Rusty Business
“Ring rust” is a term that has varying strength. On one side there are recent cases like Yoshihiro Akiyama’s long-awaited return at UFC 116. Akiyama was never known for great cardio, but a year out of the cage did a number on his gas tank, leaving him blatantly exhausted midway through the second round. Conversely, former champ and genetic-jackpot winner Randy Couture spent 13 months... [Read More...]
Best Before: Quitting is not an option
Nobody does quitting like professional athletes. First there’s a stretch of wildly inconsistent performances, followed by an official retirement in a spectacle of touching ceremonies, heartfelt speeches and highlight-reels. Then they sniff out a bigger contract, come back the following year and do it again. Even when the career finally ends, there is still the rounds of cheating accusations—from... [Read More...]
Forgiving Filho
MMA fight cards are fueled by wishful thinking. In the final weeks leading up to a big event, training injuries can easily sideline half the fighters. Sometimes it seems that the human body is just not meant to handle the extreme training drills cooked up by elite coaches. Trainers obsessively search for a way to give their fighters a physical edge—whether it’s weight-cutting to the lowest... [Read More...]
Shattered Dreams and Eye Patches: Fouls are not handled properly in MMA
Most professional sports have specific consequences prepared for every sort of devious conduct. But in MMA, fouls are assumed to be unintentional and therefore forgivable. Recipients of illegal attacks are given five minutes to recover and then expected to man-up and continue. This is silly foremost because intent is often impossible to glean from a split-second attack. But furthermore it is unfair... [Read More...]
Tears for Torres
Low pay for MMA competition makes perfect sense given its current state, but that is a hard thing for a lot of fans (and fighters) to accept. There seems to be a resurgent outrage over published salaries like UFC lightweight Ronys Torres’ $4000 payout for UFC 110. But fact is, despite being the greatest sport in existence, MMA is not established enough for fighters to be paid big bucks. Part... [Read More...]
The Trouble with Titles
UFC title shots are at best inconsistent and at worst insulting to the intelligence of fans. Without an official ranking system, title fights are arranged based on their potential to attract an audience. Dana White defends this approach as preventing any obligation to put on boring fights. But there’s no denying it removes some credibility from being champion. The current populist approach lends... [Read More...]
Do It For The Kids
Dropping troubled kids into a mildly-abusive environment is a time-honoured and satisfying tactic. Whether it’s the army or combat-sports, the general idea is to curb teenage frustration by straining young bodies and minds in a sadistic but controlled manner. There are many different avenues for developing punks, but there is a mental aspect to combat sports that’s cuts particularly deep.... [Read More...]
MMA Monopoly
Since absorbing Pride FC, the UFC has been the alpha dog of MMA promotions. It’s war chest of bankable stars leaves smaller promotions to pick through fighters cut from their roster or, even more challenging, build careers from the ground up. The UFC’s dominance raises the question of whether increased competition would be better for the sport. Fighters like Dan Henderson have taken a strong... [Read More...]
