“Come gather round people; black, white or grey.”
Anybody know the next line? You’d probably need to be over 30 to stand a chance. Of course it’s largely irrelevant; in fact, it’s completely irrelevant to the article I just wanted a catchy opening line. Unless we’re speaking metaphorically then if I’m being obscure it works.
Anyway… It’s been a quiet week; with little happening in the MMA world. The only noises we’ve really heard have been coming from the UFC propaganda machine that is flying ‘Team McGregor’ colours at the minute.
It is plain to see that there’s a massive hype train behind Conor. Do I agree with it? Perhaps; the guys the MMA equivalent of Mickey from Snatch. Hard as fucking nails and puts people out pretty much when he wants to and to be fair he’s ridiculously charming. He’s also one of the most diverse mixed martial artists, if not THE most diverse mixed martial artist in the UFC if not MMA as a whole today. Let’s ream a few disciplines off to back that up:
Karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Capoeira, Muay Thai, Kick Boxing, Boxing, Tae Kwon Do – and these are just the few I’ve managed to find recorded.
Not only that but the guy is clever. I don’t mean academically, I wouldn’t know; but real instinctive genius that is on display not only when he’s in the cage but when discussing events in the cage. This is a guy that reads his opponents better than they do themselves. He analyses a fighter and picks them apart according to their weakness.
One example has to be on the recent documentary that was checking his reaction time compared to force of strike where he picked up on Aldo leaving his chin wide open and sacrificing precision for power. This is what I refer to as the Rocky Balboa style of fighting. Now I was ridiculed for saying this about Aldo after his fight with Mendes but now McGregor has said it I wonder how many people will praise him for it?
Anyway I’m digressing; there’s a surprise.
As we all know he’s up against Dennis Siver and cutting all the crap out this fight will have no effect on whether Conor McGregor gets his shot at the belt. If he wins, he gets the shot against Aldo and if he loses he’ll fight an eliminator to get a shot. There’s too much money in Conor fighting the big guns for this to be missed and the Siver fight was something just to fill the gap. Conor likes to fight and make a bucket load of cash and the UFC like to watch him fight because they make a bucket load of cash; add to the equation Boston and you’ve got a winner.
This is where the controversy kicks in. Does he or does he not deserve a title shot? Of course he does. There has not been anybody since Anderson Silva that has dismantled opponents like he has.
“But he’s not fought anybody”
He’s fought a similar calibre fighter to Weidman prior to his shot against Silva and I didn’t hear any complaints there. By the time Conor’s shot for the gold is here he’ll have fought the same amount of fighters too. I’ll be controversial; I think a lot of it is because he’s not a red, white and blue American. If Conor was walking around fighting out of New Jersey or Arkansas there’d be none of this.
It comes down to a boring bias we see in a portion of the UFC fan base equally matched by a lack of knowledge on martial arts and how they work.
These same people said prior to the Poirier fight that Dustin was going to knock him out and prove all the ‘hype train riders’ wrong and that Conor McGregor is nothing special. Conor McGregor put Dustin Poirier out in a matter of seconds.
“But he’s never fought a wrestler!”
I hate to ruin your day son but this isn’t fucking WWE. It’s MMA; Mixed Martial Arts. Mixed..Martial..Arts. Wrestling is not all it’s cracked up to be.What? You did not just say that! OMFGLOLROFL and all that shit. Of course I did; wrestling is not the be all and end all to success. You want to know how to counter a good wrestler? Throw a good Judoka at him and I promise you the wrestler will not know what has hit him/her.
I saw a reply to something I’d said in a conversation yesterday
No they don’t, you’re right. Kicks and knees to the face do, Tae Sabaki (body evasion) does. I could go on."tests don't stop Edgar's takedown"
Yes it does but it only wins rounds if the other fighter plays bitch and takes it. Elite level fighters do not play bitch; they take the wrestling bully call it Betty, make it their bitch and send it packing with a pat on the arse."Top position control wins rounds"
You see a fighter has to be taken to the ground first before wrestling really makes a difference and even then you’ve got to be able to nullify your opponent whilst there. If you don’t then you might as well be pissing in the wind.
Evolution of the arts
I’m probably being unfair and maybe a little derisory to wrestling. The simple fact is wrestling is very, very good against a type of fighter I tend to refer to as the last generation of fighter.You see the last generation of fighters barring the odd exception were typically Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters that also studied Muay Thai or ‘Dirty Boxers that were previously High School wrestlers. Yes they might have done a bit of training in other disciplines but generally speaking these types of fighters have dominated with these four disciplines. It’s only with this new generation of fighters that we’re seeing a change in the tide. We’re seeing real diversity in MMA now; we’re seeing fighters study the more obscure arts again and slowly but surely examples are seen in the Octagon highlighting the efficiency of such arts.
I refer to Judoka and Karateka, Tae Kwon Do and Okinawan Jui Jitsu but then I also refer to the mythological Jeet Kun Do. The latter probably the most important; while not a martial art in itself it is the philosophy behind Jeet Kun Do that makes it important inside the cage and in self-defence outside the cage. It is ridding yourself of restrictions and adapting to your immediate environment, using your strengths against your opponent’s weaknesses and imperatively, going that one step further than your opponent will.
Conor McGregor is on record as stating he follows the principles of Jeet Kun Do. He embodies it; if Sifu Lee was alive today I am quite sure he would concur. For Conor McGregor there is no limits; in his own words:
“…there is no knowing; you’re against yourself. You’re against yourself…and I just feel like I’m able to beat myself.”I don’t ride the hype train personally, it’s uncomfortable and crowded. Am I a fan of Conor McGregor; yes I am, I find him endearing and importantly he’s a breath of fresh air from the pomposity we see in a lot of the established UFC fighters. More importantly than all of that I am a massive fan of the martial artist that is Conor McGregor and the fact that he is someone that has dragged himself out of the dole queue and literally kicked and punched his way into success.
Right on brother; European MMA is on its way. He says Irish but we’ll take a victory where we can ;-)
Catch me on Twitter @Simon_Rushton or holler the lads at @KingdomMMA we’re a good bunch.
I’ll be back next week lovers.
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