Is the Wide Karate Stance the most effective in MMA?

[PulsingJones]

Something in common with the current best strikers in MMA:

McGregor
Adesanya
Thompson

... They all use this stance, it allows them to easily manage distance with side kicks and explode with powerful counter straights. I wonder if we're gonna see more and more people utilize this over orthodox boxing and Muay Thai stances

 

[BonesWinckleJones]

if wide stance was easy it would be called orthodox stance

 

[Vergilius]

It CAN be super effective, but it takes a long time to perfect. When Wonderboy blitzes and slips away to the left, it's a thing of beauty - and a joy to all of us karate guys who have had to endure the relentless mocking of "jumping" karate for years.

However, the stance has weaknesses too: open to leg kicks, hard on the cardio, a good wrestler can grab the single etc. You need good timing, speed and cardio to pull it off.

Hope we see more guys fighting like this, though. Variety is the spice of life and we have enough wrestlers throwing right hands in there.

 

[katsikias]

If you are Conor, WB or Izzy then yes.

 

[mma sharingan]

To a point, how come no one ever goes in with a leg kick heavy game plan? It deals with the bladed stance nicely from personal experience.

The disadvantage being bladed like wonderboy is it's very difficult to check a kick as your yo sideways on, have to rely on springing in and out of range but if you eat a leg kick you have much more weight on it than you would a thai stance (Jose Aldo stance for example) therefore if you land a few well timed ones, WB movement would be compromised and you can throw for Valhalla since you dont gotta worry about a TD since its WB , any thoughts on this sherbros?

 

[Beherit]

Adesanya doesn't have a karate stance, the GOAT striker anderson silva doesn't too.

 

[Herwald]

Bas, GSP, Machida, Iceman were karate guys as well. Gunnar Nelson's more visually similar in the cage with less success, but probably cause he's too smol for WW. Sage and Karate Hottie have struggled as well.

 

[ramair455]

In boxing a wide stance is also called a "heavy" stance. Getting heavy, and lowering your center of gravity gives you more balance and power.

Grounding your body weight allows you to throw and defend against harder punches. Getting heavy allows you to apply more of your body weight against the ground, moving with more power and more control.

Which seems work for fighters that are long with good reach.

 

[michi972]

To a point, how come no one ever goes in with a leg kick heavy game plan? It deals with the bladed stance nicely from personal experience.

The disadvantage being bladed like wonderboy is it's very difficult to check a kick as your yo sideways on, have to rely on springing in and out of range but if you eat a leg kick you have much more weight on it than you would a thai stance (Jose Aldo stance for example) therefore if you land a few well timed ones, WB movement would be compromised and you can throw for Valhalla since you dont gotta worry about a TD since its WB , any thoughts on this sherbros?

Imo they didn't fight mamy fighters who use leg kicks frequently

 

[Bad Karate]

It takes a great level of skill to avoid getting your leg chewed up with that stance however everybody you named has great skills.

I would say the most effective stance is one that works for the majority of fighters and therefore no, the wide stance isnt necessarily the best.

 

[genecop]

If you have the proficiency of Steven..

 

[FIghtxIQ]

Something in common with the current best strikers in MMA:

McGregor
Adesanya
Thompson

... They all use this stance, it allows them to easily manage distance with side kicks and explode with powerful counter straights. I wonder if we're gonna see more and more people utilize this over orthodox boxing and Muay Thai stances

Mixing it with other stances is what's best. It all depends on the type of fighter you are fighting. Plus not everyone can fight with the bladed stance. It's a style used by fighters with movement and footwork, not all fighters train or fight in that way. That's why Wonderboy gives a lot of fighters problems.

Floyd Mayweather and other slick style/philly shell boxers use a bladed stance as well. It's not strictly just karate/tae kwon do base that uses it.

 

[gevoudane]

The most effective stance all depends on the fighter.
Also there is no 'karate' stance.
There are 24 stance's in karate.

 

[aerius]

To a point, how come no one ever goes in with a leg kick heavy game plan? It deals with the bladed stance nicely from personal experience.

The disadvantage being bladed like wonderboy is it's very difficult to check a kick as your yo sideways on, have to rely on springing in and out of range but if you eat a leg kick you have much more weight on it than you would a thai stance (Jose Aldo stance for example) therefore if you land a few well timed ones, WB movement would be compromised and you can throw for Valhalla since you dont gotta worry about a TD since its WB , any thoughts on this sherbros?

It works, kicking the hell out of Wonderboy's legs was why Pettis did better against him than most and helped setup the finishing shot by slowing WB down a bit. The problem is there's not many good kickers in MMA, you need fast hard kicks along with good setups to land effectively against guys like WB, otherwise you'll get punished hard in return. If your typical MMA wrestle-boxer tries to low kick Wonderboy, he's gonna be eating a bunch of punches to the face in return.

 

[CerebralKnievel]

There is no stance which is most effective. All things are relative to the style and ability of the fighter.

Wonderboy utilizes that stance effectively because he is very perceptive and moves adeptly to avoid takedowns and maintain positional advantage. Nate Diaz could fight in a karate stance, and most likely he would wind up with a battered up lead leg and/or on his back.

 

[2004 account]

Wonderboys weakness is superman punches, but few have set it up well like másvidal and Pettis with sudden rythym changes/explosions.

 

[Jean-MMA]

Ciryl Gane (next HW champ) is using a karate stance along with traditional Kicks. Very interesting guy

 

[PulsingJones]

Bas, GSP, Machida, Iceman were karate guys as well. Gunnar Nelson's more visually similar in the cage with less success, but probably cause he's too smol for WW. Sage and Karate Hottie have struggled as well.

GSP trained Kyokushin Karate which has a different stance to Traditional Shotokan AFAIK, I don't think he utilized it that much either, especially in the later half of his career.

 

[15089371]

To a point, how come no one ever goes in with a leg kick heavy game plan? It deals with the bladed stance nicely from personal experience.

It's not like people haven't tried, as it is a very logical thing to do, but to actually really do that to Wonderboy is hard. People start out doing it but usually end up stopping because the movement makes it hard or they're starting to get countered every time. It's really takes a leg kick specialist to be able to land properly on the guy. Wonderboy actually also has a video how he deals with it from a karate stance:

 

[Paolo Delutis]

Something in common with the current best strikers in MMA:

McGregor
Adesanya
Thompson

... They all use this stance, it allows them to easily manage distance with side kicks and explode with powerful counter straights. I wonder if we're gonna see more and more people utilize this over orthodox boxing and Muay Thai stances

No...like all stances its how you apply it and it has it own weaknesses and strengths...


Strengths - provides great movement and the ability to close distance or create distance rather quickly ..also allows for powerful step in strikes as the longer or wide gap between the legs allows for more weight to transferred thru while darting in...


Weakness- Lead leg dictates the action and is a huge target for leg kicks or takedowns(single legs)...since karate relies darting in and out a fighter with good timing maybe be able to predict and effectively counter this movement..with strikes or takedowns( see woodley vs thompson or machida vs shogun 2) ...


It comes down to how it is apply...no style or stance alone is enough ...or bad or Good