Lei Tong

Frank Mir - I don't think Mir has the takedowns nor gas tank to pose much threat to Andrei. Tim Sylvia - Not as well rounded a striker or overall fighter as AA, but is big, can punch straight and punch hard. Has as decent as anyone in the UFC. Assuerio Silva - Relatively well-rounded, but his lack of any one strong area in his game(that and the Overeem match is still fresh in my mind) makes me think he's not up to the task. Brandon Vera - Gives up too much size and has yet to show he could handle the striknig pressure AA would bring. However, he's technically proficient enough that I'd say he could give a good showing while it lasts. Branden Lee Hinkle - Overrated wrestler whom has presumably sold his soul to the devil to get some mainstream recognition. Marcio "Pe de Pano" Cruz - A less athletic, less experienced version of Mir, sans the average takedowns. Theoretically, he could eventually build on his BJJ base and become a decent fighter, but I'm not holding my breathe. Reshad Evans - His wrestling skills made me wonder for a while, but the fact that he got hurt badly from Jardine's jabs quickly answered any doubt I have about his chances. Keith Jardine - Too small and technically unproficient. Brad Imes - Far too raw and too easy of a target. Mike Whitehead -A good enough wrestler to possibly put Arlovski on his back at some point, but would eventually lnog for the beating Vera gave him. With an outside chance that Gonzaga gets brought back. If Gonzaga's excuse is legit, I imagine the UFC will at least give him another pity fight. Overall, I see Sylvia as the only UFC fighter that has a decent chance of beating Andrei.

An impressive performance by Fedor, but I don't think it was a "fight of the year" level match. I'd probably replace it with Sakurai/Hansen, though that may simply be my Mach bias coming out.

Say what you will about Herrings record, but who have you listed that has a better one? Vovchanchyn and Erikson are fuckin worlds beyond the vast majority of the shmucks that occupy most of these guys' records. Vovchanchyn: an undersized, overrated brawler with average takedown defense and a penchant for shooting in when he realizes that his stand-up isn't what its cracked up to be. Prior to the Herring bout, had been rather humiliated by UFC whipping boy Tra Telligman and Mr. Spoiler himself, Mario Sperry. Since the Herring loss, has been busy trying to stay above .500 as a LHW. Erikson: As Mr. Blue so eloquently put, "...a wrestling coach moonlighting as an MMA fighter." I like Tom and all, but he has exactly one impressive MMA win to his credit (the KO over Randleman). The fact that for years not many people wanted to fight him lead to something of an inflated stature as a fighter. Never was that great techincally nor a good finisher (some of his more memorable wins come via wrist RNC, rapist strangle and a crossface), and unfortunately folded thrice against real competition. Vera looking good against that sort of competition doesn't hold a lot of weight. Put him in a big match scenario agianst world class fighters - the ones where Herring has been in numerous times - and see how he performs. While I certainly don't like Vera's (no anyone else's) chanches vs. Fedor, I could actually see Vera making a better show of things against both Noguiera & Mirko, avoiding the aforementioned laughably bad stand-up exchanges and pathetic takedown attempts. I think Herring is a good enough wrestler to take AA down. The guy is one of the better grappling heavyweights out there, and managed to turn over Fedor but the bell stopped him before he could get anything off. What makes him a good grappling HW? Because he knows how to slap on a keylock? So does Ron Waterman. Only in a division as shallow as HW could a guy with sophmoric skills on the ground be considered a "good grappler," nevermind the lack of positioning skills and guard game. Besides, would a good grappler need to rely on Yamamoto gassing to be able to defeat him? I think he can get in close with Arlovski and put him against the fence and bring it down from there. The same guy who had hell getting an aged former K-1 star to the ground and holding him there is going to put Andrei on his back? Sure. Ricco didn't and doesn't like to get hit in the face, whereas Herring takes more risks. That's a key factor when facing Arlovski. Actually, neither guy likes getting hit in the face. Why else would Heath so often fall back on his "good wrestling?" The real difference is that when he's not a fat piece of shit, Ricco actually has the ability to dictate where the fight goes, as opposed to flailing his limbs about like he's having a seizure (Herring's preffered strategy). Vladdy went for, like, one half-assed takedown attempt on Arlovski. Not much of a test for the pitbull. He has yet to be put against a good wrestler. 1) Vladimir actually shot in for 2 quick double leg takedowns (much better than anything Herring could offer up), and even managed to try a decent double leg attempt from his knees while rocked. He simply couldn't deal with Andrei's size and agility. 2) Vladimir and Ricco are good wrestlers. Just because Heath doesn't get to use elbows in PRIDE doesn't mean he couldn't use them in the UFC. Given Heaths arm strength, I'd say his elbows would be pretty dangerous. He obliterated both Yokoi and Takahashi with some strong strikes (the Takahashi finish included some good GnP, btw). Heath's previous VT bouts showed a consipicuous lack of elbow use. As for the Takahashi finish... if you ignore the fact that Heath got caught by a telegraphed big right, dragged into a front headlock, kneed from there, then pushed himself into a guillotine that he took his sweet time muscling out of, before finally tripoding and unloading on a 5'10, 210lbs. shot former Pancrase also-ran, then I guess there was some DECENT G&P to behold. The Yokoi bout was one overrated fighter getting smashed by another overrated fighter. Herring took some sick shots from Fedor and still was in the fight. Arlovski doesn't have near that kind of power, so I can't see him putting down Herring. HOLY FUCKING CONJECTURE, BATMAN! Fedor has manged to knockout 1 person throughout his entire MMA career, and suddenly he hits harder than a proven KO artist? Fedor hits hard, no doubt, but what proof is there that he hits harder than Arlovski? All those KO's he DIDN'T score? Arlovski's success comes from accurate punches and I just don't see him being able to tag Herring. Because Herring's the Floyd Mayweather of MMA? Are you telling me that the same guy who couldn't get out of the way of Enson's punches is going to avoid Andrei's barrage? HA! They've been feeding Arlovski all strikers. Mark Coleman, Tom Erikson, hell, Mike Van Arsdale, come to mind right away and would be a threat at this point to Arlovski given their wrestling ability. Until they put him up against a wrestler, the guy is untested. Ricco & Vladimir are grapplers by trade. Ricco fared well, though he mounted Andrei on no less than 3 occassions before he could finally put a young Pitbull away in the 3rd. As for the others, Coleman and Erikson are non-finishers with shitty gas tanks. MVA? I'm a big fan, but this is the same guy who got dropped by a Chris Haseman side kick. None of them would make it midway through the 2nd.

