Rss

  • youtube

Why Joanna Jedrzejczyk Will Dominate the UFC’s Strawweight Division

Posted by :jcastle On : March 17, 2015
0

Category: Doombeard Opinion, Fight Recap, Muay Thai, UFC

Going into this Saturday’s UFC 185, like many people, I really wondered about the Co-Main event bout between Carla Esparza and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the second title fight in the history of the UFC’s Strawweight Division.

Carla Esparza was coming of a series of dominant performances on the most recent season of The Ultimate Fighter, where she handily defeated all her opponents, including Rose Namajunas, to become the first champion in the history of the UFC’s Strawweight Division. Carla Esparza’s wrestling has proven to be virtually peerless in her weight division, both before and during this past season of TUF. Nobody in recent years has had much of an answer for her wrestling prowess, and I went into watching the fight this past Saturday unsure of how the fight would play out any differently than her fights over the past four years.

Usually, when people bill a fight as “…this is a classic Grappler vs. Striker matchup”, the fighter with the grappling base ends up winning the fight in dominant fashion. Sometimes the fighter with a striking background will clip them on the feet or upon entry into a takedown…but such don’t happen very often. I will admit that while I have a personal preference towards striking based martial arts, I will not attempt to deny the dominance that grapplers have had in MMA since the onset of the sport.

Jedrzejczyk, a veteran of over 60 Muay Thai fights, as well as being a winner of six championships in that discipline, has one of the better standup pedigrees of any woman in the sport. Her striking efforts in her first two fights in the UFC were nothing short of superb. While the general consensus was that Joanna Jedrzejczyk was stealing the pre-fight media buildup, I continued to see a lot of people predicting a lopsided grappling/submission based win for Esparza. Admittedly, so did I.

Man, was I wrong.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk not only brutalized Esparza on the feet, but also stifled the majority of Esparza’s takedown attempts. Whenever a matchup like this takes place, fans and members of the media alike will immediately say something to the tune of “..well hopefully he/she has been working on her takedown defense!”. It was apparently obvious that not only was Jedrzejczyk working on her takedown defense, she utilized it to greater effect than virtually any of Esparza’s past opponents.

While Jedrzejczyk didn’t use much in the way of kicks and knees, likely to help avoid getting taken down, she absolutely lit up Esparza with countless combinations that were unerringly accurate. And when Esparza would shoot for takedowns to avoid further punishment, Jedrzejczyk almost always met such attempts with deftly executed sprawls and get subsequent scrambles that saw her able to quickly resume her striking efforts.

The end result was a 2nd round TKO victory, with Jedrzejczyk unleashing a blistering five-punch combination upon Esparza, who was backed up close to the cage wall. Upon the referee waving off the fight, Esparza slumped to the ground, leaving little doubt as to the merit of the stoppage.

With the victory, Joanna Jedrzejczyk becomes just the second UFC Strawweight Champion, as well as the first champion of Polish decent in promotional history. With the UFC continually making further inroads into the European and Asian markets, I am certain that the promotion possessing a new European champion certainly can’t hurt their prospects in the region. While the upcoming UFC Fight Night: Krakow card is obviously too soon for Jedrzejczyk to fight on, I’m certain that the UFC would have her fight in a Main Event or Co-Main Event in the future when the UFC returns to Poland.

With her blend of vicious striking and awesome takedown defense, Joanna Jedrzejczyk poses a serious threat to any potential challengers to her belt. If Carla Esparza, the best wrestler in the division by far, couldn’t get much in the way of takedowns, it will likely be quite challenging for other Strawweight fighters to achieve success in that arena.

Personally, I’ll go with a pair of outside choices for Jedrzejczyk’s next opponent.

Joanne Calderwood possesses a phenomenal striking arsenal, effortlessly blending kicks, punches, knees and elbows into devastating combinations. A fight between her and Jedrzejczyk could be fireworks, assuming Calderwood comes out of her upcoming UFC Fight Night: Krakow bout against Maryna Moroz victorious.

Felice Herrig, who possesses some great striking of her own, could also be a great matchup, if she gets by Paige VanZant on April 18 on UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Rockhold in Newark New Jersey. Herrig is also a very accomplished striker, holding a professional kickboxing record of 23-5, including winning championships and being the number 2 ranked bantamweight by the International Kickboxing Federation. She is one of the few Straweights out there whose experience in other striking based combat sports comes close to that of Jedrzejczyk. A match between the two could very well be a thrilling striking affair, one that would also, in my opinion, drive Pay Per View sales for a variety of reasons…which is also a good thing for the UFC, as they are forever seeking to create female PPV draws in addition to Ronda Rousey.

