Archive for the ‘Martial Arts’ Category

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 – Ep. 8

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Episode 8 of The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 had friends Kyle Noke and Kris McCray fighting.

Ortizsaid that Noke was the better fighter, McCray being just a young guy, presumably lacking experience.

In fact, we felt McCray dominated the entire match. It went to three rounds, but could easily have ended in two. McCray had many take downs,  including a huge one in round two and tried a guillotine in round 1. Noke attempted a Kimura in rounds 1 and 3 and a rear guillotine in round 2, none successful. After the take downs, McCray did some ground and pound, but mainly showed his control over Noke. Decision to McCray.

Dana White said afterward that Noke needed to work on his wrestling “big time”.

The next match was between Seth Baczynski and Brad Tavares. Round one began with Baczynski rushing for a single leg take down attempt and then succeeding with a ko soto gari. He then had Tavares in a body lock from the back. They rolled a bit and applied strikes. Baczynski tried but lost a rear guillotine and the body triangle.

Baczynski then attempted a juji gatame from the ground. Tavares picked Baczynski up twice and dropped him. While striking, Tavares slipped and, his knees still on the ground, Baczynski kicked a soccer-like kick to Tavares’s head. Disqualification.

Ortiz was determined that the kick was to the chest, but on instant replay, Tavares was kicked to the head.

In addition to the fights, we had Ortiz backing out of the fight with Liddell due to spinal injuries which require surgery.

ayjay

June 2, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Spike at 10 p.m. E.S.T. Wednesdays.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 – Ep. 6

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 had its last preliminary fight. Joe Henle fought against Seth Baczynski. Henle is relatively new to MMA, having only been professional for six months, with not much experience striking . Liddell said that he had the right attitude and that Henle wanted to show people what he could do. Henle has trained in MMA for seven years and won all his previous fights by submission.

Baczynski has been given a second chance in this season having been brought back due to McKinley‘s shoulder injury. Court McGee said that Baczynski has good hands.

Although Henle was the shorter of the two, he had a four inch reach advantage over Baczynski.

Round one began with Henle rushing Baczynski to take him down, ending in Baczynski’s open guard. He accomplished a second take down after which Seth attempted a front guillotine (hadaka jime). Henle stayed in the submission attempt for a long time, fighting it, and then passed to north/south. Henle then tried the anaconda on Seth and was very close to achieving it, causing Seth to turn purple for  a while. Henle then grapevined Baczynski and rolled, losing the grapevine and ending on the bottom with Seth in his guard. Baczynski then applied ground and pound.

Round two began with Baczynski trying a flying knee, but Henle connected with his own knee. Baczynski got his own take down. After some manoeuvring, Henle grapevined Baczynski, but he was too high up on the body and Seth rolled  out of it. Later on in the round, Baczynski tried a rear naked choke (hadaka jime), but it was far too loose to be effective.

Round three was the deciding round. Henle was exhausted and completely dominated by Baczynski. He spent most of the round on the bottom and could not accomplish anything from there. When he was on top, he was competent and had more skills than Baczynski.

The decision went to Baczynski. Dana White said that he was surprised at Henle’s abilities and thought that Baczynski was a far better fighter in his previous match. Liddell stated that for Henle’s limited professional experience, he did very well.

The Wild Card Announcement followed the fight. Kyacey Uscola is to fight Kris McCray. The winner of their fight gets back in to the mix. In addition, since Rich Attonito is unable to fight with his broken hand, Court McGee can continue to the next round.

This season of The Ultimate Fighter has far more injuries than previous seasons: we have a broken jaw, resulting in the fighter’s elimination, a broken hand, a shoulder injury requiring surgery and, in this episode, a knee with ligaments requiring surgery – Nick Ring‘s. During training, Ring’s knee gave out, a not uncommon occurrence for him. Ortiz manoeuvred Ring’s knee and the whole thing wiggled. The next episode promised someone else’s injury would cause another elimination. Is Ring out as well?

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. EST on Spike.

ayjay

May 16, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 – Ep. 5

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

In the training room of The Ultimate Fighter, above a doorway, is a huge quote stating, “Never Leave It in the Hands of the Judges”. The fight this episode proved why White always says this, that is, win by submission or TKO or knock out, do not leave it to judges’ decisions.

