Sam Sheridan's Blog, page 5

Nate and Okami

I am a big Nate Marquardt fan. I don't think he choked against Okami, I think he went out to win a decision. Against Chael Sonnen, Nate looked to knock him out every time standing and got taken down repeatedly for his trouble–Chael looked to win the decision. I think that experience got to Nate. So he went out to try and steal rounds and score takedowns, and do enough to win. And it was a razor close fight, which I thought he won.

What really annoys me is the promoter Dana White talking about how Nate "choked," and worse, "his corner was telling him he was ahead, bad advice." I can't even begin to say how improper this is. Now Dana is telling the corner what they should and shouldn't say? Of course, for Dana, all he wants is an exciting fight, he doesn't care if Nate wins or Okami wins, he just wants a thrill. But it would be gross negligence for the trainer to act in the same way. A trainer has to have his fighter's interests at heart, he has to help his fighter win. If Greg Jackson thought Nate was winning, or that he should TELL Nate he was winning, that's his business. It's disgusting for the promoter to jump in there.

It just demonstrates more clearly than ever how little Dana actually understands, or maybe its just that he doesn't give a fuck. These guys are taking brain damage and getting him rich. The promoter by nature doesn't care about the fighters, he cares about the fight.

Whoops!

Cain absolutely, unequivocally, kicked Brock's ass. Wow. It wasn't like Brock got caught, or gassed….Cain just flat out kicked his ass.

Brock

Let me say first that I would be delighted if Cain can somehow take Brock into the 4th and 5th and drown him there–but c'mon people. Brock was doing fine round 3 with Heath Herring.

The entire, ENTIRE debate about Brock Lesnar was whether he could take a punch. Was he going to be a pure wrestler and turn away, get awkward and timid if and when he gets hit? This is not the case, Couture hit him and Carwin blasted him. He doesn't mind getting hit? Game over. There is no heavyweight in the world with his combination of talents and athletic ability.

I can see the reasoning–Carwin brutalized Brock standing, and then fell apart from asthma or gassing or just blowing his wad. Cain won't do that. I get that.

But I just think Brock is way too much for Cain, he's still an unstoppable force, a freak, far too quick for a man that size.

I would be absolutely DELIGHTED by Cain winning, but I can't see it. However, it is an extremely entertaining fight, and for a lot of reasons I hope Cain wins (AKA being one of them).

Hardy and Condit

This was the best fight on the card, and didn't disappoint. Basically, the advice is "Don't hook with a hooker," but Condit went out and did just that, Carlos Condit and Dan Hardy threw hooks that landed pretty much at the same time.

But Condit landed on the tip of the chin, and Hardy hit Condit on the side of the head/jaw–Condit got pushed to the side, but Hardy's head snapped around like a weeble-wobble and down he went.

This is precisely why GSP fights the way he does. Going out and striking with a good striker with 4 oz gloves is basically getting into 50%-50% territory. If you want to tilt the odds in your favor, you got to hit and not get hit, and the best way to do that is superior position. Dan Hardy was critical of GSP for fighting boring, but in MMA you have to either A) sometimes be boring or B) lose fights.

And I'm not just talking about takedowns and ground and pound. Look at what happened to Anderson Silva–he went out and tried to jump all over Chael Sonnen, he tried to "be exciting" and he got caught by a vastly inferior striker and he was lucky to pull out the win. (And the UFC was even luckier, with Sonnen later failing a PED test–imagine if he'd won the title?) Silva usually lets at least half a round go by, just conducting the interview, checking on range, gauging speed. But responding to near-universal vilification, he went out and started banging and nearly lost his title.

I was rooting for Carlos Condit and a somewhat maligned Greg Jackson, so I was thrilled by the fight.

thoughts on Maynard/Florian

I'm a little over these great wrestlers who never even attempt to finish a fight. Sonnen, Maynard…sure they positionally control the fight, but never even ATTEMPTING a finish? Never attempting to land a big shot? All I'm saying is, if everyone has to be able to wrestle at the NCAA Div. 1 level or higher just to compete, then MMA fighters are going to have to spend more time wrestling than anything else, and it will become a vicious circle–with more and more wrestling, and less fighting.

I think there could be a point system change where who has bottom and top means less, and who is making submission attempts and fighting aggressively means more.

In a perfect world–unless the fight is finished, then it's a draw. Sure, there would be a lot of draws. And you'd have to make it so the champ has to finish to retain the belt. Could something like that work?

UFC whatever this weekend…

What is it, 118?

I'm not sure what the odds are but I would give Toney a decent chance to win the fight, so if they're bad, put some value on Toney! Randy got caught by Brock so maybe he's slowed down enough…but then again, that was after Randy had Brock against the fence and even took him down (I think?) so maybe all the pundits are right and Toney gets smoked. Tony's style is bad for MMA, too. Shoulder rolls and fighting in the pocket are real bad for fighting a world class Greco guy.

[Note--I just read Couture's gameplan, and if he makes Toney come to him, he wins easy. Forget I said anything.]

The fight I'm really into? Florian and Maynard. Great style match-up. Very technical smart fighters who bring it. Is Maynard the unsung hero of 155, the best out there besides BJ? Some people say that, but I'm dying for Florian to finish him and get the rematch with BJ, which I think he takes. The game has caught up to BJ.

Whatever, I'm watching this one, should be good TV.