And The Great World Spins

Much of the energy of the week has faded into nothing. Small smoldering embers similar to what remains of a camp fire hours after it’s burned out. The little pieces no where near as hot or bright as the original fire but still capable of surprising you, still capable of catching the wind and building in strength to burn your house down. And that was the Stephen Thompson versus Jake Ellenberger fight. This small nugget that was an after thought, left alone to fade away and yet it set us all on fire. The very first kick thrown created a slapping sound so significant that had I been Jake I would have shouted, “Really you jerk, I’m cool with bruises but not welts.” From that point on the fight went in a spectacular display of movement and technique rarely seen in combat sports. The way Stephen Thompson stands makes me think any of us could beat him up. Like a kid that just learned Karate. And then his body starts moving in this fluid way that maximizes leverage and impact and maintains efficiency. It’s something that can only be learned after working on it for ten to twenty years. It’s not over extending, it’s not without purpose and when it lands it’s always perfect. However midway through the fight it looked like Thompson started to fall in love with his own elusiveness and suddenly a hand made into a fist became a sharp reminder of the realities of a fight. In one instance Thompson went down like a heap and then magically rebounded. He tied up and held on like Ellenberger were an inflatable raft pulling him through an ocean filled with sharks. Once he recovered it was only a little later before a spinning kick landed and everyone thought, it’s over, it’s over and then, it’s not over he is still fighting. Holy catfish, had that landed better and Ellenberger not been a walking Juggernaut he would have went down. Then, as people say, lighting struck twice. Thompson recalibrated the kick in his head. He thought about the distance and how the last kick landed and how the next could land better. Stephen Thompson threw two highlight reel impossibly difficult kicks that 99% of other fighters on earth cannot throw let alone end a fight with and he landed them both and he used them as his most significant strikes. It lit our worlds on fire. And it picked up the very docile hung over crowd from UFC 189 and it plugged them back into why they love the sport. Because amazing things can happen in a moment and because people are incredible and sometimes they do incredible things. Sometimes, as the small ember that was left alone for no one to pay attention to it makes you wish you had been there to pay attention.

The other notables have to be Michelle Waterson as that was an iffy first few minutes and the women in the audience made it all the more entertaining. Sure it was a great first round that could have went either way. Then all a sudden the girls sitting behind Mazdak were drunk enough to start screaming at Magana, “How can you hit a mother. Why would you kick a woman that has kids!” That to me, was the highlight of my week, that and the arm wrestling tournament. After that first round Waterson figured her timing and distance perfectly. She became an entirely different fighter. If you’ve ever seen the Matrix where Keanu Reeves gets plugged in and then says, “I know Kung Fu” It looked a lot like that. Because she suddenly pieced together an amazing skillset that most other fighters will never have. Unless their name is Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Because if that’s the name of her next opponent, well, you’re a mother, so think about them before you step into the cage with her.

I’ve always been interested in Jorge Masvidal. When he was a street fighter and when he became a professional fighter. I’ve always wondered why he hasn’t reached Nick Diaz level fame despite being similar to Nick Diaz in talent. His Jiu-Jitsu is nowhere near as good as Diaz’s (either of them) but his willingness to stand and fight is rivaled by none other than Nick Diaz. Well, there is another guy. A guy named Matt Brown. If that fight is to happen it’ll be the one I’ve been waiting for. Realistically it’s the fight that can push both of these guys Masvidal and Brown into a new level of stardom. Because while one will win and one will lose both will come to fight. Whether he can actually hang in there with a bigger fighter and not get rag dolled we will find out but as of now he looks better than ever and like a beast at Welterweight with more power than he’s ever had. Not Robbie Lawler ready but I think even he knows that. But he looks to be Matt Brown (almost in my honest opinion, but not just yet) and hopefully we will see that.