Jersey Devil

Easier said than done. Lets assume the rapist is going to be the man on top, since hes going to be searching for a smaller weaker target and attempt to catch her by surprise. Attempting said technique from the bottom is going to be extremely ineffective because all he needs to do is move his head, close his eyes, or push your hands away from his head. Tactics and suggestions such as "gouge his eyes" or "grab his groin" have been around for as long as humans have been fighting but it very rarely works out for the victim.

So he's far from being a MMA fighter, no big deal, IMHO. I really don't understand the viewpoint that if it's not MMA, it's not effective. Aodhan Thats the basic idea Anyways there are many different levels of mixed martial arts, ranging from the best (UFC, Pride) to the local amateur event being held down the street. This isnt to say that if you dont do it you cant fight, but nothing will help your credibility (as a fighter) quite the way that MMA will.

Diego is an abu dhabi level submission fighter. If you werent impressed, I dont know quite what else could impress you. Have you seen his matches from abu dhabi at all, particularly his one with Marcello Garcia? Some of them were great matches. Diego is a very skilled ground grappler, much more than you are giving him credit for. I question how much you know about the Gracies and their jiu jitsu- saying that "diego would have problems with Renzo let alone Royce" is suggesting that Royce is better than Renzo- Royce has the "lesser" jiu jitsu of all the Gracies (by a landslide) and thats a fact. Nice definition of Sapp- and what would that make Tank? Who has he beaten? Big punchers arent particularly difficult to fight- its the guys who have good takedown defense and are also big punchers that are difficult to fight (Sylvia, Cro Cop, Silva). While knowledgable on what to do in terms of wrestling, Tank is just not on the same level as these guys when it comes to fighting. The only thing that could win him the fight is his big right hand, and he'll have to hit it early as he gasses quite quickly.

When Vitor Belfort came on to the scene, he was a mere 185 lbs, around the same weight Diego Sanchez is, and managed to blitz right through Tank. Granted Belfort is much more of a boxer than a jiu jitsu fighter, but he still managed to take Tank down. Afterwards when Tank attempted to shoot in on him, Belfort was easily able to sprawl out of it- he (Belfort) was about blue belt level in BJJ at the time Tank's "submission" victories were a result of him getting on top of people who were clueless on the ground- with no way out, they forfeited the match rather than get beat on. His other submission was a neck crank can opener, a technique so simple that Mark Coleman knows it (since hes also closed his eye to submissions in the game of MMA). As far as his junior college wrestling abilities, he lost alot of that with his binge drinking lifestyle. I cant believe you compared Diego to Royce- Royce is reknown for introducing the world to BJJ- thats it and thats where his respect is due. His jiu jitsu, on the other hand, is no where near good caliber (which I thought most people saw when he fought Matt Hughes). Diego would probably run through Royce faster than he ran through Florian. As far as Tank and Akebono, Akebono is just a strong fat sumo guy- Tank is a fat strong sumo guy that can throw a right hand. Skill goes a long way- to give an example of other small vs large guy matches, take the example of Bob Sapp in two MMA fights. Sapp is 375lbs with 6 pack abs and knows how to sprawl. He fights the champion at the time, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who weighs in at around 220lbs. Nog is never able to score a takedown on Sapp because he insists on the double leg takedown, something that is quite difficult to do on far larger opponents. Skip ahead to Sapp's fight with Fujita, an accomplished japanese wrestler and decent MMA fighter. Despite giving up 150+ lbs to a much much stronger opponent, Fujita throws a low single leg (good against large opponents) and takes Sapp down to his back where he makes quick work of him.

Theres no doubt that Tank knows how to throw a good right hand, but thats really all he knows how to do, however once hes on the ground with an opponent that has any knowledge of ground fighting, Tank has never imposed any kind of offense whatsoever. Yes, armbars are difficult to get when someones punching you in the face, however what most people overlook is that one person is able to punch the other in the face because they've also trained in grappling and are able to keep their balance and posture while the fighter on the bottom is attempting to manipulate it. If you dont know how to disperse your weight when you're on top (Tank) and you fight someone who is at least relatively decent with a guard, you're going to find it quite difficult to throw effective strikes from there. The only people Tank ever pounded on from the top were people who didnt know what they were doing. Watch his fight with Taktarov or Yoshida- both times he starts on top, but is unable to throw any kind of effective strike from inside the guard. Tank's large weight advantage is the only thing he has, but if Diego Sanchez is fighting UFC at 170, the probably means that his normal weight is somewhere around 180-185, which makes a big difference.

Let Jet Li stay in movies and kung fu competition where he belongs. He is far from being even a decent MMA fighter- he knows it and acknowleges it, which is one of the reasons I particularly like him.

