Looks like Evans is toeing the same line as teammate GSP in regards to fighter gameplans.
Article and pic from MMA Junkie,
Now, as he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) on Saturday, his takedown skills and dominant top game will be the foundation for future game plans. That includes his strategy for newly crowned champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, with whom Evans secured a future meeting by defeating Jackson.
“I felt like I needed to bring [wrestling] back after the Machida fight,” said Evans, who posted back-to-back knockout wins over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin before the loss to Machida. “One thing that happens sometimes when you find success in one area – and I found success standing up – I kind of forgot about the area where I was strongest.”
Evans said his return to wrestling is part of his win-first mentality.
“Me doing wrestling now is just going to be something I do from here on out,” he said. “Because no matter how far (I get) in my stand-up, I’ve always got to remember that my bread and butter is my wrestling, and everything else stems from that.”
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“One thing you understand really quickly as a fighter – and the fans don’t really understand – is that you’re not punching with eight- or 10-ounce gloves on,” he said. “You’ve got four-ounce gloves on, and underneath that is a cast.
“And it only takes one good shot for the fight to be over. I wasn’t trying to take no shots for no amount of boos.”
Kid Nate over at Bloody Elbow gave a breif but pointed view of the situation
As MMA evolves and becomes more of a sport and less of a spectacle, we’re going to see more and more winning fighters adopt this approach.
Fans may love fighters who bring it at all costs, but we haven’t seen Chris Lytle and Marcus Davis fight for many titles have we?
Hard to argue with the facts, while it is possible to an exciting fighter to win a championship belt.
It is much harder to keep and defend the title. At the highest levels of competition with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line.
Rashad Evans: $435,000 (includes $185,000 win bonus)
def. Quinton Jackson: $250,000Michael Bisping: $190,000 ($15,000 win bonus)
def. Dan Miller: $15,000Mike Russow: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus)
def. Todd Duffee: $8,000Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: $120,000 ($40,000 win bonus)
def. Jason Brilz: $11,000
You can begin to see why a fighter would take a more cautious path to a very rewarding victory as opposed to a sour and paltry defeat. That being said as fans and purveyors of multiple monthly PPV shows at $50 a pop and $55 to $60 if you want it in HD, you can begin to see the case for people wanting more stand and bang for their buck? This debate has been raging for a while now, in regards to wrestling heavy stratagems harming or helping the sport. Commentator and combat sports aficionado , Michael Schiavello weighed in on the hot topic a while back.
This game plan, pioneered by the Colemans and Severns remains the basic, successful recipe for American wrestlers in MMA today. The question is: does this recipe make for less exciting spectacles of MMA? Indeed a further question could be: have American wrestlers taken the martial arts out of Mixed Martial Arts?
The article was seen as some as a mark against American wrestling as it pertains to MMA. Upon closer inspection you see it is a mark against those who use wrestling as a neutralization tool only and do nothing to damage their opponent or finish the fight. Which I think is something everyone can agree on hardcore or casual. But when we are talking about fighting opponents at the highest level, finishing becomes a more difficult and risky endeavor. Not every champ gets to feast upon a late replacement opponent to highlight reel aka Bellator middleweight title holder Hector Lombard and Jay “Called on Monday, fight on Thursday” Silva.
Top ranked opponents are usually hard to finish, hell even Shogun needed 2 tries to beat Machida. I may have given GSP some guff over fighting safe. But the reality of the situation is that prize fighters are trying to make as much money as they can before they are no longer able to compete without seriously jeopardizing their health. This is a hurt business after all, a motor-sport analogy for the actual insanity of combat sports would be:
Combat Sports = Building a high performance vehicle from scratch with the best parts money can buy and pouring all your resources to making it the best automobile possible. Then pit it against another labor of love in a 1 on 1 destruction derby. This car is also your everyday car too.
Could you imagine some guy smashing a Ferrari into a Lotus just for the pure competition of it all? So if a fighter found a way to minimize damage to himself while simultaneously ensuring victory, could you really blame him for doing so? I know I would but logic would win out in the end. But what does a keyboard warrior like me know?
