Parties interested in leaving a comment expressing condolences or reflecting on Tompkins’ impact on any level you can visit the official Guestbook to do so. Also, those interested in donating to his memorial fund should contact a representative at “TeamTompkins@ShogunMMA.com”.

Tompkins was found dead on Sunday at the age of 37. A subsequent autopsy revealed a heart attack as at the root of his passing. Always known as a kind, friendly individual, Tompkins made a name for himself as a coach at Xtreme Couture before eventually winding up working alongside the likes of Sam Stout, Chris Horodecki, and Mark Hominick as head trainer at the Team Tompkins gym in Canada.

News of his death was reported by MMAJunkie where it was revealed Horodecki had spoken with him as recently as yesterday. No cause was given though it was said he apparently didn’t wake up Sunday morning implying medical reasons were at the root of his passing.

Close acquaintance Bas Rutten commented on the sad scenario through Twitter where he wrote, “This is a really sad day. Shawn Tompkins was one of my best friends. He passed way too early leaving his beautiful wife Emile, family and friends behind. He’s gonna be missed. He texted me yesterday evening telling me he loved me, so, thank God, I called him to tell him it was mutual. Godspeed my friend, I’m gonna miss you a lot!”

Tompkins was also Stout’s brother-in-law where he and “Hands of Stone” not only worked together in the gym but also as part of a group looking to combat bullying.

We at Five Ounces of Pain would like to send our sincere condolences to the friends and family of a man not only viewed as a great trainer but also an outstanding person in general.

FiveOuncesofPain.com has been able to confirm through sources close to the situation that the widely respected coach has plans to part ways with the gym due to undisclosed circumstances.

A former professional fighter and coach for the Los Angeles Anacondas with the IFL, Tompkins has been instrumental in the careers of succesful fighters such as Chris Horodecki, Sam Stout, Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort during his time spent as a top level mixed martial arts instructor.

Stay tuned to FiveOuncesofPain for any further developments on this story.

It appears that we may have something brewing between Xtreme Couture striking coach Shawn Tompkins and upstart MMA fighter Kit Cope.

Kit had stated in an interview with MMAJunkie radio on July 8th that he didn’t believe Carano could handle her upcoming opponent due to her training regimen and made a point to call out her entire camp at Xtreme Couture.

“She’s gonna get her ass handed to her if she keeps training the way she’s training. But, if she keeps training where she is.” When asked if he is actually training with her he responded, “We do not train together. Have not trained together for a long time. She’s over at Xtreme Fashion, here in town. But she’s not gonna get what she needs over there.”

When asked elaborate on his views of Xtreme Couture, he went on to say “Because it’s the cool kids club. Like if you’re already good, just go over there and keep being good. I mean, like, they don’t create good.” He goes on to get a little more specific, “Okay well here’s the thing, they help guys become superstars with the exposure they get thanks to Randy.”

Keeping with his theme of the gym lacking real technical training, he sets his crosshairs on the gyms prized striking coach, Shawn Tompkins. “I don’t think Randy makes them (the fighters) at all, I definitely don’t think that, I’m sorry I don’t think that Shawn Tompkins makes them at all. You know, Shawn Tompkins, from what I’ve seen, like he can work you out. And that dude will work you out, and he’ll make sure that you’re in shape and that kind of thing, but he is not gonna teach you any kind of technical nothing. I’ve seen his pad work, I’ve seen his training.”

Tompkins, always one to speak his mind and defend his fighters, had an immediate response in an interview done with RawVegas.TV.

First, he addressed the comments made about how prepared Gina will be for her upcoming main event fight. “I know Gina Carano very well. This sort of stuff wont bother her.” Adding, “She’s training harder than she has ever trained, she’s got great coaches here, everybody saw her at the press conference in New York City and everybody is commenting on how she has a brand new body.”

Tompkins goes on and puts the issue to rest with this, “You know, he can say what he wants, but the bottom line is Kit Cope hasn’t seen Gina Carano in a training session in probably 3 years. She’s been here. I’ve seen her every day, she’s dedicated and she’ll do what she does. What does he know?”