Having said that, it is impossible to ignore the fact that Jedrzejczyk looks to be an incredibly tall order for anyone she might come against. Even the two aforementioned fighters would have to weather a lot of strikes, accurate ones at that, to be able to enact their respective gameplans and find a way to do what no woman has managed to do before, which is beat Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Claudia Gadelha may have come close, in what was a debated Split Decision, but Jedrzejczyk seems poised to continue to take the MMA world by storm between her awesome interviews and in-cage performances. If she is able to continue to replicate even a decent semblance of last weekend’s performance, I think that she will dominate the UFC Strawweight Division for some time.

And I look forward to watching it!

The Doombeard and Dirty South Show – Ep. 2

Posted by :jcastle On : August 29, 2014
0

Category: Doombeard and Dirty South Show, Doombeard Exclusive, Doombeard Opinion, UFC

David “Doombeard” Arvelo and D’Juan “Dirty South” Owens discuss D’juans recent win at Titan Fighting Championships, UFC 177 fight predictions, short notice fights, Gray Maynard’s recent slump, and the prevalence of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) on the sport of MMA.

Thanks to this episode’s sponsors, Cageside Fight Co. and MMA Institute.

Questionable Refereeing Almost Turned a Win into a Loss at UFC Fight Night 34

Posted by :jcastle On : January 6, 2014
0

Category: Doombeard Opinion, Fighting Style, Referee, UFC, UFC Fight Recap

In a Bantamweight (135 lbs.) fight that saw Kyung Ho Kang come out and start to dominate from very early on against Shunichi Shimizu, I saw one of the stranger bits of refereeing that I can recall. At 3:34 in the First Round, after having mounted his opponent, Kang went for a Triangle choke and rolled over to his back, his opponent fully sunk into the choke. Shimizu gamely defended the choke, causing Kang to start chaining together submission attempts, moving between Triangle chokes and Armbars, sometimes even going for both at the same time. At the 2:02 mark, Kang landed two of what appeared to be illegal “12-6” elbows initially, but upon further review, I would say that “2-8” would be more applicable as far as the downward angle is concerned. Referee Steve Perceval separated the fighters, with Shimizu still seeming to be in decent shape, even motioning to Kang that his 12-6 elbows were illegal. After making sure that the ringside physician was checking on Shimizu, Perceval then announced that he was taking two points from Kang, as opposed to the usual one-point deduction.  This precipitated a lot of boos from the crowd, boos to which I’d be inclined to agree with.

Seeking further information on the subject, I was grateful to have the chance to speak with Mike King; who since beginning his refereeing career in 2006 has refereed hundreds of Pro MMA bouts, much less the countless more Amateur MMA bouts he has overseen. He informed me that while he agreed with the separation of the fighters and calling the ringside physician into the cage to check on Shimizu, that he disagreed with the two-point deduction from Kang, going on to say that a one-point deduction would be much more appropriate. He went on to elaborate on the subject and his experience with it, citing the need for staying on top of the fighters with preemptive verbal commands to watch where their blows are landing, not just separating the fighters upon the instance of a foul itself. King also stated that a two-point deduction for anything less than an obviously intentional foul seemed a bit unprecedented and excessive, confirming my suspicion that UFC referee (and I say UFC referee due to the fact that since the bout took place in Singapore, where there is no recognized sanctioning body or athletic commission, which in those instances, the UFC imports their own referees) Steve Perceval was a bit heavy-handed in the way he dealt with the situation.