PS: Sam Greco demonstrating how he puts a lame horse out of its misery...

Vera?! Herring has faced better competition than any of the UFC heavyweights, bar none. He has beaten bigger, harder fighters than just about every UFC heavyweight out there, and that counts for something. He could crap out better opponents than Vera has faced. Until I see something more from Vera -who I do like and hope to see more of- I don't think its fair to say he'd take Herring. Yes, he's faced better opponents than most UFC heavies... and? He's gotten his ass kicked by the ones that matter, barely pulled through against the fringes and managed to run over some cans. Who did he beat that was so impressive? The human needle receptacle Mark Kerr? The equally overrated Igor Vovchanchyn? Tom "Hey, what's cardio?" Erikson?Whoop-dee-doo. A guy like Vernon White has been in there with a ton a great fighters (and managed to beat some decent ones), yet I can think of plenty of fighters with a fraction of the experience that would whoop on him. The fact is Vera has already shown more skill in the past year than Herring has shown throughout his sad career. Hell, at least Vera's knees are purposely thrown, as opposed to the results of sloppy high kicks. Herring could've stayed at Golden Glory for another decade and then trained in Thailand for another and he still wouldn't have any idea how to throw a decent looking strike. Despite his win over Maty, I still don't think Arlovski could handle a good wrestler, which Herring is. Herring... good wrestler? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!1111777 If charging head down with your arms out in front of you constitutes a good shot, then every other bar room brawler I've ever seen must have been a Division II champ, at least. Wait... are we thinking of the same good wrestler who got put on his back, mounted and rear mounted over and over again like a porn star agaisnt Yoshihisa Yamamoto? As far as Vladdy goes, despite being 30lbs. smaller, you'd better believe that Matyushenko is twice the wrestler Heath could ever hope to be. He managed to take Pedro Rizzo down with more ease than Heath had trying to take Sam Greco to the ground, even with the size disadvantage. Herring could be very effective in the cage working GnP up against the fence, plus he can still knee to the body and get to work elbows as well. Because Heath has used elbows when? He's shown more than decent G&P against who? I can easily see Herring taking AA down at some point, pushing him against the fence, and from there the options are plentiful. - So he's going to do what the much more talented Ricco Rodriguez had trouble doing against a much, much greener version of Arlovski? Standing, Herring hasn't been knocked out. His losses have come from cuts, which is a possibility but I don't think Arlovski can inflict that same sort of damage against him, not with his current style, at least. And I also don't think AA can kick like Cro Cop. Great strikers Herring has faced: Filipovic & Greco Those he beat: 0 Decent strikers Herring has faced: Schrijber, Noguiera, Vovchanchyn, Hoffman Number he managed to outstrike: 0 Outsized, wildly swinging Hawaiian underdogs Herring has faced: Enson Inoue Percentage that put him on his ass: 100% But hey, Arlovski's only been putting guys out within 5 minutes, including complete wreckages of Matyushenko, Eilers & Freeman, a knockdown of Sylvia and the one punch KO of Buentello. How uneventful. Is it an easy win for Heath? Of course not. But Heath would be AA's toughest challenge in the octagon, and is a much better choice than guys like Buentello and Eilers. But then again, UFC is protecting AA like crazy and feeding him strikers and keeping him away from wrestlers, so I doubt we'd see Heath or anyone like Heath against him in some time. UFC is protecting Arlovski from... who? The last I checked, there aren't any unsigned or freelance HW's I'd give a better chance against AA than Buentello, who can at least throw a high kick (albeit VERY SLOWLY) without blowing out his knee.

