Does winning only the championship rounds matter

[GrantB13]

Apparently it does. Might as well make the fighters do hard sparring in the back for 3 rounds and then send them out for a 2 round fight. Just skip the 15 minutes of initial fighting that seemingly doesn't matter anymore.

 

[HHJ]

All rounds have the same score weighting as far as I know.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

I got nostalgic and forgot to answer the reply on the topic. I agree that coasting is not traditionally what the greats do in MMA. But if you look at boxing Ali’s rope a dope was genius. Mayweather made a career skating through early and often losing the first few rounds. I hate point fighting in MMA but as the sport evolves we will see someone master point fighting. GSP after the Serra fight was basically a point fighter.

Honestly I don’t deserve the tag. I had one pro fight 15 years ago. Different era in the sport and on this website. These days you have to earn it. I am 1-0 in MMA with an okay BJJ tournament record.

I loved fighting but didn’t fight again because the pieces just didn’t fall into place. I had one opponent no show, the next missed weight by a lot and the commission cancelled it. It is mentally tough preparing for a fight and having it fall through makes it hard to reset. Then I messed up my knee training and my corporate career started taking off.

A million excuses and life worked out well for me but I would have loved to get a few more fights. If you are seriously thinking about it, I highly recommend getting at least one. There is nothing in the world that can match the feeling of getting your hand raised in the cage. The whole experience is just euphoric from the walk to the cage to the after party if you enjoy an adrenaline rush.

Thanks for replying man,

We've kinda lived reversed lives in a way..where around 15 16 years ago is when i really wanted to start fighting i was like 16 years old then..i was training alot in japanese jujitsu then i said when i turned 18 i would fight pro.. Well fast forward im now 29 ( turning 30 this year) and havent fought yet as life and excuses and children plus my back up career happened before i could get that first fight in and i keep coming back to wanting to fight so its safe to say im doing at least one and go from there.. Ive never really stopped training...

One big challenge to me fighting is MMA was illegal in my province of Canada for years so fighting at the young at of 18 would of meant somehow traveling outside of the country or province and that was not likely money wise...so i lost some time just to the fact i couldnt get a fight close enough to me and did other tournaments instead " sport jiujitsu"mainly and BJJ as well as mixing and study different martials arts over the years..

Back on topic
Yeah , the rope a dope is a special baby.. No1 could do it like ali did..and i wouldnt really consider it like coasting either as he would still engage here and there and he wasnt running he was shucking and dodging mixed with partial blocking/rolling with strikes a far cry from some of the sprinting we see today ( conor/diaz 2)

And floyd is a defensive master so its no surprise he gave up rounds early, he was studying finding the holes in his opponents , pretty crazy how consistent he was in his approach and he never paid the price for it... Literally didnt change his style very much his whole career..and didnt lose..not many can say that..boxing is different then MMA though ,in its culture so i mean coasting is more accepted there then MMA..i think its about options..you only have so many options or paths to victory in boxing where as in MMA you have so many ways that coasting is kinda frowned upon ..kinda like saying you have so many ways to win but you chose to run to victory type thing..could be silly and change over time..but i believe if your not fighting every fight with the goal of getting it done before the last bell rings, your asking for trouble.. Fighting shouldnt need scoring if done right IMO

 

[Brandon Taylor]

Thanks for replying man,

We've kinda lived reversed lives in a way..where around 15 16 years ago is when i really wanted to start fighting i was like 16 years old then..i was training alot in japanese jujitsu then i said when i turned 18 i would fight pro.. Well fast forward im now 29 ( turning 30 this year) and havent fought yet as life and excuses and children plus my back up career happened before i could get that first fight in and i keep coming back to wanting to fight so its safe to say im doing at least one and go from there.. Ive never really stopped training...

One big challenge to me fighting is MMA was illegal in my province of Canada for years so fighting at the young at of 18 would of meant somehow traveling outside of the country or province and that was not likely money wise...so i lost some time just to the fact i couldnt get a fight close enough to me and did other tournaments instead " sport jiujitsu"mainly and BJJ as well as mixing and study different martials arts over the years..

Back on topic
Yeah , the rope a dope is a special baby.. No1 could do it like ali did..and i wouldnt really consider it like coasting either as he would still engage here and there and he wasnt running he was shucking and dodging mixed with partial blocking/rolling with strikes a far cry from some of the sprinting we see today ( conor/diaz 2)

And floyd is a defensive master so its no surprise he gave up rounds early, he was studying finding the holes in his opponents , pretty crazy how consistent he was in his approach and he never paid the price for it... Literally didnt change his style very much his whole career..and didnt lose..not many can say that..boxing is different then MMA though ,in its culture so i mean coasting is more accepted there then MMA..i think its about options..you only have so many options or paths to victory in boxing where as in MMA you have so many ways that coasting is kinda frowned upon ..kinda like saying you have so many ways to win but you chose to run to victory type thing..could be silly and change over time..but i believe if your not fighting every fight with the goal of getting it done before the last bell rings, your asking for trouble.. Fighting shouldnt need scoring if done right IMO

Solid points across the board. I agree with you on all of it. I am definitely not looking to make a strong case for point fighting. I get why people do it but I also root for them to lose when they do.

I got lucky and lived in an area where MMA blew up early. We had weekly events back when Tito was champ. So it was fairly easy to get into the sport. Plus early on the fighters were more accessible so we had the opportunity to train with a lot of good fighters. I trained at Jeremy Horns gym and got to train with all the Miletich guys like Hughes, Franklin, Tim Sylvia and Pulver when they were champs. Lawler before he was champ and just cool guys like your fellow Canadian Joe Doerkson.

The good thing about starting at your age is you have the knowledge without the wear and tear. A lot of fighters bodies feel 60 years old at 30.

 

[Arrrrgh]

Honestly the champion shouldn't even have to fight the first 3 rounds. Those should be like a bye week in football.
Make 2 number 1 contenders fight a 3 round fight and then whoever wins stays in the octagon and then fights the champion for 3 more rounds.

It's only fair.