Jack Slack
UFC 157: Machida vs Henderson – Open Guard 101
Here we are, my last post event breakdown at Bloody Elbow. UFC 157 was a pretty decent night of fights all around – Kenny Robertson showed us that there is always room for something we haven’t seen before with his leg stretch submission from the back, Robbie Lawler (whom I have always had a soft […]
UFC 157 Henderson vs Machida – The Minimalists
You don’t have to be a Ronda Rousey cynic to admit that by far the most exciting bout on the UFC 157 card is Lyoto Machida versus Dan Henderson. In this bout you have a gritty, old school wrestler turned knockout artist against possibly the finest timing and distancing in MMA. Bas Rutten caught some […]
UFC on Fuel 7: McDonald vs Barao – The Striking
This weekend’s event has somewhat caught me short because I have spent the majority of the last few days pushing out pieces by request of the BE community as part of my farewell series. While this is certainly a decent fight I thought it best to examine both fighters in brief and the factors at […]
Jack Slack’s Greatest Strikers: Saenchai Sor. Kingstar
In continuing my series offering a brief glimpse into some of the finest strikers on the planet I have tried to include most of the common disciplines. I started with the points karateka, Rafael Aghaev a few months back and in the last week have examined the kickboxing genius, Giorgio Petrosyan and offensive boxing prodigy, […]
Jack Slack’s Greatest Strikers: The Offensive Genius of Roy Jones Jr.
Continuing my series of most requested pieces I will be looking today at the great Roy Jones Jr. in brief. Just as with my Giorgio Petrosyan piece I will only be giving a brief glimpse into the tactics of a legitimate striking genius and so will be focusing attention on a single video. In one […]
Jack Slack’s Greatest Strikers: A Brief Look At Giorgio Petrosyan
In the coming weeks I want to take the opportunity to thank the Bloody Elbow community for all of it’s support and encouragement by writing about as many of the most requested fighters for analysis as I can fit in. While I may be forced to focus on one fight for some of them, as […]
UFC 156 Judo chop: Alistair Overeem and Discipline in Striking
Forget what you have heard about combat sports being about passion and durability – it’s wrong. Fighting is a game of smoke and mirrors, and an entire bout should be spent lying to an opponent and hurting him when he believes you. Trickery lands strikes, not fast hands or granite chins. I want to take […]
Killing the King: Jose Aldo
Once again it is time for me to overheat my brain by looking for weaknesses in the game of a proven champion. The Killing the King series is my attempt to counter the trend in mixed martial arts journalistic thinking that if someone has won several fights in a row they are “unbeatable” and will […]
UFC on Fox 6: The Jack Slack Breakdown
We have a good deal of ground to cover in the coming days with Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar meeting for the featherweight title at the weekend but it is definitely worth lingering to think about the action which we saw at UFC on Fox 6. Compared with UFC on FX 7 this card was […]
UFC on Fox 6: The Striking of Pettis and Cerrone
Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis meet at UFC on Fox 6 to decide who is next in line for a shot at the lightweight belt following the title bout between Gilbert Melendez and incumbent champion Benson Henderson. Both men are known for their kicking finesse and their exciting performances on the feet – but also […]
Pulling Back the Curtain on Muhammad Ali
Today I want to set aside a few moments to talk about the incredible and inimitable Muhammad Ali. Ali turned 71 at the weekend and while this received plenty of media attention I am ashamed to say that I have never talked at any great length about The Greatest of All Time. Ali was at […]
UFC on FX 7: Belfort, Bisping and ducking into kicks
Vitor Belfort has always been pretty much a puncher with the single exception – his throwing of at least one left high kick a round seems to be pretty reliable since way back in his bout against Chuck Liddell. Every time he does so commentators speak about how he has rounded out his game, but […]
The Tricks of Prince Naseem Hamed
Prince Naseem was a wonderful phenomenon in the boxing world – a featherweight fighter of the Roy Jones Jr. mold who fought with such flair and creativity that he was ultimately reviled by boxing elitists. It seems that when a fighter who always fights in the style displayed in textbooks starts to slow down and […]
UFC on FX 7 Vitor Belfort Judo Chop: A brawler not a boxer
Vitor Belfort is constantly credited as having elite level striking and boxing but in truth his level of technical ability and scientific boxing is a step below the majority of good strikers in our sport. What Belfort does have is copious amounts of power and speed, everyone knows this, but his game lacks intelligent set […]
Jack Slack’s Strikeforce Breakdown: How Saffiedine Battered Marquardt
The debacle that was Zuffa-owned Strikeforce finally ended last night and we were all waiting to see how the promotion would go out. It could go out with a bang as the WEC did with it’s Benson Henderson versus Anthony Pettis title bout, or with a whimper as PRIDE did with it’s final bout, Jeff […]
