FanHouse http://www.fanhouse.com FanHouse http://www.fanhouse.com/media/feedlogo.gif FanHouse http://www.fanhouse.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ Will GSP-Penn II Look Like GSP-Penn I? http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/01/31/will-gsp-penn-ii-look-like-gsp-penn-i/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/01/31/will-gsp-penn-ii-look-like-gsp-penn-i/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/01/31/will-gsp-penn-ii-look-like-gsp-penn-i/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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Georges St. Pierre finds himself in what is, at once, both an enviable and unenviable position. On the plus side, he has the rare chance to face a top five pound-for-pound champion in BJ Penn at UFC 94. One can only imagine what beating Penn again would do for his reputation and legacy. On the other hand, he's faced with the prospect of fighting a more focused and better-conditioned Penn who has dominated all three of his opponents since dropping down to lightweight.

 

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]]> bj pennBjPenngeorges st. pierreGeorgesSt.Pierrejon fitchJonFitchsean sherkSeanSherkufc 94Ufc94 Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2009-01-31T10:00:00 00:00 Forced Admiration for Lyoto Machida http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/01/27/forced-admiration-for-lyoto-machida/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/01/27/forced-admiration-for-lyoto-machida/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/01/27/forced-admiration-for-lyoto-machida/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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Lyoto Machida is an acquired taste. Like blue cheese or a peaty scotch, his fighting style is not for everyone. Using a careful in-and-out style based more on karate than the usual Muay Thai, Machida has beaten all 13 of his opponents with seemingly little effort. Given that eight of those 13 wins have been by decision, it's hard to blame fans for becoming impatient with the most patient fighter in the game. But even for non-fans, you have to admit that what looks moldy or tastes like dirt to some can be the greatest delicacy to others.

 

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]]> anderson silvaAndersonSilvab.j. pennB.j.Pennbrock lesnarBrockLesnarfedor emelianenkoFedorEmelianenkofrank mirFrankMirgeorges st. pierreGeorgesSt.Pierrelyoto machidaLyotoMachidathiago silvaThiagoSilvaufc 94Ufc94 Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2009-01-27T14:41:00 00:00 How Do You Solve a Problem Like Nogueira? http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/12/24/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-nogueira/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/12/24/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-nogueira/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/12/24/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-nogueira/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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Frank MirIn MMA, there are two main ways to win: submit your opponent or knock him out. So how then, do you deal with a fighter who seemingly can't be submitted and can't be knocked out? Such a quandary faces Frank Mir this Saturday night at UFC 92 when he faces Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, one of the best fighters this sport has ever seen.

Mir is well-known for his jiu-jitsu, but Nogueira's is better. Mir's showing against Brock Lesnar shows that he can take a punch, but Nogueira has made a career out of absorbing inordinate amounts of punishment, only to prevail in the end.

The deck seems well-stacked against Mir from the start.

But Nogueira is beatable; he has gone down to defeat three times in MMA competition. Taking a look at those losses (and some near-losses), and using FightMetric statistics for every fight in his career, perhaps we can see if there's something that can be done about this Minotauro.

So how might Mir do it?

 

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]]> Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-12-24T13:57:00 00:00 Randy Couture Week Day 4 (2005-present): Comings and Goings http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/14/randy-couture-week-day-4-2005-present-comings-and-goings/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/14/randy-couture-week-day-4-2005-present-comings-and-goings/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/14/randy-couture-week-day-4-2005-present-comings-and-goings/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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Randy Couture Week is an intense look at an MMA legend on the brink of a big fight at this weekend's UFC 91 in Las Vegas.

Even at 41, Randy was the top dog at 205 pounds. The problem was, "nobody" knew about it. The UFC was still a niche sport with a tiny hardcore following. Without any regular non-pay-per-view presence, the organization, and by extension, Randy Couture, were almost completely unknown to the general public. All of that was about to change.

In the grand scheme of television, The Ultimate Fighter is just another in a long line of reality shows that tape a group of people living together and competing against each other. But for the sport of MMA, its importance cannot be minimized. For 13 weeks in 2005, Randy and the rest of the crew were beamed into the living rooms of a million people who had probably never laid eyes on the man before. That fertile base of new fans would propel Randy's next fight to become the biggest pay-per-view in UFC history.

