UFC 155 – Notes from a Cynic

It had a pretty long and lengthy build-up, UFC 155 finally happened Saturday night and I am sitting my behind down to bring you my pessimistic, cynical thoughts on what we saw.  Despite me being much smaller and not a trained fighter, I ain’t gonna pull no punches.

I feel like I watch mma fairly intently.  I mean I watch it to the point of studying them.  I watch their body language, I look for minor cringing that they try to hide from their opponents.  I watch how they stand up at the end of a round and walk back to their corner.  It’s all in the little details.

Maybe it’s more a part of wrestling but all of those things add up and provide me with fuel when I see them.  If the bell sounds and the guy stays on his knees or his back for a moment before mustering up enough strength to stand, I make a mental note of it and now I know he’s tired or defeated.

If they bend over at the waist with their hands on their knees to catch their breath, I know they’re tired.

Repeatedly looking at the clock, hanging their head, saying anything negative in the corner like I can’t…

I watch every fight with almost the same intensity and I search for the breaking point.  The point where I can tell the losing fighter has given in to defeat and accepted it.  There are some fighters that never do and others where it’s just a matter of time every time.

Varner vs. Guillard

I have never liked Guillard.  I was glad Varner beat him.  Guillard has had weight issues in the past, as well a drug demons way back.  He has pinned the blame on former coaches, roommates, and gyms in the past.  He is a state wrestling champion from Louisiana but hardly looks to take it to the ground and when he does, you have to wonder how quickly his neck is going to get snatched up.



After UFC 155, I think it may be time for the company to let him go to some smaller orgs.

Alan Belcher

Man what happened?  I was expecting UFC 155 to be your breaking out party for the masses.  Belcher didn’t look the same.  I thought his kickboxing would be too much for Okami and I thought his ground game would be too slick.  We saw none of it.  I guess Okami is simply too strong and was able to hold himagainst the fence.

I thought we were going to see Alan put away Bisping soon and then contend for a title.

Tim Boestch

Thought he had this fight in the bag pretty easy.  I’m having a hard time remembering exactly how the fight went but I think I questioned whether Tim gave up in the 3^rd round.  I know he was battered and bloodied so I’m not really judging him on this one.  If you can’t win, you can’t win.  I was just surprised that Tim didn’t make it more of his fight.

Joe Lauzon vs. Jim Miller

This battle at UFC 155 got the FOTN award, some record for either one or both of them.  You see Lauzon is a dude, Miller too for that matter, that will never quit.  I bet you Lauzon lost a pint or two of blood during the fight and pressed on.  Most people would be laying down eating sugar cookies and orange juice after losing a pint.  Lauzon was fighting.



Miller won a decision and it was close.  Even though I did want Lauzon to pick up the victory, I think Miller rightfully earned it.  At the post fight press conference, they looked like a mess as the two buddies sat right next to each other.  I believe they both still need to reside at the top of the LW rankings.

Cain vs. JDS

The main event at UFC 155.  The rematch.  Dos Santos koed Velasquez nearly a year ago to take away the title.  After a year of build-up we were treated to the fight.

This was a 5 round war that saw both of them tire due to the pace being set by Cain.  It was very intense and high output for a larger man.  At some point in the 1^st round Cain caught JDS with a punch and JDS never looked the same.

Cain’s takedown attempts throughout the fight looked sloppy but he was able to convert on several and JDS spent more time on the ground in this fight than in all of his others combined.  Cain made Dos Santos carry his weight for much of the fight and from JDS’ body language, you could see he was defeated and just hanging on.



However I was growing concerned at the end because JDS was still winging punches that appeared as though if they connected, Velasquez was going night night.

There she is.  A recap of UFC 155 from a cynical dude.  Tim Boestch  and Alan Belcher did not look like the same fighters that we’ve seen in the past.  Varner beat an overrated Guillard and Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller walked away with fight of the night honors at UFC 155.  And lastly, Cain Velasquez controlled the rematch with JDS from start to finish and

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Goal Setting in BJJ and MMA: Common Pitfalls

Setting goals and tracking their progress is a common pattern of success for people that like to win.  It doesn't matter if you are a student, a working professional, or a bjj guy looking to be the next world champion.  Successful people set goals.  And yes, achieving them is great and fills you with a sense of accomplishment but that's not the important part.

The important part is the time you spent coming up with that specific goal, the steps you took to achieve it, and what you learned from it.  If you train bjj or mma, maybe you've heard this saying - it's not about getting the belt, it's about the journey to get there.  Same thing with goal setting, the more important part is the journey you took to get there.