Court McGee fought Nick Ring to decision, going two rounds. In our household, two of three of us, thought the fight should have gone to a third round, whereas the third member thought that the judges made the right decision.

McGee is a wrestler with ground skills and Ring is a stand up guy with ground skills. McGee said he loves hitting and getting hit. Liddell said that Ring was a good kicker and wanted his guy, McGee, to stay either all the way out or all the way in to avoid the kicks. One of Liddell’s coaches said that McGee could be matched with anyone. Ring was Ortiz’s first choice.

Although Ring is 3″ taller than McGee, McGee had a 4″ reach advantage.

During Ortiz‘s training session, Hammortree injured his back and was taken to hospital. He had injured a disk and had swelling rather than a major back problem, which they had initially worried about.

Round one began with McGee striking, kicking and taking Ring down, ending in Ring’s half guard.  Ring scored with kicks and, in the clinch, with knees.

McGee tried a take down by shooting for a leg, but was stuffed, eventually ending on the bottom in Ring’s half guard. Some ground and pound followed, but most was ineffectual, until he used elbows.

Round two started with Ring connecting with a leg kick and then a head kick. McGee went after Ring with a flurry of strikes including uppercuts. While in the clinch, McGee used knees. McGee then had a flurry of strikes again with most uppercuts connecting as well as kicks of his own.

Ring’s jabs made contact, but his hands were very low, perhaps due to fatigue. When separated after the clinch, McGee attacked with multiple strikes again.

So, two of the three of us gave round 1 to Ring and 2 to McGee. The judges, though, gave the fight to Ring by majority decision. Liddell went a bit nuts at the loss and looked as though he were going to go after White. White thought that the fight should have gone to a third round as well.

What the judges see may not be what you see.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Spike on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m.

ayjay

May 12, 2010

Simple Takedown from the Ground

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

Our classes are unusual: we begin by grappling for about an hour. A match could be five minutes or forty-five, if the pair want to keep at it. After we are finished grappling, Dave asks if anything came up during the fights which was interesting, difficult to get out of, or just fun which we can all practice.

This approach works well for us: we had structured classes for many years and found them stifling. The senior members of the club spent virtually all their time teaching the same techniques over and over and spent far too little time working on their own skills.

We assume that you know a certain amount when you come to our class. If we know that you are a novice, someone will monitor you during your workouts, but we will not cater exclusively to beginners. You can work with any of the senior people, all of whom have their own idiosyncrasies and styles, all worth working out with.

Mike looks like the average southern European guy until you’re doing groundwork with him. He’s wiry, agile, smiles throughout most of his matches and has his eyes closed most of the time. He’s not intimidated by fighting a much larger person, mostly because lots of the others are bigger. He takes his time to get to the stage where he can win. He’s a great person to grapple with.

Chris is much heavier and stronger than Mike and, on the ground or standing, doesn’t like to lose. If you get a submission on the ground from him or a point when standing, you’ve really earned it.

Dave is bigger than Mike and smaller than Chris. He’s extremely difficult to choke (his favourite phrase is, “It’s only pain.”) and can weasel his way out of almost everything. I heard that the jiu jitsu people have begun calling him “The Cyborg”, which he is anything but. When he’s grappling with people, and he realizes they are trying a particular technique, he’ll let them go for it as long as necessary. They have to have the opportunity to try techniques. If they don’t quite work, he’ll stop the matches, show them the correct hand, arm, leg placements, etc., and then proceed. He’s a very good teacher.

Now for the Simple Takedown from the Ground: Dave and Chris were demonstrating this last Friday. You and your partner are on your knees facing each other. You want the upper position, controlling your partner’s body. Grip his lapel (if wearing judogi) or arm, if no gi, with one hand. With the other hand/arm grasping his arm, pull yourself into him at an angle of close to 90 degrees: you want to finish shoulder to shoulder with him. Using the second hand, pull down on uke, placing your shoulder on top of his. You now have the superior position.

Points to note: The lapel grip usually isn’t easy to get. Grab it anywhere with one hand and work your way up with both hands until you have a good grip.

You really have to pull yourself in to him, not him to you. This is done at the same time as your moving 90 degrees to him.

Once you have the superior position, your shoulder on top of his and both hands gripping him tightly,  you can take uke down at will.

ayjay

May 3, 2010

UFCs 111 and 112 Thoughts

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

Rather than go through all the fights, or even the majority, I have one fight in each of these to cover.

