LYOTO MACHIDA VS RASHAD EVANS UFC 98

Like I said in my previous blog, to win and keep the belt in the UFC or another organization takes lots of hard work, intelligence in how to combine all the ingredients that eventually takes the fighter to victory. The fight between Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans is the perfect case scenario to endorse this blog

What the last time you saw a true traditional Karate Master inside the Octagon? Never!
When I saw Machida first fight I was impressed the way he moved, was all traditional Karate,
being a Karate guy myself, I was nice to see him apply ashi-barai (foot sweep) and eventually makes the other fighter look down and BANG! the floury of punches was delivered with precision.

Kicking the opponents using Karate leg techniques instead of Tai Boxing, put him out of range for counter punches, because he was always leaning back not forward, I bet nobody noticed that.
If you take a close look at the Machida fights, you will notice that he fights with his upper body straight, his foot work and body positioning (tai sabaki) is all Shotokan Karate.

We all know that Machida trained himself in other martial-arts, but as he said, his base is Karate-Do and this is the whole reason why I'm writing this blog. You see, you got to have a foundation, you can not built a house without one, you can have the most impressive building,
but if the foundation is week it will collapse eventually!

And so is true in fighting, you must have a base first, it could be BJJ,Karate,Judo, Tai Boxing or anything you think your body will adapt the best and you must train everyday until you find the ''zone" that special state that all athletes search for their entire lives. Machida lives and breath his chosen style, it is his way of life, you can see the intensity in his eyes when he talks about it and yet, using this base of understanding, he can now train and understand other styles!

Using a little analogy here; in medicine, if you want to be a doctor, you must go to medical school
after finishing, you have to do residency and then, only then you can explore another branches of the medical fields, because, by then you have an understanding of the human body that is your base, and so is true with martial arts, anyone can punch and kick, even a monkey can learn it, the difference is to understand how to use it, where and when.

I know Machida will defend his belt for a long time if he don't forget his origins, the money and fame will be his worst enemies he ever encounter in his whole career, if he defeat that, he will be the next super star in the UFC organization, you can write that down.

By JOSH BARBOSA
http://www.mmafighterz.com/

BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU: IT IS ALL YOU NEED??

"TO MASTER YOURSELF YOU HAVE TO BECOME FAMILIAR WITH ALL ARTS"

Myamoto Mussashi-THE BOOK OF FIVE RINGS.

If you take the time to navigate the net and read all forums you realize that people still to this day trapped by one particular style, when the first UFC was broadcast, millions of people around the country watched that skinny brazilian put people to sleep and send them home.

Americans had no idea about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or the Gracie family, now everybody knows about them and the amazing saga of one man: Master Helio Gracie he was ahead of his time and put his life,sweat and blood to prove that his style was superior and he paid the price in the ring fighting all kinds of people including the great Kimura.

And from night to day people was sure that the only style that worked was BJJ the art that even if you are small you can overcome any opponent is that true? Well if your opponent is big but don't know nothing about fighting that is OK, you may have a chance! So lets analyze some real fights between big stronger, skilled VS small, skilled fighter:

CASE STUDY NUMBER ONE:

HELIO GRACIE VS KIMURA

Now if you ask who Kimura was, few people will know about him.In 1955, Kimura, at 38 years old, participated in a match in which he defeated Hélio Gracie of the famous Gracie Jiu Jitsu family in a submission judo match held in Brazil. During the fight, Kimura threw Gracie repeatedly with Ippon Seoinage (one arm shoulder throw), Osoto Gari (major outer reap) *Kimura's signature throw. He threw Helio 3 times with Osoto Gari.*, Ouchi Gari (major inner reap), Uchimata (inner thigh throw), and Harai Goshi (sweeping hip throw).

Kimura reportedly threw Gracie repeatedly in an effort to knock him unconscious. However, the floor of the fighting area was apparently too soft to allow this to happen. Kimura also inflicted painful, suffocating grappling techniques on Gracie such as kuzure-kamishiho-gatame (modified upper four corner hold), kesa-gatame (scarf hold), and sankaku-jime (triangle choke). Finally, thirteen minutes into the bout, Kimura positioned himself to apply a reverse ude-garami (arm entanglement, a shoulderlock). Gracie refused to submit, even after his arm broke, forcing Kimura to continue the lock on Gracie's broken arm. At this point, Carlos Gracie, Helio's older brother, threw in the towel to end the match to protect his brother's health. In 1994, Helio admitted in an interview that he had in fact been choked unconscious earlier in the match, but had revived when Kimura released the choke.
As a tribute to Kimura's victory, the reverse ude-garami technique has since been commonly referred to as the Kimura lock, or simply the Kimura, in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and, more recently, mixed martial arts circles. Now for Helio Gracie this was not a defeat and I can not agree with him more because, Kimura was a bull, his physique was amazing, result of a 1000 push-ups per day, everyday! Masahiko Kimura back in the 30's realized how important was cross training and conditioning, that technique everybody can learn but to torture yourself with gruelling hours of exercise only few will be willing to pay the price. Helio lost the fight, and the conclusion is this size matters, no matter what they say!

