Fighters Only

Issue 044

December 2008

This is YOUR page to tell us what you think of all things Fighters Only and MMA! What do you like? What don’t you like? Who do you want to see fight who? Send us your pics of you with fighters - and if you can slip a copy of FO into the pic, even better!

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Sherk must learn

I’ve got to take exception to the section in the article by Fortin regarding the Penn vs Sherk fight. While it is clear that Sherk’s strategy was not effective (in that he lost) it was probably his best chance of beating a class act like Penn. In defence of Sherk, he did attempt two takedowns in the first 15 seconds of the bout, so to say he was refusing to use his wrestling skills is wrong. Penn wouldn’t let him take him down or get close to it; his takedown defence and mobility is top shelf. GSP did take down Penn, but only from the clinch. Sherk didn’t learn from this.

It looked like Sherk came in trying to force the early pace, perhaps hoping his cardio would give him the advantage in the end. A good idea most would say. Penn, however, backed off most of the attacks (a lot of which missed), seldom let him close the distance and counter punched. Have you ever tried to take a guy down from a distance? You get murdered. Sherk, to his credit, actually landed a lot of shots, but Penn is pin-point accurate. Sherk’s movement (particularly of his head) was not good, this was his main problem.

The guy lost to a better fighter. That’s hard to take – don’t label him an egotist too – he used the best of his abilities. Nobody can really say what goes through a man’s mind.

Matt, via email

Fickle & fair-weather fans?

Ryan Harkness immediately set my alarm bells ringing when he described what is all too often seen on the Internet with the fickle and fair-weather fans. At first I thought he was making this point because it was his opinion. However the point was being made to demonstrate exactly the nature of the fans in MMA, and how it should be up to the fighters to decide when to retire, and how, possibly winning a match, keeping a title and having a legacy in your career record, isn’t everything. Neither is losing all those three always grounds for retirements. I’d be interested to hear his thoughts further on what he thinks about those fighters who ping-pong in and out of retirement.

I didn’t enjoy Jacob Fortin’s article as much as Harkness’s, however I think that what he was writing was absolutely true, and would not take issue with the case example he used to demonstrate his point. The main problem was that his area was extremely broad – it may have raised more questions than it answered.

Dave, via email

All Access

Fighters Only is a quality magazine! Maybe, as an idea, in every issue you could do an in depth look at a particular fighter, exploring everything from his training programme to his life outside the gym – a bit like UFC All Access but on paper, so I can follow it step by step! Also what’s happened to Karo Parisyan? How come he backed down from his fight at UFC88? They say it was a last minute back injury, but I reckon he’s got problems with his confidence – maybe he ought to read that article in last month’s issue, ‘Confidence Men’ – you should give him a free copy.

Jakril Hoque, via email

Ed: Jakril, Parisyan maintains his story that he pulled out with a last minute back injury, but has admitted in the recent past he suffers from an anxiety disorder and panic attacks. We at FO hope he makes a return to the Octagon fit and healthy in the near future.

Hot stuff!

I almost fainted when I saw this months cover with Tito Ortiz – good thing I’m a nurse! I am definitely getting a ‘prescription’ to the magazine. I was just wondering if I could backorder all of the others? Love your work; some of the best MMA articles I have ever read!

Jo-anne, via email

Ed: Thanks Jo-anne, back orders can be made by calling into the office or emailing [email protected]. They’d make a great Christmas present!