Tag: UFC

Analyzing UFC Fighter Diego Sanchez’s Mindset

Diego Sanchez has been a pro MMA fighter since 2002 and competing in the UFC since 2005.

That’s a long, long time to be a pro MMA fighter, especially with the type of fighter he is and the kinds of battles he’s been a part of.

He’s definitely put on more than a few entertaining fights that I’ve had the privilege of watching.

He’s also always been lauded for being one of the most mentally tough fighters in the sport.

However, I read a recent interview with him that doesn’t leave me confident in the path he’s choosing nor his confidence.

First of all, he’s decided to drop weight classes, for a record fourth time, to compete in the 145 pound featherweight division.

I have nothing against moving down to a lower weight class if it’s a better fit for your height/weight/body type.

But what I really look out for is the reasoning behind the move and this is what he had to say was his:

“That’s where the sport has gone right now.Everybody is cutting weight. I see 155-pounders who are big. These guys are big. Even just seeing Nate Diaz in real life, he’s a guy, he’s big. He looks 180-190, maybe even 200 pounds. So for me, I’m like, well, I’m tired of being the small guy. I want to be the big guy. I want to be the guy with more power. I want to be the guy with better wrestling.”

I think it’s fine to want to be the big guy, but he doesn’t stop there.

He also talks about how he wants to be the guy with more power and better wrestling and based on this, he’s assuming that dropping to 145 pounds is how to go about getting these qualities.

Do you see the error in this line of thinking?

That he is not in control of his relative skill in these areas?

Unfortunately, this is a common mindset that a lot of fighters have – drop down in weight and instantly you’re going to be a beast and so far ahead of everyone else in every area.

But this is NOT reality, nor is it where the sport is going right now.

Just look at guys like Anthony Johnson who see the error in trying to cut too much and instead fight at a natural weight and then go and rack up dominating wins with devastating knockouts.

These examples refute Sanchez’s generalization.

And it doesn’t end there, folks.

“And I was like, wow, look at this guy, he’s holding a huge size advantage going into all of his fights. He has the reach. He has the leverage. It just made sense.”

This just goes to show that Sanchez mentions size advantage, reach and leverage as the reasons why Conor McGregor is successful and fails to acknowledge strategy, skill, fitness and confidence, as important factors in his performance.

Here’s why this is most telling about Sanchez’s mindset…

The things that he’s choosing to see as the most important factors are largely those things that have the least leeway in terms of adaptability, while the things he fails to acknowledge are those most trainable.

This is the ultimate error – focusing on the things you cannot change, while neglecting those you can.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

I am not religious.

But there’s a lot of wisdom in this simple prayer.

Bless,

Eric

P.S. Thoughts or comments? Leave them below.

August 19, 2015
[Jon Jones] Where Does He Stand?

Jon Jones – Where Does He
Stand Among Champions?

Article by Eric Wong

No fighter since Anderson Silva first KO’d Chris
Leben has got me so eagerly anticipating his
next fight as I am with Jon Jones.

It doesn’t matter who he faces next, I want to see Jon Jones fight just to see what he’s gonna do.

Not only is it fun to watch him pull crazy shit out of his bag of tricks, but Jon Jones has one weapon developed far beyond his years.

Only one question remains…

How much fight is there in this big dawg?

Here’s what we know…

Jon Jones has literally steamrolled through opponents.

He’s ended his last 6 opponents in the UFC, winning his first 2 UFC contests via UD.

In my mind, he’s Top 3 when it comes to creativity and skillset diversity inside the octagon (Who are your top 3? My others are A. Silva and Jose Aldo, with eager anticipation of Anthony Pettis’ next bout).

No opponent has come close to hurting Jon Jones…

… let alone defeating him (Hamill doesn’t count).

But there’s just that one thing we haven’t seen…

On one hand, we’ve got champs whose chin, heart and composure have been tested.

Silva took a 4.5 round beating from Chael Sonnen
and stayed alive long enough to take advantage of
the opportunity and end Sonnen with a triangle…

The Octagon was spinning and the lights were
dimming for Frankie Edgar in his last fight against
Maynard, and he made a miraculous survival to
fight to a hotly contested draw…

On the other hand, we’ve got champs who have succumb to defeat when their armor was penetrated…

Who can forget GSP getting caught by Matt Serra…

Or Brock Lesnar’s best Mary Lou Retton impression vs. Cain Velasquez…

Not to mention the revolving door to the light heavyweight throne prior to Jon Jones’ ascension.

