Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Great MMA photos

If you like these photos, you might consider buying this book. (Or, even if you hate these pictures, you can buy the book for me -- shipping address here :-)





Genki Sudo after knocking out Royler Gracie.





Mark Coleman embraces his daughters after a loss to Fedor Emelianenko.





Wanderlei Silva after knocking out Rampage Jackson.






Rampage Jackson after knocking out Chuck Lidell.





Enson Inoue armbars Randy Couture.





Poster for Pride 10 featuring Kazushi Sakuraba.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

if "ultimate fighting" were real wouldn't someone be dead by now?

Steve Hsu said...

Huh? Could you be more specific? It sure ain't fake.

Anonymous said...

i saw it in the tank abbot days. it looked fake to me. 170 lb Royce Gracy beating Dan Severn looked fake. many have died in boxing, but have any died in the octagon? why shouldn't there be more deaths in no holds barred? humor me.

maybe i'm wrong, but one clean punch from Joe Lewis or Marciano without gloves, let alone the 6'5"400lb bench press hulks of today, should kill.

Steve Hsu said...

Of the hundreds of pro fights in the US, Brazil, Japan, USSR, etc. there have probably been a handful of fixed fights. But the vast majority are for real.

There are more deaths in boxing because boxing is one dimensional fighting -- hit someone in the head until they fall down. In NHB someone who gets in trouble will try for a clinch or a takedown. There are many more ways to win.

The Greeks had both boxing and NHB (Pankration) in the original Olympic games, and it was known that boxing was more dangerous than Pankration. Pankration was by far the most popular sport, though.

The best Pankrationist was typically the "best boxer among the wrestlers" or "the best wrestler among the boxers" -- an observation that is basically still true today.

BTW, I've known and trained with pro NHB fighters, and it is for real. The fighters in the Tank Abbott era were not skilled fighters by today's standards.

Steve Hsu said...

PS Of the fighters in the pictures I posted almost all have competed at the national or international level in wrestling, judo, jiujitsu, etc. These days everyone is an elite athlete.

Carson C. Chow said...

Hey Steve,

Which is the one giving the arm bar?

Anonymous said...

ok, i wanna believe.

btw, i'm "the sort" who thinks the Ali Liston fights and the Ali Forman fights were fixed.

you've trained with these people? that's slumming isn't it? aren't most of these guys high school drop outs covered in tatoos?

Steve Hsu said...

Inoue (bottom) is applying the armbar to Couture (top). Couture is trying to stand up and pull his arm out. He fails and quickly taps out to save the the tendons in his elbow. Couture is a former NCAA All-American in wrestling and Olympic team alternate. Inoue is from Hawaii but lives in Tokyo.

armbar from guard (video)

Steve Hsu said...

"you've trained with these people? that's slumming isn't it? aren't most of these guys high school drop outs covered in tatoos?"

Yes, and I have the injuries -- elbow from armbar and knee from footlock -- to show for it! I trained with Enson Inoue in 1997 in Tokyo. He thought it was pretty funny that a Yale physics professor wanted to train with him... He was around 210, I was 180 and of course he whipped my ass.

I used to visit gyms all over the world. It's actually scary to be a new guy at those places. You take a beating. You hope the instructor can control the younger guys, because if they get you in a submission and hold it too long, you've got an injury.

Those days are gone, though. I've only trained MMA a couple of times since my twins were born.

Here's what I wrote: Learning how to fight

The atmosphere at BJJ or submission fighting clubs is a mixture of traditional martial arts school, American sports team and Gen-X badass. Most fighters are young, a lot have tattoos and shaved heads, and all are ready to rock at the drop of a hat. These guys come to learn how to fight, and are anxious to show their stuff. You won't see the kind of skinny, low-testosterone practitioner that you might run into at a karate or kung fu school. Grappling is a hard, athletic sport, which you can tell by the lean, muscular physiques of the fighters.

Anonymous said...

This is done. You are getting one copy of this book. Happy Holidays.

Cheers

Pankaj

Anonymous said...

people die in boxing both because it is one dimensional and due to the rule set. When a boxer gets knocked down they get a chance to regain their berrings with a standing eight count from the ref. In MMA, if you get knocked down your are usually toast. By getting struck in the head to the point that you cant stand over and over boxers recieve much more damage to their brains. Further, the heavy padding of boxing gloves leads to concussive injuries without the superficial damage --> boxers becoming punch drunk (i.e.- they think they are ok, but their brain is in a world of hurt).
I have trained (with the likes of shinya aoki and daizo ishige) and fought internationally. It is not fake.
To sum up: trained fighters dont die from single blows (in boxing or mma), it is from repeated concussive events. Boxing rules and equipment lead to a greater probability of such events.
If these recent fights dont convince you then I dont know what would:

http://www.mmaroot.com/anthony-johnson-vs-kevin-burns-video-tuf-8-finale/#more-4348

http://mma-core.com/videos/VideoDetails.aspx?vid=10002338

oh, and you do have to watch out for the over-excited meat heads who are out to prove they are a badass every sparring session.

Emelianenko Fedor said...

great picks :) very notable mma fighters ...

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