Have you ever wondered what would happen if Mike Tyson and a pitbull had a lovechild? Probably not, but if you did, the resulting image would be a lot like Melvin Manhoef, but less frightening.

Manhoef is often regarded both as one of the best strikers to ever fight regularly in MMA and also as one of the most overrated. Even after establishing a proper framework to understand Manhoef’s career reconciling these views will prove, I believe, to be impossible until we address some of the deepest questions regarding striking in MMA. Therefore, let us begin by taking a look at Manhoef’s career and style of fighting and then draw out these deeper questions.

CAREER

Kickboxing: 37-8 with 27 wins and 5 losses by way of KO. MMA: 24-8 with 23 wins and 3 losses by way of KO. Those are the first and most widely available pieces of information available to those who want to assess Manhoef’s career as a striker. He is 4-6 at the top K1 level, having suffered 4 of his 5 losses by KO in kickboxing to HW’s at the international level, and another back in 1996. His other losses were a pair of decisions to K1 superstar Bonjasky and Ashwin Balrak, who is 68-11-1.

The basic analysis of his record tells us that Manhoef is good, and belongs at the international level, but has proven incapable of reliably defeating top HW kickboxers after having lost to Sefo, Bonjasky (twice), and in an upset to Maeda - all by KO. However, he tends to take care of business against anybody below the ultra-elite HW level and a number of his losses at the upper level have clearly been facilitated by his stature, which is suited to lighter weights and leaves him vulnerable to opponents with far, far longer reach. Karaev, Slowinski, and Ramazanov were all solid international wins, and many people believe he beat K1 ultra-elite Bonjasky in their last bout.

In MMA, his most notable wins have been over Cyborg, Sakuraba, Hunt, and Misaki, of which three are notable strikers in their own right. Melvin is best known for his flurries of hooks - coming in, he leans forward and then lets go of a vicious four hook combination, often followed by a leg kick. Hands slightly low, head forward, and guns blazing at his fleeing opponent, who desperately tries to cover up and survive the onslaught - such is the image that is best associated with Melvin Manhoef. This berserker rage has scored him wins over Misaki and Cyborg, among others, and put him on the cusp of victory many times before either getting taken down or strangely attempting himself to take down the likes of Akiyama and Filho. This has led many to the impression that he is simply a glorified brawler, a far more athletic version and weaker-jawed of Chris Leben, if you will. However, it is my conclusion that Manhoef actually has far more in common with Andre Arlovski than Leben.

THE GREAT BRAWL

His win over Cyborg is widely famed for being perhaps the single most all-out brawl in the history of MMA, rivaled only by Don Frye’s and Yoshihiro Takayama’s famed impersonation of a hockey fight. I appreciate the guts this fight took, but I am not such a huge fan of it past the first round. Cyborg and Manhoef show an amount of patience and respect uncharacteristic of their usual berserker styles in the first round, but eventually that breaks down and we see exactly the sort of brawl that does not befit most elite strikers.

Starting at about 50 seconds into the video, Melvin shows some excellent defense which continues until the three minute mark; holding his hands high and tight, he slips multiple punches and solidly blocks several in a row just past 1:00. Many blocked punches partially make it through, but these blocked punches meet with a perfect wall of defense and Manhoef proceeds to win every exchange, landing leg kicks and going to the body regularly in complete combinations. However, just past the three minute mark, we see Manhoef’s hands begin to drop lower and they never get back up, which leads to issues later on. Manhoef wins the fight, but not until after suffering a brutal beating throughout a chunk of the second round, which he only survives by slipping enough punches to muster his energy for a final effort. He begins the fight demonstrating clear technical superiority but ends it mostly on guts and athleticism after getting into a risky slugfest that drains him of energy.

This highlights the key to much of my theory regarding Manhoef. If he had continued to conserve his energy, work the body, and keep his defense tight, it is very possible that he would not have been put in such a dangerous situation. While the loss of energy caused by the high pace contributed to lowering his defenses, making the decision to start blazing away sapped him of more energy and placed him in a very dangerous position. I see two possible reasons for this decision, which he has made time and again, the first is that he is simply running on killer instinct and rushes for the kill, while the second is that this is done largely in part to play to the crowd and his mad-dog image. Most likely it is a combination of the two, but to what degree is anyone’s guess. It was this weakness that Lawler isolated – his plan has been confirmed as playing possum and waiting until Manhoef dropped his defenses, then taking that perfect chance.

