fighter Breakdown: Fedor Emelianenko

2009-09-15T01:15:00.005-04:00

Name: Fedor Emelianenko

Nickname: The Last Emperor

Weight class: Heavyweight

Martial arts background: Fedor trained in Judo and Sambo at an early age. He did well, considering his apparent lack of natural skill and strength. He received additional training while in the Russian army, although a lot of it was general combat training and cardio. Prior to and during this time, he also lifted heavily. This gave him a very strong core, which is noticeable in nearly all of his fights. Fedor also trains in Muay Thai and kickboxing, although his primary focus is still Sambo, where he has consistently won gold medals.

Striking breakdown: Fedor uses an orthodox stance when striking, which lends itself well to his powerful overhand right. He likes to throw loopy punches, although his justification for this is that he's slinging his hands to increase the force of impact. It seems to work, since most of the people he hits fold up after one or two shots. Very few fighters have taken flush hits from the Russian without going down or at least backing off. It's also good to note that he is the least hit fighter in MMA; that is, he's hit less than any other fighter per minute in the ring.

Grappling breakdown: While he has strong striking, Fedor's grappling is excellent. He has some of the best throws, scrambles, and submissions in the world. He can consistently take down great grapplers and keep them down. During his fight with Minotauro Nogueira, he threw strikes from within Nog's guard, which was considered one of the most dangerous places to be in MMA. He was also able to reverse Nogueira and other top-tier grapplers, like Kevin Randleman and Mark Coleman with relative ease. His trademark submission is the armbar, from which he has six wins.

Strengths: Fedor has very good core and hip strength, which enables him to scramble and throw much more effectively than other heavyweights. This ties in with his superior grappling; he might have the best overall grappling in the sport. He has great scrambles, submissions, and reversals. Very few fighters can keep Fedor on his back. Due to his smaller size, he also has a slight speed advantage over most of his opponents.

Weaknesses: There are few, if any, fighters that I think have no weaknesses. Fedor is one of them. He has a holistic game and hasn't shown any real vulnerabilities, nor has he lost a round. He has shown that he can be outpointed in striking against Arlovski, although neither fighter was landing flush until the KO. He has also shown that he can be hurt with strikes, but this has only happened once in thirty-one fights.

Gameplan: Fedor is odd in that he doesn't follow the same game plan for every fight. According to him, he doesn't really plan on how he's going to attack an opponent; he fights intuitively and does what he thinks is best in the context of the fight. He does seem to enjoy fighting an opponent at his strength, i.e., striking with Crocop and grappling with Nogueira. It might be a strategy in that his opponents expect him to try to exploit their weaknesses, but he fights at their strong points instead - effectively removing an aspect of their training.

Notable wins and losses:

His first fight against Nogueira was important because it was when he captured the Pride HW belt. He jumped into Nog's guard and threw strikes from within it, shrugging off submission attempt after submission attempt. He was never in trouble during the fight. The significance of the fight was that it showed how dominant Fedor really was. Few knew who he was at that point and even fewer knew that his grappling was so overwhelmingly good.

His wins against Arlovski and Sylvia came at a good time because people were starting to doubt the Russian's claim as the #1 heavyweight in the world. By soundly defeating two top five opponents in a row, he cemented himself as the best fighter in the world.

I already spoke about the fight with Mirko Crocop here. I think it's just as important as the Nogueira fight.

Future: If Fedor comes to the UFC, I think he can become and remain champion for a long time. His biggest challenge will be Brock Lesnar, but right now Lesnar is too green to beat Fedor. He might have a better shot in two or three years, but right now Fedor is just too versatile to be threatened by Brock. There are very few fighters other than Brock that might pose a threat; Kongo is too easy to take down, Velasquez has a suspect chin, Dos Santos is relatively untested, Carwin is dangerous if he connects but he's somewhat slow, and Fedor has already beaten Cro Cop and Nogueira.

Fighter Breakdown: Rich Franklin

2009-09-12T17:18:00.007-04:00

Name: Rich Franklin

Nickname: Ace

Weight class: Middleweight or Light-heavy weight

Martial arts background: Early in his career, Franklin presumably taught himself grappling through various instructional videos that he found on the internet. Aside from that, he's a brown belt in Jiu-Jitsu under Jorge Gurgel and has been training Muay Thai and boxing for most of his mixed martial arts career.

