Striking Back: The Rise of Stand-Up Skills in Modern MMA
Image Credit: Tiago Liel
If you were to look at the UFC a couple years back, champion after champion was conquering their division with the use of wrestling, whether this was Kamaru Usman’s use of freestyle and Folkstyle wrestling, or Khabib keeping the division in check with his sambo. Either way, contenders were struggling to keep up with the sheer pressure and fans were wondering if these five round fights were going to consist of anything other than takedown attempts and Control time. However, today’s champions or at least the majority of them are primarily credited for their stand-up and ability to finish their opponents. This article looks to analyse whether striking looks to regain its importance in MMA or whether there are other aspects that managed to stabilize the success of wrestling.
Keeping The Distance
Looking at the striking in MMA, the arguments for why it is becoming more valued is coming more so from a defensive standpoint rather than attacking. The importance of set ups and feints do contribute can be seen to contribute more if watching solely the finish of the fight, but the reason that these strikers are dominating fights more often now is due to their elite control capabilities. Octagon control was a massive reason for the success of former wrestling champions, as their forward pressure helped cut off angles, subsequently keeping their opponent near the fence in better chance of a takedown attempt. Nowadays, the current UFC champions who strike have an elite knowledge in footwork and stance, take Leon Edwards in his second fight with Kamaru Usman. This fight was the perfect watch for someone looking to enforce range and footwork in their arsenal, Edwards having the ability to fight in either stance gave Usman problems when looking to encroach forward motion as Edwards’s ability to retreat in either stance meant that he could circle into the open in either direction, creating more angles when looking to counter. Perhaps another reason striking has become so dominant can be down to success of reach, obviously reach has a lot to do with genetics but that doesn’t mean it can contribute success. The UFC now has an abundance of fighters who perfectly understand reach, and this can further the support of why champions such as Alex Pereira and former champion Israel Adesanya are able to fight off attempts of the fight going to the ground. Focusing on Pereira, having such a magnificent reach whilst also having the elite striking work to go with it has caused a lot of fighter’s issues of the past couple bouts he has had in the UFC. Being so rangy and understanding when to come in and retreat is a massive benefit, opponents of Pereira usually cannot land that first punch so therefore have to use the jab as a set up just to get inside in order to land anything else. Pereira, whilst having a tremendous balance and comfortability in his stance has garnered a technique known as the chopping technique which if wanting to learn more about this can be highlighted by Trevor Wittman. Pereira having the perfect ability to generate power when turning over his punches whilst keeping them so tight can be down to his exceptional use of weight transfer. Strikers like Pereira and Adesanya thrive off fighters coming towards them as they both possess the ability to keep them at bay and circle or go for the finish.
Defensive Wrestling
Despite the previous points made above, arguments can be made that the success is not down to the improvements of striking but rather coming from defensive schemes in wrestling. Today’s takedown defence consists of more than just looking for underhooks or sprawling, the wrestlers of today have a lot more skill and understanding of set ups for landing a successful takedown and are also prepared to stand up and trade if needed, therefore becoming more unpredictable than former one-trick ponies. Like striking however, an important aspect that strikers have improved on when successfully defending a takedown is their ability to understand balance and weight transfer. A good example of these skills being used was when Kai Kara-France took on Askar Askarov, Kara-france showed tremendous determination in nullifying the grappling of Askarov and his balance as well as IQ on defending the single legs from Askarov went a long way in being able to get the win in that fight. Some champions now also are extremely comfortable with the takedown landing and use their experience in BJJ to get back onto the feet, take champs such as Topuria and O’Malley, a black and brown belt in BJJ but have no issue with keeping the fight standing and rather use their jiu-jitsu as a means of getting free from off the bottom.
It's open for interpretation whether striking is becoming the most valued skill in MMA, however what can be said is that the current plethora of fighters are extremely skilled in keeping the fight on the feet and over the last couple months have produced excellent fights topped with high-level finishes, which is what every fan loves and hopes to see more of.
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