Shimizu was clearly in good shape to continue, so the fight thankfully went on. Commentator Jon Anik brought up a very good point once the fight resumed, stating that what was looking like a 10-8 round for Kang turned into, at best, a 8-8 round for him, or most likely, a 9-8 round for Shimizu. To extrapolate Kang’s predicament, that would mean that barring him getting a clean sweep for every round going forward, he was at great risk for having the fight scored as a Draw, or even worse, a Loss for him. Luckily, the dominance that Kang began to showcase early on into the fight continued, with Kang nailing Shimizu with audibly hard elbows and thunderous punches from the top position in guard. After more than two minutes of eating numerous hard blows, blows that contributed to one of his eyes being almost swollen shut, Shimizu began to wilt under the barrage of Kang. After a brief scramble, Kang ended up on top in mount and locked in an Arm Triangle choke that almost immediately forced Shimizu to tap. This was very fortunate for Kang, for as explained before, the unprecedented two-point deduction could have very well caused him to achieve a Draw, or even lose the fight via decision if the fight had gone the distance. I know that there is no referee alive who has always made the right calls, but it would have been a shame to see such a dominant performance marred by a questionable call by the referee.

Luckily, Kyung Ho Kang finished the fight before he could’ve run afoul of the scorecards!

To Play It Safe or Not Play It Safe in MMA — Part II

Posted by :jcastle On : October 15, 2013
0

Category: Doombeard Opinion, Fighting Style, MMA Fighter Profile, UFC

While I realize that I only included five fighters on the previous list, I was confronted with a moral quandary that made me unable to publish this list without including all of the fighters mentioned below. Please enjoy the following list, and feel free to share your thoughts on it on The Doombeard Report’s Facebook page.

Six Fighters Who Have greatly benefited from an exciting fighting style:

chris lytle

Photo courtesy of http://SBNation.com

1. Chris Lytle – This entry shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Chris “Lights Out” Lytle was (and still is) one of the most beloved fighters in the sport. After losing his fight (and a guaranteed title shot against Georges St. Pierre) on the finale of TUF 4 against Matt Serra, Lytle believed that fighting conservatively lead to his loss. After that, he vowed to never have that happen to him again. Lytle went on to win eight of his next 14 fights in the UFC, achieving an overall UFC record of 10-10.

While this may not strike you as a highly successful record, it’s in the way he went about establishing his legacy in the latter half of his UFC career that gets him on this list. Chris Lytle is the living embodiment of “gameness” if there ever was one; winning bonuses for Fight of the Night a record six times, Submission of the Night three times, and Knockout of the Night once. When being interviewed about Lytle’s career before his last fight with Dan Hardy, Dana White was quoted as saying that Chris Lytle had earned almost a million dollars in post-fight bonuses alone in the course of his career, not counting discretionary “locker room” bonuses that White also said Lytle routinely got whether he won or lost. Chris Lytle’s fights through the latter half of his career were routinely amazing, whether he won or lost. Whether it was his Triangle/Kimura submission win over Jason Gilliam, or his Inverted Triangle/Straight Armbar finish of Matt Brown, Chris Lytle’s name further became synonymous with awesome fights and even more awesome and esoteric submissions. Lytle’s retirement fight saw him go out on a win with a thrilling third-round submission victory over Dan Hardy that netted him the ever-elusive “double-bonus”, where he was awarded both Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night. Needless to say, Chris Lytle definitely deserves to be on this list for his numerous fights that were crowd pleasers and instant-classics. If anyone were to ever say that Chris Lytle wasn’t one of the most exciting fighters to ever grace the sport of MMA, I’d readily accuse them of blindness!

Dan Hardy

Photo courtesy of www.bleacherreport.net.

2. Dan Hardy – After a standout career in various British promotions, Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy made his UFC debut at UFC 89 against Akihiro Gono, an entertaining, striking-heavy affair that Hardy won via Split Decision. An awesome knockout of Rory Markham and thrilling stand up victories over Marcus Davis and Mike Swick propelled Hardy into a title fight against Georges St. Pierre, a bout that he ultimately lost. Carlos Condit then knocked out Dan Hardy in a thrilling stand up war that ended in under a round. Hardy was subsequently, despite Johnson’s pre-fight claims that he desired a stand-up war, outwrestled by Anthony Johnson in a fight that was largely panned by MMA fans everywhere, as Johnson favored a wrestling-heavy style that was very light on action. Hardy then faced Chris Lytle in a thrilling back and forth bout that saw him lose via submission in the third round. With Hardy having dropped four straight fights at that point, UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta was quoted as saying, “I ain’t cutting Dan Hardy. I love guys that war!”

