IRAN & CUBA

[logicthepoet]

in my opinion wrestling and BJJ has battled for supremacy as the pre-eminent base for MMA for a long time. Yes the best utilized aspects of both but there are fighters who have a wrestling base and those that have a BJJ base.

With the thawing of relations between the United States and Cuba and Iran respectively... and their legendary Wrestling pedigrees. does sherdog think this will lead to an exodus of fighters from those two countries into UFC?

and if it happens do you think it will tilt the balance towards wrestlers?

 

[mmafan559]

Strikers are learning how to stop takedowns.

The end of wrestling's supremacy is nigh!

Hooray.

 

[LouisBolanos]

Neo footwork ring craft > wrestling.

 

[1122]

On short yes. As a boxing fan I understand how amazing Cuban athletes are. For such a tiny island they churn out some amazing fighters.

For instance when Mayweather won silver at the Olympics he was the first American to beat a Cuban in like 20 years.

& it's crazy that they have made the big impact that they have when you consider that pro sports is outlawed in their country. I can't wait till they can fight pro with no obstacles, & yes wrestling I'm sure will become even more dominant.

 

[Leinster Rugby]

Interesting!

I'm not sure how thawed things are between the US and Iran but yeah possibly. The Cubans strength is boxing though so could just as easily tilt the balance in favour of strikers

 

[Which Doctor]

& it's crazy that they have made the big impact that they have when you consider that pro sports is outlawed in their country. I can't wait till they can fight pro with no obstacles, & yes wrestling I'm sure will become even more dominant.

 

[logicthepoet]

Interesting!

I'm not sure how thawed things are between the US and Iran but yeah possibly. The Cubans strength is boxing though so could just as easily tilt the balance in favour of strikers

good point about the boxers...but wouldnt they just move towards boxing? or do you think they'd pull a HOlly and come over to the UFC or another MMA promotion

 

[logicthepoet]

Interesting!

I'm not sure how thawed things are between the US and Iran but yeah possibly. The Cubans strength is boxing though so could just as easily tilt the balance in favour of strikers

you're right, not as thawed as cuba....they've already opened flights back to cuba.. but things are a lot less tense with iran than they were 8 years ago.... we've come a long way since they we called an axis of evil...

seeing as they have a long wresting tradition...to the point where both american and Iranian wrestling federations joined forces to combat the loss of olympic wrestling i wonder if that opens areas of cooperation

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

[not USA not Brazil] invasion coming soon, guys!

This thread idea is new.

 

[MoMurdah]

While the combat sport talent of both Iran and Cuba can't be denied, their relative isolation from NA will mean that they won't have the infrastructure to support high level MMA fighters on their own.

At best, we will see guys leaving these countries to go train with actual MMA centric gyms in NA or other places. It will take quite awhile for MMA to become so embedded that a world champion MMA fighter would emerge from those countries that trained exclusively in their home country, or even mostly in their home country.

 

[Cowboy Cerroliveira]

Being an American of Iranian descent, I'm proud that Iran gave us Gegard Mousasi, Beneil Dariush, Makwan Amirkhani and Reza Madadi....

...and Akira Courasani (ok we're not perfect)...among others.

If relations thaw, we can expect more fighters of equal or greater calibre to arrive.

 

[GloryOfIran]

Maybe Cuba, but Iranians don't care about mma. For them and most of the world the olympics are bigger than all else. Only mma in the olympics will have a significant impact on getting countries other than america and brazil into mma. The only problem is if that happens the olympic commity will do everything in their power to pussify mma. There would be head gear, banned submissions, gnp only to the body etc. As if the unified rules isnt pussified enough.

 

[Leinster Rugby]

Interesting!

I'm not sure how thawed things are between the US and Iran but yeah possibly. The Cubans strength is boxing though so could just as easily tilt the balance in favour of strikers w

you're right, not as thawed as cuba....they've already opened flights back to cuba.. but things are a lot less tense with iran than they were 8 years ago.... we've come a long way since they we called an axis of evil...

seeing as they have a long wresting tradition...to the point where both american and Iranian wrestling federations joined forces to combat the loss of olympic wrestling i wonder if that opens areas of cooperation

Would be interesting to see it

 

[logicthepoet]

Maybe Cuba, but Iranians don't care about mma. For them and most of the world the olympics are bigger than all else. Only mma in the olympics will have a significant impact on getting countries other than america and brazil into mma. The only problem is if that happens the olympic commity will do everything in their power to pussify mma. There would be head gear, banned submissions, gnp only to the body etc. As if the unified rules isnt pussified enough.

yeah but at one point Americans didnt care about mma either.... now it gets the ESPN treatment....
wont be instantaneous.. but with the wrestling pedigree of the Country.... it can only be a matter of time.... esp with the limited mobility of wrestling past a certain point...only so many jobs for olympic trainers and coaches...