Opinion: Martial Arts Master vs. Brawler

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Mixed martial arts rarely gives us easy, simplistic narratives like “martial arts master vs. brawler” anymore. Fighters are far too skilled, intelligent and well-prepared. They’re almost all martial arts masters in their own way, and we see the same standard, professional approach among all of them. Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington might talk trash to one another as two very different people, but inside the cage, they fight almost identically.

The one holdout is heavyweight. Why? It pains me to say this, but it’s because it remains the lowest-skill weight class. In terms of raw ability, many Top 20 and even Top 10 heavyweights wouldn't come close to cracking the world’s Top 100 at featherweight. Thus, the UFC Fight Night 209 main event between Ciryl Gane and Tai Tuivasa gave us a pure distillation of the martial arts master versus the wild street brawler—a throwback to the early days of the sport.

On a surface level, Gane isn’t the first visual one imagines when hearing “martial arts master,” with his muscular physique and chest tattoo. Yet, that’s exactly the category where he belongs. I first heard about Gane when he was about to make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut and wasn’t especially impressed by what I saw of him in the TKO Major League MMA promotion in Canada. Sure, he was athletic, long and moved like a gazelle, but he was incredibly raw and lacking in basic fighting skills. As I kept watching him in the UFC, however, I was consistently shocked by the tremendous improvement he showed from match to match. He was like a brand-new fighter every time out. His second UFC appearance against Don'Tale Mayes was only two months after his debut, and yet, he showed more improvement than most fighters do in two whole years. His next assignment against Tanner Boser was another two months later, and he showed a similarly crazy amount of improvement. The expectations for Gane were dizzying around this time. His next bout was against former champion Junior dos Santos—a man who had recently knocked out both Tuivasa and top contender Derrick Lewis—and Gane was a -450 favorite. Plenty of people bet on dos Santos, but I could only imagine how much better Gane had gotten thanks to a year off from fighting due to the coronavirus pandemic. Sure enough, he showed everyone the results, as he was now a fully well-rounded, elite martial artist who knocked out the Brazilian with a brutal elbow, barely giving the legend a chance.

In subsequent triumphs against Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexander Volkov and the aforementioned Lewis, Gane showed off what I call the Adesanya-Gane fighting style or, as the Frenchman himself so succinctly put it prior to the Tuivasa match, “the ‘Bon Gamin’ style of touch and never get touched.” He uses his superlative movement, good defensive instincts and exceptional fighting intelligence to avoid blows while consistently hitting his opponents with jabs and kicks, all while waiting for a bigger opening. It’s not always thrilling, and I recall the laments of boredom during his first few rounds against Lewis for the interim championship. However, it pays off and Gane has a killer instinct, which led to a brutal finish of Lewis. Gane is the type of highly skilled, talented mixed martial artist we see in the Top 10 of lower weight classes—but in the body of a heavyweight.

Tuivasa, meanwhile, may be even more of an old-school brawler than Lewis. In terms of a personality that connects with fans and his wild style of fighting inside the cage, he reminds me of a modern but vastly superior version of David “Tank” Abbott. While Abbott was a less-than-savory character, Tuivasa appears to be a decent, friendly man. Unfortunately, Tuivasa and Abbott have a lot in common in terms of their weaknesses. You’re likely thinking of their porous standup defense and vulnerability to being taken down and submitted, but it goes even further. Tuivasa has poor cardio and has gassed out considerably after a little more than a round—the same flaw that turned what should have been so many of Abbott’s victories into defeats. Similarly, neither Abbott nor Tuivasa have good fight IQ. Both tend to go forward and get into clinches that tire them out, even when they have the opponent hurt and would be better served to separate. Tuivasa at least has an excellent short elbow he can use there, but it’s still an awful approach.

What happens when the wise martial arts master meets the wild, less disciplined brawler? Well, it doesn’t always go according to plan. Gane dominated almost the entire fight but nearly got knocked out when Tuivasa nailed him with a huge right hand in Round 2; the impact floored Frenchman and nearly rendered him unconscious. The unpredictable, high-variance nature of heavyweights means even the most skilled martial artist is never safe against a fearsome, far less skilled brawler. Remember, too, that Gane managed to survive not because of any high-level talent but because of his own inborn, natural ability: a titanium chin.

Gane came back a round later to finish Tuivasa, concluding a wildly entertaining bout. It’s the type of throwback we rarely see in MMA outside of heavyweights, and we should cherish it while it’s still around.