Anderson Silva: Like Water

Anderson Silva fans (and MMA fans in general) will probably want to check out this documentary.  It follows Anderson Silva from the time period when everyone hated him (after his fight with Damian Maia) through his first fight with Chael Sonnen.  It’s interesting seeing behind the scenes training footage, how he deals with the pressure coming at him from various sources and what his daily life is like.  We tend to think of these athletes as machines but they are human beings like everyone else.

This documentary doesn’t just show the good things in Anderson’s life.  It shows when his fans are upset with him.  When UFC boss Dana White is angry at him and even when his own manager is frustrated with him.  We follow Anderson around when he wants to skip out on autograph signings and him watching video of Chael Sonnen talking smack about him.  It’s definitely worth a watch if you are interested in the behind the scenes stuff.  Anderson does come across as kind of cocky and self-centered sometimes, but he also cares about his family and friends.  It’s a realistic look at who he is.  Nothing is sugarcoated.

Dan Henderson vs Lyoto Machida Breakdown

Dan Henderson

Hendo is on a major win streak, defeating the likes of Fedor and Shogun.  He is also coming off of a 15 month layoff and an injury.  Being 42 years old has to catch up with him eventually as well (though he is loaded up on TRT).  Henderson has a great chin, unreal punching power and some pretty decent takedowns and scrambling ability.  He has been dropped in every fight he has had for the last couple of years but always manages to survive.  He has also benefited from people being willing to brawl with him.

Lyoto Machida

A true master of Karate.  Technical, fast, elusive.  Machida has some big wins in his career but he also has several losses lately.  He generally gets himself into trouble when he abandons his main style and gets overaggressive (Shogun II, Jones).  One of his few flaws is that he doesn’t always keep his back hand up, but from the Ryan Bader fight, it looks like he has been working on correcting that.  I wouldn’t say his chin is bad but he has shown he can be dropped if landed on solidly by someone with decent power.

The Fight

There are really only two ways I can see this going.  Either Machida is going to pick Henderon apart with his technical striking or Henderson will land a big bomb and put Machida out.  I think the first option is much more likely to happen.  Machida has a much more diverse game, he is hard to hit and he can take Henderson down if he wants too.  The longer the fight goes on the more chance Machida has to put Henderson away.  If it was a five round fight I think Machida would finish Henderson, but being only three rounds favors Dan more.

Dan Henderson has never been finished by strikes before, but neither had Rich Franklin, Rashad Evans, Thiago Silva or Ryan Bader; that didn’t stop Machida from doing it.  When Fedor stopped brawling and looked for a technical combo for the first time against Hendo, he dropped him right away.  I think Machida can do the same, and even put Hendo away early, if he is aggressive enough.  This should be Machida’s fight to lose, but so was the Rampage fight (which I thought Machida won).

If Machida wants to play it safe while also staying ahead on the judges score cards, he might want to trip Hendo to the mat and wear him out during the first round, then look for the finish in the second or third when Hendo gets more tired.  He can keep it on the feet and somply move around and dodge Dan’s attacks, but it could result in another Rampage type decision if the judges don’t think he did enough.

The Result

As long as Machida comes out smart, moves around like he normally does, protects his chin, mixes up his game and doesn’t brawl, I think he wins this.  I think it’s even possible he puts a frustrated Hendo away but it’s less likely than if it was a five round fight.  Don’t count Henderson completely out though, with the power of TRT backing him up and his H-bomb, he can win at anytime.  It’s hard to say what Henderson is going to look like after such a long layoff though.  I think it’s 70/30 Machida.

Cung Le vs. Brian Warren

This is Cung Le’s second fight. He used several of the same techniques already covered in the first video which you can find here Cung Le vs. Mike Altman.  I won’t rewrite those but I will add the new techniques.

Southpaw vs Orthodox Stance
1.  Overhook Hip Throw
2.  Knee from the Thai Clinch
3.  Right Hook/Left Straight/Right Uppercut/Left Straight
4.  Elbow from the Thai Clinch
5.  Right Hook/Left Straight to the Body/Right Hook/Right Uppercut
6.  Left Straight/Jab/Right Hook
7.  (Orthodox) Right Spinning Back Kick to the Body
8.  Right Hook/Left Straight/Right Hook/Left Straight/Right Hook

Cung Le vs. Mike Altman (Cung Le’s 1st MMA Fight – With Breakdown of Techniques)

In honor of Cung Le’s win this weekend I am going to do a breakdown all of his fights over the next few weeks. Cung Le has a very interesting style, very unique for MMA and traditional marital arts (because of his takedowns and takedown defense). Cung Le really is the best of several martial arts. If you are interested in learning his style, he does have an older video series out you can purchase, but more recently he released a book called San Shou: The Complete Fighting System (I will review this book as well).

