Poetry in Motion: What Makes 'The Last Samurai' So Effective as a Fighter?
MMA fighters, in many ways, embody the pinnacle of athletic endeavors. Fighters need to be strong and fast, just like other sports that require explosive movement, but they also have to be in phenomenal cardiovascular shape. The physical demands of MMA are far less than half the battle. An athlete who is the elite of the elite, Greg Hardy, had a middling UFC career, often being knocked out or defeated by men who were smaller, slower, and weaker than he was. That’s because in MMA, one of the most physically demanding sports on earth, technique reigns supreme.
Jiri Prochazka would, to the untrained eye, be a perfect example of a fighter who is lacking in technique. He bounces around with his hands down, jumps in the pocket, regularly hurls knees, spinning elbows, and haymakers towards his opponent. He bounces around side to side, switching stances, and has a tendency to end up in a firefight. Fans will often remark on his seeming ability to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, knocking out an opponent who was beating him, and that is an ability he certainly does possess; his only losses in the UFC are to Alex Pereira, one of the greatest fighters ever, and in 38 professional fights, he has only gone to a decision twice. He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest finishers in the UFC, but how and why? How can a man with so many glaring technical flaws be so effective?
It’s not his physical attributes. Although Jiri is certainly no slouch physically, he’s on the small side for the 205-pound weight class and has, on multiple occasions, expressed a desire to move down to middleweight. His skill is concealed underneath an ugly shell, and it is potent indeed. There is perhaps an antiquated belief in the martial arts world, similar to what one would see in training montages of a movie starring Sylvester Stallone or Bruce Lee, that technique is something someone would train individually; it’s true at least in some sense. There is a proper way to throw a cross, a body kick, and attempt an armbar, and doing these things correctly will help someone win a fight more than doing them incorrectly.
Making this the focus of training is a grand mistake, though. A vast majority of what we view as ‘technique’ is invisible, in the space between the fighters. Skill in MMA is the way an athlete plays the game of feints and reads, their reactions, how they move and react in the deadly dance with their opponent. Jiri might have a weird, awkward manner of bobbing his head with his hands down, but in most cases, he adjusts his head at the last second to absorb the impact of the punch. He may throw weird, looping punches, but after analyzing his opponent’s movements and gauging their reactions, he’s often able to find a home for them. Skill in MMA goes far beyond what we can see, and Prochazka possesses it in spades. Look for him to use it on April 11th as he takes on Carlos ‘Black Jag’ Ulberg.
