Science of Fights

The appeal of fighting sports is its capacity to feed our primal need for destruction. Fighters approach fights differently: there are fighters that prefer to bulldoze the competition with brute power and strength, and in contrast, other fighters are methodical assassins. Whatever the approach, spectators love to see someone “hurt” or get knocked out. It is in our drive, it is what Freud refers to as man’s “Death Instinct”. But this article is not about the Freudian theory. This is about individuals who had made reputations of themselves as fearsome fighters. These 25 fighters of last 25 years are not inside the ring or cage to win on points. They are not in there to sting you with punches or kicks, instead, they are there with the full intention to hurt you or knock you out cold. Win or lose, going against them always guarantees pain.

Every globally recognized sport has its own fair share of bizarre incidents and hateable characters. We have Lebron as NBA’s most recognized choke artist, the polygamous Tiger Woods for golf, and the enhanced Sosa’s and Mcgwire’s of baseball. These personalities are amazing players of their chosen sport but they do have flaws and had made decisions that shook the sporting world. In boxing right now, we have Floyd Mayweather Jr. His last fight against Victor Ortiz is just another testimony to Floyd’s outrageous personality as a leading sports figure. His beautifully executed left-hook, right-straight combination knockout of Ortiz is overshadowed by the fact that Ortiz (and referee, Joe Cortez) seemed to be caught off-guard when it happened which made people think of Mayweather’s win as either cheap or a cheat.

“Shane Mosley has the power to knock the lights out of Manny Pacquiao. The first four rounds are crucial.” Leading up to the fight, that was the common consensus among boxing fans—analysts and laymen alike. Even Roach was in agreement of this. Nazeem Richardson, Mosley’s trainer, had been saying that he was training his fighter to fight a defensive fighter because once Pacman felt Mosley’s power, the Pound-for-Pound king will go on the defensive.

Brock Lesnar was dethroned as “The Baddest Man Alive” after Cain Velasquez decimated him in UFC 121. It only took Velasquez one round to make it happen as he left Lesnar beaten to a bloody pulp after referee Herb Dean motioned to stop the fight. Velasquez winning the fight did not really surprise me. His well-rounded skills and innate speed is certainly difficult to overcome even for someone like Lesnar. Rather, it was Lesnar’s performance in that fight that made me realize something about the monster. Ever since Lesnar’s prominence in the UFC, I see him as an enigmatic fighter. I definitely revere his awesome size, strength, and athletic ability as they were instantly recognizable but I had lingering doubts about his composure, heart, adaptability, defense, and overall skills as a true MMA competitor. The problem with Lesnar is the hype that surrounds him. It was really difficult to profile him and rank his aptitude in different aspects of the fight game because of the ex...

UFC, as part of its yearly tradition, aims to start its first event of the year with a stacked fight card. 2011 will be no different as UFC announces " UFC 125: Resolution , Edgar vs. Maynard". The event is set to take place in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on New Year's Day. The main event will be a lightweight title fight between the current champion, Frankie "The Answer" Edgar, and the number one contender, Gray "The Bully" Maynard. This fight is also a rematch between the two lightweights as the undefeated Maynard will look to repeat his win over "The Answer". Edgar, on the other hand, will try to avenge his only loss to retain his UFC lightweight belt.

The #1 pound-for-pound fighter, Manny Pacquiao will face Tijuana’s Tornado, Antonio Margarito, for the vacant WBC light middleweight title on November 13. Despite all of the controversies surrounding the two fighters, particularly Margarito, this match will surely provide an action-packed encounter since both fighters are known for their aggression. Both are primarily brawlers. Pacquiao may have shown that he has evolved from a head-on slugger into a boxer-puncher but his instinct for offense is still intact. Margarito, on the other hand, is expected to do what he does best and that is to attack with relentless pressure. However, the Mexican should also be smart and take advantage of his size and reach. Here is a breakdown of their match-up:

Jon Jones’ rise in the UFC is well known. He ends fights impressively. With his combination of powerful wrestling and unorthodox striking, he is exciting to watch. After his destruction of solid fighters like Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko, he feels that he is ready for the big time. He expressed that he wanted better fighters, particularly fighters that belong in the top five of the light-heavyweight pool. Regardless of his desires, Jones already expected that his next opponent was the winner of the Ryan Bader-Antônio Rogério Nogueira match.