Nowadays I'd favor Andrei, Sylvia and Vera against Herring easily (no matter how focused he is), as all would make him look foolish standing (as usual). Andrei & Sylvia both have solid enough takedown D to stuff Herring's sophmoric bullrushes, and Vera is more than capable of avoiding Heath's G&P. Mir is a bit more of question mark for me, as he's not good enough on the feet to take it to Herring, and his takedowns are nothing special. Add in a questionable gas tank and it's a toss-up. While I'm at it, if Herring were to look as bad as he did against Greco, Yamamoto, McGee... well, almost anyone he's fought lately, I'd also favor Mir, Buentello & maybe even Eilers against him. Hell, I'm not even taking into account the lack of knees to head on the ground in UFC.

The only thing Herring has on a motivated Barnett is KO power standing. Josh has comparable takedowns, can fight both on top and from the bottom on the ground, and is much less wild standing. In 2001, I would've taken Couture, Rizzo, Barnett and Ricco over Heath. The problem with people giving Heath props for the first Noguiera match is that almost EVERYONE looks good against Nog. Guys like Han, TK, Tamura, Kopylov, Yokoi, etc. have managed to look anywhere from decent to good against the guy, and they also managed to avoid "Sweet Georgia Brown" moments standing (particularly as Heath tried to trade with his head down).

Probably somewhere in between, as Frank has never been the best positional submission fighter I've ever seen. And on a totally unrelated note, I recently reheard an MMA myth that seemingly won't die: Heath Herring would not only be an instant contender in the UFC, he would most likely be a champion. To this day, I can not think of a single point in Heath's career that coincided with a time in the UFC that he could've been HW champion, or even the 3rd best fighter in the division.

I don't think the fight was that close, either. Gomi's best round was probably the 2nd, as he was able to get himself into top position twice and land a few shots standing... but in exchange got his nose broken, jaw smashed and temple hit repeatedly by BJ's dirty boxing. I think I had the bout scored 20-17 going into the 3rd round.

Oh, and a young BJ at a judo competition: BJ as a whitebelt

Thoughts? Apparently not a lot of people have actually seen the fight.

- Frank Mir vs. Andrei Arlovski for early 2006. - Tito Ortiz & Ken Shamrock as TUF season 3 coaches. - BJ PENN IS BACK!!! BOW DOWN MOTHERFUCKERS!!!

All "heel" nonsense aside, I find it hard to root for a guy who's widely known and verified as a piece of shit.

