All Entries in the "MMA" Category
Jones and Bader in the Lightheavyweight Ladder
With Jon Jones (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC, #8 IWMMAR) announcing that he was going to fight the winner of the UFC 119 co-main event fight between Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC, #7 IWMMAR) and Ryan Bader (11-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) on Inside MMA, there’s a clear intent to put Jones into position to [...]
The Wrestler’s Dilemma and the Athletic Component
After UFC 118, a number of people started talking about something that I’ve been talking about with a few other writers for some time: the role of wrestling in MMA. One of those writers published an interesting piece on the role that wrestling plays in undermining British fighters, as they can’t defend the takedown. I [...]
Edgar vs. Maynard II
More and more, the UFC’s lightweight division starts to look like the welterweight division, with an upper echelon comprised largely of wrestlers. While there’s obviously a difference stylistically between the way that Frankie Edgar (13-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC, #1 IWMMAR) fights and the way that George St. Pierre (20-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC, #1 IWMMAR) does. [...]
James Toney, Comedy and Metaphor
James Toney (0-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) looked, last night, like he took a page out of the Gabe Ruediger (17-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC) Big Book of Diet Tips. He looked out-of-shape, but worse than that, he displayed some of the worst grappling since… well… since the last time a professional boxer stepped into the UFC. [...]
The Brazilian Tap and the Need for a Rematch
After he spent four rounds dominating the consensus pound-for-pound king, Chael Sonnen (24-11-1 MMA, 4-4 UFC, #2 IWMMAR) made a mistake. He let an arm slip out of the guard and got caught in a triangle. It happens to plenty of great fighters, and doesn’t diminish the dominance he had earlier in the fight, which [...]
Alves, Floyd and the Scale
There is going to be a lot of discussion behind the scenes at the UFC about the importance of Thiago Alves (16-7 MMA, 9-3 UFC, #3 IWMMAR) missing weight. I care less about that than many of the other writers. It’s hard to see Alves being considered a serious force in the welterweight division long [...]
UFC 117 Video
There’s a lot of stuff going on back stage this week at MMAOpinion, I’ll talk about it more when the dust settles. But in the meantime, I figured it was worth posting what is, statistically, the most popular part of the site. Enjoy the video. Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen (Part 1 and Part 2) [...]
Women’s Independent MMA Rankings: July, 2010
The July 2010 Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings have been released. These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple MMA web sites, as well as www.IndependentWorldMMARankings.com. The members of the voting panel for the Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings are, in alphabetical order: Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jim Genia [...]
On the Heavyweight Division: Lesnar, Fedor and What’s Next
The heavyweight division is a beautiful mess. There can be little dispute that the international heavyweight division is the best it has ever looked. In the wake of the first loss of an iconic fighter in Fedor Emelianenko (32-2-1 MMA, #2 IWMMAR) in almost a decade and the rise of a new heavyweight champion in [...]
