How Could I Forget...

... Bisping vs Henderson. I watched the on demand free content on the interviews of these two, and I came up with some interesting conclusions. Henderson, while he is a great fighter is inconsistent and near delusional in his thoughts on training. He maintains that since he has been training wrestling since he was a child that he is clearly a superior wrestler. Bisping does not argue that point, but argues that he has trained to stop takedowns for a long time, and does a good job of it. Henderson then makes the statement that his standup is as good as Bisping's. This is just silly. Just like Henderson has trained wrestling since he was a kid, Bisping has trained in striking since he was a kid.

And here is the real difference. It is pretty easy to stuff a takedown or pop back up after one. The hard part of wrestling is learning to take a guy down and keep him down. Henderson has this in spades. Bisping, however, does have very good takedown defense, and should prevent most of the attempts and probably won't get too roughed up on the ground. It is much harder to get proficient at defending yourself in a striking match. In striking, offense is easy to learn, in wrestling defense is easy to learn. If Henderson thinks that he will be able to stand and bang with Bisping, he is sorely mistaken, and he could get knocked out. Bisping even predicts this (of course). Henderson's camp thinks that this is the height of absurdity, citing that he was not KOed by either Wanderlei Silva or Quentin "Rampage" Jackson. But neither of those men are truly what I would call striking specialists. They are both powerful, but their technique is weak - they make up for this with aggression, and that is why both are exciting fighters; you know that they will beat the crap out of someone and probably get beat around themselves. Look at Machida or Anderson Silva if you want to see real striking specialists - they feint, not with an arm or a leg, but with their bodies. They move at angles, they set up punches with kicks and kicks with punches. They block, counter, and evade. Bisping fights like this as well, and if Henderson does not get inside and try to take him down, he will lose, likely by knockout. Take a look at Nogueira vs Mir. Nogueira had never been knocked out and a life long striker did it with ease. Anderson Silva makes opponents look silly with his striking prowess. Anyone can learn to throw a punch or a kick, but it takes time to learn how to do it well so that you don't get smacked with a counter.

This is where BJJ and wrestling proponents miss the boat. They get a taste of what it feels like to throw a great punch or kick with power, and they think that this makes them a good striker. It takes as much training and technique to be great at striking as it does to be great at BJJ or wrestling. However, any idiot can throw his hand out there, and if it his the hand of a muscular idiot, it can hurt a lot. Try checking way back in the archives - Maurice Smith vs Mark Coleman (UFC 14 or 15 if I recall) - I remember Smith saying that Coleman punched like a girl, and that an experienced kickboxer like him wouldn't even notice those blows. He was right, and won that fight, with ease if I recall. It takes real skill to be a good striker, and that is why you see them starting to dominate the UFC.

The BJJ and wrestling advocates write off the skill level of strikers at their own peril, beacause a good strong striker who learns a bit of takedown defense becomes very dangerous indeed. One need look no farther than Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida to see this. I am not saying that wreslters and BJJ guys can't be great strikers, or can't beat great strikers, I am saying that they have to recognize that striking is a lot more than throwing an arm or a leg out like you ar swinging a club. There is a reason why boxing has long been referred to as the "Sweet Science".