Trying to see the good in this season

NHB7 · 11-05-2009, 06:17 PM

All right, it isn’t a mystery that the quality of this seasons fighters isn’t the highest, but I’m not going to just bash these guys in here. I’m going to try to consider what strengths the remaining fighters bring to the table and some things that probably are considerable strengths if they even improved them a little.

Roy Nelson: Roy is the most well rounded guy in the house. It isn’t hard to see his strengths. He has decent hands, and while he doesn’t kick much, he has occasionally lobbed one out there. His power is relatively good. The best thing about his stand up is definitely his chin. He is a solid wrestler, but his robust physique tends to slow down his takedown attempts and sometimes he rushes in to get the upper body takedown and eats shots in the process, relying too much on his solid chin. On the ground he is strong at maintaining control and has a good arsenal of submissions. He also is good at game planning. While he may be cocky, and while his game plans may be boring to some, it has been effective for him.

Justin Wren: I think Wren is the second most well rounded guy in the house. He and Roy have similar stand up, but with Roy having the edge. Justin is probably the best wrestler in the house and maintains ground control and top position well. He is one of those fighters that probably would be a beast if knees to the head on the ground were allowed.

Brendan Schaub: Schuab, in my mind, has the best stand up in the house. His takedown defense could use some improving, but he maintains composure well. Even with a better wrestler on top of him, Schaub kept his cool and worked his way to a savvy submission. I don’t know much about his ground game, but he has been portrayed as mostly a striker and his brief fight tends to lend credence to a possibly underrated ground game. Admittedly I don’t know much about him, or many of the other guys, outside the show.

Jon Madsen: Madsen is maybe the second best wrester left under Wren, Nelson may disagree though. I know nothing of his stand up, but he looked helpless when sparring Mitrione, granted Mitrione was fighting as when Madsen was sparring. The best thing I can say for Madsen is that when he discovers something is working for him, he keeps doing it. There is nothing more frusterating then when you are rooting for a fighter who is dominating, say in the stand up, and that fighter shoots for a double leg for no reason and gets tapped (eg. Guillard vs. Diaz). Madsen’s fight was boring, but he figured “it aint broke, so why fix it.”

Darrill Schoonover: I think that Schoonover is probably the third or fourth most well rounded fighter left, which isn’t saying much. In his fight with Jensen he ate too much leather when attempting to return it. I also think he appeared to be sucked to easily into the type of stand up game that Jensen wanted, even though it worked to Darrill’s advantage anyway, I think he would benefit by trying to command the pace and tempo of the fights the way he wants them. Nonetheless, when he brought Jensen where he wanted him, he did his bread and butter game flawlessly. He is a good fight for Marcus, because neither have great hands, but he will give Marcus a good test on the ground, as he won’t be caught so easily in a submission.

Marcus Jones: First all address Jones obvious strengths. He is gigantic and strong, and his lanky build makes his blue belt level BJJ several shades more lethal. Now I want to talk about his potential. The guy has learned to use the tools he has to make his BJJ more effective, when this guy gets enough stand up training to bring his stand up to the same level, and when he learns to use the tools that he his blessed with in that field, he will be scary. He has Kongo’s build with some semblance of a ground game. Unfortunately, while clearly powerful, from the quick flashes of his sparring and the fight he had with Wessel, I feel like He may have some of the worst stand up in the house. I only put him above madsen because I didn’t really get to see Madsen’s stand up.

Matt Mitrione: To find his strengths, one has to point out the glaring flaws first. His obvious exhaustion came way to soon and way too fast. Any other fighter that weathered that storm and didn’t completely gas out would have beat him quick and easy. His stand up rely almost exclusively on strength and very little technique both of which disappear when he gets tired. Nonetheless, clearly the guy has power early in his fight. If he spent more time on conditioning and a year down the road had sharpened those techniques in the stand up, he would be dangerous to a lot of the UFC HW’s in the stand up alone. I’m clueless to his ground game, but seeing as how he avoided the ground like it were lava, I’m guessing it isn’t very impressive. One thing I was certain that Mitrione was going to lack was heart. The way he wrapped his arm and refused to work out seemed like he was being a baby. But, he showed heart in that last fight. The only thing exhaustion is good at showing other than a person needs to be more serious about conditioning, is whether or not that person has heart. When you are that exhausted, the only thing moving your forward and still punching, no matter how pathetic and wimpy those punches are, is heart. I guess I should wait to see if this killer head ache he has next episode is legitimate before I go commending his heart though.

James McSweeney: Fortunately for Mitrione, he will be fighting the only guy that gets as exhausted as he does. McSweeny, supposedly a skilled striker, actually seems to me to be maybe the third best striker left. If I had to order them, I guess I would go Schaub, Nelson, McSweeny, Wren/Schoonover, Mitrione/Jones, Madsen. That is being nice, because his stand up is really back of the pack after two minutes in. And really, there is only one thing about his stand up that makes him as high as he is. Other than Schuab, he is the only guy left that throws kicks somewhat effectively.

Now my picks:
Roy Nelson vs. Wren: Hardest to pick, but I think Roy eeks out the decision. I expect a boring fight, although Roy may keep it standing and land a good KO.

Schaub vs. Madsen: I think Schaub does a repeat of what he did in his first fight.

Schoonover vs. Jones: I think Schoonover keeps it standing for as long as possible and wins in the stand up before getting hammered and taking it down where he lands somewhat productive GnP for the decision.

McSweeney vs. Mitrione: McSweeney gets the best of the early exchanges and then both gas out, but McSweeney keeps Mitrione at bay the rest of the fight with leg kicks. BTW, if McSweeney fights Kimbo, I think he beats Kimbo too.

Sorry, no time to spell and grammar check. I'm sure its a mess.

GuitarGod · 11-05-2009, 07:21 PM

Very thorough, good job.

I don't like TUF at all to be honest.

Doesn't exactly portray MMA as a elite respectable sport.

thefaintjoy · 11-05-2009, 07:46 PM

I couldn't pick McSweeney to win a Red Rover contest let alone a fight. The guy looked sad. At least when Mitrione gassed he didn't stand 20 feet away from his opponent with his hands on his knees.

I would agree with what you said. But saying the former Golden Gloves boxer has the best standup and the most experienced fighter is the most well rounded isn't exactly earth shattering.

Texan6533 · 11-05-2009, 08:00 PM

I think Roy and Schaub have the best chances of getting to the finals. Roy is a seasoned veteran with plenty of experience and Schuab has an amazing amount of just pure talent and athleticism. I think the rest of the guys either gas too quickly or are too big for they're own good (slow fighters)