As far as Copes’ comments about Tompkins coaching himself, he went on to state how he feels about Copes’ assessment, “Well he can say what he wants, but I have 28 of the best fighters in the world right now. As far as I’m concerned, he hasn’t fought in years, and I don’t see him training anybody. So, I don’t know where he gets this.”

Always one to stick up for his team and his fighters, Tompkins warns, “Las Vegas is a small city, everybody knows everybody, and in saying something about Xtreme Couture, he just made a lot of great fighters angry and he better not wanna see them or pass them on escalators or in hallways in casinos because I’m sure they’re not gonna have nice things to say or do to him.”

Continuing to go back and forth, the war of words resumes from Kit Cope as he returned to MMAJunkie radio on July 16th to restate his case.

When asked if there was any bad blood between him and Tompkins prior to his comments, he said, “No, not at all. There shouldn’t have been beef anyways. All I said, I said he’ll work you out. The guy will work (you) out. He just doesn’t have any technique. He’s 0-4 in MMA. He got mounted and pounded out every single fight that he had. I don’t even know that he ever did a kickboxing fight. The guy just doesn’t have any technique. I’ve watched him do pad work with Wanderlei.”

Cope didn’t stop there, he added, “Wanderlei and I talked about the pad work, we both agreed that he sucked at it, and so then Shawn was dismissed. That’s all. He had a good workout, made Wanderlei sweat. Good job, awesome.”

With the odds of these two meeting on the canvas being extremely low, when being proposed with fighting one of Shawn’s long-time projects, Chris Horodecki, Cope seemed very receptive, “That’d be great. I’d love to push him around.” Adding, “That’d be awesome. He’s wiley enough to stand up with me and that would be a good time. So far, I haven’t been able to find anybody to do that.”

With this as a possibility, we may have a fight like this on the horizons, with one of Tompkins long time disciples fighting for his honour as a coach.

Cope may be a great self promoter, but who knows how he would fair against Horodecki. One thing is for sure, we wont be seeing Kit over at Xtreme Couture any time soon.

P.S. If you tuned in for news on the sex tape, sorry to disappoint. But, in Kits’ words, “it was a joke”.

During the course of the interview, Tompkins discusses the positives and negatives of having multiple fighters under his guidance preparing for the same fight card as well as offering his predictions for DOR’s main event between WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski.

Towards the end of the interview, Tompkins also offers his thoughts on famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach’s influence on Arvloski’s training.

“I don’t think there is any kind of training in traditional boxing that is going to help him prepare for Fedor,” he told interviewer Sam Caplan. “I don’t think it’s going to help him. I don’t buy the Freddie Roach thing.”

The interview can be seen in its entirety below.

In Part III, Tompkins shares his thoughts on new interim UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir’s improved striking at UFC 92; who he feels is the top striker in MMA; and he offers his analysis as to why three of K-1′s top strikers were upset by MMA fighters during FEG’s recent “Dynamite!!” event on New Year’s Eve.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): What did you think of Frank Mir’s performance at UFC 92?

Shawn Tompkins: Like anybody else I was stunned by his performance (laughs). But at the same time I’m proud of them and I am happy to see that the Frank Mir that we all wanted to see back in the day is truly here and I think he’s here to say. I have a really good friend in his trainer, Ken Hahn at Striking Unlimited and I’m glad that they’re getting the respect that they deserve now.

I think that they got Nogueira at the right time but that’s any fight. Walking in you could get your opponent at the right time or the wrong time and I think he hit Nogueira when he was supposed to. I think he was 100 percent underestimated amd I’m really happy to see the result because I think we needed it in the heavyweight division. We need more guys that are solid talents all around and Frank Mir proved himself and I don’t think anyone is going to second guess him every again.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): A lot of people proclaim Anderson Silva as the best striker in all of MMA. However, you’re a true expert and I wanted to know who you feel is the best striker competing right now?

