Frank Shamrocks opinion on boxing

He makes very good points. And I like how brutally honest he is about the progression of the sport etc. Great interview. Good thing they moved on to him as well, couldn't understand AA at all.

 

Wow interesting piece didn't know Frank was such a big boxing fan !

 

agreed with everything he said

mma has stalled no doubt

 

I've always love Frank Shamrock, the guy is a Legend (even after that beating he took last night). There is nothing more objective than critcizing your own sport when it warrants it.

The guy just tells the truth w/o bias. Boxing is a refined sophisticated sport that is much more evolved than MMA. And yes MMA has not evolve that much since Frank became the prototype in the late 90's.

This is why I am so high on guys like Machida and Silva, as a boxing fan I can relate to how they want to elevate the sport as something beautiful to watch with high level precision skills.

Just look at last nights fight, if you were a young fan of MMA and saw that sloppy mess last night, it should make you think. I mean that wasnt some 2nd tier fighters out there, those were marquee guys and it was sloppy. Now relatively speaking, just watch the JMM/Diaz fight..maybe even less popular than Frank and Nick but they provided a beautiful fight showing incredible level of skills.

 

I agree. Last nights event was just pathetic. The Brett Rogers fight was just sloppy and pathetic. Diaz/Shamrock was incredibly sloppy to watch and both cant box to save their lives. This is just a prime example of why boxing is so difficult. These guys have been practicing boxing for probably a decade and Shamrock probably a hell of alot more than that. And yet these guys still cant box.

And hearing Pat Miletichs quote "Nick Diazs boxing skills are about as good as any professional boxer out there, including those at the top of their game." nearly made me puke. People wonder why MMA fans are so stupid and hears the reason why. Its because they regurgitate information from guys like Mir, Rogan and Miletich and in the process just makes themselves look stupid.

Diaz/Marquez was an incredible fight. But not only that it was a highly skilled fight between 2 incredible warriors and you dont get a more technical fighter than JMM. Hes a beauty to watch. We will never get an MMA fight that features the striking ability of those two fighters. And with the way MMA is evolving into mid-level kickboxing, I might not see many great grappling fights either. I just dont know how much I can take of seeing 6 first rd KOs on a UFC card. These guys just cannot anticipate and react to punches its getting embarassing to watch.

 

Maybe if boxers didn't wear giant pillows on their hands they would have more early KOs too.

 

if you've taken a good shot by someone wearing boxing gloves you'll know they dont stop much of the impact, i'd say like 15% softer then if you werent wearing gloves.

 

Pats been hit in the head many times thats why he speaks like this. The commentating was embarrassing as well last night, they have no clue what they are talking about.

For me, its getting to the point that a BJJ tournament or an Abu Dhabi is better to watch because you see real skills at play. Thank God for guys like Maia, the guy executes better and gets hit far less than seasoned MMa'ers.

 

And you don't think 15% makes a very noticeable difference when we are talking about professional fighters?

Also, the size of the gloves allows for a different more effective kind of defense. Imagine if Winky Wright tried to use his "shields" in an MMA fight. It's easier to go around the gloves when they are smaller, and therefore easier to land punches.

 

I think boxer should put on smaller gloves, maybe 8 oz, not just for less "pillow" effect but to minimize what the gloves block.

 

we do use 8 oz in the pros :nut

 

that would defeat the whole purpose of boxing

 

Quality thread, Achilles

 

This interview is old. It was just before AA fought Fedor. I was quite taken aback the first time i watched it and listened to Frank. Frank is VERY objective and makes some excellent points.

The irony with MMA is that it has actually created an entirely new genre of sport whereby we now have a mish mash of Muay Thai, BJJ, Wrestling, Judo, etc. This in effect is not that dissimilar in principle to Bruce Lee's Jeet Kun Do which was also a mixture of karate styles traditional Kung Fu and even fencing!!:yep

MMA has stalled somewhat because we now see a neglect in traditional MA styles and a huge emphasis on cross training in various disciplines. Although this is practical due to the nature of the sport in my opinion it has some drawbacks that are quite evident. In my opinion it is extremely important for a fighter to know what he is good at, know what his bread and butter is and them compliment that with various styles. The fighters that have been enormously succesful are those that have had ironically one dimension. Fedor is GREAT on the floor. CC is one of the greatest strikers in MMA history. Nog is arguably the best heavyweight BJJ artist in MMA history. Liddell although he comes from a wrestling and Kempo background has excellent hands and doesnt even look to ground fight. Melvin Manhoef is the same with his Muay Thai background. But all have excelled because they have added additions to there game like solid takedown defenses/attempts and primarily work to there strengths.

I think its very important to work on striking but striking itself will NEVER evolve in MMA because the sport doesnt demand it and is too multifacted in order to be great at one discipline when you practice so many. Boxers are great at what they do because all they do is box. Same with Kickboxers etc. The facts remain you have to spend years in one discipline in order to excell at it.