SubGrappler

If you were to judge someone's fighting ablity by their feats of strength, then the worlds strongest man would also be the worlds best fighter.

Agreed- Posture is the best way to avoid a triangle once your opponent attempts it. Simply look up towards the ceiling and arch your back as much as possible to avoid the triangle. This will be easier as well if you can keep your hips close to your opponents.

Philadelphia is a hot spot for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. What suburb of Philly do you live in? Is it located north or south of Philly? $99 a month for 3 classes a week doesnt look TOO bad, but bear in mind that the skill level varies incredibly between blue belts, which means he may not have the tools to teach you the basics. Im almost certain we can find a black belt (or minimum brown belt) somewhere around you.

Perhaps because you dont want to shatter your hand against a brick wall..... Most people dont take into account they can break their hand over someones head until its already happened.

Even traditional fighters fight with rules.

Assuming I had the luxury to actually choose between the two.... I'd fight K-1, where hopefully the pain would not last long before I got knocked out. When I regained conciousness, I'd see how much more money I made in K-1 as opposed to UFC

Shadow grappling is actually a very good way to work on your moves when you dont have the luxury of a training partner. Now obviously, you're not going to be practicing flying armbar techniques or anything fancy when you shadow grapple, but rather you'll be learning basic things such as rolling, elevating your hips (helpfull for subs such as triangles, armbars, and omoplatas) and transitioning from position to position. I wouldnt buy a dummy, but it depends how much money you have to deal with.

Royce used them all the time, because he didnt want to chance breaking his hand. Back in the first UFCs, it was all bareknuckle matches, and many fighters were forced to withdrawl due to a broken hand. Royce strategy generally consisted of taking and opponent down, mounting him, hitting him with palm strikes until he turned over, and then finishing with the RNC. As far as Bas's matches in Pancrase, I never did see a whole lot of their matches, but I do know that he knew how to throw a palm strike. What I was trying to say was that a closed fist strike is a much more powerfull strike delivered at a greater risk.

I think its a good strike to protect you from breaking your hand, but natrually you sacrifice power you would otherwise have in a closed fist attack. The only instance I saw a palm strike work rather effectively was Keith Hackney vs the Sumo giant in UFC 3. Other than that, Pancrase had rules restricting strikes with a closed fist to the face, and as a result you didnt see KO's when people were given a shot to the jaw.

I agree, I really like watching a good ground specialist at work. I couldnt believe how many people said the Arona/Lister fight was boring- I thought it was great as hell. On the other hand though, I have been bored to death by alot of standup matches in MMA, but awed by the ones in K-1

Its not very often though- their MMA events will most likely never be as good as Pride's. K-1 is much bigger than Pride though, and as a result, they have a much greater source of income and can pay to have fights happen in K-1 that Pride couldnt afford. Matches with Rickson and Royce will always draw crowds, but neither will fight if they arent being paid a substantial amount of money (which K-1 has and Pride doesnt).

YOU may not, but the very nature of the competition advocates a sideways stance so as to limit the targets your opponent has to hit. It also keeps your choice weapons (hands and feet) closer to your opponent for a quicker attack.

I think UFC is better because its mixed martial arts. There are some events in UFC, however, that have been poor fight cards. K-1 rarely has a card thats not exciting. I think UFC definately had more of an impact on martial arts, simply because people had always assumed that the best fighters were those who knew how to fight on their feet. Most grappling arts were also written off as sports and not fighting systems. UFC clearly has better fighters, simply because they're more well rounded, but no one will deny K-1's supremecy on striking. Top fighters in MMA vs top fighters in K-1- under MMA rules MMA fighters win, under K-1 rules, K-1 fighters win. UFC is also NOT the ultimate Ground fighting championship. So many people think that all UFC is is a bunch of wrestlers. The bottom line is that groundfighting isnt a style of combat, its a phase of combat. There are PLENTY of strikers in UFC that do quite well- Tim Sylvia, Cabbage, Jens Pulver, to name a few. Lets also not forget that the current Light Heavyweight Champion in Chuck Liddel prefers a strikers game to a grapplers game. There are a few K-1 fighers who have made the successful transition to MMA- Mark Hunt and Mirko Cro Cop to name some. But there are others, such as Stefan Leko, who have performed less than admirable.

