Originally posted by ShoulderRoll
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In MMA meanwhile in the old days you had martial artists. We were considered violent felons because of how the fights looked... a lot of blood, though superficial injuries lol. Then MMA got a whole infusion of guys with bellies wearing tap out shirts... But meanwhile a whole new type of individual started training in, and enjoying the sport. These new types love the sport, only like the aspects of the arts that apply to the game, and tend to think wrestling and boxing are the most important arts that apply. This has changed from when Jiu Jitsu and kick boxing were the root arts mentioned most frequently.
When you train guys in MMA you see the difference. The guys with the 3 teeth send their kids to train, and the more cerebral types want more information that is useful.
I think Dana White, Joe Rogan and the gang do a decent job with the art frankly. Rogan is very well spoken and I like White. I don't think MMA competes with boxing viewer wise...actually both sports benefit from the cross viewing it creates. Talent wise? thats another story. Its kind of strange... Where we are now is this idea that the grappling can be learned by training to nullify a few techniques and understand the guard and mount, because one sets up ground game from these positions, meanwhile MMA is telling people to learn as much as they can about boxing.
It used to be the opposite. people were fascinated by the grappling and it was thought to be infinitely complex! At the end of the day it just depends on how talented the fighters are...ground and pound only goes so far.
MMA is not easy. The training is difficult and takes a lot of wind. The stand up is not as bad as boxers think...it functions a certain way because of what someone closing distance on a puncher can potentially do to the individual and because of the size of the gloves. Its just a slightly different application of punching technique.
Oh and I wanted to make the point about talent: MMA and boxing do compete from the same talent pool of fighters who are looking for a career. So this is where the rivalry starts. Modern fighters are just not as well versed because they all start later... Its not so much about a guy learning to box at an early age, or do MMA at an early age. It looks that way because of the difference in hitting techniques. Jugs is right as rain about this: striking in MMA is a talent onto itself...has nothing to do with the potential to box well. Certainly one can take elements of boxing to apply to MMA, just as they can Thai Boxing, and even chain punching (Wing Chun etc), but its a different environment with little parity in actual application.
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