Elite level mma is boring

[Bend NvR Break]

You're saying that back in the day fighters always had top tier training? There are more quality trainers now than there were in the past. It's easier to find a gym in your region that is good than in the past. There were fighters who had to learn martial arts from VHS tapes in the past due to how hard it was to find quality training.

If Mike Perry was at Jacksons before he had money, then that would mean that Jacksons isn't as hard to train at as you're suggesting. Mike Perry trains the way he does out of his own preference, just like Mitchell does.

So I will say there's more accessibility to higher quality trainers then there's ever been. I agree with that. Internet. YouTube. Social media. All have made it easier to find quality if you know what you're looking for. But on the other side of the coin there's more accessibility to the "get your BJJ black belt in 3 years" McDojo. There's literally a place less than 10 minutes from my place where in the front window it says "earn your black belt in MMA." Since when did MMA have belts? Can I trust trainers that tell people that there are belts in MMA? What about John and Jane Doe who night not be as knowledgeable as us? They'll probably eat up. Walk around telling people they are an orange belt in MMA

And back in the days fighters didn't have MMA gyms. If you wanted to be a mixed martial artist you had to go to a BJJ gym to train BJJ. MT gym to train MT. Boxing gym to train in boxing. Crossover gyms weren't a thing yet. Those types of gyms didn't start popping up until the late 00s after TUF. After TUF brought MMA to the masses BJJ gyms started offering striking classes and MT gyms started offering BJJ classes. Now it's evolved to that point that you're more likely to see a multi art gym than a single art gym.

 

[Sms_productions713]

So I will say there's more accessibility to higher quality trainers then there's ever been. I agree with that. Internet. YouTube. Social media. All have made it easier to find quality if you know what you're looking for. But on the other side of the coin there's more accessibility to the "get your BJJ black belt in 3 years" McDojo. There's literally a place less than 10 minutes from my place where in the front window it says "earn your black belt in MMA." Since when did MMA have belts? Can I trust trainers that tell people that there are belts in MMA? What about John and Jane Doe who night not be as knowledgeable as us? They'll probably eat up. Walk around telling people they are an orange belt in MMA

And back in the days fighters didn't have MMA gyms. If you wanted to be a mixed martial artist you had to go to a BJJ gym to train BJJ. MT gym to train MT. Boxing gym to train in boxing. Crossover gyms weren't a thing yet. Those types of gyms didn't start popping up until the late 00s after TUF. After TUF brought MMA to the masses BJJ gyms started offering striking classes and MT gyms started offering BJJ classes. Now it's evolved to that point that you're more likely to see a multi art gym than a single art gym.

Very correct with the first statement. Internet has helped getting a hold of high quality more easier.

The gyms what was I was mainly pertaining to. In my city, I cannot count how many Gracie barra gyms there are. The only ones really worth a damn are draculino and Alex Moreno ( compared to all the others)

We have 1 Renzo Gracie school, and I couldn’t tell you who the fuck runs it. Back then, affiliate gyms atleast had someone notable. We had a miletich back in the day, and was ran by Sam Hoger. Also had a chute box, that was ran by Evangelista cyborg. Now, when you hear those names, that doesn’t south like much, but what they offered was they were at those gyms in their prime days, and had that elite background gyms with the who’s who of high level training daily. So any other gyms with people you never heard of, did not know how to train and that intense level.

The crappy part was back in those days ( and still to this day) mma gyms is just horrible business all round. It’s like the absolute worst businessman get involved in mma gyms

 

[marvinparsons]

I think the OP is on to something. Fighters have figured out that if you keep someone at range and just barely outstrike them, distract them with TDs/clinching that goes nowhere, you win the round.

You can spar from afar for 90 seconds, clinch for 90 seconds, spar for 60 seconds, get a TD that goes nowhere for 60 seconds, and you win the round if you landed one extra leg kick. You do that twice, then just literally run away, and you win the fight.

There's some obvious solutions: 1) rankings should be based more heavily on finish rate 2) we need more 10-10 rounds and 10-8 rounds. Currently if you cause zero damage and land one more leg kick that is 10-9. If you have Ian Garry concussed, are battering him in the head over and over again and he is panic wrestling, looking close to being finished, that's also a 10-9. You could also evaluate after the fight who did more total damage and was closest to actually finishing the fight.

People like Merab/Belal/Garry should be getting more rounds that are just 10-10s because nothing of any real consequence happened. They can then adapt their fighting style to this reality.

 

[MotorCityCobra]

MMA is just following similar progression to boxing 50+ years ago.

Hitting and not getting hit.

You watch low level boxing at the local casino it's a bloodbath. Guys like Hopkins, Mayweather, etc etc won by basically reducing every fight to a non fight. Higher weights alot of guys do it by excessive clinching (think Andre Ward/Klitschko/Fury/etc.).

You see this with a fight like Garry VS Prates. One guy looks all universe slaughtering people taking fight to him, and some guy essentially runs and keeps him off balance and he looks like he can't fight a lick.

Also a similar progression to boxing, is the outwork style fighter. Who rarely gets a finish but is able to set an awkward pace and simply outwork their opponent (think belal/strickland/merab) but these guys are also essentially forcing a fight with low risk high activity drowning more dynamic explosive fighters.

The better guys get at MMA, the more boring and similar to boxing it will become.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

. It’s like the absolute worst businessman get involved in mma gyms

Agreed

 

[kuroro]

Are you okay bud?

are you? some people actually like martial arts and seeing who's the best at it. what works and what doesn't. stick to wwe.

 

[Prazeres]

I just find it interesting because for years I’ve seen boxing as a more restricted form of fighting, but I don’t think that’s true. A fight isn’t about taking your opponent down and submitting them because you’re physically stronger or even getting a flash KO, it’s supposed to be a back and forth argument, a conversation where you convince the other guy you’re better, we don’t really see that in MMA. People don’t have to dig deep in mma - when the going gets tough a lot of fighters roll over and give up a sub. There are ways out in MMA that don’t exist in boxing. There is hugging in boxing, I’m not saying it’s perfect by any means.

Fighters quit in between rounds all the time in boxing.
Also boxing judging is generally gives more weight to defence, the slickster who's speciality is avoinding being hit is an archetype in boxing that just doesn't exist to the same extent in MMA. If it did Masvidal would have less split decision loss for exemple.

Honestly just seems like you are currently bored with MMA and imagining that the grass is greener in another combat sport you don't watch as much.

 

[Prazeres]

There's some obvious solutions: 1) rankings should be based more heavily on finish rate

Already the case, guys who finish fights get pushed along much faster. Compare the treatment the UFC gave to Lopes compared to Evloev who beat him. Or how Bahamondes was given a ranked opponnent before Klein who had just beaten him.

More exciting fighters being given title shots before arguably more deserving but less apealing fighter is common practise, just to cite recent exemples : Erceg over Mokaev, Chito over Merab, Lopes over Evloev, Rountree over Ankalaev, etc.

Also it's only the popular fighters, usually finisher (some exception like Colby), that get to sit on their rank forever (like Yair and Ortega) or get gifted legacy title shot (Dustin vs Islam, Masvidal vs Usman 2, O'Malley vs Merab 2)

 

[DanaWhitesButler]

Also, that "woman talking rubbish" on commentary is arguably one of the best ones at the table. You can tell she's actually a student of the game, keeps notes, and that she studies the fighters and their respective histories. Not to mention she has the best understanding of the Unified Rules and the like. She's not perfect, but she has more than earned my respect with her knowledgeable commentary.

she's forgotten more about fighting than he will ever know