[gusmahler]

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The question is really, how long would it take for a boxer to learn take down and submission defense? Most people truly underestimate how devastating a boxer would be on his feet.


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I answered this question above. Cro Cop, a highly regarded kickboxer came into MMA in 2001 with absolutely no clue as to takedown defense. He was proficient by 2003 (he avoided being taken down by Noguiera for most of their fight) and by 2005, he couldn't be taken down by Mark Coleman (former NCAA wrestling champion) and by 2006 he couldn't be taken down by Hidehiko Yoshida (Olympic gold medalist in Judo).

Waterman (another accomplished wrestler) took him down in 2004. But I believe he avoided being taken down by anyone else until his fight with Fedor. That's 9 fights without being taken down. Since the Fedor fight, I think only Gonzaga was able to take him down. So he went on a 17 match streak where the only person who could take him down was Fedor. (I'm not sure how you count the first Barnett fight, though. Barnett injured himself taking CroCop down. I didn't see the second Barnett match, so maybe he took Cro Cop down there.)

So it should only take 2 years for an accomplished boxer to have a good enough takedown defense to be competitive.