Shawn Tompkins: Well I think when it comes to Anderson Silva, it comes down to his speed, his distance and his timing are impeccable. They are second to none and that’s what makes him dangerous. I look at Anderson Silva and he can fight moving forward, he can fight moving backward, and he can fight moving left or right. It’s something that I don’t think anyone else in the sport other than Chuck Liddell has really been able to do. And I think Anderson Silva is ahead of Chuck Liddell as far as that goes. So I have to agree. If I had train someone to fight Anderson Silva that would probably be my biggest challenge yet as far as being prepared for a striker.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): Who do you consider to be some of the other top strikers in MMA right now?

Shawn Tompkins: It doesn’t even have to be pure strikers. I look at B.J. Penn as one of the best boxers in the business. He’s got one of the best jabs around. Arlovski proved himself against Ben Rothwell. As far as a power puncher in the mold of a Mike Tyson-style power puncher, you’re not going to find anyone tougher than Fedor. There’s a lot of great strikers in the business but no one should ever forget about Chuck Liddell. The strange part of MMA is that you lose one or two fights and people start to question you but he was on top for so long and it was purely his striking that made him so good. Nobody can step backwards and knock someone out as well as Chuck Liddell can.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): I wanted to know if you were able to see some of the fights from “Dynamite!!” a few weeks back and if so, I wanted to know what you thought of Overeem, Mousasi, and Kawajiri taking out the K-1 fighters. Were you shocked by that?

Shawn Tompkins: No and maybe it’s because I follow K-1 closely and also train Ray Sefo. My heart is with K-1 and I love the sport of standup kickboxing. What I think a lot of that was K-1 having had their Grand Prix finals not even a month before the “Dynamite!!” show so a lot of those guys were coming into that fight pressured to fight.

They were coming in with injuries and had no time to recuperate and start a camp again. I think that was a huge part of it and I think the other component of it was that there were good matchups. I think when K-1 put them together and you put Badr Hari with an opponent like Overeem and that’s nothing but a great matchup and Overeem is one of the best strikers in MMA as well.

But I think really, if I were to defend the K-1 strikers, that it was a pressure of not enough time to re-prepare for a fight and not enough time to repair for a fight as a result of the last show.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): You and some choice words for Joe Rogan a year and a half ago after he was critical of some advice you gave to Sam Stout at UFN 10. Are relations between you and him still strained?

Shawn Tompkins: Absolutely not. We squashed that a long time ago. I have the utmost respect for Joe Rogan. I think he does his job better than anybody else could. I just think that we were both coming through a maturing stage in our careers and he said what he said and I said what I said. And we’ve both grown since then. I ever said back when we had our choice words I still told everybody that I respected him. I wouldn’t want to have to do his job and I don’t know anybody else that could do his job. He does a great job of it and keeps the sport entertaining and even my mom loves to listen to Joe Rogan when the fights are on so that tells you right there that he does something for the new fans of the sport that nobody else could.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): There was some talk last year that you were looking to get back into fighting. I wanted to know if there was any validity to those reports and if you had any plans to fight in 2009?

Shawn Tompkins: I was scheduled to fight in November of 2008 in a kickboxing show called XMA. There were some controversies that happened between my management team as well as some of the promoters as far as setting up the fights. There was some talk of Ken Shamrock but nobody else had talked to Ken about it as far as the promoting.

That left a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth and since that time I’ve decided to move on purely and solely as a coach and building my name in the sport. I’ve got a full 2009 schedule of projects so I think we’re going to stay with that. As far as training, I’ve been around fighters enough to know that you have to be able to give 100 percent of your effort and time into training for a sport. I have too many guys that count on me as a coach so in 2009 you’re going to see me in a lot of cages and rings but I’ll only be in them to corner my fighters.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): I also wanted to ask you about some rumors I’ve heard about an instructional video possibly coming out this year. I wanted to see if I could get some more information from you in regard to that.

Shawn Tompkins: Absolutely. I am actually just getting ready to starting shooting in February. I’m working with a team that actually did all the filming for the Diehard movies. We’re going to shoot a new style of instructional video that is far beyond what anyone has ever done before. It will be very interactive for the people who purchase it and watch it. I can’t give out too many other details but filming will be done in February and people are going to be able to have it their hands as soon as May. I’m really excited about it and it’s going to be a great project.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): There’s also a few rumors about you possibly doing a show on Sirius Satellite Radio?

