Bangkok Breakdowns

  A guide to UFC White House The UFC White House card is a historical event. Two of the biggest stars of the era, Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira, will both be fighting for world championships in front of the leader of the free world. Regardless of how you feel about the President, it is needless to say that there are a lot of eyes on this card, so thankfully, I am here to provide a breakdown of the biggest fights on there. Hopefully, the event will go through despite the corruption lawsuit being brought up against it. Ilia Topuria vs Justin Gaethje Topuria vs Gaethje is a highly anticipated fight. Ilia Topuria has murdered the two best featherweights of our era and is now looking to run rampant over the lightweight division. The excitement for this fight doesn’t come from Justin Gaethje being a massive threat to Topuria, as many fans have written him off. The hype is derived from the fact that these are two power punches who are known for swinging for the bleachers. Topuria has been...

The knee is a barbaric strike, banned from most striking disciplines and one of the many reasons why politicians such as John McCain tried as hard as they could to keep the sport of mixed martial arts illegal. The unified rules of MMA have forbidden its use against grounded opponents, not due to any excessive danger (you can still elbow somebody’s face into the canvas) but due to the sheer shock of the spectacle. The knee is a high-risk, high-reward weapon, offering the potential for a lot of applied force while putting the user on one leg deep into punching range. Regian Eersel has utilised this to devastating effect, terrorising the ONE lightweight division in both kickboxing and Muay Thai. While Eersel is an excellent kickboxer in his own right, it is his kneeing game that forms the backbone of his game. The high guard is the classic catch-all defence in kickboxing. When applied with the proper mechanics, it is extremely difficult to penetrate, the large gloves providing a barrier t...