Dan Hardy’s next fight was a first round Knockout victory over highly decorated striker Duane Ludwig, followed up by a convincing Unanimous Decision win over Amir Sadollah. Hardy was scheduled to face Matt Brown at UFC on Fox 7, but was forced out of the fight due to being diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a diagnosis that has since kept him out of competition. I personally cannot wait until Dan Hardy is able to return to competition, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that regard. A Dan Hardy fight has become associated with excitement and great standup technique, traits that can are never bad to have!

Matt Brown

Photo courtesy of MMAJunkie.com

3. Matt Brown – After introducing himself to MMA fans on Season 7 of The Ultimate Fighter with an awesome head kick knockout win over Jeremy May, Matt Brown was defeated by the eventual winner of TUF’s seventh season, Amir Sadollah. After rattling off four stoppage wins in first five fights, Matt Brown saw himself go into a 1-4 slide that saw all of his losses come by way of submission. Brown was given one last chance to try to right the ship, and right the ship he did!

On February 4, 2012, Matt Brown defeated Chris Cope via TKO with a barrage of strikes, and hasn’t lost since. In his next contest, Brown derailed the hype train of the highly touted Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson by never allowing him to have the space to use his vaunted karate skills, and beating him up for his troubles. Brown then rattled off a TKO win over Luis Ramos, and a Knockout win against Mike Swick, with both of the aforementioned wins coming in dominant fashion. In his next contest, Brown fought late-replacement Jordan Mein. While the first round of the fight was very competitive with both fighters trading hard blows on the feet, Brown ended up stopping Mein via TKO with punches to the face and then elbows to the body once Mein dropped to the ground, pretty much ending the fight with sheer manliness and brutality. In his latest win, Matt Brown knocked out respected veteran Mike Pyle in just 29 seconds, defeating yet another opponent who was on an impressive winning streak.

I am positive that the UFC knows that they made the right decision not cutting Matt Brown, as he has utilized the opportunity to go on an absolute tear through the UFC’s Welterweight division. Matt Brown’s next fight is against Carlos Condit on December 14 at UFC on Fox 9, which certainly looks like a fight that, aside from potentially determining the next contender to get a shot at the Welterweight title, will certainly have it’s fair share of awesomeness.

Joe Lauzon

Photo courtesy of www.scifighting.com

4. Joe Lauzon – Making his UFC debut on September 23, 2006 with a 48 second KO of former UFC Champion Jens Pulver, Joe Lauzon has since become a staple in the UFC’s Lightweight division, and an exciting one at that. With an overall UFC record of 9-6, Joe Lauzon has never fought for a title, but has been a longtime fan favorite due to his immense propensity for finding himself in exciting fights that routinely end in spectacular and/or brutal fashion, whether he is on the winning side or not.

After competing on Season 5 of The Ultimate Fighter, Lauzon submitted Brandon Melendez via Triangle Choke (where he also won the Submission of the Night bonus), and the previously undefeated Jason Rinehardt via Rear Naked Choke shortly thereafter. Following a Fight of the Night TKO loss to Kenny Florian, Lauzon went on to get a TKO win over Kyle Bradley and a Submission of the Night win over Jeremy “Lil Heathen” Stephens via Armbar. From 2010-2011, Lauzon went 3-2 in the UFC, winning a post fight bonus in every single contest. While he faced setbacks with a widely panned Decision loss to Sam Stout, and a submission loss via Kimura to George Sotiropoulos, his victories during this timeframe most definitely cemented him into the hearts of MMA fans worldwide. Lauzon’s victories during this time period were all first round submission victories that won him the Submission of the Night bonus in every contest. Lauzon absolutely obliterated Gabe Reudiger, submitting him via Armbar at UFC 118 in Boston, defeated Curt Warburton by submission via Kimura at UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry, then submitted the highly touted Melvin Guillard via Rear Naked Choke in under a minute after dropping him with a punch.

Despite Joe Lauzon’s obvious prowess in the realm of submissions, he has often engaged in thrilling stand up wars to preface either his submission victories or his defeats. This has only further endeared him to MMA fans everywhere. While Lauzon is currently mired in a two-fight losing streak, including a recent lopsided Decision loss to Michael Johnson, I firmly believe that his upcoming fight against Mac Danzig should see him return to form. After all, being tied with Anderson Silva for having the most post-fight bonuses in UFC history generally means you have a profound propensity to find yourself in awesome fights. Let us hope that his upcoming match at UFC on Fox 9 on December 14th sees “J-Lau” return to his entertaining ways!