Shawn Tompkins: It’s the “Between Rounds Radio Show,” which you can check out at BetweenRoundsRadioShow.com. It’s a radio show that I’ve been doing for the past two months and I’m a part owner of it as well. It’s produced for the Internet right now but we’ve been picked up by Sirius Satellite Radio and we will be live in LA starting in the end of February. And there’s talk of us sharing the same station as the LA Dodgers so I’m really excited about that. Again, you can check us out a BetweenRoundsRadioShow.com.

In Part II of our interview, Tompkins continued his rebuttal to famed boxing instructor Freddie Roach’s recent critique of Fedor Emelianenko; shared his feelings whether boxing translates well to MMA; and also became introspective when discussing his start in traditional martial arts and ultimately mixed martial arts.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): How do you feel about fighters working with boxing-only coaches? Is there a lot of techniques that translate back and forth between the two sports that are applicable?

Shawn Tompkins: No. I am a big fan of boxing and I am a big fan of MMA and I don’t think one should be held over the other at all. But at the same time I will tell you that everything I did with striking as far as becoming a coach in mixed martial arts, I had to transfer and change to make it transfer more to MMA.

As far as going to train with a guy like Freddie Roach, or Nacho, or any of those great boxing coaches, no I don’t believe it transfers over at all. I think where they come in is with a pure wrestler or jiu-jitsu guy in trying to build their hand skills from basics, that’s where they would come in.

But as far as coming in to make Arlovski a better striker for Fedor? I just don’t think that style of boxing will transfer over. Absolutely not.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): I wanted to see if you could get into more technical specifics. What are some main boxing fundamentals that don’t transfer over well to MMA?

Shawn Tompkins: First and foremost is the stance. The stance is completely wrong for mixed martial arts. Having the front foot turn into the inside of the opponent makes you accessible for a shot against a wrestler and a low kick against a kickboxer. It takes the power off the punch.

Boxers also tend to be very jab-oriented; before they can set up any kind of combination, they have to throw a jab. In MMA that can get you in trouble because you’re putting about 95 percent of your weight on your front leg, which doesn’t allow you to be defensive in your stance.

Any good kickboxers or boxers that transfer over to MMA like, say, Chuck Liddell, you’ll notice he uses a longer, lower stance. He has to use power shots and in MMA that’s needed to defend in order to defend against the wrestlers.

As I stated earlier, I think the stance and footwork in any combat sport and I think that’s where boxing just won’t transfer into MMA.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): What do you think of head movement in MMA? I hear boxing instructors complain all the time about the lack of head movement in MMA. Is that one area where MMA fighters can improve in?

Shawn Tompkins: I absolutely believe that’s a big problem for a lot of MMA fighters. And I think that comes from the fact that a lot of MMA fighters are trying to catch up when it comes to striking. Head movement even in a boxer is an advance thing. You don’t go to a boxing gym and the first thing is how to move your head. Instead, it’s stance and footwork.

Head movement is taught more at an intermediate to advance level so when you look at MMA the guys at MMA are really just trying to learn how to turn their punches over and how to walk with them forward and backwards. So head movement is going to be something that evolves later in an MMA fighter’s career. But do I think it’s needed? Absolutely, one hundred percent.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): Can you talk about your roots as a striking? Which specific disciplines have you been involved in?

Shawn Tompkins: I started martial arts when I was six-years old. I hold a third degree black belt in traditional Shotokan Karate. I’ve trained in Thai boxing since the age of 18 and I hold three championships in Thai boxing with approximately 47 fights under my belt. I’ve also trained with the great Bas Rutten, who has been a mentor in my life for the last 12 years.

It was really an easy progression for me to go from a traditional martial art into Thai boxing, where I learned a lot of my skills and technique and experienced the toughening and conditioning of my body. And then it was an easy transition for me when I met a guy like Bas Rutten, who is such a great mixed martial artist to be able to transition everything and blend it.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): I wanted to know if you could talk more about how you got into MMA because I originally started in traditional martial arts, where there was a bias against MMA and we were always told that MMA was just a “fad” and that it couldn’t be applied in a self-defense situation. And when I’ve trained Muay Thai, around certain Krus, Muay Thai is practically a religion to them and they’re really not open to anything that isn’t Muay Thai. What was your transition into MMA like?

