Also, everyone is now talking about the Khalil Rountree vs Modestas Bukauskus thing. Khalil threw a side kick while Bukauskus lunged forward on a jab, and blew out Bukauskus's knee.
A lot of folks are calling for bans on linear kicks to the knee again. I LOVE that Bukauskus said it was his own fault for not defending properly. Izzy vs Whittaker and Amanda Nunes vs Holly Holm are great examples of how to fight when someone is trying to kick your knees like that. Amanda even KO'd Holly off the counter to that kick.
I think some fans see that kick, especially a brutal example like Rountree/Bukauskus, and don't realize you can defend it "just" by moving or checking it. People act like it's career ending, yet we don't see people in MMA or Muay Thai losing their careers over this at all. It just looks really bad when they don't bother to defend against it.
And also, on Brunson vs Till. Interesting match. Bisping did comment that finding good wrestlers in the UK is difficult. That partially explains why Darren has a harder time with the higher level ones like Brunson. Good show to Brunson for dominating like he did though.
That said, during the takedown that led to the submission...Till actually did elevate Brunson off him, but pushed Brunson to the cage. The cage allowed Brunson to bounce right into mount. It's one example of how cage wrestling differs from wrestling in open space.
Brunson was savvy enough to twist during takedowns, and bring Darren away from the cage. I think him being so comfortable with wrestling helped him think more clearly in those situations.
Last edited by StyleTime on Sep 5th, 2021 at 08:21 PM
oblique kicks, reportage, whatever you want to call them are very interesting. In the street heavy boots truly weaponise them. Which is why savate fighters may well have a good shot at ****ing anyone up in a street fight. Because checking even becomes damaging and leverage and impact on an accurate kick are greatly increased. With bare feet, yeah you have to be very unlucky.
Wrestlers in the uk are hard to find our own traditional wrestling which freestyle came from has very violent sub sets in Lancashire, Cornish and Highland wrestling, none translate well to mma as a lot is about small joint manipulation.
Kicks to the knee can definitely be effective, especially if your target is planting their feet or lunging forward and landing.
There's actually a part of me that wants MMA to go back to letting people wear whatever they want lol. Maybe not full on shoes, but I am curious what the fights would look like nowadays, with the level being so much higher.
And yeah, Catch wrestling is probably the most famous, from Lancashire iirc. It was deemed too violent for school-age practitioners so it became amateur wrestling with most of the holds removed. And of course, some it became the WWE type stuff, since they realized they could make a ton of money through fixed fights.
It's kinda funny most of the authentic catch wrestling is in Japan these days though. There's been a bit of a revival here in the states, but it's still small. They throw tournaments now, and Josh Barnett has had a bit of involvement with it too.
It will be really interesting as the talent pool grows. We have seen some catch vs bjj matches, like Curran Jacobs vs Quentin Rosenzweig, but the talent pool isn't really deep enough yet on the catch wrestling side.
Last edited by StyleTime on Sep 12th, 2021 at 02:59 AM
it would be very interesting to see. Perhaps another promotion could try it.
I had to laugh I just watched the Holyfield/Belfort fight, how the hell did that get sanctioned. These things like Triller honestly need to **** off and die ST!
Well, Jorge's new MMA promotion is completely bareknuckle, so that's a good start.
With Holyfield/Belfort...boxing is just in an awkward spot. Their freakshow matches get more attention than the legitimate matches do, so we wind up with stuff like this. I don't see it getting better anytime soon -- boxing has had declining ratings for years now, so these stunts bring in the money and viewership they need. Logan Paul/KSI opened the celebrity boxing floodgates, and I don't know if they'll ever close.
Honestly, it's kinda funny. This was similar to how catch wrestling turned into the WWE/WWF type stuff. I wonder if we're witnessing the start of that with boxing. The Tenshin vs Mayweather exhibition bout looked mad suspect.
Last edited by StyleTime on Sep 13th, 2021 at 10:33 PM
On the subject of newer promotions, what the **** is the point of Katate Combat. I'd like to see any top Muay Thai or MMA striker rip through those guys.
I actually did some bareknuckle as a young man under "fair play" rules around South London, Kent and Essex, particularly Orpington, St Mary and Foots Kray, Bexley and Swanley.
I truly don't think true boxing fans watch the freakish fights, anymore than a percentage of ufc fight fans like wwe. Maybe I'm wrong, but I hope so. Ffs Holyfield lost his licence the first time 15 odd years ago for taking too many beatings. What was he thinking...
Hypothetically, Karate Combat is a good introduction to MMA-esque combat for karate strikers. It allows takedowns, limited ground strikes, and low kicks(not to the thigh, weirdly enough). It helps many of the Anti-MMA traditional crowd see a more realistic approach to fighting. It's similar to Combat Jui Jutsu for grapplers or Sanda for strikers, where pure grapplers/strikers are kept honest by the inclusion of some light MMA elements.
