A number of legendary fighters of the past recently chimed in on the topic, some agreeing that the technical aspect of the sport has evolved in the brief span bridging UFC 100 to UFC 200, while others feel the defensive tactics are things of the past, since bonus money is involved with knockouts.
One thing, however, everyone does agree on and that’s the athleticism of the fighters, male and female, being light years beyond where they were a decade ago.
Are fighters more technically advanced from UFC 100 to UFC 200?
“Yes, I think they are, because everything becomes better through time, I truly believe that,” said Bas Rutten, one of the masters and pioneers of the sport. “I look at a guy like Carlos Condit. He’s 30-9, but he can beat you in so many different ways. He’s submitted 13 and won by knockout 15 times. I really like guys like that. You have fighters that still prefer one style. As a fighter, I know I want to know every style that helps me win, whether it’s going to the ground or standing up.
“I will say this: Fighters today certainly have more stamina than they used to. And it is because they’re better athletes. In the early days, there were always complaints about the fighters not having any stamina, because they would run out of gas in the second round. I like to say it’s like being a painter and you go to a house to work on a job with half a can of paint. You can’t finish it. It’s your job to be in shape. It’s very simple to train really freakin hard. Of course today, we rarely see guys lose their stamina.”
Rutten feels all of the techniques are there. Very rarely, he feels, do we see innovative techniques.
“What we do see more of today are new set-ups,” Rutten said. “Set-ups that can put you in place for a certain arm bar, or a takedown, or to set up a kick. That’s what we see more of, fighters getting more creative. In the early days, boxing was completely different than it is today, and it’s come to a completely different level. That’s where it’s stayed. What we may see more MMA fighters doing is going to a completely square stance, and I also think we’ll see fighters also will win either using striking, their ground game or wrestling. And they will excel at all three. By UFC 300, we’ll see guys that are good everywhere.”
Pat Miletich, UFC Hall of Famer and the first UFC welterweight champion, has seen considerable growth in the sport.
“What I’ve noticed that overall in a few guys, is they understand, or work with coaches who understand, how to truly get ready for a fight,” Miletich said. “They’re in there training with top-level boxers, top-level Muay Thai people, top-level black belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and have the confidence and understanding that if they can hang with those people of a particular discipline, and tie those together with the transitions correctly, they can pretty much beat anyone out there and be at, or come pretty close to, the top of the heap.
“It’s always been that way. What I see more than anything actually, while the offensive skills have become better in many of the athletes, is a deterioration of defense. I don’t know if the cause of that is ‘Fighter of the Night’ awards, or knockout awards, using reckless, abandoned fighting, looking for crowd approval. When I was training kickboxers, and guys in Muay Thai, I would look at the older guys in the gym and notice they would have problems with not only their speech, but with their thinking and even in the control of their bodies. It came from the damage done to their bodies through time. It came from taking shots.
“So to me, defensive skills are most important, because later on in life, I didn’t want to be that guy. I wanted to be able to spell my name. I don’t think a lot of the younger guys have been exposed to that. It’s really what is takes is training with guys who are really great at their own specific discipline. Once you can get up to speed for an hour with those guys, that’s where you want to be. The athleticism is certainly up from where it was. Guys who may have chosen a different sport realize that MMA was the way, big-name guys. They made millions and MMA may pull more Olympic-level wrestlers go that route, too. And what the women are doing in the sport is incredible. They deserve to be here—and they sell tickets. Women have no quit, have loads of endurance and they won’t stop.
“You can definitely say that women have enhanced the overall technique we see in fighters today. I would like to see more of it, especially on the defensive side.”
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