UFC 131: The Boxing Behind Sam Stout's Knockout of Yves Edwards

I’ll take it a look at it. Thanks!

I can agree here.

He tries to emulate a prime RJJ and is pretty good at it too.

Yeah. My God, when I think of all the world class pro boxers with tons of amateur experience who STILL cling to their bad habits, even with top trainers and sparring, it’s no surprise there is basically no crossover from MMA. Even in the middle rungs of boxing, a single mistake can cost you your consciousness.

It’s not just a matter of a simple adjustment here or there. It’s a massive shift in worldview. I do think there are a few MMA stars would do well at the “Toughman” or club level of competition, but climbing into a ring with a seasoned boxer is another world altogether… and most of them would be starting quite late compared to their competition.

That’s not meant as a putdown on MMA, which has it’s own unique set of skills and tactics. But these are sports that exist on two different planets… it’s not just a matter of slight adjustments, from what I can see.

so hard to change those habits – even for an elite boxer who has been told of his bad habits again and again. Those instincts aren’t easily changed.

I can see how bad habits can be a major problem, as it happens in MMA as well carried on from their previous sports. it’s a good thing that there aren’t many crossovers from mma into boxing :p

somehow that got posted while I was typing, my bad. I was saying I don’t see a reason to point out ‘bad boxing’ in mma , since it’s two completely different sports. In this article, Scott makes it clear the need for the different stance, but it’s still irrelevant to boxing since it isn’t boxing, so saying this wouldn’t last very long in a boxing match is a moot point, just like many boxers wouldn’t last with their stance in an mma match either, but neither community should point out the other sides’ flaws as it’s irrelevant to their own sport.

Several All-American wrestlers have had great success in MMA. I’d like to see what happens when a similarly situated young boxer does the same thing. Would he have to make adjustments and learn new skills? – Absolutely, just like any other discipline. But that one honed skill-set can be a true weapon in MMA, when the other skills are developed to a competent level. We haven’t seen a “weapon” boxer compete in MMA. We’ve seen “weapon” Jits, wrestling, kick-boxing, MT.

I really don’t think boxing fans appreciate just how radically different MMA striking is from boxing

I kinda think we do. I think that was pretty much the point of Scott’s post. But maybe there is a certain bias at play.

There’s a problem in the direction, too. I sometimes feel like MMA fans don’t really appreciate how much harder boxing is to really compete and be great at, or the kind of lifelong dedication it takes to master it. The Queensberry rules are very old and knife-sharp, and the best boxers usually find ways to bend them. For instance, someone above talked about Floyd Mayweather and elbows, and I immediately thought: “Floyd Mayweather has a very educated elbow.” Bernard Hopkins could teach a master class on the 52 blocks. The best boxers are not “inferior MMA guys” who are unaware that other weapons exist. The rules simply constrain their use.

I was trying to point out the differences between boxing and MMA in terms of the punching motion. I chose Donaire because he is an excellent technical boxer and his situation was somewhat similar to the Stout KO. One of the takeaway points was that Donaire had a compact motion and Stout had a loopy/wider motion. It wasn’t cause Stout is a shitty boxer( although he isn’t the greatest), he had to cover a much bigger distance (also evident from the overhead view, I love the overhead view). I’m guessing that committing the shoulder and hips in MMA to a punch would leave a striker quite vulnerable to a takedown if he happened to miss (mostly a guess since I don’t really follow MMA too closely), which would greatly discourage the teaching/use of this ‘boxing’ technique.

Luke I think you are spot on that if there is going to be a decent young boxer that crosses over to MMA, they will need to control distance quite effectively (to have a good young boxer who controls distance well then cross over to MMA seems to be asking a great deal of one person). Finding this unique combo will be hard and the young fighter would need to be extremely motivated and naturally athletic, which only further strengthens the point of how rare a good crossover would be.

a healthy Sylvia will take out Mercer 9 times out of 10.

Not so sure about that. Granted, Mercer was almost 50 years old when he fought Sylvia, but no one had to tell me that Ray had a better right hook, or that, if he landed it, it would be lights out. I didn’t think of it as an upset at all… I was just sort of upset that the fight had been made to begin with.

Again, not trying to pick a fight over this. I’ve made my peace with the “two different sports” thing. I just have a different perspective about these proposed crossovers. I think that they will result in a lot of short fights with mixed results.

One thing I DO worry about is that pro boxers like Ray who are “over the rainbow” will start looking at that sport as a boxing pension, and will try to engage it more. It scared me to death when I heard that Riddick Bowe, who really shouldn’t think about ever being hit again by anything sturdier than a Nerf football – was considering an MMA career. Yeah, some of these old guys can still end it quick, but if they don’t, they are in serious health trouble.