 

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]]> brock lesnarBrockLesnarrandycouturerandycoutureweek Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-11-14T15:00:00 00:00 Randy Couture Week, Day 3 (2003-2004): Reborn at 205 http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/13/randy-couture-week-day-3-2003-2004-reborn-at-205/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/13/randy-couture-week-day-3-2003-2004-reborn-at-205/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/13/randy-couture-week-day-3-2003-2004-reborn-at-205/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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Randy Couture Week is an intense look at an MMA legend on the brink of a big fight at this weekend's UFC 91 in Las Vegas.

Randy was facing an uncertain future. He had lost his last two fights and both opponents had seemingly exposed a glaring weakness in his game. Randy did great against equally-sized opponents or larger ones without proficient ground games, but his style was not adequate against the big men who could go to the floor. Since there were not as many ground-ignorant heavyweights as there used to be, it was time for Randy to pick on people his own size.

A cut to 205 pounds was not as drastic as it seems. Randy generally weighed in around 225 pounds when fighting at heavyweight. But big light-heavyweights like Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell walked around at about 220 and managed to make weight at 205 every time. And as a wrestler, Randy had plenty of experience with weight-cutting; he just hadn't had to in a while. Feeling that he still had plenty of good fights left in his 40-year-old body, Randy set out to become the first fighter to ever win a belt in two weight classes.

 

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]]> brock lesnarBrockLesnarrandy coutureRandyCouturerandycoutureweek Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-11-13T15:00:00 00:00 Randy Couture Week (Day 2), 2000-2002: Titles Won, Titles Lost http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/12/randy-couture-week-day-2-2000-2002-titles-won-titles-lost/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/12/randy-couture-week-day-2-2000-2002-titles-won-titles-lost/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/12/randy-couture-week-day-2-2000-2002-titles-won-titles-lost/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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Randy Couture Week is an intense look at an MMA legend on the brink of a big fight at this weekend's UFC 91 in Las Vegas.

Having vanquished Maurice Smith to capture the UFC heavyweight title, it seemed Randy had nowhere to go but down. Randy found another place he could go: Japan. It was the first time, but not the last, that Randy would get into a contract dispute with the UFC, which was owned by Semaphore Entertainment Group at the time. When Randy and SEG could not come to terms on a contract, the UFC stripped him of his title. It would be three years before he stepped foot in the Octagon again.

 

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]]> brock lesnarBrockLesnarrandy coutureRandyCouturerandycoutureweekufc 91Ufc91 Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-11-12T15:00:00 00:00 Randy Couture Week, Day 1; 1997-2000: The Birth of 'The Natural' http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/11/randy-couture-week-day-1-1997-2000-the-birth-of-the-natural/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/11/randy-couture-week-day-1-1997-2000-the-birth-of-the-natural/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/11/randy-couture-week-day-1-1997-2000-the-birth-of-the-natural/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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Randy Couture Week is an intense look at an MMA legend on the brink of a big fight.

If you've ever wondered why Randy Couture is called "The Natural," it has something to do with the way he burst onto the MMA scene back in 1997.

Looking back, Couture won his first four UFC bouts -- the first MMA fights in his career -- in such convincing fashion that it seems he was predestined to be a UFC champion.

But back in 1997, Randy as a champion was an unusual development, and it had nothing to do with his lack of experience in mixed martial arts.

 

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]]> brock lesnarBrockLesnarrandy coutureRandyCouturerandycoutureweek Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-11-11T15:00:00 00:00 Welcome to Randy Couture Week http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/10/welcome-to-randy-couture-week/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/10/welcome-to-randy-couture-week/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/11/10/welcome-to-randy-couture-week/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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Randy Couture Week is an intense look at an MMA legend on the brink of a big fight.

MMA is a "what have you done for me lately" kind of sport and, unfortunately, Randy Couture hasn't done anything in a while. It's been more than a year since his last fight, and a lot has happened in the interim. But leave it to Randy to come back in a big way.

In his bout Saturday night, he faces the biggest of the big in the mammoth Brock Lesnar, former superstar of the WWE. Win or lose, it's another example of how Randy has made a career of taking only the biggest and hardest fights.

For those who didn't catch our week-long dedication to Fedor Emelianenko, this series of articles should serve as a primer for the fight from one fighter's point-of-view and on Couture's career as well as answer why, at the ripe old age of 45, he is still considered among the best fighters on the planet.

But this is no biography. We'll leave the retelling of Randy's personal life and embroilment in fight politics to others. We'll concentrate only on the time Randy has spent in the Octagon. And, for the first time, FightMetric statistics from every fight in his career will shed light on the areas of Randy's game that have been most impressive, providing historical context and benchmarks against his fighting peers.

