Quote Originally Posted by VanChilds
I'll be happy to educate them I know what you mean though about uneducated fans....In the MMA forum world they are referred to as TUFers(the ultimate fighter) b/c most of them had never followed MMA till the show. Consequently they are pretty clueless about the history of the sport, Pride and techniques. You see alot of Diego Sanchez could beat Fedor posts from these guys. I've enjoyed seeing the sport grow and become more mainstream, but in return the fanbase has become a lot less educated on the sport. You and I seem to differ on one main philosophy: You see MMA as multiple disciplines (with some cross training) operating under a single sport moniker. I see MMA as its own unique fighting discipline that has evolved from the melding of these multiples styles. You are incorrect in the purpose of UFC's inception. The UFC was originally run and setup by the Gracies to showcase their little known discipline of Brazilian JiuJitsu against other styles to show that BJJ was the superior fighting system. So yes early on the participants were of a single discipline, many were not very good athletes and the fights were pretty sloppy. Furthermore b/c of the sports relative infancy if you watch the smaller orgs or even many of the second tier UFC/Pride fighters you quite often are seeing a sloppy less technical display of the sport. Now through the evolution of the sport most top tier competitors were previously world class athletes are and display quite a bit of technique and ability in their fights. As the sport continues I think you will see a better product more and more.
I understand how you see it as everything coming together, i just feel that with the environment its put in it takes away from the disciplines themselves. I didn't know the gracies put the whole thing together. Every bit of info i've ever looked up on it (maybe i missed that part of it) said it was just set up by somebody and the gracies just happened to join and win the whole thing.

Boxing will always come first to me and i don't really see any great boxers making the change. I mean if you can box (and only box) well you could end up making a couple mil a fight while if your good at other stuff your probably gonna make a very respectable 5-6 digit pay a bout (well beyond what a working class person would make anyways) with an added bonus of less risk of brain damage.

It comes down to money, health, and more importantly what somebody is good at. I'm not expecting someone who has wrestled their whole life to wanna become a pro boxer because that wouldn't make sense but like wise i don't see a boxer wanting to make the switch because there's more stuff he'd have to learn and it'd be a pay cut (for the moment).

If they can train them to a degree where their upright defense is respectable (without sacrificing the defense to other things obviously) and their punching is more refined (i think thats the word i'm looking for) i'd have to own up to it and give it credit for how far it has come, but it is not there yet.