How can anyone look at '04 Hughes, '10 Shields and '19 Colby/Usman and say the sport has evolved?

[Bend NvR Break]

The blueprint is still same:

• Have an extensive background in wrestling
• Learn sub skills along the way
• Have superb cardio
• Learn enough striking to defend yourself standing while learning to how use your striking to get the fight to the mat

Everyone talks about how the game has changed and evolved. Maybe. Maybe not. I think Hughes was ahead of the curb because he was with MFS with a real team and real coaches with extensive cross training in disciplines but now that's the standard.

I think the overall talent pool has evolved where before you might have a accomplished kickboxer at 26 start to learn the ground game so they could compete in mma now you have a 16 year old who's been wrestling for 4 year now would want to learn every aspect of fighting before he even started competing.

But it seems to the guys at the top the blueprint hasn't changed.

Hell Khabib falls into the same category. Mastered grappling then learned enough striking to complement it while having great cardio.

What does Sherdog think? Has the blueprint changed?

 

[Twixt]

Covington and Usman are both far superior athletes compared to Hughes your point sucks.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Covington and Usman are both far superior athletes compared to Hughes your point sucks.

We don't know that. You're assuming. I think Hughes is bigger, stronger, has a better tank and is more skilled in the grappling department than Colby. Colby might have better fundamental striking though but Hughes has a bigger punch.

 

[Natural Order]

The skillset doesn't evolve in leaps and bounds. The techniques we see have been in place for decades, if not hundreds of years. Nobody is making new shit up that hasn't been done before.

The evolution, like all professional sports, is in the athleticism (better nutrition, training, understanding of physiology, recovery, etc.). This results in faster mechanics, quicker reflexes, faster thinking. Better conditioned athletes. That's where the evolution comes from.

 

[kflo]

We don't know that. You're assuming. I think Hughes is bigger, stronger, has a better tank and is more skilled in the grappling department than Colby. Colby might have better fundamental striking though but Hughes has a bigger punch.

This thread is you assuming of course...

 

[Bend NvR Break]

The skillset doesn't evolve in leaps and bounds. The techniques we see have been in place for decades, if not hundreds of years. Nobody is making new shit up that hasn't been done before.

The evolution, like all professional sports, is in the athleticism (better nutrition, training, understanding of physiology, recovery, etc.). This results in faster mechanics, quicker reflexes, faster thinking. Better conditioned athletes. That's where the evolution comes from.

I like this answer

 

[Bend NvR Break]

This thread is you assuming of course...

No.
All have extensive wrestling backgrounds.
All learned submissions after.
All have superb cardio.
All picked up striking to complement their grappling which is their strength.
No assuming.

Covington and Usman are both far superior athletes compared to Hughes your point sucks.

How do you know? You got times for comparison?
Hughes won state twice in HS, was a 3 time D1 all American wrestler at eastern Illinois and placed 8th and 5th nationally his last 2 years. Both those accomplishments pass Colby and Usman own wrestling careers.

 

[axe wound]

controversial if true

 

[JustOnce]

They are more well rounded is all.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

Covington and Usman are both far superior athletes compared to Hughes your point sucks.

is Woodley a superior athlete than Shields

 

[No Skill Gap]

The sport went from having many one dimensional guys to very few.

Still examples of some like Khabib, or Ngannou - greener version, or Maia/Hall/specialists to some degree.

Just look at women's for an example, it went from stone-age Rousey one dimensional to quickly evolving into something more with Holm/Nunes on the scene and Joanna/Rose/Valentina/Zhang.

Matt Hughes striking was rudimentary compared to Usman/Covington too, as was Jake Shields, let's not kid ourselves here.

 

[CerebralKnievel]

Covington and Usman are both far superior athletes compared to Hughes your point sucks.

You presented no objective reasoning to support your statement, so I'm going to assume that you're probably a retard and therefore par for the course around here.

 

[Verace]

The skillset doesn't evolve in leaps and bounds. The techniques we see have been in place for decades, if not hundreds of years. Nobody is making new shit up that hasn't been done before.

The evolution, like all professional sports, is in the athleticism (better nutrition, training, understanding of physiology, recovery, etc.). This results in faster mechanics, quicker reflexes, faster thinking. Better conditioned athletes. That's where the evolution comes from.

I agree for the most part

But these techniques might have existed for hundreds of years, but most people werent aware of them.

Its only from about 2010 forward that we started seeing complete MMA fighters all over the scene. Fighters that started learning martial arts specifically to fight MMA from the start.
Before that we had a lot of specialized guys. Like, this guy knows mainly BJJ, that guy nows mainly karate, etc...

So the techniques might not have evolved themselves. But they were spread widely to "public" knowledge among the competitors

 

[Eczemaaa]

Hughes was good at wrestling. Usman and Colby can beat any fighter anywhere the way they mix things up. Two best welterweights ever.

 

[Jose Beehive]

I hope this is the blueprint of the future

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

We don't know that. You're assuming. I think Hughes is bigger, stronger, has a better tank and is more skilled in the grappling department than Colby. Colby might have better fundamental striking though but Hughes has a bigger punch.

I agree. Colby isn’t a better grappler than Hughes

 

[RJ43]

You presented no objective reasoning to support your statement, so I'm going to assume that you're probably a retard and therefore par for the course around here.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

I agree for the most part

But these techniques might have existed for hundreds of years, but most people werent aware of them.

Its only from about 2010 forward that we started seeing complete MMA fighters all over the scene. Fighters that started learning martial arts specifically to fight MMA from the start.
Before that we had a lot of specialized guys. Like, this guy knows mainly BJJ, that guy nows mainly karate, etc...

So the techniques might not have evolved themselves. But they were spread widely to "public" knowledge

Don't we still have a bunch of specialized guys?
FlyW (until someone new is crowned) and BW - Olympic wrestler
FW - Volk is well rounded imo. Jack all of trades. Ace of none. Just tough AF.
LW - grappling/wrestling specialist
WW - a grappling specialist
MW - a striking specialist
LHW - the most well rounded guy in the history of mma
HW - a classic wrestle boxer that has good wrestling and good boxing but doesn't do well mixing both up

I think he still have a majority of specialists that pick up other aspects of fighting and just tailor them to compliment their specialities.

 

[Clark Rogers]

curve your enthusiasm. get ahead of the curb.

 

[Natural Order]

I agree for the most part

But these techniques might have existed for hundreds of years, but most people werent aware of them.

Its only from about 2010 forward that we started seeing complete MMA fighters all over the scene. Fighters that started learning martial arts specifically to fight MMA from the start.
Before that we had a lot of specialized guys. Like, this guy knows mainly BJJ, that guy nows mainly karate, etc...

So the techniques might not have evolved themselves. But they were spread widely to "public" knowledge among the competitors

No question. I should have added that to my original post. On top of the increased athleticism, you've got a blueprint formulating itself as a baseline for success in the sport. As others noted, single-skill fighters were the norm however this just wasn't going to last as pioneers quickly diversified themselves to a point where they were a legit threat in two or three areas of the game. I don't know if I'd call that "evolution" as such, more like an emphasis on becoming a jack-of-all trades.......a more complete fighter.