“Fighting Words” – What UFC Fighters Have Learned From Boxing

by David P. Greisman

Part 2 of 2. Last week: What Boxing Can Learn from the UFC.

They are different sports with different fan bases, different histories and different strategies. But boxing is a part of mixed martial arts, or MMA. The skills used within the squared circle are incorporated into the arsenals of those who step into the cage. The ability to punch is as essential as the ability to wrestle, to kick, to fight on the ground and to defend against all of the above.

Fighters may excel in one aspect, but they cannot specialize and merely expect to get by. From the very first Ultimate Fighting Championship (or UFC) pay-per-view, Royce Gracie turned conventional beliefs upside-down, using Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to take out experts in various fighting forms. More than a dozen years later, Gracie would be dominated by a modern MMA fighter, Matt Hughes.

Every so often a boxer spouts off with the naïve belief that he could step into the Octagon against the best the UFC has to offer and win based solely on his superior boxing skills. But while some boxers seem to underestimate what it takes to succeed in mixed martial arts, many mixed martial artists appreciate – and incorporate – the skills of the Sweet Science.

Marcus Davis is a mixed martial artist with five-and-a-half years in20the sport and 20 fights on his record. He’s fought nine times in the UFC, winning all but one. Before he ever tried out MMA, however, Davis was a boxer, and somewhat successful, fighting 20 times around New England, winning 17 times, losing once and drawing twice.

“I always wanted to fight. That’s it,” Davis said in an interview last month. “That’s all I ever wanted to do. I didn’t want to punch a clock. I didn’t want to sit behind a desk. I didn’t have aspirations of being anything but a fighter.”

Both of Davis’ grandfathers had boxed, as had his uncles. But there were no boxing gyms in the area. He took up karate at 8 and didn’t start boxing until five years later. He soon entered the amateur ranks, going 32-2. He turned pro at 19, only to leave the sport seven years later after his only defeat.

“At the time, I saw what the potential was, what I thought was going to happen with MMA,” Davis said. “I just knew that it was going to get big, that it was going to explode like it d id, so I wanted to jump in.”

His first pro MMA fight came three years later. The transition, Davis said, was difficult.

“There’s probably a lot of boxers that watch it and just think they can get into MMA and box and get away with it, that their hands would be so fast that they’d be able to hit guys when they’re trying to take them down,” he said. “You watch it from the outside. You’re like, “If a guy shot in on me I’d throw an uppercut and just catch him and it’d be over. It doesn’t work that way. They think it does, but it doesn’t. The first time you go in there, you try to hit something, they shoot and take you down. If you don’t know anything about the ground, you won’t get back up. They’ll keep you there and finish the fight there.”

Davis said he had to get rid of bad habits that were part and parcel of being a boxer.

“One is the way you stand,” Davis 0Asaid. “The way everyone stands so upright and staggered. You need to square your hips to defend a takedown. Also, to check a kick, you can’t do that from a staggered stance. You have to center up a little bit, hips pointed forward, in order to check a kick correctly.

“That right there takes away a lot of your boxing stuff,” he said. “And then the way you throw punches, the way you move your head. The defense is different. In boxing you lean back and do, like, the fading out of a punch. You can’t do that in MMA. If you lean back, you leave your legs forward. That leg will either be kicked or it leaves the leg open for a takedown.”

Davis said one cannot bob and weave because of the danger of being kneed, or of the chance of being caught in a Muay Thai clinch that leaves one vulnerable to knees and elbows.

But once he made the transition, Davis said, there were elements of boxing he continued – and continues – to use.

“The timing of punches, being able20to get into the pocket, throw punches and not get hit, I was still able to carry that over into my MMA,” he said. “Defensively, I figured out what works in MMA and what does not work in MMA. The big thing is head movement. You have to be able to move your head, and you still have a lot of MMA fighters who don’t know that. A lot of MMA fighters do what I call framing up, where they just put both their hands up and keep them nice and tight around their head.”

Watching Davis in action, one sees his ability to control timing and distance, to make an opponent miss by inches, to move his body and head at just the right time and in just the right place.

Davis was a boxer who got into MMA. Jens Pulver is a mixed martial artist who got into boxing.

