If You Were to Pick One MMA Fighter to Study....

[BJ@LW&WW]

If you want to study the striking techniques of a single MMA fighter, who would it be? Any time period in the history of the sport, and to prevent from picking a high level striker that maybe just dabbled in MMA, let's say that fighter would have to at least arguably have been in the top 7 of his/her division at some point in time.

Who would you study and why?

Some possible choices off the top of my head: anderson, lyoto, mirko, overeem, stephen thompson, aldo, conor, etc.

And yes, you would probably be better off studying someone from a pure striking sport, but this is sort of a round about way to ask who in the history of mma perhaps had the most technical striking at a high level.

 

[j123]

Andy Wang, I wanna know what makes him the great warrior that he is

 

[rmongler]

To be good at something in mma and be successful, it doesn't simply mean being better than anyone else at your area of speciality, it also means tuning your training strategy and game plan to be able to beat all the *other* guys who *don't* play that game and specialize in different areas, too. Something to keep in mind whenever thinking about the relative 'level' of this or that particular facet in mma.

With that frame in mind, i really like the things Aldo has done in the cage.


For consideration im gona throw out another name that you don't hear too often: Nikita Krylov.

Being able to defend against anything and everything that might get thrown at you is important in mma, regardless of what particular offensive tool you like to use. In that light the domin8tr stands far above the pack in terms of how to defend yourself in neutral.

When it comes to striking in particular though, the acme of expression is not just not getting hit, but not getting hit while hitting. Striking differential is an interesting statistic to me, and Krylov's 3.68 differential is top 3 in the ufc (edged only by gnp king Cain Velasquez and straw chomper Joanna).

 

[AndyMaBobs]

Andy Souwer and he is an MMA fighter now so it counts

 

[AndyMaBobs]

Well... maybe Andy Souwer is cheating because he's not in the top 7.

But in all honesty, probably Fedor. For me at least, I'm training in sambo now and I'd like to think I've got good enough muay thai skills using the teep and clinch knees. So I guess Fedor would make the most logical sense because while he's remembered for his submission skills and ko power, he was one of the most technical mma strikers around.

Either that or Joanna if I was going to stick with someone that does muay thai

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

Andy Souwer and he is an MMA fighter now so it counts

was sad to see him get starched by cruckshanks

 

[DoctorTaco]

I hate to say it, but Conor.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Probably Conor or MM. Conor is a great striker but I'm short, not a southpaw, and don't have the power he has so I can't rely on the physical height advantage he has for most of his weight classes.

MM and Edgar have always appealed to me because although they are very fast, they really don't have much physical advantages as far as striking goes

 

[rmongler]

I hate to say it, but Conor.

I seriously considered it, but i feel like as a object of study, he still has more to show us, more of a legacy that needs to be built against other elite competition.

That's a subtle distinction and what op asked literally for after all; not the best, but the best to study. The two may not always the same. The guy who can beat everyone may not necessarily have the best 'study fodder' you can take away from so to speak; be the most edifying to research wrt improving yourself.

The important question on that front then is, how much does what Conor McGregor does, depend on being Conor McGregor? Then you make another subtle distinction, shifting the question from 'what is it about his in-fight game-planing thats working; what are the most effective elements i can derive from it?', to something more like 'what training methods can be devised that will better cultivate the characteristics that help facilitate the success of his game-plan (if at all)?'.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Someone like barboza and Cerrone are great too

 

[jonander50]

I usually cut a single technique of a fighter from videos and make one video with all the cuts to analyze in slow motion the mechanics of every technique. I find igor vovchanchyn /Fedor power mechanics the most interesting

 

[DoctorTaco]

I seriously considered it, but i feel like as a object of study, he still has more to show us, more of a legacy that needs to be built against other elite competition.

That's a crucial distinction and what op asked literally for after all; not the best, but the best to study. The two may not always the same. The guy who can beat everyone may not necessarily have the best 'study fodder' you can take away from so to speak; be the most edifying to research wrt improving yourself.