Shawn Tompkins: Just like anybody else, 12 years ago MMA was viewed as the new fad and anybody that was a martial artist wanted to test themselves. I’ve had four fights in MMA that date back as far as 12 years ago. The sport has evolved so much in that time period and I wasn’t that successful when I was coming straight from a Thai boxing background with no wrestling. Nobody told me that you had to blend styles and that you had to know everything. I just wanted to go out and test myself and get a feel for it and I’m glad that I did. I think it’s made me a better coach and it’s made me understand the sport more.

But yeah, I got involved back then, back in the early days when it was just something as a martial artist that you had to try and you had to do. I was just fortunate that I lived in Canada. Montreal had the ECC and TKO organizations and they knew my kickboxing background and gave me the opportunity to give it a try and I really grew to love the sport.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): Did you experience any peer pressure or resistance from people that you trained under or trained with to not get involved with MMA?

Shawn Tompkins: Well, yeah, absolutely I did. There were people back then who felt it was the wrong thing to do and that it was bad for martial arts and that it was going to put the art further back as far as evolving. But I just stuck to my guns, much like I have for most of my martial arts career. I even opened up my own gym when I was 18 when everyone told me I was too young. I kind of have made a career of doing what people told me not to do and I’m proud that it worked out the way they it did and I think it’s things like that have helped me progress and be where I am today.

In Part I of our interview, Tompkins discussed the preparations he’s current making in getting four fighters ready for Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” on Jan. 24; his thoughts on whether Vitor Belfort has enough left to make a run a major middleweight title; and his feelings about famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach’s assessment of Fedor Emelianenko’s striking.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): You’re a pretty busy many these days as you are helping multiple fighters get ready for Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” on January 24. Can you talk a little more about that?

Shawn Tompkins: I’m in the middle of one of my biggest training camps that I have ever had to date. I’ve got Mark Hominick, Chris Horodecki, Jay Hieron, and Vitor Belfort all preparing for big fights on January 24 for the Affliction card. We’re full steam ahead and we’ve got about three weeks left as of today. It’s all going good and everyone is healthy, which is the key.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): Belfort is such an interesting case. He’s had so many ups and downs in his career and is a former UFC light heavyweight champion. He comes out of Brazil and trained there for years and I wanted to know how you came about working with him?

Shawn Tompkins: Vitor wanted to come out originally to work with Randy Couture because Vitor has really turned to religion and he really respected the way Randy carried himself as a human being.

Ultimately, that’s what made him decide to come to Las Vegas. At the time I was working with Wanderlei Silva and a couple of other Brazilians that I was starting out with as well and my success as an MMA coach got back to him. He had his management connect with me and we worked together for a couple of days and see if it would go together. We’ve worked great together ever since.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): Vitor has made the move to 185 and he’s still in his early 30s. However, he’s been in so many wars over the years that he might be old for his age and I wanted to ask if you felt if he has enough left in him to make a run at a middleweight title?

Shawn Tompkins: Absolutely. And I’ve been telling people this since the last Affliction card where everyone has been like “Wow, the old Vitor is back.” I truly believe that it’s not the old Vitor and it’s a brand new Vitor that is more determined and more motivated. I think the 185 pound division causes him to have to work harder between fights and maintain.

It’s also been a long time since Vitor has had a real team behind him. I think where Vitor went well in the past is that after he had some success — and this has happened many times with other fighters — he surrounded himself with people that just say “You’re the greatest! Everything you do is perfect! You’re good — you’re good” and they don’t push him. And they don’t set it up and he has to come into the gym and do what he has to do rather than what he wants to do. I think he’s really matured and changed in that way.

As far as his body holding up, he’s a physical specimen. He doesn’t carry his age through any of the wars that he’s had. Sure, he’s had some tough fights but I don’t think he’s had any wars that will feed on him later in his career.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): You mentioned Chris Horodecki at the top of the interview and he” be fighting Dan Lauzon on Jan. 24. He’s come out and promised a surprise for Lauzon and while I know you can’t give the surprise away, can you give us a hint as to what we can expect?