Where, oh where does Jon Jones stand?

Do you think he’ll be more like Silva and Edgar when the inevitable time comes where he gets truly tested, or will he crumble and lose some of the shine that his model career has shown thus far?

Do you think Jon Jones has big fight inside ready to come out when he’s really tested?

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Rq68EZqwmUI/0.jpg

March 24, 2011
UFC 95 – What’s Your Call?

It seems like the UFC is wising up a little bit – the UFC 95 card seems pretty lackluster overall, so they’re rightfully giving it away for free on Spike.

But still, I’m looking forward to a couple of fights, the main card pitting Diego vs. Joe Stevenson, and the Demian Maia fight.

I think the Diego vs. Joe fight is going to be interesting and I’m really not too sure how it will turn out. I really don’t think Diego is going to be any bigger or stronger than Stevenson, because when I saw him up close before one of his fights, he was a pretty small guy. So that advantage is out.

But the thing that’s got me interested is the fact that Diego’s been training at altitude to get in top shape for this fight, which will actually LIMIT his performance.

(I just wrote about this at length in my newsletter, describing exactly why this is. If you want to see this article – post a comment here and I’ll put it up. If you don’t want to miss any future articles, sign up to my newsletter at the top right of this page.)

For this reason, I’m picking Joe “Daddy” to win this fight.

Now I’m just looking forward to the Maia fight to see if he will continue to win through top BJJ skills. His fights have been great to watch because he’s winning with pure BJJ technique. I think he’ll pull it off, what do you think?

One more fight that I’m curious about is the Junior Dos Santos fight. Let’s see if he can pull off another ‘Sho-ryu-ken’ this fight! He puts Ken and Ryu to shame…

February 19, 2009
UFC 97 – Uh Oh!

You’ve probably heard the news about the UFC in Montreal possibly being cancelled. As an MMA starved resident of Ontario, this is a sad thing.

Basically, the Quebec Athletic Commission is considering changing the rules by eliminating elbows and knees, as well as making the octagon smaller.

As we all know with the UFC, there’s no way Dana White is going to sacrifice his brand to get the UFC in Montreal, which is a good thing.

So that would mean if the QAC goes ahead with the proposed changes, there would be no UFC in La Belle Province.

I don’t know what the QAC is thinking, but to read more about the story, follow the link below:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/mma/2009/02/12/ufc_qac/

To read the whole story, check

February 13, 2009
What to Learn from Patrick Cote’s Knee Injury

If you got a chance to catch the UFC on Saturday night and saw Patrick Cote’s knee injury when he was fighting the Spider, you were probably disappointed that the 2 warriors didn’t get a chance to properly finish what they started.

I sure was. I love getting a chance to watch Silva at work, and I thought Cote showed that he definitely has a chin.

But what I want to talk about is the knee injury that Cote suffered.

You could see the shin bone kind of move forward and out laterally when he hurt himself. In some interviews he said that it’s an old meniscus, but from the way it looked, I believe that he hurt his ACL. Often with a buckling type injury, it’s a ligament that gets damaged.

The ACL functions to stop the shin (tibia/fibula) from sliding forward under the thigh bone (femur), but only when the muscles aren’t there to do their job.

PICTURE it this way: put your right fist up like at the top of a bicep curl, then put your left fist on top of your right fist. When you slide your right fist forward towards the computer screen, that’s the movement that the ACL prevents, and that’s what happened to Cote’s knee.

So the ACL will come into play in a really quick pivot type move, like a running back who cuts hard, or during something unexpected, like getting pushed right before you land from a jump.

The ACL will also work to stabilize the joint if the muscles aren’t strong enough to do the job, so even if you’re expecting the movement or it’s a planned movement, like a hard cut in football, if you don’t have strong muscles, you can still tear your ACL.

To prevent ACL injuries, you need to make sure your hamstrings and calves are strong and powerful. So exercises like Stiff-leg deadlifts and Swiss ball leg curls are crucial to knee injury prevention. The muscles worked in these exercises do exactly what the ACL does, prevent anterior slide of the lower leg on the upper leg. These exercises are all a part of my MMA Strength and Conditioning program.

So the lesson to learn here is to keep the muscles strong, but even more importantly, powerful. The muscles need to be able to react quickly, so doing exercises such as repetitive, explosive jumps like squat jumps and others found in my NRG system complexes will train this quality.

Well that’s it for now, hope you enjoyed the rest of the UFC and I’ll talk with you soon.

October 26, 2008