Knees and Clinch Work - Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin 1 and 2

We were working on clinching and knees in Thursdays class and I told everyone that I would post videos of Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva 1 and 2 up for people to watch great clinch work in action. I've also added Wanderlie Silva vs. Quinton Jackson 2 from PRIDE.

Hopefully the videos will stay up long enough for everyone to watch.

Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva 1: Fight starts at about 7:45 so you may want to scroll forward in the video.

· Keep in mind that Rich Franklin was the reining UFC Middleweight Champion and hadn’t lost a fight in over two years before this. You can see that Silva even looks a little surprised at how bad Franklin’s clinch defense is.

http://www.mmaroot.com/anderson-silva-vs-rich-franklin-ufc-64-video/

Another great one is Wanderlie Silva vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson 2. There's some good clinch work in round 1 and a KO via knees in the clinch in Round 2. For those that don’t know, Wanderlie and Anderson trained at the same gym, Chute Box, in Brazil.
Quinton is headlining the UFC this weekend.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4ns7w_silva-vs-jackson-2_sport

Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin 2: This video doesn’t let you scroll forward so you may want to start it and walk away. The fight starts at about 12:00 minutes into the video so you may want to set the oven timer and walk away. :)

http://www.mma-core.com/videos/_Anderson_Silva_vs_Rich_Franklin_II_UFC_77?vid=10000869

UFC 114 - Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. "Sugar" Rashad Evans - Fight PIcks and Breakdown

My 100% record of picking the winner of every big main event since September has been thrown down the toilet after the last event. I hate fights like that because when the guy I pick gets KO’d like that I always sit back and think, “what the hell was I thinking?”.
So one bad lapse of judgment down, I’m [hopefully] back to picking winners!


Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. “Sugar” Rashad Evans
This will be a great grudge match against two guys with very similar styles. I expect Rashad to come out with the win after this tussle.
Both fighters styles can be summarised the same; boxing and wrestling but the devil’s in the details.
Rampage: Much Stronger, bigger, more experience and his boxing has gotten even better over the years.Sugar: Faster, more athletic, great training camp and he’s been known the throw kicks once and a while with success.
The details that I think will matter the most are that Rampage hasn’t fought in 14 months, he got fat while shooting the A-Team movie, Rashad is more athletic and Rashad has a great training team behind him.
I think that we could expect any outcome from this fight but I’m expecting Rashad to win a hard fought decision.

Diego “The nightmare” Sanchez vs. John Hathaway
I remember hating Diego, and then realising that he was an amazing fighter and then, since his fight with Josh Koscheck, I always think that’ll he’ll freeze up and loose. All of that aside, I think Deigo will take this one. As much as Diego’s a nut-bar, he’s very dedicated to the sport and trains hard. This is Hathaway’s first big test in his 6 and 0 career and I think he’ll get a failing grade.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Jason Brilz
Nogueira 100%. Brilz is taking this fight on short notice (replacing an injured Forest Griffin) and other than the short notice factor, Nogueira has fantastic boxing and has fought as part of the Brazilian National Boxing Team. Brilz strength is wrestling and Nogueira is great on his back. I expect a lot of counter boxing in this match up and Rogerio coming away with a KO.

Michale “The Count” Bisping vs. Dan Miller
You should count on a win by Bisping in this match up. It pains me to say that because I think there are a lot of holes in Bisping’s game but Miller is coming off two losses and this fight almost looks like it should be a tune-up fight for Bisping.


Todd Duffee vs Michael Russow
Todd Duffee is tough and with a 6-0 career so far (all wins via KO) I think that he should make short of work Russow. He’ll just have to watch out for submissions and pound out a victory.

How to do a Hip Bump Sweep

I couldn't find much of the hip bump in action because it's only a sweep but here's what I did find:

How to do the hip bump:


A quick clip of hip-bump in an MMA fight:



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How to do the Rear Naked Choke

Rear Naked Choke

The rear naked choke is named that because it’s a blood choke that is done without the use of anything but your arm (no jacket needed). Here are some videos that help teach the Rear Naked Choke and show it in action.

