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This Guest Editorial was sent by MMATorch reader Kevin O'Haire. Have a response to an editorial or a news story on the site? Feel free to send us your own guest editorials and they may be posted on the main site. Send in responses to mmatorcheditor@gmail.com.
As I read more and more articles lamenting the performances of Georges St. Pierre, Jon Fitch, and less recently Jake Shields, I am left wondering what about Chael Sonnen? Was Chael's performance (which is consistant with his MO) over Nate "the Great" Marquardt only considered so exciting because Nate was thought to be the superior fighter, and Chael's ability to control the action came as a surprise? The previous two wins for Sonnen against lesser competition came in similar fashion, with no outcry (albeit hindsight) that he should have been able to finish those opponents.
Why is it then that fighters more masterful in this technique are despised for it? Is it because the utter domination removes that "punchers chance" from the equation? That seed of doubt the UFC works so dillegently to plant with fighters like Thiago Alves or rescently Dan Hardy?
In both instances it became quickly apparent that GSP was greater than the Hype and his control over these opponents was really nothing short of amazing. I suppose I am one of the few that was more impressed by GSP's dominance over Alves than the HUGE punch Henderson dropped Mike "(down for) the Count" Bisping with. The superiority demonstrated by such a performance is taken too lightly in my opinion.
I wish to propose a quick hypothetical scenario as a sort of conclusion. What if Jake Shields (huge "what if", I know) is able to hold his own in exchanges with Henderson, and control the action on the ground en route to a 5 round decision? Will it be considered boring, as this is the only way (of course, the punchers chance is a one way street right, its not something both fighters have) he could have beaten Hendo? Or would the suprise nature of Shields being able to do this against a superior opponent yield admiration?
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"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...
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