The important question on that front then is, how much does what Conor McGregor does, depend on being Conor McGregor? Then you make another subtle distinction, shifting the question from 'what is it about his in-fight game-planing thats working; what are the most effective elements i can derive from it?', to something more like 'what training methods can be devised that will better cultivate the characteristics that help facilitate the success of his game-plan (if at all)?'.

im a lanky SP around the same size. I prefer the moving left and have been developing game off of countering the straight right by pivoting off outside of it. I like to bait and counter and am at my best when I'm stifling jabs and throwing combinations. Taller volume fighters given me fits. There's a lot of things mcgregor does as a striker that would serve my natural inclinations

 

[AndyMaBobs]

you´re not gonna amount to anything who study fedor when you got 0 fights and are posting on sherdog and not training 5 houry daily, worry about important things

My god man do you ever post anything that's not retarded. If you insist on posting hundreds of times daily at least try to attempt something constructive rather than trolling and attempting to belittle people. Either way, I tried to be nice about it before now I'm just not gonna acknowledge you

 

[Yugo King]

My god man do you ever post anything that's not retarded. If you insist on posting hundreds of times daily at least try to attempt something constructive rather than trolling and attempting to belittle people. Either way, I tried to be nice about it before now I'm just not gonna acknowledge you

No

Yes

I like being an ass

maybe you needed to hear that who knows

 

[Yugo King]

maybe I´m the unpopular opinion that changes your life

 

[flikerstance]

I bet you wouldn't say it to his face it's easy to be a little bitch behind a keyboard

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Not mma fighters, but I want to study hockey enforcers, and their art of jacket clinch and pound

 

[rmongler]

Not mma fighters, but I want to study hockey enforcers, and their art of jacket clinch and pound

Combat sambo.

 

[aerius]

That's a crucial distinction and what op asked literally for after all; not the best, but the best to study. The two may not always the same. The guy who can beat everyone may not necessarily have the best 'study fodder' you can take away from so to speak; be the most edifying to research wrt improving yourself.

The important question on that front then is, how much does what Conor McGregor does, depend on being Conor McGregor? Then you make another subtle distinction, shifting the question from 'what is it about his in-fight game-planing thats working; what are the most effective elements i can derive from it?', to something more like 'what training methods can be devised that will better cultivate the characteristics that help facilitate the success of his game-plan (if at all)?'.

You make a very good point, a lot of times those characteristics are intrinsic to the fighter and may not be transferable in the general sense. With Conor or Anderson Silva for instance, a lot of what they do depends on their reach, very good timing & reflexes, and ability to recognize & target extremely small openings that their opponents don't even know are there. Some of those things can be taught, some can be improved to some extent, and others are things that you're either born with or not.

For instance, I happen to be tall with good reach for my weight and I'm comfortable in southpaw so I have that going for me in my quest to be the next Conor or Anderson. Problem, my reaction speed is average at best and my timing kinda sucks, unless I can make a giant breakthrough somehow I'm not going to be laying anyone out with my left hand or landing Ong Bak elbows. Are there things I can do to improve my timing & reflexes? Yes, but I'm looking at small incremental improvements and not the giant leap forward that's required to do what Conor and Anderson do. On the other hand, there are still useful things I can learn from them even though I'm quite different in my style & approach. Distance control for instance is something that benefits everyone, the methods Conor & Anderson use to set & manipulate distance are things that everyone can learn & benefit from.

So for me it's Joanna, most of what she does doesn't require exceptional physical attributes and the skills & concepts are transferable and useful for almost everyone. Stuff like setting things up with the jab, varying the level & timing of strikes, using feints, hitting the body & legs to slow down opponents, how to setup & create openings, how footwork makes everything work, these are things that kinda universal and benefit everyone. I've stolen her front kick setups since they go well with my TKD background, and I've also adapted her body work and low kicks to better suit my style, as well as doing more of it. Nothing she does is particularly fancy but I find there's just so much to learn from her.

 

[Kingofthestreets]

As far as wbat is doable, i mean evdrybody would like to run on the cage like showtime pettis but for most folks its not doable.

Look at mousasi and nate diaz, perfect boxing and legit bjj.