Why Finishing Matters

Fighters with this style do well, both that fighters with those skills and the ability to finish do much better. Thats why Edgar wont be champ long.

You speak of wrestlers being the problem. I think that there was a time when dominant wrestlers finished fights. Back when the headbutt was allowed it was a boon to wrestlers finishing fights, also in america we weight the takedown too heavily. It’s why GSP won the first Penn fight. It’s a problem, but what are you going to do, the premier combat sport athlete in the USA is the Freestyle wrestler, who isn’t drilling finishing skills, but rather positional control skills.

Nice post though, I don’t think that it’s killing the sport, but I do see your point. Rec’d by the way

I was listening to Jim Rome’s radio show yesterday and he had some guy on there who went to the show. He told Rome he hated it and I was waiting for the usual “brutal cockfight” line, when the guy completely surprised me. He said it was boring as hell.

Sad thing is it’s kind of hard to argue. I just keep telling myself the sport is young, it is still evolving.

Finishing matters when your behind on the cards and the only way for you to win is to finish. Aside from that a win by decision is just as good if not better than a win by stoppage. This crap about guys like Edgar fighting safe is just that how are you fighting safe when you are engaging and dictating the fight. People need to get over it and realise that if a guy imposses his will on you either striking or grappling you lost. You don’t like it, no one is holding a gun to your head me i’ll take 100 Frankie’s over 100 Penn’s anyday of the week.

nice job, Monte Fisto.

GSP is a master at avoiding damage and danger.

The game is continually changing, and it will continue to reach higher bounds as the skills of fighters improve. If that means training more wrestling, then they will have to.

Florian was on the right track, he just started late in life.

Everything runs in cycles in this sport. No one style stays dominant for very long. This is just an awkward transition period. Eventually, all those boring wrestlers are going to force guys from other disciplines to adapt and get better.

So I say thank you boring lay & pray guy, for forcing everyone else to either evolve or die.

I just want to see more activeness more than anything else. I thought that Maia vs Miranda was just fine in that Maia was active and trying to finish the fight. I did not particularly appreciate Maynard because he looked to have been purposefully trying to kill the clock at times. There was a takedown of his on Florian where Maynard took down Florian, held him down, the ref threatened to stand the fight up, Maynard would then throw some ground n pound, and go back to holding Florian down. On other takedowns, Maynard would hold Florian down, then throw some ground n pound, and just hold him down again. These parts where Maynard was holding Florian down looked to me as if he were purposefully trying to kill the clock.
In my opinion, I don’t necessarily care about a finish or not, I just care if the fighters are active.
I do however feel that the fighter on the bottom should have a stronger sense of urgency. That is why I liked Feijao against King Mo or Jacare against Tim Kennedy. When they got taken down, they immediately became active to get the fight back standing and also not to be on the bottom. This is where I feel that Kenny Florian was at fault against Maynard.

I have to side with Gray Maynards comment a few days ago, when he asked how many other people finished the guys he fought? I think if Frank Edgar, Gray Maynard, and Jon Fitch fought on the regional scene, or even against the bottom 3rd of their weight class in UFC all we would here about is this awesome guy who finishes everyone, but these guys are fighting the best in the business everytime out, and using their skill set to do it. Edgar was putting it on BJ a few times in this fight, but BJ has one of the greatest chins in the history of the sport, Machida couldn’t finish him.

The reason Maynard, Sonnen, Rashad 3.0 are so incredibly lame is that they rarely look to improve their position. The flashiest their guard passing gets is half guard (easiest position to maintain with low submission risk) since they value being on top more than dealing damage. They rarely go for a sub or posture up to throw hard. It seems like after a non-finishing GSP, Fitch or a fight like Maia/Miranda, there is no question who would win if it went a few more rounds. But the LnP guys make me think if the fight continued that they eventually would get subbed.

I had the feeling that if the fights got extended, Rampage would have KO’d Rashad, Silva would have KO’d Rashad, Diaz would have subbed Maynard, Marquardt would have subbed Sonnen, and A. Silva would have subbed Sonnen….oh wait that one was 5 rounds and he did

I would say I’m of the second camp. I don’t like to watch boring fighters play for the judges. I don’t even pay attention. And don’t think I’m some sort of grappling hater, I love grappling and hate boring stand up fights just as much. But, worry not, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Guys like Jon Jones, Cain Velasquez, and Rory Macdonald are showing that the new breed of MMA killer finishes his fights.

Pretty soon fighters are going to understand that every second they are in the cage is a liability and that finishing is good for their health. Either that, or they’re going to find themselves waking up on the canvas wonder what the hell went wrong.

There are a lot of ways to break down Maynard’s game and how technical it is or how its not as bad as it seems. But all I know is that when I see him or Fitch walk to the cage I occupy myself with something else. I know the story already. Takedown, punch from guard, smother, repeat for 3 rounds.

I get that its up to the opponent to do something to stop it from happening, and kudos to these guys for exploiting the rules they are given, but that doesn’t make me feel any less bored.