The grand evolution of MMA - which fighters evolved it the most and how

The three that come to my mind are Bas Rutten, who was arguably the first guy to have technique behind his striking rather than just swanging and banging.

Kazushi Sakuraba, who essentially ended the myth that BJJ was the ultimate martial art by beating all of the Gracies.

And for the more modern fighter probably GSP. GSP is one of the only fighters that is genuinely exceptional everywhere and is a fine tuned machine with every move in his arsenal working towards the same goal, every one of his strikes builds off the other and those in turn build towards a take down, he essentially did the same as what Fedor did, except UFC nuthuggers actually recognise GSP for fighting in the UFC.

GSP really did represent a fully realised mixed martial artist, and I'd argue that the game still hasn't completely caught up to him. Even the greatest fighters of today, Daniel Cormier and Max Holloway, are really only excellent in one area, and not the complete game as a whole.
 
Funny you listed fedor as simply a guard survivor while forgetting he was one of the first to string casting punch to judo throw combos together
 
"Evolution" in MMA has essentially stopped since 2005.
Not at all. That is garbage that Fedor fans tell themselves to make Fedor's recent run of poor form more stomachable. Stipe, DC, Cain, JDS, and even Lesnar would all make easy work of a prime Big Nog.

There's a reason why you rarely ever see elite fighters being submitted while they're sitting in their opponents' guards anymore. Submission defense, as well as scrambling, has come a long way since the days of Mark Coleman fighting Fedor. A top level BJJ guy from 2005 wouldn't be competitive with the Gordon Ryans and Felipe Penas of the world, guys like Roger had to constantly evolve to keep up with the "new breed" in BJJ, and thus the level of grappling in MMA has improved significantly as well.

The striking, especially at the lower weight classes, has also improved a fair bit thanks to guys like Conor McGregor and TJ Dillashaw using ever-evolving footwork, distance management, and angles in their striking.
 
Not at all. That is garbage that Fedor fans tell themselves to make Fedor's recent run of poor form more stomachable. Stipe, DC, Cain, JDS, and even Lesnar would all make easy work of a prime Big Nog.

There's a reason why you rarely ever see elite fighters being submitted while they're sitting in their opponents' guards anymore. Submission defense, as well as scrambling, has come a long way since the days of Mark Coleman fighting Fedor. A top level BJJ guy from 2005 wouldn't be competitive with the Gordon Ryans and Felipe Penas of the world, guys like Roger had to constantly evolve to keep up with the "new breed" in BJJ, and thus the level of grappling in MMA has improved significantly as well.

The striking, especially at the lower weight classes, has also improved a fair bit thanks to guys like Conor McGregor and TJ Dillashaw using ever-evolving footwork, distance management, and angles in their striking.
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Marco Ruas for first really well rounded fighter. Also them leg kicks. A shame he entered MMA so late.

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Also do you guys remember when Cody called out G eazy after he won the belt?
 
About individuals themselves:

> Hoyce is the most difficult fighter to assess: we all know why Rorion chose him over Rickson, but why not:

1/ Hoyler?: more technical than Hoyce, but he realistically would have been over-powered by HWs

2/ Henzo?: better striking than Hoyce, less agile in the scrambles on the ground, Hoyce with the better chin..

Hoyce is underrated indeed. Being a BJJ dude was not enough to win it all in the 1st UFCs, you had to be able to survive some bombs, like Kimo´s...


> Marco Huas: potentially the 1st well-rounded in Modern MMA, b4 Frank or anyone else (Frank was still learning the game in Pancrase)

Note: there were already people cross-training in the 1960s [Ivan Gomes,Euclydes Pereira...]... It´s not really a new concept.

> Ken hardly exposed BJJ´s guard in the 2nd Hoyce fight...

Btw UFC 1 & UFC 5, Ken had basically 2 yrs to study Royce´s game.
He was injured at UFC 2, but still during an interview at ringside, he stated that he was workin´
on his game, and that he would come back with some kind of "master plan". That was obviously hinted
at Royce.As a matter of fact, he even hired a judo/jiujitsu guy for the camp.
Still, at UFC 5, he didnt really go for the win, he definitely wanted the draw, thus he L&Ped, didnt mount any serious offense (Im aware of the stats though).

BJJ´s guard became problematic because of the rules/fight configuration:
Modern MMA [UFC´s in particular]´s fight configuration [time limit / short rounds] and judging criterias [Ground Control being the Main Paradigm, no reward for submission attempts] make it difficult to commit to particular submissions [leglocks/armbars]


SAKU GOAT dealt much better with the BJJ Guard than Ken 2:
Technically started his preparation for the Gracies fights after the draw against Allan Goes, where he was realistically schooled by Allan, who showed some creative & innovative striking from the bottom.
It opened his eyes about how to deal with a BJJ guard.

> GNP Evolution [Kerr/Coleman]... In a specific environment [NHB/Vale Tudo/With Time Limit/Headbutts Allowed], proved to be lethal. Kerr´s mauling of Gurgel changed the paradigm in the BJJ Community, where people used to believe that technique was enough to overcome the size difference...

