Hi All,
I think you may enjoy this clip as an illustration of what happens when highly trained fighters “kick off”. We can see the chaos and the emotion, and how that chaos and emotion renders many of the skills applied in skilled consensual interchanges obsolete.
You’ll also notice how the only clean punches were applied pre-emptively (i.e Riddick Bowe in number 3).
As I say, I think the clip helps show that many of the skills honed for consensual matches (back and forth footwork, fainting, drawing, etc) are not relevant to reality; even when trained fighters fight each other. It’s the chaos and the high levels of emotional arousal that so radically changes things.
All the best,
Iain
PS Thanks to @dontburnthepig on Twitter for the find!
There's a very important lesson we can draw from these clips.
Watch out for stairs and tables!
That's true enough.
I've never had a fight on a 10 by 10 mat either.
Gary
And big guys leaping off the top of cars on to us!
It does show that the physical enviroment can make a big differance.
Iain
Ali put some smart move on Smokin' Joe - wasn't it something like a creative application of gedan-barai (the initial movement) ?
Many skills of the trained boxers go out of the window or are simply not required.
Just want to point out my idea that certain elements of boxing do relate to SD very handily - think of boxers working in close range, controlling each others limbs while trying to punch close range and/or go into a save clinch. Rocky Marciano comes to mind as well as Hagler.
this clip for example: check 1:10 - 2:15 2:38-3:30 lot's of attemps of limb controlling/limb freeing/body angling at close range.
I am also seeing a lot of "age-uke" including "hikite" used in the clinch (not in the rocky presented here).
To my personal amusement, I am seeing boxers with no background in asian martial arts applying "kata moves" and a bit of chi sao skills...
I know it's a little off-topic but in the clip above it mentions their fight records.
Marciano - 49 fights - no losses - 43 by KO
Ezzard Charles - 119 fights - 93 wins - 52 by KO
or
Archie Moore - 181 wins - 127 by KO
you just don't see fight records like that these days!!!
One of the things that struck me when we started getting involved in the Cage scene was the fact that clean records just don't exist in the way they do in Boxing.
Too many ways to lose?
I think that’s definitely it. The wider range of techniques and methods that can be used makes thing much more unpredictable. This unpredictability and variety makes it a much more enjoyable and exciting spectator sport (in my view), and it also means fighters can get caught by the unexpected / unforeseen more easily.
Another contributing factor will be the lack of a count. In both MMA and boxing the fight ends immediately with a knockout (or submission in the case of MMA). But in boxing if a fighter is knocked down, they have the chance to regain their feet, shake it off and continue. In MMA they will be followed down to the ground and the referee stopping things is very likely; so no chance to recover.
More ways to get caught and less chance to recover if caught are bound to have an effect on records … and make MMA as exciting to watch as it can be.
Note:- It may be the time delay on the footage but Rocky had an uncanny knack of always getting one or two in after the bell signalling the end of the round.
Most combat arts have similarities in techniques, its because we are combating the human form and the attributes we have in common...limbs head and torso
The gloves in boxing also make it easier to lock an opponents arm as opposed to the slimline fingerless gloves in MMA.
Yours in Budo