Cyborg [youtube">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om3sZo9KIxI[/youtube">

MORE THAN POWERPUNCHES

Against Hunt we see a good example of why Manhoef is roughly the Tommy Hearns of MMA. Hearns, for those who don’t know, was a champion boxer at WW/MW who Tyson once called the heaviest hitter of his size ever. While Hunt is clearly not in his prime, he has not suddenly become a KO target, only suffering one other such loss to K1 GP champion Semmy Schilt as a corner stoppage against JLB doesn’t qualify. Manhoef knocked out one of the greatest jaws in MMA while running backwards, not only through power, but precision which Manhoef possesses in spades but is often overlooked.

His strikes come in fast and on target, particularly making use of his opponent’s entire body. Frequently opponent’s will be forced to retreat from his hooks to the head until they reach the wall or ropes, at which point Melvin heads downstairs and begins to pummel the body and legs, demonstrating a variety of strikes well beyond MMA’s usual headhunting. His hooks to the body are a study in form, as are his brutal leg kicks - once he landed a leg kick on a collapsing opponent, who was blown several feet away. He is capable of replicating this type of attack against solid MMA strikers like Cyborg, but also, as we shall see, against K1 superstar Bonjasky.

Hunt

FULL POTENTIAL - THE CATALYST

Bonjasky III [youtube">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU5VEF4GNm4[/youtube">

This fight is Manhoef’s finest performance and I urge everyone to watch it, as it is a great fight. It occurred in this year’s K1 GP, and was similar to Shogun against Machida though it was not quite as controversial, many, many felt that Manhoef won this barnburner in the first and second rounds. Note Manhoef’s consistent defense and timing, working the range to get in close with the much larger fighter and work the body, utilizing throws in the second round to break Remy’s timing and establish himself physically – this is a carefully structured gameplan. Remy is about as good as it gets in K1 and Melvin knew this firsthand. Manhoef had lost twice in the past to Bonjasky, once in 2002 and just a year prior to this fight, so this time he stuck precisely to a careful gameplan, the previous losses lending him patience and focus.

Patience, or the lack thereof, has often been the key to Manhoef’s career. Let’s compare three of his K1 fights against Maeda, Karaev, and Sefo. All three fights ended early in nasty KO’s, but only one in his favor. His KO over Karaev is a great example of timing his strikes to counter his larger opponent using Manhoef’s superior punching power and speed to get inside as soon as Karaev’s defenses loosen. Against both Maeda and Sefo, we can see that he launches attacks against an opponent who has planted his weight and is prepared to attack. Against these prepared opponents, Manhoef leans in and drops the hand guarding his chin as he winds up to throw a punch, and is accordingly smashed precisely on the chin. Like Arlovski, Manhoef has been knocked out multiple times, but it is not, in my opinion, because he has a glass chin, but rather that he has an average chin and drops his defense against powerful strikers. Against every elite striker he has faced, either in MMA or K1, he has begun with a relatively conservative approach and in these situations he is superb, a true pleasure to watch, but once his defense breaks down to 50% of what it was, then we are left with a 75% Manhoef.

Maeda

Karaev [youtube">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhxulLbe9zQ&feature=related[/youtube">
Sefo [youtube">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxI0eQlI5zQ[/youtube">


So, let us come now to that infamous question – Mahoef or Silva? Manhoef has a varied, precise, powerful, and fast offense, with the potential for superb defense and timing, but his mental lapses and unreliable defense have counted against him considerably. This comparison is particularly interesting because the clear advantage Silva has is that he maintains his defense and so the common layman mistake of focusing purely on striking offense is negated. The question brings us to some fundamental questions of judging striking.

What defines striking ability best, kickboxing competitions or striking wins in MMA? To what degree do we weight the superior striking capability of a fighter's opponents? To what extent do we consider a fighter’s full potential against their average performance, particularly factoring in whatever mental or stylistic issues may affect that full potential?

These are subjective questions that cannot be definitively answered, but I for one count these two fighters as being amongst the cream of the crop when we judge striking in MMA. I am not interested in trying to make a point-by-point comparison of the two, but rather using this tired discussion to frame greater questions about striking in MMA, starting by gaining a better appreciation for "Marvelous" Melvin Manhoef who embodies many of these controversial topics.