Nippon Joho: The Bushido Welterweight Tournament
Don’t forget the ground
Stephen Martinez Sep 28, 2005
Just watching Phil Baroni
(Pictures)’s post-fight interview
makes you realize why he trash-talks every single opponent he has
faced, even when he gets defeated. I understand a big part of the
game is to sell yourself with the fans and never try to present a
boring and generic image, but sometimes it’s good to know when to
temper the “Bad Ass” gimmick.
Baroni told the Japanese press that he lost what little respect he had for Minowa after their rematch because of the way “The Punk” kept taking him down to avoid engage with him standing.
The last time I checked the sport was called mixed martial arts and
this includes standing strikes and ground fighting. What Minowa did
was play along with the rules and stick to his plan of taking down
Baroni at will and working from top.
What Baroni totally forgot was that takedowns and the ground game are allowed in PRIDE. Another thing he also forgot was that Minowa is not a striker. While Minowa can exchange punches standing like any other MMA fighter out there, his main weapons have always been wrestling and submission.
Once on the ground he nearly was caught several times in keylocks. Looking helpless in how to escape the position while waiting for the referee to save you truly shows what an embarrassment to the fans Minowa was.
Now I do agree with many fans that during some points in the fight Minowa looked like he was stalling by just holding Baroni down without much action. Also I do agree the referee should have issued at least one yellow card to Minowa for lack of aggression while on the ground, but how can we blame Minowa for following the plan he did?
Fighters inside a tournament need to execute a game plan in order to win, especially when this tournament involves the best fighters in your weight division with two fights in one single night. What Minowa did was to stick to a game plan in order to advance and this game plan was not to stand with Baroni but take the fight to the ground.
On the other side Baroni not only proved he lacks the wrestling to avoid takedowns and the humility to accept a defeat, but also he showed us why K-1 could be a better sport for his abilities.
Ryo Chonan (Pictures): Hype or Reality?
Watching Ryo Chonan (Pictures) lately makes you wonder what’s wrong him. Once upon a time Chonan was riding a wave of success after victories against Hayato Sakurai (Pictures), Carlos Newton (Pictures), Roan Carneiro (Pictures), Anderson Silva (Pictures) and Nino Schembri.
Everything was good until he met Baroni and Henderson, resulting in back-to-back knockouts in brutal fashion in Bushido. Now it looks like the Chonan bandwagon has derailed beyond repair and fans might be wondering what, if anything, is next for Piranha in PRIDE.
Looking back to Chonan’s performances since 2003 it seems like Chonan is running out of luck. When he fought Sakurai in DEEP he was out-grappled until the last moment when he reversed Sakurai and later broke his orbital bone to force a referee stop.
When he fought Anderson Silva (Pictures) back in Shockwave 2004 he was at the end of Anderson Silva (Pictures)’s relentless strikes until the last minute when he pulled off the flying heel hook.
Jumping back to DEEP, Brazilian grappler Roan Carneiro (Pictures) dominated him through the entire match until a last minute flying knee save the day.
Schembri held him to death and while Chonan was controlling the top position he couldn’t make more damage beyond some punches and flying stomps.
Now is Chonan overrated?
In my opinion, no. But somehow Chonan is a strange mix between skill and luck. Sometimes it makes you wonder how a fighter with so many holes could have gone this far facing the opponents he has. Chonan’s poisons are a good grappler with top control (Almeida, Sakurai, Carneiro) and power punchers (Henderson, Baroni).
How has Chonan improved since he first faced a skilled grappler in Sakurai or another power puncher since Baroni? He has not.
Both Almeida and Carneiro exposed Chonan’s lack of grappling skill and placed him in more of defense/survival position while closing down his main strikes arsenal. The other good grappler he faced since then is Nino Schembri, but Schembri’s grappling never made the right transition to MMA so he could not capitalize on the holes in Chonan’s ground game.
Baroni also highlighted what Anderson did before when Chonan is faced with technical or power strikers. He lacks defense and it usually takes him way too long to get into “fight mode.” He is a low starter who likes to fight with his guard down and usually always follow the same game plan to start with low inside kicks.
Now I can’t believe anyone close to Chonan hasn’t noticed all these factors, which are so obvious when you examine Chonan’s performances since he joined PRIDE.
Listen to Dan Henderson (Pictures)’s post-fight interview if you want a clear example of how obvious Chonan’s game has become. Henderson told the Japanese press he knew Chonan always starts slow with the same inside kicks, so his plan was to rush him with punches after the kick.
Meanwhile, Chonan told the press backstage he’s going to take the rest of the year off and comeback in 2006. I really hope Chonan or someone close from his camp realizes his game plan and approach to fighting worked before, but no longer work today.
