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Will Ben Askren have a big “hometown advantage” against Dan Hornbuckle in Bellator?
By Zach Arnold | June 17, 2010
Tonight’s the night these two meet in Kansas City. Josh Gross and Jordan Breen on the Sports Illustrated podcast talked about this at length:
JOSH GROSS: “June 17th in Kansas City, Bellator Welterweight final… It’s a tournament that I think some people have said has disappointed but I’m not sure we can be disappointed with this final. Dan Hornbuckle was the favorite in most people’s estimation, he’s there. And Ben Askren has survived his way into the final. I think Hornbuckle’s got a big shot here, I mean he’s the big favorite as far as I’m concerned and Askren may be able to take him down and control him a little bit but I don’t see that happening for 15 minutes. What are your thoughts?”
JORDAN BREEN: “I’m with you on this. To me this is all about the judges. Are these judges in Missouri going to be assess Mixed Martial Arts properly and are they going to be able to get past the fact that frankly Ben Askren is one of the most celebrated athletes in the recent history of the state of Missouri? I mean, he won two Danny Hodge trophies, he was a four-time All-American, two-time national champion at Mizzou, an absolutely brilliant wrestler, one of the best collegiate wrestlers ever and certainly the best in the history of the University of Missouri, but as for his Mixed Martial Arts career, he just hasn’t picked it up as quickly as people would have hoped. A lot of people looked at his grappling style which was always predicated on rolling around, the funky style, taking interesting positions instead of you know really wrestling and grinding it out the way we’re used to seeing it. Folk-style wrestling, people figured that would translate to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu because certainly it looked more like submission grappling than folk-style wrestling. The problem and what you saw in the second fight with Ryan Thomas is his wrestling style was one that allowed him to take positions for two or three seconds to score points but he has no command over these positions in Mixed Martial Arts. He can take side mount, he can take full mount, he can take back mount, but those positions are ephemeral, they don’t last more than the blink of an eye and if Ryan Thomas is able to sweep, get back up, avoid being submitted, I see no reason Dan Hornbuckle’s not going to be able to and certainly far better offensively and defensively in every respect than Ryan Thomas is. I know that when I have to turn in a score card and people ask me what I think, I’m confident that I will have it scored for Dan Hornbuckle. My only concern ends up being will the Missouri judges feel likewise and that’s something that is kind of becoming a trend for Bellator. I felt Toby Imada deserved the nod over Pat Curran, as did most people, and looking forward I have extreme trepidation about Joe Warren taking on Patricio Pitbull in a fight where I’m confident Pitbull will have more offense than Joe Warren and will likely deserve a decision. Whether or not it is seen that way is another matter entirely.”
JOSH GROSS: “I think it’s interesting that Askren chose to continue to try and compete at wrestling, he failed to qualify what was it for the world’s?”
JORDAN BREEN: “Yes.”
JOSH GROSS: “You know, I don’t think you can do both, I really don’t. I mean we’ve seen Joe Warren stumble to try to do both, it doesn’t compute, it doesn’t work and I think it’s going to cost [Askren] in the end. Hornbuckle is going to be the guy to win and fight Lyman Good and I actually think it’s going to be a good competitive Welterweight fight.”
JORDAN BREEN: “Five rounds of that, that sounds like Fight of the Year stuff to me. Bellator actually has the makings of some real potential Fight of the Year stuff because of their champions being in five round fights. If you put Hornbuckle/Good and I think also a Joe Soto/Patricio Pitbull fight, either one of those fights you know with the length of time they could really let good action and a bit in-fight drama percolate and come out. I think those are real Fight of the Year contenders.”
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Askren’s coaches are Brazilians. I’m sure his BJJ and striking have improved because of them.
But in order to beat Hornbuckle, he has to stick with “wrestler’s game plan” that has been demonstrated recently by other American wrestlers such as King Mo and Chael “beautiful mind” Sonnen.
Avoid mid-range exchanges and on the ground, forget about submission, get on the top as much as possible. He might take a train, he might take a plane, but he’ll make it to the unanimous decision if he fights like a wrestler.
Home-town favorism is not an issue here. The only possibility of Hornbuckle winning this fight is via TKO. If the fight goes the distance, trust me, it won’t be close at all. Wrestling domination or Puncher’s chance. 2 possible outcomes.
The reason why I eliminated the possibility of submission ending for Hornbuckle is because he has never won a fight with Guillotine choke or leg lock. All other subs cannot work against the olympian.
Other than a freak injury, I cannot imagine Hornbuckle losing this fight.
Other than a freak injury, I cannot imagine Askren losing this fight.
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