So here is the newest card for the next show here in Utah. What do you guys think?

In an effort to better understand that, I took all UFC champs starting in 2005.  Anyone who has held the title.  I chose 2005 because I feel that the sport has really matured and stabilized a lot in the last several years.  Going back too far into its past would yield valid results based on what is needed to win now.  As a note, I did not include the Bantam and Feather weights, as they are so new to the UFC.

This left me with 22 total fighters.  I next undertook to rank those fighters’ skill levels in Takedowns, Submissions, and Striking.  For each skill I ranked the fighter either:

Champion level skills, Exceptional (setting them apart from even most champions), or chose that this area could actually be deemed as something of a weakness in their game.

In looking at a few charts of these numbers we see some interesting results.

Let’s start first with the items that probably dont’ surprise most of us:

- A fighter very rarely wins the title if they are weak at striking (only one fighter).

- Striking is the most common attribute for a champion to be skilled at.

What might surprise you however is to know that only a very few champions truly excel at submissions.  In fact, being fairly weak in the submission skills is nto at all uncommon for a champion.

I don’t know about anyone else, but although I expected the slant toward striking, I was shocked at the weakness of submissions given how much MMA still harkens back to the glory days of Royce Gracie.

To run the numbers for you briefly: Roughly 36% of Champions have been Exceptional strikers, with nearly as many (32%) being exceptional at takedowns (which also surprised me a bit).  But only 14% when it came to submissions.

Looking on to the next chart, we see that no UFC champion has been without at least one element of their game that would not be considered exceptional.  Equally however, no champ has been an astounding example of all three of these elements either.

What was surprising though was to see that a very large number of champions had at least one part of their game that would be considered as a weakness (73%).  Almost as many as had one or more exceptional elements of their game (77%).

So what does all of this mean?

Well, several key things jump out of this data:

- Almost no one makes it to the top without good striking.

- If you want to make it to the top you have got to excel at something.  You have to pick your weapon of choice and hone it to a razor’s edge.

- It is not uncommon at all for a champion to have a weakness.  What does this mean?  Does this mean “it’s okay to suck”?  I don’t think it does.  But what it

Here’s just the results from SteelFist Fight Night V.   Thanks to the SteelFist guys for always being great to work with.

Scott Harrison VS Jimmy Talamantez @185 LBS – Jimmy wins by TKO in rd 2

Ryan Ault VS Johnny McGee @ 175LBS – McGee wins within the first minute of round 1 by KO, but it gets overturned to a NC due to a strike to the back of the head that landed after a punch put him down

Uriel Gonzalez VS Steve Walser – Uriel wins by Unanimous Decision

Gabe Francis VS Scottie Casey – Scottie wins by tapout to RNC in Rd 1

Curtis Johnsen VS Greg McFarland – Curtis wins by Anaconda Choke at 4:14

Raymond Davis VS Sean Powers – Powers wins by tapout to Triangle in round 1

Chris Merritt VS Keoni Turner at 145 LBS – Chris wins by tapout at 1:45 in round 1

Kyle Herrera VS Cole Rose at 162 LBS – Rose wins by tapout to standing guillotine in round 3 at :46 seconds

1st fight of 2nd Round of Tournament – Uriel taps out to an RNC from Scottie Casey

2nd Fight of 2nd Round – Sean Powers wins via triangle vs Curtis Johnsen

Eric Wahlin vs Brandon Marchant – Eric Wahlin wins via tapout to twister at 1:57

Eli Bice vs Joe Martinez – Eli Bice wins via tapout to guillotine in the 2nd round

Tournament Final – Scottie Casey wins via KO Punch in the 1st round vs Sean Powers at 10 seconds into the 1st Round.

Live Coverage of SteelFist Fight Night V from SLC, Utah starting around 7PM tonight. As always, brought to you by Cricket

Click Here if you want a pop up window.
SteelFist Fight Night V

No matter who you are, its good to take time and analyze fights to sharpen your mental game.

For U of U students, the assignment is as follows:

Go to http://www.allthebestfights.com/best-mma-fights-of-2011/

Watch any one of the fights of your choosing.

Post a comment in this post using your first name and first letter of your last name. (Eg. Bart B, Mike F, etc)

State the fight you watched at the begining of the comment. (Eg. “Jim Miller vs Melvin Guillard)

Following the title, in about 200 words summarize the fight briefly and attempt to analyze the keys to victory for the winner. If one fighter was faster, stronger, a better striker … or even just lucky, explain how things played out. Think about how fighting style, aggression and technique may have affected the winner’s victory. Use all the knowledge at your disposal to craft your insights – don’t worry about being perfect or knowing it all, just do your best.

