Anyone else find it hard to take MMA/UFC seriously?

[Kakutogi-Gumi]

I am guessing you're trying to write 'moving'. Most mundial and Pan Am jiujitsu winners would agree UFC has fairly poor grappling.


No but in the case of Brock Lesanr he quit WWE tried to an NFL pro and failed. MMA was his last effort at pro-sports. Other than that Lesnar never wrestled a real amatuer wrestling match since 2001. Ken Shamrock and Brock Lesnar agree the UFC is the place for retired pro-wrestlers.



Pro-wrestling is red neck soap operas. Enjoy.

Of course grappling's going to be poor. Sport grapplers don't have to worry about GnP.

And after the NFL, during his time wrestling in Japan, Brock hooked up with Erik Paulsen and started training. Shammy training under Funaki anf Fujiwara.

Both of them are Catchers.

[larryx]

it can be good at times..but i think some of the fighters are really gas seriously..sum just stay on the ground in the **** me position on dont do **** but grind!!!

[StackMo]

Erik Paulsen and Shamrock are dated and to be frank not very good. Sports grapplers find grappling in the UFC poor because for the most part it is. What role GNP plays into it is debateable since GNP specialists find themselves subbed by the better grappler almost invariably.

Back to MMA in Japan - the audience has faded and badly. Ironically little Koki Kameda managed to fill Koraken Hall in 1/2 the time it took for a full K-1 roster to do it.

The UFC has it's fans but overall MMA is in no danger of overtaking boxing's audience or displacing boxing.

Like I said thank God for mma though it gets adult fans of WWE away from me and I can pursue fight sports more interesting to me.

[StackMo]

Some light reading when you desire to :

Do you miss Japan’s boom? Miss Genki Sudo’s long, elaborate dance sequences and freak show fights? There are people at our forum who agree with you. Go figure.

I think after the past few weeks we’ve had some questions answered when it comes to the future of the sport of MMA. If anything, to some it might have been a cold, hard reality check, while to others it was the expected result. MMA in Japan was the standard for years. While the UFC was being shunned by the mainstream in the mid-90s we had PRIDE selling out big arenas and Inoki beginning to scheme up ideas to break into the market. That was then and this is now, and right now things have changed drastically. Two events in particular over the past few weeks; World Victory Road’s Senkogu and most recently DREAM.1 have proven that the Japanese style of MMA still has its place in the world of MMA, but not like it used to.

Fighting in Japan is known for being a spectacle, for being something the public can get behind and enjoy, regardless of the quality of the match-making or how elite the fighters are. It just turned out for years that lots of top competition were fighting in Japan due to the better pay, exposure and the brighter future. Last week, Kendall posted a pretty positive piece on the debut of the DREAM project and the possibilities of it finally replacing the void left from PRIDE’s departure last year.

Much in the standard PRIDE and, well, any fight promotion in Japan fashion, we had inexperienced fighters facing off against very popular top competitors in Minowaman (sigh) and Cro Cop, and in suit, getting destroyed. Then, in something else that more or less ends up being unique to Japan due to persistence, we had the beginnings of tournaments with actual competition. The quality of the fights are immaterial to my argument, but most of the fights were actually pretty good. Sure, Aoki/JZ ended disappointingly, and really, Aoki seemed to not want to be there, but it was still a fair night of fights. Things looked good, the DREAM.1 show seemed to have a decent sized crowd, the fights were good, the whole event showed a level of promise that we haven’t really seen in a while. WVR was a good show, but its unclear if they’d actually run more shows or if it was just another one-shot deal with an empty promise for further shows.

Then we saw the ratings for DREAM.1. Ouch. When you think back to PRIDE, you think that a rating of double that was seen as a disappointment it just gives you the idea of where MMA stands in Japan right now. This wouldn’t be the first time something in Japan skyrocketed in popularity and then came crashing down after the fad had passed, but this time it is really hitting home. The fight market in Japan is dwindling, and as Marc already pointed out, there is quite an influx, and it won’t be surprising if this trend continues, as well as European and Russian fighters who seem to end up in Japan begin filtering into the US.

The only thing that will keep Japan alive at this point seems to be the unique presentation they offer as opposed to the US. The showmanship and over-to-top presentation is something that in the US promoters have been trying to shy away from, to distance themselves from pro-wrestling. Akihiro Gono in UFC walking out in a disco suit and an afro wig is something that almost didn’t make sense when it happened, it got some uncomfortable laughter from the announcers, but it was quite out of the ordinary in the US; walk out covered in sponsored gear with your whole team, also sporting the gear. The US wants to emulate boxing, while Japan wants to provide an experience, like Genki Sudo’s over the top dance routines. Really, one can only hope that the fight scene in Japan pulls through, instead of slowly dying off and leaving us, the fight fan, without any variety.

[Haglerwins]

From everything I've seen..

I think MMA's biggest problems are the product's nonexistent esthetics, GNP and free form. It looks like ****sexual/savage fighting to the general public. This sport needs polish if it's really going to make some noise. The goal is to generate revenue and gain general public appeal, real life on the street realism is getting in the way of that, so I'd lose some of those elements.

I'd stay away from the cages (set up a pseudo dojo feel instead) and the fighting in underwear image these guys give me and move on to logically traditional (but some customization would be allowed) attire. Attacking a man while he's down is uncivilized and leads to the ****/savagry look. No tackling. Time limit on submission application after the opponent is down. If you can't slap on a hold while your man is down after a time, ref should stand you two up.

I'd allow the finishes of everything. Boxing 10 count when going down from a strike/maneuver, both shoulders down pinning like in wrestling, and scoring negatives for being knocked down/out of ring space. Should create a lot of fluidity while still letting guys showcase their skills.

[MikeBrew328]

MMA is entertainment, Boxing is a SPORT....

[bradicalusa220]

if you watch both, you realize in ufc that everybody's stand up is just awful, they are horrible punchers, with horrible technique.

[El Chicano]

While I find it entertaining, I still don't take MMA as seriously as I do boxing. While I consider boxing a sport, MMA to me is sort of a get drunk pass time type deal. It's cool to watch fools get thier face beat in while I enjoy my beer. Boxing is a little more personal to me.

[josenoway]

off topic, but LOL, Mikebrew328, the gif in your sig is so funny.

you see Hopkins with the obvious headbutt, and you see Calzaghe with the annoying slappy/pawing/wtf was that style of fighting.

haha.

[sugarshanenas]

ufc is boring imo