Whats the next curve ball?

The Bored One

Hey folks, just a little thought exercise. MMA is pretty much an ever evolving sport, and as time passes we're probably going to see alot more changing and refining of it. Some changes may be that new strategies become popular, techniques or styles that people were skeptical of prove effective, parts of the game that have gone neglected make a resurgence or even changes in rules or judging criteria that fighters will need to adapt to.
What do you wonderful folks think the next likely examples of these could be?
I'm looking for stuff that people think may be in the works at the moment, things you may have seen examples of etc,
So rather than changes you'd like to see, its changes we're likely to see.

cowzerp

The basic best stuff for mma will stay the same, Wrestlng-BJJ-Boxing-Muay thai and occasionally you will get a special fighter who can make use of other skills-were in the start of a true complete mma era where fighters are not boxers, bjj players but true mma fighters

What your describing has already happened in my opinion.

fightireland

I agree with Paul - I believe there are less unknown then there was say five years ago. I can't see anybody shocking the world by punching like a cricket bowler and have everyone adapt to that style.

The best answer I have heard on this comes from Dana to be honest; when he (roughly) said "the paradigm is shifting now the super athletes that would have gone on to play basketball or football (NFL) are taking up MMA as their chosen sport"

A very intuitive statement in my opinion....

The Bored One

Oh I know the main form of MMA fairly defined at this point. What I'm more curious about is the minor refinements that you think might occur?

fightireland

The Bored One wrote: »

Oh I know the main form of MMA fairly defined at this point. What I'm more curious about is the minor refinements that you think might occur?

Are you referring to fireballs?

:):)

pablohoney87

The Bored One wrote: »

Oh I know the main form of MMA fairly defined at this point. What I'm more curious about is the minor refinements that you think might occur?

Using the Groin Guard as a weapon;)

fightireland

pablohoney87 wrote: »

Using the Groin Guard as a weapon;)

Oh that's happened - trying to escape mount (My nose vs. metal Thai cup) The cup won...

pablohoney87

I was thinkin more in north south control in a striking motion. Yes i realise what that would look like

cowzerp

The specialists will die out-thats it

At the top level thats already happened.

arybvtcw0eolkf

I think the inclusion of Kendo is the next logical step.

The Bored One

fightireland wrote: »

Are you referring to fireballs?

:):)

Given Pettis's famous kick and the cartwheel kick attempts by Ebersole at UFC 127, I'd say someone trying to do the Hurricane Kick is more likely

fightireland

The Bored One wrote: »

Given Pettis's famous kick and the cartwheel kick attempts by Ebersole at UFC 127, I'd say someone trying to do the Hurricane Kick is more likely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q6FvAY1S6s

Barry.Oglesby

I'm just waiting on someone to come up with some way of striking with your arse.

The Bored One

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

I'm just waiting on someone to come up with some way of striking with your arse.

Mark Hunt did do that Atomic Butt Drop against Wanderlei. Always amusing to watch in slow motion.

Tag Teams

Barry.Oglesby

The Bored One wrote: »

Mark Hunt did do that Atomic Butt Drop against Wanderlei. Always amusing to watch in slow motion.

Then there is nothing new to be invented. I'll never watch another fight.

Professey Chin

Deleted User wrote: »

Tag Teams

Think some chinese promotion already tried that :pac:

Xlami

Deleted User wrote: »

Tag Teams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKkJGwLBtp8

Sorry I'm not sure how to embed videos. If you can watch as far as 7.40 or so it looks like they're trying to recreate the human centipede.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Xlami wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKkJGwLBtp8

Sorry I'm not sure how to embed videos. .

Click the youtube tags and these will come up...

Logical Fallacy

You'll see a lot more Judo, lighting fast throws from the clinch.

You'd be seeing it already if Parisyan hadn't ended up suffering so badly from anxiety issues and had been able to live up to the promise he showed early in his career.

But i reckon as people work wrestling more and more and the wrestling can't get things to the ground as much as they want to they'll naturally move over to bringing in some Judo slickness. It makes sense when you consider their balance and explosive hips will parley over pretty well to it.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

You'll see a lot more Judo, lighting fast throws from the clinch.

You'd be seeing it already if Parisyan hadn't ended up suffering so badly from anxiety issues and had been able to live up to the promise he showed early in his career.

But i reckon as people work wrestling more and more and the wrestling can't get things to the ground as much as they want to they'll naturally move over to bringing in some Judo slickness. It makes sense when you consider their balance and explosive hips will parley over pretty well to it.

I'm not just in agreement with you because I'm a judoka, but I've been thinking the same for a long time now - plus an audience loves a bit of flash.

