Most Technical Fighter (current or all time, UFC or Pride)

wolowitz said:
Damn, I didn't know people still spout this shit.

There was nobody else there with a ground game, the gracies made sure of that.
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Yeah, Shamrock had no ground game. That's why he got the very first submission in the UFC.

It's not like there were a plethora of ground based martial arts to choose from, either. When they did have Judo or wrestling competitors, guess what, Royce beat them too.

OT: Fedor before his fights were "god's will." Just because the techniques aren't very familiar to *you* means nothing.

In the modern era, I'm going to rock the boat with Ronda Rousey's clinch/ground game (obviously not striking..) I could see an argument for many others, though.

djacobox372 said:
Royce Gracie, he had nothing but technique
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Yep, in MMA's golden age, he's first. Fedor, Silver age. Modern, like I said, an argument could be made for many.
 
Appears the weight of opinion so far would choose a current or former champion, but I wonder, indeed I suspect, the most technical fighters occupy the lower or middle tier. That's because they possess only or mostly technique and lack the intangibles (fight IQ, heart) or physical attributes (speed, size) that make champions.

Think of it this way. Most coaches in all sports are more technical than the players and many never actually played and certainly not at an elite level.
 
straightrightlh said:
Machida, all his moves are done with the upmost technical skill, from takedowns to submissions and particularly striking.

GSP is way more of an athlete but less technical than Lyoto, and Silva has great technical skill in striking and striking defense but nowhere close on takedowns/defense

Machida is the only proper choice for the most technical fighter in mma history
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Lets take a look at your claims. I have no doubt machida is technical, but mostly in karate. His boxing and grappling is lacking.

1. His hands are too low, allowing him to get dropped by Jones while landing the same punch simultaneously... Except Jones had his rear hand up to block.

2. Submissions, machida only has 1 submission win yet has lost by submission. I dont know where you got this information from.

3. Head movement; what head movement?

These things were evident in both the Jones and Shogun fights.
 
I thought about it for a while and I believe overall in overall mma skill.

GSP (wrestling and standup) > Anderson (Great standup and guard) > Aldo (Great standup and guard) > Machida (Great karate standup, lacks boxing)
 
The correct answer here is Florian. Florian was VERY skilled in every facet of the game but didn't possess the intangibles needed to be at the top. He just didn't have the speed, strength, or reflexes the beat the best of the best.
 
Gsp's striking isn't always ultra technical... see telegraphed haymakers in Shields fight for example.
His grappling top-game, however, is a thing of beauty.

The most technical mma fighter overall has to be Anderson.
Striking obviously.
Guard - see Sonnen and Lutter fight.
Top game - see vs Marquardt and vs Sonnen II

Aldo and Edgar also have pretty sound technique.
 
Anderson is only tuly elite when striking IMO... his wrestling and BJJ are 'serviceable'... There are more well rounded fighters about.

GSP for example, whilst not as good standing as Silva, is a beast in every position, striking, wrestling, grappling, submissions so he's easily the more technical fighter.

Jose Aldo also comes to mind. A true monster everywhere. As does Jon Jones.
 
TheMan123 said:
Yeah that's why I wouldn't put Anderson on there.

Edgar, Machida, Aldo, GSP are obviously at the top on anyone's list.

Anderson might be the best fighter out of everyone, but he's not the most technical.

And anyone who says Fedor is fucking delusional.
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I agree with all points. If I had exactly the same skills as Anderson or Prime Fedor I would go no where in MMA, you have to be a freak athlete to pull off either of their styles. Roy Jones Jr might have been the best boxer I've ever seen but if you gave almost anyone else his exact technique they'd get killed in the golden gloves.
 
people love to rag on Fedor, but his Judo and Sambo.. so fucking nasty and perfect at times. The way he'd armbar everyone, you just knew it was going to happen. His striking and boxing mainly was also alot more technical than people think.. like, ALOT.

So ya, Fedor gets my vote
 
Tiger_vs_Mantis said:
yeah you might have a point but I don't mean to say that thy are equal what I mean to say that is that to the extent that GSP's takedowns are better than AS's takedown's, Anderson's bottom game is superior to GSP's by the same amount.
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Is this serious? Silva has virtually nonexistent TD's, while GSP has pretty much the best offensive wrestling in MMA history (I'll throw JBJ in there too, but he hasn't fought as many accomplished grapplers as GSP). So by your notion, AS is like the master of guard BJJ and GSP has virtually nonexistent skills??? GSP is pretty much never on his back, so that alone is an absurd ascertation. The few times he was, however, he has swept, reversed or gotten up like immediately (and that was against Fitch, Kos, Penn, etc... guys that don't get swept, reversed, stood up on).

I feel on this site people greatly overexaggerate AS's ground skills/guard. Yes, he submitted Sonnen, but was on his back for large parts of 4.5 rounds to do it. Filho got pretty much the same skilled Sonnen in an armbar almost immediately. Babalu did it much faster too. I think people forget the Lutter fight as well. Lutter was dominating (like crazily dominating considering AS is a BB) on the ground, passing his guard, mounting him like it was cool. Yes, he eventually gassed and got submitted, but that was due to a brutal upkick and the 20 or so unanswered elbows to the dome, not the actual triangle choke. GSP would never be in those positions (even against Sonnen), he'd either never be taken down or sweep/reverse/stand up immediately. I think you're vastly underestimating GSP's overall groundgame.
 
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