Originally the UFC was set up the show which was the most effective martial art. Overtime fighters started cross training which lead to fighters (in general) going from 'only knowing one martial art' to 'experts in one martial art with enough knowledge in other area to survive' into 'jack of all trades'.
Recently we have seen the rise of specialists fighters in the rankings again, the likes of Maia, Jacare and Wonderboy. Thes guys are far more well rounded than early UFC fighter but they are still at heart specialists.( Jacare destroyed Hendricks standing with his kickboxing/karate, Maia destroyed Gunnar Nelson (a very high level grappler) on the ground.
By specialist fighters I mean fighters who were successful in one sport before moving over to MMA but still use a fairly pure form that sport. So while fighters like Penn (BJJ) and Henderson (wrestling) would have been successful in one sport prior to becoming MMA fighters you wouldn't always be able to tell from watching their fights. Where as fighters like Maia and Wonderboy's fights you can tell from their fights what that they are really high level at their respective background sport.
Is this just speclialist fighters learn to adapt their style to MMA, is it MMA's rise of in popularity and pay that is attracting higher level of athletes from other sports that could be successful in any sport over time or is this the progression of MMA that purely MMA trained fighters will always have weaknesses in certain aspects that a specialist can exploit.
I realise you could argue MMA has always been about exploiting the areas where you are stronger than your opponent. You could argue that this has and will always be the way. Do you think we will see more specialists going to the UFC and being successful ?
Recently we have seen the rise of specialists fighters in the rankings again, the likes of Maia, Jacare and Wonderboy. Thes guys are far more well rounded than early UFC fighter but they are still at heart specialists.( Jacare destroyed Hendricks standing with his kickboxing/karate, Maia destroyed Gunnar Nelson (a very high level grappler) on the ground.
By specialist fighters I mean fighters who were successful in one sport before moving over to MMA but still use a fairly pure form that sport. So while fighters like Penn (BJJ) and Henderson (wrestling) would have been successful in one sport prior to becoming MMA fighters you wouldn't always be able to tell from watching their fights. Where as fighters like Maia and Wonderboy's fights you can tell from their fights what that they are really high level at their respective background sport.
Is this just speclialist fighters learn to adapt their style to MMA, is it MMA's rise of in popularity and pay that is attracting higher level of athletes from other sports that could be successful in any sport over time or is this the progression of MMA that purely MMA trained fighters will always have weaknesses in certain aspects that a specialist can exploit.
I realise you could argue MMA has always been about exploiting the areas where you are stronger than your opponent. You could argue that this has and will always be the way. Do you think we will see more specialists going to the UFC and being successful ?