The Bad: Chael Sonnen’s abrupt rise and fall Chael Sonnen, the underdog in UFC 117, gave Anderson Silva a beatdown he has never encountered before. Sonnen frustrated Silva with his wrestling for four and a half rounds but got caught by the champion’s miracle triangle choke in the last round. Despite Sonnen’s loss, some UFC fans were quite contented to realize that Silva, the man who dominated the middleweight division for three years, is beatable. Sonnen, as a fighter, instantly became a hot item. Fans could already imagine him wearing the middleweight belt. Immediately after the fight, talks of rematch resounded. It was even verbally confirmed by UFC president Dana White that a second fight between the two cage fighters would be arranged sooner than many had expected. MMA fans were pumped for the rematch, but it all crumbled down when Chael Sonnen tested positive for natural steroid use. The repercussions of that result were very bad for the organization’s mone...

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is set for another great fight card when it presents “UFC 118: Penn vs Edgar 2” on 28 August at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The much anticipated rematch between Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn for the UFC lightweight championship will top the event. It will also feature the UFC debut of former boxing champion, James Toney, when he goes up against UFC hall-of-famer, Randy Couture.

Before any of you Quinton “Rampage” Jackson fanatics out there come bashing this post, hear me out. Let me put it out there and say that I am a true Rampage fan and I have been following him since his Pride days. I find him to be not only an amazing fighter but also one hell of a personality. His wit and humor, along with his caveman strength and KO power, have made him a fighter you cannot easily forget. He is popular and he can bang with the best fighters MMA has to offer, there is no doubt about that. However, I am also a follower of the evolving sport and, as an analyst, I must be realistic and go against my fanaticism of Jackson and say that he can’t become a UFC champion again.

The Pacquiao-Clottey fight disappointed a lot of boxing fans. The much hyped fight hailed as “The Event” became more of a Pacman exhibition match. Joshua Clottey’s lack of guts to take risks and open up made the main event of “The Event” uneventful. On the other side of the fence, we have Mayweather versus Mosley. Unlike Clottey, Mosley will certainly come to fight. In fact, Sugar Shane will almost certainly come as the aggressor and will not shy away with his punches. This time around, it will be Mayweather doing all the blocking and defending.

As many of you may have already known, Pacquiao is often surrounded with quite a number of people. His entourage is considerably large in numbers, and yes, even in boxing standards. This chosen crowd is dubbed as the Team Pacquiao but most of them are merely there for the champ’s longing for companionship and only a few of them have functional purposes. In case you are wondering about the essential who’s who in Team Pacquiao, this list will certainly shed light on Team Pacquiao’s active (which means purposeful) members.

The welterweight standout, Joshua Clottey , is just one of Ghana ’s prominent boxing figures of today. Just like his fellow boxer and countryman, Ike “Bazooka” Quartey, Clottey seems to have the essential tools to become the top dog in the sport of boxing, yet, still falls short by losing to quality opponents rather non-convincingly. Fortunately for Joshua Clottey, he still has plenty of fights left in him and he will have the biggest chance of his life to surpass Quartey’s underachievement by beating the pound for pound kingpin Manny Pacquiao. Let’s take a closer look at the Ghanaian fighter they call “Grandmaster”.

Are you one of those people who scour the web looking for fights? No, I don’t mean someone who picks fights in forums or comment spaces, not that kind of keyboard warrior but the type who searches YouTube for a Kimbo Street Fight, MMA matches, or compilations of knockouts and fight highlights. If that’s your thing, you are what I call a fight fan . You have the thirst for primal human action and also have the acumen for fight science. Discrimination is not in your vocabulary eventhough you may favor one type of martial art or prefer a particular fighting sport. You enjoy watching and understanding fights. Whether it’s MMA, Boxing, Karate point fighting, Muay Thai, backyard brawl, or a Kimbo Street fight – your interest is genuine and profound. There are different kinds of fight fans. Here’s a short list:

Once again, Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. has proven his slickness not only inside the ring but also outside of it as well. What did Mayweather accomplish last Saturday? Well for starters, he did what he was supposed to do and that was to beat a smaller aging fighter that he cherry-picked for his so-called comeback fight. Sure, it was a dominating win and many might marvel at the technical brilliance of Floyd’s defensive boxing. Personally, however, I have done that a long time ago and in his last fight dubbed as, “Number One vs Numero Uno”, I expected a blowout, a knockout even.