[YT]CauVMvNspIY[/YT] [YT]Pj2jOpoecfc[/YT] [YT]QVa0GNDAP8E[/YT] This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected Jeffries wrestled against world Greco-Roman champion Ernest Roeber, and was heavyweight boxing champion in an era when 'dirty boxing' was fairly routine, and clinch fighting was extensive. Not often do you see a fighter good at both grappling and standup to the degree that Jeffries was. So, how does he do today in MMA?
He does very damn well, sort of a HW prime Jens Pulver, or an early Randy Couture, those are the two closest examples I can think of. Pulver for the way he blends boxing with offensive and defesive wrestling, Randy for similar reasons but moreso for his thinking and conditioning.
Boxing and wrestling make up a good all rounder. One allows you control, the other allows you to do damage. Mix that with the fact he is well conditioned, old school in his approach, wears small gloves etc I think he'd do as well as you could at an early level.
being big and powerful and a aggessive puncher with wrestling backup is a very good start. obviously we dont have an idea of his submission defense. I would say that would be a fantastic base to start from. as long as this was the beginning of his mma career and he was willing to learn submissions and submission defense- I believe that to be one of the most important skills to have really. boxers from the early 20th(as well as late 19th) century seem to be better suited for mma anyway.
allot of boxers in that era trained in catch as catch can wrestling..hence they knew something about submissions both defense and applying them. Jack Dempsey for example was a black belt in Judo and also very good at catch as catch can wrestling
well I know that about jack dempsey, but we are talking about Jim Jefferies here. early "modern boxers" just seemed better suited for MMA than todays boxers from what I have seen.
I think he does very good, he is in great condition in his prime, wrestling with boxing, i see that the small gloves of Jeffries era came up he would be able to absorb the punches from the MMA gloves well, good thread
A natural athlete with the speed, strength and toughness of Jim Jefferies would have acquitted himself very well in the octagon.
How do you think Larry Holmes would have gone at MMA based on this display of fighting skill and improvisation >>> [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zlQqSCzRrA&[/ame]
I still think many mma fans underestimate boxers just a bit because its mostly shot or not so grea boxers going aganist world class mma guys. Larry Holmes would actually do better at mma then someone like James Toney, who had one of the worst styles you could have as a boxer to transfer into mma (little footmobility, shoulder roll while feet are planted and wide spread, not great power). Holmes would at least have the sense to step out punch and keep moving as he punches. having said that...im not saying prime larry holmes without a good deal of cross training is going to beat any elite mma guys. just saying he would have a better shot and better style for it then James Toney did. as for Jeffries..he was also a damn good athlete. he had a 6 foot high jump..now this was at a time when they used a older style of jumping which made it harder to get a good deal of height. he could also run 100 yards in 10 seconds, which is pretty damn good for a man who is ripped to shreads at over 220 pounds. and yes, he did wrestle with elite level wrestlers.
