Stand-Up Fights are Not What MMA is About
Stand-Up Fights are Not What MMA is About
Today in an interview with Fight Magazine Frank Shamrock (22-9-1) stated “I don’t want to fight Jake Shields because he has no personality, he’s a boring fighter, and when he got on to CBS, and it was his chance to be a star, he leg humped ["Mayhem" Jason Miller] all night long, and killed our ratings. That’s why I don’t want to fight Jake Shields“.
Frank seems to be looking for an exciting stand up war which casual fans seems to thirst for today. I feel the most exciting fights are ones where we see the actual definition of mixed martial arts. The continued rise of this sport and the very future of it depends upon fighters and promoters working to show what a true mixed martial artist is and not focusing on only one aspect of that,specifically the stand up wars.
I noticed that many times during a pay per view we get to see the knock out of the night even when it is not a main card fight. Seldom to we get to see the submission of the night when it is an under card fight. This is a travesty to the sport. We can’t continue to promote the sport, the fighters and the evolution of it while focusing on the stand up aspect and essentially ignoring the other aspects.
Promoters tout mixed martial arts as the combination of boxing, muay thai, kick boxing,wrestling and jiu jitsu. This is the evolution of the sport. We see fighters working hard to evolve into complete mixed martial artists. Guys like Fighters.com and UFC lightweight champion “The Prodigy” BJ Penn (12-4-1) and UFC welterweight champion “Rush” Georges St. Pierre (19-2). Yet it is the strikers that are getting the biggest headlines in the national media.
On ESPN’s website today we see former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le. A man highly touted yet has faced not one top tier middleweight. He is known for his striking and this gets him publicity. That and his new found movie career. I would much rather see fighters such as Strikeforce interim lightweight champion “El Nino” Gilbert Melendez (14-2) and “Cowboy” Donald Cerrone (9-2) get publicity. Both of these men train hard to become well rounded. Cowboy is known as a submission fighter but has worked hard recently to clean up his stand up. This is what the sport is all about.
Spike TV has done a great job of promoting mma but look at one of the shows they like to run, Ultimate Knock Outs. This is run over and over while Ultimate Submissions is a show I have never seen. We seem to be promoting the stand up and ignoring the ground game. It is an injustice to pander to the new fans who tune in to watch someone get knocked out using the four once gloves. I understand that many new fans want to see a knock out but it is our job to make sure we educate them and a show like Ultimate Submissions would do just that. When watching the reruns of fights on Spike, instead of showing us a fight with great stand up I say show us a fight with great transitions. Maybe then we will see a fight go to the ground and not have to listen to fans boo even while one fighter is passing guard.
This education of fans is also a responsibility fighters must take seriously. Frank is dodging a fight because he feels it would not be exciting. It is the fighters job to work to be the best and in doing so one must take fights that put them against the best. Even if a fight may end up being a fight like we saw when Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields (24-4-1) took on “Mayhem” Jason Miller (22-7). The fight was a five round wrestling match with Jake doing very little striking and Mayhem unable to look for subs due to the great top control of Shields. There will be times when these things happen. Fighters seem to be more worried about how they look in the cage then if they win or lose. How many times do you see a fighter lose and then ask the crowd if they enjoyed the fight? Yes, promote yourself but let’s allow our sport to turn into a Jorge Gurgel (12-4)
Jorge is a black belt in jiu jitsu yet has decided to put all that aside to be an “exciting fighter” who focuses on stand up. This has led to him being cut from the UFC due to loses. Jorge may have the ability to be a top lightwieght fighter but it is his insistence on putting on a show that has been his downfall. Do not abandon one aspect of this amazing sport just to be exciting. Seasoned mma fans know and new fans will find out that the most exciting fights are the ones that transition from stand up, to wrestling , to jiu jitsu and then back to the feet. Fights such as Fighters.com ninth ranked light heavyweight “Axe Murder” Wanderlei Silva (15-1) versus Hidehiko Yoshida (9-6-1) or Fighters.com third ranked light heavyweight “Shogun” Mauricio Rua (18-4) versus fourth ranked heavyweight “Lil Nog” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1).
We can use knock outs to bring people new fans to the sport but without educating them ikn all aspects of the sport fighters like Frnak Shamrock will continue to refuse fights they don’t feel will be exciting and we could miss the next Shogun versus Lil Nog fight. There comes a time when one needs to shut up, step inside the cage and let his skills speak for themselves and the fans will surely be pleased.
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