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By: Alvin Benjamin Carter III, MMATorch Columnist
This week I am attempting to forecast Tyrone Spong's chances of becoming a true standout in MMA by looking at his K-1 level striking predecessor.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is in many ways the reason modern mixed martial arts came into being, and specifically is the reason the Ultimate Fighting Championship exists. Now it seems like wrestling is the "new" base of MMA, but striking is a skill that has to be used in every fight regardless of a fighter's background. Some of the most dangerous strikers in UFC history are great BJJ practitioners like Anderson Silva and B.J. Penn. Some great wrestlers are also dangerous strikers, like Georges St-Pierre and Dan Henderson. Still, there are a number of fighters who transitioned from K-1 and to MMA without much of a ground fighting background at all.
One of the first names that comes to mind is Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic. He is 28-10-2-1 and 20 of his wins come by way of knockout. His UFC careers pales in comparison to his run in Pride, but his time in Japan made him a legend. Cro Cop had an amateur boxing career as well as a healthy K-1 stint in his early twenties before transitioning to MMA. His ground game came into play at times, but it was never his bread and butter, and his striking was so exceptional that it truly carried him through his MMA career. His resume is a list of who's who in the MMA world, but his last fights saw him losing to top competition that he should have been able to better compete with. He lost three straight to Frank Mir, Brendan Schaub, and Roy Nelson. This put him in the gatekeeper position. He had one more fight on New Year's Eve where he defeated Shinichi Suzukawa via armbar, ironically. Cro Cop has made a return to K-1 and he has won all six of his bouts since returning to kickboxing in 2012.
Another fighter from K-1 that made waves in MMA is Alistair Overeem (36-12-1). Overeem had a stint in Pride that saw him lose to a number of the top guys in the sport, but he also garnered some attention early on, most notably beating Vitor Belfort at Pride Total Elimination 2005. Overeem really hit his stride in MMA when he won the Inaugural Strikeforce Heavyweight Title. He then won two more in a row in Dream until he faced Cro Cop in what became a No Contest due to an illegal strike. Overeem then captured the Dream Heavyweight Title and won the 2010 K-1 Grand Prix Tournament. After vacating his title he moved over to the UFC where he beat Brock Lesnar. Overeem ran into problems with a failed drug test which cost him a title shot against Junior dos Santos. Overeem came back in 2013 to fight Strikeforce import Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, but it was Silva who surprised the striker taking him out with a third round knockout.
Both men have done tremendous things in the sport, but it seems that the path they took was completely dependant on their striking making every fight a "who gets caught" first situation. Overeem had some submissions, as did Cro Cop, but those skills posed less of a threat which gave opponents an idea of where the fight was most likely going to take place- standing.
There are a whole host of fighters that have made the K-1 to MMA transition, but the latest prospect is 27-year-old Tyrone Spong. He has an exceptional impressive kickboxing record of 69-6-1-1 with 43 of his wins by way of knockout. Spong lost to Overeem in the 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix in the Quarterfinals, but he has won five straight since then, and has also made a successful MMA debut. He won by knockout at the inaugural World Series of Fighting event in November 2012, and though he's not considered tested in MMA, his striking acumen makes him a threat like the previously mentioned athletes. He trains with the Blackzilians in Florida, so hopefully working with Rashad Evans will give Spong a chance to work on wrestling. He is in a camp where he can teach everyone a thing or two about striking, and he can absorb all of the ground fighting expertise he can handle.
Like last week's article this one points out athletes who have not been able to obtain UFC gold, but there is a clear possibility as to just why that is. They might have been too focused on their stand up, though both did grow in ground skills, or they could have been relying on a left leg or a pair of knees to land one time too many. Spong is one of the latest fighters to hit the scene with the potential to break this trend. I see him standing with anyone in the UFC, but what happens if someone like Frank Mir takes him down? Will he ever have the ability to get up if a Cain Velasquez or Daniel Cormier decides to take him down and hold him there? Ironically, his path to becoming a contender sits with his opposite in current heavyweight standout Daniel Cormier.
Spong has to hone a skill set his competition probably does not think he has. Still, if Spong does not get the ground fighting gods to bless him he has a lot more than a puncher's chance at making waves in MMA. His current strategy should be to work with his management to pick his fights carefully as he expands his overall game.
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