The state of MMA overrall has went down since Pride folded imo. But the UFC has been basically synonomous with Mixed Martial Arts at least in the U.S. since basically the start. In terms of it's current state UFC is no better or worse than "before".
Cage fighting used to be pretty cool... But somewhere along the line it started attracting a long line of disgusting trend whores. Now we're left with gayge fighting and the in-cage product has really suffered.
CLEARLY it's Better Now... MMA's Mainstream Appeal has NEVER Been Higher & Most of the Fighters CROSSTRAIN, which Makes them More COMPLETE...& Things will Get Even BETTER in the Next 10 Years or So, when the 1st Generation of MMAists, who were BORN & BRED to Do MMA, Turn Pro... REED:hammert:
It's certainly better than the NFL, eh REED? I'll prove it. When you walk down the street in Dallas, what comes to your attention first; A fist-fight happening on the street corner between 2 dudes, or a couple of dipsh*ts f*cking around with a football on the lawn? Yeah....EXACTLY!
There's Dudes Out There RIGHT NOW, Still in High School, who've been CROSS TRAINING in MMA for Nearly 10 Years ALREADY...REED is Talking 30-50 Amatuer Boxing Matches, the Same Amount of Wrestling Matches & Probably TWICE that Amount of BJJ Tournaments...These Kids have Grown Up w/the SOLE PURPOSE of Being MMAists...Training in Various Disciplines is the NORM for them.... There'll NEVER B a True "Master" of Every Martial Art, but in Terms of APPLYING Various Martial Arts in an Octagon, MMA is Still Only SCRATCHING the Surface of what it will Eventually B, in REED's Opinion... From Graycie to Hughes to GSP....Fedor...Bones Jones & Cain Velasquez R Next Generation MMAists, but the Era AFTER theirs will B that 1st that was Truely RAISED on the Idea of Doing it for a Living...They'll B MORE Well-Rounded than the Current Crop or even the NEXT Crop of Elite Fighters R... REED:mj:
So you're saying REED that kids in high-school, not excluding the many hours needed for studying and homework, are doing BJJ classes, wrestling classes, and boxing classes 7 days a week? Have you seen this or just assuming? To me it's extraordinary. It would be similar to a kid who loves racquet sports practicing badminton, squash, tennis, and ping pong altogether, 7 days per week and trying to master all of them.:laugh11:
You didn't answer my question, REED. I'm very interested in your most honest answer. Please answer! ray:
Yes, REED has Seen It...He Posted this a Few Months Ago, but U Were Probably Caught up ATTENTION WHORING & was Banned... http://mohlerjiu-jitsu.com/drake_dudley.html Kid Named Drake Dudley...Had OVER 600 Bouts in Various Martial Arts... REED:hammert:
:: Is this a joke? He won some unheard-of boxing tournaments at age 8-9 at 60lbs. I wonder how tough the competition was, if there was actually any around. LOL!
He's ALWAYS Sparred though...A Boxing Ring & the EXCLUSIVE Use of his Hands ISN'T Foreign to Drake...While Not a "Master" in Boxing It's Something he's Basically ALWAYS Done... REED:hammert:
Come on REED. You know I love you and value your opinions higher than probably anybody else on FightBeat but I'm not sure about this. Peter McNeely had lots and lots of fights, heck he boxed his entire life since he was like 6 but his true skill was exposed enough times. Just because he's done boxing all his life means nothing. It's about god given talent and this Drake Dudley kid hasn't apparently won any boxing title since he was 9 as a 60 pounder. He's 17 now.
U're MISSING the Point Though...Drake ISN'T a Boxer; he's a TRUE Mixed Martial Artist...& Since Elementary School, he's CROSS TRAINED in MMA's most Successful Disciplines (Boxing, Wrestling, BJJ)...In Comparison to OTHER MMAists his Age, Drake's Boxing is Pretty Damn Good...& Considering he's NOT Some Guy in his Late 20's or Early 30's, like a Couture was or Liddell or Even Lesnar, Drake has Been HEAVILY Exposed to Boxing Early Enough to Where he ISN'T Exactly a Fish Out of Water in that Element... Drake May or May Not even have an MMA Career to Speak Of, but he's an EXAMPLE of REED's Initial Point; Kids who've LITERALLY Spent their Entire Lives PREPARING to B MMAists... Even a Guy as Young as Bones Jones Probably TRIED Other Shit 1st in Life...But The Wave of Fighters AFTER Jones will have Been Born & RAISED on the Idea of Being Nathan BUT MMAists...& their TRAINING will B Evidence of Such.... REED:Lok:
Why didn't this apply to boxing? Guys like Hearns, Holyfield, Ali and Frazier were playing more football than boxing during their young lives and wanted to go pro but weren't good enough so they changed over to boxing fully. But you still got kids who train boxing since they're like 3-4 years old with aspirations of becoming boxers. But that doesn't mean they'll be better or even as good as guys like Holyfield, Ali, etc who had other career aspirations before settling for boxing. Just saying...
Better athletes, more cross training, more global awareness of the sport, etc. I don't think the overall state of the sport has ever been better. But hell, opinions mean nothing, the fact that it is number 1 or 2 (depending on who you read) fastest growing sport(s) in the world pretty much sums it up. And the UFC is only a couple of weeks away from a huge, sold-out event in Brazil.
I honestly don't think that guys presently are better than they were 5 years ago. MMA has fallen off abit since the fall of pride outside the western world imo, it has a nice growth in the western world, but a lot of these fans are bandwagonner, and i doubt most will stay for long
Huh???... Boxing was Ali's PRIMARY Sport from the Time he was 12 Years Old...Guys like Hearns & Holyfield had LENGTHY Ammy Careers...This is the FIRST REED is Hearing of them (or Frazier Too) "Playing MORE Football than Boxing"... Three of the Guys U Named Actually WENT to the Olympics...& Hearns was in CONTENTION for a Slot on an Olympic Team...There Really WASN'T Much Time for ANY of them to B "Playing MORE Football than Boxing"... REED:mj:
REED, Hanzy is making shit up man, don't even respond to him in this forum. You're a good poster, but Hanzy is bring you down to his level brotha. Don't let him troll you.
Shut up. You don't know anything about MMA. By the way, sorry the Prediction Contest fizzled. If things pick back up in here, I will start it up again. I just couldn't see getting my ass kicked by you each every event.
No worries Trplsec. It was fun while it lasted. We'll just have to start over if we get enough activity in here in the future.