“I was a wrestler. I wrestled all the way through college, but I’d always been a big fan of boxing,” Pulver said in an interview last month. “I wanted to be a boxer because I wanted to continue fighting in a legal sense. I wanted to continue to train. Then MMA started coming around. It’s like, ‘Oh, dear God, this gives me a chance to work on my boxing, but it’s kind of like boxing with training wheels. Worst-case scenario, I shoot in and take somebody down.’ ”

Pulver entered the pro MMA ranks in 1999, becoming the 155-pound champion in the UFC two years later.

He left the company, competed in other organizations, and lost twice via punches.

“I got beat twice on my feet. I’m like, ‘I really gotta work on my hands,’ ” Pulver said. I went into a boxing gym. The trainer said, ‘Well, let’s go pro.’ I can’t go amateur because I’ve been fighting already.”

Pulver spent a brief time as a boxer – five fights and five victories by his count, four fights and four victories according to BoxRec.com – but it was time well spent once he returned to MMA, he said.

“It helped me from the beginning. I was a combo throwing machine,” Pulver said. “It made a big difference,20even to this day, with my defense, my hands, my throwing. It’s just a lot better.”

Pulver, like Davis, says there’s much from boxing that just won’t translate into MMA.

“I’ve seen [boxer] Verno Phillips, he tried to go into a Muay Thai bout. It’s still stand-up the whole time, and he got destroyed,” Pulver said. “If you don’t try to learn the other stuff, you’re going to get wrecked standing up, too. People throwing knees in your gut, tying up your head, tying up your hands, kicking the inside of your leg. There’s a lot to it.”

But MMA fighters continue to improve on their boxing. UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has former boxer Howard Grant helping him with his hands. Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski has Freddie Roach as his boxing trainer.

“It’s still a good thing to work on,” Pulver said. “Learning how to roll with punches, throwing straight shots. It still helps a lot. You take what you can from every sport.”

The 10 Count

1.  Correction: Last week’s column included a brief reference to heavyweight MMA fighter Andrei Arlovski as having bored his way out of the UFC. Before writing those words I thought of Arlovski’s stinker of a win against Fabricio Werdum, and how Arlovski only fought once more for the UFC before his contract expired.

As one reader pointed out, however, Arlovski and the UFC simply never reached an agreement on a new contract. UFC President Dana White was once quoted as saying on a radio show, “I’d love to have Andrei Arlovski back.”

I stand corrected, and I regret the error.

2.  Speaking of Arlovski, the 30-year-old from Belarus is slated to make his professional boxing debut April 11. He will appear on a Las Vegas undercard to a main event featuring Winky Wright against Paul Williams.

If this entry seems like dA 9jà vu, there’s a good reason. Arlovski had been expected to enter the Sweet Science last year on the Sept. 13 undercard to Joel Casamayor-Juan Manuel Marquez. He didn’t, though, fighting instead on an EliteXC MMA show in October. His last appearance in combat was a highlight-reel one-punch knockout loss last month against Fedor Emelianenko.

3.  Ricardo Mayorga will not appear this Saturday as one half of an anticipated slugfest with 154-pound prospect Alfredo Angulo, a bout that was to be part of a stellar tripleheader on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark.”

Though initial rumors were that Mayorga had suffered an injury in training camp, he reportedly was not happy with what he was to be paid to face Angulo, according to ESPN.com scribe Dan Rafael.

Mayorga apparently said he wouldn’t fight without a better deal. And he won’t.

“This is typical of Mayorga,” Don King, Mayorga’s promoter, was quoted as saying to Rafael. “He did the same thing [before a fight] with Oscar [De La Hoya]. He thinks he’s playing a game. This is the way he operates. I just take it like it is. If he fights, he fights. If he don't, it ain't the end of the world. I know the beast I am deali ng with.”

King paid Mayorga $300,000 in advance of the Angulo fight. That alone means we shouldn’t be surprised to see the foulmouthed fighter back in the ring again soon as the designated fall guy to some other prospect, contender or aging veteran.

Angulo’s new opponent is Danny Perez, a fighter whose 34-5 record includes two losses to Antonio Margarito. Perez is a solid test for a fighter just 14 fights into his professional career.

