MMA and Boxing Discussions

[Sforza]

Best explanation so far of why Machida's been so dominant thus far:

It’s something I like about MMA, the dearth of rules when compared to other sports means that the gameplay can follow highly complex, mathematical pattern of evolution. It’s like Go; since there’s very few rules, incredibly complex strategies evolve.

MMA is like that, and in these kinds of systems, we always see an evolution from chaos to order. While the blank board of a new Go game represents almost infinite possibilities (chaos), a developed game has a significantly reduced number of possible moves; it has moved to a more ordered system.

Combine this with natural selection (we don’t continue to do things that don’t work) and you have the basis for the natural evolution of MMA. So from chaos (Art Jimmerson with one glove), MMA is evolving into a seriously complex and exciting sport.

Now for the added fun; there’s a hidden easter egg in the system I just described. As fighters gravitate more and more to what “works,” they lose diversity. What happens to any species when they lose diversity? They optimize for their current environment, but they’re vulnerable, because they all have the same weaknesses. In nature, that means that a single disease or virus can wipe out an entire population. In MMA, it means that every now and then, a fighter will come out that is able to dominate EVERYBODY. I give you, Lyoto Machida.

Reading the article linked below was interesting because the author bemoans how most MMA schools are only offering muay thai, wrestling and BJJ at the same time. This is resulting in fighters like Forrest Griffin (above, gifs) who are competent in all aspects but master of none of them. It also implies that GSP is a freak of nature.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/10/9/107...raditional

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Not related to post above. Scroll to 1:32, Jon Jones does Asuka's spinning low step to backfist (yes, from Tekken) This guy is really interesting to watch. Too bad he's in the same division as Machida.

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