If you watch this tape seven days later you will win your fight.

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First Jordan Breen comments on it:

It's not that the counter itself was special. It is that Marquardt focused on a specific technical flaw in his opponent, and the instant it appeared, he sent him flying at the canvas forehead-first. Yet for as obvious and effective as this kind of hyper-specific stratagem seems, it is a rarity in this game. Even with major money now at stake, MMA is still a sport where lines like "It's a fight" and "We'll see where it goes" are familiar phraseology.

Just a few months back, Josh Koscheck commented that he never watches his opponents before he fights them and almost seemed to brag that he had no idea what Paulo Thiago looked like. I imagine he might have liked to have at least a gander at some fight tape now. Likewise, talented middleweight Dan Miller admits to not watching his opponents beforehand, but after being completely dominated by a one-dimensional Chael Sonnen for 15 minutes, hopefully he realizes that a bit of time watching tape may have helped him find an opening for a submission against a fighter far less skilled in that department than himself.

Part of the reason these attitudes persist is that MMA is still reliant on crippling generalities. We still discuss the sport in terms of "strikers" and "grapplers" and throw out adjectives like "unorthodox" and "world-class" without much thought to individual skills and technique. However, it isn't 1999 anymore, and fighters have become generally, if not perfectly, well rounded. In 2009, these oversimplifications are lies, as fights are more often won and lost on the very specific and unique wrinkles -- both positive and negative -- in a fighter's game.

Then Luke Thomas comments on Breen's piece:

However, one has to dig deep in the bag of denial to suggest becoming familiar with the habits, eccentricities, instincts, mistakes and decision-making tendencies of opposition prior to a fight isn't, on balance, helpful. Look no further than any other professional, mainstream sport. There isn't an accomplished team in football, basketball, baseball or hockey that dismisses the idea of watching tape of upcoming teams they have to play as unhelpful. Who views the tape or how much tape is viewed or even for what purposes likely changes from coach to coach and team to team, but the lesson is the same: knowing thy enemy helps a competitor make more informed choices.

This is what I find most interesting about the evolution of MMA.  It is not the mainstream acceptance, the amount revenue organizations and fighters make, or the amount of people that watch the fight.  Witnessing the dynamics, fighters, strategies, and commitment fighters have evolve is truly fascinating to watch.  When the sport first began it was one discipline against another and now fighters are becoming more balanced.  Fighters also consider this a profession where they are required to train year round and always look to improve their game.  Looking at Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, and Greg Jackson shows how strategy has become a major factor in preparing for fights.  All these aspects represent an evolution of an activity, to a competition, and eventually a full fledged sport.  Watching tape is the next step and can provide fighters with strong insight against their opponents.  Knowing an opponents tendencies is just as important as knowing their strengths and weaknesses.

Not surprisingly though MMA is very different than most other sports and it will be a long time before watching footage of opponents has a consistent impact.  Watching film is important, but it is in no way easy or simple.  The most important requirement for watching film is time.  You need to spend a lot of time watching to truly gain an advantage.  Football players spend hours and hours during the week and during preseason watching footage of their opponents and their coaches still watch more than twice as much.  To truly, consistently, benefit from studying film requires effort and time from the fighter, coaches, and their teammates.  With MMA's requirement to be well versed in so many different fields fighters have to make an effort to find time for film.  Balancing the amount of time a fighter spends in the gym, working on strength/conditioning, and watching tape is a difficult task.  If studying film does began to gain widespread appeal I think it will turn into a situation where fighters may watch some tape, but the majority of study sessions will be held by the trainer.  It will and maybe should become the responsibility of the coach to find tendencies and holes in competition so he can coach the fighter in the right direction.  Yes it would help if the fighter sees the footage first hand, but a coach who can find weaknesses in opponents should be able to teach the fighter.  There are coaches in the NFL who have their jobs almost solely on the fact that they analyze tape and gameplan better than anyone else.

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