The O and the D

Victorious were they who reverted to training under stress. We watched, I with the hungry eye of a student, as UFC 81 played out on the huge TV in Justin's living room. This was the night where worlds collided. A sports entertainment juggernaut and a fighter who most have written off since a career jarring 2004 motorcycle accident went to the mattresses in front of countless pairs of eyes, all looking forward to the imminent crossover of many athletes from other arenas into the octagon. Soon ex-Footballers and basketballers and all types will step into the 8 sided beast and get reckoned with. Yes gilrs, The UFC has just established itself as Home Base for mixed martial arts and revenue generating events both live and Pay Per View. Aside from the dollar signs climbing over each other like refugees, viewers were assaulted with testaments to the value of a background in Brazilan Jiu-Jitsu. Both fights occupying the headline featured sound and clinic-worthy Jits practiced by big slabs of beef. 255 lb. Frank Mir's first round win by submission over WWF?E? competitor(?) Brock Lesnar, a top heavy but graceful 265 and 244 pound bully Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's public undressing of the motor skill deficient Tim Sylvia are two fights that will undoubtedly serve the future of fighting better as textbook aids than highlight reels. Don't mistake my degradation of the value of the fight for replay purposes for dissatisfaction with the matchplay-I thought the two heavyweight bouts were excellent selections for my research. To see a two-hunned-forty plus pounds 'Minotauro' climb around a floored opponent with cucumberesque temperature and then bend the guy into crying uncle is a sight. And the 'return' as some have dubbed this, of Frank Mir also gave us a look into what happens when two hulking mammals, both skilled on the ground, are told to battle for dinner: the fluid, patient jiu-jitsu defense of Mir, reminiscent of those impenetrable, trapping defenses the New Jersey Devils employed en route to multiple Stanley Cups, served to drop and tap the mobile beast Lesnar. And only moments after the former NCAA wrestling champ was atop Frank Mir's guard, pounding points away from himself in what looked to be a Tango Kilo Oscar. But as Lesnar was reset by the ref and the fight again went to the ground, apparently on the terms of both athletes, it was a veteran moment of poised hesitance by Mir that fed him a vulnerable leg from Lesnar that was pulled into submission. An excellent end to a career friendly fight from both blokes. Minotauro Nogueira, at work on Tim Sylvia at the end of that fight, has me beyond stoked to begin Brazilain Jiu Jitsu in a formal manner. He went up one side of that dude, and came down the other. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's mastery of BJJ was on display as much as that unclaimed title was up for grabs. Minotauro floated over Sylvia while he lay on his back, pinned by Nogueira's strength and outfoxed by his slippery attack. It was a right bloody demonstration of offensive jiu-jitsu.