Come back every day this week for the next installments in the series:

Tuesday: 1997-2000: The Birth of "The Natural"
Wednesday: 2000-2002: Titles Won, Titles Lost
Thursday: 2003-2004: Reborn at 205
Friday: 2005-Present: Comings and Goings

 

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]]> brock lesnarBrockLesnarrandycouturerandycoutureweek Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-11-10T15:00:00 00:00 The Numbers Behind Bisping vs. Leben http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/10/20/the-numbers-behind-bisping-vs-leben/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/10/20/the-numbers-behind-bisping-vs-leben/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/10/20/the-numbers-behind-bisping-vs-leben/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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Nothing enflames the passions of MMA fans like a striking battle that goes to a decision. Fights like the one between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben are notoriously difficult to judge because there are simply too many things to keep track of. A takedown is a single event that leaves an indelible impression. It's much harder to judge when you can't remember who landed what strikes and how many.

Tracking the statistics from the Bisping-Leben fight reveals some interesting things when viewed in the context of their career performances. But before getting to the numbers, first, a word about decisions...

 

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]]> ChrisLebenMichaelBisping Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-10-20T16:30:00 00:00 Making the Case for Rashad Evans (Kinda) http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/09/05/making-the-case-for-rashad-evans-kinda/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/09/05/making-the-case-for-rashad-evans-kinda/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/09/05/making-the-case-for-rashad-evans-kinda/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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To look around the MMA blogosphere, you'd think that Rashad Evans was right up there with Ken Shamrock -- a recognizable name with no chance to win being fed to the more popular fighter, in this case Chuck Liddell. On paper, it's hard to disagree. Evans is precisely the kind of fighter Liddell beats: forward-pressing wrestlers with average striking skills.

The "proof" is in that wonderful transitive property of match-ups known as MMAth, which goes a little like this: Rashad fought to an uneventful draw against Tito Ortiz. Their skill-sets are similar and, seemingly, so is their talent level. Liddell had little trouble putting away Ortiz for a second time, therefore, it stands to reason, maybe, that Liddell should possibly have no trouble potentially beating Evans. Or not.

 

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]]> chuck liddellkeith jardinerampage jacksonrandy couturerashad evans Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-09-05T00:00:00 00:00 GSP's Domination By the Numbers http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/08/12/gsps-domination-by-the-numbers/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/08/12/gsps-domination-by-the-numbers/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/08/12/gsps-domination-by-the-numbers/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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In most cases, a title fight has a significant impact on where fighters are ranked in their particular weight class. Usually, when the challenger loses, he moves down a few spots in the rankings and has to work his way back up again. In some cases, a fight can be extremely close or inconclusive, mandating an immediate rematch. The fight between Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch is the rare case where the outcome was conclusive, no immediate rematch is warranted, and yet St. Pierre and Fitch should remain #1 and #2 in the welterweight division.

If there was something higher than #1, that's where St. Pierre would be. He took the fight to Fitch in every conceivable way -- on the feet, in the clinch, and on the ground -- and won convincingly in each. It's not as if there was any doubt before, but he must obviously remain #1.

 

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]]> georges st-pierrejon fitch Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-08-12T11:31:00 00:00 The Case for Jon Fitch http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/08/08/the-case-for-jon-fitch/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/08/08/the-case-for-jon-fitch/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/08/08/the-case-for-jon-fitch/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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It's a championship fight featuring a dominant champion and a contender with question marks about his game. The champion is a finisher; the challenger tends to grind out decisions. It seems that everything the challenger does, the champion does just a little better. But still, the challenger is known for his heart and mental toughness; the champion still has doubters about how he performs when hurt or under pressure.

All of those statements could be used to describe the matchup this Saturday night between welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Jon Fitch. But the descriptions above are also a spot-on summary of popular sentiment leading into the fight between Forrest Griffin and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

We all know how that one turned out.

 

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]]> forrest griffingeorges st-pierrejon fitchquinton rampage jackson Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-08-08T10:20:00 00:00 Fedor vs. Silva? http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/20/fedor-vs-silva/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/20/fedor-vs-silva/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/20/fedor-vs-silva/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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The results from last night's events -- dominant wins for both Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko -- have reopened the ever-festering debate over who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. While the two will likely never meet in competition, fans of each fighter have their reasons why they think Fedor or Silva is the true pound-for-pound king. But which arguments really hold water? What stands up to scrutiny?