You consciously made a decision to set a goal.  You took steps to achieve it such as sacrificing, working harder, or learning more.  Let's say you didn't fully hit the mark with that goal.  Yet now you know that you have the commitment to sacrifice, the ability to work harder, and the capacity to learn more.  How can not making this goal be considered a failure when you just learned so much about yourself and what you can do?  It's not a failure, it's a success.

Often people miss this distinction.  They think because they wrote down goals A, B, and C that doing anything less than fully accomplishing them is a failure.  It's not.  However there are a few common reasons why people give up on their goals, we are going to cover them below.  And I would think that taking the time to set a goal, work towards it, and then give up on it would have to be discouraging.  It probably would make most people reluctant to set any goals in the future due to the cancerous thought of - well, I failed before so...

Don't be one of those people!  Read these 5 common pitfalls between people and their goals.  This isn't specific to bjj or mma but if you want to be a world champion, or successful at work, one common denominator among successful people is goal setting.  Perhaps later we can do a post about specific goal setting steps, not in this one though.  This one is so that you can quickly identify warning signs when setting goals or while in the process of trying to achieve them so that you don't give up.  I saw an article about goal setting on Yahoo! via inc.com several weeks ago and thought it would be a great topic for my bjj site.  That article was titled "Why people fail with goals", too negative man.  I added some of my own flair and love to some of their ideas and voila!  With that, here we go:

5 Reasons People Abandon Their Goals

1) Fear of failure

This one will be short and sweet, just like my favorite type of lady.  Does the fear of failure prevent you from taking action?  Why?  Going to let you in on a little secret.  Everyone fails.

If we didn't fail, where would the fun in life come from?  If everything in our lives went according to "our" plan, things would be too rosy.  Know what I'm saying?  Turmoil, conflict, struggle - these things shape and form who we are.  They shape how we teach others, how we pass knowledge on to others.

Thomas Edison tried over 3000 times to find a material that would work as a filament in a lightbulb.  3000.  When asked about "failing" 3000 times, he said he didn't fail.  He simply discovered 3000 materials that didn't work.

Have you tried perfecting that sweep in bjj 3000 times?  Or that left hook?

2) Fear of success

Some people along the way to their goals actually experience a fear of success.  Crazy right?  But it makes sense.  Like me, I'm trying to create a successful website.  Granted it hasn't happened YET, but at times I wonder what if?  What if it does take off and all of a sudden I can't keep up?  What might people or visitors expect from me then?

Or let's say you want to become the next UFC lightweight champion.  What happens then?  Will friends from high school start looking me up asking for money?  The question you can glean from this would be:  what if success didn't make you happy?

Rather than concentrating on negative aspects like jealousy or problems that may arise, focus on how your success could potentially benefit others around you.  If you do become the next champ, think of the sponsorship money you could bring to your school or gym.  Think of how much knowledge you'll have to share with all of the new fighters.

3) Impractical timeline

Sometimes people get too excited.  They get bit by the goal setting bug and go hog wild.  Recipe for disaster baby.  They set too many goals, in too varied of areas, with too short of a timetable to get them done.  I'm going to get a 2nd job, save up $1000, get my purple belt in bjj, and read War and Peace.  By next Tuesday.

You will not accomplish them all.  As a result you may get discouraged and give up.  When you give up, it becomes easier to quit in the future.  Set

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Plyometrics - what are they and will they help in mma or bjj?

If you have been training bjj or mma for any period of time and are fairly serious about it, I'm sure you've looked into ways to supplement your training.  Maybe you have cleaned up your diet or eating habits, or perhaps you have tried swimming to improve your cardio or kettlebells to elevate your functional strength and explosiveness.

One area you may have already heard of or may want to look into would be plyometrics.  Plyometric workouts can be used as supplements to your bjj and/or mma training or they can be used as stand alone workouts as they are pretty intense.

In this article we are going to examine just exactly what plyometrics are and hopefully by the end you'll be able to see how they can help take your game up a level.

Best MMA Websites & MMA Forums on the intrawebz - my meaningless opinion

I hear this question all the time, what are the best mma websites online?  Which is usually then followed up by being asked what about mma forums?  In my notepad where I scribble down content ideas, I had both of these topics written down but separately.  But then I used my head and decided hey, why not combine the two?  MMA websites and mma forums are pretty similar right?  In fact, a website might even combine the two.  I haven't even come up with a brief list yet, I'll think about it and put them up as I write.

I figure I go to my favorite mma websites at least once a day, I've got like 3 or 4 that are my favorites.  MMA forums I visit much more frequently, more like up to 5-10 times per day.  I like the mma forums better because there are discussions and arguments as opposed to the news items and rumors that you get from an mma website.