BJ Penn belt taken, Mister Miyagi and Chopsticks

This post is NOT a Jackie Chan UFC crossover! I’ve missed a lot of UFC lately and and so have lost touch with whats being happening. Today I managed to catch some fights from UFC 112. BJ Penn lost his belt to Frankie Edgar and was taken down, for the first time in six years at lightweight! Amazing!

Penn v Sanchez

Watching the fight it became apparent that Penn was trying to counter strike Edgar, similar to the tactic employed, to great effect, against Sanchez. Trouble is that Edgar moves completely differently to Sanchez. Sanchez came in at Penn with a regular timing/beat and Penn was able to easily read this and pick him off at will.

Even before Penn cut Sanchez’s head in half, Sanchez’s face was swollen and beaten, while Penn was pretty much unmarked. Not so against Edgar, if anything Penn, certainly by the end, had more marks than Edgar. Furthermore, as mentioned, Edgar was able to take Penn down, not just once but twice!

The difference between the two fights was that Penn was unable to counter anything like as successfully as usual because Edgar was too awkward. Not only was he moving his head as well as his feet a lot, but his rhythm was not regular, he was moving with broken timing.

Edgar defeats Penn

Between round one and two Edgar’s corner told him to keep changing his head movement so that he didn’t just move forward and back but also laterally. From then on Penn was struggling to get Edgar. Sure he caught him occasionally but not often. Edgar moves well and is quick on his feet, really quick. He manages to throw shots from unusual angles because of his movement and because of his irregular timing it seems to be a bit like tracking a fly. Or trying to catch a fly with chopsticks!

A well deserved victory for Edgar and certainly not what I was expecting to see. I really like the counter attack style Penn uses, particularly when it comes off so well as it did against Sanchez.

Miyagi tries for the fly

Coupled with his movement Sanchez just couldn’t get a shot on target or get out of the way. But against Edgar it failed. Edgar was in constant motion and very difficult to counter on because his timing kept changing and he was able to hit as he was moving in/out and left/right.

Edgar’s broken rhythm, his quick feet, great head movement and ability to throw punches wherever he was meant that Penn ended up like Mr Myagi from the Karate Kid; tracking and trying to catch a fly with chopsticks!

GSP v Hardy

UFC 111 - GSP v Hardy

After the rather unexciting fight card of UFC 110 this weekend’s event features a Welterweight title fight between Canadian  George St.Pierre and Dan Hardy from Nottingham. On the surface it seems as though Hardy will simply be just another victim for GSP, as he is relatively untested in the UFC. But Hardy is dangerous, he’s an athletic busy fighter, very strong standing up with plenty KO power. He has spent time training with Freddie Roach to improve his ‘hands’, and by the looks of it his timing too. He has also shown he is patient and calm under pressure, winning a number of fights by decision.

Hardy seems to think GSP will go ‘hard at it’ until he gets hit with something too big to handle. Hardy likes to trash talk and says he likes to let his opponent know he’s up for the fight and the night won’t be easy. This has worked before, he certainly had Marcus Davies rattled pre-fight, but interestingly Hardy reckons that GSP has got in his own head. I think GSP is far too cool to be affected by any trash talk, and with experience on his side is pretty unlikely to under any more pressure than before.

St.Pierre says he’ll be taking the fight to Hardy, dictating the pace and won’t be taking punches to land his own. That will be difficult standing up as Hardy is very good and can trouble GSP, if he decides to keep it standing. If Hardy has in him trouble he’ll switch to wrestling.

Hardy’s groundwork is a bit of a mystery, although he has spent time training with Eddie Bravo he is unlikely to be able to cope with GSP on the floor. St.Pierre, despite losing to them first time round, was able to easily take down both Matt Hughes (excellent wrestler) and Matt Serra (BJJ black belt), dominating them both. Hardy won’t be in the same league as these two on the ground and so shouldn’t be too much trouble for GSP in that respect.

While Hardy has been consulting Serra for tips, his chance lies in his stand up skill and KO power, which is better than Serra’s. Obviously he has to avoid being taken down and get up if he does. GSP learned the lesson of underestimating an opponent (first fight with Serra) and says he isn’t doing so with Hardy but in the same article he talks of winning in a ‘beautiful fashion’. If he gets caught up in attempting to win with beautiful technique he’s playing with fire. He won’t be able to toy with Hardy in the stand up, if he starts going for the lovely roundhouse KO, Hardy will be in with a very good chance. But he’d better take that chance sharpish as GSP will switch to a ground strategy which will most likely be too much for Hardy.

Thiago Alves

Alves v Koscheck

I like Thiago Alves, he is an aggressive fighter with excellent strikes and kicks. As such he is exciting to watch. Early in his career he was submitted a couple of times but has hugely improved his takedown defence as he showed against former champion Matt Hughes and earlier against Karo Parisyan. Fighting out of American Top Team Alves trains regularly with exceptional BJJ fighters and has clearly developed in this regard. Alves likes to uses his striking skills as part of his takedown defence, anyone shooting in on him can expect knee strikes!

Alves has excellent leg kicks which he uses to reduce the mobility of opponents, apparent against Koschek who received plenty on the way to a unanimous decision. On the ground Alves likes to get back up again, a simple tactic but ideal as he really is a great stand up fighter. Against Hughes and others, when in the opponent’s guard Alves strikes, viciously negating the other fighters BJJ game, at least to an extent.

Alves prevents a takedown against Hughes

This approach has got him to number one contender in the welterweight division, he has won his last seven fights. In UFC 100 Alves fights GSP for the title in a great match up. While not as all-rounded as GSP, Alves will pose a significant problem for him, clearly he will want a stand up battle, while GSP can fight standing he likes to bash ‘em up a bit on the floor, his takedowns are exceptional these days.

On the face of it Alves will try to spoil takedown attempts and any ground strategy GSP may have with intense striking and keep it stand up. His vicious kicks, with both knee and shin will definitely give St. Pierre problems if he lands them, while his strikes are equally as dangerous.

GSP will try to use his slick transitions between the fighting phases to wear Alves down and dominate him, probably through ground and pound and variations of it, he likes to use knee strikes to the body on the ground. He sets up his takedowns beautifully and has great success against fantastic wrestlers and BJJ fighters, it maybe more difficult against Alves as he only really wants to defend takedowns, this may be a factor.

Will the Alves’ tactic of spoil and strike be enough to stop GSP’s fluid all-round fighting style? GSP tends to come into the octagon with a strictly designed game plan for each fight; he may use something different to what I suggest, we will see at UFC 100, July 11th