Quote Originally Posted by VanChilds
Quote Originally Posted by Heavy D
What I dont get is that in every single MMA vs boxer argument, nobody ever seems to take into account that it IS possible for a boxer to learn other aspects of martial arts. I'd consider myself more a boxer than anything else, but that doesn't mean I can't roll a little bit.

And for the argument that "nobody would try to box with a boxer"...very few people tried to roll with a Gracie, or trade kicks with Mirko. That's why fighters win. You MAKE them fight your fight. Tyson wouldn't try to out grapple Royce, and Royce wouldn't try to outbox Tyson. It would boil down to who is able to make the fight stay where they want it. When Royce couldn't get the fights where he wanted, he lost. In all honesty, it didn't take the mixed martial arts world terribly long to learn to counter BJJ. Then they learned to counter wrestling. Now, they have to learn to counter a striker who WON'T go to the ground.

Tyson would NEVER come into MMA and refuse to learn the other aspects....to do so would be suicide. But if he can learn to sprawl and clinch and defend subs, he has some of the greatest striking ability the world has ever seen. Imagine a Chuck Liddell who can actually box...Tyson, if he put the work into it, could have been potentially the most devestating force the fighting world had ever seen.
Heavy, typically this argument comes out of someone suggesting that a boxer could simpyl get into an MMA ring and win. The topic wasn't if Tyson had spent an extended period of time cross training in multiple disciplines how would he fair against Mirko. Yall can go on and on about Tyson if you want. I personally think he is the most overrated fighter ever. But thats another topic. Its not entirely correct to say no one attempted to role with Gracie. He was defeated in Pride by Yoshida(ruled a draw but anyone who saw it knows the truth) and Hughes in UFC. The fights were almost all on the ground. Hunt defeated Mirko in Pride in a slugfest. Matt Hughes might have lost to GSP in their rematch anyway but he'd of lasted longer if he hadn't tried to trade punches. The point is fighters even great ones attempt to go against their bettter judgement all the time. Although it didn't take MMA terribly long to learn to counter BJJ fighters everyone in MMA spends a considerable amount of time learning it. You can't be successful w/o a general level. The whole argument about "what if chuck could box" is crap. Once again the boxing skill set and techniques do not directly correlate to MMA striking. Chuck is an extremely accurate and devastating puncher and seems to be doing pretty well with his style. His striking doesn't look like boxing, b/c id ISN'T and it shouldn't be. A boxer would have to make some basic changes in technique in a MMA ring. So sure a top level boxer with good amount of time cross training would be successful in MMA. But he wouldn't really be just a boxer anymore would he?
CC...that ties in with what i said above.