The Blueprint: 8.20.09: Black and Blue, Brown

Posted by Patrick Mullin on 08.20.2009

We're throwing you a swerve this week as we keep it in the WEC. Can anyone at 145 pounds beat Mike Brown? Take a peek and see who if anyone.

Welcome back loyal readers, and welcome new ones! I'm Patrick Mullin and this is The Blueprint. If you don't know by now, this is where you find out the weaknesses of the best fighters in the game, and who's got the best chance of exploiting them.

I know I said we'd be taking a look at B.J. Penn this week but plans have changed. You see we recently did our 411 top 5 most underrated fighters and a lot of these guys for no reason get no love. I decided to change that this week and take a look at one of the top 5 underrated fighters as voted on by your MMA experts here at 411Mania.

This week we stay in the realm of the WEC and take a look at featherweight king Mike Thomas Brown. The stalwart and humble member of American Top Team is riding high off of his 2nd victory over former featherweight champ and WEC face Urijah Faber. Brown has looked pretty hard to beat in his last few outings, but he's only human and like all others he has vulnerabilities.

First however, let's address last week's "comment". Man Brian Bowles got NO love, and neither did I.

From: Steve (Guest) "Were Torres to win a rematch, the rivalry with Bowles may be the best rivalry in MMA. They're both at the top of their division with nobody really in sight, I like Cruz, but not enough to favor him over either fighter. Each fight would be close and exciting. Even the first fight, I felt Miguel wasn't as sharp as usual, perhaps he was trying to impress the fans as you noted. Only if Miguel wins though.

I wouldn't say there's nobody in sight Steve. I think you're being a little hard on Dominick and also forgetting about Takeya Mizugaki. Mizugaki pushed Miguel to the limit in Miguel's last outing before Bowles. In Dominick's case, he looked really good against Benavidez, who everybody from 411 thought would beat him in dominant fashion. We do however agree on Miguel sacrificing technical superiority in terms of trying to be exciting and impressing the fans. As of late he's been fighting guys and attacking their strengths rather than their weaknesses, which I think says a lot about just how good the guy really is. The problem comes when you try to do that to a kid with an iron jaw and heavy hands, because it just won't work.

Now, let's get down to business…or down to Brown to be precise.



1) Speed: If there is one weakness that stands out above all others in Mike, its his all around speed. Mike is not very fleet of hand or foot, and his takedowns are not explosive shots so much as getting into a clinch and using his incredible strength to impose his will.

Lack of speed is a huge detriment, especially in the lighter weight classes featured in WEC. In his first and 2nd bouts with Faber, Urijah constantly beat Brown to the punch both literally and figuratively. Urijah landed elbows, punches, and occasional kicks to the slower Brown. In a division with explosive and quick strikers like Faber and Jose Aldo or Lion Takeshi for that matter, speed kills.

2) Head Movement: In addition to his lack of speed, Mike is hardly an elusive target. When attacked with a lunging strike or combination, Mike is content to either throw one of his right hand bombs in return or simply cover up peek-a-boo style. Mike has a great chin, as a matter of fact his head seems to be made of plutonium or adamantium or some sort of indestructible substance. The problem comes when you're getting hit with 4 or 5 strikes and only answering with one. That strategy just isn't very favorable in the eyes of the judges.



Brown's covering up also leaves him vulnerable to being taken down because he's leaving his waist and legs open to be shot on. While Brown himself is a great wrestler, his four losses have all come by way of submission. His most crushing defeat came via submission with a debilitating leg lock that nearly ended his career. Its very risky for Mike to keep taking that chance. Hatsu Hioki has won three of his last four via submission and Wagnney Fabiano has half of his victories via his opponent tapping out.

3) Fighting Age: This isn't really a term that's very relevant but it should be. A guy like Scott Smith is only 30, yet has been through several give and take wars or a one-sided beating like the one given to him by Nick Diaz is probably in fighting terms near the end of his career. After a really brutal fight with Keith Jardine where he absorbed numerous hard strikes over three rounds, Chuck Liddell was all of a sudden incapable of standing up to a punch from anyone who could land on him.

Mike is 33 years old and has taken a lot of punishment in his career. People usually only take devastating losses into effect in this category, but you forget that a guy who wins a fight sometimes gets the worst end of it, like a Minotauro Nogueira. Nogueira is famous for absorbing a ridiculous amount of punishment only to pull off a miracle comeback win, like in his fights against Cro Cop and Tim Sylvia. Even in his recent victory over Uijah Faber, Mike ate a lot of elbows to the sides and top of his head.

The damage may not be readily apparent but its not out of the question that a 33 year old fighter who's taken his share of damage over the course of a career spanning nearly 30 fights may age overnight.

Who Can Beat Him?

Jose Aldo 2:1 - Aldo is arguably the fastest guy in the featherweight division as proven by his 8 second KO of Cub Swanson on the undercard of Brown's rematch with Faber. He's on an 8 fight win streak and even more impressive is that he has KO'ed/TKO'ed his last five consecutive opponents. He may not be able to stop Brown, but he could conceivably work a get-in and get-out strategy to take home a decision and the WEC featherweight title.


Wagnney Fabiano 3:1 - Fabiano is a teammate of Aldo's but while Aldo is a striking ace Fabiano's specialty is grappling, amassing 6 submissions in 12 victories with his only loss coming early in his career via disputed decision to Jeff Curran. Fabiano is also on an 8 fight win streak, with only his last opponent going the distance. Fabiano's striking has also improved over his last few bouts to better set up his shots and submissions. While Brown likes top position to pound out opponents when grounded, Fabiano could potentially take advantage from the bottom to secure a submission to the submission vulnerable Brown.

Hatsu Hioki 4:1 - Sengoku's featherweight sensation has stopped his last four opponents submitting three of them, though that's no surprise when more than half of his victories have come via submission. He's on the level and perhaps above the grappling level of a Fabiano but his striking hasn't shown me enough to believe he could use it effectively to set up getting the fight to the ground, or scoring without being caught by Brown and knocked out.


Urijah Faber 5:1 - To appease everyone I'll throw in Urijah. For all those saying he'd have won had he not broken his hand, he didn't break his hand the first time they fought and he got knocked out. For everyone saying it was a stupid elbow and mental mistake that cost him the first fight, he didn't make one in the 2nd fight and he still lost. Some guys just have your number, if Brown and Faber fought 10 times and Faber won once I'd be surprised. Its not out of the question that he may have finally learned the only way that he'd be able to beat Mike is by sticking and moving, but I still don't think he'd be able to do it.

That's all for this week guys. Thanks for reading and gear up for next week because we'll be heading back into the octagon. We'll take on what may be our most difficult assignment in trying to figure out just how the hell you can possibly beat B.J. Penn at 155 pounds.