Often we see fans, myself included, and experts complain about the lack of elite skills in MMA. This is fresh in my mind after watching the HDNet special "The Voice vs Joe Rogan", they talked about how we don't have high level striking in MMA like exists in K1 or real high level BJJ short of Maia.

I started to think about why this is and if it's a valid complaint and/or criticism. The more I consider the "problem" the more I don't think its a problem at all. In fact, I would argue that it makes little sense that MMA fighters would have truly world class skills in any one area. To be elite you have to dedicate yourself to a particular skill set, regardless of what that skill set is. To be a top shelf MMA fighter you can not spend that sort of time on one skill or you will be so one dimensional that defeat is certain eventually.

Occasionally there are some limited exceptions to the rule, CroCop, Overeem, Maia, Jacare, Arona, Lesnar, Koscheck. However we see time and time again as these athletes attempt to round out their games they lose some of the luster they had polished on the best art they possessed. You simply can't keep being the best at one aspect if you diversify and these athletes know, just like most of us know, that if you don't round yourself out you will no longer be able to compete at a high level in MMA.

Understanding this, I think we should lay off the rhetoric about MMA fighters not being world class at a particular area. Let us stop complaining that they couldn't hang with Badr Hari, tap Xande, or win Olympic Gold. Of course they couldn't and I wouldn't want it any other way.