(Using real settings instead of a cheap green screen? Matt Lindland wouldn’t do that.)
It’s been too long since we’ve had Matt Lindland‘s particular brand of no-nonsense bad-assery in MMA. That’s partly because his last fight ended in a 37-second knockout loss to Vitor Belfort, resulting in a frightening few moments for the 39-year-old Lindland immediately afterwards. Turns out he was fine, just got caught, and all the other typical post-fight clichés, but the good news is "The Law" returns to action at Strikeforce: Evolution this Saturday night, and we couldn’t be happier about it.
Lindland is sort of like the ornery grandfather of the MMA world. He isn’t about to put up with your bullshit, isn’t impressed with the way you’ve chosen to waste your life with internet porn and video games, and he isn’t going to lie to you about any of it. Tomorrow night he goes from facing one tough Brazilian opponent to another, as he takes on Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza in what ought to be an intriguing clash of styles. Will Lindland’s suffocating wrestling attack and awkward, orangutan-like striking style be enough to pull off the minor upset? Or is Souza too young and too skilled on the mat for him?
What you may or may not know is that these two already met once in the submission grappling arena back in the 2003 ADCC. It was six years ago and there was no punching or kicking, so it’s not necessarily comparable to an MMA fight, though one man was clearly superior on that day. Check out the video after the jump, then let us know whether you think it’s a harbinger of future doom or just an irrelevant footnote.
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commentsI think we can all agree, that in the absense of statistics, KOs by punches occur with much greater frequency than KOs by upkick. The ratio of fights with punch KO's/punches thrown is certainly much, much greater than the ratio of fights in which upkick KOs/upkicks thrown. The fact that you so rarely see upkick KOs suggests, ipso facto, that they are a fluky way to end a fight.
So do you really think Mousasi trains to upkick people and knock them out? That's what I mean by intent. If he does, he's a fucking moron. Upkick KOs happen when dude kicks his legs up trying to hit something. Sure, you can practice upkicks, but not with the intent of having them as a major weapon in your arsenal.
I don't recall this being a discussion about Sassy being P4P. I think it's too early to say that, too. I think Sok really showed up to that fight and Sassy took his time - just like you said.
Sure Sokodjou looked great, I think he's realized that his shine is long gone and he needs to prove something and he trained his ass off.
It's a fact that that upkick WAS intentional and I'm sure Sassy was intending for it to land with the most effect possible. What more do you want from a strike?
"The fact that someone on here is stupid enough to believe that Mousasi is so good that he can intend to upkick someone who is diving through his guard square in the jaw is absurd."
What is absurd is that you can say that it's absurd to say something COULD happen when it DID motherfucking happen.
Wow.
Jacare is a beast and his BJJ is insane, but I think Lindland pulls out the upset here by grinding out a decision.
The fact that someone on here is stupid enough to believe that Mousasi is so good that he can intend to upkick someone who is diving through his guard square in the jaw is absurd. So you disagree with the one in a thousand notion? How many thousands of fights every year have someone throwing upkicks from their back (not even at a diving oponent), and how many times have you actually seen someone knocked out from one of those upkicks. QED, dumbfuck.
Everybody was a little over board....but so was the criticism of Mayhem. Jacare won the first fight no doubt, it was not a boring fight. One thing that I think some people may be looking forward to is the different environment where this rubber match would take place(a cage) I find it speeds up the pace a little more.
Mousasi v. Jacare right now? Easy does it, I don't want that fight to be burned too early, Mousasi=with Jacare in my books(at best) I would like to see Jacare fight a few more(no more than that though) times under Strikeforce format first.
Flukiest win ever Okami v. Silva.
No need to ice Sweet Sassy's balls quite so much, though. He's legit, seriously skilled, athletic, calm, cool and collected. There, I just had to warm them up a little bit since they were stuck in your testicle freezer.
I for one have no interest in seeing Jacare dominate Mayhem again. Mayhem is damn lucky he can even have a claim to a rubber match. He mounted zero offense the first time, and then won via super-early cut stoppage the second time before flashing any offense again. I have no reason to believe he wouldn't get LnPed in another boring 3-rounder.
Jacare v. Mousasi is the rematch I'd like to see, given that the first fight had a total fluke ending. Winnning by upkick does indicate at all to me superior skill, given that the chances of landing a kick like that are about one in a thousand. That was even flukier than Serra-St. Pierre 1, but nobody wants to mention it since Mousasi is somehow a god despite having faced like one top 10 fighter in his whole career.
Seriously though, Jacare by massacre.
very
On a serious note though Lindland is fucked, this might be one of the more boring fights on the card. Lindland will have no answer for Jacara's ground game, and if Souza can't finish him it will be a boring stall fest.
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