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[Kensei]

Building the perfect fighter
No one champion or top fighter has “IT ALL” they all have things they do that make them great at this sport, but some are lacking in one area or have GREAT talent in another. So, what would I do to make the perfect Heavy weight, or P4P fighter…well this is what I would do…..

Heavy weight
As far as the Heavy weight mix it is a good group of fighters that all have specific things that they are great at. But they could all be better. To build the best Heavy weight you would need to take the Pure skill and timing of Fedor Emelianenko. The “last emperor is not the best athlete on the list, but he makes his body do the things it needs to in order to win fights. And lets face it his timing is the best in the Heavy weight division. His ability to take advantage of an opening that is milliseconds long is amazing. You need Frank Mirs BJJ. In the Heavy weight Elite his grappling on the ground is the best, yeah he looked like hell against Lesnar but who wouldn’t with that gorilla on you.
It would be highly recommended to install Nogs Chin and Heart! I don’t ever see him give up and he can seem to be beat in an inch of his life and still battle back! Even the KO to Mir was not a complete one and if he was let alone by the Ref he might have subbed out Frank! Bret Rogers is still New to the sport but the big ex tire changer has power, I would love to build in his power! Along with Brets power it would be great to have Shane Carwins ability to bounce back and bring the power off a close KO to win a fight, its Crazy. I would love to have the fighter as hungry as Cain Velasquez and as willing to learn!
Even if he is in a slump, the Kicking of Cro Cop and the Death shin would be a nice add on feature. Add another old time fighters Wrestling and GNP and Mark Coleman additions can be a good idea. Speaking of wrestling the wrestling, stragegy and MMA IQ of Randy Couture would be a must!
Lastly in my check list of current Heavy weights that I would cannibalize to make the perfect Heavy weight fighter I would need to add the sheer Mass, Wrestling ability and Athletic acumen and ability of Brock Lesner. Add all these together and you would have a fighter that can fight standing, clinching, striking, on the ground, sub out or just bully a guy. This would be the best of all worlds!

Light Heavy weight
So, having built the best darn Heavy weight around, the Light heavy will take on a different style. First off I would start by building in Jeremy Horns BJJ skills. You can start with ground skills like his and add Rampage Jacksons slamming wrestling. This will allow for a hard take down followed by some great sub attempts and the ability to block the subs! Work in the heart of Forrest Griffin because he not only will take fights any time but he has the work ethic to back up the training...and it does not hurt that he is a fan favorite and very marketable. Speaking of Marketing and grappling, throw in Tito Ortiz ability to self market and his grappling acumen and you are well on your way to having a great LHW fighter. Gegaurd Mousasi’s Judo/ Sambo will be able to drag the fight down in Explosive ways, His stand up is good as well but the grappling skills he has to take the fight down will serve our LHW fighter well.
Now for skills outside of the ground, first off we would take the leg kicking Thai Skills of Mauricio Rua and mix them with the timing and power of Chuck Liddels punching…the old Chuck could keep you at bay and then drop you. Also Chucks counter wrestling will go a long way in keeping the fight standing. Along with the striking tools add Wandis aggression and attitude. He will give a good fight if it kills him, that will sell! Attitude and aggression are great, but you need the heart, Drive and a good cult following will bring lots to the table…so Take those from Sakaraba…even if he is over the hill he still brings fans and NO ONE can question his heart! Take the boxing and BJJ from Little NOG and you have a guy with power and the skills to go deep with his striking! Last stand up components are from the Current UFC Champ, Lyoto Machida….Distance and timing. Yah, he is a counter striker and not as much fun to watch as Wandi at times, but take the power of Chucks over hand and add the timing and distance of Lyoto and you have Ko after KO! Who does not like that?
The last two components of the Light heavy fighter would be from Rich Franklin. While Athleticism is not lacking in the guys I would say Franklins is the epitome of Athleticism! Also he has the crowds favor and he will sell tickets for the shows…he is likeable and the good guy may not always win…but he will always have a following! Standing and on the ground this may be the best mix of current LHW’s around.

Middle weight
The middle weight division is STACKED…..but I see some great pieces of the pie that can be taken to make a better fighter! Starting off standing this time you will need the boxing and hand speed of Vitor Belfort along with the power of Robbie Lawler to give the hands some ability. Mix in the accuracy of Anderson silva along with the pure striking ability and some more power and the stand up is almost done! I will toss in a bit of Joe Deorksons Heart and his good chin, mix a bit of Patric Cotes boxing skills with his drive and put “the Button of Chris Leben” in to make sure we have a good stand up fighter! That and I like Joe Doerksons want to put on a great fight and learn even after his LONG record!
Now we need some ground skills for our Middle weight fighter….Take the BJJ of Damian Maia and mix it with the wrestling skills of Hendo…the stand up Greco that is. You have a guy that can not only clinch up with you but can take you down, sub you out or sub you standing!
Next up is the intangibles, the athletic ability and pure drive to be physically better, take that from Nate Marquardt and throw in the Defensive ability of Yushin Okami to frustrate the opponent and to shut down any ground or standing attacks.
To end the Frankinsteining of a fighter I am going to go to the left field. Our fighters skills are top drawer, but now we need to be able to self sell the fighter. For this I am going to go to the former UFC Champ Frank Shamrock. I want a guy that can self sell and push his own stalk..thats Frank. So, what we end up with is a deadly striker that can sub you out or take your head off, can dictate were the fight is going to happen and can drive the crowd nuts in anticipation of his match ups.

