Sports

Generational mixed martial arts

There have been countless articles and ratings on the history of the sport, you know, since no one ever heard of MMA before the UFC.

Let’s forget that Pancrase held their show before Gracie’s.

Before the UFC, the Gracies had a combined 7,819,952-0 in no-holds-barred fights in the years before the UFC was created.

Let’s not forget either, while the UFC is the big dog sitting on the porch, there were times when they were outmatched by various promotions, the only reason they became the big dog is that the Fertitta brothers had several million to burn before. to have to worry. about profit. I wonder if Pride would not have been run like the California state government if the UFC would be as big as it was. God knows MMA has always been able to get money brands out of woodwork.

With that said, I think we can look back and analyze how MMA has evolved.

So let’s take a look at what I’m going to call generational MMA. As the sport has evolved, you can classify most fighters into 4 eras. I also have an A side, which would be the first of the generation to move forward, and the B side, which would be considered the last of that generation.

First generation:

Alexander the Great to Royce Gracie.

A 1st generation fighter is one who comes into the fight with one of 2 backgrounds: either he is a backyard fighter with an iron chin that is just going to be tough and will hurt you, or he is super skilled in an MMA aspect. , and his skill is better than yours.

Side A would be those like Tank Abbott and the hundreds of guys like him.

Side B would be the Gracie family,

Gracie is just a master at Ju-Ju, and she could beat just about anyone with that.

Dan Severn was a master fighter, and look at that amazing prowess

Look at the punch of those two men in the early days, that’s the definition of a G1 fighter. My karate will KO you, unless you take me down and then I’m done. But if I catch you …

Dinosaur G1.

Matt Hughes.

Hughes could be the greatest of the G1 fighters. Why do I consider it in G1? Explain to me where the hands worked. If he went out and fought today, he’s looking for a takedown or getting scattered. He’s a submission fighter, who just outplayed everyone. Would you work today? Not really. He spent most of his post-GSP career trying to get a knockout and was bombarded. I say this as a fan of Matt Hughes.

Generation 2

Frank Shamrock at TUF 1

Generation 2 is the fighter who started in one discipline and became an expert in another, or simply combining the two styles.

You look at Belfort, he’s not just a striker, he’s almost complete. You look at Randy and he becomes more than just a fighter. I think you can even put Tito in this category. He is a fighter who works in good hands. This generation is more training. In G1 you train mainly in one thing and then you see if your skill can surpass their skill. G2, we have improved a bit, you pass MWF in the wrestling gym, then on Tuesday and Saturday you crossed the city and fought. You have guys who went from Skill to SkillSet.

Dinosaur G2: Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Fedor

Generation 3

2006 to 2012

This is where the line gets a bit more difficult to draw, these are the fighters where they have always fought under the unified rules, almost all of their fights will be on Sherdog’s fight finder, the main difference is that the fighters are trained in MMA, not just wrestling, or Karate or Ju-Ju. When you walk past the school, it’s not Joe’s Wag-Fu School with a banner in front that says we teach UFC.

It’s Jackson MMA or Xtreme Coutire or something like that, you don’t do a single discipline, nor do you care about Gi Training, his fights, all day every day. You have an explosion of money, of promotions or of the quality of the fighters, you have guys who could be in the NFL or the NBA trying MMA, and some even fighting. You leave wrestling as a draw and the wrestler is a draw. Cheats largely disappeared and things became standardized. Mainly. We also have female MMA and people who get title fights and headline fights because of the power of attraction.

Third generation fighters are like Jon Jones or Rory McDonald.

Dinosaur G3: Like birds, they walk among us.

Generation 4

2013 -?

This is the current day, we have a top dog, so we have the NBA MMA, the UFC, and we have the best European leagues where their best guys could compete in Bellator and WSOF. There may be some guys who can beat the UFC title holder, but there is no promotion where their top 5 can win a series against the UFC top 5.

We also have a time when there is money in the business. Not just for the UFC, but you can never fight in the UFC and make a living at Bellator, or even some smaller promotions, maybe not a great life, but you have coaches who don’t have to deliver pizzas to make ends meet. month. .

The sport is also in the newspapers, on all sports channels, in all states, and everyone agrees on the rules. You don’t need to learn one set of rules in Las Vegas and another in Sweden.

Where do we go from here?

Well, I can’t see the formation of a Union, it just isn’t going to happen. I can see a real challenger to the UFC lineup, maybe after Dana retires and WME-IMG puts a suit in the office. Will that put it in a G5? I do not believe it. I’m not sure what gravitational shift will occur that could form a G5. Maybe if someone dies and switches the security line to the other side. Maybe if the UFC has to impose Head Gear and ban low shots, that will make a G5 happen.

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