MMA vs other diciplines

Plenty of Jiu Jitsu champions in MMA, I'd actually say all the top jiu jitsu guys currently are, have, or are training to fight MMA.

Jacare, Roger Gracie, Marcelo Garcia, Drysdale, Demian Maia, Ricardo Arona; probably the top 6 grapplers in the world are all MMA fighters.

There's some MMA guys who have done fairly well in kickboxing, and some more who would.

Theres a handful of MMA guys who had presentable pro boxing careers.

But basically the guys who could cross over and win in single style contests are the jiu jitsu guys, because it is so integral to MMA training. Guys like Arona, Maia, Gracie, Drysdale, Garcia, and Jacare could still walk into a jiu jitsu contest and run away with it.

 

I would say this was definately the case in earlier mma before fighters from other disciplines realised how important it was to have a solid ground game or at least a solid take down defense. Now everyone knows that if you aren't at least competent on the ground you're basically ****ed so everyone trains ju-jitsu. This has allowed strikers to become more prominent in mma as they can at least survive on the ground and have another chance to bang when they're up again.

 

In broad terms, yes.

As far as champions:
155: BJ Penn - grappling base, great standing
170: GSP - grappling base, great standing
185: Anderson Silva - Striking base, great on the ground
205: Forrest Griffin - Grappling base, good stand up
HW: Nog / Couture - both grappling base, good standup

 

They are all just well rounded now my freind.

 

Not all of them.

 

I think the best BJJ guys in MMA could compete with the best BJJ guys in the world but it would be no given that they'd win. It would certainly be competitive though.

There are quite a few established wrestlers in MMA ie. Lindland, Couture, Radev that could compete with the best wrestlers in the world. Maybe not now though after being removed from wrestling for quite a long-time.

MMA are full of some very talented ground fighters. The one thing they do lack is striking because for the most part the best strikers stay in their respective striking sports because of the money that is involved in a combat sport such as boxing.

Obviously you have had guys like Crocop successfully transition to MMA as well as a fighter like Hunt but you have never had a good boxer make the transition to MMA at least not a permanent transition. Jeremy Williams has 5 fights in MMA and is undefeated and in terms of the fighters he fought in boxing probably has the most notable resume of MMA fighters who come from boxing backgrounds.

The best boxers turned MMA fighters are Chris Lytle, Marcus Davis although they were mid-level boxers at best.

 

this is a bit of a stupid thread its like saying

basketball player v footballer in a football match who would win

i know the top level BJJ guys are common in mma so there is an exception there but you cant come up with these matchups imagine bj penn v PBF in an mma match everyone knows the answer, same as the footballer would beat the basketball player in a football match

 

I think at the beginning, the idea of MMA was to find out which discipline is best - Judo v Wrestling, Kung Fu v Karate etc. The sport has evolved over the years and most of the top fighters are 'well rounded' fighters. (Good at everything - striking, Ju - Jitsu / submissions, wrestling / take down).

We are yet to see many 'top class' strikers compete in MMA, but there are top class wrestlers and Ju-Jitsu practitioners competing in MMA. I see no reason why the MMA fighters with wrestling or Ju-Jitsu background wouldn't do well in Wrestling / Ju-Jitsu tournaments.

On the other hand I can't see many MMA fighters being successfull at boxing or muay thai. I think the reason for this is that many of the striking disciplines are established and fighters can have lucrative Pro careers. Where as wresters (WWE doesn't count) and Ju-Jitsu fighters don't have many options apart from MMA. That's why IMO all the best Strikers stay at their respective sport.

 

well said

 

At this point though, the best BJJ guys in MMA are the same guys as the best in sport BJJ; Jacare, Roger Gracie, Maia, Drysdale, Marcelo Garcia, these are the top BJJ guys in any form.

Yea, the thing about the wrestlers is that they haven't wrestled for wrestling's sake competitively in a while, so they probably wouldn't do as well.

 

Theres also the aspect of MMA, in which mixture of striking and groundfighting makes for the most effective combinations. Obvious combo is BJJ and Muay Thai, but if we look around there are some more interesting combos out there.. Machida with his very sound Karate and BJJ is a bad man.

Lots of arts are under utilized in MMA.. There is certainly room for many more, and they most certainly can and will be effective in the future.