I know in these days where everything is monetized you have to do a good marketing to showcase your business, Rorion created the UFC in the 90's to do exactly I said; to show the world his brand ;The Gracie System, Rorion Gracie is not only a master in Jiu-Jitsu but a great business man, well educated and smart he knew that the only way to reach America and the world was through a challenge, after Royces winnings the monster was created and the tapes was released and people flood the Torrance academy.

Rorion knew that winning streak will not last forever, because eventually Americans will discover the magic potion as you see today! Now if you don't cross train with different styles you will get your ass kicked in the octagon or other rings!

CASE STUDY NUMBER TWO:

Royce Gracie VS Ken Shamrock (Last fight)

Ken lost his first fight to Royce was devastating he could not believe what happened.

but the second and last last fight between them, the outcome was different, Royce took a nasty punch in the eye and the rest of the fight was boring to see; Royce only managed to keep Ken in his guard and did nothing else that was the last time they never fought again, what happened with the no matter the size is motto? Can you imagine if Ken had the skills he has today back them? Conclusion: Size,Conditioning,technique matters.

CASE STUDY NUMBER THREE:

Randy Couture vs Victor Belfort

Remember when Victor was called the mutant the Phenom, he was winning fights left and right

lighting hand speed and he was in the top of the world, in the shadows was a predator called the Natural just waiting the right time. Randy is a smart fighter not only technique, he has a unique ability to trap you and little by little suck the life out of you, this is exactly what he did to Belfort he dismantled his confidence and Randy made him look like a lame duck.

The conclusion of all these points is this guys: is not the style that matters is one's physical abilities, conditioning, skills and intelligence combined in the right way to make somebody a great fighter, sure BJJ is an amazing art, but that alone is not the answer for every situation, it is all about the human factor, it is all about the muscles and the brain....for those who find the so called the "Zone" is no longer about the styles, because styles only divide people, martial arts belongs to mankind it is out there to be explored and learned without the obligation to be loyal to a particular DOJO or master. Take what you think is going to work for you and discard the rest!

By JOSH BARBOSA

http://www.mmafighterz.com

MMA AND MENTAL VISUALIZATION PART ONE

"It is the Mind that maketh good of ill, that maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor."

I know what you are thinking; what the above quote has to do with MMA fighting or any type of combat.

EVERYTHING!! You see, we tell ours readers how important conditioning, training, nutrition is in any type of sport, but the most important sometime neglected by coaches and trainers around the world is the mental training. What you are today, it is a result of the way you think! Like a computer, your mind is ready to take any software that you put into it, it is all up to you to download or just read it and delete it! Good or bad, with your thoughts your build your entire being.

You are what you think, when some reporter asked GSP why he lost to Matt Serra, he did not gave any excuses, he said; '' mentally was not there'' Now, people don'ttake this statement like this seriously because they never think how profound this is, when he got the belt according to him, he became cocky and thinking that he was so good that he don't need to train anymore.

The beauty of human mind is that whatever you say with conviction, your mind will find ways and proof to back that up, if every time you make a mistake you say to yourself I'm a loser or I'm a failure and everything I touch turned into shit, next time time you ask yourself; why I did this wrong you mind will tell you:___Because you are a moron!

You see, you can physically train yourself with the best coaches in the world and perfect your technique, but if you have a weak mind you will be like a giant leaf floating the ocean, in another words, all over the place.

If you want to become, the best MMA Fighter in the world or a world BJJ champion, first you have to visualize it to the point you can taste,feel, smell it, remember that whatever you have in your mind your body will do and feel.

Your senses is the gateway to your mind, what you see, what you hear, what you eat, what you smell it, will be all translated into information deep inside your brain, depending the intensity of the event, it will stuck with you forever, how many of us had a bad food experience and years had passed you any time somebody talks about or offer that particular food, your mind you recall the whole event and also your physical reaction, sounds familiar to you? you better believe it.

Let me tell you something, when you walking towards the ring or that dark alley and you know that your opponent is waiting for you and a huge amount of adrenaline is dumped into your blood stream, your mind, depending how you program it, will do couple things to your body; prepare it to fight, flee,or froze, in the ring your have the referee to save your skin, but in the street you are alone, no bells no referee, no coaches!

"Under all that we think, lives all we believe, like the ultimate veil of our spirits."

-ANTONIO MACHADO

By JOSH BARBOSA

http://www.mmafighterz.com/

Royce Gracie VS Matt Hughes

Prior Royces's bout with Matt Hughes, a friend of mine called me and asked my opinion about the outcome of the fight, right of the bat I said to him: Royce will lose my friend, puzzled by my answer he said, I don't understand, you are a Brazilian how come you say that Royce will loose the fight?

