Sunday, March 18, 2007

Fighter Analysis : Mike Swick

The most aptly named fighter in all of MMA, i'd say. "Quick" Swick has that blazing handspeed that every fightfan or fighter wants....and the savage KO power that comes along with that speed. Swick seems content to earn his stripes before being thrown to whoever holds the title at any given moment. It will be nice to not see another TUFer get laid out like Leben or Quarry.

I haven't seen enough of anything other than his standup but I can say that with his hands Swick's game should be molded after Chuck Liddell's. Keep it standing, sprawl and brawl. Swick trains at American Kickboxing Academy which fits him perfectly. As does the fact that his two training buddies, Koscheck and Jon Fitch are high-powered wrestlers. That shoud give the Texan ample opportunity to work on his takedown defense.

Swick has won by submission a few times but nothing really amazing. Two guillotines and a RNC. The first subs a fighter learns. Swick's groundgame is largely unknown and will be a big deciding factor in how is near future goes. It helps that he has the lanky frame that a lot of great submission artists share.

His chin is one other possible flaw as his only loss came by way of KO, thanks to Chris Leben. Is it a flaw or was it just a product of the iron hands of Leben. I'm sure in the not to distand future we'll have a rematch and possibly learn the answer to this. In the immediate future is Yushin Okami though and this looks to be the classic striker versus grappler. I'll take Swick, a man for whom the phrase 'a punchers chance' always applies.

With Anderson Silva's dance card seemingly full with candidates like Nate Marquardt and the former champ, Rich Franklin, I don't see Swick getting a title shot just now. Despite the UFC's apparent love of the guy. I would expect a Leben matchup sooner rather than later, despite it not meaning much in terms of helping Swick's rank within the division. Another possibility is Jason MacDonald or Dean Lister. How Swick does against Okami would give us an idea how he might fare against these guys.

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