Best boxer in MMA

[lugubriousduck]

For some reason, I find it very satisfying to see how the evolution of MMA has led it back to being basically Boxing matches.

Any one else see this?
Plenty of current MMA fights are basically sloppy, amateurish-looking Boxing matches...almost like Toughman contests though the participants are in way better condition than Toughmen participants.

These diehard MMA-only loyalists especially like to rag on Boxing, but their favorite fights that get them on the edge of their seats are the sloppy slugfests that are basically Boxing matches. Many outright boo when the guys are on the ground too much working for submissions, and even the referees appear to be quite anxious to stand the guys back up quick...almost like there's an agenda from higher up about keeping the action on overdrive with strikes. They even pay bonuses for KO of the night to encourage the standup.

I encourage ass kicking on a daily basis. I ply 5000 mg of ass kicking everyday. I tell my kids punching their male teacher's groin makes their pee pee bigger.

























*Allen does not have kids, but if he does, I imagine that is something he would encourage his kids to do.

 

[bradlee180]

And Bradster... I am talking about THAT photo and not the poor appearance of other heavyweight comparability crap. Pick a different David Haye Photo.

Right on it, Boss!

 

[lugubriousduck]

Nevermind... It has come to my attention that ALL DAVID HAYE photos come off homoerotic. The one you posted is even gayer. Maybe it's the fact that Mormeck is also half naked and baldy back there is creeping me out. Sausage fest... ew.

 

[uppercuts21]

For some reason, I find it very satisfying to see how the evolution of MMA has led it back to being basically Boxing matches.

Any one else see this?
Plenty of current MMA fights are basically sloppy, amateurish-looking Boxing matches...almost like Toughman contests though the participants are in way better condition than Toughmen participants.

These diehard MMA-only loyalists especially like to rag on Boxing, but their favorite fights that get them on the edge of their seats are the sloppy slugfests that are basically Boxing matches. Many outright boo when the guys are on the ground too much working for submissions, and even the referees appear to be quite anxious to stand the guys back up quick...almost like there's an agenda from higher up about keeping the action on overdrive with strikes. They even pay bonuses for KO of the night to encourage the standup.

What I find comical is that they will standup the fighters if there is inactivity on the ground. What the hell is that about? And almost all your casual fans love a nice and bloody slugfest and there is no better place for it than in MMA when 2 guys without striking backgrounds will slug it out.

I enjoy me some ground fights but seeing MMA striking is just a little too sloppy for my liking.

 

[bradlee180]

I think Matt Hammill displayed about the worst standup I've ever seen in my life out of a professional fighter. The Bisping fight.

 

[lugubriousduck]

case in point... Liddell vs Wanderlei? That shit got me bored after the first 2 minutes. I might as well drag two of my drunk buddies outside and pit them against each other for a case of beer. The action would be comparable. I assure you...

 

[bradlee180]

Ricardo Arona's standup?

 

[Kid McCoy]

These threads are not all that bad as long as they only come around every few months or so. It

 

[ivandrago805]

david haye is not 220 he fights at 200. he would be a machine in the ufc

 

[lugubriousduck]

I know I would be a machine in the UFC...

 

[xXSpawnXx]

These threads are not all that bad as long as they only come around every few months or so. It

 

[bradlee180]

When the whole Sean Sherk/Floyd Mayweather thing (which was never gonna happen) was going on, I used to think Sherk would take him quite easily as I didn't think Floyd's style would transition too well to MMA because he's got no power on his shots and he likes to stay in the pocket, roll and counter. He'd be in the Thai clinch or get taken down by staying in close like that in MMA.
However, I was quite surprised at how easily BJ Penn completely controlled and nullified Sherk with basically the left jab, timing, and footwork.

I still think other boxing styles other than Floyd's would transition better to MMA especially a guy with power like Haye or Miranda or Arthur Abraham or Mosely or Kirkland or Cotto or Glen Johnson or Cintron or Valero or Judah...

Hey there's a name for serious consideration in MMA:

Zab Judah.

Can't see him being a champ in Boxing again.
With his athleticism and talent, he could learn enough grappling in short order, enough to be a serious force in MMA if he wanted to. 31 years old. He'd still have time.
Opponents like Sean Sherk, Joe Stevenson, Faber, Melendez, Gomi, BJ Penn, Hansen await.

Of course those other guys mentioned aren't really going to get into MMA; I'm just saying I think there style would be the most effective in MMA rather than a slick shoeshine and pittypat punches like a Chris Byrd style.

