Since the dawn of time, man has always had the internal urge to compete. To deny this is to the denial of the the internal right to be human. Although we remain civilized, there is always that primal beast that reigns inside of us. There are many misconceptions about Mixed martial arts, but in any combatative sport, its rare to see two fighters in their primes face off from two different weight classes. In example, Hagler vs Hearnes, was one of these.
Here:
Even though it was a great fight Liddell Vs Silva came too late, after both men feel from the apex, much like Kid Icarus after flying too close to the sun.

This Saturday, we get a rare opportunity to see two greats each have a shot at who becomes a legend. As BJ put it “greatest fighting mind” vs “Greatest body”. This matchup pits the ever dangerous boxing and ground game of BJ Penn vs the sports most coveted athlete known for the best wrestling in MMA, very crisp strikes(especially kicks), and a ferocious torrent of a fight pace.

Not only is this fight a rematch where St. Pierre won a wafer-thin split decision victory after controlling the final two rounds due to his wrestling, it gives Penn the chance for immortality in the fact he has the first opportunity ever in UFC history to hold two belts simultaneously. In the first matchup, round 1 consisted of Penn controlling the standup, cutting and hurting George with his superior boxing,naturally heavy hands and zen-like approach.

With Penn and St. Pierre, however, we not only have smaller fighters not typically associated with “big fight” intrigue that heavyweights garner, but we have two of the most technical fighters in any weight class. St. Pierre, in fact, is widely regarded as the most “complete” fighter in the entire sport. Combined with a five-round fight, MMA initiates either witnessing the fight live or through the prism of mainstream reporting will likely be treated to the most high-end MMA available anywhere. The fight, then, offers the one-two punch combination of potentially readjusting perceptions of who actually competes in MMA while also redefining what activity constitutes an actual MMA fight. Goodbye scary toughman, hello intriguing technicalman.

The sport will undoubtedly grow and shift in ways no one can foreshadow at this time. There will be peaks. There will be troughs. Twists and turns await us all. Welcome developments and lamentable moments are all but inevitable. But as each new corner is turned, a fight will emerge that will represent the best of what that era represents and signifies in the long and undulating historical narrative woven each day.

Each of those new days and new eras will have their fight. But on January 31st, this age of MMA will get its own to enjoy. The Penn-St. Pierre rematch is the sport of mixed martial arts reaching its resolute zenith in our present era. It is the best the sport can offer and, unequivocally, the best that can be imagined.

Here is the first part of UFC’s Primetime, which Dana White spent 1.7 million on 3 episodes of GSP/BJ before the fight:

Final part:

Credit in part to Sherdog.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 10:04 pm and is filed under Events, Fashion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.