Tonight's Ultimate Fighter

[bigphatwong]

Anyone catch tonight's match-up between Frank Lester and David Faulkner (the UK guy who kept spitting his mouthpiece out)? I'm going to indulge in a little shameless quarterbacking here, but I counted at least three separate occasions where David was wobbling with his guard down and Frankie could've put him away had he capitalized on it.

Which brings me to my main point... why is it that you don't see too many skilled straight punchers in MMA? It seems that in the stress of the fight most competitors instinctively resort to wild looping swings, while guys who know how to generate knockout power via proper alignment are few and far between (Vitor Belfort comes to mind, particularly how he overcame Tank with a barrage down the centerline). I can't help but think that a technical straight puncher like Dempsey or Lee would make short work of these cats.

My JKD coach always described the straight punch like closing a door...as soon as they enter, WHAM! Close the door. Make them respect your fighting measure. Is it because it's not "natural" and has to be developed?

Maybe I just need to watch more MMA...