Mixed Martial Arts: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports

Printed in the United States of America

© 2009 by Daniel J. Brush, David Horne, Marc CB Maxwell, Zac Robinson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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ISBN: 978-1-932714-67-8

eISBN: 978-1-61121-046-0

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In Memory of Evan Tanner 1971-2008

Believe in the Power of One

In Memory of Sam Vasquez 1972-2007

Contents

Foreword

martin Scorsese didn’t care for boxing. So, how did the famed filmmaker tackle the brutality of boxing in a picture recognized by the American Film Institute as the fourth greatest movie of all time? He saw it as a dance.

Mixed martial arts are traveling a similar path. The sport has grown in rollercoaster fashion since its modern inception in 1993. No one cared for it, but some got past the brutality of it as combat sport and started to see it as a dance. Like Scorsese’s career, it can be defined into two periods: pre and post The Ultimate Fighter.

The reality series launched the sport in 2005 and is responsible for front kicking the door to mainstream America down, while seeping into international consciousness too.

Still, the sport faces challenges that must be answered in order to overcome the prevailing visceral responses of repulsion or attraction to violence. This is because there is a stunning paradox in the imagery of mixed martial arts. It looks vicious or unnatural. But everything necessary to have the gumption to fight can only be seen as positive: faith, dedication, mental and physical fortitude, and heart.

Appreciating the intricacies of mixing styles such as boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling, judo, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu—to name a few—can take years. So everyone from the mixed martial artists to the hardcore fans are in constant flux, making it hard to pin down the allure and easy to denounce it.

One of the reasons MMA can be off-putting is, in fact, because it is high art. MMA simply allows for physical artists to collaborate. Where else are world champions from various national sports and pastimes coming together on a national stage to be in the same competition?

The only negative aspect about the sport of fighting is its inherit trait that someone gets hurt. However, MMA remains a positive venture because the prerequisite to success, and possible injury in the process, is physical and mental oneness. Ironically, the end result acts as a beginning for each combatant where the positive characteristics start to cycle: respect, camaraderie, and understanding.

What this book does is package such intangibles related to martial arts—especially a new one like MMA—into something as simplistic and relatable, yet staggering, as numbers. Looking at 135-pound champion Miguel Torres is a great microcosm of numbers in MMA. He once defeated someone approximately 50 pounds heavier than him, which is the origin story for MMA—technique over size and strength.

The Chicagoan disputes his official record, claiming he was fighting before there were databases. It is unfortunate we may never have the stats to do MMA’s pioneers justice, but we are fortunate enough to have pioneers still around, ready to add to their win columns and legacy while we have our stat books ready.

Watching Torres fight reveals one great truth about the sport—something that links it all to all other sports and feats of human achievements. No matter how stunning the numbers, they cannot truly convey the action and the great people behind it. But it sure can help.

In MMA, the numbers that matter most are years. Fighters will always fight. As time goes on, stats will be more impressive. The lure increased. The traditions of individual martial arts will contribute to MMA’s collective culture and people will come to understand it. Poignant moments like Don Frye, the quintessential American, representing the United States in Japan two weeks after September 11, 2001 will no longer go unseen.

Just like Martin Scorsese had to look at boxing from a different perspective, fight fans will be able to do the same for MMA. This is where MMA’s success becomes eminent; MMA is as expansive as the Marvel Universe.

Fighting is physical storytelling where villains and heroes emerge, but the back-story is what makes the sport something that persisted from B.C. times to what we know it as today. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira living through a childhood coma only to demonstrate equal grit inside the ring on his way to two world championships. Randy Couture defying age like it was as natural as sunrise on his way to six world championships. The achievements are endless in nature, but thanks to this book, these great human narratives are translated into a universal language—numbers—in a universal medium—fighting.

As Bas Rutten would say, Godspeed and party on!

Danny Acosta

Sherdog.com and Fight! Magazine Writer

Preface

maybe it was a product of my churning mind, but I swear there was a certain tension, a nervous anticipation, on the subway as it glided toward its next stop. If the tension was there it made perfect sense, most of the train’s occupants were pretty keyed up underneath their rough exteriors, because London’s O2 Arena was only minutes away. The incredible structure held all kinds of events, but on this night, September 8, 2007, it played host to UFC 75.

