Graphic: The Welterweight Takeover
by LBo on Feb 3, 2012 5:52 PM EST
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PrintThis is an excerpt for discussion (hopefully) from a larger piece I've put together at a fansite where I'm going to be publishing a lot more in the way of MMA editorial cartooning soon, FightGeist.com -- I've been tinkering with it for a while now, but this is the first time I've ever linked to it.
I'm a huge fan of "The Wire," and ever since the young guns of welterweight started showing their teeth and taking out the old guard of the division I haven't been able to shake the feeling it reminds me of the way the streets of Baltimore changed hands in the later seasons of that show.
One one side, you have the established crew -- GSP, Fitch, Koscheck, Penn, Alves, Rumble, Shields et al.
It's the same story you hear in most gangster movies -- one faction who have the respect, a 'piece of the action' (main-card action in this case), and are starting to settle in with the status quo of running things.
Then you have hungrier upstarts -- Diaz, Condit, Hendricks, Ellenberger, Story, MacDonald, Brenneman:
via FightGeist.com
Guys on the come-up who are willing to take it a step further to disrupt the status quo and 'natural order' of things, by whatever means they need to.
This is a fictional framework, but it's absolutely the theme of 170 lbs right now: you don't just run up on Jon Fitch and blast him with your first punch. You don't chase BJ Penn around the octagon with your boxing, he chases you. You don't take a flush shot from Thiago Alves and keep coming forward. The entire division is in a state of "don't you know who I am, bro?" and it's really fucking exciting to watch.
Anyway, what follows is a fairly nerdy but hopefully entertaining breakdown of this "welterweight takeover." The full graphic and a longer form post are viewable HERE *»
*I'd love to get your thoughts and feedback on both the poster and the site in this fanpost thread -- hopefully splitting things this way doesn't violate fanpost guidelines, but... well, please let me know if it does. For further yuks check out my 'infinity belt rankings,' an attempt at completely unempirical categorization of the reasons this sport is awesome, (and something I could desperately use some help with).
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.
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Oh shoot, I didn’t think about the potential for messing someone up with that — I just went back and adjusted slightly to be really nonspecific with the reference, but to be safe you might want to just skip the text and check out the graphic (nothing revelatory in there though).
Also, congrats on checking out the best show in the history of ever :)
by LBo on Feb 3, 2012 6:31 PM EST up reply actions
I'm actually at about the same point. Season 3 ep2
Just starting Breaking bad too, my excuse is having no internet or cable for the last 2 years (not a very valid reason for the wire but whatever)
Excellent
Well deserved rec.
BECW Season 2 Captain of the Intellegent Northern English Picking Team - 80% more INEPT than all of you, 8 times out of 12
Please visit the Daniel James Miller Foundation and donate.
Holy fuck
that is awesome
Quietly leading Cecil Peoples Champs to victory and beyond.
All in the game yo, all in the game
by Our Bovine Public on Feb 3, 2012 6:22 PM EST reply actions
I'm a GSP fan
and even I couldn’t help but laugh at
Perennial Welterweight Boss Georges St. Pierre is sent to a white-collar upstate facility for “rehabilitation” on charges of embezzling countless additional pay-per-view minutes in his fights.
There's no moral order at all. There's just this: can my violence conquer yours?
This is utterly awesome
Rec’d.
Proud member of The Voices in Paul Harris' Head, BECW Season 2.
"By doubting we come to inquiry and by inquiry we perceive the truth." -- Abelard
Hey homie
I hate to he a thread-jacker, and I’m gonna look at that pretty content up there in a hot minute, but seriously, CAN A BROTHER GET HIS BEN SAUNDERS SHIRT?!?!?!?!?!!??!!?
Tatum: I think he's a good man. I like him. I got nothing against him, but I'm definitely gonna make orphans of his children.
BECW Season 1 - The NOT LAST PLACE Team Spinning Fish
BECW Season 2 - WAR Cecil Peoples Champs
so about that, i'm kind of at a standstill and i'm not sure what to do, but open to suggestions...
after the various fanpost threads, ben sent me the specs for producing the final artwork from a company called ‘enemy ink’ and I put together and gave him the final art files along with some mockups for referencing how they’d be used.
there was a period of radio silence (to be fair i’m not always the quickest emailer myself), and i sent him a couple reminders as well as an offer to get in touch directly with the printers to facilitate the process. i haven’t heard anything, and just kinda figured he was busy with like training and fighting and whatnot…
♫ cue sad violin ♫
sort of the long and short of it is that i’ve been hoping this whole thing would get done through his channels and his apparel folks so that he can be set up to get whatever profits would come from slanging them — i’m not at all familiar with what the structure is there or who to get at.