How to do the technique: The only thing I would add to this is to try and squeeze your shoulders together.

http://www.submissions101.com/chokes5.htm

This is what happens when someone doesn’t tap:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4603043818001526637#

The Technique being used in a fight:

http://www.ultimatefighter.com/videos/tuf-5-deep-sleeper (video may take a bit to load)

http://vimeo.com/4876349 (Hughes vs. Trigg 1) *the fight starts at about 3 minutes in and they wrestle a lot until there’s a submission. These guys fought again and the winner got the loser in the exact same standing rear naked choke submission.

* these techniques are for educational purposes. If you can't use these techniques with common sense, you shouldn't use them.

UFC 113 - Machida vs. Shogun 2

I took a break from the blog for a while because I was off getting married in Jamaica but now I’m back and, of course, I still hold a perfect record for picking main events since September of 2009 which ain’t too shabby. This main event could be the one that messes up my record.

Lyoto Machida vs. Muricio “Shogun” RuaSweet Jesus, it’s about time these guys had a fight. Neither of these guys have fought since they last met in October. That’s a LONG time for Lyoto to sit on the Light Heavyweight Title.
With my bitter rant out of the way, I’m going with Lyoto for this one.
I think Shogun won their last fight and only lost because of idiot judging. For example, Cecil Peoples giving it all to Machida because he doesn’t think that leg kicks can end a fight. Cecil should go back to boxing because leg kicks have ended TONS of fights in MMA and, of course, in Kickboxing.
I’m picking Machida because, in his last fight, he tasted his first ‘defeat’ but had the luck of it not being on his record and that definitely lit a fire under him.
For some reason I think that Rua may try to take Machida down this time. That would be a bad idea because Machda is great at countering his opponent’s movements and takedown attempts would just play to Machda's strengths more. Rua would have a better chance standing up but I still think that Machida is too slick to lose this fight.

Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson vs. Matt MitrioneKimbo is going to slice this guys head off. It's annoying that everyone, including Kimbo, talks about how new he is to the sport. He’s been training MMA for long enough; for at least 7 years, since I was in college. My trainer’s trainer Bas Rutten took Kimbo under his wing a LONG time ago as Kimbo’s internet stuff was getting really big. They had a falling out but Kimbo has been at it for a long time and should quit playing the ‘new guy in town’.
I’m picking Kimbo on this one because I think he’s explosive and has a lot of training under his belt. Matt Mitrione is certainly greener to the sport than Kimbo and I’m picking Kimbo via brain swelling.

Josh Koscheck vs. Paul “SEMTEX” DaleyIn an old Cage Rage event (I can't remember who "Semtex" was fighting) Daley's opponent was doing his pre-fight interview and, trying to be tough, said “Yeah, Semtex, more like Tampax” and I always think of that when I hear “semtex” because it sounded like an insult a 6-year-old would have said before a fight. It also made me laugh really hard when I heard it.
Daley is a rockstar with his hands and a very explosive and strong fighter but I think Koscheck will get him to the ground and smash his face in long enough to take away Daley’s strengths. I hope this fight will be more exciting than that, which a quick KO via Daley would be, but Koscheck will play this smart and work for takedowns and control throughout this fight to grind out a win.
Don't mind all of my funny pics, I couldn't pick just one.
My favourite is the painter.

Sam “Hands of Stone” Stout vs. Jeremy Stephens
I’ve known Sam since he had braces and he’s always been an impressive athlete so I’ve gotta go with him on this one and, like many of Stout's UFC appearences, this one has the makings for fight of the night. The UFC loves matching Stout up with punchers to showcase great kickboxing matches in the UFC ring and this one should be about the same.
With UFC being illegal in Ontario Stout grew up fighting in Montreal so he’s got a big home turf advantage to go along with his skill advantage and Stephens doesn’t stand a chance.

