UFC on FX 1 Post-Fight Quick Hits

Once Anik calms down, especially in the post-fight interviews with winners, he’s going to be great. I really don’t think Florian adds much, and as others have pointed out, it was tough to tell who was talking at times. That wasn’t only because they sounded alike but also because Florian didn’t really seem to add a lot of insight to make his contributions noticeably different from Anik’s.

Only other thing I’d mention is that no matter how much people crack on Helwani I still think the guy does the best interviews in MMA. In his own way he’s every bit as polished as Anik.

Kamal looks like a badger and shoud stick to what badgers do, because he sucks at MMA.

Khabib – it’s silent “k”, so you spell it Khabib, but pronounce “Habib”. Just like silent “h” in French, for example: spelled “hokey”, pronounced “okey”.

Clearly the guy has the striking thing down. He’s dynamic, powerful and creative.

What he needs to do is drill BJJ day after day after day with a serious black belt. I understand the thinking “if I don’t get taken down, they can’t sub me” but clearly that isn’t working for him.

He needs to focus on one thing, and one thing only…submission defense.

But he’s held back by the little things. He needs to take small steps. He blends his footwork and boxing brilliantly, but he should focus on keeping his hands up. Find some great muay thai fighters and learn some more vicious kicks and knees, not these ill advised flying knees. He certainly has the potential with his abilities, and he’s clearly the hardest hitting lightweight there is.

Here are my issues with how he fought last night:

-He should have swarmed Miller when he was hurt, that was the worst time to employ his newfound composure
-Guillard has to recognize the mistakes he makes on the ground. He’s too anxious to get up and he’s scared he’ll get submitted. That actually leads him to getting submitted more often because he tries to explode to a better position rather than calmly regaining position.
-He should take up yoga, or meditating, or something. He has gained some composure in his fights, but along with that he needs some focus. He has to take a little time to think when he’s in there. He should also see a sport psychologist to help him with the other mental blocks.
-He should commit himself to jiu jitsu training. Not only sub defense, but he has to learn to make better transitions and prevent his opponents from making them. Maybe he can even pick up a few subs for himself.

Ultimately it’s all on him. I hope for his sake he can turn it all around before he starts to just fade away. 2012 can still be a good year for him, but he has to get his head into it. I don’t know who else he trains with when he’s with the Blackzillians, but I don’t think that camp is the correct fit for him. He needs to go with a reputable jiu jitsu camp and get to work.

Lets look at his opponent history.

(chronological order)
-Debut for both fighters. [Opponent now 1-4]
-Debut for opponent. [Now at 2-2]
-1-0. [Now 2-1]
-2-0. [Now 4-2]
-Debut. [Hasnt fought since]
-1-0. [Now 3-1]
-2-0. [Now 9-1]
-2-0. [Now 7-1]
-4-2. [Now 7-9]
-3-0. [Now 4-2]
-12-9. [Hasnt fought since]
-0-2. [Hasnt fought since]
-1-1. [Now 1-4]
-3-3. [hasnt fought since]
-debut. [Hasnt fought since]
-28-22. [Now 28-25]

As you can see Khabib has been preying on very weak competition. Obviously he’s undefeated but in just about every case he’s fought guys that had a handful of fights, with exception to two fighters. Two fights ago, while Khabib making his 7 fight 2011 run, he was15-0 and fought a guy who was making his debut.

Plus his 2011 run wasn’t slightly close to being considered tough. He’d picked on some very weak competition.

Then changed it :(

Not listening to the BE staff ever again