When it comes to MMA, it really is all about “what works.”  To hell wit the right way, or what a style is based on.  You gotta do what it takes to walk out of that cage the winner.  This is why we have seen so many styles start to really “blend” into a style that is MMA, all its own.

Today, I would say that a good MMA fighter is either a good boxer and/or a good Muay Thai fighter (some might point to Lyoto Machida and throw Karate in here, but I think that one example does not make a pattern.)  Additionally, they have to be good at Jiu Jitsu or eventually they will be tapping.

Now, we have seen a lot of MMA fighters then add wrestling to the mix.  I think that’s a good idea.  Wrestling is explosive and powerful.  It’s a great way to get someone to the ground.

But Judo has had a bit more of a challenge in the sport.  Don’t get me wrong, there are great examples of strong Judo players in the game, including Karo, and even Fedor.  But take a look at Karo’s last several fights.  You really don’t see any Judo throws in there… just a lot of double-leg shots, just like everybody else.

I had to do some soul searching on this one… Is Judo really just not up to it?  That led me to a couple of thoughts:

1- The Cage.

I think that the cage itself is a real inhibitor to the ability for Judo to function well.  If someone can just lean back against the cage, and spread their legs, then many of the throws that make Judo so strong are artificially crippled by the stability that the cage gives a person.  “So what?” you might say.  Well, this may be less relevant if you only intend to fight in a cage, but it does make me feel a bit better as far as Judo’s ability to be useful outside the cage in a self defense situation.

2- One trick Pony.

Even if the double leg is more effective in a cage 9 times out of 10, if it’s all you’ve got you better either be Olympic caliber, and have cardio that never stops, or you are going to get shut down.  I can’t believe how many MMA fights I watch where a guy shoots for a double leg… then again, and again, and again.  Not only is it ineffective, but you’re setting yourself up for a D’Arce, Gator roll into an Anaconda, a Guillotine, or any number of other nasty submissions.

Work your wrestling.  Nail that double leg… get awesome at it.  But dangit, get some other arrows in your quiver.  There are few this as satisfying as sprawling when someone shoots, then grabbing the guy and suplexing him.  Ashi waza, or foot technique is when you see two guys locked up, and one of them seemingly just taps the other guy’s foot… but it’s enough.  Down they go.  It’s this ability to take the game where you want it in a variety of ways, to always keep the person guessing, and to play your own game your own way that Judo can help fill in.

Anyway… my two cents worth for today

Why?  Well, I would say the biggest reason is that I feel that Machida tends to be a dynamic fighter.  He brings what he needs to to a fight depending on who he fights.  His game plan normally seems very good at nullifying the strengths of an opponent.

So what the crap happened Saturday?

Let me tell you what happened: First, Shogun turn this into a long range kicking match.  Exactly what I didn’t expect him to do.  Second: He was better at it that Lyoto.  And third: Lyoto didn’t adapt.

Now, Lyoto is one hell of a kicker, so when I say that I feel that Shogun was “better” at it, I should clarify.  Karate tends to train in kicking for the zones that “score”.  In competition that’s the head, chest, mid-section.  Muay Thai on the other hand has a lot of leg kicks.  This whole fight was like a seminar on what happens if one person really wants to kick the head/body and the other is happy to pick apart the legs.

Now I know, many of you will point out that Shogun was landing brutal body kicks as well.  But that was mainly in the beginning of the fight.  It was less so later on.  Why?  Because at the beginning Lyoto was closing the distance to try for body kicks as well.  As Shogun gave as good as he took, and also did leg kicks, Lyoto was weakened, scared, and kept his distance.

At the break in every round Lyoto’s corner told him he was doing great.  It wasn’t until the end of the third round that they mentioned that he should attack Shogun’s lead leg (which he never did very well or very much.)  Why didn’t they give him real advice?  Why not hammer on him to attack that leg?  Why not change up the strategy?

Some might read this and reply that there is no need to change what clearly won the fight.  My response is: the decision was wrong.  Of course no one should let it get to a decision (just ask Nick Diaz.)

So my take away was this:

1- Never, never, never count on the judges.  They have their favorites, and I truly believe that they also work with Dana to determine the most “marketable” outcome of fights.

2- Lyoto is human.  Not only that, he also isn’t the perfect planner when it comes to morphing his game plan. (and his corner sucks.)

3- Makes me question the style of Karate in general.  We know that Muay Thai gives the elbows and knees.  We know that Muay Thai has the clinch.  But the leg kicks are an area of Muay Thai vs. Karate that have not been so closely discussed.

But we have tried several other things recently to round our game out a bit.

There is a gym that opened up relatively near my home in Riverton that I had been meaning to check out.  This weekend I did, and here’s my report:

East West MMA (The sign out fron says “Karate”, but they teach a lot more than that.)

When I walked in to the the building, and started looking at the facilities I was really amazing by how big it is.  The way the building is set back off the street, and down ina  bit you really don’t realize how lare it is until you really get down into it.

The space for training was big enough that with a large numbe of us there was still plenty of room not only for everyone to train, but also for everyone to spar, at the same time.  This is really unique in comparison to some gyms/dojo’s.

Also, at the back of the room in this picture was a trampoline that allowed you to jump into a foam-filled pit.  this ended up being really nice.  My kids had a blast on friday night while I was sitting in on my first class.

Though you can’t tell form this picutre, the floor has great padding under it, and we were able to take some pretty good falls without gety hurt.  I did end up with a few carpet burns, but I think that a long-sleeved under-armor style shirt and my Gi pants should primarily eliminate that.

Oviously I have not been attending for a long period, so I can’t tell you a lot about their training, but I will tell you what I know so far:

It was nice to see them doing training in striking, as well as in ground work.  I have absolutely no Mauy Thai background, and not a ton of Karate, so the workout was not only very instructional in my technique, but it really got my heart pumping.  This seems like a great place if you are looking to burn off a lot of calories.  A fair amount of the workout seemed to include pushups and things like that.  Some people like that type of training because it builds strength and cardio, others hate it and want to focus on technique.  I won’t throw my bias in one way or the other, but just let you know what seems to be included, and then let you decide.

We also had some great sparring.  We put headgear, and had to try to take down an opponent who had boxing gloves on and was pummelling us with strikes.  Obviously being a big guy with a Judo background was nice in this exercise, but it was an amazing workout, a ton of fun, and really built good relationships between class members.

A lot more takedown and ground submission sparring and training followed.

The gym is very clean and new, the people friendly, and the skills of the teachers seemed to be very good (Bryce arm=barred me about a hundred times I think

I still love my Judo class and will be sticking with it, but I intend to attend East West regularly as well to learn new skills.  I was very impressed, and will be writing more about my experiences in the coming weeks and months.

The worst part of Muay Thai was that when we were leaving the the house in a huge hurry i just grabbed a pair of glove off the nightstand… and when we got out of the car to walk into the Muay Thai place i was having trouble putting my gloves on because they were both right handed gloves! (I’ve been hit in the head WAY to many times)