Month: December 2017

Categories
MMA UFC WMMA

UFC 219 Cyborg vs Holm #AndStill

The last event of the year UFC 219 was all about Cyborg and Holm – the two current giants of Women’s MMA. The endless debates and predictions of will she or won’t she. Finally, judgement day had arrived and both of these female fighters were keen to finish 2017 with a bang. The Americans clearly desired an upset by Holm, though none would admit that their choice was perhaps influenced by national pride. Anyone who had seen Cyborg fight, without the influence of any coloured tinted glass would certainly find it difficult to bet against her.

Main Card Female Fight I: Calvillo vs Esparza

Cynthia Calvillo and former Strawweight champion Carla Esparza gave an excellent performance to whet the appetite for women MMA fans. Calvillo came in aggressive and dominated Esparza for the better part of the first round. The dominance was reversed in favour of Esparza in the second and third round with several take downs attempts and a good range of attack strategies. The fight went into decision and Carla Esparza won by unanimous decision. Some reacted negatively to the decision, calling it a bad call by the judge. For me, a solid women’s fight is always a win for WMMA.

 

Main Event Cris Cyborg vs Holly Holm

And so the fight is finally here, after years of discussion and months of hype, I was practically salivating with excitement. The consensus I felt from social media, at least in the English speaking world, everyone wanted Holm to win but believe Cyborg was the stronger athlete.

While I was disappointed the fight had to go to decision, the fight was nail biting for me. Both women were simply excellent fighters. Holly Holm, confronted with a formidable opponent not only took Cyborg to the 5th round, she was the first person in over 9 years to push a fight with Cyborg to a decision.

Cyborg was calm, composed and showed no signs of fatigue in the entire match. As a strong and confident fighter, the overall favourite, she never let her guard down and never showed any signs of frustrations or annoyance for not being able to take Holm down with a knock out.

In the end, the fight created an enormous amount of excitement, chatter and debate for women MMA in the last weekend of a year that had been fruitful for women in combat sport. I am happy Cyborg won, not simply because she is an incredibly skilled athlete, but because she had risen above all critiques and mockery of her and defeated one hellavu fighter with such composure.

Categories
Book Reviews Boxing

Review of book “The Murder of Sonny Liston”

The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and HeavyweightsThe Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights by Shaun Assael
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sonny Liston is a fascinating character. He was born and raised in very difficult circumstances – abused, neglected and was almost invisible to the world – an irony for a child who grew up so large. He somehow managed to become one of the best fighter not simply for his generation but also regarded often as top boxer of all times. As a man he was full of flaws, but not without virtue. Yet most people only saw him as a junkie, womaniser and an illiterate angry black criminal. And so his death was duly ignored and dismissed by the public. His talent for boxing was just astonishing I often wondered what great heights he might have attained if things hadn’t been this rough for him at the start.

Shaun Assael painted a complete picture of his life through the eyes of everyone – those who used him, despised him, those who loved him and believed him, and those who simply understood him and put up with his terrible habits. The book was written in a true journalistic observational style, with little interceding personal opinions. He covered all grounds and explored as much as he could, exhausting every avenue of the mystery surrounding Liston’s death. Every concerns, no matter how sensitive or unsavoury was discussed. Tragically, there was little that can be done today with such an enormous time lapse.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was an easy read for a non-fiction with such a large cast of colourful characters, each playing a complicated role in that complex world where law enforcement and criminals were divided by a blurred line. It also shed some light on the beginnings of Las Vegas, with a few unexpected personalities such as Frank Sinatra – rather informative.

View all my reviews

Categories
Boxing Martial Arts Mental Health MMA

Death and Martial Arts

 

MMA Legend Randy Couture on Instagram

Death is concept that is never far from the mind of a martial artist. In the case of Robert Follis, it may have been a thought that sat for too long in his consciousness since he lost one of his brothers via suicide.

It is no news that many successful combat sport athletes came a difficult background. Death within the family, or the stark absence of loved ones that is a akin to a metaphoric version of death feeds into a deep dark void of anguish that is often inextinguishable. It is a common misconception that athletes sought violence as a remedy to relieve their need to punch out at the world. In fact, there is a kind of peace in devoting body and mind to an heightened focus that can only be achieved when in intense combat.

Unfortunately, the biggest battle of all lies not within the competitive arena, but within the confines of one’s skull. The most difficult every fighter faces is usually himself. It is sadly through suicide when that war is finally lost.

The sudden death of Robert Follis, a young, healthy and successful MMA coach, well regarded within his community sent shock waves within industry. One of his most well know student Miesha Tate became a UFC Women’s Bantamweight title holder under his guidance – that is a testament to his outstanding work as a trainer. The Follis’ family have asked for privacy, and the entire MMA community, trainers, fighters, writers and viewers alike held their tongues dutifully. None had dared to discuss the D word and the S word.

Tragically, Robert Follis is not the first to stun the pugilistic world with such an abrupt departure. But one can hope the community can learn to be watchful of each other, to be open and accepting to those who are brave enough to discuss their inner demons, perhapshe will be the last.

Categories
Boxing Women Boxing

Taylor vs McCaskill- andstill

Gone are the days where female prize fights are the warm-up rounds. Thanks to the likes of Claressa Shields for boxing and Ronda Rousey for MMA, women are starting to lead the way in headline acts for professional bouts.