Thats like saying that Wayne Gretzky is the best hockey player in the NHL, but not the world.

If you're close enough to strike, then you're close enough to grapple. There really arent long, medium, or short range fighters. Boxers will use jabs and crosses at a long distance, hooks and uppercuts at a close distance A muay thai fighter may decide to use roundhouse kicks at a distance, and knees at close range. A wrestler will use a shot from a distance, and use clinchwork from in close.

I would K-1 is not a mixed martial arts competition- its kickboxing, and they have contributed to the Pride tournaments. Other shows such as Pancrase, King of the Cage, RINGS and the like have also contributed to the Pride shows. Pride/UFC are the pinnacle of mixed martial arts tournaments and pick the best fighters they can find, usually from tournaments you've just mentioned.

NAGA has good matches, but I feel that Grapplers Quest gets better competitors. Its seems that NAGA is like the hybrid tournament of all different types of grappling styles, whereas Grapplers Quest seems to have many more BJJ guys.

If you want to do the olympics with grappling, then do Judo or wrestling. I dont want BJJ to become an olympic sport- Judo used to be alot like BJJ, but all the rules were instilled to keep the match on the feet to avoid boring groundfighting (wink wink- people dont like watching groundfighting). I believe it was Matt Furey who said that he thinks they should do away with the guard to improve mixed martial arts- he claimed its too boring to watch that part of the fight. To an extent he may be right, but tournaments like UFC shouldnt drift away from whats effective for whats entertaining.

I think it showed what so many other matches did- If you do not know how to grapple and you fight a grappler, you're going to be in deep trouble. Maybe his wing chun could have worked, although I dont see it looking like anything that we havent seen already, but he couldnt stay on his feet to utilize it.

I believe Mike is talking about using point sparring, in which case I agree with him. That develops very bad habits, such as standing in a sideways stance, emphasizing speed rather than power, and turning your back to avoid getting hit in the face/body.

Well, there are "other" bodily orafaces to tear at with your fingers if you're that determined....... An oil check here and there will plague your opponents mind

I too am invincible, but only towards energy powered/ plasma weapons. These have yet to be developed, leaving my theory yet to be tested. The generally accepted experiment for determining ones invincibility is standing in front of a train at high speeds

Endurance is the most important thing in Jiu Jitsu- its a great equalizer, so anyone who's serious about training will go to some length to improve their gas. As far as how do BJJ fighters close the distance without getting hit, its not very difficult. For one, all you really have to do is keep your hands up to protect yourself when your opponent tries to hit you. Its often best if you can have it so your opponent is chasing you (i.e. hes stepping forwards rather than you stepping forward towards him). I like to wait until they throw a punch with their power/rear hand, and then I simply rush into the clinch with my head on the side of their lead hand- it works quite well.

Would be nice to hold a belt in both, but its not necessary. Fedor Emilianenko is the current undisputed top fighter in the world right now, and hes only got the Pride belt.

Why are the UFC and Pride fighters THE BEST in the world? Because they're mixed martial artists.... Any karate/ muay thai fighter, regardless of how long they've been training, would still be a traditionalist/one demensional fighter. Ground fighting is not a style of fighting- its a PHASE of fighting No styles are banned in the numerous mixed martial arts events around the world, and many (such as Mecca) still have only the old restrictions with rules for no biting and no eye gouging only. Any excuses of how they're "too deadly for the ring" is a lame excuse not to fight. If someone says they dont want to fight in mixed martial arts events, thats perfectly fine- to each his own. But dont you dare claim you're the best, or even among the best if you havent stepped into that cage/ring.