Nov-14-2007
Bisping-Evans: Somebody’s “0” has got to go
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Got Fight? : The 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat (Hardcover)
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By Michael DiSanto
It’s one of the more intriguing moments in mixed martial arts.
Two undefeated prospects standing at the doorstep of title contention face off. Neither man knows the taste of defeat. Both enter the Octagon supremely confident.
Yet, only one will leave with his perfect record intact (barring a draw, of course).
Michael “The Count” Bisping (15-0) is well on his way to becoming a superstar in his native England with his wide-open style and penchant for thrilling fights.
Rashad Evans (15-0-1) may be the best athlete in the light heavyweight division. The former heavyweight is big, strong, explosive and extremely talented.
What can each man do to ensure that his “0” doesn’t go?
Win the battle of foot position, Bisping
It is no secret that Bisping desperately wants to keep the fight standing. Exchanging strikes is where The Count is most at home. In fact, more than 70% of his fights have ended as a result of punches, kicks or elbows. That is an impressive ratio by anyone’s standard.
Nevertheless, don’t get confused by the numbers. Bisping’s KO/TKO/submission (strikes) ratio is not evidence that the Brit has devastating one-punch knockout power a la Chuck Liddell, Houston Alexander or Wanderlei Silva. In fact, he does not bring that sort of power into the Octagon. Instead, Bisping is more like former champions Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort, strikers who stop opponents with a series of speedy, surgically placed combinations rather than a single, earth-shattering blow.
With that in mind, a big key to The Count’s success on Saturday night is creating throwing angles to land punches in bunches. The southpaw can achieve the proper angles if he focuses on keeping his right foot outside of Evans’ left foot.
By doing that, Bisping brings his left shoulder more in line with Evans’ chin, which allows him to fire lead lefts (his best punch) right down the pipe. Evans will be forced to react by pawing with his right hand to defend the punch or by slipping to his right. The former is largely ineffective because the minute Bisping notices that tendency he can begin looping his left a bit to find the target.
Maintaining the proper foot position is also important because it will help position Bisping’s right hand outside of Evans’ left, thereby allowing the Brit to fire cleanup right hooks with a nice, tight arc, rather than lunging to try and reach around the left.
In other words, by placing his right foot outside of Evans’ left foot, Bisping will be in the perfect position to throw punches in bunches.
Make it a fight in a phone booth, Rashad
Of course, Evans is a skilled striker in his own right and likely brings greater one-strike concussive power into the cage than his British foe. Yet, he is more of a hunt-and-peck striker, opting to throw one or two punches or kicks at a time before moving out of harm’s way.
Evans’ superior quickness and overall athleticism makes him extremely successful when following that game plan. He will peck away at an opponent over and over until he sees an opportunity to uncork a strike with fight-ending intentions, a la the knockdown blow delivered to Brad Imes in the TUF finale or the consciousness-ending high kick hammered across Sean Salmon’s jaw.
Nevertheless, Bisping, who is a more experienced, natural striker, also likes to fight from a distance. He needs space to feel comfortable, as he is better leading the action than countering. Evans should seize upon that fact by closing the distance and forcing Bisping to fight inside.
Rashad likes to work behind a flicking jab, which is largely ineffective against a southpaw. For this fight, he should focus more on using his lead right to work his way to the inside. The same footwork principles that apply to Bisping setting up a lead left apply to Evans landing a homerun right. Yet, the footwork is not as critical to Evans’ success because he has the great equalizer—explosive takedowns.
Bisping is a skilled ground fighter, but he does not want to find himself in the guard trying to defend Rashad’s ground and pound very often. He completely neutralized Matt Hamill on the ground from that position, but Evans’ ground attack is much, much more fearsome. Evans should use the threat of the takedown to score with punches on the inside, and once Bisping commits to defending punches, he will be wide open for the takedown.
Moreover, Rashad’s superior size and strength should allow him to dominate the action inside the clinch. He can opt to press Bisping up against the fence and work standing elbows or close knees to the body to try and wear down his opponent while scoring points with the judges.
Evans’ history with the judges (a draw, two split-decision wins and a majority-decision win in 16 professional fights) suggests that he should seize all opportunities to score points on Saturday night, and keeping the action in a phone booth is his best way to do just that.