Ward vs Giner

On the evening of Wed 13th Dec 2017 in London, Katie Taylor meets Jessica McCaskill for the first defence of the WBA lightweight title. They met shortly after the European super-featherweight title between Martin J Ward v Juli Giner, where Martin became the new title holder after his left hook brought Giner to a halt at the 6th round. A clean finish that fired up the crowd in keener anticipation for their main event.

Taylor vs McCaskill

It is no secret that McCaskill chased Taylor unrelentingly for months before the fight was arranged. Considering the mighty legendary status that Taylor holds on the opposite of the Atlantic, McCaskill appears to hold little or no apprehension when the fight was set up in London, an almost home ground for Taylor.

McCaskill’s relentless chasing went all the way into the ring. In the first few rounds, Taylor stayed calm, compose while McCaskill pushes forward with a fierce determination. It was as though she had no intention to run all 10 rounds and is willing to risk her stamina for an early termination.

The main difference between the two fighters, for me anyway, is that Taylor is still playing a sport whereas McCaskill has no interest in scoring, all her strikes are intend for a knock out. At some point it appears to me, Katie Taylor realised just how intense McCaskill’s attacks were. By that stage the cheers of the crowd, instead of fueling her confidence seem to make her more stressed.

It was a spectacular fight for me, neither girls fray at any point, both maintaining a strong will. Taylor seems to gain more control at the end, grasping McCaskill’s technique when both became fatigued. The crowd roars toward the last minute. Everyone held their breathe till the end.

Unanimous decision for Katie Taylor. And still.

No worries Jessica McCaskil you’ll sure gain yourself a few new fans. One of them is me 👍😃

 

 

 

 

Categories
MMA UFC WMMA

Counting down to UFC 219

UFC 219

There are countless reasons why I am bursting with anticipation for UFC 219. It will occur mid-afternoon of 31st Dec 2017 here in Australia – last day of the year and potentially one of the most exciting day of the year for me.

Cyborg vs Holm

I’m not going to deny it – I’m personally more drawn to Cyborg. I am CYan, she is CYborg…Alright, that’s not the reason why. When I see her fight, I find her to be an incredibly focused woman, as though she was one of those few people who knew exactly what they wanted to do the moment they drew their first breath in this world. She shows no signs of fear, no apprehension, no interest in anything else except to destroy that unfortunate person sharing the cage with her.

Neither can I deny the accomplishments of Holly Holm, she had held titles in professional Boxing, Kickboxing and MMA. That’s akin to a ‘triple threat’ of contemporary prize fighting. Not to mention she defeated Ronda Rousey when so many other great women fighters failed.

I have pondered over this subject night and day, in the end, I believe I will be truly happy whoever wins, whether by submission or knock out, AS LONG AS IT IS NOT BY DECISION!

Image from UFC: Cris Cyborg and Holly Holm

Calvillo vs Esparza

Additionally I am also keen to watch yet another come back attempt by Carla Esparza. Since her loss to Joanna Jedrzejczyk more than 2 1/2 years ago, her participation in the sport was sparse for almost 2 years, and her performance have been lacklustre. That is no surprise nonetheless. Losing a title can be devastating. It took her Ronda Rousey over a year before she attempted another UFC fight. Since Esparza’s loss in March 2015, she had not secure neither submission nor knock out wins. Her opponent, the still undefeated Cynthia Calvillo, on the other had had secured 3 out of 4 fights via submissions and TKO just this year.

 

#UFC #UFC219 #Criscyborg #cyborgnation #cyborgvsholm #hollyholm #holm #Carlaesparza #Esparza #Jedrzejcyk #CynthiaCalvillo #Calvillo #UFCStrawweight #UFCFeatherweight

Categories
Neuroscience

One small step for a disease, one large milestone for the brain

Huntington’s disease is devastating neurodegenerative disease that affects one in 10,000 people. It is a hereditary condition that has no known cure. If one parent has it, the children will each have a 50-50 percent chance of developing the disease. Symptoms often appear between the ages 30-50. Patients usually require full time care at the end of their lives, living the last days in a vegetative state.

The challenge for any brain disorder is the lack of quick and easy tests or cheap and definitive imaging technology to help with diagnosis. At the early stages, symptoms are not particularly specific, including mood swings, problem with memory and unsteady walk. Many will simply associate these behaviours as a natural part of aging. Without easy to access, conclusive diagnostic tools people generally only seek medical attention when the symptoms are undeniable or severe, which sometimes is a catch-22 for a patience with cognitive defects.

A recent breakthrough by a team in the University College of London (UCL) means a cure maybe in sight for this dreadful disease. For more information on the cure, please refer to the article on BBC:

 

BBC: Huntington’s breakthrough may stop disease

While the research team are cautious not to brand it as the complete remedy, it is a significant milestone, possibly the biggest breakthrough in neuroscience for 50 years. Aside from the research scientists, credits must be given to the patients who participated in the experiment.

There is hope, not simply for the patients and family of Huntington’s disease, but also for other neurodegenerative conditions. With a cure in sight, more funding may be diverted into this research, which could branch off to developing, cures for similar brain disorders. There are those who describe Huntington’s as a tragic combination of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. But here’s hoping that a cure for one will spin off to become a cure for many.

 

#huntingtons #braindisorder #neuroscience #brainscience #parkinsons #alzheimers #parkinson #alzheimer #brain