The Most Skilled fighter in Combat Sports?

Ive Just been watching Pacquiao/Cotto 24/7 (Highly recomend to the Boxing fans) and was thinking there was an award for best fighter last year were Pacquiao won it over Anderson Silva and Machida an ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly)

What are peoples thoughts of how MMA figthers stack up skillwise... What about compared to Thai Boxers like Yodsanklai Fairtex? Kickboxers like Bonjasky?

I know its like comparing Rugby to American Football but There was an award for it and it got me thinking...

One thing I think is there are probabally 100 boxers for every MMA figther currently, so the odds of a boxer being the worlds best compat sportman are much better.

I think Its really between Mayweather and Fedor....

Mayweather for me, It could be argued that Fedor has beaten better opposition. Again comparing two different things but Fedor has beat more Big Names in his sport. But looking at them in the ring respectivly Mayweather is the more skilled fighter for me. He said he can read people so well he can feel the punch is going to be thrown before it is.

Do people feel thats harsh on Fedor? Is he the Ray Robinson of MMA and therefore on another level than Mayweather.

I suppose ive been totally overlooking grapplers.

Like to hear who people think is the best.

rudeboyben84 wrote:Ive Just been watching Pacquiao/Cotto 24/7 (Highly recomend to the Boxing fans) and was thinking there was an award for best fighter last year were Pacquiao won it over Anderson Silva and Machida an ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly)

What are peoples thoughts of how MMA figthers stack up skillwise... What about compared to Thai Boxers like Yodsanklai Fairtex? Kickboxers like Bonjasky?

I know its like comparing Rugby to American Football but There was an award for it and it got me thinking...

One thing I think is there are probabally 100 boxers for every MMA figther currently, so the odds of a boxer being the worlds best compat sportman are much better.

I think Its really between Mayweather and Fedor....

Mayweather for me, It could be argued that Fedor has beaten better opposition. Again comparing two different things but Fedor has beat more Big Names in his sport. But looking at them in the ring respectivly Mayweather is the more skilled fighter for me. He said he can read people so well he can feel the punch is going to be thrown before it is.

Do people feel thats harsh on Fedor? Is he the Ray Robinson of MMA and therefore on another level than Mayweather.

I suppose ive been totally overlooking grapplers.

Like to hear who people think is the best.

totally biased here, i love boxing, but its gotta be Fedor, OK he is fast and strong but its his skills that make him the best fighter ever. Best submissions in the division, best ground and pound in all MMA, top 3 of strikers in the division, top 3 of takedowns in the division. All skills.

he is on another level to other combat sports athletes, not in the all time stakes, but currently.

Perhaps, I think it was close between Fedor and Mayweather, If Fedor finished his career with a handfull of Wins I think he will be talked about with SRR, Ali etc.. But then again I think the same could be said for Floyd...

OMG Fedor against SRR
..greatest of all time..you cant be serious

For the question you posted, who is the most skilled fighter in combat sports, it would have to be a mixed martial artist, and as Fedor is probably the best that has ever been so far, it would have to be him. Boxing is a highly skillful martial art but it is very specialised. The most skilled fighter would be excellent at not just one skill, but skilled in a number of martial arts.

It would be very difficult to compare a mixed martial artist to a boxer as I feel there is a whole lot more to MMA than to boxing.

If you have ever seen the Muhammed Ali vs Antonio Inoki MMA fight would know what I mean....

skidd1 wrote:OMG Fedor against SRR
..greatest of all time..you cant be serious

please elaborate, i dont know what you're getting at, are you saying Fedor isnt the GOAT of MMA, or SRR isnt the GOAT of boxing?

fedor is the greatest ever in mma by a distance, and i havent seen much of sugar ray robinson, but he seems to be regarded by the majority as the best ever.

If you're talking about skills then BJ has to get a mention, he's probably the most naturally 'skilled' fighter in the sense that he's a natural on the ground and has learned highly effective standup to become more rounded.

