Sunday, 24 July 2011

Making The Cut: The Advantages of Being The Biggest Loser

Almost every competitor in weight classed sports cuts weight, be it from boxers, to wrestlers and yes of course mixed martial artists. There are many sceptics on the art of weight cutting, yes people call it an art because it takes skill; knowledge and a whole lot of practice, but you will realize that if done right the advantages are with out question worth it. 

There was a question I touched on in the introduction of this topic, “Why would a fighter cut weight?” Well for people that do not compete in weight classed events they tend to think that this is not a very intelligent thing to do if you consider all the risks involved. Let me explain it to you like this, in MMA there are weight limits for certain classes and since the object of a weight class is to be the strongest and the heaviest in that particular class, athletes devised a plan to do so. This of course is achieved by cutting your weight down to a lower class only to add it back after the weigh ins.

It must be noted that for the most effective weight cuts, weigh ins should be performed the day before to give the fighter about 20 – 30 hours to recover and return to full strength.

Size

One of the most obvious advantages is size because it is easily visible to the naked eye. If weight cutting is done correctly that person should visibly be larger than a person who cut less or even did not cut at all.

“So what does this all mean in terms of MMA?” You may ask. Well it is pretty basic, besides the obvious intimidation factor that a person is likely to have, there should be a great advantage in three other areas namely the clinch; wrestling (take downs); and the ground game.

Size usually helps with defence, as trying to keep control of a bigger person and put on submissions such as a triangle from your guard is tougher on a bigger framed person than a person with the same strength but smaller stature. Even if the smaller person gets top position, it is drastically more difficult to keep a larger man on his back and prevent him from getting to his feet.  It is basically the same for the clinch, where you would exert more energy on trying to keep a bigger person immobile, be it in the centre of the cage or be it up against it, size plays a big role , pardon the pun. In terms of wrestling, ask anyone who has tried  to take down a significantly larger opponent it feels like their sprawl is going to squash you. 

Strength  

Here is one of the  main reasons why most fighters cut weight, to be stronger than your opponent. This needs no explanation as you would hit harder, clinch tighter, throw and  take down the person way easier. In terms of the ground game, you will be able to power out of submissions and crank them with even more power and ease.

It may only be an advantage in two areas but these two areas play a major role in which way the fight will go. No matter how you think about it, all things being equal, being the bigger and stronger person you should win the fight.

So the question now arises about people that are naturally small in stature, what should they do seen as though they make featherweight without cutting weight. Well the answer is get bigger, hit the gym push weights and even the playing field. It is actually easier to get bigger than it is to cut weight but this has to be done right else there will be severe consequences, all of this will be dealt with in the article about hints and tips on weight cutting.

Now you asking well if I am going to be way bigger and stronger then I might as well go ahead and cut as much as I can for my fight. This happens especially to misguided amateurs and this could be very dangerous without the correct knowledge. So the next post will be detailing the disadvantages of cutting weight, be it too much weight or incorrectly cutting weight it will be dealt with.

Thanks for reading, be sure to follow us on Twitter @OffTheRecordMMA and on Facebook just add us as a friend.   

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

Making The Cut: Is it Really Worth It

One of the biggest questions of MMA is, “What weight should I fight at?” Well after a series of these articles we hope to enlighten the public on the advantages; disadvantages; myths; misconceptions on the topic and some hints and tips to try and become the biggest loser. Let us get started.

Firstly let us set out all the weight divisions currently at a professional level in South Africa:
·         Featherweight < 66kg
·         Lightweight < 70kg
·         Welterweight < 77kg
·         Middleweight < 84kg
·         Light-Heavyweight < 94kg
·         Heavyweight < 120kg

I have heard a lot of dramatic stories about weight cuts, for example there was once an MMA athlete that in the middle of a match, he just stopped fighting and obviously lost by TKO. Apparently he had gone blind during the fight, afterwards the doctors confirmed that this was apparently due to him cutting so much water that he eventually lost nutrients and that lead to him losing his eye sight. Thankfully he had only lost it temporarily.

Now the regular person's question right now would by, “why would you want to cut weight”. The answer is actually pretty simple, for a size and strength advantage. But the problem arises when some people are natural small or have no fat too burn and therefore having to burn muscle and that could have the adverse of the desired affect.

