MMA champ Overeem wants to fight Vitaly Klitschko

Good post and points. It would be far more valid 10-15 years ago when MMA fighters were more apt to rely on their backgrounds as opposed to being more well-rounded. Those days are gone and guys ruling the sport today are solid in more than one area and trained in all areas.

A guy like GSP is one of the best wrestlers in MMA but has worked significantly on his boxing and BJJ to the point where he isn't at a huge disadvantage even against specialist in those other disciplines.

A guy like Overeem, even with average grappling by MMA standards, would make someone like Vitali look ridiculous in an MMA bout.

Personally, the boxers I think would do best in the MMA arena are the very fleet footed guys like Mayweather that can control distance with footspeed as opposed to trying to control the range with size or length like Vitali would.

Ultimately though, one take down and the fight is over. My guess is the take would come before a knock out punch in most cases.

 

James Toney & Ray Mercer, I infer. (though Sylvia & Couture weren't current belt holders)

 

No, you have to be an established. top notch fighter like Dereck Chisora to get a shot at one of the 115 HW belts.....:nono:

 

A defensive guy like Mayweather would have the worst style for MMA.

 

For sure, definitely. Though one amendment to that - (I agree with everything else) I think Vitali also has deceptively fast feet, you very rarely see him crowded. But as I said I'd heavily favour Overeem in an MMA ring - especially in a ring. The extra space of an octagon would surely increase Vitali's chances of staying on his feet long enough to get lucky with a punch (and that's what he'd rely on essentially, shear luck) prob increase 5% or so.

 

At least Chisora is an established boxer, period. James Toney had about as much of a chance as any random yahoo off of the street, probably less since he's a) obese, b) accustomed to fighting in a style that's terrible vs any decent grappler

 

Yeah and Toney didn't fight a champion for ANY belt and Toney was humiliated in short order.

The only reason Toney even got the fight was because Dana White wanted to shut him up. Not to mention, no matter how meaningless, Dana got a little victory in the boxing versus MMA debate.

The average "Tapout" shirt-wearing, thug-wannabe MMA fan, had no clue what a ridiculous sham of a boxer Toney had become. All they heard were the multiple ads boasting Toney's decorated boxing resume. And then he gets completely humbled in an MMA cage unlike anyone had ever done to him in a boxing ring.

Dana won't say so, but his hungering ego was nicely stroked by Couture's destruction of Toney no matter how big a boxing fan Dana claims to be.

Ultimately, that is why Toney got a fight in the UFC.

 

It'd be Couture-Toney part II.

Probably even worse. Overeem isn't some 50 year old wrestler. It's not like Vitali is just going to be running around the ring avoiding the clinch/shot and punch him once and knock him out. He could very easily get knocked the fuck out himself.

 

No boxer will EVER do well in MMA. If there was one, it'd be a guy like Brandon Rios straight out of ammys and starting cross training at 18.

 

I'll even take it a step further and say that no specialist of a single discipline will ever do that well in MMA.

 

Wrestlers do OK without much else.

Ben Askren and Joe Warren are wrestlers that have limited skills outside their wrestling and are both champs in Bellator.

That being said, those days are slowly going completely away.

 

I'll go even further than anyone else and say that no fighter with only one half of one specialty will ever do well in MMA

You heard it here first!

 

Wrestling is the best base for MMA. IMO

 

Askren is actually a BJJ brown belt and will probably get his black belt soon. He was kind of a legendary/mythical type of guy, because he started training BJJ while in college, and a video showed him doing BJJ. Everyone started fantasizing about these new breed of super stud All-American wrestlers with black belts in BJJ that would be unstoppable submission machines.


Then he started fighting.

 

Is this with Olympic Style Drug Testing

 

Not a chance Overeem passes that.

 

He did pass something like it already in the Rogers fight.

 

You're being ignorant. You'd be shocked at just how bad MMA guy's chins would look if they made the transition to boxing.

If Nick Diaz fought Jeff Lacy he'd probably get KO'd, despite being able to take shots from a guy with legit punching power by MMA standards.

Do you think a boxer can take a leg kick as well as an MMA fighter? That's almost akin to what you're saying.

 

I'm not one to accuse guys of steroids, but I can't just overlook the change in Overeem. It's one of the most drastic in any sport.

 

So now MMA guys are just not capable of hitting as hard as boxers. Even though they punch eachother with 4oz gloves.

:Lok:

 

Pretty ballsy dude.

 

They don't hit as hard as boxers, the punching technique isn't even close, 4oz gloves or not. If an MMA fighter fights an elite boxer you'll see what I mean. They'll look super chinny, and they won't even see the punches coming. It would look almost as one sided as Couture Vs Toney.

 

absurd.

several boxers have martial arts background and mma aside from the big leagues is a mockery. the top 50 in any weight class in boxing could easily win in a KOTC like event.

boxing attracts better natural fighters, and superior athletes...of course people who become elite in boxing have the athletic skills to succeed in mma, even if they were not to train in other disciplines.

you think fighters like jon jones need ALL of their training to beat every guy they have beaten? or do you think raw athleticism is a bigger factor?

 

Of course I know that. Which is why the current, better, more evolved MMA has fighters taking punches better than earlier days, and throwing them MUCH better too.

But the level of boxing training they do and their overall experience obviously isn't even close to being on par with elite boxers.

Obviously they'll get better and better with more boxing training, but as of now their ability to take and throw punches and defend against punches isn't close to world class boxing.

 

Not true.

You think boxers take a punch roughly the same as when they first stepped into the ring?

You can train a chin, to an extent. Just like you can train a punch, to an extent.

Part of it the actual, physical training of the chin, and part of it is just getting used to taking punches, avoiding punches, anticipating them, rolling with them, and basically avoiding getting hit with punches you don't see coming.

Boxers obviously have a huge advantage in both those areas.

 

Oh boy...