Fedor is obviously the best in MMA, but he works harder than BJ and is more experienced and smarter, I don't think he's more naturally gifted.

I also agree with Ginginho that you can't compare boxing and MMA in this instance. Mayweather could be great on the ground but he'd never be able to demonstrate it, and there would be no point in him learning.

Special mention to GSP as well for mastering almost all aspects of MMA, to the extent that he's already a legend and still hasn't reached his prime.

Can someone suggest a Fedor fight that showcases him at his best.

Miketyson2007 wrote:Can someone suggest a Fedor fight that showcases him at his best.

The Crocop fight and the Nogueira fights are masterpiece performances in MMA.

Or for 1 sided maulings the Sylvia fight or the Goodridge fight, If you cant find them ill post links to the fights when I get home

Andy Wang.

Cheers for that saw the crocop fight and the sylva demmolition awesome I`d love to se him and brock get it on.
As would half the world.

good thread i think GSP needs a shout here he is by far the best mma wrestler with great jiu jitsu and very good stand up at the moment it got to be fedor just for how long hes been on top and some of the guys he beat like prime cro cop and big nog although he has about 15 more fights than gsp? im interested to see where we rank him once he has caught up with fedor on fights also i think mayweather is without doubt the most skilled and best boxer in the world not martial artist that got to be fedor,gsp or i forgot to mention anderson silva hes probably the most talented striker we have seen in mma so far

on the talent scale i think BJ is above GSP, gsp is a better fighter but thats mainly down to his physical advantages; athleticism and strength/power/size, which arent skills, BJ relys mainly on his skills to beat his opponents as does Fedor, because its fair to say they dont have many physical advantages over their opponents. (except those bendy legs!)

Shanemc wrote:good thread i think GSP needs a shout here he is by far the best mma wrestler with great jiu jitsu and very good stand up

GSP has just above average BJJ and pretty decent stand-up. Neither are great, or even very good. He's a great wrestler, but "by far the best mma wrestler", no. He might be the bets but it's not by much. But in terms of all round skills, he's not close to a BJ Penn.

BJ, Machida, Anderson Silva and Fedor are the 4 most skilled fighters in MMA IMO.

I think Fedor stands out as the best. Because he's the best this sport has ever seen.

Mayweather is an amazing boxer but his skills are all in one aspect, so for me, he's not on Fedor's level. Mayweather is the best of a small era in boxing. From when Roy Jones stopped being Roy Jones until now, Mayweather is the best that boxing has seen. But he's not a Sugar Ray Robinson, or an Ali, or a Hagler, or even a Roy Jones IMO.

well i probably exagerrated his jiu jitsu but it is good and i think his striking is great and dynamic his super man punch into a leg kick is great to watch he outstruck alves and bj who are known as very good strikers

He outreached them more than outstruck them, and then he took them down and dry-humped them to death.

It depends really. I have to say GSP because he is a much better athlete than all you have mentioned. GSP has above average BJJ, he trained with Renzo Gracie who gave him a brown belt. He has a blackbelt in Karate, best takedowns in MMA, great all round wrestling and the most successful striking perecentage in the UFC. He has also started training in Muay Thai. Plus he is a fantastic athlete, much better than BJ, Silva, Fedor and Machida.

Fedor is a guy who could also be considered the best in the world because he has top class ground game, excellent Judo, fantastic GNP, good striking and a lot of power as well. However his best performances were against yes great fighters but also slightly one dimensional ones as well. Cro Cop is an excellent striker with very little ground game and Nog has amazing BJJ with average striking.

I also think Machida deserves a mention because he has so many tools. Karate, Muay Thai, Sumo, BJJ, wrestling and he is a good athlete as well. Its one of these three for me.