UFC 111 - Fight Picks and Breakdown GSP vs. Hardy and more

** Still 100% on picking main events since Sept 2009 **

Georges "RUSH" St. Pierre vs. Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy (Welterweight Title Fight)My prediction is that Hardy will be Rushed to the hospital after this one.
This main event is a joke but GSP is running out of competition in the Welterweight division.
My pick is obviously GSP for this one and I would be interested in anyone that may have ANY argument that Hardy could win this one.
GSP has been caught by a big underdog in the past but I'm sure GSP has learned from his mistake and will look to do a lot of safe Ground and Pound or work for Submissions.

Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin (Heavyweight Interim Title Fight)Mir has been on a mission to put on as much muscle he can in hopes of having another rematch against Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesner and it will be interesting to see how that extra muscle ads to his game. Everyone should see a bigger/stronger Mir and he should be able to walk away with a win over the 11-0 Shane Carwin.

Thiago Alves vs. Jon FitchThis is the big event of the night for me and should be really competitive. Jon Fitch is my pick for this one because he's got far too much experience. Both guys have met before and Fitch walked away with the win. Both guys have also dropped wins to GSP but Fitch has had a chance to get some wins under his belt and build some confidence since then while Alves has not. . When Fitch win's this match I think he'll quickly be in the running for a rematch against GSP for the Welterweight belt.

Ben Saunders vs. Jake Ellenberger

Saunders has showed some impressive knees and he’ll probably look to capitalize on his knees and length in this match and do most of his damage standing up. Jake is a ground and pound fighter and I think has the skills to take Saunders down and grind out a win via ground and pound.

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My Scar: How to Heal a Scar - Recommendations and What Works

* This is part 2 of 2. The first part told the story of how I got my most recent scar and it actually spurred a lot of interest. I guess people like seeing pictures of my mangled face. haha.
- So after getting a Scar and needing stitches, I asked different doctors and people the best way to treat it and here's my story...

The Doctor that did my stitches: While laying there getting stitches put into my head, I asked the doctor if he could recommend any way to make the scaring heel up it’s best. The doctor (who looked about 65 years old) said that there isn’t anything. He said that there are a lot of things that people think will help, vitamin E being the most popular, but none of them will do anything so just don’t itch it and it should heal fine. – So, no help from that doctor.

A Friend of mine that use to work at a plastic surgery place: She told me that the doctor that she worked for would always recommend Lavender and vitamin E for patients that just had surgery and that it would lessen the appearance of the scar.

The doctor that took my stitches out: While laying there, again, with a different doctor, I asked the same question about treatments for heeling scars and he told me to try vitamin E. I asked about the Lavender and he had never heard of it.

I went to the store and found a product that is formulated for treating scars (Bio-Oil) and it has vitamin E, lavender and a couple of other things in it. It's an oily substance that I rubbed on my scar and after using it for over a month I saw NO results. This stuff was an expensive waste of money.

A friend and student of mine (Lori) was using a product on a scar that she got on her chin (funny story there) and it was working great. This stuff (Elastoplast) isn’t cheap ($35 range) but I used it and it worked GREAT. The biggest thing that I noticed was, after just the first night of having it on, the strip took away all of the deep yucky red that my scar had. I even put it on another scar I’ve had on my forehead for a LONG time and it made that one look a little less noticeable.
This piddly blog is obviously not making any money from endorsements but I definitely recommend these strips. They’re a little pricey ($35’ish, from shoppers or any pharmacy) but they work and that’s what counts. Everyone should try and stay as pretty as they can and, if you have a scar anywhere, this stuff should help.

A couple of recommendations when using these strips:
First off, the strips that they give you in the small packs are pre-sized and they’re pretty big. You should cut them into sizes that make a little more sense (if you have a small scar) so that you can use one strip 3 or 5 times.
The second recommendation for using these is that, they kept falling off my face while I was sleeping so I bought some medical tape from Shoppers to make sure the strips stuck.

So basically, my friend is smarter than the 2 doctors and these strips work great.