Striking breakdown: Rich fights southpaw, which is generally an advantage against orthodox strikers because they don't really know how to deal with it. He likes to throw combinations from the outside and is good about following up his shots, although he tends to miss a lot more when he's unleashing a heavy combo. His right straight - left hook combo is particularly dangerous. Along with his punches, he has powerful kicks, especially to the legs and midsection. He broke Henderson's ribs with body kicks and TKOd Matt Hamill with a liver kick. Defensively, he has shown a strong chin and good head movement, although three fourths of his losses have been by TKO.

Grappling breakdown: Franklin has above average takedown defense, but can be taken down by elite wrestlers, such as Dan Henderson. When he is on his back, he has an active guard and has submitted many of his opponents, the armbar being the most commom. Offensively, Rich has unrelenting, albeit average, takedowns. He has good ground and pound and submissions from the top, although he rarely uses the latter; in fact, Franklin hasn't scored any submissions in his recent career.

Strengths: Rich has very good cardio and sets a strong pace for the fight. He is known to wear his opponents down and make them pay for being active early. His body and leg kicks help hasten this process, so he can make people gas even in three round fights (see Henderson and Wanderlei Silva). His powerful and versatile striking has been a major component in a lot of his wins, although his ground game is very underrated.

Weaknesses: While he has an above average chin, Rich has shown that he is able to be TKOd. The Thai clinch is his worst enemy, especially in the hands of Anderson Silva where he was finished with it twice. He has also shown some anxiety in fights, specifically against Anderson, the man who utterly destroyed him in their first fight. Dan Henderson, an elite wrestler, was able to hold Franklin down and neutralize his ground game, although this doesn't reveal much given that Dan is an olympic-level wrestler.

Gameplan: His gameplan is to come out strong with a barrage of strikes and to systematically pick his opponent apart standing. He will try to avoid the takedown, but won't be too worried if he is taken down because he does have the ability to finish fights off his back, as he has shown numerous times. In the early rounds he will likely favor leg and body kicks unless he can get his timing down early and is comfortable with his hands. Most of Franklin's latest wins have been by KO or TKO.

Notable wins and losses:

His wins against Evan tanner are note-worthy because the first one was his UFC debut and the second one was a tough fight in which he obtained the UFC middleweight title. Franklin was hurt early in the second fight but managed to come back and dominate Tanner for the better part of four rounds before gaining a TKO victory.

His highlight reel KO of Nate Quarry is noteworthy because it is one of his only one punch knock outs and the most brutal one of his career.

His two losses against Anderson Silva effectively nullified any chance Franklin has of obtaining the MW title while Silva holds it, effectively forcing him to move up to 205. The losses are significant in that they showed Franklin's weakness against a strong clinch grappler and showed some part of mental weakness; that is, he was visibly anxious against Anderson in the second fight. That said, Franklin showed that he is always tough and, surprisingly, proved that he had a solid chin given that he was able to take several knees from The Spider.

His win against a highly regarded Matt Hamill showed that he can still be competitive at 205 and was a showcase of his kicking ability.

Future: I don't think that Franklin will capture the light-heavyweight title, and if he loses to Machida he will be resigned to superfights against contenders. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that he probably won't be a champion ever again. If Silva vacates the MW throne, however, then Franklin has a good shot at regaining it if he can get past Marquardt and Henderson (at 185 he should beat Henderson; in fact, I am of the opinion that he defeated him in the first fight). That said, he can definitely be top 5 at LHW and is in the top 5 at MW.

Fighter Breakdown: Cro Cop

2009-09-11T00:22:00.005-04:00

Name: Mirko Filipović

Nickname: Cro Cop

Weight class: Heavyweight

Martial arts background: Cro Cop is a very skilled and experienced kickboxer. Before coming to MMA he accumulated a professional kickboxing record of 16-7, with wins against Hiromi Amada, Remy Bonjasky, Mark Hunt, and Bob Sapp. He also received training during his time in the Croation special forces.

Striking breakdown: He has incredibly powerful kicks and is well known for knocking out people with his trademark left high kick. This also gives him a psychological advantage over his opponents because he can feint the high kick and then unload with his hands. Recently, he hasn't used his hands as much as he should and hasn't been setting up his kicks. That said, he still packs tremendous power: he broke Sapp's arm with a kick and then broke his orbital bone with a follow-up punch.