Luke Corcoran would be better placed to comment on judo in an MMA context than I, but I don't think an MMA fighters Judo needs to be as refined as that of a competitive Judoka because a lot of judo combinations won't work without the gi or in an MMA setting.

However!.. With the new IJF rules barring leg grabs in Judo competition I think if Judo became more common in MMA it'll be short lived.

Barry.Oglesby

I think if Judo was to have made a significant impact it would have done so already. The curve is too steep especially considering Greco and Freestyle guys have been competing at a high level without the gi since they were 5 or 6.

In all honesty, I think specialists will still prevail.

lukeyjudo

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

I think if Judo was to have made a significant impact it would have done so already.

Not necessarily so, high level international judoka spend their entire lives chasing that Olympic medal. With London 2012 coming up our closest neighbours the British are mad for their first ever Judo Olympic Gold. Any high level judoka at the moment would never drop out of the Olympic race at this stage.

The MMA judo specialists we've seen in the cage at the highest level so far have all been past their primes as they've given the best years of their lives to their original sport. So they're not at their peak in MMA.

After 2012 you never know you might see a lot of fantastic judo athletes just approaching their peak try their hand in MMA and take to it like a fish in water. I know several international competitors I'd love to see fight MMA.

I think judo (especially pre rule change) can make you damn effective in the clinch and in coolmine my lads spend a lot of time there.

And as for the curve being too steep against greco etc why not use judo to beat it? If you're fighting a wrestler with a ton of experience you're never ever going to outwrestle him, you may aswell outjudo him. You fight fire with ice, fighting fire with fire gets you kicked out of the fire brigade.

Personally I don't think there will be a curveball as such but you will see a lot of younger up and coming fighters who favour no range of fighting and are fantastic athletes with amazing BJJ, Boxing, Judo, Wrestling, Kick Boxing whatever. The labels and belts will mean nothing to them and I think right now is an exciting time to be an MMA coach.

da-bres

mma fights in the gi, judo and jits players would dominate!

The human hand is designed to grip, not punch;)

not that this would actli happen

lukeyjudo

da-bres wrote: »

mma fights in the gi, judo and jits players would dominate!

The human hand is designed to grip, not punch;)

not that this would actli happen

But it would be freaking awesome!!! lol

They kind of do it already in Combat Sambo, they even allow headbutts!! :O

Xlami

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKkJGwLBtp8

Thanks Makikomi

The Bored One

lukeyjudo wrote: »

Not necessarily so, high level international judoka spend their entire lives chasing that Olympic medal. With London 2012 coming up our closest neighbours the British are mad for their first ever Judo Olympic Gold. Any high level judoka at the moment would never drop out of the Olympic race at this stage.

The MMA judo specialists we've seen in the cage at the highest level so far have all been past their primes as they've given the best years of their lives to their original sport. So they're not at their peak in MMA.

After 2012 you never know you might see a lot of fantastic judo athletes just approaching their peak try their hand in MMA and take to it like a fish in water. I know several international competitors I'd love to see fight MMA.

I think judo (especially pre rule change) can make you damn effective in the clinch and in coolmine my lads spend a lot of time there.

And as for the curve being too steep against greco etc why not use judo to beat it? If you're fighting a wrestler with a ton of experience you're never ever going to outwrestle him, you may aswell outjudo him. You fight fire with ice, fighting fire with fire gets you kicked out of the fire brigade.

Personally I don't think there will be a curveball as such but you will see a lot of younger up and coming fighters who favour no range of fighting and are fantastic athletes with amazing BJJ, Boxing, Judo, Wrestling, Kick Boxing whatever. The labels and belts will mean nothing to them and I think right now is an exciting time to be an MMA coach.

I'm not sure of how accurate this impression is but I've felt for a while now that the emphasis on wrestling is the offensive while in Judo its on the counter-offensive. There seems to be a lot of cross-over in techniques, but its mainly a difference in focus. As well as of course the differences from gi versus no-gi.
I'd be quite curious to see a fusion of judo and wrestling for MMA, in a manner like how Jake Shields mixes BJJ and wrestling for his "American Jiu-Jitsu"

El Guapo!

That Tag-team MMA is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.

RoboRat

I have been doing Judo for a few months now and I definitely can see a use in MMA - the throws and takedowns are immense and the ground game is pretty good too (obviously not as good as BJJ). I think if someone sat down and refined Judo where the Gi throws and subs are modified to be effective without a Gi, they would be extremely handy. As said earlier, it provides a bit of flash and having watched Mir vs Nelson, the crowd went crazy for the hip toss by Mir.

Richy06

Karo Parysian already did adapt his judo for MMA. Sadly his personal problems destroyed a once highly promising career.

Marty Mc

Judo without the gi = wrestling.