With the emergence of Brock Lesnar, Cain Velazquez, Shane Carwin, etc., and the regression of Georges St. Pierre, it would appear that MMA may be reduced to a forum for "dirty wrestling", as opposed to martial arts mastery. To me, that comes as a disappointment.

I had always admired St. Pierre for his mastery of different genres of combat. This was never more clear when he soundly trumped Matt Hughes in their rematches. St. Pierre had become too skilled for the one-dimensional Hughes, or so I thought. Now, he has become a clone (albeit a more talented one) of Matt Hughes. I am not going to contest the effectiveness of the "ground and pound" style, I question its technical deficiencies. At his best, St. Pierre is without peer as a martial artist, and that is in comparison to Anbderson Silva, Jose Alda, etc. At some point. St. Pierre became "afraid of losing", rather than dedicated to winning. So, he plays it safe and takes his opponents to the ground. It is hard to dispute his success with the technique. But, it seems to me that the old St. Pierre would have swiftly finished his opponents rather than bludgeoned them for 25 minutes.

As for the heavyweight division, there is no dispute that wrestlers have generally fared well over the years. In fact, Mark Coleman, one of the sports pioneers, developed what we know as the "ground and pound" style. It is sad to recognize and admit that sheer power will usually overcome the most proficient technique. My objection is that such techniques do not usually provide the opportunity for martial arts mastery or aesthetic entertainment.

Wrestling is sometimes the most effective way to guys who don't know how to grapple or don't have top drawer submissions. The St. Pierre and Dan Hardy fight was a pretty boring 25 minutes, for sure, but you can't blame St. Pierre for being a little hesitant about standing toe to toe against a guy that has 11 career KO's and no ability to prevent his takedowns.

Literally, St. Pierre knew that he could take Hardy down at any given moment, with absolutely no struggle. I can't say I blame him for keeping it pretty safe with his belt on the line... but a rather unexciting fight. Although... Hardy's arms have to be aching right now. I've never seen someone get their arms tweaked that hard and not tap. That was almost tough to watch at points.

Carwin's just a beast. The Mir fight was the first I think I've seen of him and his left hand is like a battering ram.

And Brock is... ****ing gigantic, and getting more technically versed with every fight. Like St. Pierre he just overwhelms the other guy and completely neutralizes their offense. There's not much to do when a 265 lb. guy is hammerfisting your ear and you can't even scramble out.

So... yeah. I'm just sticking it out until I get to watch Anderson Silva knock someone else out.