Perez's Take
PEREZ: Fighters should fight to their strengths, not play to the desires of fans to see them be "more exciting" or "more well-rounded"
Apr 1, 2010 - 3:12:12 PM PEREZ: Fighters should fight to their strengths, not play to the desires of fans to see them be "more exciting" or "more well-rounded"

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By: Anwar Perez, MMATorch Columnist

This past weekend had Georges St. Pierre defend his UFC Welterweight Title soundly against Dan Hardy. Many had assumed that GSP would rely on his phenomenal wrestling skills against Hardy and take him down and try to win via ground-and-pound or submission. Few expected him to stand toe-to-toe with Hardy, who many would consider has the heaviest set of hands in the division. Well, GSP executed the plan superbly, defeating Hardy via unanimous decision. Then something happened, and it was quite apparent that this happens all the time.

Fans and analysts alike were asking why GSP stuck to such a strict game plan and did the same basic strategy that has worked for him in the past. Think about that statement. They are asking, "Why would you do what works for you all the time when you could do something different?" That "something different" could result in multiple scenarios; more importantly, it could result in a loss on his record and the loss of his championship gold.

Why as fans do some say: "I wish he would so something other than stand-up and trade punches with his opponents." They could be talking about a guy like Chuck Liddell. In the fight game, it seems that fans are of the opinion that a fighter must be well rounded in all aspects of the game and be able to do it all. That claim is true because, truth be told, it IS mixed martial arts. But for fans to say that you should stay away from your "bread and butter" and mix it up is a pretty absurd idea.

If GSP had decided to stand up and trade with Hardy, he has a higher chance of losing. Now, you can argue that those are his chances no matter where the fight goes, but obviously, as we witnessed this past weekend, the ground game is GSP’s domain. That is the same as complaining that all Chuck Liddell does is knock people out and that he should use his ground game more.

What?

From the beginnings of MMA until now, the game has evolved to where more and more fighters adhere to the title of a mixed martial artist. Well, even so, there are areas in the fighter's skill set that he is more adept at than most. Matt Hughes can stand and trade with you, but he’s more likely to use his greatest weapon, and that’s his take downs and ground and pound. B.J. Penn has lightning-fast hands, but once on the ground with the "Prodigy," you are in a worse way than you were standing up. The same could be said about most fighters being this way. They may have tons of different skills in their pocket, but there are some that you as a fighter are going to use more than others for one simple reason: using those skills help you win.

Liddell wouldn’t be the legend he is today if he decided that standing up and striking with his opponents was boring or hurt his reputation by being pigeonholed as a one-dimensional fighter so he needed to try his ground game during his championship reign. Randy Couture would be the same way if he ditched his wrestling in one fight in favor of more a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu style. Same with Anderson Silva trying his game at wrestling or Dustin Hazelett at standing up and trading blows with his opponent.

Though in many of these fights the opponent neutralizes one aspect of the game, as Hardy did with GSP inasmuch as Hardy is a heavy-handed striker who is dangerous to get into a brawl with, GSP did the smart thing by sticking to his bread and butter and dominating Hardy on the ground. Fans want fighters to try to be the best at everything, so they always push for their favorite fighter (or even least favorite) to do all kinds of things, even if it means that the percentage of winning the fight diminishes because you are playing into the game plan of the opponent.

Today, more and more fighters are adept at many different styles of the fight game, but that doesn’t mean that they should fight every which way to please the fans because they want to see him wrestle with a top wrestler (Dan Henderson, Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture), if they aren’t that good at wrestling, or stand up and strike with a world class striker (Anderson Silva, Chuck Liddell) if their striking game is sub-par.

Fighters should continue to fight smart, no matter how much clamoring there is for them to change their game or see them fight a fight that could cost them a win or a chance to keep, or even get, a Championship.

Comedian Mitch Hedberg best stated this scenario in one of his best jokes.

“When you're in Hollywood and you're a comedian, everybody wants you to do other things. 'All right, you're a stand-up comedian, can you write us a script?' That's not fair. That's like if I worked hard to become a cook, and I'm a really good cook, they'd say, 'Okay, you're a cook. Can you farm?'"

Think about it.

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