SB Nation User Blog: Kid Nate

Bloody Elbow Judo Chop: In a Collision of Southpaws, Luis Cane Has No Answer for Antonio Rogerio Nogueira's Left at UFC 106

Kid Nate — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:09:28 -0000

Photo by Dave Mandel via Sherdog

The UFC 106 bout between Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira aka "Little Nog" and Luis Arthur "Banha" Cane was a treat for fans of the striking game: a rare meeting of two southpaws. Not only were both fighters left-handed, but Nogueira is one of the most polished boxing technicians in the game, a sharp contrast to Cane's brawling Muay Thai style.

Nogueira has long competed as an amateur boxer at a very high level. In 2006 he took the Gold Medal in the Super Heavyweight division at the South American Games and in 2007 he took home the Bronze in the 2007 Pan American Games.

Despite these achievements, MMA commenters have slept on Nogueira's dramatic improvements in his striking game. In large part this is because Little Nog's MMA career took an unfortunate two year detour. In 2005, he approached the very top of the division, losing a razor thin decision to Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at PRIDE Critical Countdown in 2005. Shogun went on to win the PRIDE 2005 205lb Grand Prix and cement his status as the uncrowned champion of the division. But Nogueira,, after taking an impressive TKO win over Alistair Overeem in 2006, found himself on the wrong end of a KO loss to Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou in 2007. Then PRIDE collapsed and Little Nog spent most of the next two years in exile, wandering from Sengoku to Affliction to Jungle Fight. Because of the dramatic drop-off in the caliber of his competition, few noticed that Nogueira was racking up a string of TKO wins -- of his 5 career TKOs, all have taken place in the last three years.

Well, this fight was a definitive announcement that Little Nog is back at the top of the division. Along with the dramatic reemergence of Shogun Rua, Little Nog's steam-rolling of the very tough Luis Cane was a powerful reminder of just how good the old PRIDE 205lb division was.

In the full entry we'll get to some technique talk, first off, a general discussion of being left-handed in boxing and kickboxing, followed by some animated gifs.

What's it mean to be a southpaw, why's it called that? This piece from Fightworld lays the foundation:

In boxing a southpaw simply refers to a left handed fighter, one who fights with his right foot forward while holding his left rear power hand in the back for his lethal cross. The term "southpaw" has its origins from the baseball slang of the 1880's. Baseball diamonds were often arranged so the batters would face east, to avoid looking into the afternoon sun. The pitcher's left hand, or paw, would therefore be on the southern side, hence the term "southpaw".

Throughout history, being left-handed has been considered a negative, the Latin and Italian word sinistra (from which the English 'sinister' was derived) means "left." Listening to boxing trainers talk about southpaws one might get the impression that southpaws suffer from some sinister rare disease. There is an old boxing idiom, "southpaws should be drowned at birth." Boxing trainer Mike Smith of Gleason's Gym said, "Nobody wants to fight a southpaw in boxing, it's like a plague," says Smith. "When I take them out to fights, like the Golden Gloves, I never let them warm up in a southpaw position. Then when he gets in the ring, the trainer and everyone's like 'Oh my god, he's a southpaw!"

...

A 2004 study by Charlotte Fauriet and Michel Raymond of the University of Montpellier II in France, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, argues that there is a link between left-handedness and fighting. The researchers hypothesize that left-handed inheritance is likely to be associated with violence, because violent left-handed people would be more likely to benefit from the advantage in fighting. They found a positive correlation between murder rates and percentage of left-handed people in several traditional societies: The more left-handed people, the higher the homicide rate. The researchers argue that left-handed people are not more violent than right-handed people, but that violent left-handed people are more likely to be successful than violent right-handed people.

In boxing being a southpaw is certainly an advantage. Southpaws are not feared because they are thought to be lepers with a contagious disease, or violent murderers like Jack the Ripper. No, they are feared because of their abnormal positioning against an orthodox right handed boxer. It is not easy dealing with a southpaw boxer as all of their punches come from opposite directions than what boxers are trained to expect. To a "normal" orthodox fighter, the southpaw's attack just feels wrong. The jab comes from the "wrong" side, so does the hook and the rear cross.