At UFC 111, a preliminary fight was shown at the end of the main card to PPV customers. This fight was between Jerod Hamman and Rodney Wallace, light heavyweights who couldn’t look any more different. Hamman is tall, almost spindly, with white, pasty skin. Wallace is a short, overly-muscular black man.

Being so muscular allowed Wallace to put a great deal of weight behind his punches, but he gassed out early as well. In addition, I think having big muscles gets in the way in a sport which allows for fine motor skills when doing some submissions.  

Round one had Wallace connecting with an upper cut against Hamman’s head so strongly that Hamman’s head went up and back like a PEZ dispenser. Hamman accomplished a take down with an uchi mata, though, and didn’t give up after being clobbered severely.

Round two had Hamman doing another uchi mata, better and more strongly than the previous. He is an awkward-looking fighter and one viewer here suggested he was “Forest Gumby”. His techniques were solid, though, and he rolled Wallace over whenever he wanted to as Wallace became more tired. 

Round three had Wallace throwing Hamman withkuchiki taoshi, grabbing a leg after a kick attempt and sweeping out the other leg. A late flourish of strikes by Wallace had Hamman wobbling like Jackie Chan in “The Legend of the Drunken Master“.

Both men did not give up and, although exhausted, Wallace had moments later on in the match in which he fought solidly. The match went to Hamman by unanimous decision.

UFC 112 had Anderson Silva against Demian Maia. I have avoided watching this match until today because Silva’s antics in recent fights have bothered me so much.  Silva’s match inUFC 97 Redemption was boring to watch and I was certain this would be more of the same.

Silva took a minute and a half before he threw a kick, but once he started, he connected with a leg kick and spinning back kick. He then threw strikes and more kicks. Maia was extremely hesitant and followed Silva around the octagon. Silva had his arms down a great deal leaving openings for Maia. The crowd was chanting “Silva!”.

Round two had Silva doing a couple of capoeira movements, then standing still with hands down. Maia rushed at him for take downs, but Silva escaped each time. Silva taunted Maia to fight and then would strike and kick whenever he wanted. Low leg kicks to Maia’s lead leg succeeded each time.

Round three had Silva attacking the lead leg many times and indicated that Maia was completely outclassed: Silva could do whatever he wanted, whenever he tried anything.

Round four had a change in the audience and in Silva: Silva circled the octagon continually and did nothing. The crowd chanted “Maia!” Maia then became frustrated with the constant circling. Chanting of “GSP!” came next. The round ended with a chorus of “Boo!”.

Round five began with Maia’s left eye virtually swollen shut. That did not seem to impact his performance, though, as he did better in this round than any other. Maia’s strikes connected and he tried a couple of take downs. Silva received a warning from the referee about his circling the octagon and not doing anything.

As usual, Silva won and kept his belt. As usual, the fight was boring for the most part: Silva taunts his opponents and then monkeys around; his BJJ opponents pull guard and he avoids the ground. When Silva connects with a strike or kick, the technique is fast and flawless. The problems might be the opponents or perhaps he is no longer interested in being on the receiving end of the punch or kick or ground technique. Silva apologized to the crowd and suggested that he had ring rust from lack of fights. He has apologized before, but his fights are not getting better.

ayjay,

April 20, 2010

IJF Rule Changes

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

The IJF (International Judo Federation) has issued rule changes which are applicable to judoka who compete in tournaments nationally and internationally. Since, as a club, we have limited people competing in shiai, we ordinarily don’t pay much attention to judo tournament rules until someone is about to enter a tournament.

We were aware of the rule against grabbing pant legs and various defensive moves, which have long been frowned upon, and the causes of penalties. We were not aware, though, of the anti-wrestling attitude of the IJF. Basically, the IJF wants judo matches to be upright, showing good form and fast, beautiful, strong throws.  Any stance which looks as though the judoka is about to go to the ground (bending forward, grabbing a leg as with kata guruma, or yoko kata guruma, etc.) are grounds for penalties. Four such penalties in a match for a judoka and the match is awarded to the opponent.

The IJF and its proponents have decided that anything resembling wrestling moves are unacceptable. Granted, Butt Flops are annoying and irritating, usually an indication that the competitor is at a loss for a way to get his or her opponent to the ground. I can see penalizing the judoka for this manoeuver. Turtling without having unbalanced one’s opponent is comparable, and equally penalized.

