Sacrificing Fighter Longevity No Longer the Norm in an Evolving Sport

by Leland Roling on Apr 1, 2009 12:25 PM EDT

Back at UFC 95, Rory Markham took on the newest UK standout in Dan Hardy in which he lost via a KO in the first round of their matchup and subsequently admitted to trying to fight with a collapsed lung due to a horrendous weight cut. One of the interesting interviews he did prior to the event was with CagePotato.com. In one particular question, Markham was surprisingly aware that his style of fighting isn't exactly a proponent of a long career:

Speaking of the longevity of your career, your brawling style seems to have led to a lot of injuries over the years. Is that something you're trying to change?

You know, unfortunately I think it's due in part to the kind of fighter that I am. It's been said in the past that in the ring the truth will find you, and that just seems to be my truth. I go out there and if you're looking for fight, I'll give you one. That's the kind of fighter I am.

But I need to work on becoming more of a mixed martial artist. I'm not saying that I want to take away any of my excitement, but you look at a guy like Anderson Silva, with his "ballet of violence," you can see that he's a real martial artist, and he's exciting to watch. That's what I want to become in the end. I'm not saying I'll get there right away, but I want to get there eventually.

I have written about this exact interview in the past, but fighter longevity and styles always interest me to some extent. There is a constant struggle between what is deemed exciting and interesting to the casual fans, and what is deemed as a good career move for a fighter in terms of fighting for the most amount of years at a high level.

Typically, a fighter's background comes into serious play into answering that question. Typically, Brazilian fighters who are heavily in a Muay Thai background won't have long running careers due to their aggressive style and subsequent pummelings that they are risking. Other Brazilian fighters such as Lyoto Machida contend to use a style that will likely take them way past the fighter longevity of someone like Wanderlei Silva. This becomes an issue with fighters as to how they can be exciting, yet maintain that mush of nerves called a brain.

Markham's answer is what I would believe to be typical of most aspiring champions. Anderson Silva presents the best of both worlds. He's explosive, punishing, and exciting, but he hardly takes any hard shots due to his length and overall ability as a fighter. Most fighters want to be at that level, not only making some solid coin, but pleasing the fans, UFC brass, and bringing hype and excitement to the MMA environment surrounding them along with the potential to maintain a long career.

One of the reasons I've brought this up is to encourage some discussions on styles that really make fighter longevity a priority, but can also be deemed congratulatory under the UFC banner. One of my arguments during yesterday's posting about Anderson Silva's submission defense and jiu-jitsu background is that "power grapplers" are a somewhat hybrid combination of strength and power coupled with high level jiu-jitsu that can be one of the most dangerous styles in MMA. I feel that this is one of those styles that can bring a fighter substantial success, but limit the amount of damage that said fighter would take over the course of a career.

Fighters like Paulo Filho, Satoru Kitaoka, and Masakazu Imanari fit the mold perfectly of the types of fighters who actively look to end the fight as quickly as they can using brute strength coupled with quick transitioning jiu-jitsu. Demian Maia could be lumped into that group if you have seen the deceptive power he displays in some of his training footage. My question is... are there other types of hybrid styles and fighters that display a skillset that could be deemed as a style that is not only exciting, but also beneficial to a fighter's health in the long run?

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“Fighters like Paulo Filho, Satoru Kitaoka, and Masakazu Imanari fit the mold perfectly of the types of fighters who actively look to end the fight as quickly as they can using brute strength coupled with quick transitioning jiu-jitsu.”

I don’t think I understand this. Filho is a remarkably different kind of grappler than either Kitaoka or Imanari and I would never call the latter two power grapplers.

Kitaoka and Imanari mostly rely on specializing skills in grappling that even most other competitive grapplers don’t engage in, namely, leg attacks and foot locks, quick scrambles. Both have rounded out their game of late and Kitaoka has some big takedowns with a pressuring passing attack. But Filho is a different animal all together. He not only comes from a different world of jiu-jitsu, he actually doesn’t have the esoteric skill sets or attacks. In fact, even in pure submission wrestling, Filho’s never really been a quick transitioner or attacker. He does use power and that’s more than big slams. He’s the king of getting opponent’s backs to to the mat with a Gable-grip enforced shoulder pressure on the head. He then works methodically for the pass. And that methodical pass and methodical approach (when he had it, now, I don’t know) was a part of the sport gi game he came up in. And that’s another key left out there: Kitaoka and Imanari have adapted their game to the no gi speed, whereas Filho’s no gi game still has the pacing of the gi game. That’s another huge difference.

Perhaps I’m missing something, but I wouldn’t classify these three as power grapplers with quick transitions. Yes, Imanari and Kitaoka are looking for quick ends, but that mostly comes from foot locks, not a huge range of chokes or armbars. And yes, Filho is a power grappler, but he doesn’t have quick transitions or the fight-ending quickness of Imanari or Kitaoka.

by Luke Thomas on Apr 1, 2009 1:30 PM EDT reply actions

Your sentiments on Filho aren’t unwarranted, that’s for sure. Filho isn’t the prototypical grappler in a sense of having the most high level jiu-jitsu in terms of transition speed or even being simply a devastatingly quick grappler with the game to easily defeat opponents like someone like Maia has done. He does however possess the raw power coupled with the submission ability. I believe in more recent fights, he’s exhibited some things that would take away from my analysis of him as being a “power grappler” mold.

Kitaoka and Imanari are a different breed to an extent. Leg attacks are one of their key attributes that allow them to end fights easily, but from a pure strength standpoint, both guys are very powerful. One of the things I always come back to in the case of Imanari is that his leg strength is phenomenal. He has ways of maintaining guard on guys at times that is astounding mainly due to the fact that he has an overpowering guard game in terms of continually keeping opponents from posturing at times. Of course, there is always an exception. Length is a huge problem for Imanari, specifically in his fights against Mishima.

Kitaoka is another guy that specializes in finishing fights via leglocks, but again… he is very powerful. He might not be the true form of a power grappler in that his jiu-jitsu isn’t highly technical to the point in which he can use multiple ways of transitioning to different submissions, but his strength is prominent in his game.

Transition-wise, you are probably right in your assessment of Filho. It isn’t more of quick transitions as it would be that once he gets a hold of a limb, it’s almost always a quick finish.

Fedor comes to mind in this mold, although he has so many other skills that contribute to his success and likely longevity. He’s able to avoid damage for the most part, he’s deceptively powerful on the floor, but he is the quintessential example of quick transitions.

Palhares is another guy I love to throw out there from time to time for the mere fact that I’ve seen nearly all of his bouts. He is unbelievably slick at times in the transition department, has some solid strength, but he does lack the length and range to defeat bigger opponents. He does fit the mold in my eyes though, although his size limits him.

I suppose there are many facets of the mold that some of these guys aren’t at an unbelievably high level. If Filho developed a more dynamic and transition based game and guys like Imanari and Kitaoka expanded their transition game to other types of submissions, they’d fit this mold greatly.

Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com

by Leland Roling on Apr 1, 2009 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions

I view this as another benefit of the preeminence of the UFC and American MMA promotions in general. Would Wanderlei and Big Nog be different fighters today if their careers had been handled differently early on?

by Derek Suboticki on Apr 1, 2009 4:09 PM EDT reply actions

I feel that both those fighters have styles that are generally bad for their longevity. Wanderlei is a smashmouth, in your face brawler when it comes to describing his style. Nogueira’s standup defense was basically to eat punches and rely on his iron chin. Both are bad ideas when it comes to fighter longevity unless you can end a fight quickly.

Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com

by Leland Roling on Apr 1, 2009 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions

True – but fighting people way, way bigger than you is a bad idea, too.

by Derek Suboticki on Apr 1, 2009 6:37 PM EDT up reply actions

You mention it briefly in your comment, that Fedor avoids damage, Kid Nate wrote up a FightMetric piece on this exactly. Getting hit less has to help your longevity.

by Graven Image on Apr 1, 2009 5:25 PM EDT reply actions