The evolution of MMA

[hitman911]

How do you see the sport and it's fighters evolving the next 10 years? We've seen different eras come and go from GnP to wrestling and now mainly striking. Will there ever be a time when we see complete mixed martial artists compete in the octagon against each other, where all fighters are elite at every facet of the game?

Most fights now are just a striking match up with clinching against the cage. Do u guys miss the scrambles, the GnP, submissions other than a RNC or guillotine?

If the sport got to the level of 100% complete mixed martial artists competing against each other, how would the fights go down?

 

[The guest]

It's asking a fuck of alot to be an Expert at EVERYTHING involved in mma.

I'm not sure it's possible. There are so many fighting and martial arts involved in mma. Being an expert at one and highly rounded in a couple of the others is a ticket to a belt.

But certain styles and the fighters that use them. Can nullify certain other styles, and fighters.

What you're talking about would be the subject of a 1970s Chinese martial arts movie about Shaolins. Children trained from an early age.

I don't expect to ever see an elite fighter in everything.

 

[Sonny Qc]

I don't think it's really possible to be "elite" in every aspect of the game.

I don't believe we will see a fighter with
Maia grappling
Cormier wrestling
Overeem striking


I do believe fighter won't have a real weaknesses in the future.

fighter who absolutely can't defend a takedown, or an armbar.
those type of thing we used to see everytime 5-10 yrs ago.


I also really believe evolution of mma will come Via rules change.

mostly more standing up to avoid lay & pray and heavy grappling fight.

Like the NFL change rule to make offense a dominant aspect of the game. more of a passing game, more scoring.

thats my 2 cents on this.

 

[Coconut Joe]

 

[Sparkie]

The sport is evolving quickly. Young people are training in a much broader range of skill sets from a young age.

I'd like to see them get rid of the gloves which I think would help with submission fighting and take a bit of the striking dominance away from the game.

Nothing more beautiful imo that watching elite submission fighters move to find an advantage.

most would disagree

 

[magicmarker]

I prefer watching the stand-up style and seeing explosive punchers and counterpunchers like Stipe, Woodley, Bisbing and Conor throwing hands hard. Watching guys hug their way to victory on the ground was the most boring phase of mma imo.

 

[cobrinski]

Legitimate sport in every country.With some changes in rules,maybe olimpic sport 2024

 

[akc814ilv]

The main thing missing from the sport is truly high level striking.

I know there are some high level kickboxers in mma, but I've always felt that kickboxing is an overrated form of striking. These K1 guys get knocked out by non strikers far too often for me to consider them elite.

I'm talking Boxers. High level Boxing is the next evolution of the sport. The current level of boxing in mma is still laughable. The jiu jitsu is very high level, you have Olympic wrestlers in the sport, and some of the aforementioned kickboxers. We still don't see guys truly great with their hands though.

I think when the money gets good enough, and you have a true high level boxer that at 18-20 years old decides to spend the next few years learning mma and develops his boxing to work properly in an mma fight, but still maintains his hand speed and technique, then you are going to see more guys like this following and that will lead to a new evolution.

Essentially, imagine if 20 year old Mike Tyson had mma as an option then, and spent a few years learning to wrestle and jiu jitsu? With that sort of hand speed and power? If someone was a good enough coach to help Tyson put all of that together at that time, the level of Boxing in mma at this point would be so much higher than it is now. I see that being the next evolution though, because the wrestling and jiu jitsu is already about as high level as its going to get.

 

[hitman911]

The sport is evolving quickly. Young people are training in a much broader range of skill sets from a young age.

This is what I was thinking. If kids started training"mma" at the age of 7 and trained striking, grappling and submission 3-4 times a week of each and equally, what kind of fighter would they be by the time they're 25?

 

[Sparkie]

This is what I was thinking. If kids started training"mma" at the age of 7 and trained striking, grappling and submission 3-4 times a week of each and equally, what kind of fighter would they be by the time they're 25?

One of the most exciting aspects of following the development of mma is that we are in the early stages. Look how quickly the sport has changed in the past 15 years for example.

 

[laleggenda27]

Of course the sport will keep evolving. I suspect that the specialist will become more rare as more athletes begin training MMA right from the beginning (as opposed to switching to MMA in an advanced age). And like someone else said, the rules will likely evolve. Hopefully the scoring system does as well.

As far as fighters being "elite" in every aspect of the sport, that's not realistic. But they will have less holes in their games and the one-dimensional fighter will likely be a relic from days long gone.

 

[Sonny Qc]

The sport is evolving quickly. Young people are training in a much broader range of skill sets from a young age.

I'd like to see them get rid of the gloves which I think would help with submission fighting and take a bit of the striking dominance away from the game.

Nothing more beautiful imo that watching elite submission fighters move to find an advantage.

most would disagree

without gloves, they would be broken hand in almost every fight.