Chan Sung Jung

Photo courtesy of www.sbrforum.com.

5. Chan-Sung Jung – After amassing a 10-1 record fighting in South Korea and Japan, Chan-Sung Jung was introduced to the majority of MMA fans when he fought Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia at WEC 48. The fight ended in a widely decried Split Decision win for Leonard Garca; but saw both fighters win the Fight of the Night honors, as well as spawning Jung’s future moniker, “The Korean Zombie”, due to his ability to take damage and keep advancing forward. After suffering a second round head kick KO loss to George Roop at WEC 51, The Korean Zombie then made his way over to the UFC upon the official merger of the WEC’s roster with that of the UFC.

Filling in for an injured Nam Phan, Chan-Sung Jung stepped up to face Leonard Garcia in a rematch, and step up he did. After thoroughly handling Garcia on the feet, Jung ended up submitting Garcia with a Twister in the final second of the second round. Aside from winning Submission of the Night from the UFC, Submission of the Year from the World MMA Awards, and being the first person to ever utilize the submission in the history of the UFC, Jung stated that he had learned the technique from watching Eddie Bravo videos on YouTube. If the aforementioned fact doesn’t make Chan-Sung Jung awesome, I don’t know what does! Generally speaking, if you are able to utilize knowledge gleaned from YouTube to submit a fighter at the highest level of MMA, you are pretty awesome!

The Korean Zombie’s next opponent was Mark Hominick, who was fresh off a loss (with a particularly gruesome hematoma therein!) to UFC Featherweight champion Jose Aldo. Jung promptly tied the UFC record for the fastest knockout, dispatching Hominick in just seven seconds, netting him the Knockout of the Night bonus in the process, however short it may have been.

Jung’s next opponent was the uber-talented Dustin Poirier, in a match where the winner was all but assured a title shot against Jose Aldo. In a Fight of the Night contest, Jung ended up submitting Poirier with a D’Arce choke in the fourth round, netting him Submission of the Night as well. After an injury to Anthony Pettis, Jung was pulled from a bout with Ricardo Lamas and faced Jose Aldo for the UFC’s Featherweight Championship. Jung and Aldo were absolutely neck and neck after a full three rounds of action, but Jung dislocated his shoulder while he threw a punch in the fourth round. Aldo saw Jung wince in pain and favor his shoulder, and subsequently pounced on him and hit him with a barrage of strikes to secure the TKO victory.

Despite the unfortunate ending to his latest contest, I’m sure MMA fans the world over are looking forward to the next time they get to watch The Korean Zombie fight. I know I most certainly am.

Ian "Uncle Creepy" McCall

Photo courtesy of the UFC.com

6. Ian McCall – Last but not least, I could not write this list without including Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall on it. I will concede that I may be slightly biased due to the fact that Ian McCall has an awesome mustache, but I believe that such a thing makes him even more exciting and awesome. Sporting a look that is reminiscent of an old-school prizefighter, Ian McCall has been one of the most entertaining fighters on the UFC’s Flyweight roster since the division’s inception.

After a 1-2 stint in the now defunct WEC at bantamweight, Ian McCall signed with Tachi Palace Fights, which at that time was the main promotion that was showcasing the Flyweight (125 lbs.) division. After a three fight winning streak in TPF that saw him defeat a whose-who of flyweight fighters en route to winning the Tachi Palace Fights Flyweight Championship belt, Ian McCall was finally called up to the UFC to take part in their inaugural Flyweight tournament to determine the initial UFC Flyweight Champion.

In McCall’s first UFC contest, he faced Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. The fight was very competitive throughout, but it seemed like McCall was pulling ahead in the third round, going so far as to imitate riding a horse as he ended the round having taken Johnson’s back. McCall was then heartbroken to be on the wrong end of a Majority Decision that was later found to be miscalculated and was changed to a Draw. Despite the anticlimactic ending to the fight, Ian McCall and Demetrious Johnson received Fight of the Night for their entertaining bout, and the UFC immediately set about scheduling a rematch in order to readily crown a UFC Flyweight champ. While Johnson beat McCall in their rematch, “Uncle Creepy” put on an entertaining fight, routinely chasing Johnson about the Octagon. McCall next faced Joseph Benavidez, losing by Unanimous Decision but still putting on an awesome show, with McCall and Benavidez sharing some entertaining banter during the fight. Despite being 0-2-1 since joining the organization, the UFC gave the perennial fan favorite another fight, where McCall faced Illiarde Santos. The bout itself was a stand up battle for the ages, with both fighters exchanging lots of heavy leather and refusing to give ground. After a barnburner of a fight that also netted the two combatants the Fight of the Night bonus, Ian McCall’s hand was finally raised for the first time in the UFC, as he won the fight by Unanimous Decision.