The area of the rule changes which astounds me is that of being penalized for grabbing your opponent’s leg to take him to the floor. If you are successful, then you will have taken him off-balance, and he will hit the mats, and you will follow him and begin grappling. The fall may not be ippon, but the grab of the leg should not be penalized.

I will admit that throws which are high-amplitude and well-executed look spectacular. The number of people in the world who know judo, however, and watch judo, are very limited. It is not a spectator sport and certainly not a sport which lends itself to television: every time the CBC has shown judo competitions, either for the Nationals or the Olympics, a great deal of instruction for the viewer was necessary, and yet, I’m sure the average viewer still didn’t grasp much of the intricacies.

Judo is very complicated: there’s a lot to learn when studying it. People actually spend their entire lives perfecting techniques. It takes years to get one’s black belt. How can a five minute segment on the point system, throws, joint locks, or any other technique in judo, explain to the viewers what is happening?

To make rule changes with the viewers in mind is an amazing step backward. Rather than incorporating grappling into tournaments, the IJF and its members will have forced all those judokas in the world, who want to advance their skills into other areas, to go to other martial arts. I wonder how many people will leave judo because of the IJF rule changes.

At a time when, I believe, judo clubs should be growing from sport judo to judo/grappling, we have the top judo organization in the world telling us we can’t do anything resembling grappling. Luckily, we can teach whatever we want in our club.

ayjay

February 2, 2010

How to do Kesa Gatame (Scarf Hold)

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Of all the ground holds, this is my favourite. Kesa gatame (scarf hold) looks as though you are doing virtually nothing, but, if applied correctly, is very strong and difficult to escape from. It can be applied with or without a gi as well, so lends itself to MMA, jiu jitsu and grappling matches. This article will cover the basics of this ground hold. The next article will cover a few escapes from kesa gatame.

If you and your partner are wearing gis and you are tori (applier of the technique):

1. You are on the ground at tori’s right side. Place your right arm across uke’s (the receiver of the technique) body and under his neck such that your forearm is flat against the floor. 

2. Grab the inside of his collar with your right thumb.

3. With your left hand, palm up, wrap your arm around his right arm, gripping the material of his gi in his armpit.  Your left arm must be above his elbow and tight against your body. If you are holding his arm correctly, he can bend his arm and cannot get out; incorrectly, he can bend his arm and pull it free.

4. Sit out on your right hip with your legs bent and relaxed. Your bottom leg (right) should be as high up toward his head as possible. Your left leg is about ninety degrees from the right.

5. Put your own head as close to the floor beside uke’s right ear as possible. This way he can’t place a hand or arm under your chin and peel you backward.

6. Put all your weight on the little toe of your right foot, the big toe of your left, and his chest.

That is the basic ground hold.  If uke moves, you move with him, keeping attached at the hip. Retain the leg positions, moving a little at a time. If you have to cross your legs to go onto your stomach, do so for as short a period of time as possible and then go back to being on your hip.

Variation 1 – An even stronger hold than this is to bring your right leg toward the hand which is holding his collar. Let go of his collar (Point 2 above) and grab your own knee. This is a very tight grip and works extremely well in no gi situations.

Also no gi: Instead of grabbing the material in his armpit – Point 3 above, you merely grab his muscles there. The important part here is to ensure that he cannot free his arm, so your arm holds his tightly above the elbow. Other than gripping uke’s body instead of the material, there is no difference. Click here to go to a video of Kesa Gatame with no gi.

Another variation for kesa gatame when wearing a judogi is the following: When you have moved your hand to grip the material in uke’s armpit (Point 3 above), continue moving your hand (still maintaining his arm tightly against your body) and grasp his far lapel instead of the armpit. When you sit out to complete the ground hold, the hold on the lapel compresses uke’s ribcage making breathing difficult. If you then grip your knee instead of putting your thumb in his collar, he’s toast. 

Kesa Gatame, or scarf hold, is named for the scarf-like look when tori’s arm wraps around uke’s neck. Since most of tori’s body isn’t touching uke’s it may look feeble. It is, however, extremely powerful and effective. You are immobilizing the head and shoulders of your opponent. Without his shoulders, he cannot lift himself off the floor. I’ve managed to hold down guys who outweigh me by about ninety pounds, so I know this hold works well.

