So it seems that we're finally starting to get judoka having some success in MMA. For years the major prospects (Yoshida, Akiyama, Nakamura, Parysian) have all disappointed success wise. Many of them have had great, exciting fights but long term success never really materialised. However, now we have a new crop of judoka (forgetting Ishii) who are proving more successful in MMA e.g. Rousey, Hawn, Dong Hyun Kim, Jimy Hettes etc. What's more, they're actually pulling off big throws! What do people think the future holds for judoka in MMA?
honesty not much they are good athletes but cant see them winning too many belts, Judo simply takes up too much of their time especially if they have OL game aspirations , they will do well in womans MMA because there are the only real female athletes taking part, wrestling is probably a better base as we have seen
I'm not so sure. Those who come into MMA after their peak and having competed at several olympics e.g. Yoshida will have time fighting against them. However, Rousey and Hawn are both Olympians who are still in their peak but are now doing MMA. I think as the money prizes in mma increase, so will the participation by high ranking judoka.
Could be... but on thing that seems to happen alot... is there always seems to be upsets when whatever the flavor of the month is get's challenged... first it was BJJ players... then it was strikers... then wrestlers... now Judoka's.... I could be wrong but I think when you are that specialized you only really have a limited time span... to me this is the beauty of guys like Silva and Jones... they can manage over a broader range. But who knows... thoughts?
It's an upset BECAUSE it's the flavor of the month. People put too much stock in whatever is winning right this second and somehow they're always shocked when that thing isn't the real ultimate. I think that has and will happen less and less as the general fanbase gets a better idea what they're looking at but I doubt it will ever go away.
I think it’s a bit different than that, grappling wise wrestling seems to be the best base to work form and has been since quite early on so hardly flavour of the month, the majority of top 5 guys have good wrestling it allows them to dictate range and they also get into it early enough that they can add other striking and subs and become very good at that, koscheck for example, jones I think was a wrestler in college as well The downside for the judo guys seems to be twofold 1) Its not done in schools or college in the states, so good judo guys don’t become good or stop competing until mid to late 20’s, that doesn’t leave a lot of time to learn other skills. You get very accomplished college wrestlers moving into MMA in their late teens and early 20s, much more time to become more rounded ie koscheck, jones (think he was a college wrestler) Evans, liddell, admittingly not all bother to become well rounded and this shows but a lot still become champs even without good striking (hughes for example) 2) It takes time to become good without the gi, clinch range is closer without the gi, throws and grips change accordingly, also shots are not as well trained so also need to be looked at, this all takes time, wrestling doesn’t need as much adjustment 3) I also think the gi makes judo a more grip based and slower game at higher levels, which is not really suited to MMA, wrestling is fast explosive and makes for a better transition
Maybe one point to consider is how very, very old wrestling is. People have been doing it in some form or another for thousands of years all over the world, so it would be very surprising if a gi-based art like judo surpassed it for no-gi standup grappling.
