Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Lutter Spearheading the Ground Fighting Movement for a New Generation



It was the mixed martial arts equivalent of Babe Ruth calling his shot in the 1932 World Series. Well, maybe not that big, but when Travis Lutter was asked for a prediction on his bout with Patrick Cote at November’s ‘The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale’, he was not only confident, he was dead-on in his take on the bout.

“We’ll circle, I’ll take him down, and the fight’s over,” said Lutter, and 2:18 into the fight, the prophecy came true as a brutally efficient display of groundfighting forced Cote to submit from an armbar, and just as quickly, the South Dakota native had not only put a few bucks in his pocket (a $100,000 prize and a $100,000 Xyience contract), but he put himself one win away from being the UFC middleweight champion.

Of course, there’s one obstacle in his way, and it’s a quite formidable one – current 185-pound boss Anderson Silva. Should we get our betting slips out for another prediction?

“This fight is gonna be very similar,” said Lutter. “Anderson’s definitely better on the ground than Cote, but it’s basically the same plan – we’re gonna go out there, circle, I’m gonna try to get my takedown, take him down, and beat him up and go from there. I don’t expect it to be as quick of a fight as with Patrick, but it sure could be.”

(Read More)

No comments: