Bangkok Breakdowns

  Colby Covington is one of the most divisive figures in ufc history. The former All American has been one of the most effective wrestlers in the sport’s history. Colby’s success is often attributed to his seemingly endless cardio but it ultimately comes down to his gas tank management. While Colby’s style is high output and he has exceptional cardio, his style is ultimately based around resource management, the resource in question being energy. For every action Colby does he tries to ensure that his opponent uses more effort in their reaction, slowly wearing on them for the duration of the bout. His striking, grappling and ground control all revolve around getting easy takedowns and then forcing his opponents to bear his weight, practically having to squat him to get back to their feet. Covington’s high output is not a testament to performance enhancing drugs or freakish genetics, but instead to the power of pace management. Covington’s striking is somewhat goofy to look at, his ...

  The words “Shavkat Rakhmonov” echo across every Instagram comment section mentioning the welterweight division, and have been for some time. The horse meat loving marauder has achieved somewhat of a mythical status as a contender, his undefeated status with every win coming by finish, coupled by his Kazakhstani heritage has earned him a sizable following. The hype behind him is so powerful that the matchup with 15-0 undefeated prospect Ian Garry is seen by many as an easy stepping stone for him. Even the current champion Belal Muhammad, who is riding an 11 fight unbeaten streak with many top contenders, has been placed as a large betting underdog against Rakhmonov. While Shavkat’s record is impressive, much of his success has come as a product of his relentless aggression, his offence and finishing ability pulling him through some very competitive fights. This aggression is a means to an end, trying to create a panic reaction out of his opponent which Shavkat can then punish. Whi...