Okami wins decision in rematch versus Belcher

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source: mmajunkie.com

Alan Belcher wanted a measure of revenge against Yushin Okami from their first fight in their UFC debuts, but Okami was having none of it.

Okami dominated Belcher in the grappling department and cruised to a unanimous decision victory. The fight was a rematch from UFC 62, which Okami also won by unanimous decision.

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Alan "The Talent" Belcher Vs. Yushin Okami

Fight was scheduled for 3 rounds (5x5x5)

Name	Alan Belcher	Alan Belcher" />
Height	6′ 2″ (187.96 cm)
Weight	208 (94.35 kg)
Record	18-6-0
Team

Name	Yushin Okami	Yushin Okami" />
Height	6′ 2″ (187.96 cm)
Weight	185 (83.91 kg)
Record	27-7-0
Team	Wajyutsu Tokyo Hombu

Yushin Okami defeated Alan Belcher by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

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tags: Alan Belcher (detail) Yushin Okami (detail) UFC 155

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12/31/12 1:31 PM by Wasa-B

Look at the fight with Chael/Andy 2. When Chael got mount, he had ZERO GNP....why?

12/31/12 1:30 PM by Wasa-B

Yes, ive mentioned that Yushin is a "boring" fighter or def does not have a fan friendly But are you disagreeing that he tried for some arm triangles, cause he did. And even in mount, though you cannot be attacked as you can in the guard, you can lose the position if you try try to GNP withour proper position securing. Also, this whole "riding out" thing, sometimes its just that the top guy is simply unsuccessful in getting off more offense than they were able to. Sometimes the guy on the bottom is tying your hands up, sometimes they are bucking to escape. But, again, I believe Yushin does have to "work on his GNP and sub hunting" to be more proactive or dynamic with it but its true that he "he just isnt a hard puncher." He's really not. He does have some TKOs from mount but those were more about volume than really super hard shots. Look at his fight i think it was with Swick, he had mount for a long time and was reinging down for a long time with GNP but could not stop Swick.

12/31/12 7:18 AM by cool hand Ed

Thank you for this well thought out post. You make some very good points. I don't agree with "Again, while Okami needs to work on his GNP and sub hunting, he did try some arm triangles from mount but you cant force subs, he did start to get some semi-decent GNP at the end from mount but it would be good to see him posture up more and throw with more force....but he just isnt a hard puncher really and you always risk position when you posture for GNP"In my opinion, this is a spin on the actual truth. Read it again. It sounds a lot like excuse making. The truth is that he rides out the mount like some fighters try to ride out the guard after a take down. The difference is that you can be submitted from guard, so it makes sense to be cautions. But when you have the mount(yes sitting up and throwing punches CAN cause you to lose it), most fans feel that you should try finish the fight. Yushin doesn't have to agree. He can be as conservative as he likes. It's his career to do with as he likes. But don't expect fans to root for him when he chooses to be conservative with a purely offensive position.

12/31/12 3:30 AM by Wasa-B

Yup saw it after watched again and it did look possibly like Okami may have been rocked but only for a second and while he had the back mount so it woulda taken Belcher a while to get out of it to capitalize

12/30/12 11:54 PM by Treadstone06

Right at the end of the 3rd. Okami had Belcher down and he just looked at and threw a little elbow...Okami's body language did kinda suggest a momentary ko of sorts.

12/30/12 11:10 AM by Wasa-B

Also, "Okami's wrestling" still left him giving up position a couple times but it was his ground game too that bailed him out and also able to keep Belcher on his back and on defense, many people were thinking that Okami would be in some trouble on the ground

12/30/12 11:08 AM by Wasa-B

Belcher is obviously the better "striker" but Okami was able to use his improved jab and also controlled the ring to close the distance. Okami is also a big, strong MW but Belcher looks like a legit LHW and Okami looked smaller and less ripped this fight but i think proved his ability in the clinch. Im not sure if Belcher should be really known as having great tdd, though it was a while ago, he was taken down many times by Sexy and Sexy as we know now is a WW. Okami has always been good in the clinch and working with Chael/Lindland can only improve that. Over 16 fights or whatever, Okami has only failed to take down Anderson and Chael

12/30/12 10:57 AM by Blazing Knees

It was Okami wrestling that won the fight . he just seemed physically stronger than Alan which I didnt think was possible, but. The striking was even

12/30/12 10:52 AM by Wasa-B

More thoughts on the solely consistent Japanese fighter in the UFC:- Do the people comparing Okami's performance to Brunson understand the difference bet passing guard...and not?- Okami has never been an "exciting" fighter so not sure what people were expecting other than the fact that this was supposed to be a showcase for the rising Belcher and potentially peaked Okami - Okami proved that one wrong- Again, while Okami needs to work on his GNP and sub hunting, he did try some arm triangles from mount but you cant force subs, he did start to get some semi-decent GNP at the end from mount but it would be good to see him posture up more and throw with more force....but he just isnt a hard puncher really and you always risk position when you posture for GNP - RE: "Safety first," in BJJ or the ground, unlike someone like Palhares or the Sato/Imanari/etc sub first/position later, its always more sound to establish position first then look for the sub but Yushin did go for some risks with his tds to which he obviously gave up position on a few times...but that he was good enough on the ground to get out of- Everyone was talking about Belcher's new found ground game and finishing Palhares is impressive but wasnt hard to see that Okami and Palhares' games are complete opposites and that it was pretty unlikely that anyone in the MW div would dominate Okami from their guards - even guys like Maia, Jacare would have trouble with Yushin on top, Yushin gave Maia a very good go in ADCC- To me the key was Okami's ability to close the distance with his jab and get the clinch and Belcher's ability to avoid both, I thought he would do much better here, not only did Belcher make the mistake for going to the guilltine (TWICE) but as Rogan mentioned, let Okami control the floor and close him up to the cage - Belcher's footwork and generalship could use some improvement there - no dis to Duke, he obviously knows the importance of distance but this was the key to the battle and Yushin impressed here imo- This was possibly the biggest win for Okami's UFC career imo, this perhaps or the Marquardt win. Okami has been consistent and only losing to the very top guys like Anderson (a given), Chael, Franklin and then Boestch. He could have beaten Franklin had he (like Machida/Rampage) actually started to attack earlier and he should have beaten Boestch - but that was Okami's only real unexpected "slip up" over 16 UFC fightsThis was a fight Okami was supposed to lose to a rising contender, a potential revenage rematch for the supposedly more improved Belcher and after losing the Boestch fight, the only fight Yushin lost that he was supposed to win, had he lost this one, would have been a big set backAs Hioki lost to Lamas, Okami remains to be the only Japanese fighter in the upper echelon in the UFC

12/30/12 7:20 AM by GelderdEnd

LOL

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