UFC Fight Night Alberquerque went over well... for the most part.

In between John Dodson's impressive display against John Moraga and Benson Henderson picking up a decisive submission win over Rustam Khabilov, there were some flat notes. I was in equal parts revolted and impressed by Bryan Caraway's confident fish-hooking of Erik Perez. And Diego Sanchez picking up yet anotherundeserved decision win over an opponent who definitively out performed him put a bitter taste in my mouth for the rest of the event.

We've got plenty to talk about so let's crack on.

Bryan Caraway Chokes Erik Perez

Bryan Caraway picked up a submission win over Erik Perez, securing his third submission win as a bantamweight, the second most at that weight class. But the win has been overshadowed by the fish hooking which occurred in attempting to secure the rear naked choke.

The striking portion of the fight was unspectacular, as Perez walked Caraway down and both threw hunched hooks at the air. Each time Perez got Caraway to the fence, he would throw a kick and get it caught. Eventually he was taken down off of this, and Caraway went straight to his back. The fight soon returned to the feet, however, and little else happened for the rest of the first round, spare a beautiful shot and sit out by Caraway in the final seconds.

The finish came in the second round as Caraway took back control on Perez once again. At one point in the fight, Caraway reached for Perez's chin, in order to lift it and sneak the choking arm underneath it, but Caraway's fingers wound up in Perez's mouth.

A fish hook is where you place a digit in the opponent's mouth and pull the inside of their cheek outwards. Awesome for a dirty scrap, if you can avoid getting your finger bitten off, but not really appropriate for MMA.

While Caraway was dominating anyway, and it didn't seem too integral in securing the tap, it does raise interesting questions about a hazy topic in MMA and grappling. What lengths are permissible in securing the rear naked choke?

B.J. Penn used to enjoy smothering the mouth and nose in order to encourage panic to triumph over the usual conservative, well practised response. Marcelo Garcia will almost palm strike the opponent's forehead towards him. Baret Yoshida will dig his forearm in beneath his opponent's nose and, and lift them by the snout. Allan Goes reportedly used to hook the blade of his wrist underneath the eyebrow and lift the opponent's head by the eye socket.

Fighting is a nasty game, and nasty tricks will always find a way through, but the fish hook is so rare and unpleasant that it went completely missed by a referee simply through it's unexpectedness.

Diego Sanchez “Wins” a Decision

The judging in mixed martial arts showed itself to be utterly atrocious yet again as Diego Sanchez picked up an undeserved decision win over Ross Pearson. I'm not sure how this came as a shock to anyone because it keeps happening when Diego Sanchez fights and it really underlines a basic lack of understanding in judges.

You can pretend it was a hometown decision for Sanchez, who was fighting out of Jackson / Winkeljohn, but it keeps happening. It happened against Martin Kampmann in Kentucky, and against Takanori Gomi in Saitama, Japan. It is not hometown bias, it is simply that judges just have no idea what they're watching.

I feel cruel to point this out because I did love watching Sanchez, and he was a wonderful fighter at his best (his beating of Nick Diaz was a perfect performance), but all Sanchez does now is move forward, pouting and swinging at air. And, unfortunately, judges love that.

Despite getting picked apart, eating counters, and taking repeated body shots while landing nothing, Sanchez could wave Pearson on, then rush him to the fence and swing. Hitting nothing but air, Sanchez would get a rise out of the crowd and the judges would say to themselves “yep, that's this round's winner."

It was the exact same against Kampmann, but at least in that fight Sanchez actually connected some shots. Kampmann struggles to get off the fence, and Sanchez had success there just as Rick Story did. But Pearson slipped Sanchez's swings and circled off of the fence within seconds of being moved there.

There is an appreciable art in stealing rounds through putting on a burst of offence at the end. I didn't agree with Sugar Ray Leonard's decision win over Marvellous Marvin Hagler, but I respected the understanding he showed of judging and the bursts of speed and accuracy he put on at the end of the round. But Ray Leonard was connecting punches, he was showing incredible bursts of offense—Sanchez (like Leonard Garcia, the king of the questionable split decision), hit nothing but air.

This is stealing a round through accurate, effective offense. Boxing journalists can't agree on the result of this fight to this day



This is stealing a round through ineffective but eye catching offence. There is no respected journalist arguing that Sanchez deserved to win this fight.

Pearson easily out landed Sanchez throughout (though it was a conservative performance by his ususal standards) and even in these wild charges only one or two punches in seven or eight would connect. Sanchez's connection ratio came out at about 24%, which is woefully low, especially when he threw so rarely—but really demonstrates that big motions, rather than accurate strikes, are what catch the judges' attention.

