Jun 8, 2011 - 4:40:33 PM

By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

Reader Question from Kevin Courville:

Recently we've been seeing a load of dull matches in MMA, the main reason is not the use of wrestling but the major dependence on only wrestling skill (Josh Koscheck, Jake Shields, Rashad Evans, etc). These fighters have amazing wrestling ability however they depend on mainly that skill. This is mixed martial arts, not wrestling. They'll have to mix it up with ground and pounds and submissions. I think that if the wrestling aspect was restricted like for instance if a fighter performs a takedown, instead of being given points just for taking him down the takedown must have a follow up of change of guard, ground and pound, or submission within a time limit to prevent boring fights with controversial decisions and make the wrestlers in MMA be more versatile and complete fighters. Thoughts?

Amadi:

Kevin,

I don't know about there being any sort of increase in dull fights, but I certainly agree with you to an extent. Everyone knows that wrestling acts almost like a cheat code in mixed martial arts. A lot of people try to skirt around it, but there is no getting around the fact that the Unified Rules allow for wrestlers to stall out fights. In most sports, including wrestling, there is a penalty for stalling, but in MMA there really isn't one. The only real penalty that fighters face for stalling is being broken up from the clinch or stood back up from inside the guard, but that doesn't really do anything. If you remember how Rashad Evans vs. Quinton Jackson played out, Herb Dean separated the two from against the fence multiple times for inactivity, but Evans put Jackson right back there and continued to stall.

I also agree with your point about there being some type of responsibility for having the top control. If a fighter can't breach the guard, advance position, attempt submissions, or do quality damage, then that shouldn't be rewarded any more points than his opponent.

That being said, it is unfair to criticize fighters who pass the guard, attempt submissions, and attempt to do damage from top position just because those things don't result in a finish. To lump Jake Shields and Josh Koscheck in with Rashad Evans really isn't fair. Considering how active Shields is, and how often he pursues submissions I actually consider him to be one of the more entertaining ground fighters in MMA. Josh Koscheck hardly ever takes anyone down these days, and when he took Anthony Johnson down, he tapped him shortly thereafter. When Koscheck fought a takedown heavy fight against Paul Daley he was a bit conservative on top, but still attempting submissions.

Rashad Evans is notorious for stalling in fights. He usually rushes fighters into the fence and attempts takedowns. When he gets them, his opponents tend to pop right back up, and he repeats the process until the round ends. There usually isn't much in the way of ground and pound because he can't keep his opponent down, and he has never attempted a submission during his UFC tenure. But to be fair, a lot of that is probably because he has so much trouble holding his opponents down in the first place.

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