The One Landed Punch in MMA is resulting in too many upsets, Luck is playing too big a factor

Emjay said:
No such thing as a lucky punch. People just like to use "luck" as a crutch when things don't go their way.

But there is a place for intent within the context of fighting. Intent is manifest in every single action.
Click to expand...
No you are using the "no such thing as a lucky punch" crutch to refute people's claims of luck instead of analyzing whether it was lucky or not. There is no such thing as luck only in the sense that there is no such thing as anything that exists solely as an idea. But that is stupid semantics, and we all know what a poster means when they state that they think someone won because they landed a lucky punch. If you don't agree, then the onus is on you to discuss why you think they are wrong.

The term gets thrown around way to frequently for my taste. I wouldn't call even a 1 in 100 shot a lucky punch. Fighters throw probably something like 50+ strikes a fight on average. I guess if your contention is that there is know way to separate a lucky punch from the rest I agree. But I think any reasonable human with a grasp of the English language and sit here and state that Matt Serra was lucky when he rocked GSP. That is something that if they fought another 100 times would probably not happen again. Tyron vs Lawler would happen again though, with a substantial regularity that no one should call that fight lucky.
 
Dessyboy said:
Yes i know if you intend to throw a punch and it lands then it's not luck but how many times can you do it out of a hundred

If i throw a dart at a dartboard and get a bullseye that i was aiming for, it's not technically luck because i aimed for it, but it is luck because i'm not skilled enough to repeat the feat as much as the professionals
Click to expand...
Was Weidman vs Silva a fluke?
 
lol Robbie got knocked out because he dropped his hand protecting his chin and had slow reaction times.
 
Emjay said:
It's not luck if your intention is to land
Click to expand...

Kevin Durant's intention could be to land a full court shot.

Doesn't mean he wouldn't be suuuuuuuuuuuper fucking lucky to hit it.
 
Dessyboy said:
Yes i know if you intend to throw a punch and it lands then it's not luck but how many times can you do it out of a hundred

If i throw a dart at a dartboard and get a bullseye that i was aiming for, it's not technically luck because i aimed for it, but it is luck because i'm not skilled enough to repeat the feat as much as the professionals
Click to expand...

Well put.
 
Dessyboy said:
with MMA you have the smaller gloves but more importantly, when a punch is landed, with the follow up, there is no chance to recover like a knockdown in boxing

That;s all good and well, but it is resulting in way too many upsets

Fighters are the top are all very skilled nowadays, there are no muppets

Anyone can land that one strike

Imagine if tennis matches were won by one great point won by the lesser player or one touchdown in the NFL or one basket in the NBA

I don't mind upsets in sport, its good for the sport but in MMA there are too many and they just do not feel earned

If someone outside the Top 10 beats Federer or Murray in a grand slam over 5 sets they have definitely earnt it
Click to expand...


Are you just plain stupid or what?

How do you suppose we limit upsets from happening? Install a rule where known hard hitters pull back their punches by 28.5%???!? Also, what is wrong with upsets? are they not supposed to happen? It's fighting. Do you want the excitement and unpredictability to go away?

Such is the reality of fighting that no matter how good you are, your human body will fail you if you fail to subdue your opponent to stop them from ending you. Thats what separates MMA (having less) from other sports (having more) that have extensive rules that nearly ensures the more skilled participant comes out on top. This makes MMA more unpredictable
 
Typical white belt thread not started by a white belt.
 
johncola said:
It's the reality of fighting.

It's also a freak occurrence that it's happened so much recently. Miocic, Bisping, Alvarez, and now Woodley. All 4 could be flukes for all we know. We didn't get to see any of them play out to see how their skills match up.
Click to expand...

All fighters mentioned are experienced and have been around for years.
 
Dessyboy said:
with MMA you have the smaller gloves but more importantly, when a punch is landed, with the follow up, there is no chance to recover like a knockdown in boxing

That;s all good and well, but it is resulting in way too many upsets

Fighters are the top are all very skilled nowadays, there are no muppets

Anyone can land that one strike

Imagine if tennis matches were won by one great point won by the lesser player or one touchdown in the NFL or one basket in the NBA

I don't mind upsets in sport, its good for the sport but in MMA there are too many and they just do not feel earned

If someone outside the Top 10 beats Federer or Murray in a grand slam over 5 sets they have definitely earnt it
Click to expand...

Oh, you mean how you can win with just one lucky submission too?

This is why we have rematches in MMA. The total of all the fights are like your grand slam.

I love Robbie, but TW has been a killer for a while now and I like him too.

He earned his win with great placement and setup, no matter if you actually understand it or not.
 
johncola said:
It's the reality of fighting.

It's also a freak occurrence that it's happened so much recently. Miocic, Bisping, Alvarez, and now Woodley. All 4 could be flukes for all we know. We didn't get to see any of them play out to see how their skills match up.
Click to expand...

Conor vs Aldo too.
 
What sort of jackass complains about a sport being too unpredictable?
 
what-wut said:
You mean shitty boxing is the cause of upsets. Fucking Matt brown with his hands down.
Click to expand...

This isn't completely fair. It was a body kick which ended him. If he still had his hands by his sides when it was thrown he would have blocked it.

There's a lot more to defence than "hands up!", whatever the armchair analysts say.

 
Last edited:
you are right TS. people will not agree with me and don't understand this.. but anyone who shows up on the night can win in UFC. the lowest ranked guy can beat the champ for sure.. its a 50/50 fight in most cases. the belts change hand every fight.
 
johncola said:
It's the reality of fighting.

It's also a freak occurrence that it's happened so much recently. Miocic, Bisping, Alvarez, and now Woodley. All 4 could be flukes for all we know. We didn't get to see any of them play out to see how their skills match up.
Click to expand...

I'm not about to say any of these guys will reign long, but I don't necessarily agree with the fluke part. Luck is important to pretty much everything in life, but you can try to improve your luck.

Werdum rushed into Stipe and Stipe capitalized. Rockhold threw a shitty jab and Bisping capitalized. Alvarez had some good exchanges with RDA, defended the TD, threw the same right hook that he had been throwing, the same hook that he hit RDA with just before the one that dropped him, and then never let up. Woodley threw a right earlier in the fight that barely missed then threw a faint to the body and the same right again. He also arguably made Robbie respect his ability to use wrestling if he just moved forward willy nilly by level changing.

These guys weren't swinging wildly and had clear intentions and/or game plans. And capitalizing on a fighter's mistakes takes at least some skill imo. And neither Bisping or Stipe are bums either. Plus, Luke is known for not having the best boxing skills in the world. Mike tagged him up in the first fight before the kick. Can't recall how often Werdum bum rushes.


Dessyboy said:
Yes i know if you intend to throw a punch and it lands then it's not luck but how many times can you do it out of a hundred

If i throw a dart at a dartboard and get a bullseye that i was aiming for, it's not technically luck because i aimed for it, but it is luck because i'm not skilled enough to repeat the feat as much as the professionals
Click to expand...


Sure, but, as I said above, Woodley threw a right earlier in the fight that barely missed then threw a faint to the body and the same right again. He also made Robbie respect his ability to use wrestling if he just moved forward willy nilly by level changing.

Woodley most definitely had a solid game plan and executed it very well imho.
 
Last edited:
How is dropping your left hand low or walking into a high kick any different than a blown assignment in football, or a dumb penalty in soccer, or a bad pitch thrown in baseball. These mistakes happen all the time and it takes a high level of skill to capitalize on these mistakes, luck has nothing to do with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,661
Messages
55,432,703
Members
174,775
Latest member
kilgorevontrouty

Share this page

Back
Top