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BJ Penn is easily one of my favorites. I'm actually upset at the fact that seemingly, the more motivation he found, the more likely he was to engage in a stand
by bmelton 11y ago
BJ Penn is easily one of my favorites. I'm actually upset at the fact that seemingly, the more motivation he found, the more likely he was to engage in a stand-up battle, despite his obvious advantages on the ground.
Quite possibly there are factors that I'm not privy to (like age inhibiting his flexibility or something), but I've never seen anybody as creative on the ground as he was (though there are some modern fighters that are getting there), and definitely not of his time, but yeah, for a long time, he rode the coattails of his raw talent and didn't train as competitively as many of those who ultimately passed him by.
Frank Mir is, in my opinion, his polar opposite (in too many ways to list).
- balls187 11y agoI always respected Frank Mir's raw talent--after his devastating motorcycle accident that he was still able to return and claim the heavyweight title. As someone who has admiration for the "veterans" of the octagon, I'm really happy to see the resurgence of Andrei Arlovski.
- bmelton 11y agoArlovski has been a master of reinventing himself as needed. I haven't seen much of the "old guard" adapt to a sport that evolves as quickly as MMA has as well as he has done so. That said, I would probably put Frank Mir right up there on adaptability, and Mir's last fight against Todd Duffee was simply amazing.
- mistermann 11y agoI actually think BJ and Frank are very similar in that their downfall was lack of training. In BJ's case, being generally in poor shape much of the time, but mainly not focusing on his core talents and as you say, getting by on raw natural talent until that was no longer the case. The part that makes me so sad about BJ is, he was a once in a lifetime fighter, but there really aren't that many fights of his that are worth rewatching many times, really wish he would have stayed on top of his game for longer. I feel similarly about Nick Diaz - a good Diaz fight (ie vs: Lawler, Zaromskis, Santos) and a good BJ fight are just wonderful to watch. In Frank's case, he just always gases early, often by the end of the first round. He's very talented but if you can't use that talent for much more than 3 rounds, you can't get too far.
- bmelton 11y agoI don't think Mir has that much ambition at being a 5-round fighter any time soon. Not that he probably couldn't do it if he set his sights on it, but I think he's reached the golden years of his career and knows it. I don't expect a Couture-style championship run, nor do I think he's particularly aiming at one. As for his conditioning, it is generally very rare to see a full heavyweight with great conditioning. I can think of a handful, so it's not impossible, obviously, but carrying that much weight, and having to lug all that arm-weight around for each punch just seems arduous. Nice reference to the Diaz/Lawler fight. That's literally one of my favorite fights of all time, and catapulted Diaz into a totally different tier from where I thought he was. Joe Rogan's announcing on that fight was also, ironically, perfect.
- mistermann 11y agoI'm not even asking for great cardio, just not atrocious! I hope Frank gets some work commentating, he's very knowledgeable. I love the Lawler fight, but to me the Zaromskis fight was Nick at his peak, and the Santos fight showed his mastery of striking and finishing on the ground. Joe Rogan is always great, to me he is almost the perfect commentator, deep knowledge of the sports, loves it with a passion, picks up on the smallest things and communicates all this beautifully.