So is it actually worth it to make the cut, well let us look at the UFC Kenny Florian, he entered the UFC fighting at middleweight 185lbs, about 84kg, and kept cutting and now he is currently the number one contender at the featherweight division, 145lbs or 66kg. In Florian's case the more weight he cuts the more successful he becomes. But there has been numerous occasions where fighters were unable to make the desired cut due to the fact that it was too large or they made the cut and it had undesired effects which shall be discussed in the forthcoming articles.

This was just an introductory article to prepare you for the articles to come, you could refer to it as an agenda for the near future.
So the next articles will be done in this order:
·         Advantages
·         Disadvantages
·         Myths and Misconceptions
·         Fighters' and Trainers'
·         Hints and Tips accompanied by the conclusion


 
The next articles will be up soon, to stay up to date with SA MMA news follow us on Twitter @OffTheRecordMMA and add us as a friend on Facebook. Till next time keep supporting one of the fastest growing sports in South Africa.


Wednesday, 13 July 2011

EFC Africa 09: Review and Talking Points Fight 8 - 13

Before it becomes old news lets proceed with the rest of the action of EFC 09. This is what some may call the business end. So lets get started

Fight 8: Botes v Strauss

Here were the big boys, everyone was expecting a huge knockout well why else would they have put these guys on the card right because the chances of them starting a super heavy division are very 'slim'. In any case these big guys started off with a bang. Botes landed a leg kick and dropped Strauss, he then proceed with some big ground and pound. It ended not to long after that by Strauss verbally submitting to what seemed like an elbow being dug in to the face or neck area. First time I have ever seen that but yet again that was the first time I've seen a 150kg odd man try it.

Rumour has it that Strauss will be dropping to heavyweight soon and I wish him all the best at the lighter division.

Fight 9: Kabulu v Mynhardt

I was actually really looking forward to this fight, had all the ingredients of being a big one. This was a true stand up war, Mynhardt had early success with some nasty leg kicks that kept chopping away at Kabulu's base. Mynhardt was by far the cleaner striker of the night but he did struggle to land his trademark spinning back kicks and spinning back fists. Kabulu actually caught Mynhardt a couple times, whilst he was attempting the spinning back kick, by clasping on a back clinch from where in my opinion he should have taken it to the ground, where he won his last fight I may add.

By the second round Mynhardt was putting on a striking clinic which was devastating Kabulu which was  evident that he was out on his feet. Kabulu's corner should have called it by the end of the second round and if not them at least the referee should have had something to say about it.'

Mynhardt entered the third round pretty much the same as the rest, with some aggressive striking, he ended the fight with a crisp combination that you would usually see on focus mitts.

Well done to Leon but this fight lasted way to long and Kabulu could have really been hurt.

Fight 10: Van Zyl v Mikixi

To the confusion of many Mikixi entered this fight wearing an oxygen deprivation mask, anyway lets get to the action. When Mikixi is involved you know there is gonna be some massive striking. There was some heavy leather thrown early on in the fight, Mikixi should some impressive Judo with a hip toss but Van Zyl got up pretty quick. Mikixi landed a few clean punches but there was one overhand right which landed flush that had the crowd saying "ooooh", but Van Zyl did not seem phased by the punch.

The fight was ended in the second when Van Zyl got a swift take down and transitioned swiftly from side control to mount and won by ground and pound.

After that convincing victory Van Zyl is primed to be the number one contender in the heavy weight division

Fight 11: Gloss v Weyer

This was the fight where boxers took it to the cage. This fight started very fast paced, the first round was very evenly match with Weyer landing a 3 punch combination that Gloss seemed to shake off. Weyer managed to land take downs but was not able to capitalise as the veteran kept him immobile from the bottom.

As the fight wore on Gloss seemed to be getting the better of the exchanges and Weyer's take down attempts became more and more pre-meditated so Gloss had no problem employing the sprawl and brawl tactic. There was a situation where Weyer got rocked by Gloss and thought the fight was going to be over but Silky Smoothe managed to stay alive in the bout.

You can't help but think if the result would have been different if  Weyer had a few more fights under his belt before going to challenge South Africa's best ranked featherweight.

Surely This fight puts Gloss in title contention seen as though he is undefeated in has past 6 outings.

