If you’ve ever watched a football game, particularly at the collegiate or professional level, then you know that cornerbacks have a very difficult job.  After all, they’re consistently asked to cover wide receivers without the ability to hit them past five yards (cover means stop them from catching the ball).  And, of course, there are times when the person they’re being asked to cover burns them for a first down or even a touchdown.  That’s the tough part.  Anyone that knows anything about sports will tell you that performance is often tied to the mental aspect of things more than the physical.  Coming back from being burned in the worst way is difficult.  It can get into your head.

Thus, cornerbacks are asked to learn from their previous mistakes and then forget them.  They must attack the next play by correcting what they didn’t do the last time but still managing to forget the negativity.  In other words, they still need to walk onto the field believing that they’re the best there is; that they can stop the receiver.

UFC fighter Rashad Evans needs to do the same thing.  The last time he stepped into the UFC Octagon, he was the organization’s light heavyweight champion.  But in a blur it became quite clear that he wouldn’t be the champion for long, as it was Lyoto Machida’s night; one that ended with a KO loss for Evans.  So now here’s the question, fresh off of his first professional loss- a devastating and decisive one at that- how will Evans perform against Thiago Silva at UFC 108?  Will he learn from the mistakes that he made and still enter the Octagon with the confidence he’s always had?  Or will he question his skills when he takes on a bruising adversary, who coincidentally also had to come back from a Machida knockout loss in his last fight.

The answer to that question may decide this UFC 108 encounter.

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Rashad Evans And The Psychology Needed To Overcome A KO Loss originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 18:26:01.

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What do you do if you want to popularize a martial art?  Well, one way to go about it is to declare it the national sport of your country.  And that’s exactly what Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri helped secure by championing the recently signed Republic Act (RA) 9850 on December 11, which declared Arnis as the national martial art and sport of the Philippines.

“It’s sad that arnis is more important and more popular abroad than inside the Philippines. They have national and international competitions,” Zubiri said in an article at BusinessMirror.com.  But with arnis’s new status, Zubiri, a former world champion in the sport, hopes that it will become just as important to Filipinos as it is to the rest of the world.

But there’s more to his sponsorship of the law than just that.  “The main reason I sponsored the law is to unify all styles of arnis-kami eskrima under the Filipino Martial Arts, or FMA,” said Zubiri. In other words, the FMA will oversee the development of arnis and other indigenous forms of martial arts in the hopes that it will lead to positive developments.

Nice effort by the Senator.

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Senator Zubiri Hopes To Popularize Arnis In The Philippines originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Thursday, December 24th, 2009 at 06:57:17.

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Sherlock Holmes is a flawed character with amazing intellect.  He’s the master of figuring out mysteries.  Oh yeah, and he can also kick some butt in the recently released movie starring Robert Downey Jr.

“I’ve been studying martial arts for the past six years and love bare- knuckle boxing,” Downey recently told the Chicago Sun Times. “This (the movie) was just a choreographed version of what I know how to do.”

Of course, this will likely bring some viewers with a martial arts background into the mix.  Further, Guy Ritchie (director) appears to have a different take on some of the fight scenes that sounds quite intriguing, if you haven’t seen the movie yet.

“Guy [Ritchie, the director] made it clear we were going to do something called Holmes Vision,” Downey said. ”You see Holmes’ vision of a punch before he delivers it and then you see the real thing. For the slow-motion fighting scenes, Guy used to tell me to try a take where I was punching through peanut butter. That was the strangest direction I’ve ever got on a film set.”

Sounds like a flick worth watching.

Robert Downey Junior Puts Martial Arts Training To Good Use In Sherlock Holmes originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Saturday, December 26th, 2009 at 08:17:34.

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Stop monkeying around, you’ll tell me after reading this article.  But apparently, what you’ll soon read really happened.

That’s right, according to the Seattle Times a bunch of monkeys trained in Tae Kwon Do over in China put on regular shows for mall shoppers in Enshi.  Unfortunately for trainer Lo Wung, he recently slipped during a show, which caused one of them to kick him in the head.  Then things got even more out of hand.

“I saw one punch him in the eye,” said Hu Luang, who was filming the proceedings. “He grabbed another by the ear, and it responded by grabbing his nose.”

What can you say other than that’s monkey business!

Tae Kwon Do Monkeys Beat Up Trainer In China originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Friday, December 25th, 2009 at 05:25:12.

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Scott Smith has done it many times before.  Well, add another highlight reel end of the fight comeback to his list.

Cung Le was basically dismantling him with spinning back kicks and every other kick that one could possibly imagine for two rounds.  But in the third, Le got caught by a rocket left hand that dropped him.  From there, Smith kept connecting on an opponent that got up only to fall down again after a big right.  A couple of strikes on the ground later, and that was that.

Scott Smith wins by knockout at 3:25 of round three.

Scott Smith Defeats Cung Le By KO originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 00:19:31.

