Did Anyone Watch UFC last night or seen it before?

[ANVIL 10]

i'm resurrecting this thread to add Genki Sudo to my list of NHB fighters - what an entertainer that guy was! another hero!

[elBurgero 10]

Some of my faves....

 

Chuck Liddell

Randy Couture

Michael Bisping

'Cabbage' Correira

Mike Zambidis

Kimbo Slice (Just because..)

Chris Leben

Rashad Evans

[exile 10]

Jeff Monson is a monster.

[spyro2000 10]

Watch out for Cheick Kongo.

An undisputed champion in the making.

[Code13 10]

There is an interesting article in this week's Boxing News saying that, over time, UFC and other Cage fighters are increasingly realising that stand up blows, based on boxing, are overall more effective than wrestling moves, etc. Don't know if this is the case, have any UFC fans observed such a development?

[ANVIL 10]

There is an interesting article in this week's Boxing News saying that, over time, UFC and other Cage fighters are increasingly realising that stand up blows, based on boxing, are overall more effective than wrestling moves, etc. Don't know if this is the case, have any UFC fans observed such a development?

 

I think it's a bit more complex than that...

 

Initially, strikers were taken to the ground quite easily in MMA, and as such they were reluctant to fully commit to their strikes, however, as strikers have become increasingly able on the ground, it's meant they can commit to their punches and kicks and not worry about being demolished on the ground should their strikes not be effective. A pure striker pitted against a pure grappler still stands little chance though (IMO). An example would be Ramon Dekker, a legendary muay thia fighter who had no ground skills, and was taken to the ground and submitted by Genki Sudo (who, although good, had not reached the same heights in MMA as Dekker had in muay thai). Similarly, Genki Sudo (170lbs) took the former heavyweight boxer Butterbean (300lbs) to the ground and submitted him.

 

Top MMA fighters are skilled in 3 areas of combat - striking (e.g. boxing, muay thai), clinchwork (usually wrestling but also things like judo), and groundwork (BJJ, shootfighting). It's the prescence of all these skills that makes a fighter effective - without good clinchwork and groundwork, a striker is seldom effective in MMA (although there will always be exceptions).