The train slowed and Dave looked down at me, he goes about six three, I’m five ten, and said, This is us; we’d better be ready just in case we run into any idiots.

I nodded, as did the two traveling companions we met on our first stop, a Chaplain and his high school aged son, we all knew what he meant. For all four of us this was our first time attending an UFC event. We figured it would be a tough crowd with more than a few looking to cause trouble.

The four of us jostled our way through the subway station, shoulder to shoulder with a horde of other hungry fight fans, and then made our way through the exit. The magnificent O2 came into view and our anticipation levels ratcheted up another notch. Dave and I found the will call window and our new friends, tickets already in hand, headed in the other direction.

Ten minutes later we too had our tickets and followed their path. We scooted between Tapout shirts, Affliction gear, and a few Cauliflowered ears, until we were inside the O2. Our worries about the crowd proved unwarranted. We walked along between the bars, restaurants, and shops that surround the arena and most fans seemed docile, simply relishing in the unique atmosphere.

The fights started at six and we didn’t intend on missing a one of them, so at two minutes till we pushed through the arena door and simultaneously caught our breaths at the sight. The seats were already three fourths full, music blared, a big screen showed huge knockouts, and that was just the part we could see and hear. There was something else altogether in the arena. A feeling that seeped straight into my chest and resonated in my rib cage, making my heart shake and my head swim. I looked at Dave and could tell he felt it too.

We traversed the narrow steps and found our seats 12 rows from the floor, just high enough to offer an unabated view into the cage. I surveyed the arena from my seat, and then did it again; taking in every bit of it, then looked at Dave and said, This is freaking amazing.

He tore his eyes away from the atmosphere and raised his eyebrows. Dave is one of the most reserved people I know, but his excitement was barely contained when he replied, I can’t believe we’re here.

And then the music changed, the first fight was announced, and again our expectations were amplified to a whole new level. Over the next four hours we cheered, screamed, looked at each other in astonishment, and loved every minute of it. We clung to the edge of our seats waiting for Cro Cop to unleash his left leg on Cheick Kongo. Alas, it was never set free and Kongo handed the Croat his second UFC loss.

We watched Matt Hamill trudge to the cage to Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. and then Michael Bisping bring the crowd to near maniacal levels by entering to London Calling by The Clash. We shook our heads as the decision was read, the arena erupted, but the celebration was broken by a spattering of boos, mostly from Brits.

We were close enough to Rampage Jackson that when he howled for the second time we could almost smell his breath. We hung on every move, every strike, every change of position as he and Dan Henderson put on a great fight for five rounds.

And then we filed out of the arena, wishing there was more, but satisfied with what we were given. The crowd that’d been in a fever pitch for much of the night returned to normal. Friends talked about the fights and looked ahead to future events. The train station was so crowded we had to fight through the throng of fans and push our way onto the subway. Many others did the same, nobody got mad at anybody else.

Two hours later Dave drove along the back roads toward his home and I sat in the passenger seat. Fighters talk of the adrenaline dump they experience after a fight. Well apparently it is the same, albeit to a lesser extent, for the fans. The fog was thick, the road narrow, and both of us were exhausted. Dave’s radio was broke and I feared the silence was lulling him to sleep so I said, I’m gonna write a book about MMA.

Dave seemed wide awake when he pitched a sideways glance my way and asked, Really?

He appreciates my creative endeavors, and even though he surely thinks a few of them are fool-hearted, never lets on so I replied, "Yeah, you know my friend David in Germany, the one who’s the co-founder of the Sports by the Numbers book series. We’ve been talking about me doing a couple of their football books, but after tonight I know exactly what needs to be written Sports by the Numbers Mixed Martial Arts."

Exactly one week later I was heading into another train station in a small town just off the Rhine River in Western Germany. My cell phone rang and I clicked it on. David was on the other end, Hey, we pitched the idea about the MMA book to the publisher and they loved it. We definitely want you to do it.

