[dyna]

That's true to an extent, but it's not like most/all of the divisions haven't seen dominant champions. GSP was 12-2 in title fights and every one of them was vs a top contender who presented a completely different stylistic puzzle. Anderson was 11-0 in title fights up until his 38th birthday. Jon Jones is 10-0 in title fights. DJ is 9-0 in BW title fights. All these guys face top guys for every defence. There's no comparison at all as to which sport makes better, more competitive matchups. Which is why MMA is on fire right now and boxing has no buzz at all.

:hat

Yea, there are some dominant men.
And from what I've read, Jon Jones is the current GOAT and I know Anderson was seen as the GOAT for some time.
It's good that The elite fighters can estabilish a title reign, but they do tend to face a lot more adversity than what we normally see from dominant boxing champions. (which isn't a bad thing though)

But isn't the amount of competitive match ups mostly because having to train for so many disciplines puts fighters closer to each other?

 

[Haggis]

Yea, there are some dominant men.
And from what I've read, Jon Jones is the current GOAT and I know Anderson was seen as the GOAT for some time.
It's good that The elite fighters can estabilish a title reign, but they do tend to face a lot more adversity than what we normally see from dominant boxing champions. (which isn't a bad thing though)

:good

Jon Jones is ridiculous. He's just a natural fighting genius with a Michael Phelps-type freak body type. At 6'4", 205 pounds, he should have something around a 75, 78 inch reach. He has an 84.5 inch reach, tied for longest in the UFC with a seven foot tall Dutch heavyweight. And then he fights Daniel Cormier, a 5'11" two-time Olympic wrestler, and Jones chooses to fight him on the inside and outwrestle him and beat him up. It's crazy. He is literally a fighter who seems to have no weaknesses.

But isn't the amount of competitive match ups mostly because having to train for so many disciplines puts fighters closer to each other?

To some extent, but even now some of the most successful fighters don't train to be great at everything. Damien Maia is an elite world champion Brazilian jiu jitsu guy on the verge of a title shot. He knows just enough striking to hold his own until he can close in, get a trip and bring the fight to the ground. If he does that in the first minute of the round, then either you're wearing him like a backpack for the next four minutes until the round ends, or you're getting choked unconscious. In his last four fights, (all against respected contenders) he has won them all and absorbed 14 strikes. Fourteen total strikes in four fights. Because everybody he fights trains jiu-jitsu, but he is so far above their level that if he makes the fight a grappling contest, they can't stop him from doing anything he wants to them.

Stephen Thompson is another example. A world champion kickboxer who is the next title challenger at WW. He raised his wrestling to a level where he is competent to defend the takedown or get back up if need be, and that's all the wrestling he's interested in doing. If an elite wrestler can't beat his footwork and take him down in his first two or three attempts, then he is fucked because Thompson is going to light him up and hurt him bad from the outside.

There are a lot of fighters who aren't great at anything but are good/very good at everything. And that won't get you a dominant championship reign. Because a lot of the elite fighters are masters of one discipline, and competent enough at the others that they can force the fight into their area of expertise and dominate it there. :good

:hat

 

[dyna]

:good

Jon Jones is ridiculous. He's just a natural fighting genius with a Michael Phelps-type freak body type. At 6'4", 205 pounds, he should have something around a 75, 78 inch reach. He has an 84.5 inch reach, tied for longest in the UFC with a seven foot tall Dutch heavyweight. And then he fights Daniel Cormier, a 5'11" two-time Olympic wrestler, and Jones chooses to fight him on the inside and outwrestle him and beat him up. It's crazy. He is literally a fighter who seems to have no weaknesses.

Yea, his physique is a bit crazy.
I would have also expected a 6'4 MMA fighter to be much heavier than that until I saw 205 lbs.
Even if he's draining 20 lbs, he doesn't seem heavy at all.