On top of studying his instructional videos and books, I would recommend watching his fights and writing down his combinations and techniques, then drilling them constantly.  The techniques he used in this fight are as follows (South paw stance vs Orthodox stance):
1.  Side Kick to the Knee
2.  Rear Roundhouse Kick to the Body
3.  Rear Roundhouse Kick to the Head
4.  Snapping Front Kick to the Head
5.  Read Roundhouse Kick to Inside of Leg
6.  Lead Low Kick to Outside of Leg
7.  Lead Sidekick to the Body
8.  Right Hook
9.  Lead Roundhouse Kick to Body/ Jab
10.  Rear High Kick to Lead High Kick
11.  (Step Left Leg Forward) to Right Spinning Back Kick to Body
12.  Knee Pick Takedown to Left Hook
13.  (Orthodox Stance) Step Right Leg Forward to Left Spin Kick to the Head
14.  (Orthodox Stance) Jab to Right Spinning Back Kick to the Head
15.  Left Straight to the Body/ Lead High Kick
16.  Left Straight/ Right Hook
17.  Jab/Cross (step Forward While Throwing Cross) Right Spinning Back Kick to Body/ Right Hook/Right Hook

Cung Le vs Rich Franklin

Cung Le (8-2) vs Rich Franklin (29-6)

Cung Le:  Cung Le is the former Strikeforce middleweight champ.  Coming from San Shou, a kickboxing style that allows takedowns and throws, Cung Le has a very unique background than most MMA fighters these days.  Having gone undefeated in kickboxing and moving to MMA later in his career (he is almost 41), Cung Le has only really ever been a part time mixed martial artist.  He often takes off well over a year in between fights due to his movie schedule.

Don’t let any of this fool you though, Cung Le is a very dangerous fighter and one you have to prepare especially for.  No one walks into a fight with him without studying his game in great detail.  Armed with deadly kicks and tricky combos, one wrong move by his opponent and it’s game over.  Cung also has great takedowns and takedown defense.  He has only lost two MMA fights in his whole career, both to guys known for hitting hard and both after he had gassed out (both fights were taken after he had been out of the ring for well over a year as well).

Rich Franklin:  Rich Franklin is the former ufc middleweight champ.  Armed with his excellent conditioning, Rich has defeated many fighters no one thought he had a chance against.  Though he can fight on the ground, his bread and butter is his stand up game.  He isn’t known for being a power puncher but he does own some KO’s on his record.  He usually manages to avoid his opponents onslaught while striking back, taking over the fight more and more as it goes on.

There is no doubt Rich has faced off against the much tougher competition in his MMA career having faced Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva x 2, Anderson Silva x 2, Chuck Liddell, etc.  When it comes to experience, Rich has it.  Cung Le has fought some tough guys also, just not as often or as many as Rich.

The Fight:  Both Cung Le and Rich Franklin have been alternating wins and losses lately, both are also due for a loss if their standard pattern keeps up.  I think Cung Le is the superior stand up fighter, I also think he has better wrestling.  Rich Franklin is the bigger fighter (having recently been fighting at light heavyweight) and he for sure has the better cardio.  I think the level of conditioning could decide this fight.

If the fight ends in the first two rounds, I think it’s from Cung Le finishing Rich with some devastating kick to the body, head, arm, you name it.  After the first two rounds I just see Rich Franklin taking over more and more.  Both guys have the ability to finish this but it really just depends on how they show up.  This is Rich’s first fight back at 185lbs in a while so it will be interesting to see how he handles the weight cut.  This is also the first time in a while that Cung Le has not taken a really long layoff in between fights.

Result:  Cung Le by KO in rounds 1 or 2 or Rich Franklin by TKO stoppage in the later rounds.  It should be an excellent fight and I am looking forward to it!

Cung Le on Steven Seagal

Cung Le doesn't believe Steven Seagal has done anything for MMA.  Do you think he is right?  Cung Le vs Steven Seagal, lets do it!

UFC 148: Cung Le vs Patrick Cote

Cung Le (7-2) vs Patrick Cote (17-7)

I have to start this by saying it was originally supposed to be Cung Le vs Rich Franklin which would have been an amazing fight between two aging but talented strikers.  Unfortunately Vitor Belfort got injured (for the millionth time) so Rich fought Wanderlei Silva in a rematch instead.  But oh well, that is the past so lets get on to the review.

Cung Le is amazing.  If you have never seen any of his older Sanshou fights when he was in his prime (he is 40 now and barely fights due to doing movies) do yourself a favor and check them out on youtube.  Now days, due to his extremely inactive fighting career he tends to show up and not be in the shape to really push the pace past a couple of rounds (but claims he has corrected that this time).  The interesting thing about Le, even at this point in his career, is that you have to train for this guy.  No matter who you are, you have to study his game and fight just to counter his skill set.  You can't just go into a fight with Le like it's a fight with some traditional MMA striker (sloppy boxing and low kicks) and expect to come out on top.  Even Franklin went to another Country to specifically train for Le with Sanshou fighters when he was scheduled to fight him.

Patrick Cote hasn't been in the UFC in a while now (nearly 2 years) and left before on a 3 fight losing streak.  I haven't seen him fight in a long time so it's hard to say if he will bring anything new to the table.  He is basically a boxer who can take some damage (at least he used to be able to).

I expect this fight to be something like the Cung Le vs Scott Smith fights.  Le will do some flashy kicks, side kick Cote into the cage and look pretty good.  Now the question is, which Smith fight will it be like?  He dominated Smith both times but in the first match started gassing out and got clipped with a punch and KO'd.  In the second Smith fight he fought a little more reserved and fought at his pace and worked Smith over with side kicks to the body.  I think the fight will go something like one of those fights, just depending on Le's shape and how he fights Cote.