This fall, undefeated Cain Velasquez will put his UFC heavyweight title on the line against Brazilian juggernaut Junior dos Santos at UFC 139 in what will arguably be the most talent rich heavyweight battle in the history of mixed martial arts (MMA).
These two behemoths have been on a collision course for some time now, and finally one of them will see their meteoric rise come to an end while the other will undoubtedly take the title of the world's best heavyweight.
It is amazing how two fighters both coming from single discipline backgrounds have quickly added the missing pieces of the puzzle and transitioned into the epitome of a complete fighter. Although both fighters seem to lean towards standing and trading punches with their opponents, you know that the full package is there waiting to be implemented if the need should arise. This is evident when you look at the diverse group of fighters these two men hold wins over; Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Gabriel Gonzaga, Shane Carwin, Brock Lesnar, Mirko Filipovic, Roy Nelson, and Cheick Kongo to name a few.
Perhaps it is a little premature to call our current state of MMA the "Golden Era" of mixed martial arts, but never before has one organization had the majority of talent all under one umbrella, nor have they had the ability to cross over other promotion's title holders to truly unify and clarify who is, in fact, the world's best at each weight class.
When you consider all the amazing things that have happened to this sport, as a fan, it is very exciting to think that the best days are now upon us. As we are starting to see more and more of yesterdays legends become too long in the teeth to compete at this level, as the wear and tare of past battles start to surface and force them to pass the torch, it sets the stage for the era of the complete fighter.
Over the past decade we have witnessed the once dominant one dimensional fighters slowly get replaced by younger multi-disciplined mixed martial artists who are well versed and utilize a complete skill set as opposed to one style in search of victories.
Not only during the early developing years of MMA, but even during its transition into mainstream, many fighters that were categorized as "one trick ponies" have went on to have tremendously decorated careers, with their number of wins far eclipsing their losses.
In the past, single technique tacticians had the ability to terrorize their weight class either by mastering the mat, or sprawl and brawling their way up the rankings. Many of these fighters such as Royce Gracie, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, and Chuck Liddell used this approach and stacked up wins, belts, records, and became pioneers of the sport. Not only that, they can all be debated as some of the greatest and most influential fighters in the sports young history.
As these single style warriors were cleaning out weight classes and weaning out the less talented fighters, young up and coming warriors were busy replicating what was working while at the same time filling in the holes with other disciplines and educating themselves in all the art forms.
Some of the smarter fighters from the past, saw this evolution and re-tooled their game plan and added new disciplines to beef up their bag of tricks in order to stay relevant in the sport. Other fighters refused this approach and eventually found themselves falling out of contention and getting left behind in this next generation of the fight game.
As the talent pools began to fill with these new hybrid fighters, organizations that were putting on "freak show" cards, or trying to cash in by exploiting legends of the past that failed to survive in the new era of the complete fighter, eventually started to lose out to promotions that were offering the highest calibre of competition.
Fighters that once had the ability to headline a lucrative card started jumping from one small time organization to the next, clinging to their last bit of legitimacy in attempts to earn a pay check. Although it is sad to see fighters hang on too long, everyone needs to survive, and everyone needs to earn money, and as long as their health isn't at serious risk, I have nothing but love and respect for these warriors. The criticism is against the promoters who are only fooling themselves when using these fighters and calling them the best in the world in hopes to sell tickets.
When it comes to a sport as unpredictable and unforgiving as MMA, flukes, lucky punches and upsets are never out of the question. This is why the upper echelon consists of athletes who constantly elevate their game, shrinking holes, and work to be dangerous no matter where the fight takes place.
In the past, being so dominant in one discipline was good enough to hold the championship belt for a long period of time, whereas now, the gold seems to hang around the waist of the most complete fighters. This is evident in the sport right now, as we are currently amidst some of the longest title runs in the history of MMA. Champions like Anderson Silva (14 wins in a row), George St. Pierre (nine-fight win streak), and Nick Diaz (10-fight win streak) prove that the building block for long term success is to become the most complete package fighter with no true weakness.
No matter if its boxing or MMA, though, the heavyweight champion always seem to have the marquee belt. People have always been drawn to heavyweights, either because of the probability of a knockout during their fight or the sheer size of its mammoth competitors, it's always been the most glamorous division to the average fight fan.
For years the heavyweight division had clung to a small group of stars fighting all over the planet jockeying for top 10 status among each other. Fedor Emelianenko was at the top, Josh Barnett was failing drug tests and Tim Sylvia was fighting in as much as five consecutive title fights for the UFC. The division was in desperate need of new blood, and the blood banks were ready.
Today, the heavyweight division has never looked better. It is a tremendous mix of wily veterans who have stood the test of time and young hungry beasts dying to make a name for themselves. Over the next couple of years we as fans are going to see fights that match these two different types of fighters against each other. The old fighters will try to thin the heard and the young ones will try to use them as stepping stones to catapult their own careers. Passing the torch like this is the natural progression in professional sports.
I believe in the near future Strikeforce will fold, as the demand for fight cards will force the UFC to pluck the promotion of its fighters. Their will always be small time organizations popping up trying to become the unofficial minor league for the UFC, though, which is great for developing talent. It is uncanny to think about the skills the next generation will have to have to dethrone the current stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment