MMA Nation ran an article this week penned by Nate Wilcox that asked the question:

Has UFC Hit An Inflection Point?

In the story, Nate provides us with a layman's definition of the term "inflection point"

For those of you who didn't take calculus, an "inflection point" is the point on a curve where it changes direction. For a fight promotion like the UFC an inflection point is a critical point in time that determines whether the next phase of the business will be one of growth, stagnation or decline.

The article goes on to detail some key recent happenings that indicate that the UFC is facing one of these points. It's a good read for those who are interested in the business side of the sport.

The application of inflection points isn't limited to discussions relating to the business side of MMA. The concept can be readily applied to individual UFC fighters as well, who fight so rarely that most matches have to be considered critical in determining their future. A win at the right time and you become a main card fixture, while a loss at the wrong time and you may fall far down the rankings.

Dan Hardy and George Sotiropolous are perfect examples of this. Hardy's victory over Mike Swick at UFC 105 was clearly an inflection point in his career. Hardy was given a title shot for his next fight and, despite losing it and his following two matches, was given a headlining spot at a UFC Live event last year. He won a single important fight and saw his career grow exponentially, despite being unable to win a fight since then. Sotiropolous entered his fight with Dennis Siver at UFC 127 undefeated in the UFC, his 7-0 record drawing much attention to him as the next title contender. He dropped a unanimous decision to Siver and found himself fighting Rafael Dos Anjos on the undercard his next time out. G-Sot was caught by a Dos Anjos hook just a minute into the fight and now he is fighting Takanori Gomi in what looks very much like a loser leaves town match.

The UFC on FOX main card features half a dozen men and, as we'll see after the jump, each one of them are facing a career definining moment:

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@JackSlackMMA

It is no secret around here that I have a great affinity for strikers, particularly those who can make wrestlers think twice about spamming takedown attempts. There is an embarrassment of riches in terms of talented strikers now entering the sport of MMA, simply because of the declining state of kickboxing and the growing purses and exposure of Mixed Martial Arts competition. My fondness of Japanese MMA stems from my fandom in the PRIDE FC days, and my taking up wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Tokyo while over there training my striking, and I have made sure to keep up to date with the current crop of talent working it's way through Shooto in hopes of DREAM FC returning to the form PRIDE FC was on. For the die hard fans of JMMA this list will provide nothing new, but those who are perhaps only familiar with the major U.S. promotions, this will provide an interesting little guide to some of the more entertaining fighters Asia has to offer.

Mamoru "The Fro" Yamaguchi

One of the premier names in the flyweight (125 lbs) division for the last five years, a Shooto champion and one of the most dynamic fighters in Japanese MMA. Mamoru Yamaguchi fights in Thai style shorts and is responsible for more dropped or KOd opponents in Shooto's oversized (5 oz.) gloves than anyone at 125lbs.The first time I saw Yamaguchi fight I realised two things; the first was that the Japanese can grow afros - quite impressive ones at that, and the second was that in the 125 pound division, which is so little heard about due to lack of explosive finishes or big names, KOs can happen. I happened to discover Yamaguchi through his fight in Shooto with Stonnie Dennis, which Yamaguchi finished by establishing the Thai clinch on Dennis' neck, pushing him into the ropes, and knocking him out cold with a beautiful head kick.

Yamaguchi's hands are as fast an furious as you'd expect from a flyweight fighter, and his kicks are heavy, but what is most interesting about Yamaguchi to die hard fans is that he, just as Anderson Silva has done, has negated the majority of his opponent's takedown attempts through mastery of the clinch from a striking perspective. Watch his destruction of Frank Baca as the latter struggles to gain underhooks on the smaller, craftier Yamaguchi.

Much of Yamaguchi's success from a technical perspective is not from his superior fighting at range, but rather in his ability to fight out of the clinch. The Stonnie Dennis knockout and his dropping of Frank Baca above were both initiated from clinch range. As the Dennis kick shows, Mamoru likes to catch opponent's with their hands down as they disengage from the clinch - a signature technique of Jack Dempsey, referred to in his book "Championship Fighting" as "The Sneaker". If the referee breaks a clinch, it is illegal to strike your opponent and you risk disqualification, but if your opponent disengages, or you push him away from you, it is entirely legal to strike him. In the former case, opponent's often get lazy, as demonstrated here by Kitahara:

Here, in an American promotion (Yamaguchi is one of the few Japanese stars to have success on American soil in recent years), "The Fro" uses a shove from clinch range to push his opponent against the cage. The opponent's hands come down to balance himself (a technique I break down in detail here) and Mamoru demolishes him with a tight left hook.

If you aren't familiar with the work of Mamoru Yamaguchi it is well worth a look. He may not always win, his grappling has cost him before, but his record is sterling, he's fought successfully on American soil and he knocks out much bigger men in a weight class known for it's sparsity of finishes. It is no exaggeration to call him the best technical striker at flyweight, having a 35 fight record and never losing via KO or even to a fighter with less that superb Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. A trawl through his fights on youtube is an excellent way to waste an afternoon.

Jack Slack now blogs at his brand new website www.fightsgoneby.com

He can also be found on Twitter @JackSlackMMA

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It is time for us as a community to decide which fight was the Fight Of The Year for 2011. Vote in the poll and let us know why you voted that way in the comments section if you feel so inclined. Also, if we snubbed anyone, let us know that as well. Let the voting begin!

The UFC on FOX open workouts were held on Wednesday and Ariel Helwani was back in top form with his extended length pre-fight interviews. Helwani's interviews are right up there with Dallas Winston's fight dissections in terms of the best fight week coverage on the web and if I had to pick just one media offering to consume before a fight card, it would probably be the Helwani interviews. The upcoming FOX card features some great personalities and the highlights of the interviews include Chael Sonnen revealing his dislike for Inside MMA host Kenny Rice and Rashad Evans getting a kick out of learning that both he and long time rival Rampage Jackson have similar feelings towards Ariel Helwani and his flashy shoes.

The best interview, however; was with a fighter that many people know for his involvement in one of the most absurd knockouts in MMA history, Mike Russow. I'm not going to rehash that here but if you don't know what I'm referring to, spend a few minutes on Google and search for "Hammerfist of Doom". It's well worth it. In the interview, Russow and Helwani discuss the difficulties that Russow faces trying to balance MMA with his full time job as a Chicago police officer.

Helwani: How do you juggle a full time job as a police officer and a UFC career?

Russow: I mean, it's tough, you just have to be dedicated. You only have so much time. I work 5 pm to 2 am. I get home, go right to bed. Wake up, eat, and then go train. Usually get home around 3 or so, maybe have 45 minutes to an hour to rest and then off to work. It's like Groundhog day. Do it all over again the next day.

Helwani: Have you ever thought about dropping one, so that you could focus on one as opposed to the other, 100%?

Russow: I mean, my dream is just to fight for the UFC, just fight year round. That's my dream, but realistically, I just got married a little over a year ago, I have a baby daughter, she's a year and a half. With health insurance and you know, being Chicago Police, we make pretty good money and I'm 35, so to take that chance and put my family out there, you know, is just not something I want to do at this point. If things worked out in the UFC and I could move up, I think I could take a year leave of absence and give it a shot. For this fight, I used all of my vacation time, this is the first time ever leading up to a fight that I've been able to have a month off, just train right, sleep right, and just kinda do it like the pro's do it. And it's awesome.

I felt a mix of emotions as I listenend to him describe his situation. The first was admiration for Russow. Trying to balance a full time job with a dream is a difficult proposition for anyone. Add a young family to the mix and the dream often retreats back to whence it came, no longer a part of everyday reality. For Russow, the stakes are even higher, as both his job as a police officer and his dream of being a full time mixed martial artist put him at substantial risk of physical harm. The sacrifices he makes on a daily basis are truly something to applaud.

The second emotion I felt was disappointment, brought on by Russow's assertion that "if things worked out in the UFC...." You see, in my estimation, things have worked out for him in the UFC. He's won his first three fights in the organization. He's fought on the main card, won knockout of the night. He's on a three fight win streak, joining Junior Dos Santos and Frank Mir as the only UFC heavyweights who can currently make that claim. He is ranked among the top 20 heavyweight fighters in the world, yet he refers to his peers as professionals, not comfortable putting himself in the same category as them.

Continue reading this post after the jump.

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Forget the Patriots and Giants. THIS is what Super Bowl Weekend is all about.