 

[XiaolinSoldier]

These threads are not all that bad as long as they only come around every few months or so. It

 

[bradlee180]

david haye is not 220 he fights at 200. he would be a machine in the ufc

PHAIL.

Don't try to tell Boxing fans what weight a well-known Boxer fights at.
The guys in here just watched him fight a few weeks ago.
He came in at 215 for that good little scrap against Barrett.

Haye dehydrated to make the 200 lb Cruiser limit before he went up to Heavyweight where he belongs.

 

[bradlee180]

I could do without the ***gy sculpted body pics though.

Well, I'll take credit (blame) for the first one, but I only posted the second one because lugubrious requested it; apparently he's into that sort of thing. Remember his old avatar?

MMA is an amalgam of what has worked before in the more

 

[lugubriousduck]

gayz

 

[MMAmouse]

Junie Allen Browning has the best boxing in MMA.

 

[bradlee180]

Yeah, well Gina Carano has the best box in MMA (I'll bet)...



EDIT: In all seriousness, I think Carano's standup is actually superior to a lot of male MMA fighters' standup.

 

[consortium11]

In terms of boxing accomplishments it's fairly clearly Jeremy Williams:

Fight Finder - Jeremy "Half-Man, Half-Amazing" Williams's Mixed Martial Arts Statistics

Jeremy Williams

The question is more if he really wants to give MMA a shot with Pro-Elite folding. At one stage it looked like he was giving it a serious go, but he than had his come-back bout in boxing and was signed for a Cruiserweight eliminator (can't remember the alphabet title) on a card that was scrapped. He then had one MMA fight and has kinda disappeared.

He's looked fairly good so far against limited but somewhat experienced opposition.

On a slightly more controversial note, I'd throw out a name who no-one regards for his boxing but has shown similar skills to how I'd imagine at least *some* transitioning boxers would fight.

Lyoto Machida.

Sure he throws a lot of legkicks and has decent submission skills, but his key attributes are his speed, footwork and reflexes. When punches and takedowns start getting thrown most MMA fighters stop even pretending to circle and instead go in straight lines. Lyoto has been one of the first to circle away while under fire and it's wreaked merry hell on pretty much every fighter he's faced. He avoided the takedowns of Naka and Tito with ease, has outstruck everyone he'd faced and all on the basis of counter-striking and foot movement.

On a more traditional level Big Nog may not have the ammy pedigree his brother has, but he's probably got some of the best MMA boxing in the game, hurt slightly by his lack of power. I can only think of Cro Cop and Fedor in the third bout who have clearly outstruck him... while he was being punished against Sylvia by the end of the second round he was slipping and countering with some pretty decenty effect.

 

[consortium11]

WOW. Couple of bullet points.
1 I always new there was an angry youngster in the soul of Kid McCoy.
2 I have thought many, many times about how MMA fighters should take the time to really, really attempt to become adept at BOXING, real boxing, the kind where you dont get KOed with some stupid punch that your opponent didnt turn over. If a grappling based fighter could come close to that he could do amazing things, my best example would be Penn I guess.
3 When you think of Great fighters, whether it Boxing, Wrestling or Jujitsu, you cant imagine that any of them could ever be truly Great at all three, and especially not great at all the other little complex bits of fighting that MMA weaves into its sport. This leaves me to believe that MMA is forever doomed to never have truly dominant champions, and A>B>C>A will always be the trend in the sport.
4 Yeah TMA, about that..... thats a tough one, isnt it?
I am pretty drunk, BTW.

But there have been fighters who have been great at at least two and if you replace boxing with kickboxing there are some who have been decent at all 3.

Mark Kerr: Great wrestler, argueably the best sub-grappler ever
Arona: Again arguably the best sub-grappler ever, great wrestling.

In both cases the pair had average standup skills... not great by a long stretch but certainly not terrible. Let's remember Arona beat Overeem because of his standup.

Changing boxing to kickboxing in the equasion:

KID: Has been competative in K-1 against decent opposition, even though he's lost against some of the best. Nearly went to the olympics with his wrestling and a decent sub-grappler.

Genki Sudo: Competative in K1, decent sub-grappler and fairly decent wrestler.

Perhaps it's because wrestling and JJ/sub-grappling have a lot of similarities which allows a relatively easy transition, where as neither naturally mold into boxing/kickboxing, but it's not beyond reason to imagine a fighter who truly was great at all 3. Penn is somewhat close, Fedor may not have a pedigree in any of them but has been shown himself to be highly competant in them within MMA to great effect.