Grappling breakdown: His strong legs help him with his wrestling and his ability to sprawl to avoid the takedown. That said, he has been taken down and does take down people from time to time. He has good, although under utilized, ground and pound. He has also been able to get mount on a few of his opponents. He only has one true submission win: a guillotine choke against Kevin Randlemen. That said, he has also only been submitted once so his defense is exceptional.

Strengths: Cro Cop's biggest strength is his kickboxing and his ability to set up his kicks with punches. He's very dangerous when pushing forward and is unrelenting if he smells blood. That said, he also cuts angles very effectively and is able to slip punches well. He also has above average cardio and a strong work ethic (although it waned after winning the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix). He has an underrated top game, specifically his ground striking.

Weaknesses: Cro Cop has a few key weaknesses. The first is that he's not anywhere near as effective when backing up. He tends to throw less punches and is intimidated by fighters that push forward and aren't generally afraid of him. While he has an above average ground game, elite grapplers can take him down and beat him up. His other main weakness is his somewhat average ability to take damage and recover. He has been stopped multiple times in both MMA and kickboxing.

Gameplan: His general gameplan is to keep the fight standing and knock out his opponent. He likes to set up his high kick and that's how he gets the majority of his KOs. He rarely follows his opponents to the ground, especially if they're elite grapplers. He has even helped fighters return to standing before. If he's facing a weak grappler he might also take them down and pound them out for a little while, although this is fairly rare.

Notable wins and losses:

He has beaten Josh Barnett three times, although the final was the most important of the three. At Pride Final Conflict Absolute he defeated Josh Barnett with an onslaught of strikes to win his first and only title: the Pride 2006 Openweight Grand Prix.

During 2004 and 2005, Cro Cop won 7 straight fights and cemented himself as the number one contender for Pride's heavyweight belt. He would have to defeat Fedor Emelianenko to win the title. This was one of the most hyped fights of 2005 and maybe even the decade. Both fighters, at this stage in their careers, seemed unstoppable. Cro Cop was coming off of wins against Barnett, Randleman, Coleman, and Fedor's brother Aleksander Emelianenko. Mirko came out strong and arguably won the first couple minutes of the fight. As the fight progressed, however, Fedor found his timing and started to back Cro Cop up. Whenever Fedor was in trouble he would take down the Croation and score points that way. The fight was close and hard fought, but Fedor won a unanimous decision.

His losses to Cheick Kongo and Gabriel Gonzaga are significant in that they're back to back and were his second and third fight in the UFC. Mirko was a huge favorite in both fights, being the #2 heavyweight in the world while facing Gonzaga. He was utterly destroyed by Gonzaga and knocked out in his own trademark fashion. The Kongo loss was a bit closer, although still crushing. It is important to note, however, that he was hit in the groin three times during the fight.

Future: Mirko will have a hard time obtaining the heavyweight title, although he might make a run for it. His next fight is against Junior Dos Santos who will be a tough test of the Croation's striking abilities. If he wins that fight then he will probably fight Nogueira for the number one contender spot.

Fighter Breakdown: GSP

2009-09-11T00:19:00.003-04:00

Name: Georges St. Pierre

Nickname: GSP, Rush

Weight class: Welterweight (champion)

Martial arts background: Georges started his martial arts career at the age of seven when he took up Kyokushin karate to defend himself against bullies at school. He would continue until reaching the black belt level. Georges also took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, and boxing.

Striking breakdown: He has great boxing and powerful kicks, although he doesn't utilize them as much as he used to. He has shown some susceptibility to getting hit, although he's become much more confident in his recent fights. There was a period where he was timid after being TKOd by Matt Serra. Georges has above average power and is certaintly capable of stopping his opponents on the feet, but he prefers to not plant himself or commit to combinations too often.

Grappling breakdown: He is frequently referred to as the best MMA wrestler in the sport and he hits upward of 70% of his takedown attempts. He also has strong top control and is generally able to hold down his opponents for long periods of time. Thiago Alves was able to get out from under him in the early rounds due to his sheer strength, but most have a hard time. His submission offense is above average but under utilized. He is also very good at defending submissions, having only been stopped once by them against Matt Hughes.

Strengths: GSP's biggest strengths are his wrestling, strength, and conditioning. Very few fighters can keep up with the pace he sets for a fight. He's always pushing forward and trying to advance when on the ground. While he expends a lot of energy doing this, his opponents lose even more and tend to gas out early.

Weaknesses: He's not strong off his back, so a fighter that can take him down might be able to grind out a win. He also has a somewhat susceptible chin, although few have been able to connect cleanly and consistently, so it's almost a nonissue.