In contrast to boxing, kickboxing has been more accepting of southpaw fighters, from Central Kickboxing comes this good discussion of the views of the two different sports:

Sports have nearly always embraced left-handed athletes. In hockey, teams want their forwards shooting at the net, so the left and right wingers tend to shoot in opposite directions. In baseball, we see batters and pitchers testing each other. Boxing however, appears to discriminate. Southpaws have trouble getting fights. Climbing up the ladder is a door-slamming experience. Fighters don't want to prepare for a southpaw and fans don't want to watch a southpaw. There have been championship bouts featuring a southpaw against an orthodox and some have been good. The ratio however, doesn't match the lefty to righty ratio in the general population. In the heavyweight division, there has been only one southpaw champion, Michael Moore.

The sport of kickboxing loves southpaws. Unlike boxing, the jab can be followed by kicks, knees or even spinning punches. In the 12 years of the K-1 promotional company's Grand Prix, four southpaws have made it to the championship match: Jerome LeBanner, Andy Hug, Mirko Filipovic and Akio Mori. Of the 24 places available, these four men have occupied 8, or a full third. Compared to the general population ratio, southpaws do quite well in kickboxing. Compared to a sport that one would expect to be similar (ie. boxing), southpaws do extremely well.

...

In a kickboxing ring, it is not uncommon to see two southpaws square off. Jerome LeBanner has fought Andy Hug, Mirko Filipovic, Rick Roufus, Jan Nortje, Akio Mori and Vitali Ahramenko. Each of those fighters has his own list of fellow southpaws he has met in the ring. Given the discrimination southpaws face in boxing, the success of left-handed fighters in kickboxing is a giant billboard to fighters to learn to kick or at least to learn to block kicks. There hasn't been an exodus yet, but the future could bring one.

It's not just orthodox fighters who have trouble dealing with southpaws. As UFC 106 shows, Luis Arthur Cane clearly had serious problems adapting when he found himself facing a fellow southpaw. Now let's look at some gifs.

On the right (gif by Chris Nelson) we see the first real exchange of strikes between the two fighters. Cane starts things off by lunging forward with a jab which Nogueira expertly parries with his left hand. Then Nogueira counters with a jab of his own that connects and turns Cane's head to his right, perfectly setting up the hard over hand left ~~hook~~ that follows. Cane pulled back his right hand after throwing the jab but didn't get it into the proper position to protect his face from Nogueira's power hand.

The gif on the left shows that pattern repeating itself through out the fight. Cane isn't the most scrupulously defensive fighter to begin with, but he obviously wasn't ready to deal with this kind of power coming at him from his right side. Nogueira was quick to capitalize once he realized Cane's defense was so porous. In addition to the hard left that sent Cane reeling to the floor, Nogueira tags him at least six times with hard lefts to the jaw in the sequence selected.

I've been stymied in my attempts to find good info on how southpaws should protect themselves when facing other southpaws, but this piece from "How to Box" has a strong recommendation for the kind of guard a southpaw should employ and it's advice that Cane would have done well to have heeded:

As a southpaw you should adopt a high/classic guard (lead hand up under your right eye, rear hand up along the side of your jaw). One of the difficulties of fighting a southpaw is that the lead hand of you and your opponent are aligned. This is why most orthadox fighters do not throw their jab against a southpaw. Jabs are usually deflected off the gloves and the face is not an available target. Fighting in a speed stance/philly shell is not a recomended approach. With your lead hand lowered to your waste you will be making yourself very vulnerable to your opponent's jab. Think of Rocky: what's the one punch you can't miss Balboa with? The jab, cause he keeps his right hand low. It's a movie, I know, but probably the best illustration I can think of. So, again, adopt a traditional/classic guard. Also, having that lead hand up, will help prevent damage from head butts (which you will experience as a southpaw).

If Cane wants to contend for a title in the UFC's stacked light-heavyweight division, he'll want to figure out how to handle southpaws. In addition to Nogueira, he could find himself opposite Rich Franklin, Anderson Silva or Lyoto Machida and if he hasn't learned to keep his guard up, this won't be his last short night in the Octagon.

As always the point of the Judo Chop is to learn, so if you have some experience or good links to share, please pipe up!