Like a good Brazilian I love the man and I train BJJ also, but that is not the point I said to my friend, despite Royces amazing techniques and expertize in BJJ, he got stuck in time, since his winning streak in the UFC tournament in the early 90's the MMA made quantum leaps in evolution, like me, if you watch the early fights, the quality of fighters was a joke!

They had no technique, conditioning? forget about it, most of them looked like a couple of bums with their gut hanging out, to be honest, I don't know where they found those guys.

Remember the boxer with one glove only? That was the funniest thing I ever saw, I'm not not taking anything from Royces's performance, it took lots of balls to enter in the ring with guys like Kimo,much bigger than him.

To be honest and this is just my humble opinion; I don't think Rorion (the founder of UFC) ever though that UFC will become the biggest organization in the world, he never saw coming

Of course, the organization suffer major setbacks and opposition even from an US Senator.

The revolution was set in course and the American fighters learned BJJ and other styles like Tai boxing just to name a few, Today you have a top world class athletes in the UFC cards they have coaches for several disciplines, nutrition, conditioning, the times of one style fighter is gone!

That is why I told my friend not to bet his money on Royce not because he is a bad fighter or anything in that level, but because he never trained himself in another disciplines he was stuck in time, the same happened to Matt hughes great wrestling only took him that far, with the likes of George Saint Pierre and Anderson Silva, it is a tough spot to get to win the belt and even worst; keep it for awhile!

Like Myamoto Mushashi said in The BOOK OF FIVE RINGS: "It is impossible to understand the universe by studying only one planet!''

By JOSH BARBOSA

http://www.mmafighterz.com/

THE MMA REVOLUTION

Mixed martial arts, or MMA, is a form of sports that involves the use of a mixture of martial art combat techniques to win over the opponent. MMA has become very popular in recent years and MMA championships like the "UFC" or Ultimate Fighting Championships have become very popular. Back in 1999 I remember seen the first Royce Gracie's fight, I was amazed how that skinny guy could defeat those big guys!
Some people did not believe it at all, others was convinced that was all pre-arranged fights,nobody knew Brazilian Jiu-Jtsu and boom, America was hooked forever!
The master mind behind this revolution was Rorion Gracie who's idea was to pitting one martial art technique with another under minimal rules, so that the martial art which would be the most effective in day to day life could be found and also to showcase his style: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the Gracie Brand . Modern mixed martial competitions have evolved from such events, but rules are much stricter due to which, the sport has been promoted into acceptance. However, there is no centralized sanctioning authority for mixed martial arts and the rules vary from place to place or organization to organization that is born everyday in America.
MMA now is different if one look back in the 90's, now, Striking and grappling are the common techniques used in MMA. Striking techniques involve kicks, knees and punches while grappling techniques involve the use of holds, sweeps and throws. Techniques like eye-gouging, biting and fish hooking are considered illegal in most MMA competitions. Other techniques like head butts, spinal locks and elbows may or may not be considered legal in different MMA organizations.
The quality of the athletes competing today is amazing, they are professionals cross trained, in all aspects of MMA and the money is good too!
In MMA competitions, victory is based on the judge's decision, submission or knockout. A competitor's corner man can also decide the outcome of the match and so can the match doctor if the competitor is injured to an extent that he/she can no longer fight properly.
Competitors participating in MMA have to train themselves in a variety of fighting styles so that they can effectively overcome their opponents. MMA training usually involves stand up, clinch and ground combat. To make the stand up combat effective, boxing and kickboxing are taught. These improve kicking, punching, kneeing and most important of all-footwork. Freestyle wrestling is taught to improve clinching. Additionally, competitors are trained in Muay Thai to improve the striking power during a clinch. Training in Brazilian Jujitsu and Sambo improves ground combat by improving the competitor's positioning. Further, shoot wrestling, catch wrestling and judo are taught to enhance the competitor's ground combat abilities.
Some of the best competitors are well rounded fighters. But, they all specialize really well in one aspect of mixed martial arts. Sometimes this style is so dominant that it is overwhelming for the other opponent. One good case-scenario is George Saint Pierre he is the role model for all the athletes that one day wants to try their luck inside the Octagon, he got the complete package; conditioning,athleticism,and well round in all the aspects of the game and to top all that he is charming and know how to present himself to the media.
Find success in modern martial arts lies in adapting many styles. These styles have to be adapted accordingly. Today, MMA competitors do not train in a particular style but train all the styles together and the most important, how to make the transition between one another .Conditioning plays a very important role in succeeding in MMA competitions, if you don't have it, you have no business to fight in any event out there. MMA is physically a very demanding sport and being in great physical and mental condition is the only key to success.
By JOSH BARBOSA

http://www.mmafighterz.com/