Game plan: Georges tends to stand for the first few minutes of a fight and beat up his opponents on the feet while they fear the inevitable takedown. This gives him a distinct advantage because most are tentative to throw kicks or really engage for fear of being taken down and beaten up for a round. In the later rounds, Georges tends to go for takedowns more frequently and is able to hold people down more easily due to his incredible cardio. Most of his wins using this style have been mid-late stoppages or one-sided decisions.

Notable fights:

His fight against Karo Parisyan was important for several reasons, the primary one being that this fight was the UFC Debut of “Rush.” Many fighters crumble under the pressure of fighting in the big leagues, and even if they can handle the nerves, there’s always the progressively more dangerous opponents than what one faces in local promotions. Known for his grappling (Parisyan is considered one of the greatest Judo-to-MMA practitioners ever), many expected Karo to dominate the up-and-comer, but the exact opposite happened. It was the beginning of what would be known as GSP’s legendary grappling credentials.

Matt Hughes is special in the fact that he is one of the two people to have ever defeated Georges St-Pierre. Considered the greatest welterweight in the world at the time of the contest, he was by far GSP’s biggest test during their first match. It was also for the Welterweight Championship - the first five round fight for St-Pierre. Nervousness and inexperience contributed to a first round submission (Arm-bar) loss. It was a loss that Rush learned from, much to the dismay of the rest of the Welterweight division. In a future rematch, also for the title, Georges overwhelmed Hughes by keeping the fight standing and picking him apart with strikes, earning a TKO victory early in the second round. This was GSP’s first Welterweight championship victory. In the rubber match, St-Pierre returned a favor from his first loss, submitting Hughes with an arm-bar, winning him the UFC Interim Welterweight Championship.

The second and only person to defeat GSP is Matt Serra. Matt won a welterweight tournament (See: The Ultimate Fighter 4) to win the right to face the winner of St-Pierre-Hughes 2, which was St-Pierre. Serra was a gigantic underdog coming into the fight, as he wasn’t even ranked as a top ten fighter at the time, and Georges was coming off of a victory over the formerly dominate champion in Hughes. None the less, Serra demonstrated huge punching power and pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all time, stopping GSP in the first round with punches. In a rematch, St-Pierre quickly demonstrated that the first loss was by chance, and dominated Serra for a second round TKO stoppage by way of knees to the body. As of this fight, Georges has avenged both of his losses and has since been undefeated.

Future: GSP will probably remain the welterweight champion for a long time. There are no real prospects in the WW division that can pose a threat to him.

- Mike Swick comes to mind as a possible contender, since he has long reach and stopping power, but he's still a fight or two away from title contention and he'd still have terrible odds. He has also shown somewhat improved [although largely untested] wrestling.

Cro Cop Highlight Videos

2009-09-11T00:04:00.006-04:00

Song: Lux Aeterna by Clint Mansell
***: The song is good, although the sequences don't go that well with it. The quality is also poor.

Song: Heart of Pain by Dirty Dot
****: Some might not enjoy the song, but I definitely do. The video is a linear progression of a normal fight sequence: first it shows the hype, then the entrance, the stare down, and then the fight. The action pauses at the crescendo, and we see Cro Cop giving various interviews. It then shows the finishes and aftermath.

This one is okay. The music isn't in English, however.

Some good footage. Uses The Wild Boys, which is Crocop's entrance song. Lots of head kicks.

Very high quality footage. The music is in sync with the action, but there is a period in the middle without any.

Fedor Emelianenko Highlight Videos

2009-09-10T13:10:00.001-04:00

This is one of my favorite Fedor highlights. There's not much to be said about it other than that it's awesome.

Low quality footage and the song isn't in sync with the action.

4.5/5. Don't know why they ran it through a color filter, though.

Not as much action as the other highlights, but it does get the message across.

Good video, although some of the action is sped up to make Fedor look more impressive. There is a lot of rare, although nonfight, footage near the middle. The second quarter seems to build up the Fedor - Crocop fight, but little of it is shown afterward.

Georges St. Pierre Highlight Videos

2008-09-21T21:16:00.000-04:00

3 Part Series by Cynthiavance. Very well done.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Chuck Liddell Highlight Videos

2008-09-21T21:07:00.000-04:00

I haven't compiled ratings for all of these yet. I'll update later when I have more time.

I can say that this one sucks, however.