 

[FetalDefense]

I think we're already fully evolved. Right now it's more about personality and risk. It's about how well-rounded fighters choose to showcase their personal strengths and minimize their weaknesses. The promotion itself will have the biggest impact on what we see.

If the promotion doesn't like people who fight for decision victories, you'll see riskier fighters who go for finishes at the top.

If the promotion goes more of the sporting route, you'll see more decisions. You'll see fighters with great endurance, and low-risk grinding type fighters.

If the promotion is lax on screening for performance enhancement and extreme weight cutting, you'll see more monsters in the sport dominating for long periods of time.

If the promotion is tight on weight cutting and drug screening you'll see shorter careers and shorter reigns.

 

[Deleted member 245586]

Will there ever be a time when we see complete mixed martial artists compete in the octagon against each other

That was GSP a decade ago. Where you been at Rip Van Winkle?

 

[D'z]

"Elite" is a concept. As fighters get better so will the idea of what we consider "elite". It's a never-ending push to improve. There will never be...."Ok, perfect at everything. Got it!" But, fighters will continue to improve(at everything). I'm glad to have witnessed first-hand the evolution of hand-to-hand combat thus far, thanks to MMA pioneers. I look forward to what the future of the sport brings.

Sidenote- It seems to me, that guys like MVP, Bones(when he's active), Wonderboy, etc. are in the process of evolving the striking game as we speak. It stands to reason there will be a burst of evolution on the grappling side as well. I'm hearing a lot of buzz about a Russian heavyweight wrestler getting ready to cross-over into the UFC. Who knows, could be the guy....

 

[whougonnacall]

-High level boxers ,western style Kickboxers , muay thai guys and even tkd and karate guys comming in to up the level of striking


- for grappling: ryan hall talked about how the level of bjj in mma isnt great still
I see the slow rebirth of catch wrestling clubs affecting mma
more high level judoka ,wrestlers and bjj guys comming in hopefully to test themselves / get a piece of mmas growing payouts
and increasing pay meaning more guys can work with high level bjj guys......so no not just you conor!

-usada era forcing guys to work smarter not harder

-rule revision slowly altering things (hopefuly wel see an upkick soon)

-okinawan style body conditioning .. taking modern muay thai leg and boxing body conditioning stuff and applying it everywhere!

-feedback effect:more tmas are now bringing in sparring or drilling and pad work etc to bring them 'back to life' in the event of mmas rise..we may see guys cross over from.multiple styles not yet seen in the cage.....shit if capoiera and wing chun has been used scuessfuly on rare occasions why not others?

-a rise in pro well educated s+c coaches for less injuries...cough aka cough were looking at you cough

 

[Which Doctor]

It's asking a fuck of alot to be an Expert at EVERYTHING involved in mma.

I'm not sure it's possible. There are so many fighting and martial arts involved in mma. Being an expert at one and highly rounded in a couple of the others is a ticket to a belt.

But certain styles and the fighters that use them. Can nullify certain other styles, and fighters.

What you're talking about would be the subject of a 1970s Chinese martial arts movie about Shaolins. Children trained from an early age.

I don't expect to ever see an elite fighter in everything.

 

[hitman911]

That was GSP a decade ago. Where you been at Rip Van Winkle?

And who did he fight that was complete? Pay full attention to the question Einstein

 

[Deleted member 245586]

And who did he fight that was complete? Pay full attention to the question Einstein

Perhaps you missed his fights vs. Baby Jay?

You don't think Penn was a complete fighter at the time he fought St-Pierre? By the time he fought Georges, he was already a world champion in BJJ, was widely considered to have the best takedown defense (if not, certainly top 2-3 at that time) and was highly praised by Freddie Roach as having the best boxing in MMA. He even trained with Marv Marinovich leading up to his fight with GSP.

The Battle of Champions was a fight between two reigning UFC champions both of whom would go on to become hall of famers. To this day, they are regarded as the greatest fighters in the 155 lb. and 170 lb. weight classes.

Go back to sleep Rip Van Winkle.

 

[hitman911]

Perhaps you missed his fights vs. Baby Jay?

You don't think Penn was a complete fighter at the time he fought St-Pierre? By the time he fought Georges, he was already a world champion in BJJ, was widely considered to have the best takedown defense (if not, certainly top 2-3 at that time) and was highly praised by Freddie Roach as having the best boxing in MMA. He even trained with Marv Marinovich leading up to his fight with GSP.

The Battle of Champions was a fight between two reigning UFC champions both of whom would go on to become hall of famers. To this day, they are regarded as the greatest fighters in the 155 lb. and 170 lb. weight classes.

Go back to sleep Rip Van Winkle.

Penn is a natural LW who is now competing at FW. GPS is a WW who has talk about going to MW. Regardless, that is one fight. Probably the only time we've seen 2 complete fighters in the octagon at the same time. I'm talking about fighters evolving into complete fighters competing in a regular basis.