Last night’s UFC 117 match between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen reminded me of the effectiveness and danger that comes with a good ground game. From seemingly out of nowhere, Anderson Silva, who was being out-punched, out-wrestled, and out-grappled for most of the night, pulled a rabbit out of a hat and somehow managed to pull off a last-minute win against trash-talking upstart Chael Sonnen.
"Never underestimate the heart of a champion." - Rudy Tomjanovich
Before the fight, most MMA fans and pundits would have been mocked for picking Sonnen over arguably the number one pound-for-pound fighter in mixed martial arts. Silva was on an 11 fight winning streak. He is the reigning UFC Middleweight Champion. He has black belts in Tae Kwon Do, Judo and Brazilian Jujitsu, as well as mastery of Capoeira, Boxing, and Muay Thai. With a superior ground game and fire power that could knock out many formidable fighters in all his limbs, Why would anyone bet against him?
But the fight was anything but predictable, and ended up being one of the most unexpected and exciting fights in recent history. Initially, Sonnen picked the perfect gameplan against the champion. To neutralize Silva’s vaunted firepower, Sonnen took him to the ground over and over again, and took the dominant position for much of the match, and proceeded to pound his opponent for the rest of the match. Lying on his back for more than 20 minutes, Silva was resigned to defending himself for much of the fight while waiting for the perfect opportunity to try to submit his opponent. As Silva defended with butterfly-, full-, and half-guard positions from the bottom, he also tried to initiate a few submission techniques, with failed armbars and triangle chokes as well as a near-perfect Kimura lock the highlights of his fight until the end.
But as with the first Lesnar-Mir fight, you can never count anyone out until the end of the fight. Just like some heavy-hitting fighters (Boxing or MMA) have a puncher’s chance no matter how badly they’re losing, great Brazilian jujitsu and submissions experts have the ability to change the course of a match in the blink of an eye with a perfectly timed and perfectly placed choke or bar.
Although the bottom position offers many opportunities for chokes and other various submission techniques, it is very tiring and frustrating to be in a non-dominant position for that long, and waiting for the perfect chance is an impossibly difficult game of patience and sound judgment. Focus too much on offense, and defense is inevitably ignored. Attempt a choke too early, and you could get pounded to oblivion. Try to get into a triangle choke, and you could release your opponent from a full-guard and cede control of his body. But before getting a chance to slap on a guillotine, ude garami (Kimura lock), or juji gatame (arm bar), your opponent could have knocked you out with an effective ground and pound.
The Gracies built the UFC to showcase the superiority of their martial art against other types of combat arts. So even though it has evolved through the years, it still favors the technically skilled grappler types. Although most MMA fights ban techniques that cause permanent structural damage, like scratching, biting, eye-gouging, bone breaks, joint locks, and nerve touches, there is significant merit in the techniques made popular by the renowned Gracie family. Chokes and submission techniques Like Mir against Lesnar in their first fight, or Silva’s triumph over Sonnen yesterday demonstrate that a perfectly timed and executed technique is absolutely devastating and can win still win you a match.
So take heart even if you are not 6’4″ and 265 lbs. of pure muscle. Practice, patience and sublime technique can take you a long way in combat sports. Just ask Royce Gracie.
The UFC: The house that Royce Gracie Built
