Time and time again we see Kickboxers and boxers refuse to commit to learning BJJ and wrestling, and time and time again we see BJJ practioners and Judokas refuse to commit to learning how to strike with technique. Demian Maia - A world beater in BJJ, yet shows very little improvement in his striking. Roger Gracie - Another world beater, with 1% striking (a jab) and that's it. Vinny - BJJ master again, improving his striking but makes a lot of mistakes. Werdum - HW but still BJJ master, didn't improve his striking for a long time, but since his 2nd debut in the UFC he's showed a great improvement. Palhares - Leg Lock specialist, terrible standup, nothing more to say. Aoki - Submission magician, recently imroving his standup. Kitaoka - A lesser version of Aoki, with 0% standup. Jacare - BJJ monster like the others, yet each and every fight his striking looks better and better. Yes i know that this guy trains with Anderson but still that doesn't mean he was bound to end up improving, he has commited to learning striking to not only compliment his BJJ BUT he's trying to win fights with strikes. Personally i feel sorry for whoever he gets matched up with, i just hope we get to see Jacare vs Weidman, Jacare vs Mousasi 2, Jacare vs Rockhold 2.
Yeah, Jacare is tough, but based on that competition I'm not making such assessments. Let's see how he does in the UFC.
Another good example. Both realized they could elevate their games by learning how to win the fight in more ways.
iN THE BEGINNIG HE HAD BAD STRIKING SKILLS, HE SEEMS TO GET MORE CONFORTABLE IN THE STAND UP AREA EACH FIGHT, BY THE WAY I THINK HE S THE MOST INTERESTING NEW FIGHTER IN THE UFC...
maia's standup has improved significantly...he just briefly forgot about his bjj, now he's bringing it all together. Jacare is a force...but I want to see him against a top five guy
jacare will be a title contender after 3 fights in ufc prob a newcomer or mid to lower tier then two high profile fights including no 1 contender bout.
Since we don't personally know these guys, blaming their striking abilities to commitment seems really unfair. You can easilly tell guys like Maia and Roger are not really gifted in the department, but if I were to gamble I'd say Maia puts a lot of effort on it, and he does have improved a lot since his early days. Jacare didn't show anything new yesterday, his striking has looked even better before and he has been a decent striker for years now. Also, if we're talking about his evolution we should be talking about how he has improved his wrestling, a very useful tool for BJJ guys to have in MMA, that doubleleg yesterday was fast (but then again, not the first time we see that).
the funny thing no one seems to care about luke rockhold going over to the ufc, its all jacare. personally i am more excited for jacare and have been waiting for this for a few years too...
