Are Mixed Martial Artists Better Fighters Than Boxers?
When UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture choked out decorated boxer James Toney in just over three minutes at UFC 118, it answered the question “Are mixed martial artists better fighters than boxers,” right? Wrong.
What we saw at UFC 118 is what happens when one person invades another sport, without training properly. It’s the equivalent of LeBron James all of a sudden picking up a baseball bat in the MLB playoffs with CC Sabathia on the mound. Chances are, LeBron will strike out and a home run is about as likely as George W. Bush admitting he was an awful president. The fight settled nothing other than shutting the big mouth of an older, overweight fighter who had a bright idea.
It wasn’t UFC President Dana White‘s bright idea. For nearly a year, White told Toney “No” as the former three-division champion literally chased White across the states looking to get a fight in the UFC. White has always respected the skills of a boxer, but he also knew MMA is far different than boxing. It’s like the differences between basketball and football—both sports have a ball, and that’s where the similarities end. The fact that MMA fighters use kicks alone gives them a distinct advantage over a boxer. Boxers are trained to focus on the fists, never do they have to worry about someone kicking them in the thigh. They don’t have to worry about being choked out, be trapped in a kimura or being pounded on after someone tackles them. It doesn’t make an MMA fighter “better” per se, it just proves that an outsider can’t come in and take over their sport.
If Randy Couture stepped into a boxing ring with James Toney, we can almost guarantee that “Lights Out” would have turned out Couture’s lights in roughly the same amount of time. The fact of the matter is all sports should be respected. Barry Bonds can’t pick up a golf club and become Tiger Woods. Drew Brees can’t beat Kobe Bryant in a one-on-one game of basketball. It’s really that simple. People who are trying to find out which game reigns supreme are grabbing for straws if they feel the freak show that was Couture Vs. Toney proved anything. It was a cool experiment, but that’s all it was.
It does prove that when an MMA fighter and a boxer meet and they are allowed to use everything in their arsenal, the MMA fighter will always win becuase this becomes essentially an MMA fight. It is just the nature of their domains. A boxer is the best at boxing and will no doubt always win in a boxing match. When he steps into the arena to fight an MMA fight, there is nothing stopping the boxer from using all his skills. However, due to the nature of an MMA fighter, he has the tools to neutralize that one skill the boxer has. The boxer, being a boxer, cannot neutralize the MMA fighter. Once a boxer employs TD defense, kicks, and grappling – he is no longer a boxer but an MMA fighter. Boxing is a martial art and but one component of the MMA fighters arsenal.
Try playing a game of rock-paper-scissors with just scissors. You will always be beaten by a guy with a complete set of tools.
[...] Are Mixed Martial Artists Better Fighters Than Boxers? | DrJays … [...]
1. This doesn’t prove jack about real fighting. It’s not real fighting because it has rules and people train in a way that it manipulates the rules leaving you open in a real fight. So the advantage goes to whoever can adapt in a real life fight not boxing or mma. Trust me it’s a different thing when you fight in a bar or street etc.
2. I love how mma fanbois etc see this and other overkill matches as fair. His first fight in the ufc they put him against randy cotoure… Seriously?!?! Let’s be real Boxing wouldn’t do that to mma fighters and neither would kickboxing wwe etc. And UFC doesn’t do that to mma fighters coming in. The right thing would’ve been to put him in with people that have the same amount of experience.
3. I got to disagree with kongquror. MMA fighters don’t actually do boxing. There’s throwing punches and there’s boxing. They may know how to do some combos from boxing. But get hit by a boxer and get hit by an mma guy. Your going to feel the boxers punch alot more. I really think you should take boxing before you talk. Cause there is ways a boxer can take out an mma person. And I’ve known boxers to get out of brawls unscathed.
[...] Are Mixed Martial Artists Better Fighters Than Boxers? | DrJays … [...]
Of course MMA practitioners are better fighters than boxers. MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts. Boxing is included in that. Any and all forms of martial arts are included. Check out the Fight Science documentary where MMA fighters stats are measured. More standing punching power than heavyweight boxers, more kicking power than world class kickboxers, Elbows and knees with 2x the power of the heaviest boxing punches, ground and pound equivalent to 3x the power of the heaviest boxing punches. Bar Fight? No question the MMA fighter is more lethal. It’s pretty simple. How do combat units around the world train? You guessed it — MMA (def not boxing alone unless they want their soldiers to die in hand to hand combat)
@ Rick Lexington
1. There have been many cases where mma fighters have gotten in street fights. I have never heard of the mma fighter losing to a street fighter. MMA fighters know how to pick up bottles and gouge eyes too. Some of the guys at my gym have gotten in street fights and its always complete domination. Look at Roger Huerta. People do not understand that its more than just knowing the techniques, if you do not know them you do not know how to defend them. Lets just say it was a street fight and there were no rules in the couture/toney fight. The only difference would have been that the ref wouldn’t be there to save james toney and he would have passed out from the choke. There was no rule in effect that prevented toney from landing any offense/defense whatsoever.
2. First of all no one was saying this was a fair fight. Most MMA fighters saw this as UNFAIR and predicted couture would dominate james toney. James BEGGED for this fight and originally wanted brock lesnar. Dana White told james “No” for a year before finally giving in and giving tony one of the people he specifically asked for. James said he refuses to fight anyone but the top mma guys.
3. Yes most mma guys do boxing. We train boxing with boxers, wrestling with wrestlers, kick boxing with kick boxers, jiu jitsu with jiu jitsu guys. Then seperately we combine them all into mma training on top of this iscolated training.
The article asked if mixed martial artists are better fighters than boxers, and then went on the talk about both MMA and boxing as sports – not fighting.
[...] Are Mixed Martial Artists Better Fighters Than Boxers? | DrJays … [...]
You are an idiot in every way possible. Bush was a great president and never would have fucked up as bad as Obama. Maybe you should study boxing more so that you might have half an idea what your talking about. Not that your your close minded moronic brain could possibly learn anything new. Next time shut your mouth.