hey guys, long time lurker first time poster. with that said, i'd like to discuss something that i think is holding mma back.

i think this is an important topic because a lot of people are getting the idea that your MMA athlete is a jack of all trades, and outside of his main specialty, is using a bastardized form of the other martial arts.

you get this a lot from the boxing guys the most it seems.

1) stance - i think this is pretty self explanatory. no, you're not gonna see the most traditional stance and why should you? judging distances is totally different now that you've got things like the take down to worry about or the clinch, and you can't just put weight on your front leg or you'll be leg kicked to death. just look how drastically different things are when you just have kicking involved minus all the other elements

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVi9LdfHkBA

2) gloves - if you look at the punching output between the two sports you'd be amazed at the disparity. boxing matches regularly feature HUNDREDS of punches thrown, while MMA might just have dozens. wearing the baby gloves make flash knockouts much more common, and so things are much more STRATEGIC.

3) Ring movement - someone tell me where you'll EVER find a boxing match this dynamic where the whole ring is utilized like in first GOMI vs AZEREDO fight. the thing was so back and forth and sublime at the same time. it was FORM and CHAOS.

here's just a short clip, can't find the whole fight

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1q...mi-vs-chute-bo

that's all for now.