> How to deal with a Wrestler: Team Alliance [Maurice/TK/Frank], worked on the Sprawl technique.

Royce was picked because he was good enough to win but if he lost they could alwsys say there were better Gracies. Rickson was too risky since if he lost then basically BJJ as a style would lose alot of credibility which is why he was also heavily protected in pride, fought takada twice and retired before risk being exposed especially by a wrestler who could strike.

Marco Ruas was all rounder but msinly defensive on the ground, not an offensive submission guy so not fully complete.

I will add Hendo also when KTFO Renzo. This proved undisputedly that BJJ alone is not enough which some still tried to claim at that time. Sakuraba beat the Gracies but he didn't evolve the sport in my opinion. He beat Renzo by armlocking him but didnt really prove anything with that. He beat Royce by basically not engaging in the ground fight and punishing Royce using superior position. So it was impressive but he didnt finish the fight or beat the guard.

Someone mentioned Fedor for Judo throws as well. Can add Karo Parisyan to that also, the beatdown he put on Nick Diaz was great demonstration of this.

Cro cop for showing true dangerousness of high kick. There was a phase during early mma where anything aside from bjj, wrestling or grappling was considered as basically ineffective as a base so he was part of the resurgence of the striker in mma.
 
Koscheck & O'Brien invented lay and pray according to the just bleed segment of MMA fans.
 
Royce was picked because he was good enough to win but if he lost they could alwsys say there were better Gracies. Rickson was too risky since if he lost then basically BJJ as a style would lose alot of credibility which is why he was also heavily protected in pride, fought takada twice and retired before risk being exposed especially by a wrestler who could strike.

Marco Ruas was all rounder but msinly defensive on the ground, not an offensive submission guy so not fully complete.

I will add Hendo also when KTFO Renzo. This proved undisputedly that BJJ alone is not enough which some still tried to claim at that time. Sakuraba beat the Gracies but he didn't evolve the sport in my opinion. He beat Renzo by armlocking him but didnt really prove anything with that. He beat Royce by basically not engaging in the ground fight and punishing Royce using superior position. So it was impressive but he didnt finish the fight or beat the guard.

Someone mentioned Fedor for Judo throws as well. Can add Karo Parisyan to that also, the beatdown he put on Nick Diaz was great demonstration of this.

Cro cop for showing true dangerousness of high kick. There was a phase during early mma where anything aside from bjj, wrestling or grappling was considered as basically ineffective as a base so he was part of the resurgence of the striker in mma.

> "Marco Ruas was all rounder but msinly defensive on the ground, not an offensive submission guy so not fully complete."

Historically, I dont remember any fight where Huas was purely defensive on the ground.

Even in his 1st official fight vs Pinduka, some argued he won because of the strikes/damage he inflicted from the bottom, while Pinduka didnt even try to pass the guard and didnt mount any serious offence...



Moreover, as a Luta Livre dude, Huas had the whole leglocks game, and would often sacrifice position and go for them [see the Maurice Smith fight 1]

> "Someone mentioned Fedor for Judo throws as well. Can add Karo Parisyan to that also, the beatdown he put on Nick Diaz was great demonstration of this."

Amar Suloev started his career b4 Fedor, and he had some slick judo throws too.

> "I will add Hendo also when KTFO Renzo."

Henzo was 34 yrs old, on a 2 losing streak, tail-end of his career...Not much to assess... Henzo shot, Hendo landed clean on the button...

> "Sakuraba beat the Gracies but he didn't evolve the sport in my opinion"

SAKU GOAT was so ahead of the sport, but the sport didnt follow his path... He did much more than beat the Gracies.

The Allan Goes fight, a draw that he realistically lost, showed creative options from Allan in the buttscoot position [some, athletically gifted, would eventually work on this later]. This taught SAKU how to deal with the guard in this situation, which led to:
He showed how you could do legit damage from the top with kicks and counter the buttscoot position.
Oddly, even the hardest kickers have chosen not to work on this...

On the ground, fights like the Ronin one showed the true evolution from the previous era: to be able to submit someone as good as Ronin [without using GNP as a set-up] highlighted the necessity of traps and slick transitions to have a legit chance to get the sub in Modern MMA.

> About them kicks: fighters like Bas or Suloev were already showing their game b4 Crocop...
 
Wasnt he a boxer in the Army?
It's said that he did, but wherever he did back then didn't give confidence or skill set to use it... don't know the level of what goes there, but was non fator for must of his career... it didn't translate to mma.
ray mercer was a army boxer tough, don't know if he was already a boxer before that...
 
Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey evolved the game, took MMA to new heights previously unseen.

Lol what? Brock was doing big PPV draws and bringing in casuals long before them. Brock was the original huge draw for the UFC. Conor/Nate 2 breaking Brock's record by a measly 50k in a more popular era of MMA doesn't change that.

Ronda's legacy is definitely not expanding the viewership of MMA, it's bringing WMMA to the UFC. Thankfully, better and much more complete fighters have come in since her days of dominating the title.
 
