I was a pretty big boxing fan before Mike Tyson turned into a madman.
His knockout power brought a sense of excitement and unpredictability to the ring.
Manny Pacquiao has brought some luster back to the sport, but there are still so many matches that go on for days. It?s hard to appreciate 12-round wars where it seems like neither guy really gets hurt unless you?re a hardcore fan or a boxer yourself.
That?s the huge advantage mixed martial arts has over boxing and why companies like the UFC and WEC have made it the fastest-growing sport in America.
In an MMA fight, there is no one who is unbeatable. The four-ounce gloves fighters wear are designed more to protect the puncher?s hand, not the jaw of the guy getting punched, so there?s always an exciting knockout waiting just around the corner.
Yep, one day even Anderson Silva will get knocked silly by a straight right or a left hook.
Mixed martial artists are definitely some of the best-conditioned athletes in the world, but boxers are no slouches themselves.
You?ve got to be in great shape to throw punch after punch for 12 rounds. That was never more apparent than during my first couple days of boxing training.
I did manage to keep from making my second trip to the puke bucket, but after a few minutes with boxing trainer Donte ?Tae? Webster, my white ?Italian Stallion? gloves went from weighing 14 ounces to what seemed like a ton.
I?ve only had two days of boxing, so we?ve pretty much just worked on basic punches and movements, but I won?t hesitate to tell you, it wasn?t easy.
I learned the correct way to throw jabs, straight rights, hooks and uppercuts and how to control my footwork, but the real lesson, as it pertains to MMA, came a few days later.
Mixed martial artists don?t throw punches the same way boxers do because they?re thinking about defending against takedowns and scoring some of their own. So a lot of MMA fighters use their hands as more of a way to get closer to their opponent.
That?s exactly what I recently worked on with my jujitsu trainer Jonathon Rowe.
Over and over again, we drilled throwing jabs and going in for a single-leg takedown or doubling up a jab-straight right combination and shooting in for a double-leg slam.
Adding the boxing to the task of physically taking your opponent to the ground is really draining, but it also highlights one of the biggest differences between MMA and any other combat sport.
It?s like chess. You have to be thinking about defending all the different ways the guy across the cage can hurt you while trying to stay a step ahead by planning your next couple of moves in advance.
That?s why you can?t take Mike Tyson or Kevin ?Kimbo Slice? Ferguson and stick them in a cage and expect them to dominate. They might knock one or two guys out, but as soon as someone takes them to the ground, they?re lost and the next thing you know they?re getting choked out.
Boxing is by no means a simplistic sport, but MMA has so many dimensions that if you?re not at least good at all of them, it?s going to be hard to compete; one more reason why mixed martial artists are some of the best trained and most courageous athletes in the world.