Just like that Sports by the Numbers Mixed Martial Arts was born. It all happened in a week, but was some 15 years in the making as I was one of the 80,000 or so people to watch UFC 1. I’d sat ringside at Muay Thai fights in Bangkok, been to a heavyweight title fight in Germany, laid in bed on countless nights in Korea watching K1 and PRIDE, and now one week after my first live UFC event, I was getting to write a book about mixed martial arts!

Acknowledgements

As with any book, this one came to be thanks to the efforts and support of numerous people. First, thanks to my family. Heather thanks for putting up with the hours of research, the fight recaps, the late nights and early mornings, and a sometimes grumpy husband. Jace and Xin Ai, thank you for giving your old man a chance to write this thing. I know it took away from many hours of play time and you were always patient. And on the bright side Jace, you now know how to apply a beautiful rear naked choke.

To the masterminds behind Sports by the Numbers, Daniel J. Brush, David Horne, and Marc CB Maxwell, if it wasn’t for that day at Rudy’s in Norman, Oklahoma this book and so many others never would have come to fruition. Your ideas and follow through deserve special recognition. And thanks to publisher Savas Beatie for taking a chance on a mixed martial arts book based on numbers when it was difficult to see exactly where the numbers would come from.

Speaking of the numbers, this brings me to some guys I don’t know and they don’t know me, but I feel obligated to acknowledge their efforts. Without them this book wouldn’t have been as good, or as accurate. Rob King at Sherdog.com maintains Fightfinder and it is (in my experience) the most complete and accurate record of modern day MMA fights. It should be noted that thanks to the sports’ still fledgling status (in comparison to others) and Rob’s continued efforts to record fights, it is possible that since I retrieved some of the statistics, other fights may have been added. I’ve attempted to ensure the numbers are accurate, but it’s possible some that added fights have thrown some of them off slightly.

A few other guys at Sherdog deserve mention as well, Jay Cordes for his development of Fight Stats with the help of Brad Wilkinson and Bill Beckham. Their statistics were extremely valuable.

Any author is well served to have a network of people willing to review the work to ensure it is as good as it can be. And when considering this book is filled with a thousand stories, reviewing it in its entirety is a daunting task. I managed to find two guys willing and able to do the job. David Hagander—yes, the same Dave who went to UFC 75 with me—took the time to read the book, give me ideas, tell me when it sucked, and encourage me to keep going. Also Sgt Paul Rose, who went with Dave and me to UFC 80 in Newcastle, your efforts in reviewing the book were greatly appreciated. You’re one of the biggest fans of the sport I know and I can rest easier knowing you’ve reviewed the numbers.

Special thanks go out to Danny Acosta for the outstanding foreword and let me tell you, he didn’t just skim through the book. He read it cover to cover and found a few mistakes. Another MMA writer, Ben Zeidler, did the same thing and I truly appreciate it.

David Lea, it’s obvious you’re one of the great guys in the sport. Thanks for the photo of Rory MacDonald and here’s to hoping he keeps on winning. Tara LaRosa, you’re courageous, down to earth, and an amazing person.

Last but not least, thanks to each and every fighter out there. You are more open than any other professional athletes and are often willing to share your thoughts and personal stories with the fans. Without this openness this book would not have been possible. Your efforts both inside and outside of the cage/ring are commendable. The fans know you’ve chosen a tough way to make a living and we appreciate your courage.

Important Note

Near the completion of the book, it was announced that Mixed Martial Arts LLC was selected by the Association of Boxing Commissions as the only Official Certified Registry for Mixed Martial Arts.

As just written, I used Sherdog.com solely, for compilation of statistics in an effort to remain consistent. Therefore, the news of www.mixedmartialarts.com (which is an awesome site by the way, especially the underground forum) forced me to take pause. Obviously, I was too far in to start over, so I’ve cross-referenced the two sites in an effort to determine how consistent they are. In most instances the fight records/statistics are identical. However, there are some that are slightly different.

This may seem a serious problem, but it does not change the intent of each number. Sure if www.mixedmartialarts.com was used instead of Sherdog.com, some of the numbers would have changed slightly. However, the stories would have remained the same, just in a different place in the book.

