/thread. Truth be told it was a great fight. JDS did what he was supposed to do. Hunt has been doing this a loooong time and has a ton of wear and tear. All he ever had was a punchers chance. But he went out on his shield the PRIDE way. :yep
Yeah? And what does that prove? Bob Sapp was a professional American level athlete who was on so many drugs, but also so strong and freaky large that he has the ability to hurt anybody. Do you have any idea how large he runs around? He's 6'7" tall and nearly 350 lbs of muscle. He had the endurance (possibly on the EPO drug back in the day) to compete with these fighters for rounds at a time. I don't think you fully appreciate what a 350lbs of strength athlete can do as far as damage with minimal training. Brock Lesnar looks like a Toddler compared to Sapp, I repeat, he was 6'7", 350 lbs of strength athlete on drugs, and out of his mind. Also, keep in mind other K1 fighters like Mirco beat him, actually shattered his orbital with a well placed left cross. Still took two of those well placed on his face to make him wilt. People didn't know that Sapp didn't like to get hit in the face back then, you can see Hoost working the leg trying to slow Sapp down, but he couldn't do it quickly enough.. Everyone knows now that Sapp doesn't like being hit in the face, especially since Mirco broke it so many years ago. When your face breaks, you generally don't come back as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VThYQF_vRRs I'm not saying Sap was a skilled athlete, but I don't see too many people outside of worlds strongest man running around at that size competing at anything other than wsm and the NFL, maybe Rugby. As far as JDS and his MMA striking, it's great. He seems to be best when he utilizes his superior range and mobility. His right hand isn't something you would see in K1 or boxing, but it's clearly very effective with MMA gloves as It doesn't need to land clean as it's generally a thudding punch that he likes to loop overhand to target the temple or behind the ear. Couldn't get away with that punch in boxing with the bigger gloves. He can land that punch and even if you block it with your own gloves and hands, you will probably go down/ most pro fighters would go down by the sheer force/ momentum behind it as Hunt did who's a stout 260. JDS' style is one where he can simply start engaging from longer ranges with his jab and circle. The octagon is a lot different cutting someone off than a ring, the way JDS was using the circumpherance of the octagon was when he was at his best.. He was retreating from Hunt and countering.. I repeat, RETREATING to a 40 year old. I don't see too many striker period in the world that can really put on a competitive match vs. JDS because of his size and weapon combination given the rules. It would take someone long enough with good enough striking to counter his backwards movements, but I'll say this.. Plenty of k1 guys from back in their golden Era would compete beautifully with JDS and knock him out. Just that most of you kids don't know any better. Still wet behind the ears.
Lesnar was also a freak of nature with a NCAA Div I wrestling championship. As we have often seen, wrestling is one of the easier cross overs into mma.
Stop this talk! Stop it now! Didnt you ****ers read the OP. Am I the only one who follows the fn rules anymore Stooooooooooooop itttttttttt!
Stop generalising, it's all about the weight classes. When it comes to punching, kicking and kneeing the words elite and heavyweight should only be used together in very very rare and exceptional circumstances. :deal
Bull****, they'd develop too many bad habits interns of unrestricted striking. You seem to not understand how just the deployment if kicks, elbows & knees make many fundamentals of the sweet science null, void and extremely dangerous to employ against a quality striker. You don't see the worlds best stand up strikers, MT guys, training with boxers do u? So why MMA guys? It's a misguided mistake. Notice GSP went to 2 MT fighters to advance his overall striking for the octagon not a couple of boxers. John Wayne Parr & Thai ATG Lamsongkram.
Hunt is an elite striker but he is fat so he isn't fufillig his potential. He hits hard and is durable but his balance, agility, fitness etc will never be what they could be. Toney is an elite striker but hes fat and out of shape and that can sometimes affect how he looks. You can tell Hunt is elite because of that dangerous hook he was timing. JDS knew all about it and didn't let those hands go as freely as he usually would because he knew he could get punished for stupidity. He did get caught a few times but toughed it out and adapted. Hunt was just in there with an even better striker. JDS is one of those fighters who hasn't got the K1 or WBC title to shout about but your eyes tell you that he has some serious ability. Hunt is out of shape, with a poor ground game but he is still exposing the level of striking in the UFC amongst tough men (who are good fighters) like Struve and Rothwell.