Fight 12: Cleland v Smith

There was a lot of hype surrounding this fight as Smith, rated by many as South Africa's best pound for pound fighter, was making his EFC debut and against the only person who had beaten him. Cleland's tactic was obvious, get the fight to the ground and submit, where as Smith preferred to keep the fight standing where he had the obvious advantage.

Smith had the better of the exchanges and was the stronger of the two fighters which was evident when it came to the clinch and the wrestling aspects. The fight was ended a tic before the end of the round when Cleland shot in for the take down and was met with a devastating knee followed by some typical "Pitbull" ground and pound.

The talking point of this fight actually came after the final bell where Smith was named as the next contender for the Middleweight title. Firstly Smith had just entered the organization so I'm sure they could have gotten a little more mileage out of him before offering him a title shot but nevertheless he has one now.

Upon the announcement of the fight the current champion, Gareth Mclellan, was in the ring and was asked about his thoughts on Smith where he commended his middleweight counter part and ended with something along the lines of which 'you had never fought a fighter like me', which may have been taken out of context by the Pitbull as he replied "cute, you are just keeping the title warm for me".

I don't know about you guys but I'm excited for that title fight, it is rumoured to be on the main card of EFC 11 which is tipped to be in November this year.

Fight 13: Wessels v Potts Heavyweight Title

The highly anticipated main event had it all, some stand up, BJJ and some ground and pound. The grappling expert, Potts showed some of his jiu-jitsu prowess with some quick transitions and a few submission attempts but The Chef managed to avoid them all and get back to his feet. 

In round 2 Wessels seemed to have more spring in his step than Potts, as he seemed to be tiring. Wessels connected with a mean teep kick that shook Potts as a result Wessels seemed to take that round decisively.

Entering the third round Potts seemed to be really struggling to catch his breath as Wessels still had a spring in his step so most were expecting domination from Wessels but that was not the case. Potts managed to catch Wessels with a standing elbow which severely cut the champion and from then Potts threw a flurry of punches without abandon. Even though not many of them landed, Potts managed to take the fight to the ground and through some strikes from the top and eventually ended on Wessels' back where he managed to ground and pound to victory.

Potts seemed to fatigue rather quickly, maybe it was the altitude for the Cape Town-ian but regardless he did manage to get the W and move to  an impressive 12 - 0

Closing Point



It was a really great event well done to the EFC team my only concern was that it took way too long and in my opinion had 2 fights too many. That cage also looked rather slippery, which does not only make for annoying viewing as seeing fighters slide around is not entertaining, but also is very dangerous for the fighters in the cage.

I am excited for EFC 10 as we will have a welterweight packed main card which promises to be pure entertainment as the Title will be on the line and also the KO special Bagattin is taking on The Punisher and the both seem fired up for the event.

Till next time thanks for reading and keep supporting local MMA, it is the fastest growing sport for a reason.

Tuesday, 12 July 2011

EFC Africa 09: Review and Talking Points Fight 1 - 7

So before we all forget about the last event let us discuss all the talking points. I would like to start off by saying this was by far the most impressive showing of mixed martial arts I have seen in South Africa, I was thoroughly impressed. Lets get started

Fight 1: Rightfod v Makuebo

This was a fairly even match in my opinion, the fact that Rightford received a majority decision victory surprised me. He had some good striking but Makuebo also got a couple in and he had more take downs to take control of the action so I say Makuebo should have won that fight at least by a split decision. But hey it was the judges call and the consensus is to never leave it to them, and with good reason.

Fight 2 Calvert v Groth

After a lot of pre-fight chatter, this fight was set up to be a war. It started off a good exchange where Groth was the aggressor but Calvert did land a few counter punches. Calvert managed to win the round in my opinion due to his superior take down and complete domination in the ground game. So a betting man would have said Calvert would have just taken the fight to the ground and smothered Groth for a victory in the second round.

But in the second round Groth managed to keep the fight standing by avoiding a take down. He dominated the round with some crisp striking even though he got carried away at times, it seemed as if Calvert began to give up in his head though and the fight was ended with a beautiful combination by Groth that was climaxed with a left hook to the body.

You can't help but feel sorry for one of the hardest working men in MMA, Calvert, but I guess it happens sometimes, there was some trouble for him making the cut to lightweight because he was already a very lean welterweight and there was also some chatter about him having a flu.

