The Glade 4.0

I find myself getting more and more into watching MMA stuff on the TV, given my current state of having **** all to do at night while I'm traveling. Machida intruigues me. They continually show him using traditional workout and discipline routines in addition to more modern training stuff, and that appeals to me.

Anyone getting the Machida fight on PPV? It should be pretty cool (or, brutally short as MMA tends to be sometimes).

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

Lyoto Machida has been quite a resurgent power for traditional techniques and training which I can appreciate because it's resounding evidence that hard work, conditioning and mastery triumph over trying to mimic what other people have fond success with. His opponent, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has little chance, I fear. Lyoto is too good, he's riding a hot streak, he has such unorthodox (relative to mainstream MMA) stance and footwork, its very hard to hit him. And he hits a lot harder than most people credit him for.

However, the bookies have blown the odds out of proportion with this fight, which means that a lot of people are putting money on Machida. I got lines of +600 on Rua -350 on Machida (600 cents on the dollar for Rua, 35 cents on the dollar for Machida). How could you not put down $50 or $100 on that??

Anyway, I think it will be an interesting fight. The rest of the card looks to be pretty good too. I'm really waiting to see Jose Aldo go after MTB's belt in November (145lbs) and BJ Penn fight Diego Sanchez. BJ is the most naturally gifted grappler fighting today but I think his work ethic is lacking. We shall see.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Machida uses a concept of fighting very similar to what I (and really, 16th century itallians, where I learned it from) do when fencing. He hits just behind or during his opponent's attack, from a range that he choses and an angle that gives him an advantage. And Machida does it with astonishing consistency (a consistency I wish I could muster with a sword, to be honest). In truth, his timing reminds me of Bruce Lee.

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

That's one of the two main schools of "discipline" in boxing. Guys who don't have the footwork, speed or "vision" to see and create angles are referred to as "in fighters". You might laugh at their lack of finesse, but the mental weight of letting a guy who is very strong on the inside get in the pocket against you shouldn't be underestimated.

By the same token, setting these guys up with angles using footwork and speed can break them if you pepper them, as you mentioned, with long and sharp jabs. This can create openings for bigger shots.

I miscalculated the money too, betting for Machida was -350 so it's like 28 and a half cents on the dollar. Still not very good odds, because despite Machida's outstanding chance to win, upsets are too common: the small gloves, and legal use of strikes from the clinch (like knees) mean the contest can turn very quickly.

I always wanted to learn Shotokan karate (my background is TKD with some boxing and now grappling I'm learning), but that was just because I was a fan of the Street Fighter franchise

I think Machida's greatest asset is his defense; while he is good at setting up his combos and shots with footwork, positioning and timing, his ability to use those to elude being hit is outstanding.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Shotokan was the main style I studied over the years. I was watching some of the promo stuff and said "hey, I know that kata"

Shotokan is good stuff. Especially when you get into the more advanced self defense stuff, and the softer side of the style that comes later.

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

Lol, I guess now you understand the appeal of MMA/UFC.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

I love a good technical submission too though. I'm so not a fan of ground and pound.

Ground and Pound is basically the invention of Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestler grapplers (as opposed to Judo, Jujutsu, BJJ or Sambo style fighters) whose skills focused on dominating cardio, the strongest take downs and good positioning, but lacked submissions because they aren't used in competition. To create a threat on the ground, they had to have something; takedowns and pinfalls don't really do much by themselves.

It's kind of brutal and simple, not really pretty to watch, but it's hammer and anvil kind of effective. It just works.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Here is all 36 minutes of the Machida fight. A pretty good example of why a lot of people dislike watching him fight. LOL

Click Me!

Ug, what a terrible decision. The RSC on Rothwell v. Velasquez was also a bad by Mazagatti. People are going to be ***** about this for a while.

I hope someone takes this to the California Athletic Commission or whatever their sanctioning body is called and gets this looked at to become a no contest.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Also, Anderson Silva should destroy Vitor Belfort in his next 185 defense and he will have cleared out that division. He should move up to 205 and whup all those guys because I think he has the mojo to do that as well.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Yeah. I also think it's a bad decision. Machida did not deserve to win that fight, and had it been a non title fight, Machida would have lost the decision.

Yeah, I'm with you there. I enjoy the stand-up aspects and a submission, but the gory factor of ground and pound turns me off, at some point.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

The sport is looking a lot better now than it did when I first started looking at it. More technical fighters are catching up to the thugs, so it's a bit more like boxing than it used to be.

I wont be able to watch the Machida fight for a while. No computer with that kind of video until I get back home.

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

Ug, Boxing is the banes of my existence. Bob Arum is the greediest, most useless affliction ever cast on a once great sport and art.

As for the "thugs" finally getting what they deserve, I like MMA because you get to see so many styles compete against each other. Since it's not truly vale tudo (anything goes) some styles have slight advantages. It's also in a 30' cage.

It's just a shame that there are no styles that can be considered indigenous to The United States. BJJ comes originally from Brasil and then it really came from Japan, Wrestling goes way way back to Northern Ireland and Sambo (which is rare to see) is Russian. Boxing is English, most hybrid striking martial arts originate from Asia such as all the derivatives of Karate (countless styles itself, TKD, etc) and Muy Thai which itself comes from a much older art indigenous to SE Asia.

Even "bar fighting" like Tank Abbott had some mixed success with probably comes from much older sources. You might make a case for shoot wrestling or catch fighters, but that came from Japan and is just a hybridization of other styles and probably very closely looks like Sambo for all intents and purposes.

BTW, a rematch between these two is already been drawn, but the originally date of Jan. 2 has been postponed due to a hand injury by Machida.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Wrestling has antecedents in every culture though.