This is what boxing looks like with smaller gloves. I'll guess that you find Corbett, Fitz, Langford, Ketchel, Johnson, even Dempsey and Tunney, pretty hard to watch, gawky and seemingly unskilled. I understand that too. The problem is people expect punching in MMA to look like modern day pugilism. First and foremost, unless you don't care at all about takedowns or leg kicks your stance will not be the same as a boxer. Even if you manage to tweak it only slightly or do as the Diaz's do and just plod forward regardless, you will either not have the opportunity to work on an aesthetically pleasing style, or will look the part and suffer for it. If you want to watch boxing at it's best, watch boxing. It's sorta' like ridiculing a boxer for not going for the full Thai plum when they're clinching, or putting too much emphasis on the front foot and not caring to check leg kicks. They're redundant points. Just as supposedly 'good looking' boxing in MMA. Anyway, Pat Curran's technique is truly beautiful.
Actually no. I think it's just that JDS is just THAT good, and alot of people hold this "mystique" around K-1, thinking any Top K-1 striker has the advantage today in MMA. It just isn't true in MMA anymore. There was a time, before the game evolved, that the best strikers (most of them) had a background in kickboxing (K-1). But now everyone is going straight into MMA, strikers and grapplers. So having a K-1 background, even an elite one, means that you are a great striker. But it does not necessarily mean you are better than someone who doesn't have one.
So either none of the guys who paid a good deal of money to strike can do so (and evidently all the guys theyve KOd are horrible too) OR your comparison is wrong. Which do you think it is? Pick your favorite boxer. Pick your most technical boxer. Even better, pick yourself. Put them in a kick boxing gym for a year and then evaluate their boxing technique. Then put them in an MMA gym where everytime they get taken down they get beat on or submitted and evaluate their boxing technique. Guess what will happen? You or some other genius will come along and claim that the level of boxing in MMA is really rubbish or some other BS. Some things that work in boxing dont work in MMA and some things that work in MMA dont work in boxing. These guys are paid to win fights, not to impress boxing fans who dont know anything about MMA. Chris Lytle was 13-1 as a pro boxer. Marcus Davis was 17-1. Neither guy was world class, but both obviously know boxing and had good enough technique to beat every pro they fought but one. Take a look at how they fought in MMA. Do you think they started winging shots because it didnt work? Do you think they could have done better with more orthodox boxing techniques but decided No, Ill forget what Ive learned and lose more fights because I dont care about winning in this sport? Take a look at Roy Nelsons KOs, particularly his last one. Why does he wing those shots that way? Because it WORKS. Against Kongo he landed an overhand right with the side of his hand and it still dropped Kongo. Do you think thatd work with an 8oz glove? Look at how Spencer Fisher used to win his fights; it was all about striking from weird and creative angles. Its a different sport people, and the way to evaluate how good someone is at an aspect of it is to watch the sport and see if they win or not. Comparing it to a totally different sport with different rules and equipment makes no sense at all. Ill say here what Ive said a million times on this board: Find a way (either get a willing friend or go to an mma gym) to test whether or not takedowns and grappling change the way you punch or kick FOR YOURSELF. You dont have to go full speed, just see how easily you can avoid or punch your opponent before they grab a hold of your leg or get you in a clinch. As you may have noticed from John Ruizs career, its not that easy to avoid a clinch under boxing rules. See how you adapt your technique to make it harder for your opponent to take get a hold of you. Now assume that every time he gets a hold of you, you get beaten up or get choked out. Youll end up with a greater appreciation for mma AND boxing because youll understand how things got to be the way that they are. That or you can keep being a noob who doesnt know what theyre talking about and let the rest of us roll our eyes and your ignorant posts.
