BTG 185 - The best fights have this

Hello and welcome to Breaking the Guard. I have returned from my travels. I was in Indonesia for a few weeks and well, it chewed up more than two weeks. It was more like three just because of how much uh travel it takes to get there. But it was a wonderful time. We stayed at a place in Wakatobi, which is a marine park. Absolutely beautiful. Some of the best diving I've ever had. The food was good. The sleep was good. Everything exceeded my expectations. So, I'm pretty happy about that. Uh my wife had a great time. We got to relax quite a bit. So, it was well needed. And now I am catching up on things because I didn't tune in to any of the fights. I wasn't watching PGF, UFC BJJ, UFC. Uh I was just too busy having fun out there and I didn't tune in and one of the things now that I see more that I'm going to talk about today is the importance of the story. And what I mean by that is first I was looking at PGF. I tried to just tune in on week five and it was a bit hard for me because I wasn't really as invested. I hadn't watched the previous weeks and I feel like I'm out of place. And even though I know a lot of the people who are at the top of this ladder I didn't get the build up. And I see part of the magic that makes PGF special for people cuz I know in previous seasons I was very excited about watching it cuz I was like rooting for teams. I was seeing different athletes that I knew coming up. I lost that when I just tried to jump into week five because I didn't have that investment. So there is something to be sad about that because it does create a lot more interest when you're able to follow a storyline and see characters develop throughout versus just putting people together and creating conflict without having a backstory. This is similar to this UFC card that just transpired uh on Saturday. There's a bunch of fights that were put together. There's no story. Right? Uh They're just people that are facing each other. That's also why there's no uproar about it. There's no big chatter. And it's not that the fights weren't good. There were finishes, knockouts, there was interesting fights. But you're just not that invested in it because there isn't a big storyline. Contrast that with this fight coming up now where you have Chimaev with Strickland. There are storylines. These guys have trained together before. They both talk a lot of crap. They both talk a lot of crap against each other. There is intrigue. And there's not only intrigue on that, you know, emotional level, but obviously from a technical standpoint, there's a lot of interest in that fight. They're both high-ranked. It makes sense. When you can combine all those factors together, it makes a very compelling fight. I think a lot of times they try to shortcut things, whether they just focus purely on outside of the cage drama as being enough for the fight to be interesting, or it's just all of the tactical element of these fighters that is going to make the fight compelling. And you really need a mix of the two. We need some good drama, storyline that makes sense for this fight, and we also need that these guys are actually going to be well matched. The UFC seems not to care about that for Fight Nights. They don't really try to do anything in that way. And I get it because there's so many of them, it's kind of hard to make a lot of compelling stories for those. And some of these are just in fact they're going to become the storyline. Like these are people we're building them up on these Fight Nights, and that's going to feed into a numbered card. But if they really wanted to one up things, they could add the drama there as well. And I don't see why you couldn't with that amount of money UFC has in there. I'm sure they could devote some more resources to doing that. Like giving us a compelling reason of why we should watch this. Uh I feel that would make that engagement a lot greater. Cuz otherwise then and you'll see me when I do the reviews, I'm like I'm looking at these fights. Because those are to me are ones that will have some interest. The other ones I'm like all right, I won't even bother watching. Uh but I say that now coming from a land of plenty, right? I do remember when there was no fights, I would I would watch any fight. Hey. Uh but grappling can learn a thing or two about this as well. The The one group I see that really utilizes it a lot right now is real American freestyle, RAF, right? They're They've been using a celebrity fighters every way, like Armen Tsaturyan notably, in all their events. And he's been doing great. He had a rematch with that guy, Giorgio Petrosian, won decisively. I believe he did a big uh overhead five-point throw on him. Uh and was able to take that W. But there was a storyline there. They talked a lot of crap for the first fight, and then this first fight just fueled the second fight. Although they did put them really close together. You'd think they might have milked that a little bit more. Uh but in any case, now they're rooming Armen wants to grapple against Mikey Musumeci. That's a weird one for me cuz that's a huge size mismatch. You know, I think Mikey's 125 lb soaking wet. Uh Armen is probably 180-something. Uh that's a lot of size to to overcome. It is an interesting though. It would I I I'm not going to say I'm not curious. I am curious to see how would Armen do. If Armen just kind of survives or outpoints him, that is impressive in its own right, not getting caught in a leg lock. If Mikey is able to catch him, it's kind of a lose-lose, I feel like, for Well, no. I got I don't know because if Armen's able to tap out Mikey, even though he's much bigger, it's still a you know, a feather in his cap. That's impressive. If Mikey is able to