Media Chris Weidman compares Alex Pereira to Ben Askren: ‘It’s such a deficiency in what we’ve seen so far’

[arcadeperfect]

I do feel theres always been an insecurity in MMA to kickboxers moving in, any time anyone gets sucess we get the same old "he'll loose as soon as he fights a wrestler", sometimes its true of course but very often its not.

The flipside is I think MMA always falls in love with the idea of the super wrestler, the guy who will just blast though everyone and take them down, Bo Nickel is really the latest guy to get this kind of hype.

It's a silly insecurity. It's not as if wrestling is going anywhere, it's nice to have some other actual styles for once since it is Mixed Martial Arts.

 

[moreorless87]

It's a silly insecurity. It's not as if wrestling is going anywhere, it's nice to have some other actual styles for once since it is Mixed Martial Arts.

Honestly though I did always feel like "wrestling is the best base for MMA" was questionable, it can certainly be an effective base but really I feel the issue was much more the US Wrestling scene presented a relatively large talent pool who could be picked up relatively cheaply, it was just UFC PR covering that claiming it was the "best"

I mean you look at modern MMA and how many elite guys get by mostly on wrestling? not very many, those who have sucess devolp high level skills as strikers/sub grapplers for the most part.

 

[Chayanne]

had too many head slaps, talks a lot of nonsense

 

[knock_you_out]

Anderson Silva got beaten twice by a glorified can?

 

[Blastbeat]

Anderson Silva got beaten twice by a glorified can?

you know the rule here. Teh Chris sucks and was never any good.

he would get absolutely flattened by Poatan in less than a round. maybe 2 rounds if Chris tried his eye-poke jitsu.

 

[arcadeperfect]

Honestly though I did always feel like "wrestling is the best base for MMA" was questionable, it can certainly be an effective base but really I feel the issue was much more the US Wrestling scene presented a relatively large talent pool who could be picked up relatively cheaply, it was just UFC PR covering that claiming it was the "best"

I mean you look at modern MMA and how many elite guys get by mostly on wrestling? not very many, those who have sucess devolp high level skills as strikers/sub grapplers for the most part.

Even though it's my least favorite style to watch, I can see the argument as to why it's so effective since dictating where the fight takes place is such a threatening tool. That being said, it doesn't make it the only way to fight, some of these guys like Weidman and DC seem to think it's mandatory to be a wrestler when the fact is there are some fighters that can get by with the bare minimum just like they did with striking. If a fighter can constantly defend TDs and recover back to their feet like Alex, then it's good enough.

 

[moreorless87]

Even though it's my least favorite style to watch, I can see the argument as to why it's so effective since dictating where the fight takes place is such a threatening tool. That being said, it doesn't make it the only way to fight, some of these guys like Weidman and DC seem to think it's mandatory to be a wrestler when the fact is there are some fighters that can get by with the bare minimum just like they did with striking. If a fighter can constantly defend TDs and recover back to their feet like Alex, then it's good enough.

It can be effective but I feel like a lot of the focus goes back to that era were fighters(especially ex Pride fighters) were too willing to fight off of their backs in an environment which judged top control over everything. What I think you've seen happen in MMA over the last decade or more is "just stand up" has become much more common(were as back in the day it was a few guys like Chuck and Fedor doing it), a wrestler who doesnt have the sub game to punish an opponent giving up his back to stand up will find it very difficult to control fights anymore.

Personally I think elite striking is the best base for modern MMA, especially elite striking with strong finishing ability, thats something is very hard to "neutralise" were as I think wrestling is significantly easier to neutralise to the degree we very often see fighters give up on it because the energy expenditure isnt worth it.

I think an elite wrestler to become a great MMA fighter these days will need to show significant talent for another aspect(or more) of MMA(as DC and Weidman did) were as an elite striker can get by more often on having a decent but not inspired anti grappling game(most obviously Alex and Izzy).