Antoni Hardonk: Fighter of the Night

There is no disputing that UFC 92 changed the landscape of two divisions, and set the stage for two title fights. It seemed almost locked, at this point, that the UFC lightheavyweight title fight will be between Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans and the UFC heavyweight unification bout will also be the second installment of Lesnar vs. Mir. Neither of those are going to be tough sells to the casual fan (though, as someone who’s not really a casual fan, it is going to be a tough sell for me, but that’s a longer story).

What shocked me last night was not the upsets, not even Mir putting Nog out (at Nog’s age and, given his health and vision issues, it was going to happen at some point, and it ended up being sooner rather than later). It was not Evans beating Griffin, since we all knew that the capacity was there. It was the discovery that a Dutch kickboxer went out and got a ground game.

I never imagined being impressed by Antoni Hardonk’s guard, and I certainly never imagined taking a moment to defend his jiu-jitsu, but when a fighter who has never even looked impressive on the ground comes out and controls an opponent in the guard, takes the back and finishes from a solid mount, his game requires a second look.

Now, it is blackbelt level jiu-jitsu? No, not at all, but when we acknowledge that his problem has always been his jiu-jitsu, a dramatic improvement in his submission game would seriously improve his position in the heavyweight division. Beating Eddie Sanchez and an unknown former football player (as opposed to a known former football player like the guy with the heavyweight title). He’s 4-2 in the UFC (Kongo, by contrast, is 6-2, though he’s never been finish), which is not particularly impressive, but, at the same time, it shows potential.

He’s been finished by a guy who’s fighting for a heavyweight title, which I’d imagine lends a little to his resume, but when we acknowledge that his only major fight has been a loss by submission, it makes it hard to really call him a top tier fight. So I won’t.

Hardonk’s evolution is interesting because it puts him in the position to gain that top tier status. Whether he has a blackbelt in jiu-jitsu or not, the fact that his ground game has become a threat to anyone who doesn’t respect it makes Hardonk a threat to anyone who thinks that just grappling with him is a legitimate gameplan. There are plenty of great strikers in the division (especially with the addition of Patrick Berry), but Hardonk can keep up with the best of those guys, but now he doesn’t need to.

Every fighter at the top of that division, with the exception of (maybe) Cheick Kongo, is on a lower plane in the standup. Even the guys that we respect as strikers (Gabriel Gonzaga, Nogueira and now, perhaps, Frank Mir) have a complete inability to throw legkicks the way that Hardonk does. They all lack the clinch game Hardonk showed last night and, in point of fact, so does Kongo.

A survivalist guard is not a revelation, but it’s an improvement; a basic sit out to taking the back is a move that a bluebelt in jiu-jitsu (which Hardonk is) should know. In training with Rickson Gracie, Hardonk is showing a desire to push himself as an MMA fighter, to develop his all around game, and if he starts to develop some wresting (to keep him off of the ground with the really good jiu-jitsu guys) and furthers his submission and position game, he’s going to be a tough matchup for anyone in the heavyweight division.