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We haven’t really heard a lot about Cris “Cyborg” Santos since she dominated Gina Carano back in August. Well, that’s all about to change.  You see, word is that she will be defending her 145-pound Strikeforce title against Marloes Coenen in Miami in January. 

“Everybody has a flaw in their game,” Coenen recently said.  “And I’ve seen flaws in her game.”

Of course, getting to those flaws when Santos is throwing leather at you is the hard part.  Looking forward to seeing Cyborg back in action.

Cristiane Cyborg Santos vs. Marloes Coenen In January originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 07:12:21.

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In the main event of the evening at WEC 45, Donald Cerrone overcame some early point deductions for low blows to submit Ed Ratcliff in the third round.  Here are the rest of the results from last night’s card.

WEC 45 Results

Donald Cerrone defeats Ed Ratcliff via rear naked choke in the third round.

Anthony Njokuani defeats Chris Horodecki via first round TKO.

Joseph Benavidez defeats Rani Yahya via first round TKO.

 Scott Jorgensen defeats Takeya Mizugaki via unanimous decision.

Bart Palaszewski defeats Anthony Pettis via split decision.

 Zack Micklewright defeats Muhsin Corbbrey via unanimous decision.

Chad George defeats John Hosman via unanimous decision.

Brandon Visher defeats Courtney Buck via TKO.

Brad Pickett defeats Kyle Dietz via submission.

Erik Koch defeats Jameel Massouh via unanimous decision.

WEC 45 Results – Donald Cerrone Submits Ed Ratcliff originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 07:19:31.

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Before taking on the absolutely enormous Cheick Kongo at UFC 107, Frank Mir said, “my long term goal is Brock Lesnar’s demise.” Would this kind of forward thinking prove to be foolish with a different challenge in front of him in the here and now? One word: Nope.

Mir came out willing to strike with his adversary. Simply put, he utilized good head movement, connected with a big left hand that dropped Kongo, and then choked him out cold. In the end, a revitalized and much bigger Mir made it look easy.

Frank Mir wins by submission at 1:12 of round one. And he didn’t even have the leverage people usually need to sink in the guillotine.

Check out the rest of our UFC 107 results

Frank Mir Submits Cheick Kongo At UFC 107 originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 00:00:42.

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We often read about people gaining a lot from getting involved in the martial arts. Such was the case with Shirley Bendell, a recent inductee into the International Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame. Bendell, a victim of both gang and acquaintance rape that lost her sister to an unsolved murder began participating in the martial arts back in 1980.  She believes that the move helped her to become a victor, not a victim.  Today, she holds a Fifth-Degree Black Belt in Song Moo Kwan Tae Kwon Do, Freestyle Karate, Shitu Jujitsu and Shitu Judo. 

However, Bendell has done more than just take from the martial arts; she has also given to them. You see, over the past 18 years she’s taught more than 1,300 women and girls in a special sexual-assault prevention class.  She has also instructed many in regular classes and thinks of those she works with like extended family.

Bendell received the Hall of Fame honor from her husband, Don, for these reasons and more, making them the first husband-wife team to be inducted.  In fact, Bendell had no idea that she was even the guest of honor at the annual Bendell Karate Awards Banquet at Shrine Hall in Pueblo West, instead believing she was going to receive a surprise visit from one of her famous friends.

“I cannot believe this,” Bendell said following the presentation. “This is one of the best days of my life. Thank you so, so much.” 

Congratulations to someone who clearly deserves the honor that was bestowed upon her.

Reference

Canon City Daily Record

Shirley Bendell Inducted Into Martial Arts Hall of Fame originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 15:29:28.

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“This fight is my destiny… It’s everything that I’ve ever dreamed of,” said Diego Sanchez before challenging BJ Penn for his UFC light heavyweight championship. Of course, past would-be opponents often stated such things only to find out later that Penn was more of a nightmare opponent than anything else. Speaking of “Nightmare,” you’re probably wondering how Sanchez did. So let’s get to it.

The first round saw Sanchez come forward aggressively early and get absolutely dropped by a huge Penn right hand for his efforts. From there, Sanchez ate a terrific onslaught of punches that would have taken out a lesser man but somehow survived. For the majority of the rest of the stanza, Sanchez and Penn were pretty even on their feet until Penn landed a strong right hand at the end of the round.

In the second round, Penn once again used his better boxing skills to gain points on his adversary, often connecting with punches right after failed Sanchez takedown attempts. By the way, the same exact kind of thing occurred in both the third and fourth stanzas. But the fifth round proved different. You see, a Penn high kick opened up a huge cut on his opponents’ forehead that caused the doctor to stop the fight by way of TKO.  This fight tells us a few things about Penn once and for all.  First, his boxing is at the top of the food chain in the UFC lightweight division.  Second, cardio is no longer a problem at all.  And last, he’s the greatest MMA lightweight champion we’ve seen to date.

BJ Penn wins via TKO at 2:37 of round five.

Check out our UFC 107 Results

BJ Penn defeats Diego Sanchez By TKO At UFC 107 originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 01:03:21.

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