Before hitting the “submit comment” button read the comment  OUT LOUD to yourself and make any changes you’d need to. Remember, if you type something like ” XOXOX I lulz’d and <3  MMA so when d00d got jacked from kickz i was like OMG! ” the spirits of justice and grammar will find where you live and punch you in the face next time you fall asleep. Also, I will not accept your assignment.

Remember, after submitting your comment, it will not immediately show – they go to my inbox for approval before being visible.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Elbows from the clinch are no joke.

Just thought I’d leave this here.

Live Coverage of WCFC: Last Man Standing from Orem, Utah starting around 7PM tonight. As always, brought to you by Cricket

Click Here if you want a pop up window.
WCFC: Last Man Standing

World Championship Full Contact, better known as the WCFC, is a promotion that has a strong presence in Utah and Idaho. WCFC is holding a tournament on Jan. 20 at the UCCU Events Center on the UVU campus in Orem.

Previously, the WCFC held a 155-pound tournament won by Steven “Razor” Sharp. The tournament was one of the most exciting night of fights Utah has seen in recent history. Now the excitement is back.

The upcoming tournament, “Last Man Standing 2,” will consist of five-minute rounds, with the winner fighting a total of three rounds. There will be two tournaments happening at the event: 170 pounds and the heavy guys ranging from 206 to 265 pounds.

This tournament has brought fighters from all over the country. This exciting night will have a total of 16 fighters, putting it all on the line for the chance to call themselves a WCFC Champion and take home a hefty fight purse of $4,000 to $6,000. Eight fighters from the welter- and heavy-weight divisions will be on a mission to submit or knock out anyone put in front of them.

Some of these fighters have fought in the UFC, such as Brandon “The Murderer” Melendez and Kasey “Ice Cold” Uscola. Some are relative unknowns who are on the fringe of becoming the next household name of MMA. The welter-weights will consist of Kyacey Uscola, Scott Pike, Mike Arrant, James Birdsley, Brandon Melendez, Ben Smith, Kirt Patterson and Ryker Ranstrom. The heavy-weights fighting that night will be Fabiano Scherner, Liua Fonua, DJ Linderman, Juan Hernandez, Jack May, Kyle Keeney,Ty Lee and Rodrigo Artilheiro. Every fight this night will be “Main Event” worthy any other weekend, but we get a whole night of them this time.

The fights were randomly drawn, and here are the matchups:

Heavy Weights:

•Fabiano Scherner vs. Liua Fonua
•DJ Linderman vs. Juan Hernandez
•Jack May vs. Kyle Keeney
•Ty Lee vs. Rodrigo Artilheiro
Welter Weights:

•Kyacey Uscola vs.Scott Pike
•Mike Arrant vs. James Birdsley
•Brandon Melendez vs. Ben Smith
•Kirt Patterson vs. Ryker Ranstrom

Here’s UFC champion Frankie Edgar teaching a basic combo, using the standard Jab-Cross to set up a clinch where knees to the face and body will be delivered.  Notice how crisp his defense is even while throwing strikes and how he circles while disengaging.  We worked a slightly different version of this in class, and its nice to see how its done by an elite striker.

To comment on this post, please visit the original article click here

Dustin Jenkins vs. Tyler Rackham
Tyler Rackham def. Dustin Jenkins via Tap to Guillotine Choke @ 0:41 of rnd 1

Kensei Sato vs. Augustin Espinoza
Kensei Sato def. Augustin Espinoza via tap to armbar @ 3:41 of rnd 1

Ben Robinson vs. Johnny Ramirez
Ben Robinson Def. Johnny Ramirez via tap to armbar @ 3:20 of rnd 1

Kevin Hamby vs. Mario Espinoza
Mario Espinoza Def.Kevin Hamby via Tap to guillotine choke @ 2:03 of rnd 1

Mike Crisman vs. Jarom Woodbury
Jarom Woodbury Def, Mike Crisman via Tko / strikes @ 4:51 of rnd 1

Greg McFarland vs. Rad Martinez
RadMartinez Def. Greg McFarland via tko / strikes ref stoppage in rnd 1

Again thank you to our sponsor Cricket Wireless/Muve Music! Also a HUGE THANK YOU to Glen Kingston for ALL the behind the scenes help and to Cisco for the awesome play by play!