Judging is a hard job, and it is a responsibility which I do not envy. But most of us have to justify our actions at work. If you are an MMA or boxing judge, you can score a fight terribly, through incompetence or corruption, and then you go home. There is no need to actually understand what you're watching, there are no real qualifications needed, you simply get put ringside and decide what happens with a fighter's career.

If any judges are reading this article, I beg you to familiarize yourselves with what you are watching. And if you aren't going to go out and do the research—just understand this:

Activity is not effectiveness and mugging for the crowd is not indicative of winning.

Benson Henderson Submits Rustam Khabilov

It has been a while since Benson Henderson finished an opponent, and his fourth round routing over the scary Dagestani, Rustam Khabilov did much to win him back some fan affection. In the opening round it looked as though Khabilov's incredible strength and wrestling chops were troubling the former champion. Henderson walked Khabilov towards the fence over and over, but Khabilov came out on top with his takedown attempts.

What Henderson did well was to keep pushing to the fence, landing a few good strikes, moving into the clinch, and scrambling up when Khabilov succeeded in his excellent takedown attempts. Henderson couldn't avoid being taken down, but by making sure to hook a leg when Khabilov moved for one of his brilliant, but labour intensive suplexes, Henderson made himself impossible to rag doll and avoided the dangerous slams.

It was apparent that Henderson and his camp were well prepared for him to be taken down multiple times as he pushed the pace, but brilliant takedowns and brilliant top control are two completely different things.



Henderson pushes to the fence with strikes then fights unsuccessfully against the takedown, but immediately scrambles back up. This sequence of events repeated itself throughout the fight.

Henderson's scrambling ability was on full display, as was his creativity. There was a time in martial arts, before Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, where it was thought that kicking techniques on the ground were all you needed. Obviously BJJ came along and sorted us all out, setting our thinking straight, but when you get a guy who can compete at ADCC in grappling and kick well in MMA, you get to see some interesting stuff. Henderson's use of the knee shield / scissor guard position to create space against Khabilov was an effective way to keep the smothering wrestler off him and test the Russian's guard passing.

As soon as Khabilov sat back, Henderson withdrew his knee shield and side kicked Khabilov in the chest, before standing up. Beautiful stuff.



Henderson moves to the fence with strikes again, Khabilov picks up the takedown. Henderson works to elevate Khabilov from butterfly guard but is forced to move back to open guard. Henderson creates space with the knee shield / scissor guard in order to land elbows and relieve attacking pressure. Henderson side kicks to create distance and stands.

Earlier in the event the always inventive Jon Tuck scored the first tapout which I can think of due to heel strikes from back mount. B.J. Penn used to masterfully use heel kicks to the solar plexus from back mount—as soon as his opponent started worrying about it, and moving his hand to defend his body, The Prodigy would clamp his leg down over the hand and keep it there while he worked 2 hands on 1 for the choke finish.



Tuck's heel kick finish of Jake Lindsey.

What I enjoyed so much about Henderson's performance was his constant aggression. By continually walking Khabilov to the fence he created pressure on Khabilov. Pressure to fight, pressure to move. If you are moving forward, you force the other man to do something. It didn't matter that Henderson was being taken down, he would get up and start pursuing Khabilov again, and by the end of round 2, Khabilov looked knackered.



Henderson pressuring Khabilov along the fence, notice the energy Khabilov exerts in running around to get off of the fence. Khabilov gets the takedown, Henderson threatens with his guillotine, then elevates with butterfly hooks and looks to come up on the single, before hitting the sit out and coming out on top.

The finish came in round four as Henderson moved Khabilov to the fence yet again, and leapt in with a lead corkscrew uppercut to left straight. The classic Naseem Hamed fight finisher.



Henderson rushes Khabilov along the fence, and catches the exhausted Khabilov clean this time.



Naseem Hamed using the corkscrew lead uppercut to achieve a dominant angle to land his left straight. Beautiful.

As Khabilov dropped, Henderson went straight for the neck, rather than moving to secure both hooks. Marcelo Garcia heavily advocates this prioritizing of the choke in advanced grapplers because experience teaches most fighters to defend the hooks first, in counter to the usual “position before submission” philosophy.

Benson Henderson was the favourite coming in, and for good reason, but let's not use this performance to write off Khabilov's potential. This was his first bout which was scheduled for beyond 15 minutes and Henderson did exactly what he should have done to take advantage of that. He kept Khabilov moving for the entire 15 minutes of the first three rounds, whether it was defensively or offensively. By the fourth, Henderson had a sluggish, sitting target in front of him.

It isn't the case that five round bouts separate the men from the boys—they separate those who could be champions, from those who are ready to be champions. Give Khabilov a few more fights and some more experience against top tier competition, and we'll get a real read on his potential.

Pick up Jack Slack's new ebook, Fighting Karate at his blog, Fights Gone By. Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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