While his fan friendly, brawling style has netted him more defeats than victories in the UFC, it has certainly entertained the masses and UFC brass alike, meaning that we still have the privilege of watching “Uncle Creepy” compete in the UFC’s Octagon and engage in thrilling fights with a sense of style and panache that is rarely seen in MMA today. I will always root for an awesome guy with an even more awesome mustache, as that is most definitely in spirit with the motives of this website in general. In short, Ian McCall rules!

Honorable mentions for other fighters who fall under this category include: Leonard Garcia, Chris Leben, Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz, Ben “Killa B” Saunders, and “Filthy” Tom Lawlor.

To Play It Safe or Not Play It Safe in MMA — Part I

Posted by :jcastle On : August 8, 2013
1

Category: Decisions, Doombeard Opinion, Fighting Style, Grappling, MMA Fighter Profile, UFC, Wrestling

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Fighters seemingly “playing it safe” en-route to a (usually) Unanimous Decision victory has been a hot-button issue for both MMA promoters and fans alike for quite some time.  Fans routinely fill up MMA forums decrying such performances, lambasting fighters with such terms like “Lay-N-Pray” and “Wall-N-Stall”. Fans are also very quick to criticize when a fighter’s style blurs the lines between an elusiveness and counterstriking style vs. continually circling away and not taking any chances. Being routinely accused of being a “boring fighter” is generally not looked upon favorably, and can be known to have some adverse consequences in regards to a fighter’s career. Conversely, fighters who throw caution to the wind and adopt a more “crowd-pleasing” style are not only beloved by MMA fans, but are also afforded more chances to right the ship by their employers if they happen to lose in an exciting effort. After all, UFC President Dana White commonly refers to the fact that exciting fights “…put asses in seats…”, so he has given numerous exciting fighters a lot more leeway, whereas a 2-3 fight losing streak is most definitely going to earn a less exciting fighter his release from the organization. I will save my thoughts on what this means for the sport itself for another article, as I can personally appreciate the various facets of MMA so as to enjoy virtually almost every fight I watch, with a few exceptions of course! This two article series will include lists of fighters on both sides of the aforementioned equation.

Five Fighters Who’s “Non-Exciting” Style Hurt(s) Their Career or Legacy

Ben Askren MMA

Photo courtesy of http://fightersxchange.com

1. Ben Askren — To most people, this will not come as a surprise. Ben Askren seems to be the most widely panned Champion in any major MMA organization. While I would personally sell my soul to possess his wrestling abilities, he hasn’t really managed to gain much of a fan-base outside of MMA fans that are also hardcore wrestling enthusiasts. Askren’s fighting style essentially consists of top-notch “funk” wrestling with some cursory ground striking and light submission attempts thrown in for good effect. Watching the average Askren fight for the past few years is often akin to watching paint dry. If I happen to have the urge to take a gnarly dump, I can get up and do so at the beginning of his fight and know that when I return in the 3rd of 4th round, he will still be wrestling his opponent to death. His latest victory against Andrey Koreshkov was a TKO victory in the 4th round, but only after wrestling his opponent for 4 ½ rounds until Koreshkov was essentially too exhausted to continue. While I applaud Askren for defending his Bellator Welterweight title once again, I doubt he has endeared himself to many new fans in the process.

 