Inside left leg kicks will open the left cross highway for The Count
Winning the battle of foot position is great, but if Evans is looking for the lead left, he will likely defend the blow effectively. One way for Bisping to disguise his lead left is to throw inside leg kicks to Evans’ left leg – not simple slapping range finders, but real thudding kicks.
Uncorking an inside left leg kick from a southpaw stance with bad intentions behind it is sort of like the waltz. It is a scripted series of movements, albeit performed in the blink of an eye, designed to flow together effortlessly to produce the desired result. First, the fighter begins to clear his hips to the right. Almost in unison, but slightly delayed, the fighter next rotates his shoulders to the right. Both of those movements allow for the required torque to build up in the left leg when it leaves the canvas en route for a spot just above an opponent’s left knee.
Now, compare that to the series of movements required to throw a lead left hand from a southpaw stance laced with knockout juice. First, the fighter begins to clear his hips to the right. Almost in unison, but slightly delayed, the fighter next rotates his shoulders to the right before firing his left hand at the target. Again, the hip turn creates the necessary torque so that the punch can be delivered with maximum power.
The movements are eerily similar, right?
Their similarity is the key to landing an unseen left hand that could very well dictate the outcome of the fight.
Why? Think Pavlov and his dog. You know, the bell ringing right before feeding causes a dog to salivate whether or not food is present.
Evans certainly is not Pavlov’s dog, but he is not above the effects of classical conditioning.
If Bisping is able to land a series of good, solid inside left leg kicks early in the fight, Evans will subconsciously begin to associate the above-described waltz as an impending leg kick. As a result, he will focus his attention downward and on lifting his left leg the minute he sees Bisping begin the series of ultra-quick movements that previously resulted in an inside left leg kick. That will create openings for Bisping to substitute the kick with a lead left hand down the middle. The blow might not carry the same juice as a Chuck Liddell right hand, but if Evans doesn’t see it coming, it has more than enough power to put the former collegiate wrestler in a momentary daze, thus allowing Bisping to finish him off with a surgical flurry.
Bisping can sell it even more by substituting the lead left with more of a superman punch, which is more of a jumping strike that looks exactly like a kick until the last second. But, alas, a superman punch is exponentially more difficult to land than a quick, short left hand down the middle.
Fight with a sense of urgency, Rashad
Bisping recently defeated fellow reality show competitor Matt Hamill by split decision in what should have been the classic battle of striker versus wrestler. But the fight unfolded very differently than anyone, including Bisping, could have possibly expected.
Hamill, a novice striker by anyone’s standard, enjoyed a lot of success when he pressed the action against Bisping. The fear of a takedown combined with Hamill’s thudding punches caused Bisping to get on his bicycle and fight going backward in the face of incoming fire. In this writer’s opinion, Hamill actually won more of the exchanges on the feet through the first half of the fight, while Bisping took over late with good combinations, and his uncanny ability to escape the wrestler’s takedowns and ground-and-pound attack relatively unscathed ultimately led to the disputed victory.
Evans, who doesn’t have quite the same takedown skills as Hamill, is far and away better on the feet. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that an aggressive Evans would enjoy far greater success against Bisping than did Hamill.
The question is whether Evans will actually come out and set an aggressive pace. He failed to do that in his last fight against Tito Ortiz until he entered the final round facing a seemingly insurmountable deficit, down two rounds to nil. He failed to fight aggressively against a woefully overmatched Sam Hoger back in April 2006. And he was timid at times against Brad Imes in their TUF finale.
Evans has all the tools to be a great fighter. Nevertheless, it is this writer’s opinion that Evans’ biggest downfall is his unwillingness to impose his will on an opponent right from the opening bell, which brings into question his true confidence and mentality once the cage door closes.
Rashad Evans fighting on his bicycle, refusing to throw more than hunt-and-peck punches or truly commit to a takedown is a guy that most of the top contenders can defeat with relative ease. The guy who showed up during the third round of the fight with Ortiz is someone who may very well win a championship some day.
Fighting with urgency is the key for Evans. Bisping will engage him in an all-out war. Evans should welcome the opportunity, draw a line in the sand and look to make a statement in front of the world.
Otherwise, it will likely be Rashad Evans’ “0” that will go.
For all intents and purposes, this fight is a true toss up. Depending on which Evans shows up, one can make a compelling argument for either fighter.
If I were a betting man, my gut tells me that Bisping may be the hungrier fighter. But that hunger won’t be enough if Evans learned his lesson escaping with a draw against Ortiz.
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