catch Arman, that might say something that all Arman's leg lock defense is not that great. If it just goes into like points or draw, it looks better for Mikey. I I feel like being so much smaller. But, it's interesting all the side quests that Arman is doing. And I think if he would not do the troublemaking routines, which do get him a lot of attention, but also get him in trouble and not able to fight in the UFC, he could have been a a champion by now. Like the other day, he choked somebody out unconscious as like because they asked him to, but he didn't just choke him unconscious. When they went limp, he kept holding it for what felt like another 10 seconds, which is madness. You can do serious damage to somebody. I've seen somebody once that got caught in a head scissors, refused to tap, and his partner that was choking him couldn't see it because, you know, the head scissors you're not seeing their face, and he was kind of spasming, so he thought he was defending the choke, but it turns out he was just seizing. And when he let go, the guy came to, but he had like a I'm not sure if it was like a mini facial paralysis where half of his lip was in like a grin, and the other lip was down. So, he looked like Two-Face. And he had that for a full week before, fortunately, it uh fixed itself. But, that's not the type of territory you should be dabbling in, especially as a professional fighter. Like I hate it when people like, "Oh, you know, punch me the liver or choke me out." And fighters like indulge in that. It's very dumb. Cuz one of these days you're going to actually hurt somebody. Like especially the the liver shots. Like What happens if you you rupture an organ in there or you break a rib? And now you're going to hit be hit with a lawsuit potentially and get all this and like there's no benefit to you. And I don't blame the fans because they're they're they don't know better. They think, "Oh, I'm going to show how tough I am or I could I'm going to measure myself." They don't realize like the the level of damage that can be done by a professional fighter against an untrained, unprepared opponent. But the fighter knows. If someone asked me, "Oh, you know, put me in a Kimura. I want to see if you can break my arm." Like, "No, I'm not going to do that." Or uh choke me. Like, "No, I'm not going to do that." It's it's it's really dumb. Uh so, it always strikes me weird that fighters will do this especially now that there's a lot of money in the sport and they these people celebrities. Like you're attracting lawsuits to yourself. And I understand that one, it does bring media attention. But there is a thing as too much attention, right? Especially the wrong kind of attention. And I I feel like that's affected Arman in his career because he's blocking himself from getting a UFC title basically because he's always trafficking in this type of thing where he's getting lots of attention, but he's doing a lot of silly things. Thinking he needs to He's got enough eyeballs on him now. Like normally you'll play the heel and you know, if you're you know, playing this negative attention game where like you're getting into the headlines for the wrong reasons. There is a calculated risk in that. But once you've done that enough, the eyeballs are going to be on you now. You don't need to constantly do that, especially when you're capable of doing good things like he is. He's a very talented fighter. And there's obviously lots of talented fighters that don't have attention. He does, you know, the bit where he does something silly. Everybody wants to, including myself, you know, critique him for that. It worked. He got all this attention. But now you need to shift back into just being a fighter. At least a break between the incidents. Because when you do too many negative things, it makes you a liability and now no one's going to put you in to fight. That's my take on it anyways, cuz I would really like to see Arman challenge for a title. He had the opportunity and he lost it doing silly things. Uh so I understand that you got to do some of the silly stuff or what I at least I consider silly, but you got to temper it a little bit, right? Uh I think if you lean too much into it, you might end up in what I would consider like a Craig Jones situation, where he had his bit of being a funny guy doing these crazy things. And I I feel like he leaned so much into it, he forgot what he was doing. Or at least in my perception of it. Cuz he's a phenomenal grappler. But he enjoyed, I guess, the character that he played so much that it became him or maybe that's what's Maybe that's what he always was. It didn't It didn't strike me that way. Uh I felt like he realized like, "Oh, there's a lot of potential in being this celebrity versus just being a grappler, and I'll just do that instead." Uh and at least from the fan perspective, that's unfortunate, cuz I would have liked to see him continue to go after it, cuz he was very talented. He did have a very unique perspective. Yes, you know, Gordon might be better than him, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a place for him in in the sport. Uh he dismantled a lot of guys who I know were really good and made them look foolish. So, he's obviously very talented as well. But we kind of lost that from him and then we you know, it was like when he stepped out of the picture, people like, "Well, at least, you know, I don't mind. You still got Gordon." Gordon is out now, so we lost the top two guys. You know, and uh uh there isn't somebody with the star power that either of them had. It's interesting that they both left the game at the same time, too. If you think about it, it's like within months of each other. Uh you know, Craig I don't know if he's officially