Not quite a fair comparison. Despite his many flaws, Abbott would destroy Diego by virtue of his strength and size. Sanchez is vastly overrated as a fighter, anyway--he wouldn't last 3 minutes against Matt Hughes or Rich Franklin. With respect, Sohan You're vastly overrating Tank and underrating Sanchez. Sanchez would most likely get beaten by a more well rounded MMA fighter in Rich Franklin. He would also get beaten by Matt Hughes for the simple fact that they play very similar Ground and pound games (except Hughes is much much better at it). Sanchez has a lot to improve, but his grappling skills are good enough to get him through all but the top tier of his weight class.

Go step into the ring for full contact professional MMA and then tell me its not a fight.... As to whether or not todays fighters can fight in the 8 man tournaments popular in UFC's of old, it depends on who they've got to fight. For example, todays MMA fighters are so much more skilled and well rounded than those of 10 years ago, as a result, fights are much more taxing on the fighters. There still are 16 man tournaments in MMA (Pride has them) but fighters require time off in between fights because their opponents are so much tougher and more skilled. Put one of todays MMA fighters in the 8 man of 10-15 years ago, and he'd still mop the floor with those fighters.

Not neccessarily- I can pin an exercise ball. Anyways whats even more amusing is that until he was a black belt, Saulo didnt win a single thing. He was no one special- mediocre at best. Then he gets his black belt and wins 8 world titles. I guess he saved everything up for the end...

Judo's emphasis since its start was to create a more efficient fighting system, create something that all people could participate in, and eventually suceed as an Olympic Sport. Heavy emphasis is on active sparring with the intent of getting a perfect throw (which wins the match). Ju Jitsu such as small circle and other japanese ju jitsu systems focus heavily on deadly techniques (biting, eye gouging, throwing your opponent on their head) and small joint manipulation (fingers, wrists). Due to the damaging extent of these techniques they can not be applied during sparring on resisting opponents, therefore active sparring is not emphasized in these styles. There are many types of "Jitsu" in the japanese sense (there is "throwing" jitsu, "Joint locking" jitsu, "sword drawing" jitsu, etc). All of these combine to be what the samurai of old trained in for battlefield confrontations. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was made as a pure modern day fighting system. It incorporates the throwing techniques of Judo, the submissions of Ju jitsu, and recently, the takedowns of wrestling and leg locks of Sambo/Catch Wrestling. Heavy emphasis is placed on live sparring in this style of jiu jitsu, and the area of emphasis is the ground aspect of the fight. This style of jiu jitsu had great success because it took advantage of the fact that virtually every other fighting system heavily neglected the ground aspect of a fight. So, to sum things up: The old ju jitsu involves many wristlocks and small joint manipulation. Because of their lack of active training/sparring, they lack the speciality skills that Judokas and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters have. Many of the wristlocks and small joint manipulation have applications as ways to de escatalate scenarios where a fight is immenent, but not yet happened. (i.e. defense against intimidating holds that are popular precursors to fights) Judo is a fun sport and extremely effective martial art with heavy emphasis on the clinch aspect of a fight (i.e. throwing an opponent to the ground). There is some groundwork, but its not emphasized. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is also a fun sport and extremely effective martial art style. The emphasis is on the ground aspect of the fight where the fight can be finished. There is some standup throws, but they are not emphasized. Often times, these jiu jitsu fighters will compliment their ground skills by cross training in Judo to gain the throwing skills needed to take the fight to the ground (and vice versa for Judokas).

Royce has been training to fight since he was a child, I dont think he can get any more prepared. Hes as good as hes ever going to be, unfortunately that also means that Matt Hughes is just so much more skilled a fighter than he is. Just because hes been training BJJ his entire life doesnt neccessarily mean that hes going to be better at it. Its been my experience that many of the top competitors start BJJ around their late teenage years or at the latest in their early 20's. Saulo Ribeiro and Andre Galvao for example have much less experience than every person with the last name Gracie (they started in their late teenage years) but they're still so much better at jiu jitsu.