Let's take a look at two arguments from each camp, do some reductionist analysis, and see what stands up to scrutiny. The intent is not to prove one side of the debate or the other. Rankings like these are subjective and depend on each individual's point of view. But the arguments below are a good place to start in forming your own opinion of who takes the top spot.

 

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]]> anderson silvafedor emelianenkotim sylvia Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-07-20T22:00:00 00:00 Fedor Week #4, 2005-Present: Mismatches and Reflections http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/18/fedor-week-4-2005-present-mismatches-and-reflections/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/18/fedor-week-4-2005-present-mismatches-and-reflections/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/18/fedor-week-4-2005-present-mismatches-and-reflections/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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All this week FanHouse looks forward to Fedor Emelianenko's fight against Tim Sylvia by reliving Fedor's career history. This is the final installment. Here are parts one, two, and three.

With his wins over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic, Fedor had few legitimate contenders left to beat. The opponent that made the most sense was Josh Barnett, but as Pride tended to do, they immediately matched Fedor with a fighter that had no business being in the same ring.

vs. Zuluzinho

The son of famed vale tudo fighter Rei Zulu, the younger Zuluzinho was not entirely unskilled or untrained, but he couldn't hope to compete with the best in the world. The matchup was essentially a sight-gag -- to see Fedor stand next to the 6'6, 400-pound challenger. This completely unnecessary bout was mercifully quick: Fedor knocked Zuluzinho down twice and made him submit because of strikes in all of 26 seconds.

 

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]]> fedor emelianenkomark colemanmark huntmatt lindlandtim sylvia Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-07-18T10:00:00 00:00 Fedor Week #3, 2004-2005: The Greatest Challenges http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/17/fedor-week-3-2004-2005-the-greatest-challenges/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/17/fedor-week-3-2004-2005-the-greatest-challenges/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/17/fedor-week-3-2004-2005-the-greatest-challenges/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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All this week FanHouse looks forward to Fedor Emelianenko's fight against Tim Sylvia by reliving Fedor's career history. This is the third installment. You can find parts one and two here and here.

The semifinals were over and Fedor had reached the climax of Pride's heavyweight tournament. After steamrolling Naoya Ogawa in just 51 seconds, he was primed for the final match. To capture the belt, he only needed to do something he'd done once before: beat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Both were undefeated since their first meeting, but Fedor undoubtedly had the easier schedule and easier road to the finals. Along the way, Nogueira had beaten five opponents, including three that were previously undefeated. Fedor was fresh; Nogueira had just gone 15 hard-fought minutes with Sergei Kharitonov.

 

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]]> antonio rodrigo nogu...crocopfedor emelianenko Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-07-17T11:00:00 00:00 Fedor Week #2, 2003-2004: The Era of Dominance http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/16/fedor-week-2-2003-2004-the-era-of-dominance/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/16/fedor-week-2-2003-2004-the-era-of-dominance/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/16/fedor-week-2-2003-2004-the-era-of-dominance/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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All this week FanHouse looks forward to Fedor Emelianenko's fight against Tim Sylvia by reliving Fedor's career history. This is the second installment. You can find the first article here.

After vanquishing his toughest opponent to capture the Pride heavyweight belt, Fedor Emelianenko found himself in the unusual position of being the favorite. His utter destruction of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had put the rest of the world on notice that this would be a tough champion to dethrone. There remained several top contenders for Fedor's belt ... but he wouldn't fight any of them anytime soon.

Like RINGS before it, the Pride Fighting Championship had its roots in pro wrestling, which meant that a match's entertainment value was equal or more important than its competitive value. A matchup was made not because the two fighters were evenly matched, were top contenders, or even in the same weight class. The fighters were decided based on what would make for the best show for a native Japanese audience. As they often did when they had a foreign-born champion, Pride gave a title shot to a Japanese fighter who seemed severely overmatched.

 

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]]> antonio rodrigo nogu...fedor emelianenko Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-07-16T11:00:00 00:00 Fedor Week #1, 2002-2003: The Fights That Made Fedor http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/15/fedor-week-1-2002-2003-the-fights-that-made-fedor/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/15/fedor-week-1-2002-2003-the-fights-that-made-fedor/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/15/fedor-week-1-2002-2003-the-fights-that-made-fedor/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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All this week FanHouse looks forward to Fedor Emelianenko's fight against Tim Sylvia by reliving Fedor's career history. This is the first installment.

