MMA is essentially a sport of high level grappling with primitive striking.

[RowdyP4PGOAT]

you are cherrypicking a fight between two wrestlers who have the worst striking amongst the top guys in the division

the level of striking of elite mma fighters is not far removed from kickboxing. mousasi, overeem and rampage went and fought top kickboxers and were successful, spong crossed over and didnt have his way standing with angel deanda. mirko crossed over and there were guys like wand and fedor who could strike with him

there are other fights where the grappling is terrible

i agree that they wouldget outclassed in boxing, but not overall striking

this this this

 

[Hannya MMA]

Not all MMA fighters are pure grapplers...some of them are strikers and former k-1 fighters.

 

[clayj]

Make sure you learn how to defend a low single........

 

[Kim Jong Un]

I would add that it is specifically the submission and olympic grappling styles. MMA fighters have no skill in Sumo or Ssireum style.

 

[clayj]

Notice how Toney's stance doesn't resemble a boxing stance, he is prepared to fight MMA. He wouldn't be able to throw his usual boxing strikes with his hands so low, stance so wide, the striking is totally different. Even so, Toney was still taken down with ease.

 

[Deleroux]

MMA fighters have no skill in Sumo

 

[Mixedfights]

Striking sports have sub primitave grappling. Like no grappling so...a HS wrestler could duck close distance ans slam a boxing champuon on his head and pound him out.He could stall and pot shot the striker if he wanted, hes never getting up. This has been proven and kicked like a dead horse.

The striking arts are lacking not MMA.

 

[SuperNerd]

Well yeah. Grapplers would go here first. Strikers have several options before MMA makes sense.

 

[barehanded]

 

[Natman2939]

The fact that two high level athletes like Davis and Bader just had a fight that resembled a yellow belt tae kwon do sparring match is beyond pathetic.


Literally the poorest techniques, just dumb over hand bombs and shitty off balanced leg kicking.. It's so cringy to watch and blows my mind how far MMA actually hasn't evolved as a whole ( inb4 aldo pettis anderson, those guys are way too rare )

You're clearly not taking into account that styles make fights and MMA is essentially made of 3 pillars: Striking, Wrestling, Submission Grappling

In the beginning people could just be one of those things, then slowly they were 1 with a little bit of a second one sprinkled

Today most people are at least very VERY solid in 2 of them, and decent in the 3rd

Most people are either: Striking/Wrestling or Striking/Submission...sadly Phil Davis (much like Jake Shields) is one of the few people who's truly 90% Wrestling/Submissions

Bader's base is definitely wrestling but his striking has gotten better over the years, the problem is Davis' and Bader's wrestling are both so good that they didn't want to risk wrestling

and Davis is just barely good enough on the feet to not get completely KTFO by Bader, so he did exactly what most people thought he was going to do and stretched the fight out into a boring decision.

But that's just those guys, it's a terrible assumption to think that everyone is like that. Maybe there's not many guys that could compete in K1 (...Except ironically the UFC is now home to TWO k1 champions both of whom have been ko'd by people who were weaker strikers on paper)

but most people have enough striking to hold their own, and for those that don't, they have enough grappling ability to either take the other person down or threaten the takedown enough to make a great striker ineffective.

If you think for a second some great boxer or kickboxer could walk in and walk over top MMA guys in an MMA fight, you're an idiot. They'll either end up like James Toney vs Couture (cause the best striking in the world means nothing if you're on your back)

or... just the threat of the takedown may be more than enough to even the odds (just look at the fact that fucking bigfoot silva has a KO win over Alistair Overeem....and Schaub has a KO win over Mirko Crocop...a man who after getting KTFO by Schaub left the UFC and won the K1 Grand Prix)

It's been a while since I've seen this kinda crap but it's kinda amazing that it still pops up every now and then.

