01/25/2008
Former champions meet to decide age-old argument
By Michael DiSanto
"Tim Sylvia has never been shy about calling out PRIDE heavyweights.
Eager to prove that the UFC was the 600-pound gorilla of global mixed martial arts, the then-champion wanted to demonstrate that the belt around his waist signified that he was the best heavyweight on the planet.
PRIDE fighters such as Grand Prix champion Mirko Cro Cop and former heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira were happy to oblige Sylvia’s challenge. But the politics of competing mixed martial arts promotions prevented that from happening.
Now that Zuffa, the parent company that owns the UFC, also owns PRIDE through a subsidiary company, those heavyweight matchups are no longer just fodder for water cooler discussions. They are a reality.
The dream bouts started with a little warm up period. Heath Herring, the first PRIDE heavyweight superstar to sign with the UFC, tested his skills in the cage against relatively unknown Jake O’Brien. Herring suffered a one-sided, uneventful loss – a rude welcome to the UFC for sure. He rebounded with an impressive stoppage win over Brad Imes.
Mirko Cro Cop was next up. After pounding out Eddie Sanchez in particularly impressive fashion, MMA’s cold-blooded assassin ran into a freight train known as Gabriel Gonzaga in a title eliminator and got knocked out by his own fearsome weapon – a high kick. Then, he lost his third bout to Cheick Kongo, leaving him wondering where he stands in the UFC heavyweight division.
Fabricio Werdum was the third of the group to enter the Octagon, losing a lackluster decision to former UFC heavyweight kingpin Andrei Arlovski. Werdum redeemed himself at UFC 80 on January 19th with a stunning technical knockout win over Gonzaga.
Nogueira was the last of the top PRIDE heavyweights to make his debut. He faced old PRIDE nemesis Herring in a thrilling back-and-forth fight that left Nogueira standing with his hand raised.
UFC fans quickly jumped on the lack of early success by Herring, Werdum and Cro Cop as a statement that the UFC has always had the world’s most dominant heavyweights, claiming that any thoughts to the contrary were nothing more than unjust criticism aimed at Dana White and crew.
All that, however, can come to a grinding halt a week from today. Divisions are defined by their king, not those currently under his rule, and on February 2nd, Sylvia, the former two-time UFC heavyweight champion, and Nogueira, the former PRIDE heavyweight champion, will square off for the interim title.
If Nogueira wins, it will forever send a statement to those proclaiming that the former PRIDE heavyweights are outmatched inside the Octagon. The question, however, is will that happen?
This fight is very easy to break down. Sylvia knows exactly what he must do to regain the title he so dearly covets. First and foremost, he must defend the takedown. For all intents and purposes, that is what cost him the fight against Randy Couture last March. Many will argue that Couture’s success on the feet, punctuated by the early knockdown – a shocking result of a faked left leg kick followed by a vicious overhand right – is what decided the fight.
That is rubbish. Couture was able to land right hands at will on Sylvia because the 6-foot-8 monster had no clue when a takedown was coming versus another lead right hand, not because Couture had the better standup. If there was no fear of the takedown, Sylvia would have knocked out Couture – something I don’t think the UFC Hall of Famer would argue with today or one year ago. It was Couture’s ability to disguise what was coming next that won the fight.
Sylvia does not have to be as mindful of the takedown against Nogueira. The fact remains that the Brazilian has, at best, average takedown skills. He likes to shoot for single- or double-legs, but more often than not his takedowns are the result of boxing his way into the clinch and then using trips or Greco-style throws. But he is not world class with any of those techniques. In fact, he is not overly explosive with any of them, either.
Mix in the fact that Sylvia may be the second most difficult heavyweight in the UFC to take down, and things look pretty good for the “Maine-iac” keeping the fight on the feet on Super Bowl Saturday.
The other key to victory for Big Tim is to keep the fight at a comfortable distance so that he can take advantage of his reach advantage and also avoid crowding his power. Sylvia has very long arms, even for someone who is 6-foot-9, so he needs some space to sit down, turn his hips and generate full power. He can create that space by taking the lead in exchanges and working the jab, something he should be able to land while still out of Nogueira’s reach.
If he peppers the jab over and over, Nogueira will become desperate to try and make something happen, which should open the door for Sylvia’s bread and butter – his nuclear right hand. But Sylvia should be careful not to get too right hand happy early in the fight. Missing with big power bombs leaves anyone precariously open for takedowns and counters.