The Locker

welcome to Sports by the Numbers™ and our Interactive Guide to the World of Sports. In compiling our first 1,000 numbers that we used to tell stories in our debut title, University of Oklahoma Football, it was apparent to us that for one reason or another some of the numbers resonated more deeply with us than did others—they were special.

The numbers were all great, but there were some numbers that we were drawn toward and felt the need to expand on more than the others. Our website provided us with the opportunity to do just that in an area we call The Locker.

The team of authors for this title on Mixed Martial Arts has used special logos to designate five Hall of Fame numbers and ten All-Star numbers that you will come across as you read the stories that unfold within these pages. Numbers designated as Hall of Fame or All-Star lets you know that they are among our favorites from this book—and once in the locker room, you will find out why.

Our website is: www.SportsByTheNumbers.com

Use the tab at the top of our homepage or the locker on the bottom right-hand corner of our homepage to enter our locker. Once there you will see the covers of all the SBTN titles that are currently available.

Click on the cover of your favorite SBTN title to view the Hall of Fame and All-Star numbers selected for that book.

You can then click on any number in the locker room to gain access to additional information that may come in the form of pictures, video, audio, text, or random musings from one of the SBTN authors, but regardless, it will enhance the story told by the number, and it will let you know why we feel the number is so significant.

Creating an Interactive World of Sports that combines the best of the traditional book world with the unlimited potential of the Internet is an exciting and fluid process—and we are constantly working on new and better ways to bring together the book world and the cyber world with one goal in mind, to give sports fans the ultimate experience when it comes to reminiscing about their favorite numbers, players, teams, and memories. Enjoy the experience.

Questions and Answers again and again, the vicious circle in chronological order:

Each man against the above field:

What we’re doing is sports in its most basic form. We don’t have teammates. It’s a one-on-one battle, with no place to hide. Every man is born with a flight-or-fight instinct, and mine is to fight.

—Chuck Liddell in his book My Fighting Life

Chapter One

Questions and Answers Again and Again

we love the fight, and when one is set between two hardened, skilled, and determined men we pay attention. We consider, anticipate, and yearn for the date to arrive. Recent years, and the explosion of the purest fight sport known to man, mixed martial arts, has fueled our desire. It is a perfect marriage, those who are willing to test themselves on the grandest stage, and those longing to see it all unfold.

A curious mind might ask the question why, why is fighting so popular and why is seeing it in its most holistic form more intriguing than fights that include only hands, or only feet, or only grappling? The answers may change depending on the individual, but there is a common thread that pierces both fighters and fan’s minds and souls. It teases us with answers that are all too often unpredictable. Each answer leading to more questions, a perfectly vicious circle that keeps us all starving for another volatile answer.

The unpredictability of the fight, men testing themselves in an unforgiving arena when they are at or near their best, this is what makes mixed martial arts great. However, UFC 76 Knockout, in Anaheim, California was surrounded by an air of predictability. Fans were primed for the event as a man who was considered one of the best at 205 pounds was making his UFC debut, Mauricio Rua. He was to fight a fan favorite and The Ultimate Fighter champion Forrest Griffin. Although Griffin was a great fighter, few gave him a chance. Rua was the total package. He had beaten many tough men and was poised to explode onto the UFC scene. The other fight that possessed a sense that it was only a matter of time was former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell against Keith Jardine. Both men were coming off losses, but Liddell’s was more of a bump in the road, he was still one of the sports greatest knock out artists of all time.

Conventional wisdom screamed. Rua would stop a game Griffin, and Liddell’s heavy hands would drop Jardine. Liddell would move on to fight Wanderlei Silva, Rua would announce his presence in the UFC as a man hell bent on claiming the title. Jardine and Griffin would remain on the outside looking in, unable to break into the top tier.

It of course did not go as many planned. Griffin probably looked better than he ever had before and many thought he beat Rua in rounds one and two, or at least round two. Then he stopped him with a rear naked choke at 4:45 of round three. Next it was Jardine’s turn to remind us all of the uncertainty of each and every outcome. He beat Liddell with punishing kicks and sharper punches on way to a split decision victory.

The mixed martial arts world had been shocked once again, but was it really all that shocking? Consider those who fought that night and the two men watching intently from just outside of the cage, Wanderlei Silva and Quinton Jackson.