 

[Natman2939]

Makes me happy. As a former boxing national champ I am happy to make my transition into MMA and knock some people out

Is normal

won't help you at all if you can't stay on the feet, and even then.. we've seen very decorated strikers get KTFO by lesser strikers. Threat of the takedown changes everything

Plus even if takedowns weren't a factor... you're entering a world where KICKS, KNEES, and ELBOWS are now a factor.

Any guy who's trained nothing but boxing suddenly having to deal with leg kicks alone is going to mess his game up, not to mention kicks to the rib and dome, and knees...

No more ref breaking you up when you clinch after every other exchange... instead if you make the mistake of clinching (something boxers do religiously) you're going to get taken down or eat knees.

Spoiler

that's another reason I always thought the idea of mayweather in MMA was so laughable. So many of his fights he's needed the ref to break up the clinch every EVERY exchange... he fights so close inside that it basically goes "punch punch, clinch" and in MMA that would be more like "punch punch, TAKEDOWN"

 

[Natman2939]

Notice how Toney's stance doesn't resemble a boxing stance, he is prepared to fight MMA. He wouldn't be able to throw his usual boxing strikes with his hands so low, stance so wide, the striking is totally different. Even so, Toney was still taken down with ease.

that's something people don't take into consideration back (or didn't) back when MMA vs boxing debates were raging for years.

You literally can't do most boxing stances in MMA. When I first got into MMA I can't tell you how many boxing "experts" would tell me how stupid MMA stances and striking looked because of how wide their stance was, how far apart their feet were, how low their hands were

but they don't realize, that's all about takedown defense.

Would love to see some idiot keep his feet really closer together and his guard (hands) real high (or worse..try to do that diagonal shoulder roll'esque stuff mayweather does)

You'd be practically giving the takedown away

 

[IalwaysWin]

Look at how sloppy Deontay Wilder is and he just earned a belt. He throws haymakers like high school kids in a lunch fight.

 

[esum80]

that's the WORST possible fight to base that statement on.

 

[Andre Xiong]

As much as I agree about the level of striking in mma being cringe worthy too often, it's unfair to criticize it against say boxing or kickboxing. World level boxers and kickboxer have tried mma (or are welcome to) and most don't get far with their super Uber skills. In football, positions are so specialized: a QB is the passer and WR is the catcher and so on. In boxing, 100% focus on punching. In mma, u need to learn everything from taekwondo to judo to wrestling to karate. Davis and Bader would likely maul many a top kickboxing champions. That's the story of mma (until we get more GSPs and Jones'')

Someone took Schilling's opinion too much. Schilling is stupid for suggesting Anderson Silva not great at kickboxing but concerned enough to bring not just good kickboxing partners but the best in the world to prepare for Silva. Schilling has a losing sub 0.500 record in mma cus his worldly level kickboxing is not worldly in the world of freestyle or mma. As an mma fighter, you'd think he is humble about how hard mma is in terms of the unlimited array of attacks you Need to learn to use and to defend.

 

[Irenaeus]

There's a reason a high percentage of people can grapple without any sort of training, it just seems more instinctual. I've never seen someone with decent striking that never trained it.

I've never seen somebody with decent grappling that never trained it either.

 

[Cygnus A]

The fact that two high level athletes like Davis and Bader just had a fight that resembled a yellow belt tae kwon do sparring match is beyond pathetic.


Literally the poorest techniques, just dumb over hand bombs and shitty off balanced leg kicking.. It's so cringy to watch and blows my mind how far MMA actually hasn't evolved as a whole ( inb4 aldo pettis anderson, those guys are way too rare )

Yep. What blows my mind is these guys are in the top 10. Really? This is the best we can do?

At least learn to throw a leg kick that will hurt someone.

 

[flowers tiger]

Look at how sloppy Deontay Wilder is and he just earned a belt. He throws haymakers like high school kids in a lunch fight.

Agreed

 

[Torrid]

Remember when Stefan Leko got KO'd by a judo guy in MMA? Yeah...

Striking is different when clinching isn't prohibited and the gloves are near non-existent.

 

[The Bard]

If you think that's bad, you should see the level of wrestling in boxing matches.