Don't interrupt my Pe de Pano hate with your damned facts! Anyways, a couple of notable Pe de Pano stories: - At a grappling tournament early last year, Pe de Pano was set to go against a random blue belt in a sort of "grapple with the stars" challenge. Basically, if the kid could last 8 minutes, he would win 3G's. During the course of the bout, PDP manhandled the poor kid, using a number of dirty tactics, including raking the seams of his gi across the kids face, crossfacing him repeatedly and choking the kid out after he already tapped to an RNC. The kid was left a bit bloody, with his face requiring some stitches. - On the same weekend, during a bout with Jeff Monson, Pe de Pano was able to create something of a loophole in the rules. Prior to the tournament, all competitors were informed that can opener neck cranks from guard can be used only to open an opponent's closed guard, after which they must be released. Anyways, Monson eventually finds himself in PDP's closed guard and attempts a can opener. Instead of opening his guard however, PDP immediately taps, getting Monson DQ'ed and then begins celebrating like he just won the Superbowl (as he often does). However, the refs quickly realize what had happened, and attempted to have the match restarted. However, PDP would have none of it, and was able to kick and scream until the DQ win was left standing. Luckily for him though, rather than remain justifiably pissed off, Monson decided to roid rage and tackle the REF, showing what a POS he is himself and taking the focus off of PDP's shennanigans. There are a number of other stories of PDP celebrating other shadily won bouts with much enthusiasm, a general disregard for fans (apparently he likes to flip off any crowd that doesn't take to him) and even a few stories of him showing little regard for anyone who's not a Brazilian (as in nationality wise) BJJ practitioners at events. Needless to say, I took much pleasure in his recent slide at grappling competition, including the calf cruncher Napao slapped on him at ADCC this year that left him limping off the mat and kept him from competing for 3rd or even 4th place in his division.

Yep. AKA "Deuchebag," "That Prick" and "The Prolific Asshole."

IIRC, Forrest took Stephan down easily the one time he tried (late 1st round), took his back and had a decent armbar attempt. It may have not been overly impressive, but IMO showed that Forrest more than likely could've taken Bonnar out had he concentrated on a ground match. Also, though Tito is a tough guy to submit, the fact that he let Cote work a guard game against without severely punishing him in return leads me to believe that Tito's just asking to get put a tough situation against Forrest.

As I've been saying for a while now (and people still don't realize) is that Griffin has one of the best ground games at 205lbs. He can G&P, fight off his back, control positisions, etc. However, Forrest has fallen in love with brawling, and as such has almost seemingly forgotten what his strengths are. As my buddy put it: He's still decent enough on his feet to give Tito problems, though, and considering Tito has seemingly lost all of his aggression on the ground, he'll most likely have ample time to work his guard game when Tito takes him down.

"All blackbelts are not created equal" is a phrase I recall that seems to fit. Yes, most BJJ blackbelts are likely to have a good top control, but there's obviously a world of difference between the control of someone like Penn and the control of someone like Wanderlei. Of course, on the other hand, BJ's guard is not on the level of someone like Minotauro. But while BJ may not be a great guard player, he's able to use the skills he does have to dominate some very good fighters on the ground, and make it look easy while doing it. As far as scrambling, you more or less got it, as it generally refers to both fighters jockeying for position, for example after a thwarted takedown that leaves neither guy with an advantage (IE- Diaz/Sanchez).

BJ was never a rapid-fire, submission-first type BJJ artist. His strengths have actually been close to that of a wrestler, having good takedowns, takedown D and ground control. Also his positioning skills are top notch, as is his scrambling, but those aren't usually what people think of when they think "BJJ World Champion." Besides, how many other fighters out there could more or less dominate Rodrigo Gracie on the ground?

You love the BJ. Admit it.

*cough*swickwasmoreimpressive*cough* EDIT: Since I misread your orginal post, I'll just throw out randomly: Penn > Fedor (and now your response makes sense again )

...or whatever the guys at UFC say.

Most people agree that gi training is very useful in regards to no-gi competition if for no other reason than gripping. Very often, competitors end up using force and/or sweat to escape from bad positions or submissions. Since the gi offers an often solid grip for people to use while rolling, you pretty much HAVE to learn the proper escapes and reversal techniques. Also, learning to fight "clothed" opponents is very useful from a self-defense perspective.

Technically, raising your guard high up on an opponent's body is simply called "climbing." Rubber Guard: Usually done from full guard, the user will usually use their own hand(s) to raise one leg very high up on an opponent's body. From my limited exposure to it, the guard seems meant to combat those who play a very tight game in opponent's guard, where usually an active open guard is shut down due to a lack of space usually needed for "climbing." There's also a "meathook" variation, where the high rubber guard leg is hook behind the knee with the user's own forearm, and there's also a half-butterfly variation that I have seen. Eddie Bravo demonstrates the Rubber Guard.