He needs to improve defensively, bring back some aggression and not be so obvious while fighting. He probably got away without these things while fighting in DEEP, but not anymore with the level of opposition he is facing now in PRIDE.
Baroni told the Japanese press that he lost what little respect he had for Minowa after their rematch because of the way “The Punk” kept taking him down to avoid engage with him standing.
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What Baroni totally forgot was that takedowns and the ground game are allowed in PRIDE. Another thing he also forgot was that Minowa is not a striker. While Minowa can exchange punches standing like any other MMA fighter out there, his main weapons have always been wrestling and submission.
Now to claim Minowa disappointed fans because he didn’t want to
engage in a game of trading punches is just lame. From someone
cross training in both wrestling and jiu-jitsu for years with the
likes of Kevin Randleman
(Pictures), Mark Coleman (Pictures) and Marc Laimon, Baroni sure
looked clueless in how to avoid the takedowns, forgetting even how
perform a sprawl.
Once on the ground he nearly was caught several times in keylocks. Looking helpless in how to escape the position while waiting for the referee to save you truly shows what an embarrassment to the fans Minowa was.
Now I do agree with many fans that during some points in the fight Minowa looked like he was stalling by just holding Baroni down without much action. Also I do agree the referee should have issued at least one yellow card to Minowa for lack of aggression while on the ground, but how can we blame Minowa for following the plan he did?
Fighters inside a tournament need to execute a game plan in order to win, especially when this tournament involves the best fighters in your weight division with two fights in one single night. What Minowa did was to stick to a game plan in order to advance and this game plan was not to stand with Baroni but take the fight to the ground.
On the other side Baroni not only proved he lacks the wrestling to avoid takedowns and the humility to accept a defeat, but also he showed us why K-1 could be a better sport for his abilities.
Ryo Chonan (Pictures): Hype or Reality?
Watching Ryo Chonan (Pictures) lately makes you wonder what’s wrong him. Once upon a time Chonan was riding a wave of success after victories against Hayato Sakurai (Pictures), Carlos Newton (Pictures), Roan Carneiro (Pictures), Anderson Silva (Pictures) and Nino Schembri.
Everything was good until he met Baroni and Henderson, resulting in back-to-back knockouts in brutal fashion in Bushido. Now it looks like the Chonan bandwagon has derailed beyond repair and fans might be wondering what, if anything, is next for Piranha in PRIDE.
Looking back to Chonan’s performances since 2003 it seems like Chonan is running out of luck. When he fought Sakurai in DEEP he was out-grappled until the last moment when he reversed Sakurai and later broke his orbital bone to force a referee stop.
When he fought Anderson Silva (Pictures) back in Shockwave 2004 he was at the end of Anderson Silva (Pictures)’s relentless strikes until the last minute when he pulled off the flying heel hook.
Jumping back to DEEP, Brazilian grappler Roan Carneiro (Pictures) dominated him through the entire match until a last minute flying knee save the day.
Schembri held him to death and while Chonan was controlling the top position he couldn’t make more damage beyond some punches and flying stomps.
Now is Chonan overrated?
In my opinion, no. But somehow Chonan is a strange mix between skill and luck. Sometimes it makes you wonder how a fighter with so many holes could have gone this far facing the opponents he has. Chonan’s poisons are a good grappler with top control (Almeida, Sakurai, Carneiro) and power punchers (Henderson, Baroni).
How has Chonan improved since he first faced a skilled grappler in Sakurai or another power puncher since Baroni? He has not.
Both Almeida and Carneiro exposed Chonan’s lack of grappling skill and placed him in more of defense/survival position while closing down his main strikes arsenal. The other good grappler he faced since then is Nino Schembri, but Schembri’s grappling never made the right transition to MMA so he could not capitalize on the holes in Chonan’s ground game.
Baroni also highlighted what Anderson did before when Chonan is faced with technical or power strikers. He lacks defense and it usually takes him way too long to get into “fight mode.” He is a low starter who likes to fight with his guard down and usually always follow the same game plan to start with low inside kicks.
Now I can’t believe anyone close to Chonan hasn’t noticed all these factors, which are so obvious when you examine Chonan’s performances since he joined PRIDE.
Listen to Dan Henderson (Pictures)’s post-fight interview if you want a clear example of how obvious Chonan’s game has become. Henderson told the Japanese press he knew Chonan always starts slow with the same inside kicks, so his plan was to rush him with punches after the kick.
Meanwhile, Chonan told the press backstage he’s going to take the rest of the year off and comeback in 2006. I really hope Chonan or someone close from his camp realizes his game plan and approach to fighting worked before, but no longer work today.
He needs to improve defensively, bring back some aggression and not be so obvious while fighting. He probably got away without these things while fighting in DEEP, but not anymore with the level of opposition he is facing now in PRIDE.