Click here to go to a video of kesa gatame.

Click here to go to How to Escape from Kesa Gatame (Scarf Hold)  Escape #1

ayjay

December 11, 2009

How to Escape from Kesa Gatame (Scarf Hold) – Escape #1

Friday, December 11th, 2009

There are quite a few effective methods of escaping kesa gatame (scarf hold). All of them require some effort on your part and lots of practice. When we teach these escapes, we have the partners trade places, putting the ground hold on and then escaping from it. In order for these escapes to become innate, I suggest doing many practice sessions and going back to basics on occasion, just to refresh your memory.

Escape #1:

1. As you realize the ground hold is being put on, take the arm that your opponent is grabbing and force the elbow to the floor. The elbow acts like a stopper: your opponent can only move so far, because you have planted your elbow there.

2. Move onto your side.

3. Grip your opponent’s belt (if he is wearing a gi) or grasp the area by his hip.

4. Lift your opponent a little at a time. Each time you lift, get your hips and legs closer to him. The objective is to place your bottom leg under his legs and your hip under his hip. Eventually you will have him on the center of your mass, able to move him to one side or the other. When that happens, you will be able to escape.

5. Once you have turned your opponent over, go into your own kesa gatame.

6. Repeat the escapes and ground holds.

The crucial parts of this escape are: posting the elbow, getting onto your side and lifting the opponent until he is on the center of your mass.

Click here to go to Escape from Kesa Gatame #1

Click here to go to the Drill for Escape from Kesa Gatame #1

Click here to go to How to do Kesa Gatame (Scarf Hold)

For additional Escapes from Kesa Gatame, click here

ayjay

June 10, 2009

Side Mount Escapes – Escapes from Yoko Shiho Gatame and Kuzure Yoko Shiho Gatame

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Last Friday, Dave had the class practice escapes from Yoko Shiho and Kuzure Yoko Shiho Gatame (kuzure means variation), the side four quarter ground lock or hold.

One major beef of mine is with fighters who get pinned on their backs – deliberately or in error – and can’t get out. They will get pounded, elbowed, and basically, clobbered. In the years since the first UFC with the introduction of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, we have had so many fighters lay on their backs and try to win from there. It was far worse the first few years when everyone followed the Gracies’ techniques to the letter, especially pulling guard. Since MMA fights tend not to have gis, pulling guard with the objective of sleeve chokes isn’t too practical. Pulling guard, being on the bottom, is not something to aim for: In BJJ rules, there are limited ways to gain points from that position, so you really want to get out of there. If you are there, through happenstance or deliberately, you want to get out from under your opponent. If nothing else, he can use gravity against you – he can lift his head and torso and just drop arms, hands, shoulders, and elbows on your head. If he is a strong ground and pound guy, and you are on the bottom, you may well be toast.

I know some of you love the guard, love crossing your ankles and holding the guy. You think you’re in control. In fact, the guy on top has the superior position and that’s where you want to be. If you’re on the bottom, in a BJJ match, get some points by sweeping your opponent and get out of there. Switch positions.

Dave Here - Note that you get points for getting OUT of guard, not for getting into guard.  Just that alone should tell you that it is not the desired position.  If one of the major objectives of your guard work is to achieve a sweep and get on top, then, logically, it is much better to just start on top in the first place!

Scenario: Your opponent has passed your guard and is in side mount: Practice the escapes from yoko shiho gatame and kuzure yoko shiho gatame. Chances are that the side control will be a kuzure (or variation), but the escape is similar for each variation. In judo, of course, we see the traditional and kuzure yoko shiho gatame as well.Click here to go to two escapes from yoko shiho gatame. Click here to go to escape from kuzure yoko shiho gatame.

Depending on how you learn, you may pick these up quickly and be proficient immediately. Others, such as I, may take a while to learn the new techniques, to incorporate them into muscle memory.

Crucial points for these escapes: For Yoko Shiho Gatame escapes, trap your opponent’s arm between your legs; move your body, not his, to lengthen and break his grip; facilitate the roll by pushing his head under your back (prevents him from posting with his forehead and also protects his head and neck). For Kuzure Yoko Shiho Gatame escapes, move onto your side and go under your opponent (this enables more of his mass to be on your center of gravity, making it easier to turn him); again, facilitate the roll and protect his head and neck by pushing his head under your back; if he has an arm behind your neck, trap his arm by pushing onto it with your own neck.