Royce was in great condition- hes always in great condition, he was training alot for that fight. Dont judge a fighters conditioning by their physique- this isnt body building here. Im seen plenty of fighters who look like they're in good physical conditioning (such as James Thompson and Ken Shamrock) only to see them gas in a few seconds, and I've seen other fighters with a less than admirable physique (such as Fedor Emilianenko and "Cabbage") and see them appear to be cardio machines. Royce fought someone who was a better fighter in every aspect than he was. Hughes is younger, stronger, more athletic and BETTER than Royce is. Royce's jiu jitsu was never particularly good, many people just made that assumption because he submitted everyone in the old UFC's. The whole sharks and the ocean thing was pawned by Jean Jaques Machado and was in reference to people who didnt know jiu jitsu- every mixed martial artist nowadays knows jiu jitsu, and many of them would toy around with and submit Royce from one side of the octagon to the other. You're seeing what the media wants you to see. Matt's rather open about his training- Royce isnt. The relaxed mindset you see in the Gracie camp stems from philosophies such as "fight have no time limit" and "maximum efficientcy minimum strength." Its just the way they train, and there is nothing wrong with it. He was pretty upset that he lost the way he did, but a 1.5 million dollar paycheck can do a good job of consoling you for a moment. Matt Hughes is simply way too good for Royce, its that simple. Royce's jiu jitsu has been promoted as being godlike because of early UFC's and because of his family name. If you were to put Royce in there with the likes of a BJ Penn or Renato Verissimo, it would be like a black belt in BJJ vs a purple belt. This isnt a knock on Royce but rather a reaffirmation of just how good these other guys are and how much trouble they still had with Hughes on the ground. Matt is a better wrestler, striker, AND jiu jitsu fighter than Royce is. Newton has better jiu jitsu than Royce, and even nearly submitted Renzo if a recall (who is also much better on the ground than Royce). St Pierre has standup- Royce does not. You're blaming Royce for not doing what he couldnt do in the first place. Royce is a solid jiu jitsu fighter and still a good nhb fighter, but he is not in the top elite anymore- today's fighters are trained better and so much more athletic than 10 years ago. What made BJJ so appealing was that you could take someone like Royce, who looked like a regular skinny guy and teach him how to beat these men who looked like the cover of mens health magazine. After that happens and people realize how good BJJ is those same natrual athletes start training in BJJ- who would you have expected to win?

Im so used to typing "elbow" right next to "escape." Simply put, Royce rolled and was able to get open/half guard on Royce. Even if Royce managed full guard, I dont think he could have done anything with it- Royce has a tendency to hold in closed guard until you give him something, which Matt wasnt going to do. Full guard or not, Royce was going to lose that fight. As far as commenting on his age being a factor, Royce is a better fighter nowadays than he was 10 years ago. He hasnt kept up with the game like he should have, but hes certainly tried. His standup is better now (even though its still bad) and he actually has a double leg takedown that looks decent now (as opposed to ten years ago). Royce had a better chance at 39 than he did at 29.

Royce got beat at his own game- jiu jitsu. Matt showed positional dominance throughout the entire fight. *Takes him down into cross side *When Royce elbow escapes back to guard, Hughes passes again and establishes side control *Hughes takes the back with hooks in when Royce attempts to roll out Many newcomers to BJJ and MMA didnt believe it when other people said that Royce's jiu jitsu was never particularly good. Hes a black belt, and hes very good at fighting, but hes far from being able to compete with today's top notch submissions grapplers, or even someone like Matt who's weakness has shown to be submissions. One of the reasons I love this outcome is to silence those who (for some reason) think that new school MMA is not applicable to fighting in the way that old school was. The first UFC's were about finding the toughest guys in the world and they got beat by a decent jiu jitsu fighter-this just goes to show you how skilled today's fighters really are.

Aikido is thought to be effective against multiple opponents because its a great martial art to use when putting on demonstrations. Most throws are derived from wristlocks, and they're quickly attained when your partner is going according to a choreographed sequence of moves. As a result, you can "throw" someone quicker with a flick of your wrist than a Judoka can (since he'll be using his hips and his legs). Any and all multiple opponent aikido demonstrations I've seen can be decieving to those who have never seen grappling/fighting. All you really need to do though is just watch ONE of the attackers through the demo and see how much time he waits between attacks. Its looks cool and fluid, but often that which looks good is not as applicable in a fight.

Best way I was taught to stand on the feet was from one of my Muay Thai instructors. Had me stand with my feet together, slide my right foot back until the ball of my foot was kinda in the crook of my other foot- then I simply stepped to the side a little wider than shoulder width. Its important to be on the balls of your feet regardless of which stance you choose. When you try to attack with power punches, you need to briefly root yourself in the ground, but should quickly regain your balance on the balls of your feet. If you stay in a rooted stance (i.e. heels on the ground) you lose most of your mobility and your ability to sprawl.

If you want to search for styles that are effective for standup striking, just take a look at K-1.

Of course there are counters, but it depends on how far behind you're lagging with your own counter. For example, if someone attempts to set up a RNC, you have time to defend- if hes already sunk the choke in, you're dead.