UFC on FX 7 Judo chop: Michael Bisping’s Problematic Chin
The chin is a vague term in combat sports – most use it to refer to a fighter’s ability to take punishment to the head in general, but other times it is about the durability of the jawline alone. The truth is that while the temple is an excellent target – or vital point (depending […]
UFC on FX 7 Edson Barboza Judo Chop: Style Vs Substance
Between the comments on my articles and the tweets and emails I receive, Edson Barboza has to be one of the most requested fighters for technical analysis out there. Having finally sat down with his career and given it the once over, the main thing that I can say about Barboza is that his game […]
Jack Slack’s Greatest Rivalries: Floyd Patterson Vs Ingemar Johansson I
Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson represented polar opposites both in the ring and outside of it. Johansson, one of the few Europeans to win a heavyweight title in boxing, was known for his fast living outside of the ring, being something of a playboy and for his brash though good-natured manner of speech. Floyd Patterson […]
Randy Couture Judo Chop: Boxing into the Clinch
Something which I have always found to be interesting about wrestlers is the longevity which their art can offer their mixed martial arts careers. Of course there are plenty of examples of great wrestlers who have gone on to become train wrecks, such as Mark Kerr, but the more thought you give it the more […]
UFC 155: How Cain Killed the King
Variety is truly the spice of life and Cain Velasquez served up a vindaloo of strategic punishment to Junior dos Santos in all areas of the fight at UFC 155. In his successful attempt to recapture the UFC heavyweight strap, Cain Velasquez overwhelmed Junior dos Santos on the feet, in the clinch and on the […]
UFC 155: Brad Pickett in Brief
It’s almost event time for UFC 155 but while there’s still a few hours to waste (unless you’re reading Killing the King: Junior dos Santos or Cain Velasquez: Easy to Hit again) I want to take a look at one of the exciting lighter weight fighters who will also be appearing on the card, Brad […]
Killing the King: Junior Dos Santos
The Killing the King series is my attempt to counter the notion that any one fighter is simply invincible at a certain point in their career. Fans and even pundits tend to throw around “too big”, “too fast” and even “too good” to describe fighters who are on a tear, rather than looking at the […]
UFC 155 – Cain Velasquez: Easy to Hit
There seems in this sport to be a great desire to overstate a fighter’s stand up competence based only on the result of his fights and not what actually takes place in them. Cain Velasquez is consistently touted as a great striker with a complete striking skill set – in fact a great deal was […]
UFC on Fox 5 Undercard: The Jack Slack Breakdown
Earlier this week I promised that I would perform a breakdown of the undercard of UFC on Fox 5 because it boasted so many exciting moments and bouts. I must apologize for the lateness of this piece – I have been away for much of the week. We may be a little removed from the […]
Jack Slack Breaks Down The Ultimate Fighter Finale: Barry vs. del Rosario and Nelson vs. Mitrione
As another series of a reality show most avoid watching limped over the finish line we were treated to a surprisingly exciting and heavy breathing free couple of heavyweight bouts – both of which were finished by knockout. We’ll jump straight into the analysis with Pat Barry’s uncharacteristically submission savvy performance against Shane Del Rosario. […]
UFC on FX 6 Sotiropoulos vs Pearson: The Jack Slack Breakdown
Last week we were treated to the familiar bizarre spectacle of B.J. Penn trying to fight a tall man’s fight against another opponent who had a height advantage on him. Jabbing at range with a taller opponent without lateral movement to a minor or major angle is never going to work unless your opponent has […]
UFC on Fox 5 results: The Jack Slack Breakdown
It’s Sunday morning and there is a ton of stuff to talk about. The best boxer in the world got knocked out with a beautiful counter, the UFC lightweight title was successfully defended, and Zuffa put on it’s best card in ages and their first truly top tier card on Fox. Consequently I will be […]
Jack Slack’s Cheat Sheet: Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua
Mauricio Rua, mostly known as ‘Shogun’, is a fighter whom I have written about at great length in the past but remains one of the most requested figures for a technical breakdown. Many fans find Shogun incredibly confusing because he can go from out striking Chuck Liddell and Lyoto Machida with poise and grace, to […]
Jack Slack’s Greatest Rivalries: Alistair Overeem vs Badr Hari II
Yesterday we examined the unusual ways in which the unlikely Alistair Overeem was able to throw off and upset kickboxing superstar, Badr Hari on New Years Eve 2008. Today we’ll be looking at their rematch in the semi-final of the 2009 K-1 Grand Prix. It was entirely appropriate that these two enormous men resolve their […]
Greatest Rivalries: Alistair Overeem vs Badr Hari
entry-content__stream “> Jack Slack examines the rivalry between Badr Hari and Alistair Overeem in this two part series.