I doubt that Anderson Silva has the boxing skills of anything near a Prince Badi Ajamu or an old Tito Trinidad or Omar Sheika. I think MMA guys can hang in K-1 because it allows for the use of more varied weapons. But boxing is completely footwork, defense and punching and the guys that do this at a high level are not going to be tested by guys who are just making their entrance into the game. K-1 you’re able to mix various ranges, punches, kicks…etc. Boxing you’re standing with subtle defensive maneuvers and punching.

Jones was able to go 12 rounds with Joe Calzaghe this past year and even dropped him with a punch early on. He obviously was dominated for the rest of the fight, but I don’t see any way that Anderson Silva can win a boxing match with the guy.

The K-1 myth is busted. Boxing is just a different situation

Well they are highly talented athletes so of course they could transfer to a similar sport fairly well.

Also, MMA strikers tend to get a bad rap because they have to worry about all sorts of things that K-1 guys don’t have to worry about. For instance, all those kick dumps Overeem were doing to Bonjanksy would have been HUGE in an MMA match, but were just an annoyance in a K-1 match. Not having to worry about takedowns at all, or even slipping, has got to help make a fighters standup look a lot better.

One of the issues I have with K-1 is that their weight classes are a bit… open ended. A guy the size of Overeem or Semy shouldn’t be getting in the ring with guys like Hari and Bonjansky. SO I think Overeems performance is a bit better than it would seem. He was fighting guys who could easily make LHW in the UFC when he’s at 240 pounds or so.

Overeem got jobbed out of a fourth round.

Quinton Jackson-Cyril Abidi should remind us that this post is probably seven years late…

I think most of the K-1 MAX guys would wreck their MMA counterparts. I think K-1 still has the upper hand in most matches. But I definitely won’t count out any MMA fighter who fights in K-1.

Some K-1 wins over MMA fighters:

Buakaw KO’d Kultar Gill
Ernesto Hoost TKO’d Igor Vovchanchyn
Masato beat JZ Calvancanti and Kid Yamamoto
Kaoklai KO’d Denis Kang
Mike Zambidis KO’d Kid Yamamoto
Ray Sefo KO’d Marvin Eastman
Remy Bonjasky KO’d Vernon White

How bout full muay-thai rules? Yodsanklai vs. BJ Penn? Please.

K-1 myth is broken, but I blame it mostly on the fact that K-1 level strikers aren’t accustomed to clinch-type of boxing in the K-1 ring.

It’s easily noticeable over the last few MMA vs. K-1 matchups that getting inside is the doom of all K-1 strikers. Why is this? Because in most K-1 matchups, these guys aren’t moving to the inside or trying to get in clinching distance. They are trying to strategically stand toe-to-toe and out “chess” their opponents with fists. It’s like the honor code at times in K-1. We won’t bully each other in the ropes and dirty box… no no… we’ll give each other the distance and make this a war.

Overeem had the perfect gameplan, as did Mousasi and Kawajiri. Make it a brawl, make it a scramble, and get inside.

Boxing would be much different because… they already do this.

Oh, and Anderson Silva would absolutely massacre at K-1

Anderson’s accuracy and speed would serve him well but he’ll be up against bigger guys and wouldn’t be able to use consecutive knees in the clinch. I don’t think he would do as well as you think he would.

While I agree that Rome is correct to state that things cannot be viewed as cut and dry as they once were, I think a couple important factors are being overlooked.
First, I believe that as you go down in weight, you would see that the difference in skill between a high level boxer or K1 fighter vs a high level MMA striker would increase.
The level of precision and skill at the lower weight classes is significant.
At the higher weight classes, power can make up for a lack of skill, this is equally true for a boxer, K1 fighter of MMA fighter.

Second the difference between boxing and MMA is much greater than the difference between K1 and MMA. Many aspects of K1 transfer over to the standup game in MMA as both disciplines are largely based on Muay Thai.
A boxing stance is totally different than anything used in MMA.

Sorry Rome, but you don’t appear to have learned anything from when you made this proclaimation last time. Writing off the usual points made by K-1 fans doesn’t make your analysis any less precocious or incomplete.

The fact is, Overeem IS one of the elite strikers in MMA in terms of skills, and he has been for years. Losing on the ground to Arona, Rogerio and Shogun (twice) has no bearing on that. He isn’t a traditional technical kickboxer, but he has an incredible array of attacks and the athleticism to mix them up in creative ways.

As I predicted, Overeem gave Bonjasky some trouble due to his ability to press inside and rough him up with short knees and punches. But even if you accept that Overeem was dictating the pace and score the 2nd round 10-8 for him, it would still have been a draw and gone to an extension round. And given Remy’s total lack of aerial attacks, I tend to believe his explanation of a pre-fight knee injury.

Even if Overeem had beaten a well-rested Hari and gone even with an injury-free Bonjasky, his performance in two fights cannot be extrapolated into some larger trend when it comes to “MMA strikers”. The idea that K-1 fighters being superior strikers to MMA fighters has been proven as a “myth” based on a couple of fighters winning a couple of matches is silly and adversarial. No “MMA striker” has ever had consistent success in K-1, or come close to winning a tournament. In MAX, several “good MMA strikers” have competed and been handled quite easily. If Kenny Florian or Diego Sanchez were invited to MAX, I am quite confident they would be embarrassed in brutal fashion.

To sum it up, there are a very small amount of elite MMA fighters who might be able to look competitive in K-1 (Overeem, Mousasi, Lyoto, Anderson come to mind), but your theory is totally wrong and you should probably watch more K-1 before you jump to conclusions (again).