I’ve watched a few fights and in theory they should be kick ass but every fight I see is just boring.
Either the fights turn into homoerotic rolling around on the floor like amnesiac young gay boys who can’t quite remember where to stick it but are trying none the less, or they stand up for five minutes and land a few kicks to the legs and a few unimpressive punches. The fact that the fights only last for three rounds also means that stamina and strategy don’t really play as much of a role as Thai kick boxing or normal boxing.
MMA standup fighting is very rarely as intense as Thai kick-boxing or standard boxing because of the size of the ring as well.
At this point I’d rather watch Laila Ali kick ass in the ring than any of the MMA fights I’ve watched.
For me, it’s about the technique and less about any sort of brutality. Yeah, it’s common for the matches to end up with the guys locked up and rolling around on the ground, but that’s sort of where the meat of the sport is. It becomes very much about strategy and leverage at that point. Holds and escapes make up the drama of the sport. It’s essentially a very physical chess match.
Perhaps echoing what Poops McGee said, but from a different vantage point, I gave up on watching the sport very quickly. It appears that all that rolling around on the floor is very strategic. I genuinely believe it is. I also realized that after watching 5-6 fights, I still had no idea what a reverse hold armbar guillotine cluster grab was, and that a good chunk of the subtly of the sport was lost on me. I’ve never been very good at figuring out why Guy X shifting his arm to this position just won the match (other than very obvious stuff like choke holds).
I think it is there, but I think you have to be interested enough (and quick enough following the floor movements) to learn or it will just seem like a lot of generic rolling and grappling.
Coming from a school that was a huge wrestling champion in state for a number of years, I can also tell you that wrestling also looks like a bunch of random rolling and clutching, but the wrestlers can tell you who has the advantage, why, and what move they should try to make next.
Not true in the slightest. Wrestling and grappling takes a lot more energy than striking. I’ve seen plenty of fights where one or both fighters are exhausted by the end of the third round. Also, UFC championship fights go for 5x5 rounds.
This is a very real complaint. Boxing and Muay Thai have strategy, but the typical fan can ignore it and just see two people beating the shit out of each other. This is why the standup portion of MMA is emphasized so much by refs/promoters – the typical fan understands a knockout, they don’t see why someone would tap to a triangle choke or why that transition from guard to side control was so goddamned important.
So there are two directions the sport can go. The first is to dumb it down for the average fan (via standup rules), the second is to educate the average fan so that they can appreciate it more.
IFL broadcasts had Bas Rutten segments illustrating the intricacies of certain techniques, which I think helps, and the UFC commentary by Rogan, Couture, and the like helps, but in the end it’s a lot like football – at some point as a fan you’ll learn enough to care about what’s going on at any given time, or you’ll turn the channel in confusion, or you’ll just sit and watch and cheer when it feels appropriate even if you don’t really know what’s going on.
MMA is quite fun to watch. I don’t get what you don’t get? I mean if all you want is stand up fighting there are other formats for that. “Mixed Martial Arts” means just that, mixed styles. Which is why you might get a mix of a grappler mixed with a puncher in a fight (and is sometimes very fun to watch.) I wrestled up until college and I can at least appreciate the takedowns and escapes enough that I can follow along well for that part.
Then again, I’m biased, my best friends brother is an MMA fighter (John Koloski) and when you’ve partied and puked with someone, you tend to get to know someone well enough that you’ll pull for them in a fight. John is an older fighter for MMA but it’s been fun seeing him fight since hey … I actually know the guy.
MMA isn’t for everyone, but if you follow the fighters and pick a favorite or two, it’s very similar to other fighting organizations.
I wasn’t really into the MMA thing until I went to the HDnet Fights in Dallas a few weeks ago and had a blast. The only think I know about ground fighting/grappling is the arm bar but you can really see the technical aspects of the ground fighting if you just pay attention.
My wife and I used to be huge boxing fans, but MMA has won us over entirely - to the point where she’s memorized what time the friday night fights are on, and will watch taped shit when I’m asleep. It’s pretty awesome to be able to talk about triangle chokes with your wife. I highly recommend it.
Here’s a quick break down on how strategies in a fight work. You have three types of fighters in most case: sprawl’n’brawl; ground’n’pound; and submission guys.
Sprawl’n’Brawl basically means you try to keep the fight standing up as much as possible. Chuck Lidell, Keith Jardine, Mirko CroCop, and Jens Pulver are good examples. They “sprawl” to avoid a takedown attempt.
Ground’n’Pound guys try to take the game to the ground but instead of a submission they basically beat the shit out of the other guy by attaining a dominant position and working it hard.
Submission specialists also try to take the game to the ground but instead of pummeling their opponent, they try to get some type of a submission like a choke or joint lock. This is probably the most subtle aspect of the game since a lot of submissions don’t look like they’d hurt (triangle choke, heel hooks).
Clinch fighters are probably another category, guys like Hendo and Couture, although I’d say they’re generally considered SnB but have strong ground skills.
Some guys are good in multiple aspects of the game – Dan Henderson has a wicked right hand to go with his clinch game; Fedor pretty much rocks across the board; BJ Penn has unearthly submission work but also can stand up with the best; GSP is the same, etc. That’s the newer style of fighter that cross trains pretty heavily, but 10 years ago you really didn’t see that.
So the strategy is to maximize your strength and minimize your weaknesses. This means that if you’re SnB, you avoid takedowns at all costs. If you’re GnP (typically wrestlers) then you go for the takedown and avoid the standup fight. If you’re a submission guy, get down on the ground fast and start working submissions.
That’s the high level strategy. At the low level it’s watching how fighters manipulate the match to ensure that their strengths are amplified. There’s also technique – the transitions between the different parts of the ground game in the context of each fighter’s strengths. If someone gets in CroCop’s guard, that’s not nearly the same as someone getting into Rani Yayah’s guard.
Meh, I’ve never liked that term for a sub specialist, since lay’n’pray in submission grappling means “Smother opponent and stall until time runs out”.
BTW, a great, great MMA fight is the Clay Guida vs. Tyson Griffin fight, just saw that on Spike. It had stand up, ground work, subs, everything. Amazing fight.
I’ll just put it down to personal preference, apologize for being a but of a dick in the original post and move on. I just enjoy watching two guys stand up and pummel each other until they can barely stand and still have to get back in the ring and face each other.
Taking boxing lessons for a few months back when I was 13/14 probably also makes me biased.
Think of it like boxing, only the other boxer might roundhouse you in the face, tackle you, and try to break your arm until you give up. In the less regulated days, there were people who would flat out refuse to tap a submission and just let their arms get broken. I’ve seen a fight won by a man with two broken arms. It’s pretty tough to go back to boxing, after that.
I felt the same way till one of my best friends began participating in MMA fights. Once you learn the holds and the moves, the ground parts begin to get intense. Fighters shift from hold to hold trying to get submissions, and it gets interesting. It is just very boring to watch if you don’t know what is going on.
Becoming a fan of any sport is a process of learning why it’s cool.
When I was growing up I used to hate all sports. My family never watched them.
I learned to love NFL football. I learned the rules from playing madden on the PS1 and now I’m a solid fan with a subscripton to NFL sunday ticket and everything.
I’m not into nascar myself but once you learn about catching drift to pass, teams and points and so forth the sport turns into more than cars going in a circle.
I’m sure MMA is the same for someone who isn’t a fan yet, taking some time to learn the rules the moves and the overall strategies would probably go a long way to help you understand what people appreciate about the sport.
Conversely, once you witness some of the other racing out there, say, GT racing, you realize that Nascar really is just cars going in a circle, and holy christ is it boring.
