Why mma fans have such a hard time accepting that the sport evolves?

[OmegaRugal]

...that laugh that tries to hide the shame...
One more post with nothing of content from you...

...keep going, kid!

Shame in a message board? You take pride in this? No wonder you cant admit being wrong. Your message board "pride"
Lmfao again

 

[Iron Nick]

Today there are more than just two fighters (GSP, Penn) that have a good jab. Today's fighters finally have footwork, they can finally use feints, they finally have striking defense (head movement has appeared as has shoulder rolling and better use of just raising your hands), they are so much more well rounded, their submission defense has gotten so good that submissions have become so much more rare even though BJJ and submissions have evolved too. Guys are finally starting to learn how to check leg kicks (this isn't widespread yet though), not to mention the calf kick has changed the game too but other new techniques have manifested in addition.

The level of boxing skill on average in the premier leagues of this sport have gone from backyard brawler to maybe trained amateur level from the 2000s to now. We've now had an MMA fighter win some rounds in boxing against a past his prime but still great Floyd Mayweather Jr., and then we had this same fighter get outboxed in MMA due to how rapid the evolution is. A shot, gun shy Woodley losing to Jake Paul doesn't change that.

Our heavyweight division is insanely weak overall, but that's an exception rather than the rule.

This, yeah.

It also doesn't make as much sense comparing weightclasses, as it does to actually compare fighters by their size, while also taking into account how many guys back in the day could fight above their natural weight due to muscle mass built on PEDs.

Paulo Costa would've been a light heavyweight, if not even a heavyweight back in the day, Shane Burgos and Calvin Kattar could've been decently sized 170ers at one point in the past...

Overall, if you compare the guys of today to those 10-15 years ago, you'd have to compare the old guys to the new guys fighting one or two divisions below the divisions the old guys fought in.

If you take these things in account the difference between fighters back then and today is quite significant, but even if you don't, it's evident, that on average, modern fighters>fighters from back then and really, that's just the most normal thing in sports.
That said, of course some of the very best guys back then would still be great today, but that’s not saying much.

 

[Shaddows]

Shame in a message board? You take pride in this? No wonder you cant admit being wrong. Your message board "pride"
Lmfao again

keep trying, kid.
Change the subject... it all proves you are the one running... is it...
pride?

 

[PunchyMcSplodo]

You seem to be uncomprehending that the numbers of the UFC rosters 15 years also would have had 200-300 fighters as well.... even if you look at it at it's most conservative, 300 PRIDE fighters + 200 (2005) UFC fighters > 400 (2021) UFC fighters of the same divisions.

You're literally just pulling numbers out of your ass now.

One, it was 475 fighters in 2021 under those weight classes by your own admission, not 400. So, at WORST, the current roster would be marginally smaller, not vastly tinier like you were claiming.

But you haven't even proved at worst.

Two, if Pride had a total of 400+ fighters over its entire existence, you can't just assume it had 300 in any given single year. There are plenty of fighters in that Wiki list that were retired or not fighting in Pride by 2006.

Three, you have no idea if the UFC had 200 fighters in 2005 or 2006.

 

[moreorless87]

I think you are being unfair and borderline dishonest.
Mind you, I don't think you are doing so to be bad.
But in your mind, you have it set, and you are not opening yourself to see it with unbiased eyes (I hope you see I am not trying to bash you).

Lesnar came to MMA far too old.
He is not used to getting beaten and this is something he would have developed in his early days. But he "fake" fought for decades, and that is not the same thing.
The mentality you build, again, with hours getting beat up in the gym.
From what I recall, Lesnar built his own Gym, his trainers already knew who he was and probably not one of his trainers went full speed ahead.
Lesnar came after decades in pro-wrestling. Again quite different if he had joined right after college. You have to agree that it would be far different from the ground up.

Lesnar could definitely have had a longer MMA career its true if he'd have started earlier but I would say thats a bit different to what you were saying that he would be the GOAT.

Really Lesnar not wanting to go super hard in sparing I think thats probably part of his nature, he was never keen on putting his health at risk working the intensive WWE schedule either. I mean many would say he was/is actually quite inteligent in that reguard(if perhaps not with potential PED use) in looking after his health long term but I do think its the kind of mentality that would always have limited him as a MMA fighter.

I have to say really what makes Lesnar so different to someone like Mark Kerr? maybe a little more physical gifted but a little less technically gifted in sub grappling. It felt like people ingored history with the Brock hype, went back to the idea of the unstoppable super wrestler when really a 45 year old Randy giving up 60lbs shut down Lesnar's grappling.

 

[Shaddows]

Lesnar could definitely have had a longer MMA career its true if he'd have started earlier but I would say thats a bit different to what you were saying that he would be the GOAT.

Really Lesnar not wanting to go super hard in sparing I think thats probably part of his nature, he was never keen on putting his health at risk working the intensive WWE schedule either. I mean many would say he was/is actually quite inteligent in that reguard(if perhaps not with potential PED use) in looking after his health long term but I do think its the kind of mentality that would always have limited him as a MMA fighter.

I have to say really what makes Lesnar so different to someone like Mark Kerr? maybe a little more physical gifted but a little less technically gifted in sub grappling. It felt like people ingored history with the Brock hype, went back to the idea of the unstoppable super wrestler when really a 45 year old Randy giving up 60lbs shut down Lesnar's grappling.

Well, I think you lack a little objectivity.
Look., I HATED Lesnar with a passion.
but the dude fought for just 4 years. You gotta be fair here.
And like I said, when he started training, he was already a multi-millionaire megastar.
it is quite obvious that if he was to come straight from his wrestling days into MMA (without first passing by pro-wrestling), he would not have the power to tell a professional MMA coach in a reputable gym to not go hard on him. Or his sparing partners for that matter.
When start your training in a gym, you are no one. Respect is earned.
But when he decided to train, he built his own gym and brought coaches and hired his training partners.... it is obviously not the same thing!

on the same token, he did not know how to get hit.
A professional MMA fighter trains not to respond, not to give in that he got hurt. Lesnar had no training. It was visible! and yet he became the champ!
Look, call it whatever you wish, but I do think that with his size & Strength and basis Wrestling alone, he got to the top.

Train him since he was a kid, add years to his training (including fundamentals) and he would have been a force to be reckoned.