As "The Crow" flies.

I'm starting this thread here because I want to avoid the sillyness that is the MMA forum but Jebus. I just saw Loiseau's fight with McCarthy and what a way to win a fight using SOLID stand-up technique in MMA huh? Spinning back-kick into the flying knee, and then giving props to Dennis Alexio. I was even impressed with his defense against the single-leg after MISSING the jumping round-kick, and how he defended against giving his back to McCarthy.

I think this mufucka is my favorite fighter in MMA right now.

Seeing this combined with his victory over Tanner solidified it.

 

Yeah man. I mean I've maintained that the day of the Striker has long-since been coming. The Wrestlers had their time, the butt-scoots had their time, now comes the day when smart stand-up guys can hang with them, and fighters like David are making it a reality.

 

Agreed. I mean I LOVED the beginning when it was style versus style. And now I see more guys are taking it back there. A lot of guys who trained in traditional Arts seem to be getting sick of hearing how "unreliable" they are and whatnot. Which is great IMO, it'll make for fun fights to come.

 

I sort of disagree with this. One thing he does that is actually very smart for strikers is he doesn't panic when taken down. I see a lot of guys panic and cover up too much, which leaves openings for them to be subbed in a split-second. It's VERY difficult to pull this off on David. He's always paying attention to what his opponent is doing. Evan Tanner is a VERY Savvy submission Artist and couldn't do it, McCarthy was RELYING on his ground game and couldn't do it. Not to say no one could, but David does exactly what you're supposed to do. Stay calm, block submission attempts, reverse the position, punish your man.

You're more than welcome to your opinion, but I think you mis-interpret my point. Or at least show a little bit of favoratism towards grapplers, which is why I tend to not like to attempt to discuss this sort of thing with grapplers.

When a Wrestler learns a bit of boxing and can hang with a stand-up guy, people talk about what a well-versed Wrestler he is who is a good MMA fighter. When a BJJ guy does the same thing people go "See? A grappler can beat a striker even on his feet!" But when a striker developes takedown and submission defense, people like to blather about how he had to completely abandon his striking style and change into an "MMA" fighter. MMA is not a style, it's a mix of styles. It has sort of birthed a set system of learning, but that doesn't make it a sound system IMO. And I think you can be either a striker or grappler, and learn to defend the opposite.

When I say a day of the Strikers what I'm referring to is how the history of MMA has gone. For a time BJJ dominated EVERYTHING. Then Wrestling did. Now you're starting to see more guys with kickboxing and traditional Martial Arts backgrounds wanting to prove themselves. But the hilarious part is no one can accept that. You got Chuck Liddel coming into his own. You got that one dude from KOTC who does Karate, you got Loiseau, you got St. Pierre, you got Cro Cop, all these guys with solid stand-up fighting Arts backgrounds. And it all began being foreseeable when Maurice Smith beat Mark Coleman. People saw it WAS possible for a kickboxer to beat someone who was going to repeatedly take him down and lay on top of him. Of course they have to adapt to defend the ground and defend being put on the ground, that's the name of the game. But David calls HIMSELF a TKD Artist, and his word is a bit more credible on that than yours even though you hate that (for what reason I'm unclear).

 

What old days? One thing to always remember is that the World's best Strikers never really took much of an interest in MMA as a viable Sport until now that it's become more sport-like. The guys who repped stand-up Arts in the beginning were alright at-best. The ones who were at-all exceptional did rather well for themselves considering. Nowadays more credible Strikers are interested because of the examples set that striking can indeed make some headway, and now that the Sport has grown to where the risk/reward factor is more balanced out. Kickboxers for instance largely have the mentality of Boxers, they could make more money continuing in tournaments and Kickboxing Pro around the World. Where now MMA has more of an ability to suffice a living, you'll see more of the better Strikers throwing their hats in. But I agree on the evolution aspect. Though I think the better Strikers of the World have always considered being taken-down.

A lot of the old-school guys, for instance, like Alexio, Blanks, Urquidez, Wallace, Lewis, and Wilson were pretty well-versed in Judo and other Arts to defend from the ground. They just largely were involved in competitions where they didn't much need it.

 

Are you referring to Maurice or Patrick? I wouldn't call Maurice from "the early days"...but Pat, definitely, and he did pretty well considering, too. But they both fit the bill. Maurice beats Coleman than goes on to give some of the most lackluster kickboxing matches I've ever witnessed.