Though Fedor had been competing in combat sports for several years, the story of his mixed martial arts career begins in earnest in June 2002. A standout in the Russian self-defense art of Sambo, Fedor made his entrance onto the international fighting sports scene two years earlier in the RINGS organization, a pro wrestling promotion that had begun holding (mostly) legitimate contests. Though similar to MMA, the fights contested in RINGS did not allow for any striking on the ground, only submission grappling.

 

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]]> antonio rodrigo nogu...fedor emelianenkoheath herringsemmy schilt Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-07-15T11:30:00 00:00 Welcome to Fedor Week http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/14/welcome-to-fedor-week/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/14/welcome-to-fedor-week/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/14/welcome-to-fedor-week/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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So what's all this fuss about Fedor Emelianenko? What makes some people so sure that this quiet, soft-bodied Russian is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and perhaps, the best fighter in the history of mixed martial arts? If those ideas seem foreign to you, it's probably because his fight this Saturday night against Tim Sylvia marks Fedor's first real fight of consequence in nearly three years. The sport has grown tremendously since then and has gained a lot of new fans. For those who have never known (or those that have just forgotten), this series of articles should serve as a primer to the career of Fedor Emelianenko and answer why, until recently, he was the consensus pick for the best fighter on the planet. For the first time, FightMetric statistics from every fight in his career will shed light on the areas of Fedor's game that have been so impressive, by providing historical context and benchmarks against his fighting peers.

Come back every day this week for the next installments in the series:

Tuesday: 2002-2003: The Fights that Made Fedor
Wednesday: 2003-2004: The Era of Dominance
Thursday: 2004-2005: The Greatest Challenges
Friday: 2005-Present: Mismatches and Reflections

 

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]]> Fedor EmelianenkoTim Sylvia Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-07-14T12:00:00 00:00 Griffin vs. Jackson: The Numbers That Matter http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/07/griffin-vs-jackson-the-numbers-that-matter/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/07/griffin-vs-jackson-the-numbers-that-matter/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/07/griffin-vs-jackson-the-numbers-that-matter/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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The following guest post was written by Rami Genauer, contributor at FightMetric.

FightMetric tracked every second of UFC 86's main event fight between Forrest Griffin and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. How did the new UFC light-heavyweight champ stack up in this bout? We've pored over the numbers to make sense of this extremely close battle. You can check out the full stats from the fight here, but below are the numbers that matter:

First Round: One

The number of knockdowns in the round.

Make no mistake, it is certainly possible to win a round in which your opponent has knocked you down ... but it's hard. You really have to do a lot of damage to counteract the knockdown, which is the single-largest contributor to fight endings in MMA. Griffin led the round for all but the last 90 seconds. But the minimal effectiveness of those three-and-a-half minutes pales in comparison to Rampage's knockdown and those last 90 seconds, which represented the closest either fighter ever came to ending the fight. The round simply has to go to Rampage. Pity that only one of the judges (Nelson Hamilton) felt the same way.

 

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]]> forrest griffinForrestGriffinrampage jacksonRampageJacksonufc86 Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-07-07T01:00:00 00:00 UFC 86: What You Need to Know to Fight Rampage Jackson http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/04/ufc-86-what-you-need-to-know-to-fight-rampage-jackson/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/04/ufc-86-what-you-need-to-know-to-fight-rampage-jackson/ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/04/ufc-86-what-you-need-to-know-to-fight-rampage-jackson/#comments Rami Genauerby Rami Genauer

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The following guest post was written by Rami Genauer, contributor at FightMetric.

Let's say you wake up one day and find yourself standing across the Octagon from Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. And it's not the jovial, wise-cracking Rampage either; it's the sneering, howling, intense Rampage who is ready to slam you into next Tuesday. Assuming that running away is not an option, what do you do?

To figure out what you'd be facing, FightMetric tracked all 20 of Rampage's fights in Pride and the UFC (and that one WFA show no one likes to talk about). Making some observations based on the statistical record, below are some things you might want to keep in mind. Forrest Griffin ought to study up before Saturday night's UFC light heavyweight title fight.

Be careful relying on the clinch

Many people have watched Rampage fall prey to the Muay Thai clinch of Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and figured that the clinch is where Rampage's game is weakest. That would be a big mistake.

Statistically, the clinch is actually the strongest part of Rampage's game.

 

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]]> forrest griffinForrestGriffinrampage jacksonRampageJacksonUFC86 Rami Genauer rami-genauer 2008-07-04T07:00:00 00:00