OT: The UFC. Is It Just Me?

[RockyMTblue2]

Gave up watching fighting decades ago or at least a few years before Tyson took to trying to bite off opponents ears. BUT out of sheer boredom I've been taking in UFC stuff in small doses on YouTube and was I surprised. No, I'm not riveted by this stuff, but having unavoidably lived with all the TV crazy hype and having seen these tatooed walking stacks of muscle I thought it was vicious and moronic. Well, now I know it is BUT these guys hit like sissies. What's called a knock out is a stun followed by slapping the guy while he's down until the ref intervenes. I guess because feet and kicks are potentially involved - rarely seen because these guys have the thighs of hippos and can't sweep anything above the knee - well, anyway, were was I: oh yes, thse guys are dancing around a rarely put their body behind a blow; it's all arm.

Explains why they don't kill each other.

What am I missing?

 

[eebmg]

Why would you be surprised? They are not boxers. It takes a lifetime to learn how to punch with power and balance. Keep in mind that UFC fighters can't concentrate on a single skill but must divide their training (I imagine) between fist striking, leg striking and wrestling moves. Also, those who enter this profession consider themselves brawlers and technique is less important than toughness.

No better evidence can be found that the McGregor /Mayweather match. McGregor actually trained hard (I imagine) to try to be a boxer and not be embarrassed but looking at the fight objectively, his punching is pathetic. And he was the cream of the crop.



I think you may be a bit too critical with the leg fighting. I have seen a number of fighters who have excellent kicking skills among the lighter weight divisions at least.

By the way, not my cup of tea either.

 

[Orangutan]

I'd be curious to know which fights/fighters you have watched. The smaller weight classes (and some of the women) have much better technique than the larger guys.

But yes, the boxing skills on display are very poor compared to pro boxers. But the pro boxer doesn't have to worry about getting kicked in the leg. Or being taken down. And they don't break clinches in MMA. So you have to box with all that stuff in mind.

The only elite fighter I can think of that comes from a high-level boxing background is Holly Holm, who incidentally is also a skilled kicker. In fact, a head kick is how she finished off Ronda Rousey.

Speaking of the Mayweather/McGregor fight, Mayweather will never, ever set foot in a UFC cage and neither will any other boxer. And for good reason. They would be taken down and submitted with haste.

Both were past their prime when it happened, but we got an example of this with the Randy Couture/James Toney fight at UFC 118. Toney never landed a single blow. Couture took him down and submitted him in the first round.

Recall that the UFC was originally a pay-per-view freakshow designed to answer the question of what the superior fighting style was. The early days of UFC were dominated by first jiu-jitsu guys and then wrestlers. Pure boxing, while a fine sport, turns out to be relatively ineffective in a no-holds-barred context.

I didn't really care for MMA until I met a friend who trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu who smartened me up with regards to then nuances of ground fighting.

 

[TitleTown]

MMA is so much more than striking with your hands! There are just far too many aspects that you have to train at, where boxers ONLY have to train striking with their hands. MMA fighters have to train striking with hands, feet, knees, forearms, elbows, etc. They also have to train take down offense/defense. submission offense/defense, as well as learning how to become comfortable fighting off your back.

 

[psconn]

Another caution: if you are looking at older YouTube videos of Pride and earlier UFC, you will see a much different product that top line UFC fights of today.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I'm not a big fan of UFC, but I've seen some here and there. Chuck Liddell in his heyday landed a few knockout punches while he was backing up. That's hard to do, can't generate as much power as when you are stepping forward and have your body weight behind the punch. I would not tell Mr. Liddell he didn't know how to throw a punch. He was really unorthodox too, he would throw bombs from unexpected angles.

Others have done a good job of pointing out significant differences between boxing and MMA style fighting. Another I haven't seen yet is that boxers wear thick gloves, MMA fighters have much thinner gloves. I think that makes some difference.


Edited--huh, I'm getting edited on a word that I don't see a problem with, and it's allowing the plural form of the same word. Whatever.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Has no appeal for me, neither does boxing.

It has nothing to do with the lack of appeal, but on a separate note, I wonder what sort of toll it takes on the fighter's bodies.

I was a field auditor in my working life and met employees at a number of locations who engaged (or said they did) in a variety of things like boxing, competitive kick boxing and martial arts and I can summarize that most claimed the experience was of benefit in their "regular" life.

 

[JordyG]

Gave up watching fighting decades ago or at least a few years before Tyson took to trying to bite off opponents ears. BUT out of sheer boredom I've been taking in UFC stuff in small doses on YouTube and was I surprised. No, I'm not riveted by this stuff, but having unavoidably lived with all the TV crazy hype and having seen these tatooed walking stacks of muscle I thought it was vicious and moronic. Well, now I know it is BUT these guys hit like sissies. What's called a knock out is a stun followed by slapping the guy while he's down until the ref intervenes. I guess because feet and kicks are potentially involved - rarely seen because these guys have the thighs of hippos and can't sweep anything above the knee - well, anyway, were was I: oh yes, thse guys are dancing around a rarely put their body behind a blow; it's all arm.

Explains why they don't kill each other.

What am I missing?

UFC fighters may hit like sissy's, but I'll bet these pro boxers kick like sissy's, wrestle like sissy's, grapple like sissy's and take an elbow or knee to the chin like sissy's.

Yeah, it's you.