Im a casual MMA fan, I think I would like the sport more if some MMAritist didnt piss me off personally but they add to my question/observation. Is boxing the most underrated in the sport of MMA? I watched UFC 198 this passed weekend and I didnt know much about Stipe Miccioc but when I heard the announcer say he was a golden glove I immediately knew he would have the upperhand standing. The way he KO'd Werdum was textbook counter punching. & the problem with most MMA fighters if their base doesnt start with boxing and the problem with learning boxing later in life is there muscle memory just isnt there. I can only think of 1 guy (GSP) that learned some boxing later in his career and became somewhat good at it. Personally to me all these guy try to learn all these fancy martial arts when the best foundations are boxing and wrestling... Thoughts?
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I think there is a lot of rock, paper, scissors involved in MMA that boxing fans have lil to no understanding of & why its so exciting & fun to watch for fans of fighting.
Stipe is actually a much better wrestler (College Div I, champ or runner up iirc) than boxer (won the Cleveland Golden Gloves & lost to Bryant Jennings in Nationals, overall I don't think he had many fights) which is why he can keep things standing as wrestlers are great at deciding where the fight takes place at cuz there core strength is ******ed.
Wrestling & BJJ are the best bases to have in MMA. Everything else is a secondary skill to most competitors. For the most part guys who are most strong in boxing are in fun fights, but get taken apart on the ground where they are like fish outta water. If anything was most underrated I'd probably aim at something like sambo which produced one of the all time great MMA fighters, Fedor & currently Khabib is doing sambo well when he decides to fight. -
Ive always thought MMA fighters with boxer/wrestler backgrounds were the strongest MMA fighters because usually their foundations started with either or both sports. Ive heard to be a good wrestler you have to live it and to be a good boxer (from my experience) you have to do it from a young age. Neither can really be taught at an advanced age unlike Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Karate, etc. Sambo is something I am really not familiar with but if boxing continues to decline and puts pros in the amateurs I think I am going to start looking into martial arts for my boys to do and if anything keep them boxing but push them to do HS wresting.Originally posted by Eff Pandas View Post
And didnt know to much about Stipe, just now knew he was a division 1 wrestler but it doesnt surprise me now. Wrestlers are usually physically strong and mix that with a boxers punch, no wonder Werdum looked dumb. When he rushed Stipe his chin was waving in the air like the Brazilian flags in the stand... lolComment
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I think it is.
I think people consider Muay Thai superior and there are obviously things about Muay Thai that are very useful in MMA and I think just having Boxing in MMA isn't enough, atleast, it isn't always.
But, Boxing is a great martial art, it is very effective, it is the fastest way to KO your opponent and we've seen many examples of a fighter with good Boxing having great success. It teaches you great tools, like distance, timing, defense, counter striking etc.
It's not the most important, there really isn't a most important martial art, because you need them all in most cases, but it is certainly not the least important either.
If I was to build to perfect fighter from the ground up, I'd suggest they start with Boxing as their striking base or atleast focus a great deal of their striking training on it.
Add Muay Thai, but I dont think just having MT is enough, you're certainly lacking without good Boxing I think.Comment
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If anything, people underrate traditional martial arts like karate until Machida and co. showed up to prove it can work.Comment
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It was underrated for a while, but not more recently, as more fighters are using it effectively in recent years, so it has gained momentum and gotten the respect it deserves as a martial art. For a while, it was mostly muay thai or American kickboxing when it came to striking that was used, but now fighters are able to use boxing more effectively, so it is no longer underrated.Comment
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I would say no, but maybe in the past.
A lot of top fighters utilize boxing these days and use it as their striking base, particular American fighters.Comment
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You have Wrestling/BJJ that can literally win you the fight on their own through submissions and lay and pray IF you are good enough. Look at Palhares with his heel hook or Ben Askren, his wrestling is top tier but he sucks pretty much everywhere else. I don't know of many fighters who could solely use Boxing and win fights. Maybe JDS until he fought Cain.
I love GSPs Boxing, namely his use of the jab which I feel is severely underutilised in MMA and Frankie Edgar's use of feints, lateral movement and combination/pressure style of Boxing.Comment
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Aside from karate and tae kwon do, Boxing is still the least important "art" in MOST MMA. But it's one of those things where if you and your opponent are pretty much even everywhere else it becomes important.
I say most because in the heavyweight division I think boxing is very important. It is so much easier to hurt your opponent with punches at the higher weight.Comment
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