Stand-Up Fights are Not What MMA is About
By: Reverend Turk Vangel Posted On: December 19, 2009 at 11:44pm
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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Comments
What’s even more ridiculous is that one of the most common complaints when it comes to losing fighters is “he doesn’t have a ground game”. Gee, maybe he would if he ever saw on on TV.
The whole notion that somehow Frank Shamrock is simply dodging a fight is ludacris. Frank is trying to help build a promotion from the ground up as well as realisticly compete with the juggernaut that is the UFC. The only way this is ever going to be accomplished is through ratings. Frank’s job at this point in his career is to create ratings, and he knows how to do just that. He’s not after the title anymore as he’s held every title there is for him to hold, he’s got more than enough money to live comfortably on so it’s not even about the money. He’s fought everyone that has been put in front of him through his entire career, be it Tito Ortiz, Bas Rutten, Jeremy Horn, or even Cesar Gracie.
The man has more awards, trophies, belts, titles, and accolades than anyone in the history of the sport, so at this point there is nothing left to go after from a personal standpoint. He also holds more submission wins than he does total losses, so it’s not even about him simply wanting a stand up battle. He’s after the ratings that are going to help build Strikeforce into a legit competitor. The whole battle of striking vs submission can be left to the remaining roster who is there for the money, the titles, or the fame.
While there is an emphasis put on knock outs by the main stream media, it’s not as if those who actually support the sport through their ticket buys, ppv buys, and merch buys aren’t well aware that it takes all forms to keep the sport going. They’re just as excited be it a KO of the night or a Sub of the night, but if the MSM wants to keep reporting on the striking aspect of it, by all means let them keep talking, as they’re at least keeping the sport in the spotlight and that’s something it desperately needs right now if they plan on competing with the likes of Boxing and even to a lesser extent professional wrestling.
Mr. Vangel,
Next time use a spell checker before you publish your articles. You typed “Frnak Shamrock”.
Does anyone care what Frank Shamrock thinks? He’s lucky to still be fighting at all.
I’m not changing plans to catch his next bout. I’d rather be at work, or getting eye surgery or buying tampons for my lady.
always nice to have the grammar police hunt you down
@Jennifer
Strikeforce does not allow elbows to the head, putting the better fighter, the one who got the take down and achieved top position on his opponent in a position of less power than in any other organization.
With elbows you only need 10 to 14 inches to do damage and it is a lot easier to keep control.
If you have to create distance to throw punches, the bottom man can re -open the battle for control.
Shields landed 109 punches to Millers 36, 109 elbows, without having to continously fight for control would have been 9 straight fineshes .
Frank has lost 3 of the 4 fights since his “come back” in 2007, he called 3 fights where Shields finished all opponents, a top 5 MW a top 10 and a top 20 WW’s. Frank has not fought a top 40 fighter since he came back to make some money NOT to fight Champions.