I suppose BJ could be there as well, not A Silva, he has no wrestling and terrible takedown defence as Henderson showed. BJ's main downfall is his conditioning and lack of heart. I mean he lost to Pulver.

it could be argued that crocop and nog are one dimensional, but in the crocop fight, he showed he was at least a match for him on the feet, winning the 10 min first round which was spent the majority on the feet.
in the first Nog fight, the majority of the fight was in Nogs domain, fedor showed he has the best ground game in the division. he beats one dimensional fighters at their own speciality, so the argument of him fighting 1d guys is pretty hollow.

As for GSP, i think the way he was able to outstrike Alves, and the same is true for some of his other opponents, is with the huge threat of a takedown to be aware of, the opponents are easier to outstrike, there are so many ways gsp can attack its impossible to defend them all so it seems as though he is a better striker than alves, but in a pure striking match alves would take him out.

GSP is so good because his work rate is just much higher than everyone else's, he just never stops working during his fights. If he isn't advancing on you in the standup he's taking you down, and when he's got you down he's looking to pass guard or do damage from elbows or knees, or look for the sub....

It's not his skill level (although he is a hugely skilled individual) that makes him dangerous, it's because he hits you with everything but the kitchen sink and you don't get a second to think about your next move.

He basically just overwhelms his opponents with a barrage of well above average, but sub-expert, skills.

"it could be argued that crocop and nog are one dimensional, but in the crocop fight, he showed he was at least a match for him on the feet, winning the 10 min first round which was spent the majority on the feet.
in the first Nog fight, the majority of the fight was in Nogs domain, fedor showed he has the best ground game in the division. he beats one dimensional fighters at their own speciality, so the argument of him fighting 1d guys is pretty hollow."

Not really because when Cro Cop was losing on the feet, he had no plan B because striking id the only thing he knows. Its not like Cro Cop could have subbed Fedor or takenhim down. The problem for a guy like Cro Cop is he doesn't have the well rounded game and thats why he was never able to hold a title. Nog is the same but to a lesser extent. However that doesn't take away from the fact that if he can't beat you on the ground he can't beat you period. Fedor deserves all the credit for beating them at there specialty but when he did that, the fight was a foreglone conclusion.


"As for GSP, i think the way he was able to outstrike Alves, and the same is true for some of his other opponents, is with the huge threat of a takedown to be aware of, the opponents are easier to outstrike, there are so many ways gsp can attack its impossible to defend them all so it seems as though he is a better striker than alves, but in a pure striking match alves would take him out."

I don't quite understand this. This isn't boxing this is MMA so GSP is the better MMA striker. If Cro Cop fought Fedor is a striking contest then Cro Cop would win, if Nog fought Fedor in a BJJ match then Nog would win but thats all very irrelevent.

GSP has underated striking, he doesn't always show it, especially since after the Serra fight but he can be destructive. Look at how he destroyed Fitch standing up, KOed Heroin, KOed Hughes.

probably didnt make myself clear but what i meant was that gsps wrestling was part of the reason he was able to outstike those guys, they were worried about defending a takedown when they should have been worried about GSPs striking, so he was able to pick them apart. and when they are defending his striking its an easy td for gsp.

Ok ye I kind of get it, kind of like a reverse Liddell startegy. Still doesn't take away from the fact that it works, a few fighter have started to use it now. Bader and Sonnen used it last night as well and have done so before.

Good posts on this subject but all very recent fighters except Fedor...

How about Randy Couture? He's picked up light heavy and heavy weight belts many times, can stand and strike, has good wrestling, and good ground and pound, can sub too... just thought i'd throw a fresh name in there, also Randy is in his latter 40's the guy is stil super fit and competing, for Fedor to say he's one fighter he'd love to fight says something about his calaber???

Aderson Silva is there wether people like it or not, GSP too.

It's still a developing sport so the best is to come.... have to say though I think Lesnar will be included in this one day.

Can't beleive we have all forgotten Michael "the cunt" Bitchping. Fantastic speed he has, hits someone and runs off like a little bitch. He only got caught against Hendo he is better than GSP, Fedor, BJ and Anderson Silva.