4.  Former super-middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe announced his retirement last week, ending a 15-year career that saw him make 21 successful title defenses at 168 pounds. He then jumped to light heavyweight, capturing “The Ring” magazine championship by defeating Bernard Hopkins and then taking his final bow with a victory over Roy Jones Jr.

Calzaghe leaves the sport undefeated after 46 fights, with 32 of those wins coming by way of knockout. He beat nine people who had held world titles.

See you in Canastota in five years, Joe.

5.  Vic Darchinyan would’ve been my choice for “Fighter of the Year” for 2008 if not for a certain fighter named Manny Pacqu iao. Darchinyan, a whirling dervish in his own right, is already starting 2009 off well.

Darchinyan faced Jorge Arce this past Saturday in a bout long awaited since the years when both were busy taking on and taking out all comers in the flyweight division. This bout took place three pounds north, at 115, with Darchinyan punishing Arce for 11 rounds and forcing the stoppage before the final stanza could get under way.

Darchinyan adds Arce’s pelt to those of Cristian Mijares and Dmitri Kirilov. Of those past three opponents, none lasted the distance. Darchinyan holds three of the four major world titles, and has accomplished all of this in the 17 months since Nonito Donaire handed him his first loss with a single left hook.

6.  In a post-fight interview, Showtime’s Jim Gray asked Darchinyan whether he wanted a rematch with Donaire. Darchinyan’s promoter, Gary Shaw, answered first.

“Not a chance,” Shaw said. “You don’t reward disloyal people.”

Donaire had once been part of Shaw’s stable. They had a falling out and Donaire is no longer under his banner.

Darchinyan, in the middle of all this, said, “I would love to fight him. Anytime.”

Gray said to Shaw, “You reward the fans.” Shaw didn’t miss a beat, offering up potential matches with three fighters in other divisions.

“I can give [Fernando] Montiel,” Shaw said. “I can give [Rafael] Marquez. I can give [Israel] Vazquez.”

Montiel is formerly the owner of the fourth world title at 115 and is now looking to compete at 118. Marquez and Vazquez are junior featherweights still recovering from their grueling trilogy.

It’s a shame Shaw’s grudge against Donaire will keep Darchinyan from avenging his sole defeat.

I recall that the one obstacle between Darchinyan and Arce facing off had been the grudge Arce’s promoter, Bob Arum, had held against Shaw. Arum had been sued by Shaw after Jose Luis Castillo, who fought for Arum’s stable, failed to make weight for his rubber match with the late Diego Corrales, who fought for Shaw’s company.

Arum eventually let bygones be bygones. How long will Shaw make Donaire wait, somewhat selfishly, when Darchinyan, the fighter still working for him, wants revenge?

7.  I now half expect Shaw to send out another angry press release directed at a boxing writer, just like the one last week in which he called out Dan Rafael of ESPN.com.

8.  Though I was unable to catch the entire Showtime broadcast, I must say from what I saw that new blow-by-blow announcer Gus Johnson had a solid showing on his first night covering boxing for the network. With veteran analyst Al Bernstein by his side, I can see a smooth transition after all those years of Steve Albert as the signature voice of “Showtime Championship Boxing.”

9.  Despite suffering a nasty cut just late last month, Marco Antonio Barrera will apparently go forth without delay to his March 14 bout with lightweight prospect Amir Khan.

The cut above his lef t eye came in a keep-busy bout Jan. 31 against a designated opponent named Freudis Rojas. With a 1-7-1 record to his name, Rojas was there as a late replacement for a 17-4-4 fighter named John Nolasco.

In the final minute of the third round, Barrera stood against the ropes, taking a right hand to the body from Rojas. Rojas then put his head down like a charging bull, butting Barrera and leaving an ugly vertical gash on his left eyebrow.

Barrera was visibly upset. There would only be six weeks to recover. But Barrera and his team seem to think that’s enough time.

10.  R.I.P. My laptop, 2005-2009. From Mike Tyson’s last professional bout, a loss to Kevin McBride in Washington, D.C., which was the first show I ever received press credentials for, to my most recent live event, a regional card this past Friday in Lincoln, R.I.

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at fightingwords1@gmail.com