A.F. of The Boxing Bulletin sent along some videos of vintage southpaw vs southpaw boxing action. He said Nogueira's technique reminded him of Vic Darchinyan, Here's Darchinyan's victory over southpaw Christian Mijares:

He also recommended Manny Pacquiao vs David Diaz, Marvin Hagler vs Alan Minter, and Bazooka Limon vs Rolando Navarette. He only sent fights featuring southpaws who can "really punch." Enjoy.

A Shortage of Contenders for Lyoto Machida's UFC Light Heavyweight Title

Kid Nate — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:40:14 -0000

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Sergio Non breaks down the division:

• Because Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva lost so convincingly to Machida already, the winner of their UFC 108 showdown will still need another victory over a big name to regain credibility.

• The same holds true for Randy Couture, whose decision victory over Brandon Vera at UFC 105 was too close for comfort.

• The enormously talented Jon Jones lacks a major win and will still lack one even if he beats Matt Hamill on Dec. 5.

• (Quinton "Rampage") Jackson quit MMA to make movies.

• Keith Jardine, Tito Ortiz,Vera and Cane, have to restart after losing their last fights.

• Anderson Silva has no interest in facing Machida because of their friendship.

Non makes a strong case for Antonio Rogerio "Little Nog" Nogueira to be deserving of an immediate title shot against Machida. It's hard to argue with that should Mauricio "Shogun" Rua take the belt in his May rematch with Machida, but it will be hard to get Nogueira to fight his friend Lyoto Machida.

Meanwhile, Thiago Silva makes a counter-case to Ariel Helwani arguing that he will earn a title shot with a win over Rashad Evans at UFC 108. I could see Dana White echoing Silva on this, if only to hype up what is otherwise a lackluster headliner for UFC 108. Perhaps the winner of Evans/Silva could face Nogueira in a true #1 contenders match next spring.

Monday Morning Wrap Up: UFC 106 Tito Ortiz vs Forrest Griffin 2

Kid Nate — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:03:27 -0000

After UFC 106, Dana White and Marc Ratner Address MMA Judging

Kid Nate — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:03:08 -0000

MMA Junkie quoted Dana White talking about the plague of controversial judges decisions that has afflicted the UFC in the main events of UFC 104, 105 and 106:

White said he realizes there is a real need for improvement in scoring, but he clarified that the process isn't in his hands.

"Believe me, you're preaching to the choir here," White said. "There's nothing worse than when guys go out and train hard for a fight and lose fights that they won. It drives me nuts.

"That has nothing to do with me, though. The best thing we're doing on our side is that we've got Marc Ratner, and Marc Ratner is out there trying to work with these guys everyday to make it better. I mean, when you watch a fight like this tonight and hear a 30-27 score (for Griffin), I mean - I don't even know. I'm just so exhausted by this whole thing. It's tiring. It's terrible."

Here's Marc Ratner, the current Zuffa Vice President of Regulatory Affairs talking to Heavy.com. The former Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission answers questions about UFC's continuing controversies surrounding poor officiating and bad judging.

And if Ratner can't work it out with the Commissions, Dana advises the fans to reach out:

"I don't know what to say," White admitted. "If everyone wants to call the (Nevada State) Athletic Commission and talk to (executive director) Keith Kizer - he's the guy you have to ask questions to, not me. ... The reality is you guys have to call Keith Kizer. Call Keith Kizer and asked him what we can to do to fix this judging and scoring.

"These athletic commissions need to start looking at this and figuring out what they're going to do. It's wrong."

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira talks to Sherdog about his UFC debut and his reluctance to fight Lyoto...

Kid Nate — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:16:28 -0000

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira talks to Sherdog about his UFC debut and his reluctance to fight Lyoto Machida for the UFC light heavyweight belt.

Josh Koscheck and Dan Hardy Build Some Heat at UFC 106

Kid Nate — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:03:11 -0000

Dan Hardy responds from the crowd to Josh Koscheck's claim that he, and not Hardy, is the real #1 contender at welterweight.

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From Heavy.com:

Koscheck seemed to feed off the crowd’s anger, destroying the bigger Johnson standing and outwrestling him to boot. On one memorable (yet somehow failed) takedown attempt, Koscheck drove Johnson into the cage so fast and hard that they might have ended up in California without the Octagon to stop him.

"I was blown away by his performance," White said. "We’ve butted heads a lot in the past, but that was a great performance."

