The problem with MMA
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The UFC was originally founded as an organization that would pin competitors of multiple styles together to compete and see what martial art is best. (Or it was a money-laundering scheme lol)What we learned was that some martial arts are better than others. Those being Jui-Jitsu, Boxing, Muay Thai, and wrestling. Fast forward nearly 30 years and we are far more advanced than one could imagine. That being said the current form of MMA has been removed so far from the days of multiple styles that one martial art that is mixed martial arts has arrived. A Hodge podge style of all disciplines done poorly. With some fighters having particular affinities for certain styles the fact remains that as a whole most professional fighters all fight the same way… Poorly. In this article, I will hope to bring attention to a few characteristics of one fan-favorite fighter and point out how they diminish in ability by “mixing the martial arts” to the point of the current meta.
Dustin Poirier is 33 years old and as of this article is currently #7 on the pfp rankings for the ufc. Dustin has made a career of always having banger fights and leaving fans salivating for more violence. Whether he is getting hit or hitting his opponents there is always fireworks. However, as a person with a boxing background, I was always taught 1 thing. Hit your opponent and don’t let them hit you. Dustin seems to not take this into account having only the ability to scrap and rely on toughness in every single fight. Including fights where he is far more skilled and should be putting on technical masterclasses (Dan Hooker). I pick Dustin as an example not simply to poke fun but to enlighten you the audience about what he could have been. Dustin has a lot of natural gifts. Number one the dude hits hard. Like REALLY hard. Power is something that cannot be taught and barely trained & that is not an issue for Dustin. He’s also a naturally right-handed fighter who fights southpaw. This will become important later on. His biggest attribute undoubtedly however is his toughness. Many a time has he eaten shots that would fall lesser men that he simply walks through. So why does all of this natural ability end up with a fighter who has never been champion and lost to Michael Johnson? The answer falls solely on the few inches between his ears. Dustin is a notorious head hunter. Most fan favorites are. This is the biggest issue with striking today. 30% of the body of your opponent is totally disregarded. When there is an opportunity to touch the body you should. Especially with how poor boxing defense is as a whole. Speaking of poor boxing defense I would like to show a couple examples of Dustin displaying either fantastic creative defense or simply none at all.
“Dustin utilizes his Crab shell defense creating a much tighter guard specifically for straight punches which is why Max famously said in this fight “He’s blocking weird”. Max does, however, land to the body which is completely open.”
The other issue in Dustin’s game is his constant and consistent use of good techniques. The shift is a technique that is developed more in the modern game. A fighter starts in one stance and switches to the other while moving forward to travel a far distance and create openings. This is something Dustin uses to the point of abuse. With most MMA fighters moving directly backward in a straight line to evade damage (Think Valentina) utilizing the shift allows you to keep pace with a retreating opponent or elongate combos in the way Max Hollway does. However, a trick is only a trick if you don’t know it’s coming. If it’s not broken don’t fix it is a classic saying for everyday life but I don’t know if it translates to fighting. If you are constantly utilizing a forward-moving technique and it’s not landing (Like it didn’t in the Dan Hooker fight) you’re going to use a lot of energy and you will use it fast. In fact, I encourage you the audience to try the shift. Start in a conventional stance, Pop-out a jab and when you pull your lead arm back march your rear leg in front of your left leg and whip a left overhand. Now do that 5 more times in a 5-minute stretch while shadowboxing and tell me how gassed you get. This is a problem that can compound his other issues. His defense is a second thought and it becomes ever more of that when he gets tired which Dustin does ALOT. In most fights, he puts up a furious pace but does not have either the natural cardio or the ability to diminish his opponent’s cardio due to being a head hunter. See what I mean? However, like all great fighters, Dustin is great in spite of himself not because of himself. You’re probably asking me what I would do to Dustin’s game or for that matter the vast majority of the UFC. That answer is so simple it’s crazy. I would force all of the roster to join a boxing gym and work on a proper guard (With small gloves) and head movement & bodywork. That’s it. If Dustin would focus more on working his opponent’s body and not eating shots on his head he truly would knockout everyone at 155. As you could imagine watching fighters with tremendous ability and potential throw it away to have “fun” fights is extremely frustrating. My hope is that as the sport evolves we don’t throw away everything that makes certain disciplines important for the sake of having coaches like Din Thomas have jobs where they scream generalities at professional athletes during world championship fights. Sorry, Tyron Woodley 🙁
Authors note:
I hope you got something out of this article.
I really wrote it as a way to release frustration watching good fighters make day 1 mistakes.
Hopefully you learned a thing or two about a thing or two.
Your’s Truly
-Smoke