retired or unofficially retired. Either case, and then Gordon is pretty much officially retired. It's kind of murky there, but either way we we lost two of the best grapplers, in my opinion. And the most famous grapplers, as well. And the other ones, there's a lot of good guys, but they didn't have the pull that those two had. So, it's curious It's something to to wonder about, like with Gordon, it was a health issue. With Craig, it seems to be a motivation issue. But uh yeah, it it's interesting that they both fell out at the same time. And now we're there there's new people that are being built up, for sure, but they don't have the same spark as those two did. They That was a lightning in a bottle, if you will. Uh hopefully we can get some more lightning in the grappling arena soon, because I think it needs it. Uh we have a lot of venues now, but from my point of view, no mega stars. And we got stars. There's, you know, people like Mikey Musumeci, you know, he even though there's another thing, they keep matching him up with people that, in my opinion, and I see that's echoed in many others, are well under his skill level. Uh his recent match, the guy did a decent job, but it didn't seem to be a real threat. And then they just they announced some match-up with a guy I've never heard of, and no disrespect to him, but like I just haven't heard of you before. Uh I don't know if he's even won a title or anything like that. But it's like, man, like we have big-name guys, don't we? Like we can't find somebody, and I know that all the UFC has this exclusive contract thing going on that's scaring off people, but let's be serious. There's not a whole lot of money in grappling. I'm pretty sure the UFC can compensate people to make them look past that. All right? And even though that might upset some people, like, "Oh, you know, you took this guy away from me at DCC, or you know, whatever." The match-up should be able to happen. I don't think that especially from the grapplers that I know that they're very stingy or like very principled. I think if you show them enough money, they would jump over. And I wouldn't blame them for that, all right? Uh but it doesn't seem they're doing that. Or they're they're taking the first people who say yes, and that's what it appears like. Because none of these matches that they put up with Mikey are compelling. They they have no storyline, and there's no skill level threat. So, they really fall flat. What they do offer is opportunity for Mikey to showcase himself. But it's not one like, "Oh, is he going to win this one?" It's almost guaranteed he's going to win this one. It's just how he's going to win it. So, in my opinion, terrible matchmaking on the behalf of Mo Jassim They really need to find somebody that's compelling to put him against. And not just whoever says yes. And if they can't find compelling matches for him, man, I don't know why you have him then. Uh it's weird because in this past UFC BJJ, there were two new champions crowned. Those were good matches. Obviously, the skill level was warranted. Uh but they haven't done that for Mikey in uh in UFC BJJ yet. I know even one had a hard time doing that as well. They did throw him against some uh bigger names toward the end, but most of it he was being It felt like he was being fed. And uh yeah, like and he's one of the bigger stars, especially as a lightweight, but there's no intrigue in any of the fights that he's doing. He gets more intrigue for the things he does out of of the of the cage and out mats rather or the bowl, if you will, than he does in the bowl. And that's not a great formula, in my opinion. Uh I I feel like the best things you do, the most noteworthy, should be the things you've done in your actual career as a competitor versus as a celebrity. But he's not at the level of a a Gordon or a Craig, but he's up there. And I wish they would actually use that for good. Get some good opponents for him. Please. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I've seen the the people clamoring online like put him against somebody that could actually beat him. And I I know they're out there. Maybe they can't, but at least on paper let's do it. That's why it to me, hey Arman's interesting cuz Arman could beat him. I can see the case for it. So, even though it's in a totally wrong weight class, I'm there for it because at least okay, let's see put Mikey in a real threat. It's important guys. I feel like as the promoters I shouldn't have to tell you guys this, you know, and obviously the UFC's probably got ton more experience than I ever will, but it seems like you're not learning this. Some of these especially on what since I'm watching a lot of UFC BJJ things, there's not a lot of storyline going into some of these. And uh you should be making it. And I will echo I think Maragali had said that he doesn't believe that the UFC BJJ rule set works for BJJ and I have told you guys that before. It doesn't. It makes it for more boring match up in my opinion. The athletes can still make it exciting regardless, but you're the rule sets are hampering them. They're not helping them. Uh if they remove the rounds, just make it one 10-minute round. That's plenty. And if you want to do an overtime round, you can do that too, but since you're scoring, it doesn't really matter. Just do one 10-minute round. That means you're going to have to go all out in that one round. Either win it or you lose it. And you already have your criteria. You don't have to change the criteria. It makes it very simple. And from a competitor standpoint it's going to mean that you'll benefit from scoring your positions and holding them versus having these breaks. I'm not a fan of the rounds for grappling. To me, it breaks