Jon Fitch MMA

Photo courtesy of http://www.mmamania.com

2. Jon Fitch — A longtime UFC mainstay in the Welterweight division, Jon Fitch’s tenure in the UFC lasted from 2005-2013.  After a few finishes were achieved as part of an eight-fight winning streak to start his UFC career, he was granted a title shot against Georges St. Pierre, which he ultimately lost by Unanimous Decision.  After that is when the proverbial wheels started to fall off, and his favor with fans really began to wane.  His subsequent (and much maligned) wrestling-heavy Decision wins against Akihiro Gono, Paulo Thiago, Mike Pierce, Ben “Killa B” Saunders, and Thiago Alves lead many fans, and UFC President Dana White as well, to decry such a fighting style even though it was ultimately a victorious one. Soon after, people began to refer to someone getting “Fitched” if a fighter was wrestled and held down en route to an unentertaining defeat by Decision. After a lackluster Draw against BJ Penn, Jon Fitch was confronted with the fact that a large share of the MMA community did not even desire a rematch of the fight. Jon Fitch’s next fight saw him on the wrong end of a gnarly Knockout loss to Johny Hendricks in just 12 seconds.  After going 1-1 in his next two fights, Jon Fitch was released from the UFC. Official reasoning that was given for his release included his high price tag for delivering losing efforts, but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that the UFC was quite ready to jettison Jon Fitch into the open market, despite his overall UFC record of  14-3-1.

 

Yushin Okami MMA

Photo courtesy of http://www.bleacherreport.com

3. Yushin Okami — Despite an overall UFC record of 13-4, Yushin Okami has come under some fire in the past few years for his clinch-heavy fighting style. While his last victory by stoppage happened at UFC 150 against a clearly overmatched Buddy Roberts, Okami has still become widely known for getting his opponents up against the cage and utilizing his wrestling and dirty-boxing to stifle any of his opponents attempts at mounting much of any kind of offensive effort. This fighting style is what made him a hard sell for a Championship match versus Anderson Silva in the first place. After being handily dismantled at the hands of the (until recently) reigning Middleweight Champion of the UFC, Okami has certainly found himself in a position where he will be hard pressed to ever be granted a title shot again. His recent Split Decision victory over Hector Lombard did little to improve his prospects in the Middleweight Division, or his standing with fans in general.

 

Lyoto Machida

Photo courtesy of http://fansided.com

4. Lyoto Machida — Before you decry my inclusion of Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida on this list, I’d ask you to hear me out. I am not necessarily saying that Machida is a consistently boring fighter, I am merely pointing out that he is the present-day poster child for how a conservative striking-based style can also sometimes be detrimental to a fighters efforts to achieve victory. While “The Dragon” has some highlight-reel finishes of Thiago Silva, Ryan Bader, Rashad Evans, and Randy Couture to his name…he also was a part of some of the worst fights I can remember in these past few years. He lost a Decision to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson by spending the majority of the fight circling away and sparingly throwing strikes at his opponent, demonstrating very little for the judges to even attempt to score in his favor. His most recent effort against Phil Davis was marred by the same overall strategy and outcome. Machida’s recent fight against Dan Henderson was, quite frankly, pretty awful as well. While he won a Decision victory against Henderson, he did very little to improve his stock in the Light Heavyweight Division because of it. His Karate-based counterstriking style is often described as “elusive” or “unpredictable”. While I give Machida all the credit that is due for being the only person to ever win a round against current Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones, some of his recent outings leave a lot to be desired for the average viewer, as well as his prospects at getting another shot at the title.

 

Georges St. Pierre MMA

Photo courtesy of http://www.theprovince.com

5. Georges St. Pierre — I will be the first person to say that Georges “Rush” St. Pierre is a future UFC Hall-of-Famer and will go down as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. His accomplishments in the UFC’s Welterweight division are second to none; as he has been competing in the UFC since 2004, with the majority of his fights being for (or mainly defending) the Welterweight Championship belt. Despite his overall record of 24-2 (18-2 UFC), GSP has seen his favor with some MMA fans wane in the past few years. Despite his utter dominance in the UFC’s Octagon, many have grown weary of Georges St. Pierre’s long streak of Unanimous Decision victories. Whether he utilizes his dominant wrestling skills to grind his opponents against the mat for 25 minutes, or uses his jab to set up a winning striking effort from a distance, GSP has the longest slew of Unanimous Decision victories of any Champion in UFC history by far. The last time GSP won via any form of stoppage was when BJ Penn refused to answer the bell in their title fight in January of 2009. While his accomplishments are certainly laudable, I have had a hard time finding many MMA fans that aren’t wishing that GSP would get back to his old ways of finishing the majority of his opposition.

Honorable mentions for other fighters who fall under this category include: Jacob Volkmann, Colton Smith, Cole Konrad, Kris McCray, Francis Carmont and Shane Roller.

My next article will cover a list of fighters whose careers have greatly benefited from being regarded as “exciting” by the MMA community at large.