Whenever one of these nights occur you can't help but notice the difference between boxing and MMA striking. It's a difference of range & style, and at the moment also a difference of quality. Joe Rogan even dropped some commentary about the room for improvement in MMA striking. Personally I'm pretty proud for the MMA athletes I follow because most are advancing the game steadily and surely on the boxing front. It showed Saturday night as the leather was flying all over the cage. But nonetheless I'm posting to bitch about that show. My complaint is actually the lack of grappling we saw Saturday night! See if I want to see hellacious power shots and masterful combinations I know where to go; between the ropes. I like the heavy punches and big kicks in MMA, but what makes it unique are the explosive takedowns, scrambles & reversals, clever escapes, and of course the submissions. There was almost nil grappling Saturday (exception and props to Davis for the choke). To me that makes for a disappointing card.
So here's my personal suggestion to UFC matchmakers: on those nights when you are going up against elite caliber boxing telecasts, please make sure to schedule and televise some matches featuring accomplished wrestlers and BJJers. Against each other. Guarantee you'll deliver one ground war on these nights, Dana. This way your commentator doesn't have to apologize that your fighters aren't Hopkins, and more importantly I can feel satisfied.