Shawn Tompkins: What people are going to see ultimately is a more well-rounded Chris Horodecki. He gained a huge fanbase during his IFL days but I was really doing Bas Rutten a favor by putting Chris Horodecki in there at such a young age. Obviously, it worked very well for Bas and I and Chris. But now since April we’ve had some time to really just sit down and focus more on his training and career and round him out more so that he’s not just a kickboxer.

He’s a great kickboxer but we really spent a lot of time on improving his ground game as far as his jiu-jitsu and his wrestling. If anybody looks at Dan Lauzon, that’s his strength. I think we’re doing a really good job with our training of Horodecki. He’s a great kid and he’s a single-minded person. He knows what he’s good at and he knows what he needs to get better at.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): Horodecki is one of the best fighters in the world under the age of 22, yet he’s got several years of experience. How young was he when he came to you?

Shawn Tompkins: Chris and I started working together when he was 12 years old. I tell people this a lot, and he does too, we’ve got a real father/son relationship. We’ve won together and we’ve lost together. So there’s nothing we haven’t seen and we both know that there’s a lot of room for improvement and I’m always very excited in his fight camp when I put them together because I take them very personal and I always like to see him improve.

Sam Caplan (FiveOuncesOfPain.com): The main event on that card is Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski and famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach recently broke down Fedor’s striking in an interview with SI.com. He specifically talked about how Fedor strikes from a flat footed position and he also indicated that he felt his aggressive nature could be used against him. What is your assessment of Fedor as a striker and do you agree with what Roach said?

Shawn Tompkins: First of all, I respect Freddie Roach more than any other trainer in the business and that’s in boxing and martial arts. When he says something it’s generally gold. But I will go against him in a way where he says Fedor’s punching isn’t technical and that it isn’t good because obviously, he’s the greatest. There are some cases with certain people that when everything they do wrong turns out right and that’s what you have in Fedor.

As far as an aggressive nature with Arlovski, I think that’s a positive for Fedor. If you look at the past with Arlovski, when he doesn’t do well is when he gets hit and gets hurt and that’s when Arlovski falls a part. He’s a very confidence-driven fighter. He needs to be winning in order to do well and look good.

I just can’t see Arlovski winning the fight. I think it’s a really bad fight for him but I think it’s a fight that he has to do. Best of luck to him, obviously, and I think Freddie Roach is a great trainer and I have respect for him at the upmost but I just don’t think he understands Fedor like the rest of us in the MMA game do.

EliteXC: Return of the King is featuring some pretty bangin’ fights like Nick Diaz vs. Muhsin Corbbrey, heavyweight prospect Dave Herman taking on Ron Waterman, Rafael Feijao clashing with Wayne Cole, and of course the title fight between K.J. Noons and Yves Edwards. Oh, and don’t forget Kala Kolohe is fighting on the undercard as well so there should be some pretty damn good fights on this card. Here’s a little preview to whet your appetite.

There was so much MMA action from this past weekend that I am still catching up. The problem though is that this sport never stops. There really is little time to play catchup because each day brings a whole new list of to-dos.

I was able to watch Eddie Alvarez vs. Andre Dida from DREAM.1, Phil Baroni vs. Kala Kolohe Hose at ICON Sport, and Jake Rosholt vs. Chad Jay from the Xtreme Fighting League.

I’ll start with Alvarez vs. Dida. I felt it was a great match and I was really impressed with Alvarez’s performance. It was kind of strange seeing Alvarez fight as such a light weight. I don’t remember seeing him that small before but he looked good. Alvarez showed some very good wrestling skill in the fight and his takedowns were solid. He also showed a strong chin in that he took several big shots from Dida and was able to maintain.

It wasn’t a flawless performance though as I felt he missed some opportunities to execute an armbar and a couple of rear naked chokes. Alvarez’s punching was solid but not quite as accurate as it normally is. There really aren’t many fighters with better technical boxing than Alvarez so I hold him to a different standard.

All in all though, it was a great lightweight debut for Alvarez and he definitely has a huge future at 155-160 lbs. It was a strong win against a a top guy in Dida.

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