Lol what? Brock was doing big PPV draws and bringing in casuals long before them. Brock was the original huge draw for the UFC. Conor/Nate 2 breaking Brock's record by a measly 50k in a more popular era of MMA doesn't change that.

Ronda's legacy is definitely not expanding the viewership of MMA, it's bringing WMMA to the UFC. Thankfully, better and much more complete fighters have come in since her days of dominating the title.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=/m/01txyn,/m/0rfgxy2,/m/04gttgp

Conor >> Ronda >> Brock.

PPV buys isn't everything.
 
"Evolution" in MMA has essentially stopped since 2005.

Striking has gotten better. Takedown defense has gotten better. BJJ application has gotten better. The sport is still evolving. It's just more subtle than before.
 
It's said that he did, but wherever he did back then didn't give confidence or skill set to use it... don't know the level of what goes there, but was non fator for must of his career... it didn't translate to mma.
ray mercer was a army boxer tough, don't know if he was already a boxer before that...
I've always felt his name was synonymous with wrestling and dirty boxing... could be due to Rogan's hyperbole
 
Striking has gotten better. Takedown defense has gotten better. BJJ application has gotten better. The sport is still evolving. It's just more subtle than before.

it depends: former weight class without money? hm yea

Most guys still dont even have the basics.

stupid/weird stuff seems to work in the ufc.

p4p one of the worst uppercuts
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Derrik Lewis is like this when it comes to takedowns: Dafak is this?

no money = no "evoluton"

many weight classes that used to have no money have improved ... iz normal.

look at BJJ: back then there was no money and thats why you saw so many high level bjj guys in mma. In a few years you won't see specialists like Maia, because there will be more and more money in BJJ.
 
it depends: former weight class without money? hm yea

Most guys still dont even have the basics.

stupid/weird stuff seems to work in the ufc.

p4p one of the worst uppercuts
BPMx.gif


Derrik Lewis is like this when it comes to takedowns: Dafak is this?

no money = no "evoluton"

many weight classes that used to have no money have improved ... iz normal.

look at BJJ: back then there was no money and thats why you saw so many high level bjj guys in mma. In a few years you won't see specialists like Maia, because there will be more and more money in BJJ.

That uppercut was like 10 years ago. RDA is evidence of evolution. He bounced back from that and became champ.

You're right that many guys lack basics, but it's still better than it was 10 years ago. I mean seriously, watch Raoni Barcelos vs Holobaugh and then compare that to Bonnar vs Griffin. Guys have gotten much better in pretty much every aspect of the game.
 
That uppercut was like 10 years ago. RDA is evidence of evolution. He bounced back from that and became champ.

You're right that many guys lack basics, but it's still better than it was 10 years ago. I mean seriously, watch Raoni Barcelos vs Holobaugh and then compare that to Bonnar vs Griffin. Guys have gotten much better in pretty much every aspect of the game.

again: you can say that about most lower weight classes, because there was 0 money.

no money = no "evolution"

I think the rules will change the most in the next few years.

they should make the octagon smaller, because it increases the knock out chance ... it just hurts when most people dont even have the basics. I remember where people thought ngannou was the best boxer... Imfao.

I still dont understand why there are so many people who dont check leg kicks ... such an easy and simple technique lmaoo

They should do mma in a ring again... would be interesting to see how people would react to it.
 
Major Evolutions:

Royce for showing the effectiveness of BJJ in real world application.

Severn for showing how dominant wrestling can be as a stand alone martial art and for showing a country full of underpaid wrestlers that they have a professional outlet for their skill set.

Ken Shamrock for showing alternative grappling methods.

Marco Ruas for being the first iteration in the UFC of a complete Brazilian MMA fighter (Muay thai and BJJ)

Maurice Smith for solving the puzzle for strikers beating dominant grapplers.

Randy Couture for popularizing dirty boxing and showing the effectiveness of wrestlebox USA.

Frank Shamrock then later Tito Ortiz for showing the importance of strength and conditioning training.

Chuck Liddell for showing the effectiveness of counter grappling to keep the fight standing (sprawl and brawl)


Since then no one has really helped evolve the sport. There have been a few trend setters that introduce the effectiveness of certain techniques and others start to imitate. Anderson's front kick. Jones spinning elbow. Barbosa's wheel kick. But these aren't evolutions. Just trends.

These days the sport is evolving in terms of improved skill.




Honorable mentions:

Kieth Hackney. I'm pretty sure they required cups after UFC 4. I could be wrong.

Dennis Hallman for influencing Dana to ban bikini bottoms after his balls popped out. LMAOOO.

Kimo for being the first person to love gay jesus in the octogon.
 
again: you can say that about most lower weight classes, because there was 0 money.

no money = no "evolution"

I think the rules will change the most in the next few years.

they should make the octagon smaller, because it increases the knock out chance ... it just hurts when most people dont even have the basics. I remember where people thought ngannou was the best boxer... Imfao.

I still dont understand why there are so many people who dont check leg kicks ... such an easy and simple technique lmaoo

They should do mma in a ring again... would be interesting to see how people would react to it.

I definitely agree that money breeds improvement.
 
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