Well actually that is the difference between different martial arts. All have different ideas' date=' whether you like it or not, there may be a martial art that beileves what you would think as foolish. Being open-minded in a combat situation ahead of time, can save one from some serious regret later on.[/b'] Granted, but attempting to strike your way out from the bottom of the mount is going to get you no where fast. Techniques work if they're applied under specific conditions- that being said, theres not a person in the world who can win a striking battle from the bottom of the mount. Striking on an incoming takedown attempt is a large gamble, simply because you have to knock your opponent unconcious with one big shot, which experience has shown doesnt happen very often. In the event that you dont knock your opponent out, his momentum will still allow him to get in and penetrate your base, at which point you need a grappling solution (sprawl) for a grappling problem (shot).

You're correct- but contrary to popular belief that its a grapplers domain, mixed martial arts in its current state favors striking over grappling I never said that striking isnt important, and yes there are ways to stop takedowns- they're called sprawls. A punch will work quite effectivly against anyone, grappler or not, if you connect while you're on the feet, but once in a clinch, or even worse, when someone has already penetrated your base for a double leg takedown, strikes will not help you to prevent the takedown. You're asking how to keep someone from taking you down- the answer is to sprawl out, create distance from your hips, and then you're good to go should you wish to attack. If you wait until someone is already clinched up or has executed a double leg and is about to pick you up and slam you, you are too late for striking and must revert to a grappling defense to stop a grappling technique. Let me give you an analogy to consider- how do I stop a punch thats already hit my jaw? The mistake was to let the attack get to your jaw before you covered up and blocked. Same thing goes for someone who gets under you for a double leg- you should have sprawled out, but you've already made that mistake and hes suceeded in his technique. As was said, its not striking thats not effective, there are way too many ko's in professional sports to discredit striking, but rather its from which positions striking is effective. For example, a solid punch off the feet will do an excellent job of finishing a fight. A punch from the bottom of the mount is a futile attempt to do anything.

Yup that is right, and that is why I plan on taking a grappling art as well once I get to a good enough level. I can't say I completely agree with you though because the whole grappler and versus striker thing is true, full contact martial arts tournaments aren't realistic really many vital areas are not aloud to be hit, which I think gives grapplers a little bit of an edge in stuff like the U.F.C. and what not. You make a good point about the rules involved in the UFC and other "full contact" venues. If the grappler shoots, then he should expect punches to the back of the head, elbows to the back and neck, and possibly a knee to the face. At the same time, if a karate-ka kicks, he should be ready for a single-leg take down. There are so many variables, it is impossible to argue. Essentially, these arguements always become a battle of egos, and nothing more. Punches to the face and head, and elbows to the spine have been tried through and through during MMA competition- both early and modern events. These techniques do not prevent takedowns and arent much more of a nusiance to the person who's executing the takedown.

If all martial arts were equal and skill set was determined by the individual, that would be a perfect world. Needless to say, that is not the case in this world. To give yet another example, many of BJJ's finest athletes were "convinced" at the beginning of their careers by other BJJ fighters through challenge matches. Famous stories include Eddie Bravo with his Karate chop and Pedro Sauer who was a teenager fighting a pre teen Gracie and woke up to find him over top of him laughing. If it were the fighter and not the style, these people would have proven to be victorious prior to their grappling training. It was after their training in the ground game that they became to become good fighters.

There are some guys that are quite resilient to being ko'ed, John doesnt give them any time to recover and influences other refs who follow his bad example. Long term safety of the fighters is one thing, but I'd rather have a clear cut winner (i.e. one fighter is KO'ed or cant defend himself) than seeing him break up a fight just because someone decides to go on a flurry. Contrary to belief, getting ko'ed is not as dangerous and bad as it sounds- you win by ko or tapout- thats up to the fighters to determine, NOT the referee. Its a contact sport, expect people to get beat up a lot.

That doesnt mean that what I said isnt true- hes needs to remember that this isnt some bar fight that you break up when someone gets rocked a few times, they're professional fighters- the first flurry of punches that someone gets off he stops the fight and calls the match- its ridiculous

This unfortunately is not the case anymore in the UFC. I doubt Royce will have time to rest and wait on the ground. As if they didnt already stand fighters up fast enough, the very defensive style of Royce will only encourage the ref to stand them up as the uneducated spectators boo the ground game. I didn't say he'll necessarily wait, though if Big John is refereeing I am certain that Royce will be given ample time to plan his attack and keep an eye out for opportunities. He'll still have more time to rest on the ground than on foot, so I believe a ground game favors Gracie. With respect, Sohan John McCarthy is one of the worst refs that the UFC has. He always stops fights prematurely and stands fighters up way too often and way too quick. Mario Yamasaki should be the ref for this match.