Luke's already posted about the interesting clinch-fighting style of Kyle Baker.

Here's the video of his fight against Levon Maynard at UWC 5: Man "O" War so you can see for yourself.

The whole card is up on Sherdog for your viewing pleasure.

We never did come up with a satisfying name for Baker's brutal style of clinch fighting but someone suggested the word "maul" -- I like that so I'm suggesting PawNMaul for Baker's style. Other ideas?

Disclosure: I did some PR work for UWC but am no longer associated with the organization.

Iman Achhal reacts to her razor thin split decision victory in her professional debut over Felice "Lil' Bulldog" Herrig. View all of the photos by Melanie LeGoullon exclusive to Bloody Elbow here.

I'm still working up my personal UWC: Man O' War wrap-up as getting all of the relevant details right without making it an onerous read has proven quite difficult. All things being equal, it was a fantastic event for the metro Washington, D.C. area and more importantly, the best showcase I've seen to date of the talent in the Mid-Atlantic region.

In fact, one of the fighters was so unique I felt the need to call some long overdue attention to him.

If you've never heard of Kyle Baker, I don't blame you. The truly hardcore fan who slurps up any morsel of local show product to be the first to discover any particular area's next big prospect are familiar with both Kyle and his brother Beau (more on them here), but even to most dedicated MMA fans Baker is not a noteworthy name. I don't know if that will change over time. To be sure, Baker is a very capable fighter and top Mid-Atlantic prospect after beating both "Binky" Jones and most recently, Levon Maynard at this past weekend's event. Unequivocally, I say he certainly has potential. But he has liabilities as well, most notably in his stand-up game which remains a serious Achilles heel Baker will have to address if he is ever to fight national and international class competitors.

So, do not be confused here: I am not touting Baker for his overall MMA ability, though it is certainly considerable. Rather, I want to talk about the way Baker fights and wins in modern MMA as his style is, I believe, something new and totally unique. Jordan Breen and I were talking about Baker and could think of no one who fought like him, which is saying quite a bit.

To put it bluntly, Baker has what can only be described as the functional equivalent of standing ground and pound. He hasn't always used the style. In fact, I've only seen him employ it in his last three fights, which indicates to me he's developed the style over time.

So what does it look like? Just as it sounds: its ground and pound from the standing position. Baker loves to clinch, put his opponent's back against the cage then use a very careful and suffocating blend of a controlling Greco clinch with a traditional Thai clinch with a splash of dirty boxing for style. You may say there are a number of fighters who already use such a style, but the devil is in the details. First, what separates Baker's style from a Couture-esque dirty boxing attack is that a) Baker's clinch battles aren't set-ups for takedowns, b) makes much more effective use of Thai clinch components with a premium placed on constantly attacking all areas of the upper body while constantly fighting for control while also forcibly moving his opponent. It's not that you haven't seen any component of Baker's style, it's that no one blends them all so seamlessly. Baker also doesn't employ any striking in the clinch where there is significant distance between himself and his opponents hips. Every attack is hip to hip, tight and in close to protect himself from bombs and to pressure his opponent against the cage.

Baker's style is predicated on his ability to defend himself when he can't work the clinch, and his well-roundedness is good enough at this level of competition. Where he excels, however, is in finding ways to close distances with opponents while using the clinch as a spider web. The key to his style is that Baker is constantly making sure he is in the dominant inside control position and while he fights for it, attacks his opponents with right hooks to the body and left knees to the liver. While opponents may try to escape as long as Baker solely pummels, they can escape. But by weaving in attacks while he fights for control he forces opposition into the clinch by making them assume defensive postures. And from there its just a slow grind. Baker wins from here because opponents can't keep up with both fights: as soon as they put out the fire of fighting for inside control, another fire of being attacked is started. Ultimately, opponents cannot fight both fires simultaneously and they eventually crumble.

While Baker does a superb job of off balancing his opponents by pushing, pulling, moving his feet and weighing on them, what winds up happening is that Baker's competition are slowly bludgeoned to death from the constantly moving clinch over the course of time. Try to imagine what it is I'm talking about: I'm not talking about Anderson Silva's clinch where its a desperate situation for his opponent. In Silva's clinch, it's about maximizing damage with every blow and finishing the fight. With Baker, it's about lulling your opponent into the clinch and finding a way to not let them escape while you slowly but thoroughly beat on them.

The other notable feature about Baker's style is how gritty the clinch battles become. Like ground and pound, the top (outside in Baker's case) player works for space and control to score effective punishment and poinits while the bottom (or inside) player tries to control space, protect himself from strikes and either separate or look for a submission. The combination of a fervent battle for control with the slow Chinese water torture of offensive damage creates a vivid scene - there is no end to it until the opponent fails. What is different about Baker is the committment to this scenario and position. He'll run the round or two or three in this position, searching for control and attacking the entire time.

Here's Kyle's fight against Levon Maynard from UWC 5. For those of you who saw last weekend's UWC stream, you know precisely what I am referring to. But what's interesting to me here is that we are constantly reminded of the evolving tactics, style and strategies within MMA - and not just by those at the top fighters like Lyoto Machida. Athleticism isn't only getting better in MMA, so is the complexity of gameplanning. And as an added bonus, the customization of style is following suit.

My only issue is what to call this style. Standing ground and pound is a good way to describe the style, but it's not a catchy name. Any suggestions in the comments section are appreciated.

Photo by Melanie LeGoullon

Antonio McKee was a guest for an extended interview with Jordan Breen on Sherdog Radio Thursday and I pulled these rather...interesting quotes from the interview (quotes taken as close to accurately as possible from the audio interview):

On his style:

Unfortunately my style of fighting is not really what a lot of fans choose to see.  But, you know, it's the smart way to go at my age and, not only that, if you can't stop what I do than it's kind of hard for me to stop doing it.

