This semester many students have the opportunity/requirement of a kick-butt writing assignment. For those whom it is required, you know who you are.

Anyway, here are the ground rules.

You need to watch one of the fights from the TV show, The Ultimate Fighter (fights can be seen here). You could arbitrarily pick one or select one of the top ten fights from TUF – video above has snippets from each fight.

After watching, I want you to write a brief analysis (at least 200 words but no more than 400).  The analysis should have a summary of what happened (only a few sentences),  analysis of key elements that determined victory and your favorite moments with your explanation of why you liked those parts.

The main focus should be the various elements that you believe determined the fight.  What techniques seemed to be most dominant? Striking? Grappling? Conditioning? How might the loser have improved his performance?  What made this fight interesting to you?

Draw on your own experience with various techniques while you comment. Don’t fuss about being technical or ultra-knowledgeable. Speak from the heart with and edit once for grammar. Limited usage of slang and industry-standard terms is okay, but if your response reads like a comment on Youtube, I will likely stalk you down and beat you with a rubber hose.  (Flexibility will be provided for non-native-English speaking students).

Post your assignment below, using your first name and last initial, listing the fight you watched before the body of your work. This is to be finished before 12/12/11.

Ex:

BartB

Roland Delorme vs. TJ Dillashaw

This fight was ……….

I look forward to your work!

First,  my heart goes out to all Utahans that may have suffered ill effects from the sustained heavy winds (75-100 mph) and power outages on 12/1/11 to 12/2/11.  It sucks to have a 30-year-old pine tree ripped from your yard and placed not-so-gently onto your car, or to have your truck flipped over by sheer wind-power.

With this recent calamity in mind, I’d like to draw a parallel between emergency preparedness and overall fight preparedness.  When the storm comes – be it literal or in the cage – you know in that moment what you don’t have.  Many folks here in Davis county (where I live) had the power out for 18+ hours; they immediately realized a need for candles/flash lights, extra blankets, and non-electrical heating/cooking.

In that moment, when your opponent is hitting a solid double-leg takedown, you realize your deficiency in wrestling. In that moment, when you cannot get past your opponent’s jab, you realize your boxing is sub-par. In that moment, when you are gasping for air, think back on your cardio time in the gym.

In  that moment, all you can do is try to make the best of things.

However, let this be a lesson to all of us.  You cannot prepare for every contingency but you can prepare for many contingencies. If an emergency beyond your capacity hits, your self-reliant attitude and survival practices will help you see another day.

I hope that when our moment finds us, it does not expose our weakness but reveals our preparedness.

Click through the pictures to see the videos.

Razor Rob shows how to nerf (obviate) the underhook when being pushed up against the cage and perform a sit-down takedown to get into side control.

Our local Brandon Ruiz shows some cage work defense with two techniques: a chest punch to get back your underhook and a slick two-on-one (controlling their two arms with one of yours) control to get your back off the cage.

UFC champ Frankie Edgar shows how to cut off the movement of your opponent and keep them on the cage with this drill.

Adam “Soul Horse” Song from Cageside MMA shows the proper base and pressuring technique to keep your opponent on the wall. He also demonstrates how to knee, footstomp, etc from this position. The discussion of how to base is brief, but essential.

Revolution MMA’s Joel Gerson shows a foot-sweep type move that exploits the opponent’s balance and base.

A couple of guys from ProFightNetwork show a knee catch takedown from the cage – keep that head tucked! – and then follow up with some excellent instruction on ground and pound.

Kenny Florian shows defense against ground and pound by securing a grip (two on one is great) and then wall walking back to his feet.  The move is related to a turkish getup.

Kevin Kearns (Burn with Kearns!) and Marcus Davis show a similar drill, the cage crush, that help you work getting back to your feet. Bosu ball used for resistance.

Another local man, Brian Yamasaki from DamageControl MMA has his wrestling buddy, Dave Seljestad show a single leg takedown when you’re pressing your opponent up to the cage.

Some guys from The Pit show various techniques in this long (12 mins) video instruction, including tips on finishing the double leg takedown while pushing your opponent onto the fence.

Brad Daddis shows how you can escape side control by walking your feet up the cage and rolling your opponent over. Pretty slick move.

Let me know if your thoughts – I learned a ton from these vids and would love to learn what you might have to offer too!

Also, remember to sweep the leg.

Just a quick heads up – this fall, we’ve scheduled three  MMA classes at the U (ESSF 1415).  Two in the morning, one at night. There are credit and no-credit options – and you don’t even need to be a U student to come (sign up via continue.utah.edu). Come join us – we’ve finished a fun summer semester and I’m pumped to dig into training this fall!

Just a reminder to all students – classes start tonight!

This semester we’ll be officially introducing the “ABC’s of MMA” which will be our syllabus, more or less.  This more formalized curriculum will help students progress from class to class, semester to semester, keep track of progress, and more.  I’ll  post a ton more details and how we’ll be using this syllabus, found here: ABCs 05172011 Keep in mind that while the ABC’s of MMA is in beta, you’re experience and feedback is going to help the program evolve.

I look forward to training with you!

Just a heads up,  Professor Rigan Machado is teaching a Gi based seminar from 7:30-9:30 PM down at Lehi Judo.  Follow the link below for more info.

As you may know, that will be freaking sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet training.

http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=941313

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I remember seeing Dan Henderson use something like this in his fight against Jake Shields. He wasn’t able to roll Jake, but kept his hips from getting sucked underneath and got his legs to the side and then to freedom with his belly down.

• A water bottle
• Appropriate workout clothes
• An athletic cup
• A mouth guard

If you don’t have any of this stuff, don’t worry, I will forgive you … for tonight only!  Protective training gear becomes more and more important as time goes on. As always, I am excited to begin training with you.