Science of Fights

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.