Archive for July, 2010

FILA World Grappling Canadian Team Trials come to Orangeville August 7 and 8

Friday, July 30th, 2010

Fight fans based in Orangeville, Ontario will feel pretty lucky on August 7 and 8. Why? Because the FILA World Grappling Championship comes to town.

The Canadian team trials will take place all weekend at the Alder Rink in Oakville. The stakes are high; the winners in each weight class will represent Canada at the World Grappling Championships in Hungary later in 2010.

The tournament is open to any grapplers aged 20 and up, with Gi and no-Gi competition both available. The big question for aspiring competitors before they sign up is: what exactly constitutes grappling?

That’s what makes the World Grappling Team Trials so exciting. Grappling isn’t to be confused with wrestling. It can involve wrestling but there are many other martial arts that fall under the “grappling” umbrella. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo and many other styles will be on display. There’s no one way to defeat your opponent and we’re sure to see some exciting matches as a result.

 The grappling on hand will involve virtually every non-striking element of mixed martial arts. Fighters will be awarded points for takedowns and dominant control positions on the ground, such as the full mount, side mount or back mount. Submissions are in play as well.

As for weight classes, men can compete at 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 90, or 110 kilograms plus the Absolute max category. Women will grapple at 50, 55, 60, 65, 75 and Absolute.

Ready to register for the Canadian team trials and test your grappling skills against the country’s best? Visit http://www.wrestling.ca/events/event.php?id=944 to register. Download the entry form and e-mail it to ckingsbury@wrestling.ca.

Be there on August 7 and 8 and take a huge step toward becoming one of the world’s top grapplers.

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Weighing in on the “body slams” debate

Friday, July 30th, 2010

You’ve probably seen the highlights of the Sarah Kaufman/Roxanne Modafferi fight for the Strikeforce women’s welterweight championship. It ended abruptly when Kaufman knocked Modafferi out with a spectacular slam. It was amazingly similar to Rampage Jackson’s famous slam on Ricardo Arona –which some consider the greatest knockout in MMA history.

Kaufman’s KO raised a debate on message boards and forums that I consider absurd – but that warrants discussion. Believe it or not, some pundits are posing the question, “Should slams be outlawed in mixed martial arts?”

Hmmm? To me, the argument is so silly that it’s hard to even discuss it. But I’ll try. First off, it’s inspired by a tiny handful of spectacular incidents that stand out because they were, admittedly, violent. But to discuss outlawing a traditional part of grappling in a combat sport is mind boggling.

First off, there’s the suggestion that slams are dangerous in that they can cause head injury or concussion on impact. So does that mean we should outlaw striking? The last time I checked, a Mirko Cro Cop head kick or Junior Dos Santos fist damages opponents’ skulls far more frequently than a slam does.

And what about submissions? Armbars, chokes, neck cranks and kneebars, if held too long, can be seriously hazardous to our health. Should we ban BJJ too?

An even stranger part of the debate is the notion that slams are too “barbaric.” That saddens me. I really thought MMA had evolved past the point of “extreme” culture. It’s not like slams are used in fights just for the sake of causing carnage. Almost every time you see a powerful slam, the fighter doing it is using it strategically to escape a dangerous position. Most commonly, the slam is an attempt to break up an armbar, guillotine, or some other submission attempt.

For anyone out there thinking slams should be outlawed – I suggest you try tiddlywinks.

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When should GSP say goodbye to the UFC welterweight division?

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

Georges St-Pierre made an interesting pseudo-announcement last week. When discussing his future, the welterweight UFC superstar hinted that beating Anderson Silva in a superfight would make him the pound-for-pound MMA king, perhaps the greatest of all-time, and would let him retire.

St-Pierre says he fights more for goals than for fame or money. When he’s accomplished everything he possibly can in the sport, he’ll have no more goals and no reason left to fight. He’ll then move on to something different – perhaps Olympic wrestling?

St-Pierre reassures fans that the superfight with Silva is still far away. But why is that the case? If GSP really just fights for goals, what goal does he have left besides being best pound-for-pound fighter alive?

He’s already arguably the greatest welterweight in MMA history and has cleaned out the UFC division, beating all the top competition (Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, Hughes, Josh Koscheck, Dan Hardy, and so on). I suppose he could fight twice more at welterweight to truly secure his immortality over Hughes. Beating Koscheck this December would tie Hughes’ welterweight record of five straight title defenses; winning one more fight after that (I predict the opponent would  be Martin Kampmann or Jake Shields by then) would give GSP the record and erase any doubts about where he lies in welterweight lore.

After that, however, there’s no reason why GSP shouldn’t jump up a weight class and fight Anderson Silva, as he’d have no more “goals” at 170 pounds. The superfight would be the most anticipated bout in MMA history given the two fighters’ popularity, dominance and proficiency in both striking and grappling. And it would make the welterweight division a lot more interesting again.

I don’t want to see GSP leave any time soon but, at the same time, it would be nice to see him push himself to new heights in the second half of his prime.

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Why Anderson Silva will win our hearts back on August 7

Friday, July 16th, 2010

We mixed martial arts fans may never truly like Anderson Silva again. In 2010, he’s toyed with our emotions, abused his power, wasted our money and made no effort to connect with fans. Chael Sonnen even claims Silva secretly speaks perfect English.

But, even though we may not like him anymore, don’t expect UFC 117 to be his swan song.

Yes, Silva has been maddening as hell this year. His display against Demian Maia at UFC 112, in which he essentially stopped fighting for the last few rounds, was a disgrace.

But that result was actually easy to predict. And it’s also easy to predict that he’ll do something spectacular in his middleweight title defense against former Olympic wrestling alternate Sonnen next month.

Why? Because certain types of fighters and situations force the best out of Silva and certain ones don’t.

You could see his lollygagging against Maia coming a mile away because Maia was the third choice to fight Silva; Vitor Belfort got hurt and Sonnen wasn’t healed from his previous bout. If Silva doesn’t respect his opponent, doesn’t feel like that opponent deserves to fight him, he mails in the performance, almost as if he’s flipping off Dana White for giving him the inferior matchup.

The other two times we saw Silva dick around: when he fought Patrick Cote and Thales Leites. Both of those challengers drew the “Who?” reaction from fans when they were announced. As a result, they were tentative – fearful – during their bouts with Silva. They didn’t challenge him and he didn’t feel the need to fight back very hard.

All of Anderson Silva’s best efforts have come against skilled fighters who (a) deserved to fight him and (b) weren’t afraid to risk their necks in order to beat him. Think about your favorite Silva highlights:

-    The devastating Muay Thai against Rich Franklin, a fearless and accomplished fighter
-    The rear-naked choke against Dan Henderson, the multi-weight-class Pride champ
-    The absolute clinic against Forrest Griffin, the wildman and ex-light heavyweight champ
-    The vicious knockout over James Irvin, who represented a new challenge as Silva’s first LHW opponent

You see? When The Spider cares, The Spider flourishes. The tougher opponents don’t rest on their laurels. They force Silva to fight back and fight back in spectacular fashion. Chael Sonnen will do just that. Win or lose, that means Anderson Silva should re-emerge as MMA’s most breathtaking fighter to watch on August 7.

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