Running scared or fighting smart?

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There’s a sh*t storm a brewing in the MMA community and it’s a topic that has ardent supporters on both sides. I’m of course referring to “game planning,” and more specifically, the use of footwork to avoid getting hit. Now granted, no one wants to get hit, and it’s smart to avoid getting punched in the face, but this is after all MMA. It’s two guys fighting in a cage in front of thousands of people. It’s a spectator sport. So the question for me is, where does one draw the line?So whether you’re more apt to call it “footwork” or “running,” whatever it is was on full display this past Friday night when Maynard vs. Guida went toe to toe. And for those of you that missed it, Guida spent the majority of the fighting bouncing in and out of range and circling away from the heavy handed Maynard. A visibly frustrated Maynard even dropped his hands completely in round 3 just as a ploy to get Guida to engage, eating a few punches for his effort. But when the dust finally settled, Maynard walked away with a close split decision W.

The question is, even though it wasn’t what anyone expected from the 6x Fight of the Night recipient, was it a smart move? The gift of hindsight tells us no, it wasn’t the smart move because Guida lost a close split decision. But when you consider that a smaller, and decidedly less talented fighter was even that close, you have to recognize the merit of playing to your strengths. And it wasn’t as though Guida didn’t inflict any damage, as he landed only 4 and 3 less significant and total strikes according to Fight Metric.

You can also make the argument that it’s not Guida’s fault for playing to his strengths, rather it was Maynard’s fault for allowing it to happen. Ironically, I’m sure Maynard has had to deal with his fair share of critics, blaming him for boring fights due to “lay and prey” tactics. And I’m sure he told all of them, “If you don’t like it, stop it.” And so couldn’t the same thing be said about fighters that chose to use footwork and elusiveness? After all, it’s not up to your opponent to bend to your will…rather it’s quite the opposite.

If you ask me, I can’t fault Guida for doing what he did. Sure it wasn’t the most exciting fight in the world, but he did the best he could with his skill set. It’s no different than the Pittsburgh Steelers running the ball down your throat, or the Piston’s of the late 80′s literally punching people in the throat; they both found a way to win and that’s all that people remember.

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Haven't watched the fight yet, but I'm sure it was more Jackson Camp tactics. Basically Carlos Condit vs Nick Diaz all over again?

I gotta agree to a point. At least Clay did engage through the fight, look at Maynards face at the end of the fight he had to be hit by something!

Guida could not stand and bang with Maynard just doesn't have the power at least he didn't lay and pray like a lot of wrestlers do. Don't whine if you can't hit the guy or take him down find a way of engaging him or narrowing the octagon down.

Thought it was low-class for Maynard to not even shake Guida's hand at the end.

Don't blame the player blame the game.

Call it a game plan or a strategy or footwork or whatever.
At the end of the day I will not pay to watch fighters who fight in this matter.
And my hope is, if there are others who think like I do, Dana will not give big contracts/fights to these types of fighters either.

I enjoy watching fights. Not a game of outpointing another guy with jabs.

I knew this fight would not have fireworks before it even started. Take two boring fighters and you will likely get a boring fight. The fight met expectations.

I do like "warnings for not engaging". What if Maynard would have had the same gameplan going into this fight? What happens when niether fighter engages?

It's not like Clay goes out there and does that point shit every fight. He's got 19 finishes out of 29 wins. 6 X Fight of the Night, 2 X Sub of the night, and multiple fight of the year awards. This was a good strategy to beat "The Bully" IMO. You don't go out and try to out muscle a stronger wrestler, nor do you go and stand in the pocket and trade punch for punch with a guy who has heavier hands.

If they want to ban point jabbing in a ufc fight than they really need to ban lay and pray. They are both game plans used to safely win a fight and is also very boring to watch both. Do think the hair pulling and refusing to shake clays hand says a lot about grey and was a very big douche move.

Chrom wrote:

It's not like Clay goes out there and does that point shit every fight. He's got 19 finishes out of 29 wins. 6 X Fight of the Night, 2 X Sub of the night, and multiple fight of the year awards. This was a good strategy to beat "The Bully" IMO. You don't go out and try to out muscle a stronger wrestler, nor do you go and stand in the pocket and trade punch for punch with a guy who has heavier hands.

Agree.
However, you do see a recent trend with Guida (see last 3 fights). I used the "free pass" excuse for Guida after his horribly boring decision victory over Pettis. Now he has 3 decisions in a row.
We all know Maynard's impressive resume of not finishing a fight in almost 5 years.

lets not forget that grey was pulling clays hair when nothing else seemed to work

Don't think for a second that I am sticking up for Gray.
He is the worst of the worst when it comes to a long history of being the most boring fighter in MMA. I don't know any other fighter that has strung together as many fights in a row without a finish. Embarrassing. He's even worse than Fitch.

Just saying for a fight where no fighter really won, I don't understand all the angst over Maynard getting the decision. From my point of view, he is the only fighter to actually push forward and actually try to get the other fighter to engage. I don't think the hair pull was intentional... maybe Guida should cut his damn hair if he's that concerned about it. Remember, Guida also gouged Maynard's eye in the fight as he was continuously pawing at him with open handed weak jabs. Guida was also warned for running away constantly.

IMO, the fight was a draw, but I would have had no big problem regardless.