Re: The Answer
This thread has gotten more intelligent as it's gone on but there are still a few people talking about traditional martial artists and putting them above MMA fighters. For the record, almost all the top MMA fighters these days have a traditional martial arts background and are/were elite at what they studied before crosstraining for MMA.
Fedor--Sambo champion.
Crocop--Taekwondo. Was a K-1 level kickboxer before moving to PRIDE.
Liddell--Blackbelt in kenpo karate.
St.Pierre--Blackbelt in kyokushin karate.
All of these men (and others that I won't mention for the sake of brevity) were well respected in those disciplines, even before cross-training in the big 4 arts of modern MMA (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, muay thai in that order). Putting a non crosstrained traditional martial artist above any of these men would be foolish.
Also as for the debate on the later pages about boxing and why UFC/PRIDE/K-1 strikers seem to display such lousy boxing.
I personally hold a black belt in traditional karate. I have a brown belt in judo and trained boxing for 2 years sporadically. The day I stepped into a gym to crosstrain in MMA was the day I had to basically unlearn 4/5 of everything I knew about standup striking.
Striking in MMA is not as technical as striking in K-1 or professional boxing because you have to change your stance and your hip level to avoid non-setup basic takedowns. You have to change your followthrough on punches/kicks to avoid a countertakedown. You also have to move your pivot point. Any type of jab that involves shifting your weight forward must be eliminated because of leg kicks and single leg takedowns. Any type of hook that involves pivoting on the ball of the foot or turning the knee is also an easy takedown. The bobbing/weaving that boxers utilize becomes useless due to the thai clinch, standing knees and the ultra advanced front body lock. This isn't to say that boxing is unimportant to MMA because it is arguably THE most important art for an MMA fighter to crosstrain in. Just saying that a lot of an expert boxer's advantages and training would be rendered useless quickly.
You take a high level MMA striker such as Chuck Liddell and compare his punching stance/style to an average boxer and it's almost comical how silly Liddell looks. His stance is far too wide and he doesn't fully rotate his hips/legs for power in his punches. He throws long, looping punches. However, Liddell's style is much better suited to this style of combat than the boxer's. He can strike without being vulnerable to a takedown and his hips are low enough that he can sprawl even in the middle of throwing an overhand punch. Since his weight is balanced, he can also kick with either leg at any time off of any opening. This isn't a flaw of boxing in and of itself. It's useless as a boxer to prepare your legs to kick since it's never available. It's just an example of how a boxer is not equipped to fight this fight.
One thing to look for if you want to see elite boxers getting into MMA is a situation where the rules are bent more to their liking. Showtime is looking to start a new MMA organization called Elite XC. One of their proposed rule changes is limiting the time on the ground to 15 seconds. If this league takes off, this rule could start drawing more boxing talent to the world of MMA. Again, this will look much like K-1, which pays comparable to non-heavyweight, non-De La Hoya boxing payouts. Very few traditional boxers catch on there either.
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