Great debut for Groth though some impressive striking ground game needs a little work, would love to see him back in the cage ASAP.
This was also the KO of the night and much deserved too.

Fight 3: Scheepers v Ahana

Scheepers  started this fight well with some quality and measured striking but he quickly abandoned the idea of the low kick after he hurt is his right foot. Scheepers started the fight well with some calculated strikes but Ahana kept it close as well until later in the second round and Scheepers "the brawler" came out to play. Later in the fight Scheepers seemed to be throwing all he had to Ahana but just could not finish, he landed flush with a couple of shots that rang Ahana's bell but to the surprise of everyone the lanky Nigerian would not quit.

Scheepers adds some much needed depth to the light heavyweight division, with the striking he showed it gonna be interesting to see how his next opponent will deal with him.

Fight 4: Henderson v Vapi

Hendereson entered this fight on a losing streak against the big striking of  Vapi so no prizes for guessing Henderson's game plan for this one. It ended fairly quickly with Henderson getting the take down and ending the fight with a rear naked choke in the 1st.

The talking point of this fight was that this was Henderson's 1st win in a while and he decided to call out The Jedi Josh Muller suggesting that Henderson will going down and trying his luck at welterweight.

Fight 5: Nel v Da Silva

Nel coming off losing his title came back with avengence, he started with a nice take down he kept top position for a while but Da Silva, after making the cut from welterweight, managed to power out and reverse the position. Nel showed some quality wrestling as he managed to regain top position and control Da Silva from powering out. 

Nel ended up on Da Silva's back and managed to ground and pound his way to victory, there was some suspicion of strikes to the back of the head but the referee didn't call it, good victory for Nel, knowing that he would rather not exchange strikes with 'Loco' himself.

Nel is also flirting with the idea of going down to the featherweight division, with wrestling that he portrayed at this past event you can't help but already put him in the mix at the lighter division.

Fight 6: Nzirawa v Griessel

Griessel managed to keep the distance between him and 'Superman' as short as possible even taking him down. Griessel maintained top position even though it was in  Nzirawa's guard he kept pounding away and managed to avoid a couple of kimura attempts. The thing thing that impressed me was that Griessel kept Nzirawa against the cage making it tough for the Kimura favouring fighter to put on a submission or to take the fight back to his feet. All in all a well deserved unanimous decision victory win for Griesssel.

Fight 7: Momah v Van Staden

This fight was kind of mind boggling for me because Momah was light enough to be a lightweight and is fighting a rather big welterweight. As expected Van Staden dominated the noticeably smaller by over powering him in the stand up exchange and eventually winning by ground and pound.

Amusing entrance with him coming out tweeting, it will be interesting to see whether he will be coming out with such confidence against Bagattin at EFC

This is the first of 2 installments of  a planned write up on EFC09, the second shall follow soon.





Sunday, 10 July 2011

State of The Sport Address

Hi everyone, this is our debut blog lets hope it goes well and all constructive criticism and comments are welcome. Right off the bat I would like to state that this is going to be an unbiased blog that intends on spreading the news on South African Mixed Martial Arts.
To be honest South African Mixed Martial Arts has a long way to go, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Think about it this way, there have been alot of mistakes made in the sport even by the biggest organisations and seen as though we are sometime behind we can learn from those mistakes before we even make them. 



How far behind are we actually? In my opinion I think we would be internationally competitive by the end of 2015 so that is about give or take  four and a half years. To put that into numbers that means all the people who are going to be professionals by the end of this year will have had between 16 and 20 fights by the end of 2015, assuming of course they fight between 4 to 5 times a year barring injuries.



So the next logical question would be to ask where would MMA in South Africa be by the end of 2015. Right now EFC Africa has all the lion's share of the market. Seen as though we have already seen some of FightForce fighters compete in the EFC we could be seeing  the amalgamation of the two organisations where the "old" FightForce would be controlling the Durban scene and the EFC the Gauteng and Cape Town market.

All in all I am truly excited for the future just look at EFC09 the extent of which MMA has improved is truly mind blowing. Coming up will be an EFC09 write up and thoughts on the amateur seen.

Thank you for reading my debut blog please let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @OffTheRecordMMA and look for us on Facebook. You better bring you shades because the future is looking bright.