Combat Archives

Get Out of Your Own Way

Life and Philosophy, Mixed Martial Arts, Opinion, Pro Wrestling | 08 September 2023

After the recent news of a particular individual being given the boot out of a certain company, I had to write about not only that situation, but also what I think is the cause. It wasn’t just an organizational problem, but also a personal one. I’ve wanted to write about ego and how it can affect a person’s judgment and their ability to work well with others. The greatest trick your ego can pull is to convince you that you’re one and the same and that you need that ego to be who you are. That’s a path of self-destruction, and many never learn to get out of their own way. (more…)

More on Playing Lame and the Art of Defense

by: Sonny Go

Combat, Esports, Features, History | 06 December 2022

Winky Wright, Admiral Yi Sun-sin, and Hungrybox

This is a follow-up to one of my favorite blog posts I’ve ever written. It’s understandable why defense is seen as lame and boring, while self-sacrificial offense is seen as valiant and entertaining. We can have idiots who deliberately put themselves in harm’s way and get people cheering their lungs off while downing gallons of Bud Light, then not be given even an ounce of shit about when they can barely remember their own names years down the line. That’s especially true for combat sports, but we can also look at other fields as well and see how the fundamentally sound are also given the short end of the stick, even in hindsight. (more…)

Canelo vs. GGG 3: Perfectly Calculated Risk

by: Sonny Go

Analysis, Boxing | 22 September 2022

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is in an interesting spot in his career. He’s in his prime at the age of 32 and is one of the most technically interesting fighters in boxing today. He tried to capture the light-heavyweight world title only to be upset by Dmitry Bivol, who turned out to have the perfect game plan against Canelo’s style. Having taken the second loss in his career, he set out to prove that he’s still the king of middleweight not by fighting the other top contenders of the division, but by completing a trilogy with a 40-year-old Gennady Golovkin. I can’t promise much with this analysis of Canelo vs. GGG 3, but it’s a nice conclusion to what had been an exciting trilogy. (more…)

The Three Levels of Combat

by: Sonny Go

Analysis, Combat | 19 September 2022

My eternal quest to find the parallels between real fighting and video games will go on for as long as I live because I have to compensate for my lack of skill and talent in both. My unwillingness to dedicate a significant amount of time in practicing either of them is equaled by my overwhelming need to seem knowledgeable and insightful by bridging the gap between them in increasingly convoluted ways. Let’s now talk about the three levels of combat. (more…)

Dipping Jab: The Noob Tube of Fighting

by: Sonny Go

Analysis, Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts | 04 August 2022

Jack Slack is one of the best combat sports writers out there, known for insightful analysis. He never fails to educate even veterans who have been training for decades, and I recently experienced the Jack Slack effect for myself. His analysis of Julianna Peña’s upset victory over Amanda Nunes for the UFC women’s bantamweight title greatly informed my viewing of their rematch. The way Peña flummoxed Nunes in that first fight was ridiculous, especially for Nunes. Let’s talk about the dipping jab, a technique that borders on cheesy. (more…)

Canelo Alvarez Does Muay Thai… Sort Of

by: Sonny Go

Analysis, Boxing | 24 July 2022

It has been a while since I wrote a blog post about boxing, and especially Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. He has since been pulled a couple of notches down the P4P rankings due to his decision loss to WBA light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. But while most would say he lost due to being too small for light-heavyweight, that takes away from Bivol’s performance. The answer he came up with for the Canelo question is something I’d like to talk about here, especially its connection with Muay Thai footwork and rhythm. (more…)

Know Your Strengths, Stick To Them, and Don’t Be an Asshole

by: Sonny Go

Combat, YouTube | 24 June 2022

The Modern Martial Artist vs. Rhythm Boxing

There’s drama brewing in the space I least expect it from — the YouTube fight analysis space. It’s a niche full of martial arts nerds like me and it’s usually a place of learning and sharing. However, the temptation of being seen as an all-knowing god can be too much for some, leading to plagiarism and grandstanding. That was the case for Rhythm Boxing, which I’ve since unsubscribed from upon learning of their immature response to The Modern Martial Artist, one of the best fight analysis channels out there. (more…)

Amir Khan: Glass Cannon

by: Sonny Go

Boxing, Features | 17 March 2022

If boxing is a role-playing game with character stats, wherein you can make any boxer you want by min-maxing their stats, you can put all of your available points into hand speed and nothing else for that sweet DPS. Doing so gives you one of two guys — Ryan Garcia or Amir Khan. The latter is our focus in this blog post due to his now advanced age. Let’s look at the reason why Amir Khan is likely the greatest glass cannon we’ve ever seen in boxing. (more…)

My Six Pillars of Fight Analysis

by: Sonny Go

Combat, Guides | 13 March 2022

I was listening to the Lex Fridman Podcast Episode 260, where he interviewed Georges St-Pierre, John Danaher, and Gordon Ryan. Most of the talking was done by Danaher, who is one of the most cerebral coaches in MMA and submission grappling today. Lex asked the question of who would win between GSP and Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Danaher broke down their strengths and weaknesses. This blog post is the result of an epiphany I had while listening to his analysis on how I can formalize the foundation of my own analysis. (more…)

The Stupid Non-Argument of Technique vs. Strength

by: Sonny Go

Combat, Opinion | 16 January 2022

An illustration from Championship Fighting by Jack Dempsey

One day, while scrolling through Facebook again because it was just one of those days, I came across a post on a boxing training group that brought about an age-old argument. Someone posted a YouTube video on how muscles are not important in boxing at all. Context may be skipped over in my description of it, but the whole discussion does just that anyway. I’ve written about the dichotomy of technique and conditioning on this blog, but let’s look more closely at the arguments against it. (more…)

Jaime Munguia vs. Gabriel Rosado: Testing the Next Mexican Superstar

by: Sonny Go

Boxing | 18 November 2021

Jaime Munguia vs. Gabriel Rosado Boxing Main Event on DAZN

The upcoming showdown between Terence Crawford and Shawn Porter may have overshadowed this fight that took place a week prior. However, I had high hopes for it, even if it was just for an intercontinental title, because of the man who holds it. Jaime Munguia defended his WBO Intercontinental Middleweight title against 15-year veteran Gabriel Rosado. (more…)

Technique and Conditioning: Two Sides of the Same Coin

by: Sonny Go

Articles & Content, Boxing, Combat, Mixed Martial Arts | 01 October 2021

Two exciting championship fights in two different combat sports with different results took place last weekend. One fight had a more skilled fighter dismantle a bigger and stronger opponent to become a new champion. The other fight saw a better conditioned athlete shake off everything his opponent could threw at him and set a blistering pace every round to retain his title. (more…)