To some extent, but even now some of the most successful fighters don't train to be great at everything. Damien Maia is an elite world champion Brazilian jiu jitsu guy on the verge of a title shot. He knows just enough striking to hold his own until he can close in, get a trip and bring the fight to the ground. If he does that in the first minute of the round, then either you're wearing him like a backpack for the next four minutes until the round ends, or you're getting choked unconscious. In his last four fights, (all against respected contenders) he has won them all and absorbed 14 strikes. Fourteen total strikes in four fights. Because everybody he fights trains jiu-jitsu, but he is so far above their level that if he makes the fight a grappling contest, they can't stop him from doing anything he wants to them.

Stephen Thompson is another example. A world champion kickboxer who is the next title challenger at WW. He raised his wrestling to a level where he is competent to defend the takedown or get back up if need be, and that's all the wrestling he's interested in doing. If an elite wrestler can't beat his footwork and take him down in his first two or three attempts, then he is fucked because Thompson is going to light him up and hurt him bad from the outside.

There are a lot of fighters who aren't great at anything but are good/very good at everything. And that won't get you a dominant championship reign. Because a lot of the elite fighters are masters of one discipline, and competent enough at the others that they can force the fight into their area of expertise and dominate it there. :good

:hat

That's the thing, Jon Jones doesn't have that weakness.
But fighters who specialize in one discipline and then do the basic for others. It seems like they're always a bit between life and death in my eyes.
One mistake and they have very little to fall back on.

Though that's a part that's exciting for a lot of people.
It's much less predictable than a fight that features just 1 discipline but that's also what makes it seem more random to me.

 

[Haggis]

Yea, his physique is a bit crazy.
I would have also expected a 6'4 MMA fighter to be much heavier than that until I saw 205 lbs.
Even if he's draining 20 lbs, he doesn't seem heavy at all.

Because he has chicken legs. :lol:

That's the thing, Jon Jones doesn't have that weakness.
But fighters who specialize in one discipline and then do the basic for others. It seems like they're always a bit between life and death in my eyes.
One mistake and they have very little to fall back on.

But this leads to incredible moments when a hometown striker gets taken down by an elite wrestler and then after a minute or so, valiantly struggles back to his feet. It means that there are a lot of moments where the dynamic of the entire fight can change, that don't involve one guy getting dropped and hurt. And that's what fighting is - if you make a mistake and open the door for the other guy, then events can rapidly spin out of your control even if you were bossing him up to that point.

Though that's a part that's exciting for a lot of people.
It's much less predictable than a fight that features just 1 discipline but that's also what makes it seem more random to me.

Yes, that is the exciting part. So many fights boil down to a magnified version of whether or not one guy can impose his stylistic will on the other. And with all the different styles that people bring to the cage and the tough matchmaking, there's nowhere to hide. If you're not the elite of the elite, then you can't bullshit like you are. You get found out. And that's fine. It just confirms the guys who can stay undefeated for ten or more fights over five or six years as being the ones who are truly special. :good

:hat

 

[Haggis]

Being elite at one thing is not enough. Being well-rounded is not enough. You need to be well-rounded AND elite at one thing, and have the ability to make the necessary adjustments to force the fight into your wheelhouse. Which is an entire skillset in itself. :good

:hat

 

[Slimtrae]

I agree with how a fighter loses. Some become gatekeepers because they're flaws are exposed for an up n comer to exploit- usually given insult offers. As a result a few accept.
Best example. ..Road Warrior Glencoffe Johnson. Shit offers, always in the other fighter's house, shady judges.



I think promoters are most responsible.

Then there are the spoilers. Some promoters keep them away with insult offers.

 

[techks]

Fight promoters' urge to market another replica of Mayweather's undefeated record. Doing more harm than good as the stiff opposition drops for their fighter to maintain the 0 usually. Except Mayweather still took big risks, what most these guys don't do.

 

[Slimtrae]

I will watch that later tonight. I haven't seen it before. :good

:hat

Liakhovich never performed better.

 

[Antsu]

Because fans give so much shit for them for having couple of loses

 

[Mal]

I think it's quite clear for two reasons.
1. Promoting an undefeated top level fighter is easier then selling a guy with a few losses.
2. There's a false idea that losses hurt your marketability (Which they can, but it's not set in stone), so there might be a little hesitation taking fights they CAN lose, in favor of easier fights that will allow for no, or less, losses to occur.