MMA beats Muay Thai again.

Nick,

A recent local (Oz) contest in the cage between Tony BONELLO (MMA Champ) and John Wayne PARR (Muay Thai champ) again highlighted the difficulties faced by the upright fighter when matched with the floor specialist. Admittedly there was also a weight difference between the fighters, but once the MMA guy got hold of him - goodnight!

Interesting match-up, because PARR is the real deal in Thai. His record is geninely world class.

I know your feelings regarding spectators with steel cap boots. But it continues to surprise me that guys who can really bang can get dragged down before they can do sufficient damage.

....which leads me to the questions:

You've mentioned that MMA guys are too busy fighting for money to be tackling doormen on a regular basis. But have you had many guys try to grab and take you down from the outset, and if so have any had much success, and did you bring about their demise whilst still down?

Cheers Nick.

A good fighter (for wont of a better term) should in my opinion be able to perform in both areas, on their feet or on their back.

every fight I've had went to th floor, every fight I've had I had superiority on the floor because I was bigger and stronger. Every fight I've had I've lost as soon as it went to the floor because they had a mate standing watching. Lietrally every fight in the last 14 years, though that's not many, was with more than one person and went pare shaped when I took the first to the ground.

I hasten to add that I've not had a fight since beginning self defence styles training.

One on one westling is great. Its a great skill to have and very effective in its own right. It does work and can be used. Every self defence club should teach ground fighting. But it is secondary to punches.

This of course is all my own humble opinion. Also the sports arena is a different story as you pointed out

AXE
Jagunco

I've always taught that a tackle is one of the most common attacks in the street...especially after somone has just witnessed you drop a couple of his mates with punches and kicks.

He's no doubt thinking "I can't take this guy striking so I'll even things up on the deck"

Have they ever taken me down? Yep, on two occasions that I can remember. One I was able to extricate myself from and get up and kick him and the other I got a guillotine on the guy.

I've done years of Judo and Ju-jutsu though so I'm quite comfortable down there i.e not out of my element. (I just know the dangers when it comes to a real world environment)

As for stand up guys being beaten it was my understanding that a ton of strikers are now dominating the MMA world - now that they've figured out how the ground game works. Isn't Lidell an example of this?

Nick

Chuck's game is really built on on his takedown defence and ability to avoid the clinch.

He has worldclass takedown defences, and an uncanny ability to slip out of any attempt by his opponent to get hand or arm control on him. This allows him to bypass the ground or even dirty boxing in the clinch because he can dictate that the fight remain mostly pure striking. Then he waits and snipes them off from the outside.

Essentially, his striking ability ends his fights for him, but it's his wrestling defences that enables him to do this, because he can dictate how the fight goes.

Line of Eld wrote:
Essentially, his striking ability ends his fights for him, but it's his wrestling defences that enables him to do this, because he can dictate how the fight goes.

Actually that's a good way to go for when it goes chip shop.

By the way Nick sorry for hijacking your Q&A bit I hope you don't mind

AXE
Jagunco

Not at all mate...it's here for everyone to chime in.

Nick

If you watch Liddell, there is nothing overtly special about his takedown defence, yes it is very good, but that is because he blankly refuses to play the game. He keeps his hips back and doesn't grab onto the other bloke too tight. If the man falls over, he never goes to ground like everyone else in the UFC, who because of training, as soon as they start to fall, just go to guard immediately, instead he stands over the downed man, holds him with one hand and punches repeatedly with the other. HE is the purest simplest scrapper in the UFC. He has figured out they are all wrestlers who want to fight him on the ground and that is why he is the champ.