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MMA. It’s interesting to go back and watch early UFC fights. The fighters back then specialized in one style so you would see these crazy matches like Tae-Kwon-Do versus a sumo wrestler or something. I remember a boxer going up against a BJJ fighter and getting his ass handed to him. There were some really lopsided matches with BJJ fighters or wrestlers.
Back then, they didn’t wear gloves and it was billed as “no holds barred”. I think the only rules were no biting or eye gouging. The matches were bonkers. There was one where some little dude was fighting a big guy and basically punched him in the balls like 20 times until he couldn’t stand.
Over the first couple dozen events, you can see the styles start to blend into what became modern MMA. The wrestlers were taking up boxing. The strikers were learning some ground skills. It was several events in when a boxer was demonstrating an ability to evade BJJ takedowns with a sprawl move.
Early MMA fights are the only thing I can think of where you can witness the evolution of a new martial art that’s practical and combat-tested. You see weaknesses in styles and fighters who respond by adding a new move. You see what works and then other fighters start copying. Eventually, it blends together into modern MMA.
Your first mention seems to indicate the BJJ fighters won when matched with boxers.
But later you say wrestlers took up boxing, and that boxers demonstrated the about to avoid BJJ takedowns.
Am I reading that wrong? What was the typical outcome in BJJ vs boxer?
The BJJ fighters beat the shit out of boxers. The first PPV event was insanity. It was like the Street Fighter video game in real life. It was a one day tournament where they kept fighting until there was a champion. Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock were the only guys who could really do well against any other fighting style. Jim Brown was doing color commentary and was at a complete loss for words during the fight where some little karate dude repeatedly bashed his opponent's balls. It was absolute insanity.
Gracie was basically unbeatable and Shamrock was always in contention too. I think he won once or twice in the early years. Nobody knew how to deal with them because they would take opponents down and beat them on the ground. But I remember this one boxer dude came back a couple years later with a sprawl move. That was the first time I ever saw it in UFC. He was avoiding takedowns and getting strikes in. Most fighters were doing it not long after and the fighting really started to evolve. Then it became a mix of striking, takedowns and ground game. Even the BJJ and wrestling guys were forced to evolve.