Atheist Meditations

I'm mainly classifying this as moderate, cuz the UFC is filled with individuals who cuss with style. Even the President, Dana White, can often be overheard telling guys that they fought, 'a fucking great fight.' Clearly, the men who fight in the octagon are not using these words because they want to look tough.

My feelings on '78 were mixed. I was impressed by the caliber of fighters, but irritated by the crowd, some of the commentary, and the judgments.

Negatives first. Perhaps it is just the once notorious environment of 'Minnesota Nice' which I hail from, but I have certain expectation of my fellow human beings even when they are gathered into a huge arena to watch bloodsport. Similar to the revulsion I feel when some dumbass throws the visiting team's homerun ball back onto the field - cuz that's gonna show 'em - some of the crowd's antics at '78 were just fucking childish.

In particular, when Evans and Bisping were going at it, and the crowd started to chant 'USA!, USA!' What the fuck? That just ruined all the energy for me. Did we just win World War II? Did I accidentally flip channels to a Rockey sequel where Sly Stallone is making a comeback against a cartoonish Russian superman? Who let the spoiled college republican crowd in, to get fucking stupid drunk and shout meaningless slogans?

I'd say that the majority of the booing resulted in a crowd that simply did not have the sophistication to understand what was going on in the ring. Part of that lies in the fact, as I see it, that UFC is a pay-per-view sport over a live spectator event. Boxing is boxing cuz they have purposefully simplified it so that even some drunk fucker one hundred feet away can more or less grasp who's winning, who's losing. (More on this vein another time.) Even someone with a wrestling/jujitsu background can't make out too much of what's going on from the twelfth row. Submissions are the highlight of unarmed combat. A crowd that lacks the savvy to appreciate all the aspects of MMA should stick to boxing. Personally, I'm a big believer in the notion that the ignorant should shut the fuck up most of the time.

That brings us to Joe Rogan's commentary. I've learned a shitload about the modern ground game from listening to Joe. He's got good insight and has been making an effort for years to educate the audience on the science of having a solid guard. Even someone like myself with a judo background was well served my his commentary (grappling without a judogi to grab is a different sport, and even the techniques that remain the same are known to UFC fans by terms other than the Japanese I learned.)

I thought Joe Rogan was a bit off in his commentary on the Karo Parisyan v. Ryo Chonan fight. He seemed so eager to display his understanding of the upper body lock-ups Parisyan would use to set up a major outside or inside hip throw ( ko uchi gari) that I thought he missed the point. Ryo Chonan is Japanese and has obviously encountered the sort of 'gentle way' techniques in the past, as well as specifically trained to meet Parisyan's challenge. In my opinion Parisyan used a bit of the rope-a-dope strategy, allowing Chonan to devote a fair amount of his mental game to preventing a judo throw while he instead came at him with some 'back to basics' straightforward wrestling take-downs. I'd argue that a solid wrestling take-down defense and a strong defense against judo throws might even be mutually exclusive. Karo Parisyan will remain a fighter I'll always shell out the ching to watch mix up these forms.

Also, I would greatly prefer throws like we saw towards the end of that fight referred to as 'leg sweeps' than 'trips.' 'Trip' just sounds kinda vulgar. The key to that sort of throw is perfect timing. You sweep his foot out at the exactly a nanosecond before he shifts the majority of his weight to that leg. Too early, he just keeps his weight shifted on his other leg. Too late, and no amount of hacking at that leg will pry it loose. Whatever.

My final opinion here will combine my dislike of the scoring with my respect for the fighters. The various training schools successful programs, combined with the level of competition we're seeing (and I suppose, with Xyience nutritional suppliments) has resulted in a cadre of top tier fighters who are the all-around real deal.

Not just competent, but exceptional in all areas of MMA - aside from Houston Alexander's apparent gaps on the ground. Gone are the good 'ole days of a flashy kickboxer thrown into a ring with a college wrestler whose been in a bar room brawl or two. This ain't some '80s movie of one marital art style versus another anymore; those lopsided fights are still fun to watch but won't be headliners on pay-per-view. Under Dana White's stewardship we've seen an interesting combination of skills evolve to dominate. No fighter makes it very far anymore who does not master all of them.

It's much more than just the skills, however. The physical conditioning of these guys puts us all to shame. I remember just a few years ago seeing fighters, particularly the heavyweights, who wold totally hit the fucking wall after two rounds. Two big guys swaying back and forth, hands at their sides, mouths open and chests heaving. Now there was a time to fucking boo a boring fight. Fatigue can still play a role. It can slow down quick hands, it can cause that second hesitation when one feels an armbar clinching up. Just about all of the fighters we saw last night train full time. Another of the major factors that leads to lopsided ass whoop'ens simply no longer exists at this level of fighters.

That brings us to what the commentators call a 'strong chin.' I don't know if that's a combination of training and experience or just a benefit of one's genetic lineage. Some of these fuckers just seem to be able to absorb the kind of punishment that beats all. A few of the fights we saw last night featured men of phenomenal fortitude. Ryo Chonan, for example, how many elbows did he absorb? As the UFC becomes the elite MMA organization in the world, we are going to see less and less fighters who can get knocked out cold. True, no human being is invincible (although a few of those Russians over at PRIDE seem to be), but match ups where one fighter has a combination of striking harder, faster, and more true that results in a bloody knock out are going to be on the decline.

From what I understand of the modern UFC, much of the rules regarding the duration of competition is decided more for the safety of the athletes and to just slip under the legal bar for licensing in most states. I've also got too much respect for the fighters to want to watch the sport devolve into something where the men spend their forties on in a wheelchair addicted to vicadin (that's the NFL.)

So what is wrong with a draw?

The Bisping Evans contest is the perfect example. From what I saw, neither man inflicted any really significant damage on the other. Evans overcame Bisping's takedown defense with effort, but was not able to capitalize on that advantage. The UFC is not competitive Judo, contestants are not scored in real time based on the observable beauty of their throws. A good takedown can be like pulling a gun, if you don't/can't pull the trigger, it don't make much of a fucking difference.

Now takedowns/submission attempts and defenses do take an obvious toll in the realm of conditioning. Trying to prevent someone from throwing you to the ground can use up all the gas in your tank damn fast. Here I would say Bisping appeared to have an advantage by the end of the second round, yet Evans had enough to stay together and hold his defense up throughout the next five minutes. It was just fucking inconclusive.

So now we can argue back and forth about minor details of scoring; should takedowns be worth more than an escape?, do we get like boxing and start calculating the percentage of punches thrown versus landed? Fuck that, I like the Ideal of the octagon with Tina Turner in a ring-mail bra, 'two men enter, one man leaves!'

I'm not saying there is not a place for a decision fight. Sometimes those things are pretty obvious. The title fight of UFC 78 was not. That was a fight that needed another two rounds in order to truly define which of those men was better.

This is a problem that Dana White and the UFC will have to deal with. As the pool of fighters gets bigger, more and more of the guys at the top are going to be solid mixed martial artists with championship skills in all of the areas I've detailed. The UFC is going to see more contests that cannot be conclusively decided in three five minute rounds.

Regardless of what's fair for the fighters, that's more booing crowds and less folks shelling out $39.95 in hard earned money.

Labels: UFC