-- John Mason
The Warren-Yamamoto fight is an eye-opening case of what natural aptitude and talent means in MMA. Kid Yamamoto might be the most physically gifted and naturally inclined fighter this sport has seen yet. When the Japanese put taglines on Yamamoto like "The Son of the Fighting God," the tackiness is mitigated by the fact that he couldn't be a better fit for this game.
Unfortunately for Yamamoto and fortunately for the sport, Joe Warren is cut from the same fabric of fighting aptitude. Even though he may be one of the world's finest Greco-Roman wrestlers, MMA is the sport that Warren belongs in. It would seem almost like a PR piece if I were to start extolling his virtues, but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone more tough, tenacious, and obsessively dedicated. His takedown game is consummate (he actually was a freestyle competitor before switching to Greco-Roman), he's picking up striking naturally, and although his submission awareness may ultimately be his undoing in this tournament, he has been praised throughout his entire athletic career as a student of the game, equal parts sponge and technician.
So, it may seem shocking that Kid Yamamoto lost to Warren, and it is in the purest sense, an upset. However, it shouldn't be shocking. Warren is a natural, just like Yamamoto, who hadn't fought in nearly 18 months and didn't take Warren as seriously as he clearly should have. Warren's elite, well-rounded wrestling took away a fundamental advantage that Yamamoto, a gifted wrestler in his own right, has had in virtually all of his other fights. While Warren had meticulously planned strategic tactics for Yamamoto -- both with his Team Quest compatriots and with Urijah Faber's Team Alpha Male, who have been watching Yamamoto for nearly four years -- Yamamoto seemed either oblivious or obtuse to the fact that a submission off of his back was his most likely way to win. Instead, he wanted to knock Warren out -- and much to his chagrin -- Warren showed a cast-iron beard in taking abuse.
Any mediocre high school basketball coach will tell you that "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." Surely then a match-up of talent versus talent and hard work combined is a no-brainer.
Warren's win doesn't say anything fundamental about MMA; his win speaks to his and Yamamoto's personal truths, not any particular "reality" of the sport in which great wrestlers can knock off great fighters with ease. While more of Warren's elite-level wrestling contemporaries are going to continue to fill up the sport, and though their wrestling skills may play a role in their successes, their accomplishments will be guided by whether or not they're cut out for MMA.
Joe Warren clearly is.
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