Unfortunately, what I see a lot in the comment sections is stuff like "See! Karate works fine! MMA is bullshit. Bas Rutten and GSP proved it!"
Then they go back to doing kata, forgetting that GSP and Bas were also talented grapplers. Hell, Bas is one of the few who has legitimately competed in catch wrestling.
The ironic thing is, most of these folks were the same ones claiming their martial art was too deadly for sport competition. Yet, they're the ones wanting a combat sport to prove they're legitimate.
Last edited by StyleTime on Sep 22nd, 2021 at 11:28 PM
Volkanovski vs Ortega was incredible. In addition to his unbelievable striking, Volkanovski escaped two extremely deep submissions from Ortega. A guillotine and a triangle, which are specialties for Ortega. Everyone watching thought the fight was over.
Yet....all they did was piss Volkanovski off. lol
That has to be a terrifying feeling when your A game is your submissions, and a striker like Volkanovski survives your best attempts with cardio to spare. And to top it off, Volkanvski's positional wrestling is probably a little better than Ortega's too. Training with Craig Jones paid off.
Volkanovski and Izzy -- Australia and New Zealand always had good fighters, but they are really standing out in MMA right now. These two have the best feints in all of MMA.
As far as Ortega has come as a striker, Max and Volkanovski are showing that there are levels to this.
Last edited by StyleTime on Sep 26th, 2021 at 06:15 PM
Yeah, putting Jan on his back was a great gameplan. Jan's bottom game isn't particularly active, and he doesn't really throw up submissions from guard.
Petr vs Cory was ****ing incredible. He never really has boring fights, and he's technical at the same time. Petr is known as a striker, but he legitimately might have the best true MMA skillset in the sport right now. He does every to such a damn high level that I don't know who is going to beat him tbh. Cory is incredible for hanging in their the entire time though. Petr's power really started to show later on, especially since Petr kind of downloads his opponents habits over time.
Amanda Ribas vs Vira Jandiroba: Good stuff to Ribas. She looked really good, even with the rough start. I do think she probably could have finished Vira if she really pressed on the gas when she rocked Vira with that left kick.
Chimaev vs Li Jingliang. Chimaev still getting his characteristic early finish. It's time we see him face a top 10er. He's been really impressive, so he deserves it. That said, people keep suggesting he face Usman right now though, which I think would be silly.
I think Usman beats the **** out of him right now tbh. I'll re-examine if Chimaev gets some top 10 wins, but I think people are jumping the gun slightly.
Last edited by StyleTime on Nov 1st, 2021 at 11:00 PM
I think a really interesting fight is Alex Pereira, the guy who KO'd Stylebender in kickboxing. It's his UFC debut, although he has competed in MMA before. It's only been really low level stuff though, so these coming fights should be telling. Izzy has always had a good style for MMA, but we're not totally sure how Alex's style will translate yet.
He does have KO power though, which is a massive advantage.
I see Usman beating Colby again, unless Colby has the craziest performance of his life.
Rose vs Zhang II is interesting, since Zhang is a bit of a slow starter. If she can avoid the early finish from Rose this time, I think things might actually get rough for Rose. Rose doesn't check low kicks at all for some reason, and often gets bullied in clinch range. These are things Zhang is pretty good at.
Then again, Rose is probably the better mid-range kickboxer, and has the potential for a finish in addition to her technical skills. I'm not sure who to pick tbh.
Last edited by StyleTime on Nov 6th, 2021 at 10:52 PM
Rose vs Zhang was a hell of a fight. Split decision, so it's understandable some people disagree with the outcome. Going by the official scorecards, it comes down to who you give rounds 2 and 3 to.
Decision aside, I was really impressed with Rose in round 5. I did not expect her to be able to put Weili on her back and control her like that. Not only does Zhang have fairly solid takedown defense, but Rose isn't exactly known for offensive takedowns like that. She definitely has them in her repertoire, but doesn't attempt them particularly often.
That control time put Rose up on the scorecards, as she would have lost the fight if she gave up round 5. The other rounds really were that close.
Chandler/Gaethje was absolute fireworks, and 2 of the judges gave the first round to Chandler. Gaethje did outland and out control Chandler in 2 and 3 though. And Gaethje got the only knockdown.
Nice work from Alex Pereira too. His grappling is obviously his weak point, as he was getting dominated, but...holy hell. As I said, his KO power was his strength as a kickboxer. When round 2 started, Michailidis made one error and Alex put him to sleep with a flying knee. Alex will be a nightmare if his defensive grappling continues to improve.
Last edited by StyleTime on Nov 10th, 2021 at 02:22 AM
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