The Great Champion: A killer for Mixed Martial Arts

With Kamaru Usman’s victory over Colby Covington, he has pushed himself into contention for being named the greatest fighter of all time or simply the G.O.A.T. of violence. He’s currently 20-1 as a professional, undefeated in his UFC career and holds five consecutive title defense victories. He’s being argued as the greatest welterweight of all time with only the UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre as competition. Quite frankly, Usman is king and with the retirement of Khabib Nurmagomedov, Usman is the number one ranked male pound for pound fighter in the UFC. However this leads to an issue that we see time and time again in the sport. The UFC has done a good job lining up the best fights possible, however that hasn’t stopped long title reigns in the sport. We’ve seen it with as mentioned GSP, Ronda Rousey, Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. We currently see it with Amanda Nunes, Valentina Shevchenko, Israel Adesanya and now Kamaru Usman. Long time champions kill the popularity of the division.

We like champions, we like winners. What we hate is stagnation. Fighting is best when it is unpredictable. At a moments notice, a fight can turn, a fight can change and it can end. It is the only sport in which time is only an outline and a finish can happen at any time. In boxing, there’s a ten count and every other sport has a predetermined amount of time or time parameters a match must complete before it can be considered final and written into the record books. When we have stagnant champions, it makes the division unwatchable. It is a conclusion already written, an ending with no pizazz. For all my fighting fans out there, can you name the next threat to Nunes’ or Shevchenko’s titles? What about Adesanya’s or Usman’s? Quite frankly, only rematches and no names are the only options left. Who wants to see that many rematches, that many fights where the action and stylistic matchups are the same? Quite frankly, Jones’ and Silva’s title reigns stalled their respective divisions for a long time. There was no excitement, no interest. Sure we had some incredible moments like Jones vs. Cromier or Jones vs Gustafsson but there were many more fights in which we did not care about or let drain from memory. Jones personal and legal troubles became front page news as the rest of the light heavyweight division was left to wither away. Yet when Jones vacated his belt, the division reignited with the same fire which dominated the early 2000’s. Names like Ortiz, Liddell, Belfort, Rua, Couture, Machida, Evans, Griffin and Jackson fueled a heart stopping moment of fighting back in the day. The title was up for grabs and when you thought someone who start their ever-lasting reign, there came someone to kick them off the mountain. It was part sport, part theater that kept you and your wallet tuning in for more. Same thing in the aftermath of Anderson Silva’s loss to Chris Weidman. The belt kept transferring hands where in this crazy world, Michael Bisping became a champion. Fans both diehard and casual shared in these moments of intense debate of what could happen next. Now they just ask who’s next to be served up on a silver platter. This is not a criticism of those long reigning champions. If you can be the best, be it but their success comes at a price that the fans have to pay heavily for.

Max Holloway: A throwback

A common statement across contacts sports, at least at the professional level is that the modern day athlete is “soft.” Especially in the NBA, due to nature of the modern game we see less fights, less “bully ball” one could say. In football, the days of the hard hitters is a thing of the past, their play style negated by the rules governing their sports. Even in boxing, the fighters themselves still bring the intensity and pain associated with the combat sport but its governing bodies do well to step in before things get out of hand. The days of fighting to the death are no more and for good reason. In MMA or the UFC to be particular, it is a true treat to watch fighters exercise their skills and expertise in the multiple disciplines of fighting. However it is a rare treat to see the sheer brazen attitudes of the past, only replicated in video games of the scrapper. The punisher. Today’s fighters are very calculated, disciplined and they understand the game so well that they’re not gonna put themselves in harms way until necessary. It is a smart strategy and though we see fighters who love to strike and strike with high efficiency, non compare on the level of Max Holloway.

When Holloway is fighting, my heart races with anxiety. This is partly due to Holloway’s patented defensive technique of blocking punches with his face. Yet when Holloway seems stunned, it’s typically the moment where he turns up the heat and lays a barrage of strikes to his opponents. Once holding the record for most landed strikes, Holloway is cold and calculated in the octagon but as displayed in his many wars, especially against Ricardo Lamas, Holloway is in fact down for that action. Yet, his head movement and counter striking abilities are bar none in the sport. Holloway, raised in Waianae, raises his game to a level not even the best professionals go. He is a video game, he is a scrapper. Perhaps because of his rough Waianae upbringing or due to his adverse road in the UFC but when Holloway takes on Yair Rodriguez (a phenomenal striker in his own right) we will be thrown back into a time clocking somebody just because was a celebrated and encouraged activity of sportsman. All I say is that this is not a sustainable way to compete so I will enjoy it as long as I can knowing that when the gloves are hung up, Holloway will be an icon of violence.