If you're one of those diehard fans like the rest of us, you've been following MMA for more than a decade, and probably find it very difficult to be wowed by fights. These days, there is a virtual watershed of new promotions and events are plentiful, so it's easy to become almost numb to the intricacies of fighting. The sheer volume of cards the UFC alone is putting out is pretty amazing, and their production teams rarely miss a beat. That said, PPV numbers are down (many factors contribute to this), and TUF seems to be exhaling their last breaths. The words "watered down" have been used with more and more frequency of late, and fan interest seems to be down in a big way.
This past weekend was a prime example of a loaded event weekend. Bellator on Friday night, followed by Battlegrounds MMA, and then back to back UFC events on Saturday. For us media types, these weekends end up becoming long, sometimes tedious affairs. Shining moments do happen all the time, but are easily lost in an overload of other, more mundane moments.
And then there are fights like Dennis Siver vs. Charles Rosa. For me, and I'm sure many others, that display of technique and skill was not only a shining moment of the weekend, but almost certainly warrants being a candidate for FOTY. I almost felt like I was watching performance art, or possibly two ancient wizards battling for the safety of the world.
Whenever I see a fight like that one, with such slick grappling, marvelous control and finesse, I want someone to break down all the nuances of the moves. I want to better understand everything the combatants are doing.
Lately, The Fight Network's Robin Black has been doing an absolutely amazing job with breaking down fights. A fight veteran himself, Black has a multitude of prime credentials that make him ideal for the task. Here is a sampling of some of Robin's numerous accolades:
- Multiple commentary gigs over the last 6 years
- 9 fight pro career (retired now)
- Has managed several fighters
- 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do
- Blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu
- Countless hours of dedicated research to provide the detailed breakdowns
When I contacted Robin, we had intended to do a breakdown of the UFC 179 card, but since he hadn't picked apart Siver/Rosa yet, I asked him to oblige. He said he needed 15 minutes to watch the fight once more. I gave him an hour. Twenty minutes, a beer and several pages of notes later (included in the slide show), he was ready to go.
Our goal for this series is to hopefully provide one breakdown a week in a casual manner, with Robin providing all the technical breakdowns, and with me providing intermittent questions. If you have suggestions for a breakdown, please put them in the comments, or you can email myself:
Or Robin at:
And now, for your listening pleasure, I present the pilot episode of Brawls & Beers with Robin Black:
Big thanks to Noely Noel from Twitter for the sound effects help
You can find Robin on Twitter via @RobinBlackMMA
Check out Robin's latest video breakdown right here:
Robin Black breaks down Rory MacDonald's performance