Thursday, June 12, 2014

Submission Hero of the Week: Bryan Caraway

There are a couple of reasons why I'm glad to be giving the Submission Hero of the Week award to Bryan Caraway.

Like Ronda Rousey, currently the patron saint for "jujitsu" in mixed martial arts, Caraway makes no pretense toward doing anything other than what he is best at as a submission artist. I understand why so few grappling-oriented mixed martial artists abandon a submission-first approach to greatness; the rules of the sport do not incentivize it. But I will never lack of appreciation of those who, correctly in my view, agree with Rickson Gracie that there is more than enough in jiu-jitsu to succeed in mixed martial arts contests. And Bryan Caraway's finish by choke at UFC Fight Night last week is as good an example of this attitude as we've seen in awhile.

And, yes, as someone who considers the thought experiment of being referred to as "Mr.Tate" far less humiliating than the epithet intended, I'll confess to being more than a little extra happy for the Y chromosome-packing half of MMA's best combat couple.