I am a huge MMA fan. For me, it all started with UFC 2. I watched a grainy video tape a co-worker let me borrow, and I watch as the 180+ lbs of Brazilian bad ass Royce Gracie won a 16 man tournament (all in one night) beating opponents nearly twice his size. I have always been a fair-weather fan of boxing as well. I only really follow it when a true phenomenon comes around like Roy Jones Jr or late 80's pre-prison Mike Tyson.
Combat sports has always seem to me like a brutal combination of Ballet and Chess. That's why Boxing is bad for MMA; checkers is to boxing like chess is to MMA. Where boxing is nearly always a simple game of basic strategies confined to obvious targets (mostly head and body, no more no less). MMA in the other hand is a one pawn Chess game where getting a check mate can take hundreds of complex anticipated moves with thousands of ways to win. Although a win can come in the way of a knock out, submission or judges' decision, getting there is not as straight a shot as who landed the most punches. Having said that, I've gone a long way to get to this point because of the two amazing upsets that occurred at UFC 69 this past Saturday. Two outstanding fighters, Sanchez and St. Pierre lost their matches because they came to box and not to fight MMA. It was evident that they intended to use the sweet science to knock out their opponents. I hope this serves as a lesson to not only them but to all the MMA kiddies out there: in Mixed Martial Arts if you don't mix it up you will lose.
