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On August 22, 2016 By In Mixed Martial Arts

Mixed Martial Artistry

“All great art is narrative in some way. Not that a piece of art needs to tell a story in order to be great, but what truly distinguishes something is its place in a larger context. While good art of any sort can be defined by the immediacy of its aesthetic, great art exists in narrative crosshairs that make it representative of something bigger than itself. It’s why classic paintings can capture a period of history as much as any account of facts or why our favorite songs tend to be the ones that bring us back to specific moments from our lives; they’re intertwined with the things going on around them in a fundamental, inseparable way.

By any metric, Nate Diaz-Conor McGregor 2 at UFC 202 on Saturday was great art. It was a perfect blend of what we love about this sport, and it couldn’t have happened at a more perfect time…”

 

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On June 6, 2016 By In Mixed Martial Arts

Exploring the UFC 199 Narratives

“What a night. Usually I’m more loquacious than that, but UFC 199 was so busy an intersection of storylines that it’s hard not to arrive at some clichéd platitude. The event in its entirety was one of the best pay-per-view cards in recent memory, and it was as great as it was with only a modest amount of star-power behind it. There’s something refreshing about the fact that a fight card can still stand out on its merits of fighting more than anything else, especially given the various change-ups UFC 199 experienced in the last few weeks.

Each of the main card’s winners built themselves up in meaningful ways, and while I usually like to stick to a single theme for these columns, such a night warrants a bit of exploration for each of the narratives that emerged…”

 

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On February 9, 2016 By In Mixed Martial Arts

Passing Torches Through Shrinking Windows

“Mixed martial arts is an unforgiving sport.

Stephen Thompson on Saturday lived up to his “Wonderboy” moniker when he effortlessly breezed through former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks via first-round stoppage. It was a signature win for Thompson, one that will decorate his highlight reel until the end of his career; and while his victory represents a welcome shakeup to a division that has been gridlocked in spectacular evenness at the top, Thompson’s coming-out party is the obverse of Hendricks’ closing window.

It’s funny. Thompson’s three-year, six-fight winning streak will likely be described as a “meteoric rise,” which is ironic when juxtaposed with Hendricks’ precipitous descent and crash — a more accurate depiction of true meteoric trajectory…”

 

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On February 2, 2016 By In Mixed Martial Arts

Sage Advice

“It was hard to miss the glow of delighted schadenfreude from social media, as Sage Northcutt tapped out to a Bryan Barberena arm-triangle at UFC on Fox 18 on Saturday in Newark, New Jersey. No judgment from me: Everyone enjoys this sport for their own reasons, and he provides more than enough fodder to draw the kind of sinister satisfaction from his defeat that he did. If anything, I feel bad for the people who took joy in his loss, for no other reason than the fact that this will be a short-lived source of happiness. At least, it should be.

Northcutt is good for the sport and not just because he’s a genuinely nice — if not supremely dorky — counterargument to the negative stereotypes prevalent in the fight game. More accurately, he’s a bellwether that the sport is moving in a good direction…”

 

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On January 26, 2016 By In Mixed Martial Arts

The Prodigal Son Returns

“As an MMA writer, I try to be as objective and emotionally detached as possible. While I can proudly say I’ve checked my personal feelings at the keyboard — and many times gone about the sobering process of betraying them — the truth of the matter is that I’m still, at my core, a fan. So objectivity be damned: Quit playing games with my heart, B.J. Penn.

“The Prodigy” last week made his comeback official. In doing so, he sent fans everywhere jolts of excitement, anxiety and that feeling you get when you’re called to the principal’s office. I don’t know how to process it all…”

 

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