Thread: does MMA potentially have the largest/most elite talent pool to choose from?

With the way things are going in terms of growth of the sport, will all the big names from the respective combat sports see MMA as the pinnacle of their sporting career?

Right now that seems to be reserved for the Olympics and the various championships, but let's examine this for a moment. I remember reading a while ago that a lot of amateur wrestlers see MMA as a viable career option after college wrestling, and let's not forget all the Japanese fighters who have been champions in Judo or Boxing who have recently made the switch.

If you really look at it, all your really successful fighters are not a 'jack of all trades' kind of fighter, but rather champions in their primary discipline. There's Fedor as a sambo champion, Randy Couture being an olympic medalist wrestler, Big Nog as one of the best BJJ guys, and of course Cro cop being one of the best from K-1. So far the only hold outs are boxers and a large portion of K-1 fighters, but as boxing is fading and MMA purses are rising, who knows what will happen.

As long as MMA has a strong tagline, like "the best fighters in the world period" then I think any fighter who wants lasting and ultimate recognition will do it.

It would be amazing if somehow K-1 kickboxing, ADCC, boxing, and wrestling all became feeder organizations for MMA.

Imagine match ups like:

GOMI vs BUAKAW



Jerome LeBANNER vs ARLOVSKI

RULON GARDNER vs FEDOR

[img width=508 height=700]http://i6.tinypic.com/23hn72p.jpg[/img]

IGNASHOV vs KLITSCHKO



etc.

will this be our future?

bizzump

Yes and no. We are light years away from MMA purses being close to the top boxing paydays. On top of that there is a huge drop off in talent between the top tier MMA fighters and the rest. Once the sport is more mainstream meaning its fighters have years of
training top to bottom I tink we will see it being the pinnacle of combat sports minus boxing. I've already seen many traditional martial arts studios adding some sort of MMA/crosstraining as well as an explosion of MMA gyms. The dividends won't be seen from this for some time though. Dana really needs to do more and more international shows. I've mentioned doing a weight class GP like Prides. Prelims in Russia, Quarters in Brazil, Semis in Japan and put the finals in NY. UFC is great but it needs to be an international org not just a North American. As far as boxers though until we start seeing 5-10 mill for the best MMA fighters boxers will talk alot but won't risk their ego's in the octagon.