Striking Vs Grappling UFC Whats your preference???

[mickroch]

;DI was watchin old re-runs of the UFC and the majority of the fights I saw this particular night where grappling based scraps. I was bored to tears watching it and the spectators at the fight where actually booing cause they felt there was nothing happening.
Now I have done some grappling myself and found it a very skillfull martial art and encompassed strenght, speed and agility. I could appreciate that the fighters had all these qualities and train as hard if not harder than the fighters who where mainly strike based.
What does anyone else think? Is there a danger that the the UFC will bring in rules limiting the amount of time on the canvass grappling? What do you prefer to watch?? (ROB this is no excuse to choke me out the next time we scrapping)

[philliptwyford]

Hey there Mick,

I come from a Karate background which was all stand up but then I saw Royce Gracie in the UFC and I was intrigued. When I started with Rob and Martial Arts Inc 5 years ago I managed to get into grappling to such an extent that I tend to now just work on MMA training. I think from a spectacle point of view two guys striking the hell out of each other looks the biz for the audience but for people who have trained in grappling I think they appreciate and try to read what the two guys are trying to apply in the form of a lock or escape. Someone like George St Pierre has managed to combine stand up with grappling so well.

I do think the UFC has become more watered down in order to comply with the state commission regulations but I would love to see again when you could have a Tim Silvia vs Anderson Silva just to see how a smaller man deals with a monster.

Good thread Mick

Thanks
Phillip

[dkidd]

Stay on your feet as long as you can kick punch knee elbow headbutt bite but when you're down dislocate his shoulder with a kimura or choke him out so thre's the answer you've gotta be able to handle it all. From a real life self-defence situation point of view it makes no sense to go straight to grappling as concrete is not a suitable shoot take down environment and hey have you taken a look at the streets of Dublin recently? Gracie Jujutsu was perfect for their environment on the beaches of Rio.

[Deleted]

Grappling is a difficult skill alright, and just as physically demanding as striking, but I'd have to hold striking as a preference. It's far easier to win a fight being a good striker than a good grappler. Declan's right, in MMA you do need both, and the last UFC event is a great example of both.

Rich Franklyn (strike- based fighter) beat Travis Lutter(Ju Jitsu based) by srtriking. He needed some decent ground work and defence, but it was the strikes on his feet that won the fight for Franklyn.

George Saint Pierre (all rounder) Beat Matt Serra (ju Jitsu, but with brawl-style punches) to a pulp with ground and pound technique. His takedowns were fantastic, and he needed to hold good grappling position on top, but his strikes annihilated Serra, whose ground defence, normally top class, was useless.

Both times top class strikers who also had some grappling skills beat top class grapplers who also had striking skills. Even when there are submissions, a lot of the time strikes need to be used to create the gap for them.

Another thing that seems to be happening is that strikers are learning to get very good at grappling (GSP- One of the best wrestlers around. Also Anderson Silva), but the grapplers'stand up game seems to be below par.