Moreover, Sylvia should expect this to be a long, grueling fight where he has to wear down Nogueira, rather than expecting to win behind one big punch. UFC fans saw the former PRIDE champion get rocked in his last fight. Late in the opening round, Herring landed a beautiful kick right across his jaw. The blow dropped Nogueira instantly, but he appeared to be fully recovered almost immediately.
That is nothing new for the man called “Minotauro.” He is accustomed to taking a ton of punishment from big, strong heavies such as Bob Sapp, Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett without folding. His chin is one of his biggest strengths. Granted, anyone can get knocked out by a shot he doesn’t see coming, but that shouldn’t be Sylvia’s game plan for this fight. He should prepare to dish out a five-round, methodical beating because Nogueira is not accustomed to fighting five, five-round fights.
Minotauro never fought 25 minutes in PRIDE. Instead, he fought 20-minute fights, and those extra five minutes could make all the difference in the world, particularly for a guy like Sylvia who has a tremendous gas tank. If this fight goes into the fifth round, one must believe that Sylvia will have an edge.
Similar to Sylvia, Nogueira’s keys to victory are very obvious. With all due respect to the other heavyweight black belts out there (Pe de Pano, Werdum, Mir, etc.), Nogueira is the most skilled heavyweight MMA jiu-jitsu practitioner in the game.
The key to that statement is “MMA jiu-jitsu practitioner.”
The old adage in MMA is that a black belt quickly becomes a blue belt when he is getting punched in the face. Nogueira is the notable exception. His has a tremendous tolerance for pain, possibly the result of surviving a gruesome accident as a child that left him hospitalized for months and his brutal road to recovery. Suffice to say, this guy has a heart the size of Texas.
He does not mind taking punches to the face from his guard. He will continue to methodically work for an arm bar, triangle or Kimura. That is very unusual because jiu-jitsu is a sport that is trained without punches or elbows. Most black belts, therefore, haven’t really learned or trained their craft while defending incoming blows, which makes Nogueira’s abilities somewhat unique.
From the top, Nogueira is a master of arm triangles, and he is extremely adept at setting them up with ground and pound of his own. He is not afraid to take chances on the top because he is so confident in his guard game and his ability to withstand punishment from the bottom, so getting swept is of minor concern for him.
If he is able to get Sylvia to the ground, Nogueira must be prepared to maintain his hips and his balance because Big Tim will quickly look to scramble back to his feet. Nogueira has great top control, but Sylvia is equally good at working back to his feet. Thus, Nogueira should use those transitions as opportunities to snatch a heel, knee or neck in search of submissions. He should take aggressive chances because most guys are somewhat vulnerable while working to their feet. Yet, the natural instinct in those moments is to focus on keeping the fight on the ground rather than grabbing and tweaking an exposed limb or neck.
On the feet, Nogueira needs to accept the fact that he cannot stand on the outside and box with Sylvia. Sure, he has comparable boxing skills, but he lacks his opponent’s reach. That means Nogueira must fire first and step inside Sylvia’s reach. At close range, Nogueira is extremely skilled at short, chopping punches. He is good at securing the clinch and employing roughhouse tactics.
He must remember, however, that Sylvia used his size and girth to completely dominate Brandon Vera in the clinch, using that position to win the fight. Sylvia may employ the same safety-first approach against Nogueira, who does not have comparable takedown skills to Vera. If so, Nogueira should remain focused on circling out at every opportunity. Or, if he finds himself stuck, he should just pull guard and do what he does best – withstand ground-and-pound attacks while working for submissions.
Nogueira is known as an aggressive, come-forward boxer. If he finds out that he cannot fire first, then he must be able to slip the jab and counter with right hands and left hooks. That is not his natural tendency, but the Brazilian has tremendous boxing skills, including very good head and upper body movement, so there is little doubt that he can adapt to that style, if needed.
At the end of the day, there is a real question mark over whether Nogueira can get Sylvia to the ground. Better takedown artists struggled taking him down in the past. If it does go to the ground, Sylvia could quickly find himself in a quagmire that he cannot resolve. Nonetheless, Nogueira should be prepared to win this fight boxing, just in case he cannot solve Sylvia’s takedown defense. And beating Sylvia on the feet is a very daunting task.
A win by Sylvia give more credibility to those proclaiming UFC heavyweight dominance over the past five years. A win by Nogueira, on the other hand, will all but erase those arguments. Either way, one of them is about to embark on a new chapter of his career leading what is now unquestionably the deepest, most talent laden heavyweight division in the world."
UFC® : Ultimate Fighting Championship®
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UFC article on Pride/UFC debate
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