MMA Nation on 106.7 The Fan: Leonard Garcia Talks Chan Sung Jung Rematch, Mayweather vs. Mosley Recap, UFC 113 Preview

I like Bert Sugar because he always wears a fedora and is smoking a Stogie, but really Burt? Shane is the fastest guy Mayweather has fought? Cause I saw Mayweather fight Zab Judah…

about the different priorities held by MMA and Boxing. I’d add that though they are both combat sports, they have very different pedigrees.

Boxing is a sport that comes from, well, largely sport. Even 1800’s bare-knuckled boxers fought for sport or prize money. MMA is a sport that comes from Eastern and Western martial traditions, martial being the operative word; punishment and victory in a much different universe than boxing’s.

Maybe the different value systems we can apply to each is informed by this distinction. I’ll also have to give it more thought…

I think the way some MMA fans criticize boxing can be comparable to the way non MMA fans criticize MMA for its boring ground game. I’m not an expert in boxing, nor was I particularly a huge fan beyond watching the big fights. But I appreciate what you called the small adjustments that make a big difference in the way the fight plays out, and the way a fighter like Mayweather can dominate his opponent without knocking him out. I think it’s all about education. Non MMA fans look at the ground game and see two guys hugging and rolling around on the mat, or the simple brutality of someone choking another person out, etc. When in reality, they are not seeing the chess match playing out before them. They’re not understanding that when a guy like Demian Maia gets the triangle choke, he did so by pulling a bait and switch. They don’t see the little things and they don’t get that the guy on the bottom isn’t necessarily losing, but thinking two or three moves ahead; that the guy on top has lost the match and he just doesn’t know it yet.

I don’t know. That probably didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It’s tough to articulate. But it was another quality show last Sunday. Sundays are boring, so it’s nice to have something to look forward to.

The way you spoke of how articulate it is to perfect a single skill set like striking brings warm fuzzies to this amateur boxer’s heart :)

As you nicely put it in your video Luke; the biggest difference is that with boxing, you can only punch [2 limbs]. Whereas in MMA you have an arsenal of weapons – fists, elbows, knees and feet to strike with. Not forgetting the submissions, grappling, wrestling, bjj etc.

I’m a fan of combat sports, so I appreciate boxing for what it is. I like to use the analogy of a factory with an assembly line method manufacturing. In assembly line you have one person who focus on doing one particular task only. They become very proficient at that task because it is what they do day in and day out. They in effect become experts at that task. Similar to boxers, they are excellent practitioners with the use of their fists, head movements and so on b/c that is what they do[use their fists]. With the amount of repetition boxers go through in training it is no sunrise they are the masters of hand combat.

However, MMA is multi discipline combat sport. You said it perfectly, there are just so many ways your opponent can beat you. Boxers on the other hand have to only worry about being punched. With both boxers knowing that, they have to use a combination of speed skill and strategy to be able to effectively land a punches because their opponent can safely anticipate only being hit with a fist.

I think that is what makes boxing entertaining. The windows of opportunity can be so slight, that small ‘adjustment’ can be the difference in one fighter landing his punch effectively or not.

I personally don’t think MMA fighters have bad defence, I just think it is a lot more difficult to anticipate what your opponent will throw at you; will it be a kick, punch, elbow or knee? You can position yourself effectively to block punches but you will leave yourself wide open for take downs or leg kicks. You just can’t defend yourself the same way a boxer can. Boxers can simply raise both their gloves and park their head behind and effectively protect themselves from being punched in the head. Just like Clottey did for 12 rounds vs Pac Man. I don’t think an MMA fighter could effectively defend himself through an entire fight in a similar way.

I think MMA fighting is still evolving, who know what fights will look like 2-3 years from now. But those who judge Boxing and MMA using the same system are missing the nature of both combat forms.

I really did like the point that you have to judge different sports by their own criteria – they’re usually so different, it’s not fair to have that cross-over. You can’t really compare football players to baseball players in a meaningful way since they’re such qualitatively different sports. I think despite the differences, though, it is possible to compare boxing & MMA reasonably well because they are both combat sports with similar objectives. It’s like comparing American football to rugby.

Personally, I would want to know boxing for self-defense – you are too vulnerable on the ground, and requires less range to punch than kick. However, if you were to put the MMA fighter against the boxer using as many different rule-sets for combat sports as possible, I think the boxer would lose almost every one. They do one thing extremely well. It’s like being the greatest slam-dunker in the NBA, but that’s it.

Thanks also for posting links. Work firewalls make it a pain to access radio station sites and ITunes, so I really appreciate that extra effort you put in.

When I’m rich and famous, I’ll give you a shout out during my acceptance speech.

In my mind, the difference between those who appreciate boxing and MMA is a difference in your understanding of what a fight is. Boxing fans see all the things that you or I might like about MMA as unsavory at best (attacking somebody that’s fallen on the ground?!?) and inhumane at worst (breaking an arm!).

Meanwhile, boxing is so limited to me that all I see is face-punching. (“You gonna watch the face-punching tonight?” “Nah, I’d rather watch a fight.”)

And I’m not trying to say that one perspective is more right than another, but all of the fights I’ve been in looked a lot more like MMA than boxing (at least until I start crying). :-)

other than those unfortunate gladiator commercials, i didn’t see much (and i watch ALOT of crappy tv). then again, i don’t have hbo, so that might be the difference.

and holy hell… a five hundred dollar cable bill? surely that must include your internet service as well?

After hearing you mention it in the video,I went and peeped Souwer vs Kyshenko.WOW!!That’s one of the most exciting fights I’ve ever seen,be it boxing,kickboxing or MMA.Thanks bud!

you have an interesting point. do you think it’s legitimate to rate mma fighters on “finishing ability?” I always thought that was kind of lazy. I think boxing fans appreciate the finer aspects of their sport more because it’s easier to learn a lot about one thing than learning a lot about a lot of things. (i’m so eloquent, i know). i dont know a lot of mma fans who can appreciate boxing, muay thai, karate, wrestling, judo, and jiujitsu at a high level.

From personal training I’m fairly educated about whats going on jiujitsu-wise and i have an ok but not expert understanding of standup, but I know very little about wrestling and almost nothing about judo. The first two, I can rate people by their positioning, speed, precision but the second two I can only really guess how good someone it by how often they can takedown/throw people, since I don’t know what else to look for. So I think looking at finishing ability isnt the greatest way to rate someone but I suppose at some level it’s the best we can do.