Earlier in the day, welterweight contender Dan Hardy was talking up a fight with Koscheck, suggesting the wrestler needed a haircut and that he intended to color his hair red-with blood. Koscheck called Hardy out in the cage, but White held firm that Hardy would get the next shot at champion Georges St. Pierre. Koscheck would have to wait.

The last paragraph explains why Koscheck felt the need to call out Hardy from the Octagon in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan after choking out Anthony Johnson.

Koscheck has been a headache for Dana White in many ways, but one of his most annoying habits has been his knack for eliminating other potential title contenders (Johnson, Yoshida) without managing to make a title run of his own (losses to Paulo Thiago and Thiago Alves). There's no way that White is going to risk Hardy when champion Georges St Pierre is desperately in need of challengers and has already beaten Koscheck.

Nevertheless, it's good to see Koscheck and Hardy building a little bit of a rivalry -- they may not be the #1 and #2 fighters in the division, but they're easily the #1 and #2 smack talkers.

Koscheck did make one painful gaffe in his anti-Hardy tirade -- he initially said "(Hardy) ain't fought no one" which he soon corrected to be "ain't fought no one like me" -- presumably to spare the feelings of his teammate Mike Swick who just got beat soundly by Hardy at UFC 105.

UFC 106 Results: Tito Ortiz Drops Split Decision to Forrest Griffin

Kid Nate — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:09:40 -0000

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The judges awarded Forrest Griffin a split decision victory over UFC legend Tito Ortiz.

Two of the UFC's biggest stars met in a redemption match that headlined UFC 106. No title was on the line, but the two fighters' star power made it a compelling headliner nonetheless. They met previously in 2006 in an epic bout that saw both fighters at their best.

Ortiz entered the ring with a blackened right eye. Griffin scored with the first shots but Ortiz landed a hard right of his own about a minute in. Forrest answered with a combination of kicks and punches that led Ortiz to shoot in for the take down. Ortiz landed punches and elbows before Forrest threatened a kimura that he used to sweep Ortiz. Griffin survived a scramble and found himself pushed against the cage. He spun around and kneed Tito to the gut. Griffin peppered Ortiz with combinations, including hard leg kicks. Ortiz shot again but Forrest evaded it. The round ended with Griffin pushing Ortiz against the fence.

In round two, Tito landed the first hard shot and followed with a single leg take down. But Griffin was more than able to control Ortiz on the ground and quickly escaped to his feet. A Griffin front kick sent Ortiz' mouth piece flying. After a respite to replace it, Griffin attacked with a combination of kicks and punches. Ortiz took him down again but Griffin's guard kept Tito from landing much from the top. But Ortiz began to wear him down and started to land elbows and punches that cut Griffin over the eye. Then with 0:35 left, Griffin reversed position and answered with some ground and pound of his own.

Griffin came out scoring in the third, landing punches and kicks. Tito seemed to be holding back and letting Griffin tee off. With three minutes left Ortiz made a half-hearted shot that Griffin stuffed. Griffin landed shot after shot, mixing kicks, punches and attacks to the head, body and legs with aplomb. With a minute left, Ortiz began to fire back but it was too little too late. Griffin stuffed a final feeble shot from Ortiz and fired away with hooks and upper cuts.

UFC Ortiz vs Griffin 2 Results: Josh Koscheck Chokes Out Anthony Johnson

Kid Nate — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:56:21 -0000

Photo by Dave Mandel via Sherdog

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Two of the most physically imposing athletes in the welterweight division met and Josh Koscheck emerged the clear winner.

Koscheck opened the action by landing a hard left hook that stunned Johnson briefly. Soon after he landed a hard right that Johnson quickly answered with a right of his own. Johnson began scoring with leg kicks and then stunned Koscheck with a hard right hand. A stunned Koscheck quickly worked for a take down from the clinch but Johnson sprawled.

Johnson then fired a blatantly illegal knee to Koscheck's face -- that appeared to have been partially blocked by Koscheck -- Koscheck then took a lengthy recovery time and Refereee Mario Yamasaki deducted a point from Johnson. Johnson's finger nail appeared to scratch Koscheck's eye during the collision.

