Pettis: UFC is about holding em down

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source: mmamania.com

Former WEC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis entered the UFC famous for one the greatst Holy F------ S--- moments in mixed martial arts history, the Showtime Kick:

But when he debuted in the UFC at the TUF 13 Finale, Pettis found his flashy offense stuffed by the suffocating mat work of Clay Guida. Last night at UFC 136, In an if you can't beat em join em moment, Pettis employed a similar, successful tactic against Jeremy Stephens.

Still, Pettis was not completely happy, as he relates on UFC.com

"I'm happy that I got the victory but for me it was like a mental loss because I know I can perform much better than that. I really wanted to focus on my wrestling and my top game against Jeremy and show everyone that I am well-rounded, and that I do have wrestling. I think I did that, but I also think I could have done better.

"When you go to the UFC it's not all about 'showtime' kicking or knocking everybody out. Get people down, hold them down and you win fights."

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tags: UFC Clay Guida (detail) Anthony Pettis (detail) Jeremy Stephens (detail)

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10/12/11 12:18 PM by Magnum TA

Because you have never trained with that level of wrestler. The strength, power and physical is ingrained in them and you can't get it from other arts. Chael got off the couch after a year and toyed with Brian Stann who had dedicated the last 2 years of his training to wrestling.

10/12/11 12:12 PM by whoabro

^ backed

10/11/11 10:57 AM by Whambo

I don't think there's a problem with the officiating with exception of sometimes letting fighters stall on the cage too long. I seem to get frustrated more with refs standing fighters up too quickly. Last UFC there was a moment where Joe yelled out "they're working ref!" and I agreed. Don't forget tho, the unified rules largely benefited the strikers. 5 stand ups in any title fight, shorter rounds, limiting the effectiveness of knees (albeit there are situations where the knees would benefit a wrestler).If there is a problem along those lines, I'd say it relates to "fake action", meaning you're giving the appearance you're doing something, meanwhile your strikes amount to about the same power of a small child hitting you. Clay Guida I guess is the most guilty of this.This is actually becoming my biggest annoyance. It's ridiculous when you are watching a guy going for the rear naked choke, and the guy who's defending is doing these stupid lil rabbit punches for the scorecard.I'm not sure what the solution is, but I think a good start is viewing a person inside the guard as a neutral position. The only thing taken into consideration is the striking and sub attempts.They should also find a way to elimate or recategorize rabbit punches. Either consider them ineffective punching and simply don't count them, or categorize them as light punching with a lesser emphasis on the scorecard. Also, instruct refs to consider light punching as stalling.

10/11/11 10:20 AM by captain_underwear

I agree. BRING BACK the yellow cards or figure out a way to do the same thing. I fucking hate the way the scoring process is and the way the rules favor wrestlers. I wrestled when I was young, so I am not being partial, its just the truth.A takedown by itself isnt worth much at all to me if you cant:Improve positionInflict damageNOT STALL (god I hate a staller)its pretty simple really

10/11/11 7:05 AM by KingGhidorah206

Yellow Cards & Japanese judging criteria....Man the Japanese had this shit figured out already like 10 years ago..... Waht a damn shame.... ITs evne more of a shame that people defend guys that Lnp, Stand & Wang, and WnS their way to a stupid decision....That shit is more boring than runners in Boxing.Only in MMA right?

10/11/11 6:50 AM by CODELMJVG

The criteria influence some ways the fight goes like encourages holding and stalling in a position and not advancing when back than if you did that a major no no example like Pride did.

10/11/11 6:34 AM by CODELMJVG

Why can't the ufc have control on the criteria of there scoring system sh@$!

10/11/11 6:31 AM by CODELMJVG

True that Pettis true that.

10/11/11 6:30 AM by CODELMJVG

True that pettis trut that.

10/11/11 3:22 AM by TheSaver

WTF kind of claim is this? Did you type that from under Askren's nutsack? I seriously doubt any pro athlete would spend 3 years eating potato chips on a couch let alone be able to compete professionally after such an unhealthy lifestyle for 3 years.

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