Boxing has elevated mma to a different level

[satiev1]

Perfect example is ilia topuria. He dominates and kos his opponents with just boxing. His boxing is also seasoned and he actually fights like a boxer as opposed to many mma fighters who are horrible with their boxing and leave their chin in the air or mix it up too much with boxing and leg kicks. This is why conor was able to dominate 145 in his prime. Ilia takes it another level. In mma, if you have elite boxing and can defend takedowns you're unbeatable. Boxing is so much more superior than an mma guy doing kicks and half ass boxing.

[Pac=Duran]

You need leg kicks too, and checking opponents leg kicks. These plus what you mentioned make one hell of a fighter

[famicommander]

MMA is a four legged table.

Boxing
Kickboxing (K1, Muay Thai, Lethwei, Sanda, full contact Karate/TKD, etc)
Body control Wrestling (freestyle, Greco-Roman, American folk/collegiate/academic, Sumo, etc)
Submission Grappling (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo, Luta Livre, Catch Wrestling, etc)

A lot of fighters make the mistake of thinking that they don't need to train boxing AND kickboxing separately. But the great ones understand that you do need to train all four areas both separately and together. That's why they call it mixed martial arts.

[TMLT87]

Topuria has been wrestling since he was 7 years old and over half of his wins are by submission.....