immersion of realism. We don't really get rounds in a street fight, so I don't want to see them. I don't like rounds in MMA either. I know they made the rounds so that it simulated the UFC, but they it's the shittiest part, in my opinion, of MMA fights is the rounds, and they brought that into grappling. And grappling's already It doesn't need that. And they shouldn't have it. They're not the same sports. You want to grade them the same way, but a round's okay, but I mean it by the, you know, the 10-9 must system. You can do that. I just don't think it's the greatest way of doing it. I think that the rule set and the structure for the USBJJ is not great. I've told you guys many times, PGF does a pretty damn good job. The matches go hard. You don't have to think, "Oh, this guy's stalling out." It doesn't happen in USBJJ. I mean, I mean that in PGF. So, I think that's a better format. I hope that that league continues to grow and start taking everybody's lunch because everyone else can learn a thing. Now, is that the absolute pinnacle best model? Probably not. But, is it the best model for TV? As of now, yes. It's the easiest to follow. The only thing I I guess you could gripe on, which it is a long event, all right? It's like 3 something hours uh for the standard season. That's a long time to stay tuned for. And I know there's a structure for it cuz they're doing two blocks at a time. Uh it they might and I know based on how they're creating the playoff picture and all of that and the time constraints they have, it's kind of a must for them. But it might be worth revisiting in the in the future just doing one block. It's less toil for the athletes and easier as a viewer to sit down. Because I don't have to go, "Okay, I got to clear out my next three or four hours to watch this." It could be I just have a an hour or two I'm going to watch. Especially with how short people's attention spans are. And plus, it is a big ask for someone to give up three or four hours, right? Uh but an hour or two hours, that's pretty reasonable for something that's happening once a week. And if you can go closer to the one hour, even better. Cuz I can picture like we're just doing one block once a week and I don't know how many blocks it takes for them. I guess it's 10 blocks. That's a 10-week season. You know, I I feel one is going to allow the athletes better recovery. They're going to be able to explode even more just because they don't have as much matches to worry about. And it allows the storyline to build for longer. Cuz now it's not like five weeks, now we're talking about 10 weeks. So you're getting more investment. If you missed a week, you don't have as much to catch up on, right? I just go, "Oh, it's just an hour I have to look back on versus I have to watch four hours or three hours." Uh so I think there's a lot of benefits to shorter form factor. But you know, I'm just the man in the Monday morning quarterbacking in the world, so take that for as you will. But I do think I know for at least for me personally, a shorter watch would be easier. Uh And there's already a considerable amount of matches in I forget. Are they doing two blocks or three blocks? I I you know, I might have it mixed up. But in any case, the structure is the same, just like less. You know, less is more. All right? Uh I I know this is something you see in any events all the time where they'll put like 40 fights in the card. You're like, "Dear God." And normally I I know as a coach you go, but you you usually have two or three guys fighting in a card and it's got 30 fights and you're like and you have the first fight and then maybe you have the last fight. It's happened to me a few times. You're like, "Son of a bitch." Cuz you have to sit through all these matches, you know? Uh So And I know that are the promotions they have that strategy because basically they're trying to get as much hometown crowd as possible, so they get like one or two guys from each gym, so they can get as many people in the audience as they can from each academy. But for a spectator, man, it's rough, right? I feel for me the sweet spot is somewhere around 10 fights. 10 matchups. Especially if the time duration is going to be between one or two hours. That's about as much as you want to be at one place watching the same thing. It's hard to stay invested for a long period of time. You know? That's my take on that anyways. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this. Uh I do want to give you guys some feedback. As far as I know I haven't made as many courses in these past few months. I was gone pretty much for most of March or all of March. And uh I did release a bunch of courses in January, but I've kind of let off my the foot off the pedal. I'm going to crack down, get some more courses into you guys. There were some things I were working on just before leaving. I want to fine-tune those and then I'll I'll teach them. And as well, when you guys have anything you want to work on, let me know because I don't know what I don't know. And if you're not giving me that feedback on saying, "Hey Dave, I want to learn this or that." To me, that might not be novel. So, I'm like, I I don't need to show this, but if to you it may be. And if that could be the low-hanging fruit for me that I can crank out very easily. Uh so, please feel free, send me a message, comment, uh email, however you want. Just let me know it there because I'm actually working on a couple courses that were suggestions from people that I'm going to start doing. Um so, just keep that in mind. Share with me. The more you guys share with me, the easier it makes my job, and I want to be as helpful to you as I can. That's all I got. Thank you for tuning in. I'll catch you next week.