…and just to be clear, i’m not even really interested in making a dime off the shirts, i just really like the idea of having BElitists physically wearing something i drew…
…and, if it wasn’t killa b’s idea and something that uses his likeness and name i would have thrown it up on cafepress with a $0 cut to myself just to get this baby off the ground. but being that it is inherently sort of his deal i’m pretty hesitant to just go guerilla with it.
by LBo on Feb 3, 2012 7:36 PM EST up reply actions
Sorry dude
Sounds like’s it’s been a major slog. It just seems such a shame to have such excellent artwork go to waste. No suggestions really except to pester Mr. Saunders to set our t-shirts free.
Tatum: I think he's a good man. I like him. I got nothing against him, but I'm definitely gonna make orphans of his children.
BECW Season 1 - The NOT LAST PLACE Team Spinning Fish
BECW Season 2 - WAR Cecil Peoples Champs
by Dave Strummer on Feb 3, 2012 8:16 PM EST up reply actions
Also
Awesome post and awesome art, as usual.
Tatum: I think he's a good man. I like him. I got nothing against him, but I'm definitely gonna make orphans of his children.
BECW Season 1 - The NOT LAST PLACE Team Spinning Fish
BECW Season 2 - WAR Cecil Peoples Champs
by Dave Strummer on Feb 3, 2012 8:18 PM EST up reply actions
So much awesomeness.
BECW season 2 member of the Intellegent Northern English Picking Team.
Draft number: 72.
Damn, I never realized you’re the guy who made the Prodigimon thingie. That is classic! Major props. I’m itching to check out this new one but I haven’t watched The Wire yet and am allergic to spoilers, so I think I’ll wait.
"I want to tell me what you see, let's go ahead and see by the fight, what you saw, in the ring."
that is a rec!
Condit especially looks good drawn that way
¬_¬
by ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ on Feb 3, 2012 9:03 PM EST reply actions
Love the old crew vs. the new crew angle and the crime terminology used to explain the fights
Also the illustrations kind of remind me a little bit of Eduardo Risso’s work on 100 Bullets. Are you a fan by any chance? If not, I recommend his stuff. He is personally one of my favorite cartoonists.
i love 100 bullets— that’s high praise! risso is the man. i actually think between him and azzarello he carried the team on that book…
No problem man
I thought the writing was good too though. Azzarello has a knack for dialog and I liked the way the story wrapped up.
by discoandherpes on Feb 4, 2012 2:31 PM EST up reply actions
It's well worth checking out the original via the link.
This is awesome.
Share for share, share alike, you'll get struck each time I strike.
what are those drawings called done with the computer??
I forgot .. like the ones you have on the infinity belt rankings link .. of fightgeist?
renders? .. argh I cant remember .. please tell me ..
either way SICK work and awesome stuff ..
you have a new fan in me .. and thanks for sharing
but yea if you can tell me what hose are called again it’d be much appreciated .. peace
thanks man, i don’t know if there’s a term for it specifically, but all of this is pretty much just wacom tablet + pshop. to be fair, i’ll often use a tracing of basic facial features and then replace it or layer over it when doing the final drawing, but mostly just because if someone isn’t instantly recognizable the whole idea falls flat…
by LBo on Feb 4, 2012 1:17 PM EST up reply actions
Amazing work LBo! Please keep up with some ganposts over here as I’m terrible at checking much of anything besides BE.
Pat Barry made a wrestle - some schmuk in texas
I don't know more about MMA than you, I just act like it at HeadKickLegend
yeah like HKL.
Writing things on occasion @ Head Kick Legend.
Team Captain for Ruining Your Special Night. That's what we do.
by Earl Montclair on Feb 4, 2012 12:50 AM EST up reply actions
Yeah, this last has been rough
I’ve been out of town for the whole week, with no comp access. I need to get some work done before I get 86’d
Pat Barry made a wrestle - some schmuk in texas
I don't know more about MMA than you, I just act like it at HeadKickLegend
no way man no way!
Writing things on occasion @ Head Kick Legend.
Team Captain for Ruining Your Special Night. That's what we do.
by Earl Montclair on Feb 4, 2012 1:31 AM EST up reply actions
Lol
Triple Threat Represent!
Pat Barry made a wrestle - some schmuk in texas
I don't know more about MMA than you, I just act like it at HeadKickLegend
Great stuff man!
But I feel Pettis should have had the top spot in the Wong Fei-Hung, not only for the Pettis kick, and also because he consistently uses weird capoeira and TKD kicks in his matches.
...he also sends me messages saying "Prepare your soul, only god and jiu jitsu can save you and god isn’t listening". -Patrick Tenney
brilliant work LBo
thanks for sharing.
'If you don't have humility as a fighter, fighting will bring humility to you...'
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