Practice these escapes with a partner, back and forth. You will get into slightly different positions each time, going from the escape to your own ground hold.

 ayjay

November 13, 2009

The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10 – Episode 4

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10Episode 4 aired last night. The episode covered a few men and the possibilities of their fighting. Matt Mitrione caused quite a stir when he told an opposing team member that the other fellow might be fighting, and with whom, basically telling the opposing team his own team’s strategy. Mitrione’s teammates called him a snitch. Evans was considering having Mitrione fight Marcus Jones but felt that Mitrione was afraid of Jones’s size.

As for Jones, while he was training with his teammates, he consistently hurt people, seemingly unaware of his strength. My feeling is that if he’s hurting people during training, he has limited experience and limited control: if you hurt your partners, they won’t want to train with you. It’s no longer fun for them and most of what they learn is not to play with you – just the way kids react in kindergarten.

Evans commented on his team, on individuals’ abilities and personalities.  He seemed very happy with his team, having won the first three fights. As for the fighters for this episode, Evans picked Brendan Schaub, who trains with his own team, and Jackson’s Demico Rogers. Jackson was thrilled with this match-up, commenting on how big Rogers was. Jackson’s direction to Rogers was to take Schaub down, pass to the side and pound him out. Rogers, himself, felt that his wrestling and jiu jitsu were sufficient to defeat Schaub.

One of Schaub’s coaches suggested jabs, and a long, hook cross. Evans said that Schaub was super-athletic, a great listener, technical, and took direction well.

When the tale of the tape appeared, I expected Rogers to be a giant in comparison to Schaub. In fact, they were the same height (6’4″), close in weight and almost the same age. The only significant difference was 3 inch reach advantage which Rogers had.

The actual fight was short. It began with Rogers shooting for a take down which failed. After rolling a bit and standing up, the next attempt at a take down worked. Rogers ended up in Schaub’s guard, with Schaub trapping his arms. Rogers did not accomplish much, due to Schaub’s movements. Rogers stood up with Schaub still on the ground. He then jumped at Schaub to throw a punch and ended up in Schaub’s guard again. Rogers passed to the side, elbowed Schaub in the head and was very high on Schaub’s body. He then tried to mount Schaub but got turned over.

Schaub ended the match with a variation of hadaka jime, rear naked choke, also called the anaconda choke. Ordinarily this would involve tori (the giver of the technique) applying hadaka jime lying on the ground behind uke (the receiver of the technique), trapping uke’s legs with his own. In this instance, although Schaub was looking to trap the legs, they were not yet trapped. Rogers, as uke, should have been working to prevent the leg trap and to move his way onto his stomach. Instead, he tapped out very quickly, attempting no defense against the choke.

Jackson left Rogers on his own in the octagon, merely staying on the sidelines, feeling sorry for himself.

Schaub was disappointed in his performance, but he was active on the bottom, showed control, and took advantage of the opportunity when it presented itself.

One aspect of this season which I had noticed, but hadn’t quite verbalized, is that it seems a lot like commercials with a bit of reality show thrown in. There are so many commercials that they are inserting short (perhaps 30 to 60 seconds) video clips in between the many commercials, perhaps to ensure the audience stays tuned in. Last night’s show had two of those mini-clips. Both times I assumed that the show was back on, but then they were over, and we had another five minutes (I’m guessing) of commercials. The UFC must be making money, but this is irritating. If it weren’t for the fights I wouldn’t watch any of this. Previous seasons showed drunken antics; this season has the testosterone-laden arguments between Jackson and Evans.

Perhaps there really is little to show. This group of men is older, mid-twenties to mid-thirties, maybe more mature then in previous seasons. Instead of fillers of commercials or videos of fighters doing exercises or sitting around the table, I suggest showing details of training sessions. The coaches bring experienced people with them, so why not take advantage of them and have them show some of their favourite techniques. Every one of our students would be keen to watch. Serious martial arts students are always looking for new techniques to use for that next match.  

The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10  is on Spike at 10 p.m. EST on Wednesdays.

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 1

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 2

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 3

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 5

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 6

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 7

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 8

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 9

ayjay

Ocotober 8, 2009