Being humble about his wrestling skills:

My wrestling is so superior, in fact I don't think there is no one in MMA that has the wrestling that I have.

On his goals as a fighter:

I think we get more away from the sport of MMA and we start looking at more of entertainment.  I'm a fighter and I'm a prideful fighter so I wasn't necessarily going into this sport looking to entertain people, I'm going out here to get the win.

On what he thinks of people who find him boring:

I think the older people, the people that are smarter, the people who understand ME...and when you talk to the fighters, they'll tell you 'man, I respect what McKee does.'  It's the people out there that are watching the sport, and I understand that's how the sport grows, but they have no idea what it's like to be a fighter, what it's like to throw a punch or to get kicked.  So most of the people that are really talking the smack, they've never had a fight in their life and in my book they're a bunch of faggots.

On if he finds himself fun to watch:

Sometimes I get bored because I know what I'm going to do.  I know that I'm going to go out here, I'm going to take the guy down, I'm going to ground and pound my way through the fight...just enough work to win the round.

...

I don't mind being the boringest [sic] fighter in MMA, as long as I've got a winning record...fine by me.

On the IFL:

Just happened to be that the lowest paid fighters in the IFL were minorities.  We were making $4,000 when everyone else was making $6,000.

These quotes don't have the overall impact of if you were to listen start to finish to the interview, but they're still pretty interesting.  There is this odd tone that McKee has the entire interview and this whole attitude of his failures to get ahead in the fight game always being the result of things done by others and never through any fault of his own.

McKee is the kind of guy who believes that the only way you should ever be allowed to be critical of someone or talk about the sport is if you measure up to his standards of "not being a pussy."  This interview is amazing because he talks about how he isn't a guy who likes to talk smack, but spends the interview talking about how great of a fighter, businessman and coach he is.  He has had problems in every promotion he has ever fought for, but despite being the common factor in all these situations it isn't his fault.

He wanted to start a "minority based promotion" so the WFA pulled some shenanigans to get him off the card.  The IFL wasn't treating him fairly as a fighter or a coach (even after he says that they agreed to let him fight Jake Shields for another promotion for a big payday).  And of course...People who think he is boring are "faggots" (despite the fact that he admits that he is not an exciting guy to watch fight).  It's all just so over the top that it's honestly hard to take seriously.

At the end of the day Antonio McKee has 21 wins and 16 of them are decisions.  He earned his reputation as a boring fighter, he flat says that he could care less about entertaining the fans.  He thinks the guys that are the reason he makes a damn cent off the fight game are faggots should they dare criticize him.  This is the worst kind of selfish attitude for a professional athlete.  I don't expect guys to fight outside of their element or get beat up trying to be exciting.  But don't act like the fans should kiss your ass just for existing.

But hey!  Tune in tomorrow night for the MFC 20 webstream broadcast on Sherdog HDNet as Antonio McKee gets another decision win as he lays on top of Derrick Noble "doing just enough to win the round" en route to the MFC Lightweight Title.

To all those in the Washington, D.C. area, I'll be on NewsChannel 8's "Sports Talk" with Glenn Harris tonight from 8:00 - 8:30 p.m. Mike Easton and I will be on to shill for MMA and the UWC, but what else is new? Even though it's on television, the show is live and takes callers, so feel free to chat us up if you see us on. And by "us" I mean Mike.

I don't think DirecTV subscribers will be able to watch, but if you've got Comcast you should be golden. And, as always, thanks for the support.

UWC bantamweight Mike Easton got a write-up in the Washington Post's best sports blog, "DC Sports Bog" by Dan Steinberg. Steinberg generally doesn't tread the waters of MMA, but this piece is MMA-friendly and presents Easton as the quinteseential DC sports representative:

I don't usually write about MMA fighters in this space. But I'll make an exception for a guy who lives about two miles from my house; who trains to go-go music (Rare Essence and Junkyard Band!), roots for the Caps and D.C. United and met his trainer at a Cluck-U Chicken in P.G. County; whose father went to Howard and teaches visual art at Duke Ellington; and who plans to enter his fight this weekend to the strains of "Bustin' Loose."

"It's Chuck Brown, baby," Mike Easton explained to me over the phone. "It's the Godfather of Go-Go. Since we're fighting in D.C., I had to give the fans some Chuck Brown. Had to."

The fight isn't technically in D.C., but it's close enough. Easton's biggest opportunity to date will happen Saturday night at the Patriot Center, a meeting with former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Chase Beebe. Easton, 5-1 as a pro, will be introduced out of Temple Hills, but he's "all D.C.'ed up," as he put it, from growing up in Anacostia to moving near H.D. Woodson to childhood boxing lessons with his father at Orr Elementary.

What's thrilling for me is that as MMA's profile and the profile of its top prospects grow in DC, more attention is paid to the traditions and values of the city itself (and this process is repeated in whatever city is also fortunate enough to have significant media presence and tier one fighters). Thus far in MMA's growth and evolution, there have been virtually no fighters in DC with any kind of media fingerprint who were also credible talents. Easton appears to be the first, giving DC 's customs some healthy and light-hearted exposure.

For those new to Easton, there's obviously more to the story including his excellent grappling pedigree, but this is fantastic information for the casual DC sports fan unaccustomed to following any sort of MMA local or otherwise. Read the whole post.

Disclosure: I am an employee of UWC, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I would like to point out, though, that I desperately want MMA to be successful in Washington, D.C. I am fortunate enough to have resources to potentially affect that growth and success, so I choose to make use of them. I have witnessed the development on MMA in DC since 2004 and, by far, the UWC is our best hope for having a meaningful professional organization call DC home. My goal is to grow MMA in this area and in the UWC, I have found a product that has the capability to do it well.