Welterweight
The Welterweight fighters don’t need a “perfect fighter” they have enough in GSP, but lets face it even GSP could fill some holes! Lets start off with the ground and some great wrestling from Kos. The guy can be a human blanket and can shut down almost anyone that does not have GSP as his initials. Add the pure wrestling of his team mate Jon Fitch to tie guys up and drag them to the ground and you have a good start. If you don’t want to drag them you can throw in the heart and Judo of Karo Parysian and you have a fighter that can dictate were the fight will happen!
Now you throw in the pure striking power of Thiago Alves with the heart and drive and technique of Spencer fisher and you have a great stand up fighter….maybe lacking in a few areas, but the WW division is lacking in pure strikers at the upper level really, the trend is to become a grappler at this weight level if you want to be Up their. To round out the striking lets finally dip for the first time into GSPs DNA. His striking is fast, accurate and with his Karate back ground he has a unique striking signature. But we will be back to GSP in a bit for more.
Rounding out the Welterweight Frankenstein will be Matt Hughes for his strength and his experience, Shonie Carter for his salesmanship and striking and again GSP for his striking, wrestling and his pure athletic ability.
This Welterweight would dominate any WW challenger by exposing weaknesses and out doing them in everything they are good at!


Light weight
The newly RE-minted division is full of great talent but they all seem to lack in one area or another. Were Penn is fantastic in the early frames, his gas tank seems to be lacking later on…so here is my Quilt of a Light weight fighter.
Starting off, out of Randys camp is Tyson Griffin. The guy is a power house wrestler that has the ability to wade in deep, Tysons weakness is his need to start a striking game, so we will toss that out. Speaking of wrestlers we will grab the wrestling and BJJ of Joe Stephenson along with his golden gloves boxing, great combo but he also lacks in some areas. Grab the BJJ, Drive and Athletic ability from Gilbert Melendez and we have a good ground fighter starting to form!
To round out our ground we need the champ and the former champ! From BJ we will take his wacky Flexibility and his top notch BJJ, while his striking is better than it used to be it is not his strength. Lastly on the ground we will grab two things from Sean Sherk, his Wrestling ability and his gas tank. Able to take guys down at will, he can do this all day because he is a cardio animal! His striking is lacking and his thin skin tends to bleed at the drop of a hat, but his strengths are the makings of a great grappler!
Now we move to the light weight striking skills that will be needed to push the fighter to the next level. First we will start with eternal challenger Kenny Florian and his thai skills. Starting out as a BJJ fighter he picked up his striking from Delegrotti, his elbows are wicked and his heart is what drives him. Take those two things and the stand up is starting to form. Work in Takanori Gomis striking and power for a little man and you have a puncher with Ginzu elbows. Frankie Edgar has some of the best pure boxing in the LW division that I have seen at his level. Take his fist skills, mix with Gomis power and you have a killer boxer, Throw in a bit of Stephensons Golden Gloves and it is crazy how dangerous that becomes. Last for the stand up is Diego Sanchez speed and aggressiveness. You have a striker that can KO you and will push the stand up beyond what most can handle and faster than most can recognize the danger!
To round out the Light weight fighter you need the heart and determination of Clay Guida and I would be remiss if I did not mention Matt Serra…ever light weight fighter should have to talk like the New Jersey fighter…hell everyone needs to adopt that accent! Not only that but for a new Jersey Italian…he has the luck of the Irish on his side!

P4P best fighter
I have worked out the best in each division, but what about a P4P best fighter…well you would need to mix the Skills and attributes of only 8 fighters….From the Heavy weight division you want Fedors sambo, skills, luck, timing and pure ability to fight, Mirkos kicking ability would make him deadly. Randy,s MMA IQ is still a requirement for a new age champion P4P fighter. Machidas distance and timeing will make him un-strikeable. Penns BJJ will make him a ground wizard. Andersons accurate striking will make him a devil to fight and throw in the grappling of GSP and the defensive know how of Okami and you actually have about as close to perfection in 8 parts as I can come to!

Not only does this exercise show how skilled everyone is, but it also shows the holes that many have in their game or the social skills they need to take on to be a legend in the sport! Charisma and skill will push you farther than just one or the other, and we already know one needs ground skills to mix with their striking!

[DisciplineHopes]

hey shadow.....where you at with the "damn this long post"?! lol jk kensei.....good read.