Yamasaki disregarded the doctor's inclination to stop the fight and restarted the action. Koscheck responded by shooting for a single leg take down and got Johnson's back. A hard knee to the body set up an attempt to take Johnson's back that was evaded.

Round two saw Johnson coming out firing and switching stances. Koscheck then caught Johnson with an eye poke that briefly paused the action. Koscheck landed a high kick on the restart. Then Johnson caught another eye poke. Johnson came out angry. And they traded a tough barrage of shots before Koscheck shot in and took Johnson down.

From top position, Koscheck landed a series of short sharp elbows to Johnson's face. After taking a beating, Johnson was gasping for air and Koscheck took his back. Then he sunk in the choke and got the tap out at 4:47 of the second round.

UFC 106 Results: Paulo Thiago Defeats Jacob Volkmann by Decision

Kid Nate — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:53:40 -0000

Photo by Ken Pishna via MMA Weekly

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Top ten welterweight Paulo Thiago survived a surprisingly tough challenge from UFC newcomer Jacob Volkmann to take a unanimous decision win. He dropped Volkmann twice with punches but the rest of the fight was very even with both showing great grappling skills.

Thiago quickly tripped down the UFC newcomer Volkman and passed to side mount. Volkmann fought to guard and reversed position, standing against the fence. But Thiago tripped him down quickly again and worked to mount. Volkmann got back to full guard impressively quickly.

They returned to standing and Volkmann quickly shot in on a Thiago leg kick, he failed to get the take down but forced the Brazilian back against the cage. Breaking the clinch, he caught Thiago with a hard right. Thiago answered with a hard combination that dropped Volkmann but the Minnesotan was saved by the bell just as he hit the ground.

In the second round, Thiago quickly dropped Volkmann with a brutal leg kick. Volkmann bounced back and quickly answered with a takedown of his own and took side mount. The Brazilian escaped, but Volkmann took his back and fired away with shots to the head. Thiago escaped to his feet but was forced against the cage by the wrestler as the crowd grew restless. Volkmann briefly mounted Thiago but was quickly reversed and found himself on his back taking hard shots. Volkmann ended the round on his back in side control.

Thiago dropped Volkmann with a hard punch to start the third. But was unable to finish from top position and Volkmann reversed. After a number of exchanges Volkmann got the crucifix position but Thiago fought desperately to escape and soon did. Volkmann shocked everyone by getting a D'arce choke from the bottom with thirty seconds left but was unable to hold the choke. Soon Volkmann was on his back eating elbows and punches.

UFC 106 Ortiz vs Griffin 2 Results: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira Knocks Out Luis Cane and Sends a Message to the Division

Kid Nate — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:38:18 -0000

Photo by Ken Pishna via MMA Weekly

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UFC new comer Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, the twin brother of former UFC heavyweight champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, came out quick and knocked out tough UFC veteran Luis Arthur Cane quickly.

In a fight with serious title picture implications, two left-handed Brazilians met in the Octagon.

Luis Cane immediately took the center of the cage and fired off leg kicks against the boxer Nogueira. Nogueira circled away and quickly began to connect with lefts. Cane was quickly in trouble and Nogueira finished the job with another left hand.

SB Nation User Blog: Kid Nate

Bloody Elbow Judo Chop: In a Collision of Southpaws, Luis Cane Has No Answer for Antonio Rogerio Nogueira's Left at UFC 106

A Shortage of Contenders for Lyoto Machida's UFC Light Heavyweight Title

Monday Morning Wrap Up: UFC 106 Tito Ortiz vs Forrest Griffin 2

The Event:

Multimedia:

Post-Fight Analysis:

The Aftermath:

After UFC 106, Dana White and Marc Ratner Address MMA Judging

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira talks to Sherdog about his UFC debut and his reluctance to fight Lyoto...

Josh Koscheck and Dan Hardy Build Some Heat at UFC 106

UFC 106 Results: Tito Ortiz Drops Split Decision to Forrest Griffin

UFC Ortiz vs Griffin 2 Results: Josh Koscheck Chokes Out Anthony Johnson

UFC 106 Results: Paulo Thiago Defeats Jacob Volkmann by Decision

UFC 106 Ortiz vs Griffin 2 Results: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira Knocks Out Luis Cane and Sends a Message to the Division